Any Else Have A Problem like this With Poston's???

[dougie]

I ordered an ABS headliner and visors from, Poston's for my son's '86 GN on April 13th. They charged my MC for both on April 14th. It included $53.20 shipping.
- Hadn't heard anything so I called on April 25th and was told it was on it's way.
- Called again on May 2nd and was told it shipped on April 16th (Kentucky to Illinois). Said they would check and call back. Didn't hear so I called back late in the day. Tony told me the shipper (it is drop shipped from a company called "Parts Unlimited") said it went to shipping "a while ago" and he would check.
- I was told that it was sitting in shipping and they would ship right away.
- I received it on May 5th. Opened it and found that 1) the fabric had marks down the middle and something resembling three fingers that would have been dragged across it. 2) In 3 of the four corners, the fabric was separated from the board. (My old one looked better). 3) The shape was wrong on the driver's side. It was molded improperly.
- I called them on May 6th and told them, to which they replied "Didn't we already ship you two?" I told them no, but enough time had elapsed that they could have. I had to call 3 times to get through. The first time I was put on hold for 8 minutes so I hung up and called back 10 minutes later. Then my call was cut off. Then I spoke to Ronda, who put me on hold while she called Parts Unlimited. Ronda came back on the line and told me they suggested I buy some 3M adhesive and glue the fabric down myself. I told her that was unacceptable. She then gave me the number at Parts Unlimited and told me to speak to Ashley. I spoke to Ashley and told her I wanted a replacement. She told me that they had some "bad ones" and e-mailed me a return authorization and UPS tag. (why would you ship a "bad one"?)
- The headliner (I kept the visors, they are great) was accepted by Parts Unlimited on 5-8.
- I checked on 5-13 on the status of the replacement and was told that they hadn't processed it yet and that "returns will get to it today" and told me to call back the next day to check on it again.
- I gave them an extra day and called on 5-15 and she said they would send the replacement and asked for my address.
- Received replacement on 5-19. Two corners were still not glued down. The molded piece was still wrong. This one also had a strange depression in the center.
- I callled on 5-20 and told them I wanted to return it for credit. they set up a call tag with UPS and it was picked up on 5-22.
- It was accepted by them on 5-28.
- I checked for my credit several times and was told it was being processd, and that it would take 7-10 days. (Funny it only took one day to process my payment). Finally got my credit today (6-12) almost 2 months after the first transaction. They did not credit me for any of the shipping, so I essentially paid $53.20 to ship a set of sun visors.

I don't even think I'm going to bother trying to get some of the shipping refunded. I'm worn out. I'll just consider it a learning experience.

In the meantime I ordered the kit from Jax Seat Cover. Shipped quickly, arrived in great shape at a much lower cost. Removing the old material is simple with a brass brush on a drill and sandpaper. I'm sure it will look great when I finish it this weekend. I highly recommend them.

I know this board frowns on criticizing suppliers who support our cars, but this was just ridiculous, and felt I needed to share my experience. Funny thing is that everyone was very polite to me, they just didn't seem to care very much about customer service. I knew when Poston's directed me to deal directly with their drop shipper, that I was in trouble. Good suppliers take responsibility for what they sell, regardless of who their sub-supplier is. I'm guessing that Poston's has no idea of all the crap their supplier put me through to their detriment.

The worst part about this is that this is my son's car who is in the Navy, and my plan was to have this finished when he came home on leave in mid-May. I thought that a month lead time would have been fine. Obviously I was wrong and needless to say he was disappointed to find his interior partially disassembled after a long wait to drive the car.

 

[BlackMetal]

I knew when Poston's directed me to deal directly with their drop shipper, that I was in trouble. Good suppliers take responsibility for what they sell, regardless of who their sub-supplier is.

Sorry to hear about your situation. I agree 100%, sometimes when I product is being shipped from another supplier, vendors act like they can't do anything about it. The main name on the line in this transaction is POSTON'S, not whoever else is involved. If you're going to sell products through your shop and expect another company to ship them for you, you had better make sure that the supplier is going to take good care of your customers.

I've been in a somewhat similar situation with a different vendor where my credit card was charged immediately and then I spent the next two weeks getting emails telling me the item still wasn't in stock. Customers should not be charged before confirming 100% that their item is in the mail.

I have heard about problems with those ABS headliners before and just finished repairing mine myself!

 

[SS_Sean]

I called Postons once and had to listen to a male and female yelling at each other as I sat on the line. Interesting folks. I haven't had any problems with them, but this is duly noted.

 

[corsair231]

I've had a problem with them in the past. I had used them several times with no problem until I ordered a pillar guage pod for the large guages (2-5/8"). I received one for the small guage. I contacted them and they handled the problem to my satisfaction. They admitted it was their error. I had been charged for the correct part but they shipped wrong. They went ahead and shipped the correct one that day, before they got the wrong one back. I shipped the incorrect part back to them the next day. I got the new one and I was happy, after all anyone can make a mistake.

About 7 moths later I received a letter from them with an invoice where they had charged my credit card for the part I sent back. They claimed they never received it. I was highly upset. I phoned them and was pretty bluntly told that the burden of proof was on me to prove that I sent it. I argued that they also needed to prove that they didn't receive it. Anyway, I had sent it insured so they asked me to take the receipt to the post office and track it and if they had received it they would refund the money. I couldn't do that because I had already thrown the receipt away. I mean it had been over 6 months and they just then realized they didn't get it? I could have understood if it had only been a couple of weeks and then I would have expected a call or a letter to find out if I had shipped it prior to charging my card. Due to the fact that it wasn't really a whole lot of money I just let it go instead of fighting it with my card company and I swore off Postons.

Fast forward a couple of years. I decided to give them a try again because I wanted a set of their headers. Prior to placing the order I called them and told them upfront that I felt they had shafted me before but now I had several hundred dollars worth of parts I was ready to order. I told them if they made the past right with me I would buy from them but if not I would take my business somewhere else. They did give me a discount off of that order that covered the cost of the pod and the shipping that I had to pay on a pod that I didn't have.

I expected them to do that after all why lose almost a thoousand dollars worth of sales for a less than $50 d0llar part. Of course it was bad that I had to strongarm them into making it right when they should have done it on their own. I have not had the need to purchase anything else from them since. If I couldn't find what I needed anywhere else I probably would use them again but they would not be my first choice.

 

[Daniel Jost]

i had the same problem with a waste gate a a couple years back i ordered it and payed extra for next day shipping, i needed it right away because i was going to the track that weekend, well..... I didn't get it! Called and they said it wasnt in stock, no refund on shipping or anything.... well 3 weeks later it showed up, i haven't dealt with them since..:biggrin: