Okay, I need to vent out regarding a recent purchase of a rear valance from Automotion (Ecklers).

It was cheaper than AA so I ordered one online on the 03/18/13. According to their website it was dropped ship from California. I am in California so I thought it would not take too long.

After a week I called Automotion, who told me it usually takes 10 days for oversize items, so I called them again after 10 days, and they said to give a little more time.

I called them on the 15th day, and they finally called the vendor and found out that the vendor failed to ship it. I received two calls from managers the next day, who assured me that they had straightened out the vendor and my item is enroute. I should get it by last Saturday no later than Monday.

Guess what still no package. I called today, and they checked the vendor and found out again that the item had not ship and they will ship it today

On a separate matter, I also ordered one of those red heater knobs on the floor to replace my faded one. I returned that because it was colored more like a red grape. My old one looked better.

I am not telling you folks not to buy from them, but I will never buy from them again.

Sometimes paying more is better.

but you will get ripped off much worse if you pay AA...

I would only buy from GPR or pelican, this clubs vendors, or speciality places....

I Believe Automotion is part of a Butt-Fuch Company now out of Melbourne, FL that was once Eckler's.

I ordered a small Part that would fit in an envelope a couple of years ago and they wanted $20 Bucks to Ship

I have found if you call them and talk to someone the shipping charges become much more reasonable. Online they simply ship by price bands. Lots of shops do this, including really good ones like Bus Depot.

All it takes is a phone call.

Zach

Mikey914 (Mark at 914Rubber.com) has the red heater knobs. Better pricing, more honest, great quality and in general just one hell of a guy.

I painted my heater knob

That's TMI Mark

I think they sent it ground from Ontario to SF. Probably going to take another week.

In the back of my mind, had a feeling this might turn ugly

I always try a local vendor first. GPR, Pelican etc. Having said that, if a part is drop shipped, anything can happen because you are relying on a third party to do their job. Many times your shipment might be a priority with the vendor but not so much with the company that's actually shipping the part.
Cheers, Elliot

Placed a couple of orders with him in the last few days. Awesome to deal with and prices can't be beat!

They know nothing. The call center folks, while friendly, are not car people at all. I have a 22 weltmeister bar on my 911 that needed new bushings. They had no idea what I was talking about. Then I was told by a "senior supervisor" that the bushings were not available - WTF. He said I should probably just buy an entirely new swaybar kit. I asked him why he would think I would buy another one of their products if they could not even provide replacement parts of normal wear items. He could not answer me.

After searching both here and on the bird board I found a old post that contained old part numbers. Called back and give them just the numbers. Sure as sh!t they had them available. Ordered two sets just to be safe.

Total idiots. Oh, and yes, my 20.00 order cost 20.00 to ship.

Sometimes people screw up, sometimes parts are made to order, sometimes parts are made in runs to be cost effective. Sometimes people fail to pick up the phone and talk to the company or supplier. It's great to talk to a person but always quote what was said after the call confirmation email of what was said and ALWAYS ASK FOR A TRACKING #. A tracking # is like a lie detector test, if the product hasn't been ordered or shipped from supplier they don't have one, they forgot to order it or it's on back order. If they say it did ship then ask for a tracking # again if they say they don't have one they are lying it hasn't shipped. If they said it did ship and have a tracking # then you know when it was shipped. Again you can tell when it was shipped and if they lied about it or not.

I have had a group buy that said they will take a week to a month turn around after payment, then it took 8 months to only get a damage one from lousy boxing from the manufacture or the courier throwing it around. If I overreacted I wouldn't have got to keep the damage one till the replacement showed up. In the end they let me keep both and I was able to sell the dented one for a couple of hundred bucks.


I have order parts from Cali to go to Seattle but they got shipped all the way back east to a sorting facility and then got lost for a few weeks as the label came off then finally shipped to Seattle. To be honest I'm amazed how often I order parts from the other side of the country and have show up a few short days later at my door for under $20 undamaged or lost or at least thats the case 99% of the time.



We are so lucky that we still have people building parts and suppliers carrying parts that are for a car that's 40+ years old. Sometimes it pays to be patient sometimes it doesn't pay to be cheap and go with used or a cheap product from a Z supplier that doesn't have much or good feed back.




Anyway good luck and let us know how it goes.

I'm going to put one in the plus column for Automotion (Ecklers). I ordered front an rear hood struts for my 911 nine years ago with a lifetime guarantee. Since then Automotion was combined with Ecklers. The struts no longer worked so, I was interested to see if they would honor the guarantee. I expected the worst like, "We no longer honor the lifetime guarantee since we are now part of Eklers". When I called they said to return the old ones, with a copy of the original invoice, and they will ship a new set. It took a couple of weeks but, I got them, no problem.

Dave

Is thos tho old
PB Tweeks

PB Tweeks was purchased by MidAmerica Motorworks, the they shut down the Porsche parts division. They still sell VW and Corvette parts from Effingham, IL.

Automotion had combined with Performance Products years ago, and now was sold to Ecklers.

It seems all these suppliers seem to go downhill once the original owners retire/sell the business, and the new owners just look at the bottom line. GPRS seems to be the notable exception.

I only ordered once from them. I ordered CARB legal headers for my Boxster a few years back. Said right on the website that they were CARB legal. I got them and they had no bungs for the O2 sensors and no CARB#.

Called them right up, oh yah... we are 'working on getting the CARB#.'

Ok, well I'm going to to need a return authorization for these...

No problem, you can return them - AT YOUR EXPENSE!

Really? you lied in your advertizing and I called you on it so I can return them at my own expense?

Ok, I learn quick. You're toast...

You are absolutely right, I should have asked for a tracking number last week. I did ask one yesterday. UPS has not updated their website and it still shows the item at their UPS store. I guess they did not ship it overnight

Had that exact same thing happen this week.

Good customer cancelled an order as the vendor is having trouble getting the shipment together.

It happens.

That said; I just moved out of the corporate "Big fish eats all the little fish" world and so far, they have a 100% track record of killing off what they purchase. I was in management with Guitar Center until last November. I watched them purchase The Woodwind and The Brasswind, the worlds largest band and orchestral retailer... they killed it. Music & Arts? Dead. They purchased Harmony-Central... and killed it. They purchased Music123... and? Ready for it? They killed it. They are currently in the process of killing Musician's Friend as well. Bain Capital at work.

Companies are started by individuals with a passion, like Rob Eastman and Al Denardi of Musician's Friend. When they are sold off, the buyers simply have a passion for one thing... margin. While margin is good and can keep the lights on and the website humming, critical business decisions involving customer loyalty and competitive marketing are often tossed aside in the name of the holy mission - profit. I can tell you first hand, they may spends months or even years crafting a fancy mission statement but in those board meetings, the only thing they think about is comping to the previous year/quarter/month and... margin. I would bet my 401K that "None" of the top executives could even recite an "overview" of their companies mission statement. Every CEO out there should spend a mandatory minimum 1-week on the phones or on the assembly line.

So... Automotion swallows Performance Products. Eckler swallows Automotion. Big call centers answer the phones and you need to figure out which CV you need for your mid-year 1975 911. Good luck (to all parties involved).

Whew... that was a load to get off my chest!

The good thing is; those giants are DYING a FAST death. No? Best Buy? Staples and Office Max merger as they both flail while treading water? Guitar Center? read this: "All of them are getting their @$$'s handed to them by some guy on eBay or Amazon who can not only beat their price but kick the living crap out of their service." The Mom and Pop's are back! CARma.

Almost forgot: FDLFBFG

Well said Eric, I couldn't agree more. I had great luck with Performance Products over the years and I miss them; never had a bad experience with them. On the other hand I've dealt with AA and I had a terrible experience with Pelican back a few years ago and haven't ordered from them since, but I never say never.

But dealing with everyone on this board has been terrific, including you, of course.

By the way what does FDLFBFG mean?

Update.

I realized the UPS tracking they gave me starts with a K with 10 numbers. This number when entered on the UPS website only tells me that the item is at their office but does not track it. We all know that UPS tracking numbers starts with a 1Z.

I called back Automotion aka Ecklers and the person refused to call the vendor for the tracking number and said I needed to create a ticket to request that tracking number.

Unf*cking-believable!!!

At this point, I just want to know what week, month or year I will get my rear valance.

I am currently on the phone with their customer service line at their corporate office with someone trying to help me.

Automotion? What is this 1995?

I have always had good service with them and thought the products were great. They shipped fast to east coast too.
Sorry you had a bad deal.

With the way things are going, I would not be surprised the valance arrives damaged or the wrong part.

All I can do now is laugh about this

I have not had any problems with the few purchases I made with them. However they were small items that were easily shipped. I remember the days when all we had were the Tweeks , Automotion and Perfomance Products catalogs and of course the local Porsche Dealer to get your parts from. Hardly anything could be found slightly used. I don't miss those days at all!
I just got my second order from Restoration Design today. Other than the 3 days it took to process the order and get it to FedEx it went flawlessly. They still got it here a day sooner than I thought it would when I ordered it.

If it does come it won't fit...

Yup, That too!

I bot the same part awhile back from their showroom when they were in Van Nuys Ca...by the time I went to install it they were gone to Florida.

Unless they have fixed the mold the piece is short on the ends. They don;t quite make it to the wheel well edge.

also bot a Coverlay dash cover in the same purchase. A year and a half later I also realized it was defective..cut short...again.

Florida forced me to deal with Coverlay direct.

So hell I called them. And you know what? They said take a picture, cut the label off the back and send it to them...I paid $18 for shipping and two weeks later had a new perfect fit cover.

Great people at Coverlay...Texas I think.

Actually, the other way around. Automotion used to be here in Sunnyvale, not far from where we had dinner before the Historics last year. Their swap meet was one of the highlights of the local PCA world. Their main claim to fame was a super-zoomy glossy catalog with lots of photos in it.

The owners (I think it was the Greens?) retired and sold the business to Performance Products, down in La-La Land.

I had no idea the brand had been sold again...

--DD

F*UCK

Friends don't let friends buy from George. Consider it a public service announcement.

Mike only ships on tuesdays. It allows him to make one bulk shipment and it saves you a little on the shipping costs. FWIW Most everytime I place an order on Monday I have it by wednesday or thursday at the latest

*Like*

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I used to deal exclusively with Tweeks when they had a store at the base of Signal Hill. When they left town, I started buying from a little start up company called Pelican Parts ...

Got it! I learned that dealing with AA many years ago. Even stopped by their shop one day in 2000 on my way through Atlanta and toured the place and talked to George. He has some great 914s though.

I once really came to the conclusion that they were doing it on purpose. It seemed inconceivable that I could get the wrong part on 5 successive orders. Especially when they asked me to ship one of the wrong parts to the intended customer on my dime. I will say that he provides a good introduction to parts for people who are just starting out. They have photos of a lot of parts in one nice catalog. Some advice to be taken with salt. Just like mine.

In marked contrast I received a new floor pan from Resto Designs packaged perfectly and arriving on time. I hope Mike isn't watching because they did make a mistake: they added two extra floor seat supports (that I need to go with the other floor panels I bought from them).

I'm very familiar with Pelican, AA, and Automotion. but please excuse my ignorance, who is GPR??

http://www.gprparts.com/

....I dealt with them alot in the 90's(no problems then)
things change

I bought a few things from AA early in my restoration because I had no idea who sold parts anymore. I used to be well connected through the 80's and early 90's but I fell out of touch. After I replaced the floor pan I thought maybe I should replace the tunnel as well? So I called AA and they informed me that no one makes a replacement piece but they had several excellent choices and convinced me that they could solve my problem. After nearly a month they sent me a bigger rusted out piece of shit that I should have got a tetnus shot before touching it, It was worse than the original one in the car. I called them several times about returning it and after getting the run around I gave up. I won't say I will Never buy from them again because they may have something no one else has but I will gladly tell everyone about my issues with them.

Alight now that we are complaining I've had it with AA! Back over a year, I saw that they had all the aluminum trim for 914 made by the original maker, so what could be better right! Well, the shipment came rather quick! My first thought was thats a small box, they sent a couple pieces so I called and the rest was on its way, well time rolls by and I called again at that point I was told it was still being made,,,, yes in Germany! I did get it in time but it turns out that one pice was never available in the fist place, done.

So back in Feb I receive a email that the 914 flares were being made by AA again at a very good price $790 a set. I bought one set. I get two tracking #s, I figured they shipped the set in two boxes. When the flares came, yes how lucky I received two sets so I checked and found I had been charged for two sets and the free shipping only applied if you spent $1,000! But yes the shipping and handling was $74.00 for one set and $83.00 for the second set!

Being I received them on Friday afternoon and AA on the East coast me on the West AA was closed, so I put them on classified here thinking someone might like them at my coast with the shipping and handling from AA added in. Well, no one bought so I called AA got a return # and shipped them back! After I see the conformation that the shipment was received by AA I gave them a few days and received no $$ so I called again and he tried to give me some crap that the shipment never was received. I let him know that I had a conformation that they had received them ,, oh yes well get it taken care of. Finally after about a week I received $632.00 in my bank from AA,, another call and I found that I was charged for restocking and all shipping to and from. I assured them I only ordered one set but according to them I made two separate orders,, tuff finally after he said he would get back to me with in the hour I received a f--king email couple days later saying what time I made the 2 individual orders and refunded the restocking fee, no shipping!

^^^ I placed an order for the upper wheelhouse with AA it was about $10 cheaper then RD and offered free shipping. So cool placed the order and they shipped the order I my order and the invoice they sent me just had the product no tax or shipping. I checked my Visa charges and was charged $60 more then what the invoice/shopping cart said? I phoned and said why was I charged an extra $60? Apparently it was an over sized item but they never phoned or pre authorize the charge via phone or email. Plus the website never had a comment about that product anywhere that it was oversized. I manage to get them cover $20 of the shipping as that's what a smaller item that had free shipping would have received. ( But that was after multiple calls and emails) They never end up crediting my CC but a month later I ordered a vacuum and fuel kit for the engine bay for a 1.7 but they finally applied the credit to that order. Personally I wouldn't have order from them again but they seemed to be the only ones with a precut vacuum and fuel line kit with good instructions.

Guys - Reguardless of who you are ordering from, when you order with a credit card (not debit card) and there is a problem that the vender fails to fix in a reasonable time or manner, call your card company and they will (usually) take care of things for you. Credit cards offer a ton of protection and the card companies typically do a very good job protecting the buyer.

UPDATE #2

As I mentioned on UPDATE #1, I called a different CS number because the other peeps would not give me the right UPS tracking number. This CS number was for their corporate office in Titusville, Florida.

This new CS person was also not able to provide me a real tracking, but said she just spoke to UPS and assured me the valance would arrive by Friday end of day.

I also got an email from a CS manager that I bitched out on the phone and by email, who also assured me that UPS is delivering my item on Friday.

Guess what, it's 830pm Friday night and still no package. In fact, UPS had already arrived around noon to deliver an overnight package from Amazon.com.

I am ready to punch someone already!!!!

This is a good idea. I may just do it!

Ecklers also replaced my 10 year old Automotion life time guaranteed hood shocks for free, so good on them.

My friend and mechanic who specializes in 914s says that the above named is the last place he would shop for parts based on experience.