Thumbs-up Summit / But NOT UPS...

ERA Chas · #1 (**permalink**) 07-29-2010, 04:59 PM

Good news:
Placed a Summit order for some maintenance parts and gaskets two days ago and it arrived today.

Bad news:
The UPS guy delivered it by driving by about 40mph and throwing it at my porch-or so it seems. I heard the noise at 6:30PM and went to the door-the truck was pulling away and I saw the box. It looked like UPS' Samsonite gorilla had thrown it around the truck ALL DAY or they put a crate engine on it.
Further, the tracking info Summit provides shows it had been loaded onto the truck at 5AM about 15 miles from my house. I got it at 6:30PM.

You're supposed to be able to refuse delivery of damaged parcels and the driver takes it back as-is. But around here they just like to stand it on your property and fly away without waiting.

I took pictures of the trashed box before opening as proof, then opened. Two items were missing and two of the six were mangled including valve cover gaskets. Six of ten plugs were missing.

I called Summit's service and the guy was super. I offered to send pix but he said only to hold the box for Summits claim to UPS. He is sending out my missing and damaged parts tomorrow AM. It took longer to get through Summit's phone menu than for the rep to satisfy my claim. 5 minutes or so.

I've long been a Summit customer but this is the first claim I've made. Their service and in-stock selection is great. I just wish they wouldn't use UPS for ground (or anything)-but then I don't know who IS best as a shipper-do you guys??

Summit;
www.Summitracing.com
800 230 3030 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting**************800 230 3030******end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Snakebit · #2 (**permalink**) 07-29-2010, 05:18 PM

Summit is great to deal with. Their return policy is no questions asked.

patrickt · #3 (**permalink**) 07-29-2010, 05:24 PM

Uhhh, I gave the UPS guy a C-Note with instructions to piss you off any way he could. As it turned out, I gave him a bonus on top of that for doing such a good job.

Yep, you get what you pay for....

ERA Chas · #4 (**permalink**) 07-29-2010, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickt

Uhhh, I gave the UPS guy a C-Note with instructions to piss you off any way he could. As it turned out, I gave him a bonus on top of that for doing such a good job.

Yep, you get what you pay for....

I hope your next morsel from the haberdasher arrives UPS...

Fordzilla · #5 (**permalink**) 07-29-2010, 05:54 PM

Or your dual roll bars......

PANAVIA · #6 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 01:18 AM

I am very happy with summit personally and professionally, they are as they say, -- the real deal.

Seagull81 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 09:11 AM

That guy must have worked for the Post Office before he went to UPS. I have better luck with UPS than the Post Office.

patrickt · #8 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seagull81

That guy must have worked for the Post Office before he went to UPS. I have better luck with UPS than the Post Office.

Absolutely. We love our UPS guy. When he delivers a box from Summit he usually says "looks like Cobra parts for Patrick -- I guess she's broken again, huh?"

Dangerous Doug · #9 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 09:29 AM

Summit Racing is the best.

DD

FWB · #10 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 10:17 AM

FWIW, summit's customer service is very good......UPS is hit or miss depending on the driver. as for my area, i try to get everything shipped using fed-ex, my company has canceled its UPS account and uses Fed-Ex exclusively.

for three years i battled with UPS to stop changing my address automatically to a new town (the incorrect one) the driver would drive around aimlessly looking for an address that didn't exist. all packages were days late.
it got to the point where a rep at UPS actually told me " I didn't know where I lived......" the next day my account was canceled, i will never use them knowingly again.

but, since i don't know where i live, i may not be able to control it....

ERA Chas · #11 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 10:27 AM

Well here's an interesting update:
True to their word Summit delivered the lost damaged parts 3 days later with no charge.

Guess what? The new shipment was in the same size and type box as first-and it had near identical crushing, tape over and damage! Was not breeched-open like first however. This time the UPS driver waited for me and there were two-my regular driver and his SUPERVISOR who came specifically. I told him I would not refuse the package if he watched me open it for contents-he said 'fine'.

The box had everything but again the valve cover gaskets were wrinkled but not unusable. I showed the supervisor the first box and he was amazed and somewhat apologetic. He did say that Summit was using cheap boxes with a lot of dead space in them-the air bags do next to nothing. In that I must agree with him. Prior orders from a year ago or more had stronger boxes.

He made no excuse however for UPS' truck-loading policies and their damage-causing handling practices and cover-up attempts. He said he would write up a report and pass it higher up. At least they won't fight Summit's claim for loss.

He didn't want the pictures I took but did take the first damaged box back with him. He seemed p/o'd that people in his company would do this kind of stuff and was mildly embarrassed. Nice to see a little pride in what one does and the taking of responsibility.

Apparently SOME people in big companies care about their customers and end receivers. But he's one guy and the company sets policies to cut costs, save time and the little guys like the drivers and supervisors can't change much no matter how dedicated they are.

My next package my be perfect or junk-so may yours.

Ralphy · #12 (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 10:49 AM

Fortunately I am within 30 miles of a Summit. I have received shipments with no problems, however they are from the manufacture. Our UPS driver uses the Dingo Method. He dings the doorbell and goes.

My experience with Summits website is when searching. You probably will not get a full list of parts that will work for your ride when you use there keyword features. This is especially true for us Cobra guys with such a mixture of components. Also FE motors get very little representation at Summit, which is understandable.

Ordering a column once I went to the store thinking I could pick it up there. The parts guy said it would have to be shipped, which it was. Turned out they had the same part under 2 part numbers. The one the parts guy looked up was not quit right however Flaming River knew what was right. Summit charged me shipping and about 2 bucks more for a column they did have in stock. In talking to a rep they more then made it right!

When using Summits site, it's best to go to the manufacture site also. Get the part number then put it in Summits search.

Notice at the top the part is now NA and they reworded the ad.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLA-FR20000MC/