Buyer Beware - Auto Atlanta Options

[Bristol]

Well… I’m grossly disappointed in Auto Atlanta. I placed an order with them last week and had anticipated free shipping as their website advertises free shipping on orders over $100, except for oversized items. The online order processing clearly indicated no shipping charge, all was good. Guess what, I was indeed charged shipping and did not find out about it until the parts were received. The item that pushed my order into being oversized was a window seal. Their website does not state anything about their policy, but what it comes down to (according to their customer support) is any package over 10” X 10” X 10” is considered oversized! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) I was thinking more of big packages being oversized rather than just small and medium sized ones! I didn’t think a window seal would be “oversized” and there is no way to tell from their site (Pelican Parts does this though). A rational and reasonable call to Customer Support got me absolutely nowhere. They were standing by their policy even though they knew it was subjective and not communicated to the customers. Basically they told me I’d need to talk to George as he’s the one who sets this policy. Maybe he’ll see this and help me, but the main purpose of this post is to make other 914 owners aware of their ambiguous policy on “free” shipping and to use caution when ordering from them. Buyer beware.

To add insult to injury, in this order I also got a cap for my timing hole and a sun visor bracket. These were both reproductions. The quality of the material is disappointing to say the least. They appear to be very fragile and poorly finished. I’m definitely going to stay away from these kinds of repo parts in the future and just try to source used parts if new originals are not available. So, again, buyer beware.

Kirk

[JamesM]

I had a similar issue with AA in reguards to shipping charges but i think the only real problem they have is in lack of communication about what you are actually going to be charged at the time you are ordering.

My case was a little more serious then $9. I ordered a single part online from them for around $250, and that was the only total given at the time of my checkout. I believe the part was backordered as it took quite a while to ship, then a few weeks later i have a ~$400 charge on my card from AA. Needless to say this was enough of a discrepency for me to call up AA and talk about it. The girl i talked to did what she could as far as looking into it for me, obviously their hands are tied as far as policy goes and shipping costs are what they are especally on large items, so i really have no complaints about that. What got under my skin a bit was that i had a chrage quite a bit larger then was given to me at the time of purchase that occured at an unexpected time 3 weeks later.

Now I dont really consider any of the charges I recieved to be unreasonable compared to other suppliers out there it just would have been less of a shock to me to know what the actual cost was going to be up front, or when the charge was going to take place, or both. Obviously increased shipping charges need to be passed on in order to stay in business, it would just be nice to not be supprised as to what these charges are at some unexpected time three weeks later.

I am sure most companies have some internal processes that could be improved upon, i think in the case of AA working to increase information given to and communication with the customer might improve the experince.

I dont see it as a deal killer for me and hope this is not viewed as AA bashing but more as constructive feedback for George. It would be great to see their customer service reach the same level as their parts availability and 914 knowledge.