Is anyone else having problems with the after market vendors selling mod accessories with poor quality, ridiculously long delivery timelines or just inferior quality new products? I've ordered from supporting vendors, ebay sellers of both new items and custom painted items and I've had mixed results. I won't name names but hopefully some of them that may read this step up their games.

The "off the shelf" accessories I've ordered on line has been mostly excellent with a few notable expensive items that must have been GM seconds because they clearly had issues even though the item was new.

My biggest problem is with the "special order painted" items. When a vendor specializes in a certain product and it takes 6 weeks or even 4 months to get the item to you, that's a problem. Its almost as if they have ZERO inventory of their bragged about specialty product. They take the money immediately and then there is NO customer service, no periodic updates, no nothing. Carbon Flash is a common color and I've heard whining and excuses from a vendor over not having the item ready for weeks on end. Other custom painted items whose quality was woefully inadequate is more than just disappointing.

It's like going to a bakery and saying "Give me one of those cupcakes" and getting the response "Oh, that's just a picture of one. Pay me now and I'll let you know in a few weeks when its ready".

 

Very few vendors stock inventory any longer. Drop ship is the name of the game as inventory is $$$$ stagnent. It appears your complaint is about custom order products as well. With that the supplier is building to order, and is trying to ensure the item is paid for before built. On a non custom item they should never bill until shipped. As for eBay, many items there may be Chinese built, and with inferior quality, so it is buyer beware. For many of my custom body or underhood items I have had very nice items from RPI for the price point, but yes, it takes weeks as these are made and painted to order. I have found other vendors selling RPI products with similar lead times. Likewise I have had a couple suppliers who appeared to be in trouble financially where they were charging upfront for shelf items, taking weeks. What they are doing is using your $$$ to buy the previous buyers items from suppliers and then doing the same with the next buyer. They have no ready casb and are using buyers for interest free cash flow. I always use a credit card to protect myself and am not shy to dispute charges when this is pulled. I never get upset on custom parts that must be built to order if they give you the delivery expectation upfront. If they tell you 2 week delivery and it exceeds that by weeks, they are playing thell game in some cases and I bail on the deal. Communication us key, and if they avoid your calls or emails, that is a sign...heed it and bail on the deal. Reputable vendors will keep in contact and infirm you if delays.

 

I have several items on order that I am waiting on - a set of wheels and some custom painted underhood parts. I was given a shipment deadline for each of the items and that time has not come yet. Will have to see how well the timeframe is met and the quality of the products.

 

Find a paint or repair shop near you that can do a great job and have them paint what you want.. I have taken my side skirts and splitter and ends to him first to see what quality he did.. then took my hood and bumper and he does Very Nice work

He did the side skirts in perfect matching carbon flash in 4 days and my hood and bumper in 7 days with a mirror finish

 

I have been doing this a long time because I am OLD, I order my wheels and tires sometimes before I order the car, or at least the same time, same with exhausts, my last three corvette's 2016 Z06/Z07, 2017 Z06/Z07 and a 2019 ZR1 I had the Akrapovic exhausts sitting in the garage waiting for the car, and wheels and tires mounted waiting on delivery of the car. I have a local painter that has done some of my resto mod cars, and will paint custom parts for me in a day or two, now you will have to pay for service like this, but it can be done. You find out thru the years who delivers when they say, and who does not. Yes it sucks waiting for parts for sure.

 

It's the day or age of things. When you had a retailer in the 'hood, they had to have the item. Now, many things are bought over never-seen, never-known e'tailers. You can't complain--you almost never meet or see the owner, or anyone with the biz--you have little recourse.

So, your alternatives are few: pick the best vendors who you also will never meet, and use them repeatedly, and hope they keep it up and stay in biz (I've had 2 go out of biz for whatever reason I don't know).

As above, find locals that can do the work for you.

Buy way in advance.

And one last one: name names of vendors in the transaction section of CF. It may prevent someone else from using them and getting either burned or put way off schedule. Or, in extreme cases it could get the vendor bumped off at least as a CF vendor. However, most people do not research on here---or anywhere else---the reputation of vendors, even for $1K and up products, and then they complain when there's 40 complaints about the former CF vendor. One especially comes to my mind....

 

The additional/excessive time it takes to deliver the special order painted part is waiting for a batch of items with the like color to be painted. I don't see them painting individual orders.

 

I can name one that has a terrible reputation, especially in the integrity department. Will not deal with them ever again.
If you want to know who that company is, send a pm if you like.
Or if I'm allowed to mention them in public, I'll post here.

 

I refuse to buy into the drop ship lack of inventory as justification or waiting for a bunch of them to paint the same color. Its ridiculous to make several people wait to paint something. This is a terrible business model or just state in your ad "Our painting & shipping follows the 'roundtoit' business model, meaning when we get around to it we'll paint and ship, it could take months but pay me right now!"

"This is the business they have chosen", then have some damn inventory on hand. How can you be in the business of ground effects or under hood fiberglass accessories and think you won't get eviscerated by unhappy people on the forums for months on end delivery timelines.

I realize special orders take longer but not months on end for basic corvette colors like carbon flash, white, black or red.

I'm going to have a snickers bar 'cause I'm just not myself when I'm hungry

 

This should include the vendors for carbon fiber and carbon fiber-like products. I can’t see how it takes 6 weeks to produce a splitter, skirts, or winglets. If it’s up for sales, you ought to have inventory on hand, or are they needing to import the goods?

 

My understanding is, you can absolutely post your issue and name the vendor in the Transactions section of CF. But, you can also post it here on this thread (it MAY, however, be moved by the mods to transactions) as long as it is factual, and just-the-facts, with no invectives, disparagements, etc.

I get your frustration, but you're the one buying "long distance." Unless you know of some way to guarantee that every biz you buy from has inventory sitting on the shelf, or does things the way you want in the order you desire, the likelihood of their doing it your way is SLIM.

A long time ago it started with something called JIT, just in time delivery. That expanded to "lean inventory." which kept very little finished stock on hand. Which then expanded further in a tangent to "drop ship," meaning an "e-tailer" doesn't HAVE inventory. They take the order, pass it on to a mfr. with whom they have an account, and it gets shipped directly from the mfr. or wholesaler to you. The person you email of call could be (and frequently IS) working out of their bedroom!

You can "demand" what you want of a biz but as long as people buy from them, such as you are doing, nothing will change in how they do their biz, if anything will ever change. Why? Because they're making MONEY. And yes, some/several e-tailers do, in fact, import their goods made to order from them. And some of it is drop-shipped to you, meaning the biz you "ordered from" never touches or sees the product before you do.

 

Not only that but often when you order an item, the vendor will need to wait until they've collected enough like orders from others to reach a minimum order quantity to meet a cost point to be able to sell at the price they have advertised.
The day of brick & mortar vendors with inventory on shelves is quickly becoming a thing of the pass. Your typical vendor is becoming a call center like business or even someone taking orders from a desk in their home, and having everything drop shipped from the manufacturer.

 

I haven’t purchased from them. There is my demand.

 

Without naming names:
- I contacted a forum vendor via PM, and he didn't respond. I called to buy worth of $1500 stuff, and the guy was so rude and hang up on me twice.
- I find the prices from forum vendors a bit higher than other places - up to 20% higher.

This was not for custom made stuff. It was for consumables items. I'd like to give forum sponsors my business.