Quote:
Originally Posted by theadmiral976
Is it possible to call FT86SF anymore? The phone number they provide on the website just has a recorded message asking customers to use their e-mail system. I have been communicating back and forth with one of their representatives via their e-mail system about a shipping delay and it is getting really frustrating as I have to get every single detail from them one message at a time. My car is broken and I need this part to fix it and drive it. I would love to spend 5 minutes on the phone with a representative to sort out my options to get this part to me faster than mid-late August (I ordered it in mid-June with a tentative delivery date in early-mid July).
I have very happily used FT86SF for 5 years; however, the one time I need them to work with me (let me pay them more money to ship faster, provide me with a refund so I can buy the part elsewhere, or even just explain in detail what the timeline actually will be), they are difficult to work with. A telephone conversation with an actual human being so that my three questions about my order can be answered without hours, or days, between e-mail responses, would be amazing considering I've spent thousands of dollars with them over the years.
|
As a warning to anyone ordering parts listed as shipping from "the factory" from FT86SF, it is becoming clear to me that they have no interest in working with customers on providing reliable shipping estimates. As of right now, I placed an order in mid-June for a part listed as shipping from "the factory." Based on the part ordered and a little internet searching of similar US-based resellers, I had my suspicions the "factory" was in Japan. I did my math on JapanParts at the time and realized it was about equal (within $10-20) to use FT86SF. As I have historically been very pleased with FT86SF over the past 5 years, including with ordering other items "from the factory," I went ahead and gave them my business.
Now, using JapanParts, this part would have arrived by early July (maybe the second week, given the holiday). I talked with a rep from FT86SF who assured me the part was due to ship from "the factory" in time for its arrival in the custody of FT86SF in "early July." Come mid-July (I think I emailed them on July 13), I am told the part will be shipped on "July 22" with no effort made to provide me an estimate on when it will arrive in the States, much less to my house. After yet another round of emailing (they don't have phones in backwater Des Moines, IA, I guess), the rep finally concedes that the part is indeed shipping from Japan. Now, I am concerned. See, the only reasonable explanation for this delay is that they were waiting to assemble a large number of orders to ship all at once, likely by boat, from Japan. This makes perfect sense as FT86SF is likely making a small margin on these parts and most of their profit will come from more efficient shipping practices. This is fine. However, there is no mention of this on their website and their reps are either not allowed or unwilling to provide this critical information to the customer. See, the biggest issue is that I was led to believe that my part was being ordered and shipped in a timely manner (e.g. a week from ordering) and that it would arrive within a month of ordering from Japan (as stated to me by my initial email contact with the rep).
At this point, I am stuck waiting for this part until at least late-August, if not September. The boat crossing is a minimum of 10-14 days plus all of the dockyard time and shipping to the FT86SF warehouse, where it will have to be unpackaged, sorted, repackaged, and finally shipped to me.
Again, because 19th century phone technology is foreign to the fine folks at FT86SF, I had to yet again communicate by email, this time asking them to cancel this portion of my order since my car is broken and I need this part to use it (it's also my only car, my DD, and so on and so forth, but that's not FT86SF's problem). This was late last week; as of today I have yet to receive any further communication from them. I would imagine this is because they have a strict "no returns" policy on anything "special ordered." I don't know if this part qualifies as a "special order;" I doubt I'll ever know since it would easily take another 2-3 email exchanges over the next 1-2 weeks to sort this out.
I could order this same part, likely from the same reseller in Japan that FT86SF is using - the irony of this is not lost on me, and have it airmailed to me, arriving August 1 for a few dollars cheaper than I paid FT86SF (mainly because the JPY has weakened against the USD since June 15). This early August arrival would be weeks ahead of FT86SF based on the "shipment leaving Japan on July 22." To add insult to injury, FT86SF flatly rejected my offer to pay them more money just to make a special order of my part and have it airmailed directly to me from their supplier.
Based on their incompetence, or deception, when it comes to shipping estimates, their complete unwillingness to communicate by anything other than email at a rate slower than it would take to ship a letter from my home to Iowa by USPS, and their flat refusal to work with the customer when it comes to providing alternative order options AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO THEM, I can no longer support FT86SF and strongly recommend that others think carefully about using them in the future, particularly for orders of parts not listed as "in stock" (although, apparently even that designation is prone to issues based on posts made previously on this thread).
I do hope that FT86SF takes the time to pick up a godforsaken phone and call me. All of this can be quickly resolved by a simple 5-10 minute phone conversation, as opposed to terse, incompletely answered emails from overworked customer service representatives.