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Post by PICTUP on Jun 11, 2016 8:25:12 GMT -8
At least the sales rep you dealt with will talk to you. My rim situation is going nowhere. Customer service is a joke. I wonder if us living on the island gives them the ability to brush us off because of the cost to return anything or the inability to actually deal with us face to face. I need a drink. By the sounds of things I think you might need a trip to the mainland instead. Unfortunately it would have to be during work hours, but then again all hours seem to be work hours for you
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Post by busaddict on Jun 11, 2016 8:55:21 GMT -8
Russ, and why are we paying NOT to have something added to our fuel?
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Post by CrazyBrit on Jun 11, 2016 9:48:39 GMT -8
So here we go with my latest rant... This concerns a customer of ours and his experience with parts supplied from a well known Vancouver based company... He wanted to install a more powerful engine in his '69 Westfalia, and ordered a 1915 cc unit that was built by SCAT. After more than a few trials and tribulations, the engine is installed and running well. Then the oil leaks started... He has put approximately 250 miles on it, and is experiencing oil leaks from the rear main area, pushrod tubes, and even the strainer plate. Interesting things of note was no sign of any sealant on the pushrod tube seals, and nyloc nuts instead of the proper cap nuts on the oil strainer. The unfortunate part of this for the customer, is the supplier has no intention of giving the owner ANY form of labour compensation for these leaks and will not replace the engine. I talked to the company rep about the situation, and his answer was "all air-cooled engines leak oil, don't they?" He said he MIGHT supply replacement parts that are leaking. It was clear from talking to him he didn't really care about making this situation better. Too bad, so sad. Their advertisements for this engine say that they have sold several hundred of them and any small problem was easily resolved... Pants on fire... Strange that. I bought one of those engines (Scat 1915cc longblock) and it leaked like a sieve too. Unfortunately it took me so long to get it installed and ready to run that my warranty was long done, nt that it seems it would have made any difference. It is sat waiting for me to tear into it and replace various seals and gaskets. The quality of the parts from CIP is appalling and I am now trying to avoid using them where I can. The only benefit is their "free" shipping, but I find the price of the parts is marked up so much that it isn't really free. They also have somewhat of a monopoly in this part of the World. On a positive note, I just bought some balljoints from Chris at Victoria VW. He was up front about quality, and did not try to upsell the most expensive parts. He even mailed them to me and they arrived within two days. The cost was comparable to CIP, the parts are not from China and his customer service was awesome. He has a new customer!
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Post by tony on Jun 11, 2016 10:44:23 GMT -8
I recently bought some parts at Concept-1 and although I had to pay shipping , the overall cost was still cheaper than the other place, Both places possibly carry the identical products , but I think customer service is still the most valuable part of the purchase , I had some issues with one of the parts and they were very good over the phone........just my experience anyway.....
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Post by busaddict on Jun 21, 2016 17:50:49 GMT -8
Not sure if I confirmed this before, but I noticed today when filling up in Duncan that COOP hi-test 91 proof is labeled as "no ethanol," whereas Chevron's 91 says "may contain 10 percent ethanol."
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Post by Volktales on Jun 21, 2016 18:19:28 GMT -8
It seems the curse of ethanol is with us on the island now. Guess it is premium fuel now. What a scam...
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Post by tony on Jun 21, 2016 18:24:58 GMT -8
Just treat your motor like an old lawnmower motor and chuck some oil in with the gas , or you could relabel a liter of 10w/30 and call it a fuel additive and sell it for $20/liter
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Post by busaddict on Sept 18, 2016 2:23:31 GMT -8
Just ran across this on the www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=BC site with reference to the availability of ethanol free gas in Canada: "Alaska: all gasoline is ethanol-free. All Canada: Shell V-Power, Esso premium, MacEwen premiumWestern Canada: CO-OP premiumNew Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI: all premium grade gasoline British Columbia: Chevron 94Ontario: Costco 91; Canadian Tire 91; Ultramar 91"
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Post by Volktales on Sept 18, 2016 8:35:15 GMT -8
Looks like if we want ethanol free, we have to pay top price everywhere. Imagine the oil companies coming up with that idea...
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Post by busaddict on Sept 18, 2016 8:43:23 GMT -8
Looks like if we want ethanol free, we have to pay top price everywhere. Imagine the oil companies coming up with that idea... Yes, it seems the only ones currently that actually say "no ethanol" are Chevron and COOP.
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Post by Volktales on Aug 11, 2018 18:51:45 GMT -8
Sooo, I haven't had a good rant for awhile... Time for a change. So I have found myself in an unusual situation for me lately. I am actively shopping for a used car. In my case, most of my cars have come to me; I have not specifically looked for them. So I have been trawling the on-line ads looking for a donor vehicle for my Tercel (story to be revealed later). Despite being a 27 year old car, there are several compatible vehicles currently available on the island for reasonable prices. I know what I want, have cash in hand, and am ready to buy. So what is the rant???
Why do people list stuff for sale, than can't be bothered to return a call, or return an e-mail, or bother to set a time that I can go and even look at the car? This has happened with two cars I wanted to look at, and both are still listed for sale on UsedNanaimo and Craigslist. You would think if you want to sell, you would make an effort to actually do it, wouldn't you? Apparently not...
So I just thought about it. I have bought 33 cars over the years; only 8 were actively searched for. Of these 4 were bought for parts cars, 3 were Tercels intended to be fixed for re-sale, and the remaining one was my old '67 Mercury Cougar. All the other 25 were offered to me, and sadly I never was able to say no... And sadly I still own 18 at the moment, 10 of which actually run. Time for a change...
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Post by Volktales on Sept 27, 2018 21:35:11 GMT -8
Sooo given that over the years I have bought more than a few parts from CIP, they love sending me e-mails about their latest and greatest deals. How about this one... www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC-113-837-601-CLook at that HUGE price!!! Buy a couple of those and you have exceeded the value of pretty much all the Beetles I have ever bought! Really almost $500 for one lousy vent window? For a 1968 and later model too. These are not hard to find used at all, and are rarely an expensive item. Note the "NON-GENUINE REPRODUCTION" in the product description... So how many of you are going to rush out and buy a pair of those? Good thing I have a nice stockpile of used ones kicking around...
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Post by magikbus on Sept 28, 2018 7:39:56 GMT -8
It is interesting that so many of the posts on here refer to the importance of customer service. When I was in another life, and living in Ontario, I was tasked to give some speeches on the best way to build a business. I was working as manager of the education division of the Toronto Stock Exchange at the time. I built a really good informative speech, designed to be delivered at various economic conferences in the golden horseshoe. In a nutshell it went like this. There are two main ideologies followed by developing companies. The first is to focus on the bottom line, cutting costs, sourcing cheaper materials, spending big $$$ on advertising ect. The second is to focus on developing happy, repeat customers. Training good customer service reps, backing them up from senior admin, sourcing quality materials and goods, etc. Even if the second ideology makes for less profit initially, it always pays off big time down the road. Of the 80% of companies that eventually fail in the first 5 years, 80% of them do so because they followed the first "focus on the bottom line" ideology.
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Post by magikbus on Sept 29, 2018 20:08:25 GMT -8
I carry a couple of home made cards that I've given out to managers on occasion. They say"
Remember Me? I'm the fellow who goes into a restaurant, sits down and patiently waits while the waitresses do everything but take my order. I'm the fellow who goes into a store and stands quietly while the sales clerks finish their little chit-chat. I'm the fellow who never complains when you advertise a product on sale and then doesn't bring it into your store. Yes, you might say I'm a good guy. But do you know who else I am? I am the fellow who never comes back, and it amuses me to see you spending thousands of dollars on advertising every year to get me back into your store, when I was there in the first place and all you had to do to keep me coming back was to give me a little service, and show me a little courtesy.
Stan
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Post by tony on Sept 29, 2018 21:02:36 GMT -8
I'm not as courteous as you Stan , you give them a heads up and maybe they change their ways , I just don't return and I probably tell a few people about my experience along the way.
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