I think it's a conspiracy.

[LarryH]

Last month, after researching different companies i ordered a Corvette differential (June 27 to be exact). So i waited a few days (June 30) and sent them an e-mail to see if the had a shipping date. July 2 i received an e-mail from the company wanting some info on the differential. I e-mailed the info back that day. I called them on July 7 to see if they had a shipping date. I was told "They're working on it now. It'll ship out Monday. UPS list a four days delivery time to California. You should have it by Friday" (July 12). I get home from work Friday night and still no differential. So Monday (July 19) i call again. "They had some trouble setting up the gears. They're working on it right now. It should ship out Friday. Monday at the latest. You should have it by Friday" Haven't i heard that before? Today's Friday. They have my money (withdrawn June 30) but i don't have a differential. I think i've been more than patient with them. I'm tired of their excuses. I've had gear work done before. It don't take no freakin' month to set up a diff. Monday i'm going to call them, cancel the order and get a refund.

The po had installed an electric fan using those stupid plastic strips and the radiator looked like it had tangled with a very angry fan. It sprang a couple of leaks so i had it repaired. Last Saturday the radiator decided it no longer liked the taste of anti freeze and started spitting it out in a couple of different places. Instead of spending another $35 having it "repaired" i decided to have it recored. The radiator shop wanted $350 to recore it because it's a "custom made core". I found one on line for $154. Last Tuesday after spending about 15 minutes on the phone talking to the salesman, and taking different measurements, i decided it was close enough to work and he quoted me a price of $190 delivered so i ordered one. It was waiting for me when i got home from work last night. I didn't have time to thoroughly check it out until this morning. The core isn't flush with the tank (it's inset about an inch) so the grille shell won't sit flush against the radiator. Great. Instead of going cruising this weekend it'll be sitting in the garage all weekend. Again. Guess i get to make two calls Monday.

And to end a perfect week instead of getting to go to dinner i was stuck in an elevator for an hour. But that's another story.

 

[GizmoJoe]

Crap!
Man, you have lots of luck but it's not good.
Those are some of the reasons I do NOT like ordering online.
I like to see something before buying it or at least have someone local I can grab by the throat, shake up them up and down and scream, "FIX IT!" in their face.

The elevator.. that a different story.

Good luck with your parts.

 

[one finger john]

Larry, Larry, Larry ... these are quality problems. Like GismoJoe says, I like to be able to touch, hold, and get a feel for my parts. Kinda like my women. Look at it this way, would you rather be in a tent city in Haiti or living a life where you are now? Some one always has it worse than you do. Your situation will change. Guaranteed.

John

 

[HAceT]

I feel your pain Larry.....as some may know I was taking the kids out on Vacation couple weeks ago in the bucket when she decided to spin a bearing. I had a 350 4 bolt that I had plans on making into a 383 stroker in the near future...well the future was now. :egypt: The bad thing was it was no good. :wall: A buddy of mine came along with a 400 that would make a 406....motor no good....so he got me another 400 which was no good. So I now have another 400 that he got me and I've been stuck at work working late every night that I had no time to take it apart.......so as for having fun driving she has been sitting covered... ...hopefully today I can get a chance to take it apart and ready for the machine shop.

 

[Mike]

Caveat emptor - Let the buyer beware.

In this day and age, nearly every shop, dealer and manufacturer I deal with is looking to find a way to sell product. It's a jungle out there. Everyone is cutting profit margins to the quick, trying to keep the doors open another day. So when you see someone offering a like product for a lot less than anyone else, it's time to ca' canny. There is likely a reason the price is so much lower.

I used to have a sign hanging behind the retail counter at the shop. It read, "We have no problem with those who sell for a lower price. They know exactly what their product is worth."

The sour taste of poor craftsmanship and poor customer service will long outlive the sweet taste of a low price.

 

[LarryH]

I'ld love to be able to do the touchy feely thing before i buy parts but there's only one hot rod shop around here and i refuse to do business with them because of the owners attitude. If it's not a several thousand dollar order or an expensive build job he doesn't really want to be bothered. I walked out of his shop and i haven't been back since. Same with speed shops. Anything other than your common speed parts he has to order. He doesn't do hot rods. So i'm pretty much stuck with ordering on line.

I used to own a business so i know stuff happens. But over a month for a differential is ridiculous. They have my money but i don't have my differential. They specialize in Corvettes. It's all they do. It shouldn't take more than a week to build a diff.

I guess the best solution on the radiator is to just have the old one recored. The salesman did guarantee if it didn't fit or i was unhappy with it for any reason they would refund my money. Including shipping. We'll see if their guarantee is any good.

 

[GizmoJoe]

I do understand about not being able to find stuff locally.

We have zero rod shops, zero speed shops and only 3 auto-parts stores to choose from (one of which must be run by the same guy as the hot rod shop you mentioned).
If it wasn't for the fact that my nephew works at one of the places (Auto Choice) I'd have no luck at all.

Ya, that amount of time for the diff is not reasonable.

Hope the rad guy honors the guarantee.

 

[LarryH]

According to the UPS tracking number the differential will be here Friday. I'm still waiting for the radiator guy to call me back.

 

[rooster57]

The problem with your diff is called Lean manufacturing. Some bean counter somewhere talked all the mfg facilities and suppliers to treat their stock like bread . If it sets on the shelf to long its wasted money in inventory. so the industry has implemented lean manufacturing that translates into NO inventory IE bearings bushings seals gaskets, gears and so on . I see this ALL the time, what they didn't take into consideration is the traffic effect. If one mfg partner slows down then it slows to whole process to a crawl then to a stop because no one has enough inventory for the surges in customer needs.My company use to keep dozens of one parts in stock, now they anticipate the usage by the past year which means NO inventory. JHISI

 

[deckofficer]

For mass produced products JIT (just in time) inventory manangement does help the bottom line. For low production items, like your speciality rear end, it just ticks off the customers and as this forum illistrates, word of mouth is how our industry should be aware of instead of JIT.

Just my .02 worth.

 

[rooster57]

just in time is the latest catch phrase to offset the fact that no one keeps anything in stock. It should be called Just a week late. Just like in Oh brother the movie Gee z aint this a geographical oddity 5 days from everywhere.
I have a good buddy that has his 390 from his mastercraft boat at a machine shop in Tulsa EVERYTHING he has ordered has taken a week to get. His motor has been at Moritz machine for 5 weeks.

 

[putz]

I do understand about not being able to find stuff locally.

We have zero rod shops, zero speed shops and only 3 auto-parts stores to choose from (one of which must be run by the same guy as the hot rod shop you mentioned).
If it wasn't for the fact that my nephew works at one of the places (Auto Choice) I'd have no luck at all.

Ya, that amount of time for the diff is not reasonable.

Hope the rad guy honors the guarantee.

3 auto parts stores You must live in a big city all I have is Carquest where their favorite line is We can order it.

 

[Ted Brown]

We can order it, well so can I, so I guess I don't really need you now do I? :face:

 

[LarryH]

No matter what it's called, JIT,Lean manufacturing or Big Whoopee We Have Your Money So We're In No Hurry To Ship Your Parts, a company that specializes in Corvettes only should be able to build and ship a differential in less than two weeks. I had planned on ordering some more parts from them but i'll be taking my business elsewhere.

 

[GizmoJoe]

3 auto parts stores You must live in a big city all I have is Carquest where their favorite line is We can order it.

Yes, I am "blessed" with 3 stores. Too bad 2 of them suck as much as a good hoover.

I guess that's normal for a big "city" of eight thousand (8000).

 

[Mike]

In years gone by, the biggest problem a business owner faced was trying to keep enough inventory around. Then people decided to start whoring up the marketplace, so profit margins started getting narrower and narrower. The expense of operating a business continue to climb, but the profit margins are headed for the tank.

Today, the biggest problemS (yep, now it's plural) are trying to keep enough inventory without having too much, trying to have enough employees without having too many, trying to keep people in line on paying their bills and trying to identify where bottlenecks exist that might allow employee count or inventory dollars to be reduced further.

Twenty years ago, if an open account was 30 days past-due, we'd give them a reminder phone call. If they stretched it to 60 days, we started leaning on them. Today, I'm already leaning on accounts only 10 days past due.

Twenty years ago, we built a lot of race engines, but the machine shop's bread and butter were the incredible numbers of stock overhauls we did. Then the new car salesman started throwing keys to new cars in your open windows as you drove by, so people quit rebuilding the motors in their grocery-getters. And there went all that business.

Twenty years ago, we could make a fair profit on our inventory, but today the dream-book warehouses have given us the option of trying to match their prices or close the doors. If you're capable of doing a million a day in sales, your volume makes up for reduced margins. If you're the local speed shop owner, watching your customers buy parts from the wish-book people, you don't have enough volume to hold on. So you lock the doors and then you listen to people gripe there's no place to buy parts any longer.

Sure there are still plenty places to buy. Call the wish-book people. And remember the good, ol' days when you were pals with the guys behind the local speed shop counter and could get technical help from them when you needed it.

I have zero problem with someone trying to save a dollar, I really don't. But if you saved a dollar buying something from a mail-order house, don't turn around and complain your local speed shop is gone. You've contributed to that shop closing, by trying to save the dollar. Just because you decided to deal with a faceless voice on a telephone didn't mean the operating expenses stopped for the speed shop owner on that day. The lights, the phone, the employees, everyone's favorite Uncle and the insurance company still want their money, no matter where you spend yours. And remember, some draconian states still charge the speed shop owner an inventory tax, so if you weren't buying, he had to cut inventory to save taxes.

Mind, I sell a product line to nearly all the major high-performance warehouses, so I get to see this business from the top, the bottom, the front and the back. And the way our economy is failing, I'm watching business suffer at the warehouse level. Where are you going to go to buy parts if their volume drops to a point where they either raise prices or close?

It's a two-way street.

And please note, I did say I've no issues with people trying to save money. I need to watch the dollars as closely as anyone. But I now drive past the old mom-n-pop grocery store building that now stands empty, as I drive to the mega-box store to get groceries. And I now drive past the street corners that used to have 2 and 3 SERVICE stations, to get to the national chain FILLING station. And I drive past the long-closed factory buildings, whose owners moved their manufacturing to another country. And whilst I am driving past all these places, I realize how much I miss the good, ol' days.

 

[LarryH]

I understand what you're saying Mike. I used to own an appliance business. I understand about inventory management. My wife has worked in the auto parts business for over forty years. I buy local whenever i can even if it's a few bucks more. But we have no speed shops around here. They all closed years ago. There's only one place in town that works on older model Corvette rear ends. He would have to order the parts. He advised me, instead of rebuilding my old one, to just buy a rebuilt differential.

Every time i contacted them it was the same story "They're working on it now. It'll ship out Friday". If they had to order parts they should have told me so. I might have been disappointed that i had to wait a little longer but i would have understood. Their prices are a slightly higher than their competition but their base price included the core charge and shipping. That gave me the option of either sending my old core back or keeping it. I bought from them because, after doing research, they seemed to have a good reputation.

As for the radiator, i couldn't see spending $350 for a recore when the bottom tank really should be replaced also.

 

[GizmoJoe]

Don't get me started on "Service Stations"...
I travel 6 1/2 hours one-way on a frequent basis.
If you break down.. good bloody luck just getting someone with a booster pack! I now carry enough tools to rebuild most of the car.
And the acne-faced kids have NO idea you can run a car on a charged battery for a LONG time, if you turn everything off. Grrrr (told you not to get me started.. long story)

Bottom line is.. things change. Always have. Always will.

It is interesting to see the big stores trying to turn into the general store.
I can get the best deal on eggs and butter at one of the pharmacies.

I'm glad I'm not in retail anymore.

 

[LarryH]

I did finally get the differential. After 6 weeks. I will not be doing business with Duntov Motor Co again.


I decided to keep the radiator and just make a grille to cover the core. Brent Landess of Klassic Radiators was real helpful in trying to find another radiator that would work for me. I appreciate his effort. When i do the engine swap on the '56 i'll be needing a radiator. I'll be giving him a call.