Never again from Ames

[ksgto]

Ordered 3 small parts from Ames by internet asked them to send them by 9/9/05. In return got an email stating that I would recieve them on the 13th called them and asked them to overnight them and was told they wouldn't for just a small order. Only resean I ordered from them is because our host didn't have them in stock and Ames did since when did the dollar amount tell a customer what type of shipping they will get. As long as the customer is willing to pay for it what makes the big deal. I'm glad our host isn't like this just spoent 2K with them and wanted it by 9/8/05 and they came through. There's a couple of others on this forum that I won't buy from again and I'll tell other buyers how they deal in there transactions. Just had to vent some.

[02Hawk]

I think you are being a little unfair, because you can't get gratification immeadiatly. If they had agreed to charging more and the courier screwed up (which they do every day) and your order took an extra day you would be screaming.
Thats why they refuse. Been there done that and have the sore ear. I operate a service business and I refuse to have customers shorten the timeline in order to get their service first as I end up delaying other customers who are patient and having to deal with an upset customer who runs to their computer to slag the business. Most businesses do not need customers like you. ..... had to vent

[ksgto]

What's unfair is they just flat refused to send it overnight. If I wanted the parts I had to wait for the normal groung shipment time. I work with companies and customers every day also. But just flat out NO is not right.We where only talking about 4 nuts they could have mailed it.

[jcruz]

I gotta go with ksgto on this one -- I can't imagine why Ames or anyone else wouldn't ship something next day. :confused: Even if the delivery screwed up 50% of the time, they could simply explain that to the customer. Besides the risk of late delivery, what other reason could Ames possibly have? I can't think of any.....

[marauder]

I've had real good luck with Ames although I've never needed anything overnighted. Seems strange that they couldn't acommodate you on that unless they already had the order out the door on a ground shipment. :confused:


I have had Summit Racing overnight me a few things, those people seems to have it together!

[Rugratman]

Maybe it was late in the day? I think they ship pretty fast, and they are alway's straight up front with you.

You should be mad if they told you they would ship overnite, and then didn't.
But to tell you upfront, it's just their policy. Did you try the Paddock, or OPG, or Year One, NPD ?
I alway's start here too, but if it was the only place that had it, your kinda stuck.
Sorry you didn't get your part, I have been there too, and needed a small $5.00 part on a friday before a show or something. My opinion, But I would not trust OPG to send anything on time, but it's worth a shot if you are desperate.

Ames is a good supplier, quality stuff, and will treat you right. Good to know about overnighting though, but I won't hold it against them if that is the policy.
Maybe money does talk....;)

[geekwagon]

Wow this is a first.. why would they refuse to ship it overnight? Was it already packaged for ground shipment and out the door? If so I would have tried to place another order right then and say i need that one overnighted if it was only a small order.

I actually ordered from them on a wednesday and needed parts by friday. They assured me it would only take 1 day and not to do the 2 day shipping. Well it did not come in one day. But I got it the second day so it all worked out.

Kevin

[66SSE]

I've had no problems with Ames or PY. The've always been straight up with me.

[satman]

I guess I have been lucky, never really had a problem with any of them, even Ebay. I prefer PY & Ames because they list on the web site if a part is in stock or not.

[Bryan Jensen]

I'd have to disagree on this one. I've actually ordered several small parts that I needed either second day or overnight and they had no problem with accomodating me. Ames is by far the best when it comes to customer service. If you have any problems...talk to Quint, he can literally jump through hoops for you as far as your orders go.

When I call to place an order, I ask for Quint by name. I don't let anybody else but him take my orders. He makes sure I get the things I need and how I need them. He is really friendly and knowledgable. Nicest guy that works there in my opinion. :Peace:

e-mail him at [email protected] if you have any trouble. He'll get it fixed.

[ksgto]

Right now just a little pi##ed at them I've order several 1K from them and from our host just couldn't understand why they wouldn't. Had to take a day off from my business to track the parts down in a junk yard ,which was a 3 hour drive to the yard got the parts that I needed though and it only cost me parts and gas 120.00 which the parts from ames was only about 25.00 life goes on.

[Steve Hoog]

I think we should just call Ames and get to the bottom of it, instead of a blind debate.

[Forrest]

you mean "3 nuts" and gas cost 120.00?? were you driving a tank? or were these gold plated nuts!!?? Just had to ask

[ksgto]

Forrest when you only get about 11.5 miles a gallon and a 36 gallon tank at 3.09 a gallon it adds up. Don't really mean to nock Ames down just thought it was a little rude that this happened. Got the parts that I needed to finish the car even though it cost me more than need to be, now on to the the next phase of the car.

[ks gto (Cap)]

Bob- I do believe you should call them to discuss this -- so maybe it could be avoided in the future. In my experience so far, PY and Ames are the best "Houses" we have going for us. But all business need feedback, good and bad. I know I sure welcome it.
I do understand your frustration, it seems there is always something we need at the last minute before a show or just to get the car on the road again.
Really trying to get to Ottowa this weekend, thanks for the reminder. I want to msee your car now that it's almost finished. Will be in touch. Cap

[WARIARGTO]

Ames used to be a great place to go for Pontiac parts. Right down the road from me(relatively). I even toured the operation a couple times with Steve Ames. I've bought tons of parts from them. But Steve sold the company and now somebody else runs it. I called a few weeks back to order parts and got some idiot girl answering the phone who knew NOTHING. When she couldn't help me with a simple order question I asked to speak to someone else nicely. She was a little perturbed and put me on hold for too long until eventually she came back on again. "You said you have a 66 GTO, right?". At that point I had wasted more than enough time. I hung up and called OPG. A lot of other vendors seem to be slipping up these days on the customer. I recently started having all kinds of trouble with Ecklers for Corvette parts. No problem, Chicago Corvette and Paragon got the next order. I wouldn't write off Ames completely, but second sourcing your parts shouldn't be out of the question by any means.

[RUDOLFSSON]

I love Ames (I could get banned for saying this)... Just deal with the right person and you will be good. I always ask for Doug btw. and if he's not in (that's rare) I'll just call later.
NEVER had a problem. Me, my father and some others here in Iceland have done a lot of business trough Ames. Most of it was like 2-3 years ago tough.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Hang on - lets back up a couple of lines here. Did I read that right - STEVE AMES sold his company ? I had no idea and thats the first I have heard of it. That kind of caught me off guard.



Anything is possible, but I have not heard that before. Can anyone else elaborate, please ? He was at the POCI convention running the trailer like usual, maybe he was just an employee that day ? That's wild. I'm just curious, not making ANY accusations.



They better get some "ol man Ames" mask made for the new guys to wear at the shows in the trailer ! Steve Ames is a #1 kind of guy in my book.

[poncho-mike]

I believe Steve sold it the business to some of the people working for him, so they're all still friends (I would hope so, anyway). I think I remember reading about it in one of the Pontiac magazines.

Mike

[johnsclassicwheelart]

I have spent thousands with ames in the last year and never had a bad experience, always very courteous and fast to ship, I know everyone is not perfect, so mistakes happen, just haven't happened on my clock

[66bonne]

Just my 2 cents - during the holiday season at least one of the major delivery companies does not guarantee on-time delivery simply because they are so overwhemed that they have a tough time keeping to their dead lines.

[TJH]

What I can't figure out, reading all of this, is WHY you needed ANYTHING so quickly? Car restoration is NOT an overnight job. It REQUIRES advanced PLANNING and FORETHOUGHT, and the task can take YEARS to complete. If you are going to need a part, the only reason that it becomes a rush is because YOU neglected to consider the need for it sooner.
Sorry, but lack of planning on your part, should in no way constitute an emergency on their part.
I've used Ames a lot in the past, and consider them one of the best vendors out there. Steve no longer owns the business, as he has decided to devote more time to developing new products. But he is still intimately involved with it.

[Dick Boneske]

PY, Ames, and Warpath have all been good to me. I would not hesitate to buy form any one of them. The bad vendors I knew of are out of business--remember Bob Antleman? When I was supplying linkage and fuel lines to him, he nearly always called and said I shorted the shipment--if I shipped 10 sets, he said there were only eight or nine. He confided in me at one of the national meets that he hated the whole old Pontiac parts scene. I don't know who he sold the business to.

In my opinion, anyone who gets so short on time that he needs parts overnight is in the wrong hobby.

[Tom Vaught]

I believe Steve still owns the business but has KEVIN running it.

BOTH STEVE AND KEVIN are straight up guys who will try and do a lot to help you. Asking for next day and not getting it may have just been a error by one of the people. I would call Kevin and try and work this out immediately. Posting about your issue without going to the vendor first is in my mind skipping an important step.

I personally think Kevin or Steve could have resolved this issue without your "Flaming" post.

Tom V.

[stevep]

Steve owns the wholesale business, which supplies the retail company. Kevin and his partner own the retail business.

Bob Antleman sold his business to a 60ish guy named Dick Simondson(?) around 1990. At the 1991 POCI Convention, Dick tried to pick up my wife. Not too bright. I believe Dick sold out to someone else, not much later.

[Tom Vaught]

Never had much use for Bob. Someone told me one time he had died.

Maybe Brian Baker knows, as Bob was part of the Royal GTOs.

Tom V.

[retrojoe]

I haven't had any issues using AMES, it's PY I had issues with. I will not use PY unless it is a last resort. I hate to say that, but the run around I received over the last two years speaks for itself. I won't go into the issues at this time as to not piss where I eat so to speak.....

[Bryan Jensen]

I haven't had any issues using AMES, it's PY I had issues with. I will not use PY unless it is a last resort. I hate to say that, but the run around I received over the last two years speaks for itself. I won't go into the issues at this time as to not piss where I eat so to speak.....

Ditto here. Had a similar experience.

[nh68gto]

I also have had no problems with Ames. I ordered a $2800 dollar list of parts and wanted to pick them up because I am only 1hr from them. I also had Quint I saved over 700 in shipping and he knocked off another 11% for picking it up bill could have been way over $3500, so I can't complain. Only thing I don't like is I can't pick things up on the weekend. I don't have PY's cataloge, but I don't care for the online cataloge, love the forum. Just my 2 cents.

[retrojoe]

Ditto here. Had a similar experience.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one!!!

[71SportRagtop]

When I first got my Lemans, it needed a drivers side floor pan. I ordered it from PY and was told a week. 3 weeks later it arrived. While the pan was being welded in I called Ames to get carpet color samples. The guy said that they'd ship right out and they never did. I tried PY. The samples came right away but when I finally matched up my carpet color and ordered the carpet, I was again told about a week and it took about 3. Luckily for me I had all winter to do my floor pan and carpet or I would have been really pissed.

After 21 years of playing with cars I have learned to NEVER expect things to work out the way I want or expect. That being said, when a supplier promises me a week and it takes 3, the supplier should understand that I can get pissed.

[retrojoe]

I just don't like getting over charged and sold defective parts and after several emails trying to resolve the issues, getting a "what do you want me to do about" responce.

[danpaul]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one!!!
No you're not. Me also

[danpaul]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one!!!
Me also

[Tim john]

This is correct, Steve has sold Ames but most of the old crew is still there to serve you and I too deal with Doug or Kevin and have always been treated fairly in a timely fashion. Tim