Pelican Rant

[78SCRSMAN]

I'm a customer service guy, period, and I gotta say, my recent experience with our host has been less than fantastic. It seems there are several parts listed that are NLA. On three occasions, I expressed my dissatisfaction about these items being listed as avail. and was met with a blank stare, (no response from the person on the telephone) not even an apology. Perhaps it's just me but when I'm paying top dollar for parts, I expect great service. If I don't get great service then I may as well shop for the best price. Poor service is everywhere and costs less.

Wayne, you may want to address this. Lots of people are out of jobs these days and it only takes a second to be kind.

I hope I'm the only one who feels this way.
Thanks for listening,
Derek

[AaronM]

Wait, so the parts weren't available, you didn't actually pay for them, they actually told you that the parts were no longer available rather than putting you on indefinite back-order, and this is somehow bad customer service?

Yes, it would be nice if the website were always perfectly in synch with the warehouse, but that just doesn't always happen and frankly it sounds like the situation was handled forthrightly.

[matthewb]

I am very sorry to hear about you dissatisfaction. I have had quite the opposite experience. I ordered a timing belt kit a while back and one of the pulleys came with a cracked off flange (not a good experience I know) but when I called to get it taken care of they were very polite and shipped my replacement kit out right away. I had the new kit before I even received their shipping label to send it back. I know it was bad to get a broken part in the first place but stuff happens and they did make it right.

The other thing to mention is that I don't think we are paying top dollar for these parts, in fact these parts are typically much cheaper than an autozone or something if autozone even has them.


I guess overall I have been pretty satisfied with pelican service.

[carlege]

your not paying top dollar.... thats at the porsche dealership. Put the parts on backorder or buy from another site they are all very competitive.

you could always keep a box of parts you know you will eventually need.

[Slam]

You sure this wasn't intended for ***********?

[jcommin]

Sorry about your experience. I know that many parts are NLA at my local Porsche dealer and I find myself buying them from Pelican, Paragon or 944online.

I always show around for the best price; that includes shipping costs too. My experience is positive with Pelican and I have bought parts for my Porsche, MB and BMW.

[callmethewander]

I've also always been very satisfied with the parts and service, however if someone was less than polite with you I do agree that that's not good. I've personally never had that experience, maybe the guy was having a bad day, let it slide once

[speedracing944]

Originally Posted by carlege

your not paying top dollar.... thats at the porsche dealership. Put the parts on backorder or buy from another site they are all very competitive.

you could always keep a box of parts you know you will eventually need.

Dare I say I was actually behind the parts counter of our local Porsche dealership when I caught them ordering from Pelican Parts. I guess I am not the only one in the area ordering from Pelican.

Speedy

[Cocacolakidd]

I have ordered many parts from Pelican over the years and I still think they are among the best, but even then no one is perfect. - Best Service and best prices -

I have worked in the service/sales industry for ever, and as always the worst part of the job is satisfying all of the people all the time...

One small irritation is shipping - because they have two places they ship from they often ship a single order for multiple parts in two shipments (Two charges for shipping) - as some parts come from one warehouse and the rest comes from the other - now if they could solve this problem, well...

[gmorken]

I've placed 17 orders with Pelican since late Jan and have always received great service from them. Only had one incident where only 1/2 of the rear Porsche decal arrived (the one above the rear bumper) but they were quick to correct and sent both sides. I wish I could get other Porsche part sources to be 1/2 as responsive as Pelican.

[porsche4life]

My current total with Pelican over the last few years is several thousand.... I have a box that was 500 that came today...

Not sure what you are complaining about? Something that Porsche no longer makes?


On two separate occasions I have had to have parts replaced... They do it no problem... If you have a problem with Pelican you WON'T ever be satisfied anywhere else... Pelican is A++++ in service.

And sending an email to Wayne is the polite way to deal with this.... not trashing him on his own forum....

[78SCRSMAN]

Cocacolakid... with knockers like those, how could you have an unhappy customer?

You're all probably right, it could just be me. When I commented about the website being incorrect to both cust. service reps, neither said a word in response... it seemed strange. Most people would say something like "I'm sorry sir, I will make a note of it and do my best to let the appropriate person know about the problem." One person actually asked if there was anything else he/she could do for me. The other said absolutely nothing, nadda.
You're right though, no endless backorder. The dual shipping charges are irritating but shipping prices aren't too bad.

Thanks all for setting me straight.

[Cocacolakidd]

That's my Garage Helper and Parts Runner - cute also when bending over to change spark plugs -

The only thing I could think of was the two point shipping - and yes the shipping rates are also the lowest (Controlled by the shipping Co's then) - but when one is looking for perfection ya have to pick on something.

[Roman944]

I had this happen before too, parts said to be in stock - place an order - only to find out that one of the parts is out of stock, and the whole order put on hold or possible partial shipment

so I figured from that point on, that sometimes - if its a rare part that I have my doubts about - its a good idea to just give the place a call

also, as far as pricing - its competitive; some parts are a few more dollars while others are cheaper then on some other places; overall, if you order 2-3 parts, usually it ends up being about the same price across the board

the biggest factor to me - what it comes down to - is shipping; where its cheaper, or which place is closer to me to order the part from

best of luck in your future dealings!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I believe Wayne addressed this issue a while back. Apparently Porsche has cut down dramatically on the number of parts kept at their distribution center in the U.S. and a lot of stuff now comes only direct from Germany. This consolidation means longer delays to source stuff due to shipping and more "NLA" stuff since they're trying to pare down in general.

It's a fact of life - as cars get older, the manufacturers are less likely to support them because there are fewer people willing to pay the money to justify continuing to keep those lines open. As such, you see less OE and more OEM, then more aftermarket as time drags on.

Pelican's service is second-to-none. I too have been annoyed by the many "no longer available" items on the site, but at least they're telling you up front. Most car parts places would take your money and then say "sorry, it's on indefinite backorder" and you'd be lucky to get the part or a refund in six months.

[fmartenies]

You do realize that these cars are 20 to 30 years old? And not a high production GM or Ford? This tells me you have probably never worked on an older vehicle, and if you have it was a dime a dozen model.

If you are going to work on an older vehicle that is harder to find, better get used to it. You have to get creative finding parts, or pay through the teeth at the dealer. Hell, there are parts for my motorcycle that I can't even get through Honda anymore, that's just how it goes.

Customer service is one thing, but remember it is a person on the other end of the line. If you were upset the part wasn't available, and they perceived it as you being a jerk, they probably did the right thing by being short . The part isn't available, what do you want them to do, **** one?

[Smoker324]

Customer service is one thing, but remember it is a person on the other end of the line. If you were upset the part wasn't available, and they perceived it as you being a jerk, they probably did the right thing by being short . The part isn't available, what do you want them to do, **** one?

Are you serious? Give me a break. I am sure that the OP did not expect someone to "****" a part -- but I am also sure that he and any normal customer expects that if it is advertised then it doesn't need to be "****ed."

Remember that the customer is a person and being short is nothing more than a typical tactic to avoid the underlying problem -- namely that the part, although advertised, is not in stock. All that was needed is a "Sorry I will try and take care of it" and it would have been over.

Yes even the awesome Pelican Parts can have jerk reps. The OP shouldn't have to apologize for getting bad customer service.

Dan C.

[fmartenies]

I don't think I ever said he need to apologize. I just thought his expectation for parts was unreasonable and if a part is not being manufacture anymore cs is not going to ever be able to do anything for you. Those convos are almost always the customer venting. I can't judge the cs experience because that is subjective, but I do wonder why more than one rep was talked to.

We can obviously spend our money wherever we want to, but the OP is going to continue to be frustrated no matter where he goes unless he adjusts his expectations on parts availability.

[Roman944]

it doesn't matter how they perceive me or how I sound like, I am still a customer, and if I'm not happy with how I was treated why should I keep my mouth shut? it's his right, and he even came to the right place to voice his concern - instead of going on over to Rennlist, or 944online, or whatever other 944 forum out there

also, it doesn't matter how old the car is or how rare the part is or if it's low stock or it's coming form Germany directly - if the part is said that it's in stock - and the count ticker actually says how many are still in stock - then guess what that means?

I'm just saying

[AaronM]

Originally Posted by Smoker324

Are you serious? Give me a break. I am sure that the OP did not expect someone to "****" a part -- but I am also sure that he and any normal customer expects that if it is advertised then it doesn't need to be "****ed."

Remember that the customer is a person and being short is nothing more than a typical tactic to avoid the underlying problem -- namely that the part, although advertised, is not in stock. All that was needed is a "Sorry I will try and take care of it" and it would have been over.

Yes even the awesome Pelican Parts can have jerk reps. The OP shouldn't have to apologize for getting bad customer service.

Dan C.

Except that he never said that the rep was actually rude. The only bit of actual information contained in the OP about the rep was that the rep didn't have any response to his ranting about NLA parts being listed on the website. That's hardly "rude". Sub-optimal sure, but not "rude" by any stretch.

There's absolutely no evidence in the OP to suggest that the Pelican rep was being "short". The evidence we have actually suggests that it was the customer who was being short with the rep.