Had a bad experience with Pelican Parts?

[Elombard]

I figured Wayne would appreciate the feed back. I hate to do it but here goes.

I just finished R&R ing the tranny and motor in my 73 911 w/ 78SC motor.

The clutch fork had broken and I decided to clean and paint everything and reseal the motor according to 101 projects.

My time is very valuable as I am sure most of yours is and when I get the all clear from the family to spend a day on the Porsche I take great pains to get everything lined up so I can make the most of it. On top of that My father was in town for a few days and he was really excited to drive the car as he had never driven a 911.

My bad here- I should have carefully checked the package that arrived from Pelican with all of my gaskets/seals/clutch fork etc. I have so much respect for Wayne and his accomplishments and such a great feeling when ordering from Pelican that I was sure the order was carefully checked and all of the parts would have been sent.

Not the case. When I went to change the breather gasket I couldnt find it. I quickly called Pelican as it was Thursday and I thought I could pay to have it over nighted for installation Friday.

No dice - not a normally stocked item!! But Waynes book says this is a much change item at every engine removal??? The nice gentleman said he would source the part and Priority mail it. Which he did- it arrived on Tuesday. Fortunately I was able to source one locally with only a 24 hour delay without driving the hour + to the local dealer here in Atlanta.

No problem - finished cleaning and painting and settled in Friday night to complete the reassembly. Oh my God there is only one of two small oil seals for the Oil cooler!!!!

Not available locally on Saturday and the dealer is supposed to get a shipment in Monday "maybe"....

What to do??? re-use the old ones, not according to several friends and Waynes book. Unbelievably a friend had a couple spares (pays to know guys who used to wrench at Porsche dealerships!!) but he was at Petit LeMans and I couldnt get the parts until Sunday Evening.

To make an even longer story a little shorter I was not able to complete the job before my dad went back to Seattle and he left very disapointed. My saint of a wifes patience was also worn a little thin.

I will order many things from Pelican in the future but I will judiciously check the box that arrives. I will also give myself a little more time between ordering and comencement of project.

Thanks for a great bbs Wayne I hope all the folks at Pelican take this in the most constructive way possible.

[surflvr911sc]

Originally posted by Elombard
Thanks for a great bbs Wayne I hope all the folks at Pelican take this in the most constructive way possible.

I do, been there, but $hit happens.

Advice: never start a project with a "must be done by..." in your head. 9 out of 10, $hit will happen.

[Jim Sims]

Living on the side of a mountain in Northern New Mexico long ago instilled in me the habit of rounding up and checking that I had all the parts and and supplies before I started any project. I always check my part orders when they come in for errors and omissions. Then before I start a project I again organize, check and count all the parts; this is especially important with engines or transmissions where you can't check easily check later if you left something out or used an old part. My experience with Pelican has been very good thus far (much better than their competitors); the one time I experienced an error (wrong kind of brake line clip was sent) a quick phone had the correct clip sent right away, free of charge. Pelican has also been forthright when they don't have something or can't get it thereby saving my time and theirs unlike some other Porsche parts vendors I have dealt with. My two cents. Jim

[RatBoy4]

I've always had good experiences with all of my orders from Pelican. Just remember, a lot of parts aren't kept at stock due to the cost of inverntory/the lack of orders for that particular part. So like surflvr911sc said:

Originally posted by surflvr911sc


Advice: never start a project with a "must be done by..." in your head.

Sometimes parts get backordered. I've had this happen, but Pelican always got me the parts. One time, when an item was backordered for a couple days, they sent my package overnight so that I would have the parts in time. I can never complain about PP's customer service.

[Don Plumley]

I can vouch for Pelican going the extra mile when I needed help. Drop shipping parts, cross shipping - it's the measure of what they do when things go wrong that gains my loyalty.

[surflvr911sc]

You know, now that I think of it, I have probably been the biggest PIA for Pelican in the last couple weeks.

It started with one wrong part and one extra part, they took care of that the same day. Then it went to a fairly large purchase over 1k. I use my check card exclusively. (I hate credit cards) The problem is that the bank puts a 1k limit per day on it in case it’s stolen. Seeing that I made the order over the phone I wasn’t sure what the exact total was. Guess what happened, Declined. They contacted me right away and I asked if they would mind splitting it and charging half one day and half the next. No prob. Well, the next day was when the previous order was run so guess what happened, Declined. Again they contacted me and we finally worked it out.

Oh yeah, my point. Don hit it on the head. Pelican always tries to do it right. When things don’t go right, they make it right, even if you’re a PIA like me. Good thing the Big Bear Run wasn’t this weekend. See what I mean about timelines. One month away, I think I can make that, but you never know.

[ZAMIRZ]

I agree with Dr. Ryan, you should never start a project with a "need to be done" in your head. Also, it seems as though Pelican did everything they could to get you your part and eventually did.........you can't really blame them.

later,

amir

[roGERK]

I've had excellent service from Day 1.

Unless one of Pelican's competitors is MUCH cheaper, I will always use Pelican, not least for the advice on this board which has saved me hundreds, perhaps as much as a thousand over several years.

Sorry to hear about your experience, but... these things will happen from time to time with any mail order house.

- roGER

[atlporsche]

in a pinch, inspect and reuse...watch for nicks and tears in rubber seals, if there are none, reuse...if the rubber feels brittle or "pits" when you stretch it, DO NOT reuse...

Most of us suffer from "filthy garage syndrome" Not that we don't keep the floor swept, but most of us have stuff EVERYWHERE!!!..

On the subaru it's not been a big deal, on 911's certain things are tougher to get to....

sjd

[Embs]

Being respectful, and having been beat up myself on this board before, I am not going to "beat on you" but this is a small low cost issue. It appears that the costs were time for you and not monetary.

I can understand your frustration, but I would estimate from my own experiences with Pelican that their customer satisfation percentage is probably very high. I have ordered things as small as a valve adjust tool to an OEM Carrera tail/spoiler with absolutely NO issues whatsoever. I have also receivced follow up emails and phone calls asking if the last order received was satisfactory. I ordered seats and carpet yesterday and the Pelican associate talked to me about the products for over 30 minutes, insuring my questions were answered.

I always tell my wife that to get any service or product right the first time these days is a miracle. So far, all of my Pelican orders have been right the first time.

Good luck with your project.

[Kemo]

I had one experience with PP that wasnt exactly bad. I had ordered some parts and paid extra for 2nd day shipping. Anyhow, the parts never quite made it. After contacting them, they got the order straight and shipped it for free and credited me the original cost of shipping. In addition, they cut me a discount on Wayne's book, 101 Projects, and it was autographed as well. Im still a happy camper.

[kcope]

It works both ways sometimes.
I'm still waiting for my car because my Mechanic's supplier held up the whole order because of one small washer. So my Tranny rebuild was held up for over a week.

[old_skul]

I'm wondering why something like this was posted here. Was the point to get the information across to the Pelican folks, or to drag the story out for everyone to gawk at? Are you trying to warn us?

What was the point?

[Jdub]

Send me a PM and let me know where in Seattle your dad is. I can take him out on route nine for some fresh apple cider and he can drive the bejabbers out of my '78 SC!

John

[Emission]

Originally posted by old_skul
What was the point?

Always check your shipments. No matter how good the vendor is, there is always a possibility of a mistake.

[Dave Ploss]

I'm a new Porsche owner ('87 911) and I needed to do something on the car. Ordered an Oil Temperature Upgrade Kit (Easy first project) and PP sent me an extra sender. Well, I dropped the first sender into the fan housing ( if that's what you call it) and couldn't get it out. I put the second one in and hooked up the Temp gauge. Went to my mechanic and he fished out the first one....felt like an idiot.

Anyway, I called Pelican and told them that they sent me an extra and did not bill me for it. Expecting some grief for my ineptness, they said they always put an extra in because everyone drops one in. They also wouldn't charge me for the second one.

After only one try, I'm a loyal customer. They made me feel like I was not the first person to mess up and went way beyond what they needed to do.

Thanks again.

[Superman]

First, I don't think Elombard was trying to create any sort of negative impression about Pelican. His post is very gentle, in my view. Second, even if he were angry and venting, I am not sure that message would be out of bounds here. Certainly not OT. And finally, having been a retailer in a former life, I would consider this more of an opportunity than a danger if I were Pelican. Customers that do not give vendors this opportunity do far more damage than folks like Elombard. My opinion of Pelican remains sky-high.

Parts places screw up. Shtuff happens. Like Jdub, I'd be delighted to put a wide smile on Elombard's dad's face with a romp through the PNW countryside in my SC. In closing, I'll say that I never have optimism about completing a project quickly. It simply never happens. Even when I have all the parts, and even with my fair amount of (amateur) automotive experience, I am just too slow to achieve any short term time goals. So, I don't set them. When I have set time goals in the past, I have missed them every time.

[barlowdo]

Elombard,

I hear you. I also have been in such situations and know exactly how it feels to see those precious few hours you get to work on your car vaporising.

And zero inventory sucks !

Don

[tmctguer]

when i read the title of the post, i thought it was a test of the BBS censoring rules.........(just kidding).

sometimes you HAVE to try to finish something in a preset timetable. when that is the case, i double check everything well before i start (when possible) to eliminate the "OH *****" factor. i also plan on taking a few more hours than planned because delays DO happen.

to defend the poster, you expect the right parts to arrive -- period -- anything less is not good. in defense of Pelican, however, they do try hard to correct mistakes, and i appreciate that.

[bob tilton]

"Send me a PM and let me know where in Seattle your dad is. I can take him out on route nine for some fresh apple cider and he can drive the bejabbers out of my '78 SC!"

very cool of you john!