[Jooooooe]

I'm here to back-up what Liquid Larry said about most of the trouble coming from out of Cali. I'm in the sign business and I learned not to expect good service from any company in California. So, it's not just in the automotive field and it's not just the Mid's they discriminate against, they treat everyone equally bad. I do have to say that there are some exceptions to the rule and I have to say that because being a southern person I know what it's like to be lumped together by the opinion of the outside world. There are good and bad people everywhere, no one place has a monopoly or exclusion on that fact. Right on!!

[tm454]

The Man said it, let the buyer beware for sure. Once they have your money forget you! These people I'v talked to on the phone may not even build or drive rods. I have had good luck using used/reconditioned parts. hese custom parts dealerl will loose customers, but they probably beleave there will always be others, getting the word out on them might help us all in the long run.

[Popeye]

WEST COAST 2; THE REST OF THE US 8.
Close to 10 years ago I decided to get back to my 'roots'. I decided to build a T-Bucket, and as I lived [at the time] just north of Los Angeles I felt I was in the 'birth place of hot-rodding' and would have little or no problem finding advice while building my T. Boy was I WRONG!!

Almost everyone I spoke to about whatever question I had, understood my problem and claimed they could 'fix it.' "Just bring your car and checkbook and we will get back to you." NOT the answer I was seeking. The few times I left the 'car and checkbook' the results were less than satisfactory. Never bad enough to reject the work, but always requiring something. Another 5-10 minutes of work on their part would have changed a mediocure job into a great finished product!

I moved to the midwest before the car was done [if they ever are done] and was pleasantly suprised at the helpful attitude of most everyone. Someone above mentioned Yogi's as good, I second that- I have only good things to say about them.

1923 T-Bucket
1947 Ford

[awsum34]

Larry, Your right about Yogi's, I got wrong parts from them and they made good within a week, They even paid for the return postage. You have a problem with Yogi's they want to know about it. Real good bunch of people, Even Yearwood is real good,

[securevision@msn.com]

KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN PARTNER, I JUST FINISHED A 40 FORD 2DR AND IT JUST ABOUT TOOK THE FUN OUT OF THE BUILDING THE CAR. PURCHASED A 6,000 CHASSIS WITH ALL THE GOODIES ON IT AND HAD NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. BODY WOULDN'T FIT ON IT HAD TO CUT OUT PART OF THE FLOOR BOARD, GAS TANK (STOCK OR AFTERMARKET) WOULDN'T FIT IN THE FRAME, TRANS BRACKET HAD TO BE REWORKED, SHOCKS WERE WRONG, PAID EXTRA $ TO HAVE REAR END REWORKED THE DARN THING LEAKED ALL OVER THE PLACE ETC, ETC, ETC, I COULD GO ON FOREVER. I HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS WITH THE PEOPLE I GOT P/S UNIT FROM. SHEET METAL FROM, ON AND ON. WANT DETAILS?? I WILL TELL ALL!!!

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: securevision@msn.com ]</p>

[Phat]

Well dont forget your LOCAL shop when buying some of the stuff like valve covers.Yah you will pay a little more plus sales tax.But you can touch and feel it before you buy it.Try and keep your local shops in bussiness they have a little more pull than the average guy when things go wrong.

[liquid_larry]

Phat, I agree when ever possible spend your money locally trying to save a couple bucks on parts mail ordering them often costs more in the long run.My situation with Yogies is they are located about 10 mi. from me so I'm lucky to have a good supplier of parts close to home. I've decided to go with mustII front suspension under my f100 and wanted some information about different kits,after about 20min of questions,and answers I've decided to use Heidts,I did not order any parts today because I want to find used control arms,springs,etc.,the neat part about the whole deal is when I left I had 2 calenders a new catalog and a t-shirt for free. Granted its advertising for them,but its those little things like that that say hey we want your business.

[bomo]

yesterday i calleda co no names but it sounds like dreggs and i ask the phone person if he had a lokar cat. he said no in a curt voice. i asked how come? he replied that they didn't hand out manufactures cat. to which i replied "i'm in business and i constantly hand out brochures and cat. of products i'm trying to sell" he just said
we don't. i ask how was i going to look up what i needed so i could order it from them? his reply " i don't know" i said great thanks for all your help. he didn't care one little bit. he never offered to tell me where to get a cat or anything. brother i'd love to paste thes page of replies and send it to all these suppliers. i hope they read this on hot rod.com

bomo

[Rerun Rodder]

As some guys said: "There are good and bad customer service people everywhere." I don't think it is restricted to the left coast.
I too am returning to my favorite hobby after a long while. When I was in my late teens I built a 40 Chevy at a time when it was considered a waste of time on anything other than a steel 32 Ford!
My automotive background is from the parts supplier side. I grew up in a family auto parts business.
My two cents worth: I strongly agree on supporting your local rod shops! Even if they have a little of that superiority complex (only a little mind you).
Another is to find a local parts store, I recommend an independent if you have them. I say this because an independent HAS to be more attentive to survive. Find a counterman that gives a damn about your project. "Adopt" him or her. Buy them a soda now and then. Bring them a donut or something. They will go the extra mile to help solve the little things that always pop up.
Find out about how much of a headache it is for them to return merchandise to their suppliers. Show concern for what they have to go through to help you with out-of-the- ordinary requests.
Open parts packages carefully so if they have to be returned it is a like new condition. Somtimes wholesalers will not let you return items that have to be repackaged or you can't prove came from them.
Finally, don't show up at busy or closing times if there is something you need help researching. Ask your "pet" counterman when is a good time to come by. Treat them as you want to be(the others in the store will notice!). They will put your needs ahead of someone who dumps on them!
Where I live now we have a lot of folks building side businesses that handle stuff we all use in building our cars or workshops. I try to use them for the same reasons and treat them the same way. I try to use the same vendors at all the swap meets I frequent. We have them on a monthly and seasonal basis here.
It is good to hear good things about Yogi's too. They just had a writeup in StreetRodder mag.
to bomo: Sorry to hear about your Zoops experience. Was it them or a reseller that treated you that way?

[tes0752]

I know what you mean about some suppliers. I recently had trouble with a west coast supplier, and I live on the west coast. This company wouldn't return my telephone calls, or e mails and it took them a month and half to get me the part The part was a GM performance part, valve cover adapters, you would think this part would be easy to find . I found that summitt racing has a huge inventory, helpful techs, and returning a part is no problem The company I had a problem with is located in Costa Mesa .

[maddox]

I'm also building a 36' 5 window coupe..I have fould some parts (stainles for grill)to be in
need of a lot of "hand bending" to get a good fit
but most parts of any "hotrod" require fitting...
but that's part of the enjoyment of our hobby,

[stinmar1]

I have been gathering information to help me write a book on the art of hot rodding . I have found that all of you are hitting major points . Its a shame we work hard and save and scrape up money to buy JunK!! I have a dummy 350 engine to test fit parts on and I have fabricated modified and remanufactured all sorts of stock parts faster than I could buy and expect to fit aftermarket parts . I have one rule of thumb that helps me find decent aftermarket parts . Never buy bargin no name parts or parts from companies you arent familiar with . Major parts wharehouses dont normally sell parts that come back on a regular basis . The rule of thumb with a parts wharehouse is volume so they cant make money selling dud parts . Summit, Jegs , Paw , Northwest all have friendly parts people and a good return policy . I have actually had people bring me engines and ask me to hang all their accesories and allign all the belts . As far as pulleys go I have run into the same problem but billet aluminum pulleys tend to be more true than stamped steel . As far as California ,, I wont comment but if you notice most of your better parts dealers are in the Central to eastern US, that should tell you something right there .

[bomo]

to returnrodder

yes my problem was with zoops themself. of coarse the reason for my having to deal directly with zoops was that the supplier i paid now wanted out of this mess as the had their money so why waste time with me, after all the total of that invice to them that they had the money for was only $1900.00 or there abouts so lets move on and let that customer deal with zoops it's not our problem we didn't make the stuff!!

bomo

[bomo]

rerun rodder to answer your question yes it was zoops i delt with because the distrubitor who sold me the meare total of one invoice of $1900.00 had his money so he didn't want to deal with a problem so he sent me off to zoops

bomo

[johnnymopar]

This is a very interesting topic. I haven't had any major nightmares with the auto suppliers, though. I work for an electrical wholesaler and deal with customers all the time. I always try to help the customer the best i can, and customers can be rude at times also, but that is not the point. The customer pays the bills and you have to do whatever possible to provide the best customer service. If you call somewhere and you're not getting the service you expect and/or the service person is being rude, just ask for the manager. Sometimes, unfortunately, these service people have to realize that the customer doesn't have to buy from them. The customers are what keeps businesses running. And if a company doesn't provide the service that customers want, then somebody else will. If you get some smart-a** on the phone, don't take any s*it from them. Just give it right back to them and let them know who pays the bills. And if they don't like doing their job then maybe they should find another line of work.

Just my two cents.

JB