I had order left and right Anodized gutter retainingstrips pt# (91453182411)( It holds the rubber weather strip down on the left and right sides of the A pillars in front of the doors )for my 914 from Auto Atlanta. Lots of drama which i didnt really have any problems with as long as i got them. Anyways they came to today and they sent me two right side retaining strips. Not happy since i had talked to Auto Atlanta about Porsche not making Left driver side retaining strips any more and we would wait to see if they could source another manufacturer to get the left side. This is the part that i have a problem with! Called Drew at AA and he told me all i have to do is bend it-Thats what they do at their shop -they just bend the right side retaining strips so its the same shape as the left side. I call BS can't be done!! If im wrong i apologize but i say no way(esp on a brand new $100 part). Has anyone done it and how?

Welcome to dealing with **. Get a return ticket, their nickle, post a wtb in classifieds and buy a set for about 1/3 the cost prob shipping included. If they give you any static, just call your credit card co and dispute the charge. I'm sure ** is used to the program.

I just don't understand what the F is wrong with AA? They seem to alienate customers at every opportunity they get. Bend it......

What did they charge you, the total?

got your pm. call your credit card co and dispute the charge before you have any further contact with **. they sent you a bad order. period! asshats! phase 2 of the biz plan is explaining away the non-sense and throwing away the notion of THEIR fuch up. post the details you shared with me if you're comfortable with that. phase 3 is their way of keeping a portion of the sale and squeezing their 'handling fee' in their grubby hands. no other parts house, that i'm aware of, pulls those types of shenanigans. post a want to buy in the classifieds. you'll prob get the fasteners as part of the deal too. you are going to get better pricing and customer service from the vendors and members here. head shaking in disgust.

Hi Paul

We never talked about sourcing another manufacturer for this item. We do not have one and do not plan on finding one. The only thing ever talked about was the fact that Porsche has SS'ed this item and Porsche says to bend it. This is what we do because it's what Porsche says to do. I passed a long the note to our service manager to give you a call as I said I would. I'm unsure if they have called you yet or not as I know they are quite busy. If you want to give me a call back I will get you in touch right away and they can help you out.




"Phase 2" as you so eloquently put it, in this case happens to be the same thing that Porsche is telling customers about this part number. Factory supersessions aren't always as easy and changing a 10mm bolt with the same bolt using a different part number. That is something that we as a community of car restorers have to live with.

"Phase 3" sounds quite ominous how you describe it as well. Unfortunately the reality of the situation is that if Paul was to return this item as we discussed, and how we discussed, we would all end up losing money. Indeed, you did read that correctly, A A would lose money and make 0 profit. But this is something I was willing to do to help an unhappy customer as best as I could. I would also like to know exactly what you are referring to? Our return policies are less strict than our major competitor.

Feel free to contact me directly if you wish to have any questions or concerns answered.

Drew
Auto Atlanta
1-800-792-4944 ext-113 or 2 for Parts.

Who is your major competitor?

The one I was referring to in this case is Pelican.

No dog in this hunt...sounds like Drew is trying to do the right thing. If Porche says bend it then bend it. Other option is a WTB ad and pick up a good used one. Let us know the outcome.

Except pelican is 180 degrees away in customer service

here we go…as you can see the formed curve in this used one, a driver's side btw, distinctly bends to the centerline of the car looking at it from top to bottom. how is one expected to recurve the piece, whilst maintaining the correct aspect to follow the opposite side of the car is beyond me. after the piece is bent, at your direction, does the buyer just throw it in the trash if it goes south? if it's no big deal, why doesn't ** prebend a few so the customer just install the part instead of some big hassle? do the ones you expect to be re-curved have the factory crimps to retain the side leg of the targa top seal or is the inside edge unblemished? i don't know if the buyer purchased just the 2 strips or if there more in his order box. BUT, if he was charged $25.50 shipping for just these 2 items, that amount far, FAR exceeds what the actual shipping should be. whether USPS ground (even priority for that matter), fedex or ups. any difference is pure profit. factor in the $ for any account reductions (i know how that works personally) and a pretty fat hog is being slaughtered imho. was paul informed of the fact that you only carry one side and he would have to bend the wrong side to fit prior to or after the transaction was completed? btw, any problem i've had with pelican orders was rectified and they provided me with a return ticket. i didn't even have to go to a fedex location. i downloaded the ticket, put the box at my front door and it was gone at no expense to me. they WANT return customers. iirc i've only had 1 problem and it was resolved with 1 brief phone call. check with randy or bruce if you don't believe me.

let me know if you want better pictures or want to continue the discussion. the boss should be handling disgruntled customers unless he is too busy doing most of the postings @ 914club.

and thanks for the "eloquently". very polite of you. or was that sarcasm?

**warning, long winded semi wall-o-text**

Off the car re-bending the item would be*is* difficult. I went back and pulled 2 used guide channels and sat at a 914 in the shop to see for myself how it's done. The longer more gradual that extends down the pillar to the door is easily straightened out and bent the opposite way. I was able to do it on my desk with no tools by just pressing and twisting gradually, I would not advise this however. I would suggest getting the top 2 holes lined up and mounted in first. My service manager said even the factory holes on the correct side take some lining up, so you will have to work at it with your thumb, a pick, and screw driver(for leverage) to bend and pry it to the correct shape. Once the top is started the rest will be easily manipulated into place with little force. Don't try to do it in one bend like you're using a tq wrench. Little increments are the best way to avoid bends, kinks, and stress cracks. Once you have the item bent to fit, you may have to re-drill 3 of the lower holes if they do not match up any longer.

It would be a case to case basis for return in this situation. If you were to order it from a dealer, who are aware of this as well, bent it like you need to and then tried to return it.... they wouldn't take it back. So we would most likely not take it back. Again we are not the only company who would say or do this.

We would not prebend the items for the pure fact that it would spike prices even higher. We would have to add labor rate onto the item itself to pay for the techs in the back to do it. It's lengthy so it wouldn't be cheap, we also don't sell many so overhead would then be a concern if we prebent without orders.

Yes Paul was aware that we only carry one side, yes he is aware that Porsche doesn't even make the other side. That's pretty clear in earlier posts. Yes he was aware they are not bent the same on left and right and would have to be modified.

Pelican has outstanding customer service. I use them for BMW parts myself. I have never had an issue. Pelican only sends calltags(what you described) if they messed up and sent the wrong items, or if it was something that was clearly their fault and wrong. Which we do as well. Being that this item technically wasn't wrong as it's the correct factory supersession and how Porsche supplies them, it falls into that wonky "grey area" which is why I was willing to work with Paul for the best outcome. I offered no restock, but no call tag.

In regards to shipping cost the simple answer is no. Using arbitrary numbers. Lets say I charged $15 dollars for shipping. $10 of that was my FedEx cost. That leaves me with $5 to cover the boxes, tape, packing material which could cost say $4 and labor costs of the shipping department. Sure, there will be some left over for profit, that's how businesses function. But for clarity sake, if you were to put in the shipping information from this order via fedex(which was used) its just over $21 dollars without cost for box, packing material, insurance, or paying someone to pack it.

I will be back online in the morning. Again feel free to call me, or email me at parts@autoatlanta.com

Got it. Thanks.

Damn It Kevin, is that off my 914 ??

Do you mean the one you haven't paid for and I'm charging you $25 per day for storage? not off mossy.

I know this doesn't solve your issue but Patrick's site seems to have them new / says they are OEM Ergo, why can't AA get hold of them rather than all this bending new part BS

http://914er-shop.de/en/chrome-body-trim

just about the same $ as retail for the WRONG part. shipping from the UK prob isn't much more. i hear crickets...