What happened to Summit
 

They used to have great Tech Support and you never had to wait on hold. Now you wait forever even if you have your part numbers and god forbid you have a question. I tried calling their old tech line and they will only give support on summit brand products. Oh well another one falls by the wayside. I will still use them of course but the service just isn’t there anymore

I have a friend who is trying to find headers for his 71 Chevy Nova with angle plug heads on a 350. I looked online on Summit's website and found a set that said they would work with angle plug heads. I gave my friend the part number and told him to order the headers. He called Summit to order the headers. The guy at Summit talked him into another set of their coated Summit name headers. He told my friend that they would work with angle plug heads. They did not, unless you wanted to beat some of the header tubes 1/2 way closed with a hammer. So, he sent them back and ordered the ones that I gave him the part number of. Their tech support is not very good these days it seems. But they do ship very quick if you know what you need.

64,
You are NOT thinking about how current times are different from just 2 years ago. The virus ordeal has changed everything!!! Many companies laid off folks because of the virus, THEN decided NOT to hire them back!!! Paying newbies half the salary they were paying their seasoned veteran employees.
I can't say, this is the case here, or anywhere, BUT it has happened!!!

I never used tech people.

To hell with tech people I waited 45 mins to get a person to place an order. They are basically forcing you to order online. I tried the text option and they told me to call

I noticed a shift before Covid but not this extreme.

My tech people are right here on this forum :)

They are slow as heck and don't speak very good English but they know their stuff :)

It’s a shame what they have done to Summit. Of course they didn’t reduce prices along with all the savings they generated getting rid of all their people.

Don

It’s 2021. I’m amazed people are still ordering items over the phone other than from mom and pop operations. Adds more room for error IME.

Guys,as tons of stuff is coming from offshore it is really hard to get anything.There is 44 container ships anchored offshore of Long Beach waiting to even get into the harbor to get a berth to unload and also the issue of trying to get anyone to actually work these days.It’s tough time we live in right now.Tom

I stopped about a month ago into their Dallas (Arlington) Store. On my way back to Florida. This place is huge!! It was on a Friday about 4 oclock in the afternoon. It was extremely packed w/ buyers just milling about and every counter where tech could be assisting others had a Sales rep/ tech person there. Every register had a person working as well. Floor and aisles were clean and organized. Time to talk w/ in store tech was a lengthy process as the lines were long. But did not see any frustrated people either. Cannot say anything about their call center but their distribution center in Texas is on point. I can comfortably say, they had enough knowledgeable employees working the floor at that time.

I can only imagine how many people call wanting to talk shop and asking for info on how to fix their cars, tune their carbs, ask which way to turn their distributer to advance it etc.... etc... ....

Similar deal here, am in a total different segment of the Pontiac hobby than those in the Street "builder" crowd.
When I have ordered a part from Summit or Jegs, I knew what I was ordering & have been fortunate have never had to do a return.

Also the customer service reps are still working from home. They use their systems to check on your inquiry. They resolved several of my issues and were a good help. You can avoid the wait times by leaving a call back number and they actually CALL YOU BACK!

The Summit store in Ohio has been trying to hire people for over a year. They are short staffed. The newest ad I have seen is offering work from home. The problem is, they are only starting at about $12/hr and nobody wants to work for that.

On the plus side, I recently had a great experience with Ames. I ordered a new “stock” set of engine mounts for the new build, then learned they weren’t strong enough. Tech support walked me through getting the proper ones and the return.

Summit and Ames are my go to. I'm lucky to have them to support the hobby

Why would you call in an order? Much less wait 45 minutes on hold to place an order.

In two minutes, you could have found the part you wanted online and been done. Summit has a great website and it's easy to find what you need 99% of the time.

If it's truly a complicated order or one of those rare times that you can't find your part, in the current employee shortage situation, 45 minutes is unpleasant, but not unexpected.

Absolutely agree.My bud has a speed shop,and has been in the business forever.But,he can`t get everything,so he sends me to Summit.

I ordered some Fragola fittings from him the other week.With shipping and tax,his price was $40 cheaper than Summit.

I would imagine this is a large part of the problem. From what I have seen on other forums, auctions, local shops etc. I think Covid gave the auto a hobby a big boost. Lots of people with nothing better to do than work on their cars. Then the govt starts handing out money arbitrarily so there is a boost to the expense account. Coupled with real stores shutting down. They are probably just overwhelmed. I know the last 10 months have been busier for me than the any time period in the previous 5 years.