Vendors losing your parts

[68moparbob]

Just curious,  has anyone else sent parts/components to vendors to be rebuilt and the vendor lose them?
About 2 years ago I sent my water pump to a vendor in Florida to be rebuilt.  He sent a rebuilt pump back, but it was pitted and the casting number was not the same. When I called him he said he had no idea what happened to my pump. I  finally received a pump with the correct casting number, but it was clearly not the pump from my original matching numbers car. After dealing with the guy, I felt lucky just to get a pump back.
Recently I sent my hood hinges to a reputable hinge rebuilder in New Hampshire. He sent me a set of rebuilt hinges for a Ford! When I contacted him,  he basically said the same thing as the guy in Florida. He didn't have a clue as to what hinges he sent me, and he had no idea what happened to my hinges. Keep in mind, I had put all my contact information on each hinge and put a note in the well packaged box with all the vehicle information and contact info as well. He remembered receiving the hinges and taking pics, but had no clue where they were. I also took pics of every marking on both hinges.
Well, all he could offer me was another set of B-body hinges, so I reluctantly accepted them, fearful that I might end up with nothing.
The ones he sent me were very nice, but they were not the ones I sent him.
Oh, BTW, I paid to ship his Ford hinges back to him and he did not offer to reimburse me. And to tell you the truth,  I was so frustrated with the whole ordeal, I forgot to ask him about reimbursement.
Anyone else had issues similar to this?

[A383Wing]

I kinda had the same issue......I sent a guy 3 complete sets of power window motors....I told him to rebuild one set and he could have the other 2 sets as payment for rebuilding the one set for myself......fast forward about a year and a half....still have not seen my power window motors......so I kept after him about this.....finally I got a package in the mail....it was a complete set of 4 power window motors....none of them were rebuilt, and 3 of them did not work at all......

So I'm still without working motors and he has kept the other 8 for himself......needless to say I will not recommend anyone to him for motor service in the future....

Bryan  (and my car still sits without any working power windows)

[birdsandbees]

Guess I'm lucky, the platers lost my hood release rod that goes between the latch and lever. Nothing else..

[DAY CLONA]

I kinda had the same issue......I sent a guy 3 complete sets of power window motors....I told him to rebuild one set and he could have the other 2 sets as payment for rebuilding the one set for myself......fast forward about a year and a half....still have not seen my power window motors......so I kept after him about this.....finally I got a package in the mail....it was a complete set of 4 power window motors....none of them were rebuilt, and 3 of them did not work at all......

So I'm still without working motors and he has kept the other 8 for himself......needless to say I will not recommend anyone to him for motor service in the future....

Bryan  (and my car still sits without any working power windows)

If you have any motors to be rebuilt, send them to Hydro-E-lectric... or you could just substitute aftermarket new/rebuilt motors from 83-93 Dodge Ram Pick up/Ramcharger applications, slight modifications to mounting base/wiring plug end

[Troy]

And this is why/how I end up just learning to do things myself. For the most part, my Mopar parts eventually make it back to me - but none (so far) in the amount of time promised. My worst experience was with my 70 Mach 1. I bought it for my dad and the goal was to keep it driveable so he could enjoy it. He told me the steering was getting bad and he wasn't comfortable driving the car so, I figured if he wasn't going to drive it any way that I could take it apart and "do it right". I did offer to put on all the aftermarket parts so the car would still be mobile and then put the rebuilt originals back on when it was convenient. I figured we'd just trash the new ones or keep them as spares (new ones are about 1/3rd the cost of rebuilding) but he didn't want me to "waste" money. Any way, removed, tagged, and boxed all the original pieces including brackets and everything that could be attached (the restorer said he'd blast and paint it all to match) and sent them off for a 6 week turnaround. Keep in mind some of these parts are 1 year only specifically for a 351C in a Mustang and are hard to find! Three years later after countless calls and emails and even explaining why it was so important to have these parts back (dad has cancer) I ended up purchasing the entire setup from one of his competitors and paid the crazy "core" prices on everything. At one point he said they were waiting to be painted, another time he said they got mixed up on delivery, another time he said he didn't remember ever getting them, another time he said they were accidentally dumped into a pile of cores he bought on eBay, and so on. I really just needed the car back on the road! It was very stressful. During this time, complaints started piling up about this guy. I have no idea how many people went through the same ordeal as me.

For Mopar stuff, I had an auto trans rebuild take 4 weeks that was quoted at 4 days, a 4speed trans rebuild that took 11 weeks that was quoted at 2, 6 weeks for an 8 3/4 rear gear swap that was supposed to take "a couple days", "assembly" of a 440 short block took 2 years and 1 day for less than a week of work (I paid up front like an idiot), seat recovering for the Cuda took over 2 months and the rear seat came back crooked after I was told 10 days. I'm sure there are more. Most of these took place during the summer so my car(s) were down during prime driving season. This is why they're so memorable/frustrating. Don't even get me started on a "friend" who volunteered to help me replace the blown engine in my truck because "he'd get it done way faster". 1 year and 2 days later I got it back with many missing/broken fasteners, a serious vacuum leak, leaky valve cover (I supplied all gaskets and seals for the replacement motor) and mangled wiring. It took me 6 weeks to fix all the mistakes and get it running right. I could have done the swap myself in a couple weekends. And yes, I paid up front because I'm an idiot. The vehicle was supposed to be a "quick flip" but tied up a pile of cash for almost 15 months.

Troy

[Lennard]

Live and learn Troy. Every (classic) car owner has stories like that... myself included. 

[taxspeaker]

Agree Troy

My favorite is a washington based Mopar "carb expert"-I sent the carb off of our daytona, paid in advance and also sent the choke. When they came back twice as long as told, everything looked real pretty, but when I bolted the carb on the car it leaked fuel everywhere, flooded out immediately and the choke didn't work. Frustrated, I pulled apart the carb myself over several days (my hands shake and I have trouble with detail work) and found the wrong bowl gasket (hadn't sealed), the wrong accelerator pump spring and a brass float that had quite evidently been dropped or something because it had a hole in it causing it to flood and never stop. I rebuilt the carb myself, and it started and ran fine until warm. I took the choke back off, and looked inside and found the exterior was a really pretty replating while the insides were still the same, needless to say that a new choke finished solving all of the issues.

Similar results with 1 of our windshield wiper motor specialists.

Once again I have learned to be very careful with rebuilders, except the ones I have used, and I keep a detailed list of who, when sent, what sent (with pictures), email printouts and date received back, installed and running results.

[Mopar Nut]

Give us those vendors names, so the rest of us will not support them.

[68moparbob]

The vendor that lost my original water pump was Cowboy John's Antique Auto Parts (John Plaskan)
Webster,FL.
The vendor that lost my hood hinges was S&M Auto Restoration Services, Derry, NH.
Now, on the other hand, I sent my seat and shoulder belts to Upholstery Mods and More, Spanaway WA, to be reconditioned. Their customer service was awesome, and the belts looked great.  I was very pleased with them.

[taxspeaker]

My results over the last couple of years-your experience may differ!

   

[taxspeaker]

I decided to remove my list to avoid nasty results, but I always respond to PM's

[myk]

Overall the car hobby, with respect to vendors, has never impressed me; they work at their own pace and have little to no urgency for whatever it is we gave them our hard earned money for.  When and if my life with the Charger is done I am out of the hobby as it is.  I don't have the patience or the time to waste stressing about people who don't care about me but are completely willing to take my money...

[bakerhillpins]

I decided to remove my list to avoid nasty results, but I always respond to PM's

Curious as to what nasty results you speak? As long as you relay your experiences it's fine.