[harsh_ride]

My 968's getting refreshed and the plan was to drive it to St. Louis, where she can luxuriate in a heated garage while I figure out my next career step (I'll keep the M3 with me in Cali, but the p-car just wasn't getting driven that much and I need the parking space for a "large puppy friendly" vehicle). In order to make it there by Christmas day, I realistically have to leave Wednesday afternoon (I'll have the puppy with me).

So, I placed an order at dc Automotive for an in stock oil sending unit, and paid for FedEx Express shipping. This was on Wednesday. The part shipped on Friday, from North Carolina to California. <b>FedEx Ground</b>. I got the email with the tracking number from them at 6am California time, after pestering them for that information.

When I called to follow up, and explained that the shipment was made via ground when I specified and paid for FedEx, the response was: "yep I see that, just missed it. Yep, we just missed it, we put all these in by hand." (Web orders, input by hand?!) When I asked for an overnighted replacement, it was "a losing proposition for both of us -- it'll cost us twice what we made on this thing to get another one to you overnight and then get this one back." "I'll put this upstairs, see what they want to do."

Order number 2101-6506-1912, confirmation email received Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 11:06 AM. I asked on Thursday when it would ship and what the tracking number would be, and was told at Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 12:43 PM it was "On schedule to ship tomorrow." I asked on Friday if it had shipped and if so, what the shipping tracking number was; that email was answered this morning. I'm not sure why it took two days to ship the part, but if they had shipped according to the specifics of the order it wouldn't be an issue.

Instead, I'm going to miss Christmas, unless they decide to overnight a part out. (I can't really afford to pay for one overnighted right now, with the other one still on my account.)

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[banditsc]

Pelican Parts is in CA and they would have the oil sender in stock. Also you could still drive it to St Louis with out the oil gauge, just check the oil levels at gas stops to make sure everything is up to snuff. Are you getting a used oil sender? Usually DC Automotive is just for used parts and they usually are not very good at sending things out.

Also if you call them to oder it, you could drive down to their place and pick it up in person. They are in El Segundo

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[rhudeboye]

So many shops operate with that lax attitude when they make a mistake. You would assume when the mistake is on their end, that they would be willing to absorb what ever cost necessary to make things right for the customer. Not the case.

Olympic Auto parts is one in my neck of the woods that I have vowed to never use again. Discovering a water pump leak on our millenia many years ago I call and confirm the part number and availability at Olympic. I pay by CC and head up to pick up the unit. I drive up get it and deliver it to my mechanic so he can finish my car before closing. He pulls out the old pump and noticed right away, that the new one didn't match. Upon closer inspection it wasn't even close. I called Olympic and they were closing. I explained that he sold me the wrong part and I get "are you sure?" Stupids question I ever heard. He explains that I can return it but there closing. I explained what his mistake was costing me in an attempt to have them stay open until I could travel back up there and get the right part. No such luck. Bastard didn't even apologize.

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[flash]

not that this helps any with this incident, but here are some rules i've come to live by:

when it comes to small parts, i ALWAYS get them from a place that is either local, or one that i do a LOT of business with so when something happens like this, it gets cleared up without hassles

i NEVER try to pinch a penny and bargain hunt to buy a part that is under about $100 - it's just too easy for shipping to mess up any savings i might have had

i also try to avoid the risk of expediting of a part - it gets fouled up too easily - if i am in a rush, i'll pay the premium and get it locally, so i know it's in hand, rather than risk things going awry - it's happened to me too often in the past, and i've learned from it - lol - in fact, that's when things seem to mess up the most

good luck

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[harsh_ride]

Yeah, I normally like to stay local and go new, but money's been pretty tight (I hung out my own shingle a while ago and recently gave in and took a salaried position, I have *one* paycheck under my belt, and my mortgage, etc., haven't gone away), a new oil level sending unit is $254, this was $55. Normally I just tell Robert to get what he needs and then figure out which meals I'll miss for the month when he's done. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img] But this is all kind of coming together last minute, crunch time (only time I'll have to make the drive is over this week-long holiday shut-down, and the car needed a lot - 4 new tires, 4 sets of brake pads / sensors, 4 rotors, gas / oil change... At least ~2 years ago I did all the other stuff, battery, 90K service with water pump, motor mounts, clutch + flywheel, etc.), so...

An update on <b>dc Automotive</b>, I faxed a letter outlining my position (literally; I typed up a declaration -- lawyer skills permeate) and asking them to "do the right thing" and ship out a replacement part FedEx Express Overnight. About 45 minutes later I got a curt voicemail, "part's on its way it'll be there tomorrow," followed by an email that was just a FedEx tracking number, which shows as being on the truck on its way to my office.

They weren't happy about it (I wouldn't be either) but they <b>did the right thing</b>.

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[flash]

i get the reasoning, and a $200 difference is enough motivation to take the risk

glad they stepped up - that says a lot - they have always had a great rep from those who have used them, so this does not surprise me

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[banditsc]

I thought you were talking about the oil pressure sending unit, which is cheap and seems to be replaced often (at least in my case). The oil level sensor is a bit more pricey, but normally doesn't go bad that often.

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[94SilverCab]

Moral of the story for me is that they did the right thing, which buys them a lot of good will from everyone who read your post..

Glad that you were able to work it out.

Jay

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[rhudeboye]

Oh the mighty pen.

Good job and it's nice to hear that they swallowed one to get you back on schedule.

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