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GMPartsDirect changes prices after order.

BadDog

BadDog

SOL
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A few weeks ago I ordered a complete D60 SRW hub assembly (GM Part 15635530) from GMPartsDirect.com. They have a good price for the assembly, and for a change, the cost of shipping is not insane.

Fast forward to today...

I got a call from "John" at GPD and he says the shipping was wrong on the web site. Apparently they calc shipping based on a percentage of order cost for most items, but some items that are heavy compared to cost, they special case to charge more shipping. The final word from John was that I have 2 options. Go to their site and make another "order" with a special part number to give them an extra $20, or he is canceling my order. That's it, end of story, no further discussion...

To me that says, "We charge a percentage of total order cost as long as the shipping is less and we make more money on the sly, but if it costs more than the percentage indicated, or perhaps if it doesn't make *enough* extra on the sly, we will force you to add enough extra cash to your order to make us happy." Note, they are still not saying this is "actual cost", just that I have to pony up the extra or have my order canceled. Just my opinion since it is their business and they can run it any way they choose, but if they are going to play the "averages out" game on shipping, then they need to keep the "loss" side in equation, or it's just an underhanded way to make a larger margin on parts. Otherwise, they need to "actual cost" the shipping across the board.

So, take this for what it's worth, buy it or not, your choice. I'm just aggravated after being one of the "lucky" guys to get the "yellow" tow straps yesterday and this call today. :( SOL as usual…
 
So they didn't ship it yet?

I actually ordered something that had the same part number as Scoggin Dickeys Vortec TPI base through GMPD a couple of years ago, because the price was so good. (like $50 compared to $400 lol)

Anyways, friend did the same thing. He got his *mudflaps* for a celebrity or something, and they canceled my order before I got it. He took them to task, and ended up disputing the charge on his card, and keeping the flaps, not that he needed them.

Kind of crummy for them to change the price like that, they should have enough experience to notice a problem like that, and do enough volume to eat $20 when THEY mess up.

I got the same feeling before on another issue though, that it is their way or the highway, the customer is pretty much never right. However, if you buy it from a dealer and it's the wrong piece, you end up paying for it anyway, so GMPD IMO is the lesser of two evils. Much lesser when it comes to price.
 
This isn't your week, huh.

We have our own business, and I do most of the estimating. If I don't know what the price is on something like freight, I put "at cost". If I do guess for whatever reason, I honor what I quoted.

I suppose in the end they probably have some stupid small writing disclaimer that says they can do what they did. IMO that still doesn't make it a good business practice. Especially for $20. I'll bet the part was substantially more than that. And I also bet they would have made more than $20 in your future purchases that they have now lost. Too bad so many businesses are short sided.
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Yeah, the price is still good and much less that GM dealer. It's the attitude and underhanded way of running up their margins. Just like the ebay hacks that sell you something for 50% of retail cost, then charge you 50% (or more) of retail cost as "shipping and handling"...
 
BadDog said:
A few weeks ago I ordered a complete D60 SRW hub assembly (GM Part 15635530) from GMPartsDirect.com. They have a good price for the assembly, and for a change, the cost of shipping is not insane.

Fast forward to today...

I got a call from "John" at GPD and he says the shipping was wrong on the web site. Apparently they calc shipping based on a percentage of order cost for most items, but some items that are heavy compared to cost, they special case to charge more shipping. The final word from John was that I have 2 options. Go to their site and make another "order" with a special part number to give them an extra $20, or he is canceling my order. That's it, end of story, no further discussion...

To me that says, "We charge a percentage of total order cost as long as the shipping is less and we make more money on the sly, but if it costs more than the percentage indicated, or perhaps if it doesn't make *enough* extra on the sly, we will force you to add enough extra cash to your order to make us happy." Note, they are still not saying this is "actual cost", just that I have to pony up the extra or have my order canceled. Just my opinion since it is their business and they can run it any way they choose, but if they are going to play the "averages out" game on shipping, then they need to keep the "loss" side in equation, or it's just an underhanded way to make a larger margin on parts. Otherwise, they need to "actual cost" the shipping across the board.

So, take this for what it's worth, buy it or not, your choice. I'm just aggravated after being one of the "lucky" guys to get the "yellow" tow straps yesterday and this call today. :( SOL as usual…
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Sheesh, very lame indeed. You and I must be cut from the same cloth cause I thought this stuff only happened to me........
 
Russ...call nick as i think he got a set from them no issues....if then this be true...he will have an invoice number...which in turn will be ammo to jam it back in their arse...

Whats good for one is good for all.

DW
 
I am gettin so damned tired of it's nuthin personal it's just business. :mad::mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I'm really quite serious when I say I understand now why people just snap and kill other folks. It's been nuthin but one slam after another lately to the pocket book. Not such a good time bein Christmas and all.

Oh well, I do believe in karma so they will get their's.

Ko I'm off my soap box now.
 
Russ, have you tried sixstates.com. I got both my SRW front hub ass.. for 300 shipped. Got the invoice somewhere if you need it.
 
Yup, we have to estimate freight on shipping all the time. I just tell them its going to be somewhere around $$$ and I keep it in that range. If its over what I say I eat the freight or if its under I make money. I usally quote over. Freightliner gives us a pretty good idea what it will cost. Just don't get anything shipped from cummins. They charge us 10% of the part cost:frown1: . Then I have to turn around and charge customers more. Its all a rip off. That 20 bucks he is charging you means that they are probably making 20 profit from you, but it seems to me that you would not charge the 20 and have a happy customer. I would never give a option of not buying the part though. Selling the part is where we make the money, not shipping, he should of called you and told you that you were undercharged for freight and that they were going to not charge you extra. Make the customer feel they got something more. Stupid salesman is all
 
Doug:
Already talked to Nick about it. GMPD's position is that just because they didn't catch it earlier, does not mean they can't "correct" it now.

Alan:
You and me both. Between vandals "tagging" my alley fence, typical Christmas aggravations, and shady business dealings where i invariably wind up screwed, poor QA and customer service, "push 1 for more aggravation" phone answering systems, and so on... I'm about to snap.
 
Toby, that's $150 each for the full assembly shipped, right? I'll give them a call tomorrow. At this point I'm not really inclined to give GMPD any more business just because (like some of you said) the "ultimatum" approach just sucks.

The real problem is almost all business has gone to the MBA approach of managing a business. It's all about maximum profits on every sale, maximum short term returns to boost quarterly report numbers are the ONLY goal, and broaden your market so that no "problem" or even multiple problems will really affect you since they are visible in only a very small minority of your market. 4WPWS is a perfect case in point, as is pretty much any big company and lots of smaller "internet based" companies.

The only real recourse anyone has is using forums like this to publicize the bad behavior of these companies so that at least there is some negative impact on them however small. Not saying that this is a serious infraction and that people should boycott GMPD, but I do think it is useful to let the "public" know how they do business...
 
that is so retarded, all this over 20 bucks, To a company that probally does more than 1 million dollars a year in bis. for thme to give your grief over 2 buck it just plain stupid!!!, After hearing this it would be hard for me to wan to have any dealings with them at all:mad:
 
I would tell then to kiss my ass and cancel the order. I would spend an extra 50 bucks someplace else to not have to deal w/ bull**** like that.

Sometimes it is hard to put a price tag on customer service....
 
Poohbair said:
Sometimes it is hard to put a price tag on customer service....
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Couldn't agree more, but the wal mart cut throat retail concept has seemed to destroy that in recent years.
 
84_Chevy_K10 said:
Couldn't agree more, but the wal mart cut throat retail concept has seemed to destroy that in recent years.
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YOU COULD ALWAYS SEND THEM THE CHRISTMAS CARD "JESUS LOVES YOU BUT EVRYONE ELSE THINKS YOURE AN A**HOLE:xmas:
 
I figured this was going to happen, hence my order time of 12:30AM on a Sunday night/Monday morning, but I figured with my luck, typically mirroring your luck, it would happen to me first :dunno: . That kind of service sucks wet ass. Just yesterday I found out that the total weight, given to me by Federal Mogul, for a set of pistons and rings was off by about five pounds. Typically no big deal, but the fact it was going to Australia via airmail, it ended up costing us an extra 25 bones in freight. It pissed me off, but I had already quoted the price so we got to eat the extra dough for freight. We are small beans, hell, we don't even rate in comparison to GMPD, but I made the decision to keep a customer half-way around the globe, that I will never have to deal with in person, satisfied. Pretty pathetic customer service on their part in my opinion.
 
Thats ridiculous.... Has your CC already been charged? I agree with other and would tell them to shove it and go elsewhere if they are giving you choices like that. Shady ****ers...
 
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