Your dollar is worth more than a dollar (to us)!

[Stalker]

That would have to be one of the best written posts I have ever read, not because of the subject matter, but the way you have explained the situation in a calm and straighforward manner is to be admired. I'm sure this situation caused you more than a moderate amount of frustration and I think you handled the situation perfectly. Well done.

P.s. Just for the record, I have already and will again, use ECS to acquire goodies for the R32.

[Maverick]

I've experienced great customer service, after recently purchasing a set of coilovers and other odds and ends. They responded at what would have been first thing in the morning for them and the response was very well written and helpful.

As did I but it was when I first raised an issue they stopped responding. I spoke to them via the online chat system on a Friday morning around 1am and questioned the freight price as being too high, they checked and found they could do it for ~$60 (and could do an extra hatch kit for that price) but they had to enter the order. I told JP I'd get back to him shortly as I wanted to see if someone else wanted to buy a hatch kits and early in that morning put an order through. I had an email arrive soon after with a freight price of ~$80 so emailed them back to query. The order shipped soon after and I receive an email saying that he needed authorisation from the freight manager to discount as UPS had put their rates up after I enquired. Since then around 8 emails to JP and the sales and esales queues have been ignored. So I'm stuck with a hatch kit that I can't pass on to the guy that was buying it, a hatch kit on my car that doesn't work, $20 extra in delivery and some faulty pens. Buying the bumpers locally isn't an option as they will cost as much as the hatch kit. All up I spent nearly USD$500.

And the only way to get a response was to take it public which is pretty disapointing as it seems their customer service is good until you pay for the goods and after that they don't give a damn. It's been nearly two weeks since I placed the order and over a week since the order arrived so it's not like I was expecting an immediate response.

[Big_M]

That would have to be one of the best written posts I have ever read, not because of the subject matter, but the way you have explained the situation in a calm and straighforward manner is to be admired. I'm sure this situation caused you more than a moderate amount of frustration and I think you handled the situation perfectly. Well done.

P.s. Just for the record, I have already and will again, use ECS to acquire goodies for the R32.

Here here.

Sorry to hear of the situation you found yourself in.

I hope I never have to bring a report similar to the table. Always something thats in the back of mind when ordering.

[triode12]

I had a similar issue with shipping quotes as well with ECS.

I purchased a Votex lip for my GTI and their online shipping system quoted $92USD for shipping. After paying online, I got an email from ECS stating that they could not ship for that price as they had to use UPS and not USPS because of size restrictions. The revised price was $300 to ship the item via UPS. They then offered me the choice of getting my money back.

I was after much stuffing around and threatening to do a write up on this here that I got to speak to Josh (one of the managers). He agreed to honor the mistake made by their system and he said he would look into fixing the bug.

I checked their system again a few months after the fact but nothing had been done to fix the bug in the system. So shipping costs for Australia may still be inaccurately calculated by their online retail system.

It sounds like the problem is ongoing which is a pity because, I think their prices are pretty good comparatively.

[thezoneR32]

Wow I bet ECS wish they didn't start this thread! I had a good experience with them, ordered some H&R sways, was quoted a shipping price by the online system, paid and the product arrived on my doorstep in 6 days from date of order! Maybe I was lucky, not sure. maybe the product I ordered was fairly "common" and by that I mean popular eg they probably sell a lot. To order more unique or large items may be a risk. I know thats not good enough if the on-line system quotes a product and shipping at a price, just trying to speculate. As mikinoz already said, online purchasing will always be a risk. I have had to send a few things back that i bought on ebay because they were not as described. There are some people that will just try it on and hope you don't notice. I don't think that ECS are dishonest just a bit disorganised. There aren't many retailers these days that offer much after sales service its the nature of the beast. I have spoken with Pete and he seems genuinely interested in getting things right regarding customer service but sadly when you work in a big company you cant change everything.

To sum up lets face it, how much product would they sell to OZ compared to US?

[Tim]

Im sure that ECS dont go out of their way to make peoples lives difficult. Getting product to Australia in a cost effective fashion is extremely difficult.

Having an automated checkout system that quotes shipping on bulky items is always asking for trouble as freight will be charged by its volumetric weight not its actual weight. Sometimes its impossible to calculate the volumetric weight of something until it is fully packaged as some items require more protection than others etc..

At the end of the day ECS are making a reasonable attempt to break into our booming market. The logistics of it however are not quite so simple. Expecting champagne service on a beer budget is always gonna end up in disappointment.
I dont think crucifying them for a few deals gone wrong is the way forward. So long as a learning process takes place and the logistics are nutted out I can see them taking a substantial market share here.

[triode12]

I am sure they don't either but they are not doing themselves and their reputation any favours if they do not fix up the bugs in their checkout system.

If Josh didn't sort out my issue, I would not have purchased any more items from them. And I am intending to purchase another lot of things from them shortly.

Im sure that ECS dont go out of their way to make peoples lives difficult. Getting product to Australia in a cost effective fashion is extremely difficult.

Having an automated checkout system that quotes shipping on bulky items is always asking for trouble as freight will be charged by its volumetric weight not its actual weight. Sometimes its impossible to calculate the volumetric weight of something until it is fully packaged as some items require more protection than others etc..

At the end of the day ECS are making a reasonable attempt to break into our booming market. The logistics of it however are not quite so simple. Expecting champagne service on a beer budget is always gonna end up in disappointment.
I dont think crucifying them for a few deals gone wrong is the way forward. So long as a learning process takes place and the logistics are nutted out I can see them taking a substantial market share here.

[Pete@ECSTuning]

Maverick - I received your FWD. Not sure yet what happened, but I have sent a copy on to our sales manager, as well as a link to this thread. I suspect I will know more in a few hours.

After Chris left, I was left with the unfortunate job of having to address mkinoz's bumper-order-catastrophe. I won't lie, between the shipping calculation errors and exchange rates back and forth - WOW was a headache for me, but not nearly as much as it was him. As it was apparent by the time I picked up on the case that there was a calculation error, I did everything in my power to provide him with the best options, and it was unfortunate I couldn't do more. I wish I had started this position a little earlier, perhaps I could have helped avoid that particular situation entirely.

Im sure that ECS dont go out of their way to make peoples lives difficult. Getting product to Australia in a cost effective fashion is extremely difficult.

Having an automated checkout system that quotes shipping on bulky items is always asking for trouble as freight will be charged by its volumetric weight not its actual weight. Sometimes its impossible to calculate the volumetric weight of something until it is fully packaged as some items require more protection than others etc..

Thanks, Tim. I will open a query with our shipping manager and website programmers to see what can be done about the discrepancies in our shipping calculator. Anyone who has had shipping errors in the past, if you would like to PM me with the items in question and the discrepancy, I will make note of them. I encourage anyone purchasing a heavy or bulky item to email or PM me for a more accurate shipping quote. Obviously you shouldn't have to inquire every time you place an order, but until I can say all our quotes are right, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I really am dedicated to customer service, and I welcome any of you to come to me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

[Buller_Scott]

mikinoz, you could have done the american thing and sued 'em.... yes, you would have had to pay significantly more in postage, but at least you'd have a couple of million up your sleeve

[Maverick]

Update: The hatch stop bumpers arrived today and now I finally have a fully functioning hatch pop kit.

And because of the delays I have also been stuck with a complete kit which is for sale if anyone is interested.