Anyone had any recent dealings with this company? I ordered an underdrive pulley from them 7/15/10. 2 and a half months later I still dont have an underdrive pulley. I originally emailed them 2 weeks after I ordered it to ask when it should arrive. They said they are backed up and probably wouldnt get to it until late September. I emailed them again about a week ago asking the same question and got no response. The status on their site for my order says "Open".

Im starting to get heated though. If I knew it would take this long I would have just gotten an Ebay one. I thought this company had a good name but it seems a lot like Howell Automotive to me..

Sorry about the troubles :/ As soon as I saw the topic I remembered your situation.

It is a toss-up when purchasing legit parts - buy from a eBay vendor and roll the dice or pay more and buy direct and ideally have little to no trouble with the transaction.

This past month a local buddy with a TSi AWD needed to replace his knock-off front camber kit and I suggested buying Ingalls since I have had great experience with the company. Additionally my friend is prone to getting screwed over in purchasing transactions so naturally I told him to buy direct through Ingalls versus an eBay vendor.

Long story short, Ingalls dropped the ball for about two weeks and then shipped his order... :squint What is happening?

I suppose that 'Lean Manufacturing' is to blame, or should I say that a misunderstanding of that concept is to blame. Trouble is, people throw that phrase around trying to sound smart, but what they really don't know what it truely entails. The company I work for is the same way, as are the companies it deals with. This causes stress for us, making due with less than perfect material from vendors, unable to reject material because no backup is in stock. And it causes stress for our customers, because their food product sales planning gets put on hold because of our problems. This seems to be a problem more and more people are facing. Companies are trying to keep making a profit, but don't realize they are frustrating consumers, and in turn, losing them.

Fucking Unbelieveable. Just got this Email:

We apologize but after some drawn out decision making that pulley has been discontinued because of too little demand. Your order has been cancelled in our system.



Again we apologize for this inconvenience.



Respectfully,

Shawn

949.4.PULLEY (478.5539)

www.unorthodoxracing.com

Fucking sweet, 3 months of waiting and Im still out a pulley. Never getting anything or talking good of them again.

Oh, and I really hope they take the money out for a purchase after its sent, because I cant remember if they took the money for it already. Bank records dont go back that far.

Wow, that's bullshit. Not only does it suck that you got dragged along with really no reply until now, but it looks as though the 2GNT cars have another aftermarket manufacturer bail out. They should have let you know what was going on, or at least allow the pully to be made as a special order (even if they charged a little more).

What do you mean your bank records don't go back that far?? I assume you paid via credit card, so just contact your provider and make sure there was never a charge. Additionally, don't you have some sort of online banking where you can view past statements?

If you were in fact charged, just file a credit dispute. Takes some time and effort, but you will get your money back.

By the way, that is BS, and if I were you I would flame them all over the internet.

So, im sorry for your troubles, and yes, they should have informed you sooner...

However...

Wake up call dudes, our cars are OLD. Anyone with 1000 bucks can buy one. Not to mention the fact that you can buy a 50 dollar shipped UDP off eBay, so why would people buy theirs?

Put the 2+2 together and it makes sense.

Its only going to get worse.

We need to show manufacturers that we are not a bunch of cheap asses and WANT more support for our cars. Why would anyone invest in a group where half the people will bitch about paying 200.00 for a quality intake?

I want to support companies that support us, hence why everything on my car is "name brand". Yeah I have paid more, but I would like to think im helping out.

I will be working on some stuff with some manufacturers, and I dont know if it will go anywhere, but if it does, we need to show companies that we are a viable customer base.

Originally posted by teklein
So, im sorry for your troubles, and yes, they should have informed you sooner... However... Wake up call dudes, our cars are OLD. Anyone with 1000 bucks can buy one. Not to mention the fact that you can buy a 50 dollar shipped UDP off eBay, so why would people buy theirs? Put the 2+2 together and it makes sense. Its only going to get worse. We need to show manufacturers that we are not a bunch of cheap asses and WANT more support for our cars. Why would anyone invest in a group where half the people will bitch about paying 200.00 for a quality intake? I want to support companies that support us, hence why everything on my car is "name brand". Yeah I have paid more, but I would like to think im helping out. I will be working on some stuff with some manufacturers, and I dont know if it will go anywhere, but if it does, we need to show companies that we are a viable customer base.

:squint

Originally posted by 420agreenvilleSC
:squint

:blahblah

Sometimes it's easy to forget how old our cars really are. It helps that our cars' body lines never seem to get old. I like to view ourselves not as old car owners, but as connoisseurs. :P

Originally posted by electrohead
Sometimes it's easy to forget how old our cars really are. It helps that our cars' body lines never seem to get old. I like to view ourselves not as old car owners, but as connoisseurs. :P

Roger the Car Salesman: My name's Roger, Sir. May I be of some help?
Memphis: That's funny, my name's Roger... Two Rogers don't make a right.
{laughs}
Memphis: Roger, I have a problem...
Roger the Car Salesman: Yes?
Memphis: I've been in L.A. for three months now. I have money, I have taste. But I'm not on anybody's "A" list, and Saturday night is the loneliest night for the week for me.
Roger the Car Salesman: Well, a Ferrari would certainly change that.
Memphis: Perhaps, Mmmm. But, you know, this is the one. Yes, yes yes... I saw three of these parked outside the local Starbucks this morning, which tells me only one thing. There's too many self-Indulgent wieners in this city with too much bloody money! Now, if I was driving a 1967 275 GTB four-cam...
Roger the Car Salesman: You would not be a self-indulgent wiener, sir... You'd be a connoisseur.
Memphis: Precisely. Champagne would fall from the heavens. Doors would open. Velvet ropes would part.

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G

Originally posted by electrohead Sometimes it's easy to forget how old our cars really are. It helps that our cars' body lines never seem to get old. I like to view ourselves not as old car owners, but as connoisseurs. :P

Roger the Car Salesman: My name's Roger, Sir. May I be of some help? Memphis: That's funny, my name's Roger... Two Rogers don't make a right. {laughs} Memphis: Roger, I have a problem... Roger the Car Salesman: Yes? Memphis: I've been in L.A. for three months now. I have money, I have taste. But I'm not on anybody's "A" list, and Saturday night is the loneliest night for the week for me. Roger the Car Salesman: Well, an Eclipse would certainly change that. Memphis: Perhaps, Mmmm. But, you know, this is the one. Yes, yes yes... I saw three GSX's parked outside the local Repair Shop this morning, which tells me only one thing. There's too many self-Indulgent wieners in this city with too much bloody money! Now, if I was driving a second generation, non-turbo Eclipse... Roger the Car Salesman: You would not be a self-indulgent wiener, sir... You'd be a connoisseur. Memphis: Precisely. Champagne would fall from the heavens. Doors would open. Velvet ropes would part.

:) Slightly revised... enjoy...lol

By the way, Ronin, that's exactly what was going through my head while I wrote that comment. Good call! :)

It's a pretty simple rule of business...you can't sell products at a loss and keep the doors open.

My company is going through similar "weeding" procedures and discontinuing many of our slow moving products. It's pissing off a lot of our long-time customers but we have no choice.

Our suppliers keep raising prices, require 2-3 times the minimum purchase as before and most have doubled the lead times required to actually get raw materials in-house. Just those changes will kill a product let alone reduced sales volume.

We have only 1/3 of the employees we had 3 years ago, no one has received a raise in years (I took a 6K pay cut) and now we are all on 36 hour work weeks even though most of us voluntarily work 45-50 hours to try to stay afloat. Last year we lost $500K. This year we are barely breaking even with over 3 million in sales. We used to sell several large volume items with a decent margin and thus could continued to offer lower volume products at reduced margins and not be too concerned as it was nice to have a broad product offering.

These days any product that doesn't support itself is gone.

The last thing any vendor wants to do is tell you that they can't help but they also want to stay in business.

My thought as well about the connoisseur quote.

Also, very good point. With the economy going the way it is, along with manufacturing in this country as a whole, less parts will be available. If there isn't a market for people to buy them, then companies won't sell them. You might be stuck buying from just a few sources and the prices wil end up being higher because of it.

Unfortunately our cars are in the lull before they reach true collector status. They're not old enough to be classics, and they're not new enough to get heavy support from the quality aftermarket manufacturers. There's also still enough of them still on the road that any idiot with $1500 can have a car to rice out.

I've been enjoying watching the resurgence of support for another of my vehicular loves over the past few years, the Porsche 914. For years they were crazy expensive to repair and when you did find good new parts they were priced like they were plated in platinum. Now there are more and more being sold out of storage to younger owners that are willing to put in the wrench time for a great car. The aftermarket manufacturers are noticing this and have responded with great reproduction and new parts, and the price of a lot of things has actually come down.