Hi Paul,
I've written VB off of my list of suppliers.
1. Everytime I've called for anything, they don't have it in stock.
2. Their salespeople are horrible, last fall I bought a rebuilt cylinder
head and there wasn't a single person there who could tell me if it was a
lead free head or not. One month after the head had been installed they
called me back with the answer! How 's that for service?
3. Their shipping prices are outrageous. They are totally gouging the
customer with these shipping prices.
I could go on and on.....
They've lost my business,
Robert Weeks
Durham NC
1969 Midget
1968-70 Abitza
http://www.woozy.com/midget/
At 7:51 AM -0700 5/28/98, KILE, PAUL D wrote:
>Awhile back someone was extolling the virtues of Victoria British and
>their rapid shipping. Something to do with the company having a UPS
>shipping terminus directly across the street. Well, I live in Northern
>California (Sacramento area), and I find their shipping times are
>abominable, and it's not all due to UPS.
>
>I called VB today (5/28) to check on my order, and I got the following
>info. I ordered my parts on 5/20, they were shipped on 5/26 (six days
>to get an order out the door? hmm...) and UPS will take 5-7 days to
>deliver the parts (not sure if that is "working" days or not). That
>means that the earliest I could see the parts is June 1st, since UPS
>doesn't deliver on Sunday. That's 12 days to get the order to my door.
>If we assume worst case (7 day delivery with activity only occuring on
>"working" days) that would mean 15 days from order date to receipt of
>parts! I'm glad I'm only doing a slow restoration, and not waiting with
>the car belly-up to get it back on the road!
>
>I have gotten parts faster out of England (small orders traveling air
>parcel post) than I have out of the Kansas prairie! Those UPS brown
>trucks hurtle about so quickly that I am surprised it takes them so long
>to deliver. More disturbing, though, is the long lag time for VB to
>process and ship an order. No excuse for that in the 1990s!
>
>On top of all this, I have no idea of the quality or configuration of
>some of the items I have ordered ("original" style MGB sill plates, for
>example) until I open the box and look. That's a result of VB's
>incredible policy of "no knowledge" salesclerks! At least with Moss and
>TRF, it is possible to talk with someone who knows the parts, or who can
>pull the part and describe its characteristics (original quality vs
>Taiwanese claptrap). VB doesn't even give you the OPTION of talking
>with someone in the know! I was once told that if I had a specific
>question, I could send them a written description of my concern and they
>would convene a "committee of experts" to discuss my issue and would
>respond to me in an unspecified time! What an amazing way of doing
>business!
>
>Well, thanks for letting me rant a bit. Any other denizens of
>California (or elsewhere) that agree on the snail-like pace from VB?
>
>Cheers,
>Paul Kile
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