Vendor Rant Options

[r_towle]

If you go to a lot of websites that sell parts, like rock auto, autozone etc you will notice the interface to look up parts is the same, pull down windows for year, make model etc...then scroll a list of part groups etc.

That interface is WorldPac...a direct feed to what was a Java interface, may have changed now....but about 6 years ago you would get an account as a vendor, have access to that interface and you would customize it with your logo....then you are in business.

So, when you need normal stuff, most any online store can get you what you need, drop shipped from WorldPac. For unique stuff, you need to hunt down a vendor that has it in stock, or go to the porsche dealer with a warehouse in Atlanta.....

[mepstein]

If you go to a lot of websites that sell parts, like rock auto, autozone etc you will notice the interface to look up parts is the same, pull down windows for year, make model etc...then scroll a list of part groups etc.

That interface is WorldPac...a direct feed to what was a Java interface, may have changed now....but about 6 years ago you would get an account as a vendor, have access to that interface and you would customize it with your logo....then you are in business.

So, when you need normal stuff, most any online store can get you what you need, drop shipped from WorldPac. For unique stuff, you need to hunt down a vendor that has it in stock, or go to the porsche dealer with a warehouse in Atlanta.....

We're not using it to resell but I was rebuilding a 3.6 and missing a couple seals and one of the guys also needed a carb rebuild kit and we had them by lunch. Love it!

[Bulldog9]

Between my wife and myself we've owned 3 BMW's 3 SAAB's a Subaru and now a Mercedes (SHe just bought a GLA) over the last 10 years. I also own and old GM Muscle Car, several old Motorcycles. Most if no all were 'fixer uppers" I bought cheap, and thus needed parts.

As such, and wanting OEM parts, Local Auto Parts Stores rarely fit the bill. I bought from E Europarts, the Saab Source, FCP Euro, with occasional Rock Auto or other

My 912E was my first Porsche, and opened up a whole new world of vendors. All the 914 world associated (which as said earlier are outstanding) but also Pelican, Auto Motion, AA, GPR, Sierra Madre, Parts Klassic, and the list goes on. I've also continued to buy essential OEM parts from FCP Euro who have really gotten better over the same timeframe. I even bought (holding my nose) from Parts Geek and AUtoparts King (same company).

Pelican was a great find and still is. The problem is the long delay in shipping relatively HIGH shipping prices, and not notifying you of a parts delay or out of stock/unavailable part until 2-3 days after you purchase. For me, this last part was a seat belt bolt..... Nothing on the website about time or availability of the part, not when I added it to the cart, not when I checked out, but only a day or two later I get an e-mail notifying me it is delayed for an unknown period of time. Not acceptable, particularly for specialty and rare parts.

My point is that they ARE a great source, and C.S. is excellent, but it looks like the Peter Principle is at work. They need to fix their shipping and inventory cost and problems. When most competitors can get the part out and to your door faster and for less (shipping and parts wise), you have a problem. I'm at the end of my restoration, and there are few parts I will need other than maintenance items. I love Pelican and want to see them continue, but also would like to see them bring their site and shipping up to date.

[carr914]

They should hire an early riser, 4am almost daily, that lives in a state other than California.

It's all about Taxes. Right now Warehouse Dist have to Charge Sales Tax in any State that they have a presence. Summit has 3 Warehouses (OH, GA, NV). If Pelican hired me to be their East Coast guy, because I live in Florida, the Govt considers that a presence and they would have to charge Sales Tax to any Retail Sale shipped to Florida.

Eventually this will change (the Amazon effect) as the Government wants your Money!

[a914luvr]

I don't want to make any excuses for Pelican but I will try to enlighten;

1) Unusual parts such as certain grommets, unique bolts, etc. for your 914 are typically sourced from Porsche. We are at their mercy as to availability and the timeliness in which delivery occurs. We have no way of tapping into Porsche's inventory count. They typically don't notify us if a part is NLA or in Germany until about 2 days after we've ordered it from them. The Ontario distribution center is roughly only 30 miles from us, but if a part comes from there, it still takes 3 days to get to us. If it has to come from Germany, they charge Pelican 20% additional and that is passed down to the customer. Parts coming from Atlanta take about 5-6 days. Porsche will not drop ship for us period.

2) Speaking of drop ships, Pelican will drop ship as much as possible. Some vendors will drop ship, some won't. Some that offer to drop ship charge a fee and others, for various reasons, are asked to send everything to us. Then there are certain vendors that we do so much volume with that we just have everything come to us automatically.

3) If any part of an order is drop shipped, the entire order is billed immediately. The thought process there is Pelican will simply refund your credit card if something doesn't show up or is canceled. If the entire order is assembled at Pelican, the card is not billed until it's shipped.

4) Now, speaking of shipping, I don't want to get into that too much but I will tell you Wayne has worked really hard to make it fair and efficient to US and Int'l customers when it comes to cost and timeliness. Pelican does NOT make any money on shipping. Matter of fact, I'm sure it's quite the opposite. The minimum is $4.75 for USPS 1st class mail. Pelican will only do that on small parts with minimal value. I think they've had too many things get lost and too many customers receive empty, torn open envelopes. Free shipping happens at $179 as long as the order isn't excessively heavy or large. If the order does get free ground, it's free regardless of how many packages you end up getting.

5) Pelican is a rather large company now. They have a good upper management staff that is constantly working to improve things and evolve. It's constantly a learning process and some changes work better than others. Many of the changes made are the direct result of the customer surveys and comments received by you. Trust me on this one, your comments are read. Every last one of them. Take the time to state your opinion.

6) Pelican relies heavily on email. Keep an eye on your's after you've placed an order and check your spam folder. They try hard to keep you informed but sometimes there are issues and/or delays we are not made aware of right away.

7) It will be 11 years for me in April. With all the ongoing changes to operations, the catalog, shipping, etc. even I don't know what to expect sometimes with regards to a parts order. With that said, if you aren't sure about something or want an inside opinion on what to expect before placing your order, just call me on ext 240 or email me; glenn at pelicanparts dot com.

[JRust]

I've had nothing but great service & turn around from Pelican. Sounds like there have been some problems as of late. I haven't placed an order in 5 months or so. In 10+ years I haven't had anything take over 5 days to get to me. Typically it is a 3 day turn around (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) . I love Pelican

[Darren C]

Having read this thread, I can sympathise with everyone’s experience.
The main issue I have is the modern world we now find ourselves in.
Vendors advertise and list parts they do not have, own or have no technical knowledge of.
Websites mostly don’t tell you if things are out of stock or back order. Very few flag up an out of stock at check out, others tell you by email several days later, not at all, or only when you’ve chased them as to why your part hasn’t arrived.
It seems to be common place now and I tend to email or phone first to ask the guy “have you got it, can you physically check (go find it in your store & and not rely upon a computer stock list) and is it damaged?
Even then I have the odd occasion when the part arrives wrong, broken or with bits missing.
Gone are the days of storekeepers that are knowledgeable in their wares.
Those following my Build-off Challenge thread will have read about a UK company who have specialised in only Porsche for over 30 years that still sent me Mercedes bearings and Beetle brake rotors that were supposed to be 914 stock. These were advertised on their Porsche website with the correct Porsche part number and 914 description as being available for $116USD each rotor. I paid in full and paid extra for a 3 day shipping service. After 4 months with no exchange parts, they point blank refused to replace the items with the correct 914 parts (unless I paid them a further $205 USD for them to buy from a different supplier to their normal supplier) and told me to go sell what they’d sent me on ebay to “get my money back”. The update is that after several lawyers letters we ended up in a UK courthouse for “Breach of Contract” under the UK “sales of goods act”. They didn’t bother to show at Court so the judge found in my favour. A County Court Judgement was issued and they had 14 days to refund my money for the Brake Rotors plus my legal fees.
Suffice to say they didn’t pay.
I then had to get a High Court Writ (enforcement order) against the company. This was issued and gave them 7 days to pay, otherwise High Court Sheriffs would call on them and recover money or goods.
Guess what….they ignored that too.
Anyway a week last Friday the Sheriffs called on them and recovered my money. Under UK law they also recovered my legal fees and added their labour charge on top!
What would have been a simple “sorry the parts are out of stock” right at the beginning of the saga ended up costing them over $2000 USD for a $230 USD sale.

Now to make matters worse, I get home from work today and open my mail. There is a letter from the County Court. Berlyn Services have gone and logged an appeal against the whole Court Judgement!!!!!
Now I have to take another day of work in 2 weeks time to go back to the Courthouse and fight the appeal…..
In the meantime I still have a very large paper weight in my office that is a box with 2 Beetle rotors in and still haven’t received a penny from the case as my refund is on hold pending the results of the appeal.

And you guy’s think you got it bad…..

All I wanted was the 914 parts I'd paid in good faith for :-(

[r_towle]

I recently ordered some clutch cable parts from pelican, over the phone.
I had him check on each item to see if it was in stock, they all showed in stock, plenty of inventory.

Only after I confirmed everything was in stock did I place the order, 2 day delivery.
Well, they did nothing on the order for a week, it was "being assembled"
I called the main line.
Several of the parts were on back order, no clue on ETA.

I felt lied to by the company, certainly no the people I worked with.
The computer system says its in stock, it should be in stock, not a special order.
It was parts I COULD have called around and found elsewhere.

Tell Wayne to get his inventory controls better....he used to be spot on, but as he grew, he got sloppy, too sloppy to maintain a solid reputation.

Things happen, it's how you fix these growing pains that determines if your business survives and keeps growing or fails due to lack of solid middle management that actually give a shit.

I blame middle management 100% for this failure.
The parts sales guys don't control it.
Wayne is to busy managing the whole business.
The staff he hired to take over these functions a failing to do the job that is required, yet they are pulling a nice paycheck.
Put the middle management in a room and give them a pep talk-walk talk...
Keep up the reputation you built, make sure they start giving a shit about time.....because your customers have a choice and WE care about time.

And, like George.....have Wayne come answer.....he used to participate in the hobby and talk to people outside his own forum......he needs to do that again to keep his reputation solid.

[Amphicar770]

Another pet Peeve, not directed at Pelican, is when vendors do not show the country of origin for parts. I hate paying a premium only to receive a made in China part I could get at the FLAPS for half the price. This is one area where Amazon is really poor.

[Steve]

Most my issues are east coast versus west coast ship times. I used to shop at Performance Products, because of price and quick shipping (west coast). Since they got bought out by Eklers in Florida, it takes a week to get my parts. Pelican has faster shipping but typically more expensive depending on the parts.