I guess it was bound to happen, Screwed by AA Options

[MoveQik]

It finally happened. I have read numerous threads bashing these guys. I usually chime in with my two cents saying that I have ordered from them more than once and have always had good service. They treated me right so I had nothing bad to say about them. Until now.

I ordered their complete seal kit for $650 bucks. It goes something like this:

Me - Yeah, I'll take one of the seal kits for the 914
AA - Great.
Me - Is the whole kit in stock? I really need the whole kit as I have no seals around the Targa or the doors.
AA - Yep. It is all in stock. It'll ship tomorrow.
Me - Great.

The kit shows up several days later. Looks like a big box of rubber snakes. Cool! I dump it all out this morning and start sorting through it. Hmmm....no top-front seal(the one that goes up by the wing windows and across the top), no turn signal seals...what else is missing??

So I call them and ask about it.

Me - Hey, it looks like some seals are missing. I can't find the top seal. What gives?
AA - Oh yeah, those are on back order. We can't find them anywhere.
Me - WTF? When I asked the guy if the whole kit was in stock, shouldn't he have told me that the biggest seal in the kit was actually out of stock?
AA - Uhhhh....we take so many orders it is hard to tell. The vendor lost the mold so we had to order another one for $20k.
Me - Not my problem. When can I expect the seal?
AA - 1-2 weeks.
Me - You are telling me the part is on back order from Europe from a vendor that has to make a new mold?? That doesn't sound like 1 -2 weeks to me.
AA - Uhhhh yeah. Maybe 3 weeks.

You get the idea.....I basically got nowhere. I didn't even receive so much as an apology. I am an extremely reasonable guy. I understand that shit happens. However, I expect to be told the truth. This part was clearly on back order when I ordered the kit. They knew damn good and well it wasn't there and it isn't going to be here anytime soon. This kind of shit pisses me off. I'm going to guess that it won't be here in time for the RRC so I am basically stuck hoping for sunny weather.

I should have known better than to press my luck knowing they have obviously done it to so many others. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif)

[D1A3]

Hard not to deal with AA when you live 20 minutes from them. But, every time I have to take a DEEP breath. I've had good experience with their rear targa seal for $50 and some other stuff here and there. Overall, I think they are overpriced, but generally have what you need, especially if your in a pinch. Theri repro side targa seals are too long and fit poorly. Teh seal for the engine lid is also too long. I guess when you make molds from originals, then make molds from those copies and so on, the seal eventually grows a few inches... :-)

That said, I will not do business again after my last experience. I placed an order, cancled it before it was shipped. They shipped it anyway and sent me an email to remind me to look for it from FedEx. Greg would not take it back at first, then offered me a refund minus 20% restocking. Geez, I canceled a week before they shipped it... Credit card was disputed, delivery refused and a month later, a nice letter in the mail from the Credit Card company that I had been issued a FULL refund. Learned my lesson! It's too bad, because they really do have a lot of stuff over there.

I too have had great experience with other members (Props to Al Meredith, Engman and Fred V.), Pelican, Performance, eBay etc. I encourage everyone to continue doing business with those guys that treat you well. Hell, every time I order from Pelican, they send me an email askign how I liked their service. They obviously care about doing things right.

Was goign to stay out of this, but got my letter in the mail, so had to jump in.