Bigbusa Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) A member here said this company was the cheapest. I like cheap so I searched for their phone number, couldn't find one and finally just emailed them. After emailing back and forth 4 times in the last 3 days, I find out that the parts I need are both on back-order. I could have found this out in a 5 minute phone call if they did business like most people do... by phone. I think it's ridiculous for a company who sells 1000's of parts to the public to only do business through email. :-\ It takes 3-4 days (and numerous emails) to look up, order and finally pay for a part that could have been looked up, ordered and paid for in a 5-10 minute phone call. I'd much rather pay a few more bucks for a part from a company that I can speak with on the phone. Can anyone recommend a place? thanks Edited September 9, 2009 by Bigbusa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Ru Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Give them time, they'll deliver. Sometimes Jamie is on a rally You generally can't beat their prices for OEM, just order ahead of time or go local for emergencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 its kind of based out of a dealer, but like a different part of it, (I dont know the exact specifics) so you cant just walk into the dealer and ask for subarugenuineparts as legally the dealer is not them... or something like that... I would assume the same goes for the phone # there... you can call the dealer its AT, but not the website. in my opinion if the price is great, you may have to sacrifice a bit of communication abilty... keeps labor costs and therefore YOUR costs down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Starting to pile up a few negatively opinionated and condescending posts? Liberty Subaru might be a better fit for you. Mike Scarf Subaru (sp?) - one or both of those is on this side of the dirt. Asking for an approx. delivery time is smart even if you order from your local Subaru dealer. I ordered 4 parts last week and asked when they'd be in. 2 on Tuesday, the others on Thursday or Friday. If a few days are important or get you worked up then searching the cheapest internet option on the other side of the country hardly seems like the best way to go. Phone calls are nice but aren't a Eutopia. It's easy to make a mistake - wrong part number, misinformation, he-said, she-said, etc and then you're left without a "paper trail", dangerous for both parties. That's why some places require you to fax an order in and may be part of the reason subarugenuine chooses to work that way. I've had it happen. Like when I ordered a $7 filter and got a few hundred dollar SVX MAF sensor in the mail and charged to my card - or the time they just sent the wrong parts (both were other Subaru vendors, not Jamie, and involved phone calls from the Garden of Eden! They refunded it and worked it out just fine both times, no big deal. Would you have started a thread about phone calls if that happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbusa Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 Gary I don't think it's good business to have to send numerous emails back and forth over a 3-4 day period to find out the part is out of stock ...and... they have no idea when it's coming in. I'd rather talk to someone on the phone and find that out immediately even if it costs a bit more. Shipping time is never a problem. Even from Ca to the east coast. 2 -4 days is fine. As for being opinionated... I have owned subarus all my life. I feel like I deserve to be a bit opinionated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Right on, I agree to an extent that it could be better, but a little perspective never hurts. As you can tell my experience has been similar to yours - the online vendors don't provide exceptional service from a time and accuracy point of view (read above notes and add a few more not mentioned). Very nice, very helpful and reasonable when a problem occurs though. And some (like Jamie) are board members and help folks out from time to time, that's very cool. A few tips: The best is to do what I do and ask your local dealer to match the online prices. That makes it very simple. Although I still order often because it saves me a trip to the store. They're already giving that discount to other local vendors, so they typically don't care if you're nice and it helps probably if they've seen you before rather than just busting up in there demanding something. Parts on my porch > driving to the store. Get the part number and order it online (subarugenuine has online ordering). Then you're left with only finding out if it is in stock. Some of the online vendors are starting to encode which items are in stock and stuff, probably all will have that functionality very soon. Subaru's new part number website: http://opposedforces.com/parts/ I usually find out the part number (I have parts books, call the local dealer, or look it up online or here), then order from their website. No need to ask or email anyone. In a sense it probably falls under the "you get what you pay for" motif. They aren't making money hand over fist like the dealers so they won't be putting mad resources into that either. They're getting questions and requests from folks that don't end up ordering. Working for free isn't a good way to run a business either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbusa Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 Gary great advice thanks! I ended up buying the used parts from you instead. I paypal'ed you a while ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) I order from them as well but my only beef is the minimum $7.00 shipping charge. I recently ordered a shifter joint and a blank key (separately) and had to pay the charge for a part that weights only a few ounces. Edited September 9, 2009 by Durania Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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