Please tell me what we (GPR) are doing wrong, - in other words why don't you buy from us. Options

[PancakePorsche]

I have nothing but the best service from GPR. Jonathan has jumped through hoops for me in the past, especially getting most of the parts together and to me for my six conversion. Thank you for that.
I know there is a lot of competition out there, but don't forget GPR. They are one of the originals

This is not a sales pitch. I'm sincerely asking for feedback on what we could do, or do better, in order to earn your business.

Even if it's not something I can fix, it would still be good to know. For instance, I realize a lot of people have a loyalty to certain vendor as a result of a long standing personal or business relationship.

I go out of my way not to spam this forum with commercial posts so I hope this isn't viewed as objectionable.

Brian

[emoze]

good discussion

I knew GPR when Dave was alive and well. Then with Jonathan.....

X2 -

b'ot lots from Dave - pre-dated Pelican i think

when GPR began enlisting "sales associates" to sell the GPR stuff on eBay but not under GPR name, it got goofy

b'ot once from hwgunner (maybe via eBay) - a set of Tarett monoballs

went almost exclusively to Pelican after that

- never from "new GPR"

as others above have said, kinda got out of 914s as a primary hobby, & just never tho't of GPR for anything else

these days, when i need old repro stuff or even many "common" parts - neither Pelican, PP nor y'all have it listed, whether for my carerra or my 914

- not fast moving profitable inventory nor worth time to catalog & picture

so i find it elsewhere via the 914world classifieds or the specialty guys as noted above

.

[colingreene]

I ordered my parts sunday, got them today.
Fast service and you actually had parts pelican did not.
I got a email from them this morning that they still did not have my parts even though i ordered them 11/15
Thanks guys, ill be looking to you more often in the future for parts.

[abes914]

Hi. I would also suggest to have apparels listed on your website. i like wearing t-shirts and would love to get some GPR shirts with different design?

You should also have suggestions when a customer selects a part. For example, if I am viewing brake pads, maybe suggest for a replacement brake host or brake fluid?

I really try to buy from 914 vendor first, but sadly, I am having a hard time remembering yours.
I do promise to try very hard to check your site before ordering from pelican.

BTW, do you also have license frames? I would love to put GPRparts.com license frames rather than-----

[JStroud]

I've seen the banner ads but to be honest I thought it said GR, didn't know who that was, just yesterday I really looked at it and realized its a GPR ad, people that have been around may know your logo, but to look at it not knowing who you are to me looks like GR. So I had heard of your company, not a lot though, but didn't relate the ad to you, been here three years.

So I would say, put your full name in your ads along with your logo, PUT your name out there on a regular bases, like posting specials every now and then. Up your presence on searches, google, bing etc. Post more in threads, and have your business link in your signature so people know who you are. Be helpful, get involved, the more people know you and like you the more they will want to use you. Bottom line is you need to be the first place people think of.....the only way to do that is to up your presence and provide great service.

People will talk about bad experiences for years, only really exceptional service gets as much attention and talk, do what others don't to be the best.

Now that I know who you are, I'll give you a try....it will be up to you if you keep my business.
I looked at your website, not any harder to use than most, while it could use some improvement I don't think it would make a difference in ordering from you, at least not for me. A good selection, fair pricing, and good service are more important.

Hope this helps,
Jeff

[Dr Evil]

My $.02 echos the previous. I have met Jonathan and been to GPR. I like both very much and sported my GPR shirt everywhere until it wore out and always tell my students to go to GPR for all of their parts and seal kits. I have had many complain that the site was so frustrating that they just went to Pelican. Pelicans site is starting to be more of a PITA, too. Harder to find, if they even still have, the PET parts look up. I can not find the odd pieces that I know they will sell me. Pelican fails in that shipping is often exorbitant and I have often found things listed as in stock that took a month to arrive.

So many people reporting that the site sucks and is hard to navigate, and that you dont show up on searches. Losing money due to both, so you see where to address change.


PS: I just searched you in Google and you are the third on the list after the advertised ones. However, in the past I would get very similar sites that had nothing to do with you. Searching "914 parts" yields all the major folks we use, a few obscure ones, and then a bunch of unrelated garbage with no listing of your site.

[Dr Evil]

Just went to GPR to order/search 99903800100. Not found. Pelican has them for $3.90. Not sure if this helps, this is a little obscure part.

[VaccaRabite]

Couple things that have turned me off to GPR in the past.
1) search feature does not always find what you are looking for. See Mikes example above.

2) (and this goes to Chris as well) the site is hard to use from my phone. I buy a lot of stuff from my phone.

3) I forget about you. When I was buying a lot of stuff, I bought from faces I knew from the forum. Dave darling worked for Pelican. Jake had T4 store. Etc. They posted often and I trusted them. So I bought from them. Post more. Offer stuff to forum folks to get them in the door. Group buys, etc.

4) pelican puts a magnet of sticker in each order. I have them stuck all over the place. I see them all the time and it stuck in my mind.

Make basic essentials really easy to find. It should not be hard to find spark plugs. And yet, it is.

If you are not in the top 5 Google hits (or at least on the first page) you NEED to tidy that up.

Good luck!!
Zach

[euro911]

I've never been to the GPR site that I can think of (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) I've dealt directly with Jonathan via phone, or via PMs here though.

I recently bought a powder-coated front cross member (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) - but that may have just been something Jonathan had laying around (?) I've been buying a lot of refurbished hard parts from the classifieds here, but not many replacement consumables.

On another note, I've also been buying parts for my Vanagon recently ... and a nice thing that one vendor (Van Cafe) does, they put a free tasty chocolate-chip, or oatmeal-raisin cookie in with the shipment (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) - just sayin' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[TheCabinetmaker]

I have only had one transaction with GPR. I bought what was advertised as ssi 2L heat exchangers. I knew from the pic that it was for a 1.7 but bought it anyway. When I received it, it was indeed for a 1.7. The mount flanges had been replaced with ss, but the holes were drilled for a 2.0. wtf? I had the holes welded and redrilled for the 1.7. I also discovered they were not ssi's. Just factory steel. Whoever was in charge of this sale obviously had no clue of what he was selling. I also ordered a 1.7 hanger to go with it. The hanger came in a priority mail envelope. The envelope was empty.

Will I use GPR again? Probably not.

[Brian_Boss]

I have only had one transaction with GPR. I bought what was advertised as ssi 2L heat exchangers. I knew from the pic that it was for a 1.7 but bought it anyway. When I received it, it was indeed for a 1.7. The mount flanges had been replaced with ss, but the holes were drilled for a 2.0. wtf? I had the holes welded and redrilled for the 1.7. I also discovered they were not ssi's. Just factory steel. Whoever was in charge of this sale obviously had no clue of what he was selling. I also ordered a 1.7 hanger to go with it. The hanger came in a priority mail envelope. The envelope was empty.

Will I use GPR again? Probably not.

When did this happen? Unless this was over 2 years ago, this was not a GPR transaction. We are pretty much out of the used parts business. I checked our system and you have not purchased anything from GPR since I became involved. Both Jonathan and I sell our personal items from time to time so this may have been something of his. If it was more than two years ago, then that person is no longer around.

That being said, if you pm me more details, I will do what I can to resolve this to your satisfaction.

Brian

[Cfletch]

This post earned my respect for you (GPR) as a vendor. I have seen your sales sales online on certain items and as I am in the middle of a conversion to a /6 I will eventually need these parts. I also like that you guys are fairly local to me as I am in Santa Barbara and its not too far from my house.

[John]

My main gripe (if I really had one) is searching/ordering from your website.

When I go to make a big purchase, I will often PM you right on this board and ask you what your best price on item X is.

More often than not, I do order from you. Sometimes I do find a better deal, and buy someplace else, but I usually send you a PM first.

My latest thing was redoing my suspension. I did buy new torsion bars and a sway bar from you. Ironically, I bought the sway bar from you and I bought poly bronze trailing arm bushing/bearings from a company that I figured sold sway bars. (go figure)




Oops! My bad. I need to start sending YOU my parts requests. I have only been sending them to HWGUNNER (Jonathan), since he is who I have been used to sending parts requests to.