500

I got a little suckered in too (is this like some sort of AA thing where we all admit our problems?).

Anyway, I bid on some turbo calipers that they had listed. Reserve was not met, but I was the highest bidder. A few days later, I recieved a legitimate second chance offer to buy them at the last bid amount. I had been away from my computer for some time, so I did not have much time left to respond when I got the message (IIRC there is only 24 hours anyway), so I accepted without confirming the shipping (I know...) and, as you can guess, the shipping rate was surprising! However, I walked right into that. I almost always confirm shipping (I'm in Canada, so it is often significant) but this time I rushed it and paid the price. I can't really rag on GAD that much though, it was my fault.

It took a few weeks for the package to arrive, so it wasn't any sort of expedited service. The calipers themselves were is good condition. Sounds like I was lucky though. I would have been really P'd off if I had recieved product as deficient as Jeff's seats were, or some of the other horror stories here.

Almost all the other vendors I have dealt with have been excellent, and usually you have the feeling that they are more than just business people, but enthusiasts as well.

Great vendors that I have bought from include Rennbay, Paragon, Ian's (944 OnLine), Pfaff (local dealer), Mid-America, Sunset, Vertex, Whaletail Canada and Dan Wray (who will be really missed).

slm944

Update - and maybe and I went flying off the handle too soon, don't know yet. Spoke with them this AM - based on our conversation, roof panel was in good shape prior to shipping by UPS - said he really "looked it over" prior to shipping and it had no visible damage.

Have to call UPS to see what's next

d993

And they shall!
Check this out; their latest attempt: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hreadid=256464

rixter

GAD is owned by Joe Cogbill, if you need to deal with them personally I recommend you speak to David as he is easier to deal with to resolve any issues...

now, a few words from someone "in the business"
95% of dismantlers have a "yard", hence "junkyard"... most cars are wrecks, burns, strips etc.. many of these sit outside exposed to the elements for years on end resulting in damage to whatever usable items may be actually "salvageable"...a reputable dismantler will guarantee your parts to be "as described" and working if applicable... bear in mind that MANY parts dealers are actually middle men and have no inventory, if in doubt ask for pics BEFORE you pay
"we" are one of the few that back up EVERY part we send out... if you're not happy send it back and I'll send you a replacement WHEN I have one that meets your needs, otherwise we will give you store credit for your costs... we only ask you ship it back at your expense and we ship you the replacement at our cost
HOWEVER, I must say that MOST of our returns are NOT related to dissatisfaction,
most of the time the buyer either orders an unneeded part (YES we generally honor this!) or orders the WRONG part (YES, we generally honor this return as well!) despite the fact that we tell them in advance its the the WRONG part! (we have 20+yrs of Porsche experience, it's what we own/drive ourselves)
are we perfect? HELL NO!, getting 1000+ emails and 200+ phone calls a day it's impossible to be perfect... but we sure as hell try as hard as we can...
guess that was more than a few words, there are some in the business who give others in the business a bad rap...
best of luck to all of you
Rixter

PS ... ALL of our cars are INSIDE!!

hacker-pschorr

I feel very lucky. They shipped a 944S short block to my door - $950 total (with shipping). Engine was perfect.

Porsche-O-Phile

David is a skater. He'll avoid returning phone calls, e-mails, etc. He hides behind the poor sucker that has to answer the phones. I found his intransigence to be well past irritating when I had the displeasure of dealing with those clowns. It was only after I threatened a lawsuit that I finally got a response from him after WEEKS of duckin' and skatin'. That outfit is about as close as you can get to a professional con artist ring as I can imagine for a "legitimate" business.

Suffice to say, they'll never get another dime of my money. I don't care if the alternative was to pay 20X the cost from the dealer, I'd do it on principle. How's that saying go? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. . . ? There will be no twice.

Chase72

Man, I thought I was the only one who made a bad choice... Ordered a header panel from them earlier this year. I spoke with Joe and he told me it was "Excellent." It was CRAP, and it ended up being more expensive than what we discussed.

Has anyone reported them to the Better Business Bureau? Looks like we have a mountain of evidence here to file a well-supported complaint.

hacker-pschorr

With that you hope to accomplish what? Over the years I have found the BBB to be pretty useless.

Luis de Prat

With dismantlers like DCAutomotive and Ian's Euro I never considered those other dismantlers when I was in the U.S.

I suggest doing a Rennlist search on suppliers before using one and save yourself some angst.

Matt H

Try Oklahoma Foreign, I have been there a number of times, cool people and everything I have purchased from them has been just as described.

GAD is a joke, they absolutely blow.
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Giantviper

Well i have an update about my dealings with them. When i ordered my Turbo Valance which cam and was in good condition they daid it would come with the mounting hardware. Well the hardware never came. I called like 5 times over a period of 4 weeks and they told me the same thing every time, "that we are taking it of a car today an will ship it to you." Well, the hardware never came. So i finaly just bouht my own hardware and told them to credit my bill for the amount of the hardware. They were not willing to do anything and then called me back to lecture me on how i was wrong. I mean I probably would ahve bought the valance even if it did not ocme with the hardware as a worked a good deal out with them. But that is not the point they told me it was supposed to come with the harware and then did not deliver which is jsut bad bussiness.

H2

Amen on Auto Atlanta. I guess most folks have good luck. I didn't.

Harvey

quinnfiske

I have bought lots of used stuff over the years. Some of my experiences have been good and some bad. On balance, I have won more than lost. I think you have to have a realistic attitude about it. You are buying a subassembly from a rare 10-20 year old car. It is being parted out because it is not worth driving any more. The guy selling you that power steering pump has never actually driven the car. All that being said, those used parts are considerably cheaper than that gizmo would be new. You are essentially taking a gamble to save a bit of money. Not unlike the stock market.

my84-944

Ok I do see your point, and if the Item is sold "as-is" than this could be the case.
However, if the seller makes claims or states condition than it is an entirely different situation. When a seller takes the liability of stating in no uncertain terms that an Item, sub-assembly, or part is in XXX condition or has XXX miles of use on it, he had better be confident in his claim. As a sales manager in the Automotive industry, I can tell you that if I made claims on our company website stating that a vehicle had 50000miles on it and carfax shows True Mileage at 150000, and then sell this car to a customer, I have just opened Pandora’s Box. Not only can a “dealer” be fined many thousands of dollars, the Attorney General of that state can revoke/ suspend the Dealer License of said dealer.
While I do know the difference between a Dealership and a dismantler, I also know that misrepresentation in advertising and purposeful deception in illegal no matter what you are selling. Someone would only need to contact the attorney general of the state that they are located in to file a formal complaint.

Porsche-O-Phile

An occasional slip-up or mistake I can understand.

A pattern of deliberate misrepresentation, rip-offs, ducking and skating when "called out", etc. I can't.

These guys bring this sh*t on themselves and they deserve every last bit of lambasting, bad press and whatever else gets thrown at them until they take a look in the mirror and clean up their act.

They already "shed their skin" once (they used to be P.A.P. - anyone else remember them?) probably to rebuild their reputation. Well, they've screwed it up again royally if that was their intention. I've got no sympathy for 'em. I don't think it'd be any great loss to the world if they got shut down and their upper-level management hauled in on criminal charges.