Ian is the best, I live about 4-5 miles away from his shop/office, and he's always patient and helpful whenever I need anything. He also has pretty good prices, and has even bundled items together (i.e.: cooling hose kit, like A.J.USA).

 

Ian is indeed the best. I started out as a customer of his, and over the years, he's become a good friend of mine. He'll take good care of you!

Regards,

 

I'll vouch that anything I have purchased from Ian or 944online has always been correct and on time

 

Now, we have an ideal candidate for the ultimate Renn(no)bel prize.

 

Met Ian for the first time shortly after I bought my 944. Heard about his place and called him up to chat. Stopped by that afternoon after work, I only work about 3 miles from his place, he showed me arround and I ended up buying some small parts. Later when I blew a water hose he stayed late till I could get a ride up and pick up the part. A real stand up guy. Will definately do more business whith him in the future.
Bill

 

Just a quick thought. Perhaps they can compression/leakdown test the motor for you?

I have dealt with Ian once. I must have caught him on a bad day, he didn't seem overly nice like everybody here says. However everything arrived on time, and complete. Definately an A+ in my books.

 

OK, I guess I should share my experiences with Ian. He is a really nice guy. And before someone bashes me for pooping on the Ian lovefest, it does have a happy ending.

When I first bought my car, it had some nasty-*** OZ wheels that looked like those BBS mesh wheels that were popular in 1985. They had to go. Ian had a set of cup wheels (copies) advertised in Rennlist classifieds for a decent price. They were advertised as having a few blems, but otherwise straight and true with mostly worn tires on them. So I bought them, he shipped them right away, all was good. I put them on the car, and drove it a few times, noticed a wobble from the front right away, just assumed that it was the tires being old and worn. Then the car sat in the garage over the winter, and when everything thawed I took it down to Farlers to get some Michelin Sports put on them. Ken calls me the next day, and tells me the right front was badly bent. When I went down there, he showed me where there were a ton of weights mounted to it at one time to counter it out, but they had disappeared or fell off. He did the best he could to balance it out to make it drivable. I called Ian the next day, and since some time had passed, he thought that maybe I had bent it after purchase (really I don't blame him for thinking that now). After going back and forth about it a little bit, I decided to drop it.

So some time passes, and I decide that I really should get a belly pan for my car, because it didn't come with one (lost by the PO, pretty common with these cars). So I called Ian about it, gave him the year of my car and told him that I needed the plastic belly pan, not the early metal one. Guess what? A metal pan shows up on my doorstep. So I called him about it, he said he would make it right and get me the correct one. Another year passes, and I still don't have the correct bellypan, even after a few calls and emails. OK, so it was like $60, no big deal. I found one (finally!) advertised on the classifieds from another Rennlister and bought it for $50 plus shipping. Anyone need a metal belly pan for an early 83-85 car?

By this time I had decided I wasn't going to buy anything else from them. I wasn't pissed off, I wasn't out any large amount of money like Dave with AMW, but I just thought it wasn't worth the hassle anymore.

So, fast forward to last month. I had been looking all over high and low for the rear trim rubber for my euro rear bumper that I have been working on. I couldn't find that darn piece anywhere here in the US. I did find a breaker in the UK that sould sell me a used one, but by the time I shipped it here, it would have been around $180. Plus no guarantee on the condition of it. It could have been just as bad as the one that I was trying to replace. So, I shot Ian an email, figured I'd give him another shot. Bam! He got back to me right away, said he could get it for $85 plus shipping, for a brand new part. Awesome! So I called him back to give him my credit card info, and he was busy. So I called again the next day. Same story. Called again a few days later, he wasn't in, I asked someone there to have him call me back. No return call. 2 weeks pass, and at this point I have decided that I'm never going to get this piece, and began filling in the holes on the back bumper for where it mounts, and go without it (not ideal, but it still would look better than the US-spec anchor back there).

Then a week after I filled the holes, I get a phone call from Ian, telling me my part was in and he needed my credit card info to ship it to me. Drat! So, anyway, the part is here, it is brand new and looks great. I saved a lot of cash on it compared to a crappy used one. But I had to drill out the holes I filled in the bumper and undo a lot of my work. In the end, it all worked out great and I think maybe things have evened out a bit.

So, I do think Ian is a great guy too. Maybe a little disorganized at times or overwhelmed by how busy they are, but otherwise he is OK in my book. I'll order from him again.

With the growing number of crooks and bad suppliers out there, I think we should keep ahold of the good ones we have and have a good relationship with them. If that means I need to do a little extra follow-up work with Ian to ensure I am getting the right part, I'm willing to do that.

Jeremy

 

Tifo,
I am going to have to guess that this was around 1.5 - 2 years ago. Around that time I had a few complaints myself on a few purchases. It turned out that Ian was doing 99% of the stuff around there on his own and the volume of business was getting overwhelming.
Now he has a great crew of support staff down there that are dedicated to answering the phones, shipping and customer service. They ALL know what they are talking about when it comes to these cars so you don't always have to ask for Ian when you call. Jamie does most of the basic orders / phone calls but he won't bull**** you IF he doesn't know something (which is not likely).

 

I recently needed some parts for an S2 convertible and, being based in the Middle East, I wanted to deal with a single shop to avoid paying freight more than once.

I wrote to many places with my shopping list and either did not receive a response at all or just a terse note saying "check our website".

Ian's response was always same-day (in some cases I had the answer to my email query within minutes). I placed the order and the day after it was shipped I got an email from Ian saying: he wasn't sure but he MAY have packed the wrong timing belt and to avoid me any inconvenience he had sent the correct timing belt again by courier to Dubai at his own expense. Turned out that the timing belt he had originally sent was correct after all -- Ian just told me to keep the spare.

When the parts arrived it turned out that the freight company used by Ian had made a mistake and charged me twice. All I had to do was send Ian a fax and he sorted out my refund within 30 minutes.

After these experiences, I am very impressed with his customer service.

 

Ok, here's my Ian story. A couple of years ago I emailed some of the parts suppliers looking for a small trim part for my interior (specifically the rubber filler piece that surrounds the ignition). Ian replied that he had one and would toss it in the mail for me--free of charge. To make shipping the thing worthwhile, he included a Mahle oil filter. No charge, even for shipping.
I don't expect freebies from anyone, so this was a pleasant surprise. In the parts business, where a number of different suppliers compete for your money, good word of mouth and repeat business is guaranteed by making an extra effort to satisfy the customer. I think you'll be happy with Ian.

 

Here is my Ian's story, the last time I left my wife drive my car (2yrs ago) she locked our 1 year old in the car on a cold rainy day the police came and busted the rear window. I already had an order for front turn signals in with Ian so I called him and told him about the window 2 days later when my box arrived he had thrown in the window and rubber trim.

 

Bravo, Ian!!!

Was down at his shop picking up a few parts. Was ready to leave to go home and Ian was leaving to deliver some parts to shipper. He left parking lot and as I was leaving after him, my AC Compressor locked up and belt started smoking. Pushed car back into parking space and started wrenching... Ian returns from chore, sees me wrenching and together we decide that i'll buy a used compresser from him. I plan to remove compressor from a donor car myself and install it on mine in his lot so I can drive home.

Ian asked about me doing the work in good clothes and offers his mercedes for me to drive home to boca, pick up some work clothes and drive back to do the work! I was overwhelmed... declined the offer, but gosh what a guy!!!. Ian came out and actually spent about a half hour wrestling the compressor into position himself!!! Offered the use of his tools, jack and stands...!

I cannot say enough good about Ian!!! You may catch him on a bad day, overworked or the dog ate his newspaper kind of day, but there are few equal and NONE better!!!

Man doesn't have x-ray vision, but I'd have no hesitation buying a transaxle or engine from him, knowing that his word is good and knowing that he values personal integrity far more than a dollar!!!

Good Man!!!

Jim 1987 944S (Still running!)

 

Ian is another one of the good guy's

 

I'll concur, Ian has always been great, and now that Jamie is there as well, the place has not only become a great place for parts, but also more efficient and great to work with! I'm glad that I live locally and have the opportunity to chat with him from time to time, as he is truly a great guy, as well as an enthusiast!