It all depends on how the naming and shaming is done. We've never stopped people from saying klokkerkrap as we all know it's true. If the supplier is in Tlb then they can be bought into a discussion about parts too to try and improve them. Josh from jk went a long way to help when he was questioned. It's got to be factual and subjective just like mr searcher suggests
Stupid thought but why not actually contact the supplier in question with your factual and constructive critisism's? Posting on a forum isn't going to help most suppliers as they will most likely never see the post. Emailing them directly is far more likely to get you an answer / response and be far more help to your fellow LBayer's as if you contact them directly you are more likely to help the company in question make a call on the product. ALL Suppliers need your feedback, it is a vital part of the business so please do contact your suppliers and give them feedback on the products. We have a review system in place for parts you have purchased from us through a web order and this works as a great feedback method. My direct email is alex@vwheritage.com please feel free to send me any issues you have with anything we stock and I will look into it for you. Hope that helps a little.
Hi Alex, Heritage and a couple of others are great with this, but there are more than a few others that have woeful aftercare, particularly relating to part quality complaints. Most reasonable people would try and resolve a problem with the vendor initially......this would be more aimed at the instances where this hasn't sorted it out and serve as a heads up to other people who will potentially end up in the same boat. I've come to expect to have to do a little fine-tuning on most of what I buy but some stuff I've had in the last 18 months has been so bad I've been left wondering if I clicked the wrong vehicle type when ordering lol (not from you guys I should add)
I thought telling people to contact the supplier was un-necessary as I deemed most on here had at least a modicum of common sense.... I'd both contact the supplier AND put it on here to hopefully save others the hassle. We all know that suppliers rarely change the quality of what they supply, so its hardly going to be the case that a few direct complaints change this. By posting it on here we can stop people buying the rubbish parts in the first place. How many times have we been told "oh, this is the first time we've ever had a complaint about ****** before". We know its BS, the suppliers know its BS...
I disagree, Sadly it is completely necessary to ask people to contact the supplier, Often I will come across a complaint on facebook, forums etc, offer my full contact details, as always, and never hear from the customer. (It seems it is very easy to complain loudly but to actually back it up with facts or photo's seems to be an effort only the few are 100% willing to take). We often discontinued parts if we can source a better quality. We also will change the decsriptions on our parts to reflect the actual quality of the part if we recieve constructive feedback from you guys. We check out the samples of the parts we are sent and base our description on these, we then do try and check the batches as they come in but sadly manufactureres do sometimes change things and not inform us so things do slip through the net. This is where your feedback is really appreciated and does result in actions being taken even if you dont believe so.
That's your prerogative. Its nice to know the suppliers hold their customers in such high regard! I guess people could just be properly thick and not contact the suppliers.
You make me laugh, I have LOTS of respect for our customer hence why I give out my personal email (rather than a generic one) to try and personally deal with people's issues I think also imploring people to give us their feedback and critism's is appreciating our customers and holding them in high regard, You take what I have said in what ever way you want, and then twist it some more Glad to see that chip is still firmly on your shoulder
No chip at all; just amused by your constant assurances that VWH are perfect. I notice no-one bothers on VZi any more after a certain engine thread. Incidentally if you were perfect, you wouldn't't have to worry about people posting their negative reviews surely?
I have never claimed we or anyone is perfect, in fact I have said the complete oposite. We are all human and therefore errors are a certainty All I have said is give us a chance to make things right by contacting us directly and giving us the chance to rectify the situation. P.s. have you checked out the reviews of parts on our website? (oh which we publish by the way) They dont all Glow
No I haven't as I really don't get on with your website! I completely agree that to resolve a one on one issue its essential to contact the supplier first. This will probably result in replacement / refund etc but it wont help all the other poor sods who continue to buy the items. By posting on here for example "bought these CV boots 4 months ago from **********, here is a picture of them fallen apart" it may stop others buying them, or at least get them to shop around. A case in point was a certain supplier who sold crap fuel hose for years despite being told over and over it was crap. As soon as they'd sold the 19miles it seems they had in stock, they started selling decent stuff. They certainly didn't improve quality based on feed-back as it went on for years!
given that much of the aftermarket now originates from China and the far east, is it a case of manufacturers initially building to specification and then once approved reducing quality of materials etc in the hope that it wont get picked up? Seems to be a common thing with China particularly. Do you guys periodically test fit and quality, or is it a case of faith until proven otherwise?
My point is less about feedback for suppliers and more about stopping other poor souls buying the same cr@p. We all know the big suppliers all stock the same stuff, and although they all say they want customer feedback, in reality they also don't want to be left with substandard stock, so if they had for example, 10 miles of braided fuel line in the warehouse which perishes in a year, they'll try and get rid before listening too closely to 'customer feedback'. I think it's more productive to have a name and shame/feedback thread personally. Companies seem to respond quicker to that sort of feedback
That's rubbish, because in the same way as our customer you can return things to us, we can do the same with our manufacturers. Believe what you want to believe but your belief is not fact. I have been and still am on both sides of the fence on this, I still buy products for my own Bus and like you want the best quality available to me.
You can call it rubbish Alex but the fuel line example actually happened. (Not VWH before you get the 'ump)
A couple of weeks ago I had an issue with the quality of something I bought from VWH. I returned it, they gave me my money back - no questions asked other than what I felt was wrong with it. Although I was disappointed with the product, not so with the service.. They do need the feedback to ensure their goods are improved. At the same time I was having a discussion with JK about a gift voucher I got from them which I had, in the past tried to use (long story I believe I posted at the time), it was out of date. They refused to honour it, or give me any sort of discount indeed I hit a brick wall despite having a relationship with the company going back 25 years. I will not use JK - That's Just Kampers by the way, again unless I'm absolutely stuck. VWH I have no issue with.
That's great but if the quality was not up to standard, why not let others know what part it was and who it was from; save them the hassle? I doubt you telling them it wasn't good enough led to them de-listing the part. (Other suppliers are available and this is in no way aimed at VWH)
For the record I've had great customer service from all the suppliers. I just think a "Parts to avoid (and why)" section would help people out.
We seem to have gone a little off topic here, interesting none the less. I wish to offer my own example of extreme scene tax.................. Spark Plugs, my preference is NGK, not least because I raced on them for 20 years pretty much without fault. I can get them for nowt but the general public (you lot) have to pay north of a fiver from 'Major Scene Suppliers' whereas the biking general public get them for £1.95 from M&P et al. (the bikers version of JK, VWH, Coolair etc) Explain to me why this is? (Other than bikers are perceived to be tight arses, whereas VW owners clearly have vast amounts of disposable income).
