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THE LOBBY A gathering place. Introductions, sports, showin' off your ride, birthday-anniversary-milestone, achievements, family oriented humor. |
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#1
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The dreaded "repack"
I have ordered a lot of restoration parts currently, as well as thru the years. wondering if others have suffered receiving the new part ordered, only to find it was obviously a previous return/repacked and your the lucky one that gets the repack only to be un-satisfied as the previous receiver was. hate it! its even more prevalent with the large repop sheetmetal. iv'e been lucky with these except my door skins. they were good, but creased at the edges. needing the skins I kept them as they were fairly easy to correct and use and didn't have time to return and try again. but so irritating to think the shipper knew full well they were trying to dump the parts. but iv'e received repacks from average as well as the most reputable vendors.
how do you beat it? continually return until happy? call ahead and state you don't want a repack part? I once received a starter I ordered new from jegs, that actually had old grease on the supplied hardware and were in a dirty sandwich bag! I have lots of examples though. I always feel like the high end restorers don't get the repack treatment. anyway just frustrated. repacks and china crap. sucks. I had to return a dash cap for a 69 Gto 3 times to classic industries due to obvious big cracks in it. |
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#2
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In almost every case I'd rather spend a few quality hours with a used OEM part than a repop. But sometimes you just have to buy them. Keep returning them. In most cases vendor knows within a couple of weeks they have a bad reproduction on their hands. Send more stuff back and it will put more pressure on the manufacturers to produce a quality part.
I'm sure it's a tough market, everyone is trying to make a living, profit margin has got to be pretty slim. |
#3
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Amazon is great for this. Received a evap. canister for my Camry with a broken nipple. Took 3 tries to get a good grille for my Mercury.
__________________
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge |
#4
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I ordered a control arm for a previous project. It looked like it had been through the mill a few times. Looked like it was broken and re-welded. I sent it back. A couple weeks later, I received a package with the same crappy control arm in it.
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#5
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This problem is not limited to mail order parts. I have brought parts to the shop from the local parts store only to open the box and find a core in there, not even the re-manufactured part. Rebuilt calipers with the rights and lefts mixed-up in the boxes, alternators with stripped threads, one with a broken mounting bolt still in it! It's really terrible. Then what is the alternative? Buy new Chinese junk that is worse than the defective re-manufactured stuff. If my customers are willing to wait a few days, I will rebuild their OE starter and alternator for them. But finding rebuild parts is tough too. There is allot of junk out there. Repacks just add another layer of the unknown to the equation.
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#6
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Also gets you thinking when you order a left and right part and get parts that came from different vendors,look different but bolt up the same. Ball joints/wheel cylinders etc.
__________________
'68 GTO '69 Corvette '75 Cadillac Coupe Deville TOM |
#7
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This is why I'm not nearly as excited about the whole mail order/online purchasing thing as so many people seem to be today. I like to put my hands on something first, see the quality level first hand, make sure its correct and fits right. Yes, I'm spoiled because I live ten minutes from Summit, but I didn't always and it wasn't any different when I was far away, I just found other places to shop.
The extremely sad, unfortunate reality of the whole thing is that most people are not nearly stubborn or picky enough and will just take whatever someone gives them. They might bitch about it here or elsewhere, but at the end of the day they'll just bend over and take it. That's why this is so damn common today, because vendors and sellers of all types know they can get away with it. Because people are too lazy to send it back, or in too much of a hurry, or just plain stupid. I simply don't get it, because if I spend the money to buy a new product, I expect to get what I paid for and I expect it to be right and will not just accept it if it isn't. Needing to make a profit/living is no excuse. If you can't figure out how to provide a good product or service while still making a profit, find another business to be in. |
#8
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Needing to make a profit and a living is the ONLY excuse. It's the only reason ANY of these companies are in business. They are not providing a charity. It's up to the consumer to decide if the products are up to the necessary quality, if they are not, don't buy them, company goes out of business. If they are people do buy them, company stays in business. Most people shop by price, so vendors source and sell based on what the majority wants, if the majority will accept crap, that's what gets produced. The company is there to turn a profit, not to provide a "good" product or service. The demands of their customers determine if the product or service is good enough. It is buyer beware, always has been, always will be. Not up to any company to provide a "good" product, there task is to sell a product that they can make money on.
It's up to the consumer to create pressure to move to a higher quality product, if the customers don't provide that pressure, the quality will remain the same. Successful companies don't have to provide a good product, they have to provide a profitable product ... if "good" is required to be profitable, that's what they will do, if it is not required, they will sell junk and continue to make money. Sears and Roebuck was the beginning of the end. When you could order things sight unseen from a catalog, and it was junk, your options were limited. When Fred that owns the hardware store down the street sells you junk you can go talk to Fred. Fred doesn't want to have that talk, so he sells good products. Fred is now out of business, and Fred's former customers are mostly happy with the cheap junk they get for bargain prices. People producing products or services where they actually really care about the quality and the consumer are few and far between. |
#9
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Yea, I really hate that, especially when working on a customer car. Great example is calipers from NAPA. Order a pair, one comes in beautiful, powder coated black, really nice. The other side is raw iron, you know it will be a rusted mess in 2 weeks. Now what's a technician to do? I took them back to NAPA and said either re-order or give me a free can of paint. They were happy to supply paint. Just another example of the inconsistent crap they are stuck with.
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#10
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#11
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not up to the consumer to try and force a business to a quality product. -wow-
that comment speaks classically to modern society, give me the paycheck but I don't wanna work hard and earn it. the business will fail if it continues to produce junk. pride in what you make and do and provide makes the consumer come back and a business profitable. being in Kansas its really frustrating to wait 4 or 5 days shipping and receive crap and re-start the cycle. I try and order what i'm going to need a month or more ahead of time because of it. crazy. how I wish made in usa and local things still existed. and then theirs the disclaimer on truck freight for large items that you better get in the semi truck, or go to the load dock, tear open the boxes yourself for a damage check or no return while the truck driver is clearly bugged while you do it even though its their company's policy. and there are some that you still have to pay return shipping. order early and expect to return is my only venue. hate it. |
#12
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I just received these new upper/lower control arm bushings from Moog.
__________________
1965 Pontiac GTO 455/469 w/ #48 Heads, '65 Tri-Power 9.25:1 CR Stump Puller Cam Muncie M22W 1st-2.56 2nd-1.75 3rd-1.37 4th-1.00 3.55 Rear Differential Front: 225/60R15 Height: 25.6" Rear: 275/60R15 Height: 28" |
#13
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post pics so we all see the crap to avoid. I hate to admit it but I have kept some crap and worked on it to make right just from exhaustion of the return process. that's letting them win and I hate that. I do always try for and original to rework when I can. stuck on many other parts though. |
#14
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I don't confuse my personal proclivities with the realities of a modern world.
It's what keeps me smiling instead of a crotchety old man I personally manufacture and market wonderful quality items, but I'll never get rich doing it because 80% of my customers could care less about quality, they only care about price. |
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#15
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I think several of the above posts point directly to the success of places like Rock Auto. You look up the part you want and you generally have 10-20 choices for that part. From total crap you wouldn't dare install on even an enemies car, to much more expensive versions down the list. What burns me up though, is paying for the "good stuff" at the expensive end of the list and receiving a POS part like that Moog bushing in the above picture. That's where the real problem lies. Even the "best" is still crap. That's why I often use dealer parts when they are not completely crazy price wise. Good example are window regulators. Generic white box ones are 1/4th the price of good ones. But never had one make it over 3 months. Do you really want to pull your door panels 4 times a year so you can have a window go up and down? With our hobby and collector cars, OE parts are very hard to find, but re-pops always seem to fall between horrible and not usable to a best of marginally tolerable. It's a real shame.
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#16
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I'm a big fan of OEM dealer parts when working on a late model. Just ordered new windshield wipers for my 2011 GMC from a dealership. Even the Delco branded replacements are not the same quality. The GM pieces from a dealership will usually last three years instead of one or two with a "quality" replacement from an auto parts store. Plus ... no chatter.
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#17
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This
Quote:
__________________
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge |
#18
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One thing you have to like about OEM parts, most of them are sealed in individual wrappers with part numbers etc on them. I recently repaired some damage on my truck, aftermarket (but OEM supplier) bumper, and dealership braces, brackets, bolts, etc. WAY better quality than the generic suppliers of these parts. Finish excellent, welding excellent, fit excellent.
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#19
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We've stressed to our counter guys to check EVERY box. Our distribution center sends us badly reboxed stuff more times than I like to admit.
__________________
30+ Years with NAPA. Happy to help with any auto parts questions. |
#20
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Quote:
__________________
Ed 1968 GTO (Thanks Mom) 2006 Silverado 2007 Cadillac SRX 2015 Chevy Express |
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