lower shore performance

[neon_hybrid]

So on tuesday, I orderd a throttle body gasket kit from them with new shaft seals (on ebay).  I ordered it on tuesday evening, and got an email wednesday morning thanking me for my payment and telling me that I would recieve another email with a tracking number.  I sent an email today and asked the status and Brian told me that they havent received their shipment yet....

 

 

wt.... are you doing selling parts on ebay that you do not even have in your posession.  I understand that mistakes happen, but you still have more listed on ebay as we speak.  It is one thing to drop ship from the manufacturer for large parts, or highly expensive parts, or parts that require a lot of time and/or money to ship (truck shipment items like body kits), but completely different to sell the parts, and wait for your shipment before you can ship them to me.  

 

Also Brian, if you are on this site, I would recommend you stop selling parts to people that you do not have in stock.  I work for a shop, and everything we sell on ebay, we have in stock or on hand.    Your business ethics need some work.  How can you even expect people to wait 2 to 3 weeks for a parts that I can get through autozone faster (minus the shaft seals).  The only reason I even ordered this from you was because I didnt know Kelly sold them, and only because i want the shaft seals as well (which kelly also sells)

 

For future reference, if anyone wants to buy one of those rebuild kits, I would recommend KellydaMan from this board.  He also sells them, I am pretty sure he has them in stock....

[quest925]

Yup, *DM really is DM... . Still Im surprised with your experience. I have bought a few things from them and never had a problem. It sounds like an internal communication problem on their end, they probrobly run the add almost automatically and fell behind on the stock order, or their supplier was at fault...hope it works out

[STARRARI]

I bought from them and the service was great. There was  a problem with my order, but they took care of it quick. They refunded me and sent me the correct one and let me pay afterwards. No one is perfect, but I could see your point also.

[Indiana]

it used to be against their rules to offer an item for sale you did not possess.  they have the site so screwed now it's just a game and a money maker for the stock holders

[neon_hybrid]

Well, 9 days later, and I still dont have the parts... Im am so mad!

[Caliber308]

Ive purchased parts from Brian. Never had a problem.

 

CALIBER 308

[neon_hybrid]

Ive purchased parts from Brian. Never had a problem.

 

CALIBER 308

 

Welll, your lucky... It took me 2 weeks to get the parts...

 

What a joke

 

I will never buy anything from them again.  I dont care if they have a rare 83 hood for 1$.  Their lack of taking responsibility for their actions and the fact that instead of apologizing for them not having the parts, they insulted me and made it seem like I was bein unreasonable for wanting a part that I purchased from them.  The funny part is I have already told 3 starquesters to buy from *DM instead of Brian because of the crappy service I got from them...

 

It might not be alot of money lost, but its still money lost...

[Evil_Betty]

I purchased a few things from them and had a good experience with them.  Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.  I never order stuff off ebay if it is a part I need very quickly though.

 

-Justin

[Outlander]

I have ordered a couple of things from Brain @ Lower Shores Performance like the same TB kit and have had good luck so far. But I think his business is out of Maryland or somewhere out east so by the time I mail the money and recieve the parts in Arkansas it is always a week or so. But rember if you are getting a quality part a little wait can be worth it. I ordered an auto meter vac/boost gauge from summit racing for about $10 less than I could have picked some no name off brand from the shelf at Auto Zone. So, have it now isn't always the best plan of attack.

[Caliber308]

Welll, your lucky... It took me 2 weeks to get the parts...

 

What a joke

 

I will never buy anything from them again.  I dont care if they have a rare 83 hood for 1$.  Their lack of taking responsibility for their actions and the fact that instead of apologizing for them not having the parts, they insulted me and made it seem like I was bein unreasonable for wanting a part that I purchased from them.  The funny part is I have already told 3 starquesters to buy from *DM instead of Brian because of the crappy service I got from them...

 

It might not be alot of money lost, but its still money lost...

 

NEON_HYBRID,

Maybe you should mellow out. Seems to me and other members, Lower Shores Performance does not, as you put it (SUCK) This forum is for members who have had a good or bad experance with another member or a distributor of parts for our cars. And if it was me after reading all the positive things members had to say about Brian. Id most likely delete this post, and go on and buy from someone else ;) P.S. If you want parts quick, and dont mind spending a little more. Try this link:www.racetep.com

 

CALIBER 308

[neon_hybrid]

I understand people have had good experiences with him as well.   I really wish that I had the emails he sent because if people read the emails they would understand.  Regardless, I still stand behind my opinion of them, and will continue to state my opinion regarding them and what i feel was not good service.  

 

Regardless, waiting for a part to be delivered to him so it can be sent to me is not right.  He should not sell parts on ebay he doesnt have in stock.  That was a rule on ebay for a long time.  Maybe the fact that I work for a shop, and know how we do business makes me biased....

[brianpaul98]

Hello Everyone, It seems that no matter how hard you try to please people there is that one person that comes along that is nearly impossible. I want to thank you all for the support and since Dwane doesn't seem to have his e-mails that I sent him I can post the copies I have to let you see just how bad we "suck".

 

E-Bay ID# 7968200241 and payment made on 04/13/05 @11:30PM where I sent him the same e-mail everyone gets:

 

Hello,

 

I received your payment and will be shipping out your throttle body

gasket kit shortly. You will receive another e-mail with a tracking

number from USPS letting you know that its been shipped. If you do not

receive a tracking number in the next few days, please check your junk

mail / spam folder as this USPS tracking information occasionally gets

routed there. Thank you for the prompt payment and take care.

 

Brian

 

 

 

At no time did Dwane ever tell us he needed this kit asap BEFORE HE BID or I would have told him that our supplier was behind on our next shipment and the kits hadn't arrived yet. We sell bunches of these kits and as soon as one kit ends another is listed. When we get down to maybe our last 5 or 10 kits depending on time of year, I order another case. These kits generally arrive within a few days but on occasion it takes more time depending on availability from the warehouse. If we were our of stock and someone needed this kit immediately I have no problem sending him to Kelly to get a kit since these kits are in no way a huge money maker for us. We offer them as a courtesy to everyone to save them time because most Autozone's don't stock this kit and especially for the overseas StarQuest owners that can't just drive to an Autozone to pick one up.

 

 

 

04/17/05 Mr Leach e-mailed us to ask the status of his order:

 

 

I never received an email with a tracking number.  I have verified it is not in my junk mail, and I have been checking daily.  Have you sent the throttle body kit yet?

 

-Dwain

 

 

I very politely explained the situation to him a few hours later:

 

 

 

Hello Dwain,

 

I'm sorry for the delay but our new order has not arrived yet but I

have everything ready to ship as soon as it gets here. Your tracking

number will be :

 

0303 3430 0002 1455 1741

 

Again I apologize for the delay in shipping and I will notify you as

soon as its sent out. Thank you for your patience and take care.

 

Brian

 

 

 

In the next e-mail you will see where this member showed his professional attitude:

 

 

You dont even have these in stock?  How are you selling parts on ebay that you dont have in stock?  I am sorry, but I work for a performance shop, and that is not how we do things... This is not the way to do business, and I need these parts.  I ordered them 5 days ago, In my opinion This is a bunch of crap.  I can get the today from another vendor, but choose yours.  You really shouldnt advertise parts unless you have them in stock... Can you refund my money?

 

 

My response to him was :

 

 

I'm very sorry for your frustration and can see that you don't have a

professional attitude when it comes to business. I deal with hundreds

of customers a month all over the world and very rarely do I encounter

anyone with an attitude such as yours. If you say that you work for a

performance shop then you would understand that you need to order

parts on a regular basis and even when they are ordered ahead of time

there is no control over when the parts arrive. This gasket kit is

something we sell a great deal of and we are constantly re-stocking

them so it's not like some unique item that we listed and now cannot

get. Again, we are sorry for the delay and will ship out your gasket

kit as soon as we can.

[brianpaul98]

In this next e-mail 04/17/05 he explained back to me what I had just explained to him about how we had ordered them ahead of time but the order had not arrived yet :

 

 

 

Here is the truth.  Maybe you should think twice before listing parts on ebay, which I will point out that you still are listing, and still do not have in stock and cannot provide me an ETA other than as soon as you get them.  Hell, worse case scenario would have been that you listed they were not in stock but will be soon at least then people would be buying something with the expectation of not getting the item right away.  If you sell them so often that you are having to restock often and they are such hot sellers then you should keep them in stock and replenish them before they are all gone.  The items we sell regularly, we typically have a minimum of 2, and if we run out, we do not take payment until the item is instock because it is a fast mover..  If I pulled some crap like that at our shop, I would get my a** beat, or the shop would get something thrown through the window.  We treat our customers with respect, and are honest, about parts, and offering items we stock and never have an issue..  My shop does not advertise parts for auction that we do not have unless we are going to have the item drop shipped to the customer, and the only time we would even consider it, the item would be customer direct from the manufacturer which so far has never happened for any of our auctions.  I completely understand the need to restock, but if you don't have the parts instock, its quite simple... don't put them up for auction ESPECIALLY WITH BUY IT NOW, WHEN YOU CANT SHIP IT NOW, and when you don't even have them.  Maybe you should list them once you had them, not before because you don't ever really know when an item becomes backordered, or worse discontinued. (recently just happened to one of our fastest moving exhausts... apexI ps/rps13  3 inch catback single tip which goes on almost every sr20det swap we do)  In the end, im standing here waiting for an item that I paid for instantly (which I believe you required but may be wrong) that not only did not get shipped right away, it has not been shipped at all and at this point still do not have an eta.  Instead of standing there insulting me, your customer, you are standing there criticizing me for being upset that a part that I paid for on Tuesday has not been shipped, and has no ETA....

 

 

 

 

I'm really not sure where he is getting the part where I insulted him and criticized him since I just stated the fact that he had an unprofessional attitude just as you can see from the title of this post.  Appearantly Mr. Leach has never done mail order before because there is absolutely nothing I can do but order parts and we are all at the mercy of the manufacturers, distributors and the postal system. I can be told the parts will be here in 3 days and they end up arriving 2 weeks later. You all may have noticed the guy selling the NGK Iridium plugs on e-bay, well I was in a pinch and just decided to buy 2 sets from him because I couldn't get them until the following week. Turns out he didn't have that part number in stock and HE needed to order them which took 3 WEEKS!!!! Did I get all bent out of shape and start writing rude, verbally offensive, immature and unprofessional e-mail to him? No, I just sent an e-mail every few days and politely asked in the plugs had come in yet. I did this because I understand that running a business is always in this way and things are never as planned. People sometimes don't realize that parts will be backordered when they put the orders in and listings are already listed when these things are known. Mature people understand these things and take them in stride because we realize that this world and nothing in it is perfect but to go acting in that way is really not acceptable. You should also realize that there are e-bay members that can get set off at any given moment and you would have just lost your money if I were one of them. I'm really not sure you can understand how difficult it is to deal with hundreds of customers all over the world, most of which don't speak english very well and still have a near perfect feedback rating.

[brianpaul98]

After Dwane's last e-mail I responded with:

 

 

Dwain,

 

I am not insulting you, I just trying to tell you that this is NOT

something that happens every day. This sort of thing happens to me on

specialty parts I buy from e-bay all the time and I always ask how

long it will take if I needed the part yesterday. I'm trying very

politely to explain that we had 5 of these kits last week and thats

when I put in the order for 10 more of them. The ETA on that order was

Friday morning and it would have been in the mail to you already. If

you e-mailed me before you paid or even before you bought it now

(immediate payment is not required) and told me you need this kit

immediately I would have definitely told you that they are expected in

our next order but  we had a backorder on them. This happens maybe

once every 6 months and I apologoze for it. I will call first thing

tomorrow and get a updated delivery time for you.

 

 

 

As you can see in my e-mail there is no offensive language, insults or criticism. I simply explained to him that this is something that doesn't happen very often and I apologized for it.

 

 

 

04/20/05

 

 

Any eta on this yet?  I NEED these parts.  This car is my daily driver, and im spraying fuel all over the place

 

 

 

I'm really not sure what to think about this e-mail and as easily as these cars catch fire and hes driving it with fuel spraying all over the place?? I understand that it is his daily driver but if its spraying fuel all over the place this kit should have been installed a long time ago and this person DEFINITELY should have asked me before hand when this will ship out in a situation like that.

 

 

Our Response

 

 

Yes, I called Monday and they told me everything was shipped out and

should be here in the morning. I will priority mail this to you as

soon as it gets here. I'm really sorry about this holdup.

 

 

04/21/05 from Dwane Leach

 

 

Thanks.... Please just drop me a line when the item ships....

 

 

 

04/22/05 from Dwane Leach

 

 

Well Brian, I do accept your appology. I was quite upset about it but you got me taken care of.. Hopefully I have it on monday so I can finish fixing the fuel leak... Thanks....

 

 

After I received this last e-mail from Dwane and had shipped out his kit that finally arrived I apologized again and told him that I would take care of him with the shipping on a future order. I have to say I'm a bit surprised at him accepting my apology while this whole time he was bashing us on the Starquest club. Anyway....

 

 

This whole scenario is a very rare occurrence and you can make the decision whether it was handled professionally or not. I want to thank everyone that gave their support in this thread and want to say please, if its something that you need REALLY FAST, ask first before bidding. Generally we have everything in stock and ready to ship but these things do happen and once again, Dwane, I'm sorry for the shipping trouble and if there is anything we can do to help you out just let us know.

 

 

 

 

Brian Arnone

Lower Shores Performance

[neon_hybrid]

Yes, my car is a daily driver, and while driving, it was spraying fuel all over, which I found after I started driving the car on a daily basis which was not happening for the first 500 miles i put on the engine (now it has 600).  Fuel dries very quickly, and evaporates very fast inside a hot engine bay.  The only reason I even found it was when we put it on the dyno for the 2nd time.  The first run, I asked my friend Jeremy to watch the engine because I thought I could hear a boost leak, and what I knew was a boost leak was also spraying fuel out.  After installing the engine, I inspected the engine compartment for leaks on a twice a week basis and resolved every leak I found.  Since I found the fuel problem (the same day I ordered the kit) I didnt drive the car while waiting for the parts I ordered.  The car sat for 8 years before I purchased it and put a new engine in the car.  Anyone knows that any car that sits, seals rot, and will start leaking very quickly and randomly, and since this is my first starquest, I do not know all of the areas that leaks can occour, and since this is the first TBI car  have owned, I didnt expect that fuel would be sprayed out of the TB.   If I had known that the TB needed to be rebuilt (which I didn't), I would have done it at the time of the engine rebuild, but it didnt show any signs of leaking, and was not discolored.  Work is so close that the car never even gets warm enough for the temp guage to register it has warmed up, yet I still choose not to drive it.  I was going to pull the Tb and seal it with silicione temporarily so I could drive the car to and from work which is about 3 min away, but because I knew of the fire issues, I got a ride from my roommate which was a major inconvenience because I had to completely rearange my schedule arround someone elses schedule, and I didnt have a car to drive.  That is not your fault, but my car was down much longer than it should have been because I didnt recieve the parts that I purchased.  

 

Why should I have a "professional" attitude towards your company who offers products for sale they dont have in stock.  It is one thing to order a part from my supplier and they do not have it not in stock or the item is back ordered.  You are the first person I have ever dealt with on ebay that sells parts that they dont have on hand, and I understand that you normally do have them on hand, but you didnt have it in stock when I bought it.  This was not a case of me calling you to order a part, and getting upset because you didnt have it in stock.  You offered the item for auction, and didnt have it in stock, and that was my complaint.  My business ethics would not ever allow me to offer a part on ebay that I didnt have on hand.  Maybe thats just me, maybe i hold businesses to a higher standard... the same standards I follow, but regardless, because of my experience I am not interested in doing more business with you which sucks, but thats just how I feel..   I have sent 3 people to *DM instead of you because of the service I recieved.  Now thats not alot of profit loss, and I know that, but those 3 people will more than likely referr more people, and those people will recommend more people, and all of them will go to *DM for the same parts instead of you.  I asked for my money back.  You could have resolved this entire issue simply by refunding my money.  I would have gladly bought them from Kelly, and I would have never said a word to anyone about this transaction because if you refunded my money, I would consider that taking care of the customer.  Sometimes you cant meet your customers needs, and sometimes you build false expectations by selling parts to people for auction that you dont have.  I shouldnt have to email you or call you to ask if you have them in stock.  YOU HAVE MULTIPLE TB KITS LISTED ON EBAY SO ITS IMPLLIED.  We have had things happen where we end up refunding money, or refunding some money because we didnt meet the expectations of our customer.  This is very rare, but it still happens, and in most cases, it was offered by us, not asked for from the customer.  Our shop is so busy that sometimes it takes us a couple weeks to start on a car because we have so much business.  Thats how busy we are.  We are the only import shop in town that has business like we do, and that is because of the quality of work, and customer service.  I do not consider you telling me that eventyally I will recieve the parts after you recieve them good customer service, and again that is my opinion.

[neon_hybrid]

I want to make sure everyone understands what I am saying

 

I understand that parts are ordered from suppliers, and sometimes those parts are backordered or delayed.  That is a part of business, and I deal with those types of issues on a daily basis (nothing is more frustrating than truck freight because an item shipped a week ago could show up today, or in 2 more weeks).  There is a major difference between a customer calling you to order a part, and then you order that part from your supplier, it be on back order.  That is completely different from what happened between me and you.  You listed the parts on ebay and didnt have them.  That is a completely different ball game, and that is why I am upset.....

 

Regardless of what is posted in this thread, Lower Shore Performance has people who are not satisfied other than me, and a couple people have told me I should notify ebay.  I have been contacted by multiple people from this site saying they had a bad experience, and I also have had some people I talked to say they had a good experience.  I have no doubt that you take care of most of your customers, and I praise you for that.  I didnt report anything to ebay, and I also didnt leave negative feed back.  I could have, and I believe I have the right to because my complaint is valid, but because I am not interested in causing people more grief than nesscary, and to be honest, I wouldnt want you to have to deal with ebay on something that happens every once in a while, and because of that  I just decided to bite my lip and only post here.  I only would have left negative feed back if I didnt recieve the part, or it took over a month to recieve.  I feel that my experience with Lower Shore Performance was worth posting in the feed back forum, because I am 100% sure other people have had issues as well.  Those people just are worried about the conciquences of what they post.  When I posted that comment, I didnt know if you were or were not on the site but I quickly learned that you were when I was contacted by multiple people.  Obviously your on this site, and maybe, just maybe because of that they dont want to rock the boat because on here just like every other site I am part of, if the person that is being talked about is well liked, it becomes a war on 1 person.  

 

The truth of the matter is that even though other negative comments havent been posted in this thread, unhappy customers do exist (which is true of all businesses including ours).  I dont have a problem hurting anyones feelings (which is not my intent), and other people do.  I will gladly post my experience which I did, and I have said my piece.  If the experience was good, I would have been the first to post a praise.  Like I said.  This whole situation could have avoided by simply refunding my money....  Instead of that, you offered to give me free shipping (or reduced shipping) on an item I purchase later on... thanks for the offer but no thanks... Ill just buy my parts from *DM, or other suppliers.  

 

Whats even funnier is it seems that people think I am just being a jerk to be a jerk, and I just want to complain about something.  I have dealt with multiple people from the board for both selling and buying parts, and the one person I spent more money with than anyone was DAD.  I ordered over 200$ worth of parts from him.  Some of the parts I ordered were backordered.  I never once got upset with him, never once posted anything negative (infact I posted many positive things about him, and continue to do so), and I even am a repeat customer of his.  The difference is that I was made aware the next day that the items were on back order.  Even if I had recieved an email from you stating the situation that they were backordered I probably would have not been upset, and I definately know that I wouldnt have been nearly as upset as I was when I found out that my parts were backordered and i wasnt made aware of it, and I would have never posted anything negative about you on this board.  The fact is that I had to email you 5 days later and ask for a status.  I should have never had to ask for a status, you should have given me a status when you realized I paid for a part that you didnt have in stock.  Regardless if you feel I am wrong or not, my opinion is my opinion, and my opinion of our transaction is not very good.  Regardless, I have stated my piece, and I am done....   

 

Oh yea, and on a positive note, The instructions that were included with the TB kit were exceptional.  I was impressed with the 2nd piece of paper sent with the 2 shaft seals and 1 fuel supply seal.  The instructions were very easy to follow, gave personall experience with changing the seals, and how to do it correctly, and they even went a little further than I would expect, so for that Brian, I do give you a thumbs up....

 

-Dwain  

[scotty]

Is this the same place in delaware that has like 15 + starions for parts behind a business?

[neon_hybrid]

Is this the same place in delaware that has like 15 + starions for parts behind a business?

 

I thought they were in Maryland, but I could be wrong....

[Outlander]

Well I know I have been treated as a good customer by lower shores performance so I guess I will still do buisness with him. But in any case just remember we are driving 15 to 18 year old cars that need maintence. And parts are getting harder and harder to find so it does not surprise me to wait on parts or have something backordered. I am just darn happy to get a quality part to my door at a fair price.

Just go to the dealer and step back to the parts counter and ask for a part for a 1987 Conquest TSI  and just study the look on his face.       ;D  

[smog]

selling something you dont have on ebay just sucks.

[freebird]

actualy im not gonna read all them words but......honestly neon_hybrid looks to be the nice guy in this situation.

i would have been pissed if i bought  something from ebay and didnt recieve it for three weeks i would have square traded some one

[Caliber308]

This is what ive learned about buying parts for our cars off the internet. NUMBER 1. Do you have it in stock? Ask this question!!! NUMBER 2. If its not in, stock when do you expect it to be in? Ask this question!!!! Number 3. If its in stock what is the estimated shipping time? Ask this question!!!! If we all conduct business like this theres no mistakes ;) ;) And no need to post Negitive Feedback about any supplier. Its on us to ask the questions ;) Now, if the supplier lies to us, that is the time to post Negitive Feedback.

 

CALIBER 308

[Outlander]

OK neon hybrid lets see from the 4/13/05 when order was placed and Brian said he got the money on the 14th how is that 9 days that you posted on the 20th???? looks like 7 to me.

 

And to freebird, looks like neon hybrid recieved his parts around the 25th or 26th so how is that 3 weeks??? I only get less than 2. Please read the entire thread.

 

I have ordered stuff from differant people on e-bay and 2 weeks dosen't seem all that long to me. And I have a 100% feedback. If you wan't it now, then don't mail order!!!!!Go downtown...    Oh you say you can't get shaft seals downtown with your Throttle Body kit, then wait your turn in line like everyone elese and be happy we can still get them at all. since they are no longer even a dealer item.

[neon_hybrid]

This can go on for ever... I really dont care.  At the end of the day, my opinion about who I think is good to deal with, and bad to deal with is my opinion and my opinion only matters when it comes to me and who i deal with.  Every single person on this board could say he did them right.  Regardless of everyone elses opinoin, my opinion is what matters to me.  You can ask any one else  on this board if doing business with me is like pulling teeth.  I guarantee that noone other than brian has had an issue.  If you want to ask people, ask any of or all of the following who all have had rescent transactions with me

 

Richie_Rich

CashAudio

Bshade

 

I guarantee they will say that doing business with me was easy, and I would recommend anyone buying from these guys.  Hell, i paid for parts from richie rich a week ago and I havent seen them.  I told him to take his time on shipping.... because they are large items and boxing them up will take time... If im so unreasonable, how is it that I have no problem with not recieving the parts yet?  Easy, I have been in contact with him and know exactly what is going on.

 

I am the furthes thing from unreasonable.  I expect that when I choose buy it now, it is should be shipped the next business day or 2.  Not over a week later...

[Superfro]

ive ordered from them no problem