You know that I have. I'm one of the reasons Don still gets on here at all because I let him know there are issues he should probably deal with. Other than Nerksa and the 3-spoke versus 4-spoke wheel miscommunication (that I tried to help with, too, even pointed Don to a 4-spoke on eBay to make up but he missed it by a few minutes) I'm not really hearing too much other than slow shipping. He is cooked to a crisp, has grown to hate shipping and is just trying to wrap up some loose ends and be done with it, I believe. I get the feeling from talking to him, although he says almost nothing in detail, that concerns other than trucks might be eating him alive.

 

I understand completely, when I sell a grille it takes me an hour to make a box and package a grille. My grilles are show quality and my customer deserves what he's paying for. Most of the time I don't feel like packaging or shipping during the week, due to the fact that I might have just done 5 tons of asphalt for street patching, by hand, or we just laid two miles of fresh asphalt in a 105* heat. But if I sold something it needs to be shipped out asap. I try to ship everything on Mondays but if I made a sale during the week, I need to ship it regardless.
All my boxes have to be made by hand one at a time if the box is off measurements by so much as an inch it could cost me double. UPS and FEDEX have a length and girth spec, if over, price of shipping goes up.
Small items I make sure I have boxes for, before I even sell them. And I too am just a one man operation.
Point is shipping needs to be done when money clears.
Never take money up front, that worries the buyer when their expecting the item within a certain period of time.
Don is a great guy and usually has the parts and quality people are looking for, bottom line, ship asap.
Unfortunately it has come down to this. No one wants to blast anyone on here, but some have waited to long and want some assistants in resolving the matter.
I'm sure Don will do well just selling select items that he has on hand.

Hopefully all who are reading this "Buyers and Sellers" should pay close attention to what is being said here.
Especially members who want something for nothing because we are one big happy family. We're not, to us it's a business.
If you lived close to me and we are "friends" I'll give you parts, sometimes free sometimes at my cost or below. You can't stop what your doing for a day because I need help moving, "you live to far away." or I need your help building a game room. Or??? "You live to far away"
Sellers such as Don and myself as well as a few others, spend our time money and gas, searching for these parts. What started out as "Thrill of the hunt" blossomed into a side business that has overwhelmed us, comes with an overhead and personal sacrifices.
Speaking for myself, I drive roughly 400 miles a weekend, every weekend, searching for parts, and gas is not cheap. Some weekends I can load my car up, most weekends, nothing. (And lately that's been the case) I'm up late answering emails. I'm always searching for that one elusive part. To me it's still fun. I do take a break from time to time, you have to.
Anyway I hope all this stuff gets resolved, and I wish Don the best. Recognizing that we all have limitations and health issues, is a start on the road to recovery. Damn it, why do we love Ford trucks so much.
I might have to start a "Twelve step recovery program for Ford part's sellers"

 

There's an obvious difference for people that have a personal working relationship with someone and those who don't. Again, nobody disputes whether or not the individual is a decent human being, its about conducting business courteously and professionally. EXAMPLE: Its highly unlikely anyone would walk into a an auto parts store (or any business) put down a 100% deposit on a purchase and be told the item is coming at a certain time or date - but - a few weeks later after not hearing from the store, you went back and it said "Closed" on the door, nobody answered the phone or e-mail, an you didn't have your part. Don't tell me you wouldn't be pissed off for being treated like crap by the store, and you wouldn't escalate the issue to the next level until you got what you already paid the store to deliver. Its not personal, so lets remove that element and look at it for what it is - poor customer service.

 

Guys, I'm not condoning the mans actions, just trying to give a little insight in to what may be part of the cause.

 

I think we've beaten this thread into the ground....

 

I used to buy and sell old car parts, and for a few years I owned a small laboratory supply business.

Shipping can easily become a total PITA and can make you hate what you do unless you get a handle on it. Here's how we got it under control:

We made it clear that we shipped twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays (unless someone was desperate...and then they had to pay more). If your order was in-house when we opened on Monday or Thursday morning, it went out that day, if not it waited till the next shipping day.

Other than the very rare but inevitable psycho, unreasonable customer, we never had an issue with shipping.

We had USPS and UPS come by the shop on those two days and that was it. For the rush customers, we had to make a special trip to the post office or UPS and like I said, the customer had to pay a premium for that.

 

Also....FWIW, I'm in the final stages of building a prototype for an old car gadget that I think will wow people AND I'm also about to open an e-commerce store for the car club that I just inherited (selling hats, shirts, stickers, etc)

And, I'll use the same shipping methodology....shipments will go out twice a week....and that will be made VERY clear up front.

Regarding CAMPERSPECIAL65, I can truly identify with his mindset. The fun has "left the building". That's understandable, but he should've fulfilled all of his obligations in a timely manner and then checked out.

 

I think we are all done here.
Please Mr. Moderator, please close this thread. It serves no purpose.

 

As you wish...