Just recieved my rocker panels today, they are very nice. I would have been happy with them but they both had dents in the middle (damaged in shipping) The way they packaged the braces with them was kind of dumb:spank:, It left a small puncture on one of them. I don't have a car to put them on right now because mine is in the shop, so I'm not in too big of a hurry anyway. The customer service was very nice about sending new ones and having mine returned, although they don't have any more in stock right now to send me. Mine needed a good polishing before they could be presentable, but I guess that is just from the stamping (?) process. I'd like to hear from others when they recieve them. Mine just showed up today. I guess they are sending them in "batches" because it sounds like mine was one of the first sets to go out. It sounded like they expected more to be comming, so maybe they are not as limited as I thought they were (a good thing, I hope they add them to their regular product line). Alright, time to stop typing.:Comp:
Rocker Mouldings Hey Chris..UPS must have been busy in Austin ystrdy..I was driving home and the thought crossed my mind that maybe they had arrived..Sure enough there they were at my front door...Mine were undamaged and looked pretty good. Give me a call about the GS door emblems. Year One comes through. Thnx Patton
Dude, After waiting that long and receiving them damaged because of the way these Amoeba's packaged them, you'd have to put me in a strait jacket to prevent me from slaughtering them. Plus now they don't have any in stock to exchange them for you. :blast: I've received so much stuff from Y1 just "stuffed" into boxes, bending and breaking the contents, it really makes me wonder about these people's IQ's.
Chris Answer me this...Year One packaged mine in a massive cardboard tube...were yours done the same way..they charged a couple extra bucks for "Special Packaging" on my receipt. You might want to request that specifically if they didn't do that the first time. Patton
I got mine in yesterday and they were in excellent shape. Mine were also in the long round tube. I did not mind the wait at all, as I sure don,t see anyone else taking the time to make them for us Buick people, and I definitely never seen any good ones in the junkyards, and I needed some badlly! Thanks Y1! Now agout some front grills ...........
I ordered some rocker moldings several month ago and they still have not arrived (hope they show up soon). I did get a GSX spoiler from Y1 that was also backordered but when it arrived it had been poorly packaged and the corner was broken (the box was too big and only had crumpled paper to keep it from shifting in transit). They sent UPS to pick it up (good service) and the UPS girl asked why they did not tape a couple of bucks worth of bubble wrap on the ends to keep it from breaking. That was a good questions specially since they don't have anymore in stock and it is on backorder again. If I sent out parts packaged like that I would not expect UPS to cover the damage. Who does the packing at Y1? Original Parts Group does not charge for backordered items until they are shipped. This is a more common practice than charging in advance for parts that are not in stock. Mike
.Hello, I live near and frequently visit Year 1 to pick up parts not only for my cars, but also customer cars. If you are ever in the Atlanta area it would be well worth your time to visit and meet the faces behind the voices at Y1. These people are all enthusiasts and go the extra mile to help in any way. If all suppliers/vendors had their attitude we would have plenty of good, reliable parts. What alot of people don't realize is that many of the parts carried by these guys comes from individuals (some club members) who reproduce the parts. The volume that Y1 buys helps everyone to be able to afford to produce and market these items at reasonable prices. So, be nice to these type companies, do as your mama taught...say please and thank you and be happy someone that's not related to you cares ...
As far as I am concerned, I don't have a problem with helping fund a project as long as it gets done. With a company as big as Year One, I feel pretty safe. If Year One said that they were going to reproduce '70 grills, sell them for $400 a peice and listed them in their next catalog and said that the prepay was to offset some of the initial cost of the first run, I think many of us would be all over it. I could wait 6 months or so for a deal like that. I think that the only reason Alan's product line didn't take off as well as we wanted was because he wasn't advertizing to the number of people that year one does. I think if someone had the oportunity to sell grills in the Year One catalog, they would get a huge response. I didn't realize until Phil Green bought his new GS, just how many of us actually need nice grills, and how expensive nice ones really are. Image how much prettier the GS world would be if every car had a nice grill...:TU:
Why is it just because someone is dissatisfied in some way with a companies' service or product we get told to stifle and be happy with it? I don't understand. Since when are you not allowed to voice an opinion? I'm the first one to give credit where credit is due and to offer constructive critisism to a company for future reference. It's not even a matter of a product being substandard anymore as much as it is when they continually send Chevelle parts for a Buick or stuff 5lbs. of you know what into a 1lb box, bend it and break it and not be able to replace it cause it's on back order. If this is satisfactory then I guess I should be satisfied. By the way, a while back I spoke with a Year One rep. regarding a certain part which slips my mind. Anyway, I remember him saying he had no idea about how it would fit and that most of the guys there don't even own musclecars and are not to proficient in the technical details and that they don't get paid enough to know. Maybe he was just disgruntled, I don't know. That obviously can't be the behind the scene people you're talking about. I did get very good technical help on a radiator from one of the tech guys there which was very cool. But there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever to package parts in a box which is not big enough to hold them or don't have sufficient padding and then because of it the part is damaged. That has happened to me multiple times and I'm sure that doesn't help their cost any. As far as cost goes, Year One is usually more expensive than almost any other supplier who has the same item. So I don't see any advantage there. They have long hours and weekend hours, an 800 line, tech help, and some good parts. Maybe they can work on being more careful in the shipping dept. to help round it all off. I've used them before and I'll probably use them again, but please don't tell others they shouldn't voice an opinion on a company's service and that they should just be happy. If everyone did that, they would assume they are always doing a great job, when sometimes that's not the case. Also, that's how people learn which company may be best for them, from hearing input from other customers. Good or bad, it should all be allowed. Maybe we could just work on telling the good stories as well as the bad so it doesn't seem like all you hear is bad. The thing is, you kind of expect a shipment of rocker moldings to go pretty simple and when they show up bent (not mine, I didn't order them, but a previous member), you're like WTF? They are a HUGE organization, I'm sure they could afford adequate shipping materials, I just think the guys who ship are sometimes lax and the Q/A people are not catching it. If you just close your trap and don't let them know they'll never fix it you know? Like, how do you tell a guy who just spent his last $80 on rocker moldings who waited 6 months to get them and he can't wait to get them on for the summer cruises and they show up damaged and he's told they're on back order now, all the while his card was charged 6 months ago for something he still doesn't have, don't worry, be happy? Sorry to bitch too much. There was absolutely no flames whatsoever meant towards anyone, these companies do good but they can do better sometimes like any other company and you should be able to say so when you want to.
I could have lost my cool over the fact that they were bent, and in my opinion they could have packed some peanuts or newspaper or something in there to keep them from rattling around, but they were very nice and polite about handling the situation which is more than you get from most places. It sounds like I should have my replacements soon, and as far as I am concerned if they make good on everything, they come out on the loosing end because of their poor packaging job. I have to say though, I would probably not be nearly this relaxed if I had been in a hurry to finish a restoration or something along those lines. With my situation I didn't have a problem with it as long as they make good on it, but the guy who packaged it could probably use some constructive critisism. :Smarty:
If you order stuff one piece at a time, yeah it aint cheap, thats why I normally order enough stuff to get the 20% off. Then there prices are a lot better. The fact is, VERY few companies has anything for the Buicks. Y1, OPG, Faircloth in Atlanta, were not dealing with Camaros here. I've ordered a LOT of stuff from Y1 over the last 10 years and never had anything come in broken or damaged. If it wasn't for them, then I'd be running around in my 70GS with NO rocker moldings. Is Y1 perfect? No(I don't enjoy the long wait when I call them, and I do tell them that), but really is any company perfect. As much stuff as they ship, yep, theres going to be mistakes now and then, there not robots. EVERYBODY makes mistakes.
I am also glad they are there, even though I bitch about the service sometimes. It's true there's not a lot of Buick places out there compared to Chevy. But there's still enough to cause competition if one place isn't coming through. Maybe not for rocker moldings though. They got you there. But as you say Bob, at least they have the stuff. I also must agree, compared to most of the other places, their reps are nice and seem to aim to please. Sometimes I look at the glass half empty......but someone has to keep these people on their toes. p I actually called up Poston when I got my window fuzzies and told them they looked great, even though they didn't fit. I thought that was nice of me. :Smarty: Anyway, I hope you all get your rocker moldings and are happy with them.
Hopefully someone @Y1 is monitoring this board and will catch on to the concerns being expressed...As for Chris I would again emphasize you may want to call them and pay the $2 for the extra HD packaging..Yeah it may be extra profit for them although I doubt it as the packaging tube probably cost them that much..I think I could stand on it and it would not crush. If yours was damaged while shipping vs. at the manufacturer etc I think this option would be worth it to avoid further hassle. Keep the bitchin' going as it keeps everyone aware what they might expect from each supplier..if they take the time to watch these boards it should only result in better service, packaging, etc for everyone. Nothing more valuable to a business than customer feedback.
Yeah. you are right, now that I think about it, that was a heavy duty tube they used. I think you could use it as drainage pipe if you wanted to. The moldings were in excellent shape and very good quality. They actually were better than I thought they were going to be. My 70GS looks 100% better now. Sometimes I wish I was a Camaro or Mustang(Chevelle/GTO?)person, because you can pretty much build one brand new if you have just a frame and bare body. But nahh, there to easy, I LIKE the challenge the Buicks give me, makes me appreciate the car that much more when I get it done!
Give me a break!! These companies don't sell Buick parts out of the goodness of their hearts. If they weren't making a good profit on their GS lines, they wouldn't be selling them. When a company screws up, they need to hear about it. If they don't know they've made mistakes, how are they supposed to improve their service, and make things right for the customer? Yes, be polite in your communications, but don't let them off the hook, just because there are so few GS parts suppliers. Whether I spend $20 or $200 on an order, as a customer, I should get what I paid for, no less.
AMEN! No offense meant either Stage-X, it's just that I have no desire to be anyones friend at Year 1, I merely want my product to show up unbent and to fit. They are taking my money and as Dave points out, whether it's $20 or $200 I expect my money's worth in return. Friendliness comes without saying. You treat people with respect until they start showing a lack of respect for your hard earned dollar by stuffing 4 foot fuzzies into a 3 foot box. Sure they exchanged them, but it's gotta make you roll your eyes and wonder why the hell it happened to begin with.
Y1 has always had decent service for me. My rocker panels showed up today undamaged and look decent (stripes might be a bit wide).Hopefully they fit as good as they look. I thought it was funny there were "made in Tiawan" stickers on each of the individually wrapped rockers.... As an update to this post, they fit fine and look really good. You may want to run a small file over some of the edges which are pretty sharp and may cut into the paint. I'm fairly impressed with these items, even the cutouts on the bottom are true to the originals. And just to make you US guys feel good, by the time I paid shipping, exchange, duty, brokerage and tax, they cost me 425.69 Canadian. Ouch. later Tim
