Pelican sending out open box used stuff as new
 

I just received my ignitor 2 unit from pelican and was shocked to see where the unit still had the wires on the end where it was removed from some vehicle, the insulation on the wires both red and black were eroded down to bare metal and the unit was beat to hell! What is going on at pelican I called cust. service and the first person I talked to said she would send me a return label but was out of luck on another unit as they didn't have one. They didnt have one because they could not answer any questions on this unit because the only guy in tech that had any knowledge was too busy to answer questions. and someone bought the other unit while I was waiting for an answer (I hope he got a new unit because I got crap) also the supervisor I talked to wasn't much help and could not give me an answer as to why they had this on the new parts shelf. She said she was going to try to get one drop shipped from the manufacture but couldn't promise anything. Meanwhile I am on a time deadline to find out if my car will run bfore I am gone for 2 weeks and this is the only part I am waiting on. I read the thread about the axles and now I get this. Wayne since they wouldn't put me through to talk to you I am asking this here, I went the cust. service route and didn't like what I got for an answer so here it is in a public forum.
Wayne up until now your cust. service has been impeccable but with this deal here when I needed you to come through and get me the correct part I get crap and I also get crap from your cust. service people! :(
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1244500063.jpg
The pic below you can see (a little blurry) where the wires are worn to bare metal and most certainly had shorted out which means the unit is probably toast.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1244500075.jpg

Did you try emailing Wayne? Did you try to PM Wayne?

I think your rant is a little premature. Obviously something is not right, but I would have tried a little harder to figure that out prior to posting your issue on the technical forum.

Oh I think this is the perfect place for this

I would have to agree.

i get the occasional set of used brake pads, etc, because some loser returned them as new, got a refund, and the part was put back on the shelf without an inspection, because they thought it was new. things happen. humans are not perfect.

Agreed. Mistakes happen. gsmith660 makes it sound like they did it on purpose.

A moderator should delete this. I hope they do, it is not appropriate.

Firstly, let me start by saying that we ship out thousands of parts (maybe hundreds of thousands of parts, I haven't counted lately) each month to our customers. I do not know what happened with this particular part, as we generally do not restock merchandise that has been returned to us. It's possible that this may have been mislabeled in our returns department, or it's possible that our supplier that we purchase these parts from made a mistake. The warehouse and returns department is staffed by humans, and as such, they occassionally make a mistake. We do not knowingly or purposefully sell used parts to our customers.

That said, according to the phone logs, you called our Customer Service Department at a little before 3PM today, and asked if you could have a replacement sent out. We don't have any more in stock in this part number, and we tried to have one shipped directly to you from our supplier, but at that late time in the day, they were already closed. I see then that you called back and since found that you can use the Ignitor I instead, so Judy (head of Customer Service) agreed to ship you this replacement Ignitor I to your location via Next-Day Air Early AM delivery in order to accomodate your tight deadline.

I have worked very closely with my Customer Service people to provide the best service in conjuction with my strict requirement - the results have been very good, as there are very, very few complaints. Mistakes will happen - it's how a company moves to correct the occasional mistakes that distinguishes it from the competition. As for not being able to reach me, I am not in the office today, as I am leaving on vacation tomorrow and I am home packing.

I'm sorry that you are upset, and I understand your frustration. Part of the problem is that our operation here at Pelican has improved so much over the years and the level of expectations are set so incredibly high as a result, that one small mistake can really irritate people. I see that you have ordered from us a total of 34 times over the past seven years with previously only one small, minor issue over that time period. Hopefully we will continue that track record with you in the future.

-Wayne

I like Pelican. A camshaft wrench, Porsche part, broke on me. Just fractured into two pieces. I called them up and they sent me a new one overnight.

I like pelican also, I already knew I could use the ignitor 1 I opted to take that because I wanted to get this done and opted to "downgrade" my order to expidite my getting accomplished what I wanted accomplished I have been waiting for 2 and a half years for this and I just wanted it to go smooth but I guess that wasn't to be now I have a product that if I inadvertantly leave the key on for too long I get a fried unit something they claimed would not happen with the ignitor 2.

33/34, That's 97%. That was an A last time I checked.

I'm sure you'll get satisfied in the end.

Gsmith, the thing about deadlines is they are 'yours', not 'theirs', if that makes sense. "Theirs" meaning Anybody, not Pelican.

I'd be pissed. Excuses and explanations are exactly that, and "**** happens" doesn't work for me. This should never, ever have happened. "Did you try e-mailing Wayne?" Well, he was going on vacation, so that would have been a waste of time...

The Wayne Acolytes get a little tiresome at times, and it needs to be remembered that he runs this website not just because he's a nice guy, which I'm sure he is, but because it's an excellent business move: it's one of the major things that differentiates Pelican Parts from the myriad other suppliers with quarter-page ads all over the Porsche magazines. So we needn't revere the man and the company quite so constantly.

Someone needs a beer!

Okay, what am I missing here? I understand the frustration of receiving a funky part. I also understand the frustration that there wasn't another one in stock to send out, and it being too late in the day to drop ship from supplier. What I don't understand is that you realized an alternate part could be used and customer service offered to send out over night for AM delivery, and then you come here and complain about customer service not taking care of you. Am I missing something here? Other than pulling a flying monkey out of her arss and flying the part to you, I think everything was done. Sometimes crap happens no matter where you shop. I have found that Pelican has far fewer problems than any other supplier I have used, and when something does go amuck they do everything possible to make it right.
Tom

I had a flight canceled once when I was flying to get my car. Since I couldn't get a hold of the CEO, I've never flown that airline again.


sheesh.

No I dont think they did this on purpose I think it was bad quality control and there were things that went on that you have no knowledge about and as far as I am concerned this was for info sorry it was harshly worded and is dead and can be deleted as far as I am concerned.

This all took place after the first post as I decided to take a downgraded part to continue on. Please delete this thread

Thats uncalled for milt as the cust. service rep. suggested I get ahold of wayne please delete this thread

So far, Wayne's policy has been to NOT delete these kinds of threads. The reason being that he can never be accused of sticking the deck. If things go wrong, he acknowledges them and fixes it.

The best thing we can do is keep it nice, something that is hard for me. ;)

(I can't get rid of the post now that you've quoted it.)

I think that gsmith660 has been working on his car for 2 and a half years, and he's done a great job, and he's almost done, and he needs this part to start his car. So, he's chomping at the bit (like we all probably would be) and in his excitement he made a thread about this small problem that will be solved by tomorrow morning before 10am. It's all about perspective.

That ignitor 1 will probably be at your door before your local P-car shop opens and you could go buy a set of points or an Ignitor locally.

Thank you Gogar this thread was deleted so fast by noah that I didnt even get a chance to answer this that we had resolved most of this and that I was sorry I had posted it Gogar is right and I am under some time pressure to at laest find out that it starts before I leave for a few weeks. Doesn't matter I am outta here I asked for my profile to be deleted and my posts removed. I dont fit in on this forum and if I call it like it is on here (ala Playa) I suddenly have yeahoos calling my car a poser. good day all.

What is going on here?

First, you admit that you were wrong, then you ask to have the thread deleted; your thread is not deleted, so you pack up your toys and go home?

I just read this post and must ask, what else do you expect Wayne or his organization to do? all one can ask for in a retail environment when something goes amiss, is that they correct it and make it right - and that's what he/his organization did. Kudos! I don't know how much that part was, but i can tell you that i have had far s***ttier service response from a medical company about an insulin pump and these puppies are not your five and dime variety. I wrote the CEO and didn't even get a response, not even a form letter acknowledging my concern. Needless to say, I avoid doing/buying from this outfit and I make sure that ppl know about my experience... I'm sure it has crossed many ppl minds that it is easier to refund the money and bid adieu than making it right. the very essence of participating on this website is testimony that there is value to us/you of this website, and if Wayne benefits from selling parts, good for him.

Plan ahead so one has time for contingencies in case things just don't work out.

Like I said, I understand your frustration, and thanks for clearifying things for me. I sincerely hope everything turns out for you. Unfortunately, you deciding to take your ball and run home is not what anybody was looking for.
Tom

customer service
 

I cant even imagine how hard it is to hire decent employees these days,I think Wayne has done a very good job,I have had excellent customer service from Pelican,If only all customer service was this good,maybe people wouldn't be as stressed out.Think DMV,Cable Co,Phone Co etc etc etc.:cool:

I would want to find out exactly how this non-returnable electrical part ended up in my new parts supply chain.

What if it was the type of part that showed no evidence of being installed? Would you have taken it back if it didn't work?

First of all this thread doesn't seem very "deleted" to me. Not right now, anyway.

Second, what you have there is not called a "deadline." It's called "excitement". Enjoy it.

Third, receiving criticism well is difficult, but you should learn how. Once I posted a jacka$$ thread on here because I was mad about something, and a few guys called me an idiot. Turns out those guys were right, and I learned my lesson. That's why this place can be good. Try the 'other' forum, and maybe you'll like it better, but someone said people are the same wherever you go.

I guess I started the decline here. Sorry to the OP if I caused him to have a heart attack over this. You know, you do have to expect a little defensiveness on this forum towards Pelican because of their service and this BBS, just to mention a couple of things.

Most people don't know this, but I worked at Pelican for a short time doing some vacation relief last year. I worked right outside Judy's office. There my not be a more qualified Customer Service Manager anywhere. She has something like 30 years in the field. I don't see her saying to try to call Wayne. If she did, she must of really been getting the business on the phone.

It has to be a pretty extraordinary situation to even get Judy on the line. She has mostly 2 and sometimes 3 assistants, plus the sales staff to handle problems. No one anywhere has this focus on customer service that Pelican has that I've dealt with. And that includes a lot of unrelated businesses.

I've been sent wrong stuff on occasion and never had a problem getting what I needed in return. What's more, I made a couple of mistakes at Pelican and know what it feels like to be on the wrong end. It's not a job I would go back to. So, I defend the Pelican process.

no it was the other tech that told me that basically I could return the part and I was out of luck on the replacement if I didnt like that contact wayne, I was not nice to Judy and for that I am sorry and I thanked her for her help when I hung up. To answer the question above about the condition of the part it was beat to hell and had both the red and black wires worn through to wire so it shorted out on the dizzy.

I've corresponded with gsmith660 via PM and I think the issue is pretty dead. Mistakes were made and acknowledged on both sides. It is unproductive to continue the rancor.

gsmith660, come on back and lets all be friends.

oh boo hoo,

T :)

You started this thread as your basic, everyday tool, but ended it a crybaby. Well done!

gs doesn't seem to be a bad guy. I won't go into detail of my PM's with him, but I really think we should just let this go.

I hope he will re-think leaving Pelican. I really don't think we want to lose a fellow Enthusiast. Anyone else want to give some support to keep him from leaving Pelican?

he should do whatever he wants.

Hmm. I sure wish I'd never done or said anything in the heat of the moment that I later regretted. Kind of makes me want to cut the guy some slack instead of piling on. I've certainly done worse.

I don't think anyone's proposing to shoot his dog or anything.

The first post was arguably a mistake, the post crying that he's leaving was certainly a mistake (that's never a good move), but no biggie.

True enough. Then again, I wasn't referring to comments regarding whether his pets should be executed. I was commenting on behavior like yours, when you indulged yourself in some add-on condemnation after the point had been made, reinforced by others, and acknowledged as a mistake by the OP. That's why I called it "piling on".

And you did it again in your last post. It's your privilege to do so, but it's mine to call you on it too.

Sorry to get off on a bad foot with you like that. I'm not comfortable speaking up like this, but I hate seeing a man getting kicked while he's down even less.

Fair enough. Your post made me look back to see what you were talking about, and I now see it. I had not noticed his post after his "I'm leaving" in Post #20. I see and accept your point.

Still, it's all no biggie. I don't think the OP should worry much about it. It's just the internet.

Children! Children! Play Nice!

Best, Tom

This thread can probably only go downhill very fast from here, I'm going to close it.

-Wayne