GMPartsdirect.com - Bad Customer Service - No Communication

[thefirebirdm@n]

Just a warning to anyone else considering doing business with this company. I have had one other good experience where I ordered some spindles and they showed up just a few weeks later. No need to contact them. This time however, I had a VERY different experience. On April 16th I ordered a new front bumper and the foam padding behind for my 2002 Trans Am. On April 26th I received e-mail notifications that my parts had shipped and was provided a tracking number. On May 23rd, almost a month later, I decided to check on the shipment. I attempted to track the shipment at Fedex's website and found that the shipper did not recognize the number as a valid shipping number so essentially the shipment did not exist. I went to the GMPartsdirect.com website to locate a number for customer service so I could call them. I assumed maybe the shipping number was just bad. Some of you may know this already but if you don't they DO NOT advertise a number to call, of any kind, for any reason. If you want to contact their customer service dept you have to send them an e-mail and wait. So I sent the first e-mail on May 21st. I received an automated e-mail response stating responses might be delayed due to the high volume of e-mail. <To me this says, if you're going to rely on e-mail for customer service, how about hiring enough f'ing people to be able to respond in a timely manner>. As of May 23rd I had received no response to my first e-mail so I sent a second e-mail and specified that if I did not get a response by COB that Friday (May 25th) I would dispute the charge and issue a charge-back. At 4:58PM on Friday I received the one and ONLY response. It was one sentence and basically stated that the tracking number was for UPS and not Fedex. That's it, nothing else, no offer to check on the status of my shipment, no insight as to what was happening to my shipment, nor a number to discuss over the phone. So I immediately went to the UPS website and tried the tracking number at their website and got the same result. Shipping number unknown, shipment doesn't exist. So within minutes of receiving their reply, I replied and told them I had tried the same tracking number for the UPS website and got the same result. I never got a response but it was late in the day. On Tuesday, May 29th, I tried the tracking number again and even grabbed a screenshot of the error message given to me by UPS. I sent another e-mail stating that the tracking number did not work for UPS either, attached the screenshot, and requested a status update. By the end of the day I still had received no response. On Wednesday May 30th I sent another e-mail requesting a status by the end of the the day or I would dispute the charge. The end of day came and no response. I sent one final e-mail communicating my displeasure with their absurdly poor customer service and today I disputed the charge.

In summary, I sent 5 to 6 different e-mails trying to get this resolved and got one pathetically bad e-mail response back. I am certain had someone worked with me for 10min this could have been easily resolved. I have been waiting for my parts for 5 weeks now and will now have to re-order them from another vendor and wait several more weeks for those parts to ship.

[poncho-mike]

My most recent experience with them was very negative as well.

I inquired about a BCM for my Saturn Vue. I tried to order it, but my password wasn't recognized. When they reset my password, they gave me a discount coupon for $5 off and sent me a link to log into my account that contained the discount code. The first time I went into my account, I keyed in the discount code based on their email. Later that day, I clicked the link in their email to get to my account to finalize the order. That link contained a different discount code, and I didn't notice two separate $5 discounts were applied. I ordered the part and my credit card immediately showed the charge. Then GMpartsdirect cancelled the order, but it took them well over a week to remove the charge from my credit card. They told me I had to place the order again, which I wasn't about to do until the first charge was removed from my credit card. Here is the text of my reply to gmpartsdirect.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trying to buy from you this time around has really been a headache.

These issues have been caused by a mistake and software glitch on your end. I had two items in my shopping cart, then it went to zero after you reset my password and I logged in, then it went to three.

In trying to understand why this happened, I see that when your company sent me the email with the discount code, the code in the link is different from the one you told me to key in. The first time I believe I added the discount to the cart manually. After going through the password reset, I apparently went to the website via the link in the email and after logging in there I had three items, which included two discount codes.

Your website was very clear on taking steps not to make duplicate orders. I tried to order this part last Saturday, but couldn't log in. I've lost close to a week already over a $5 discount and my credit card company still shows an almost $300 charge. I have had issues in the past with my credit card company not processing account credits in a timely manner, so I'm very hesitant to place another order.

Below is the text of the email you sent. Note the two coupon codes do not agree.

I would like to offer you an additional $5.00 off your purchase. Please use this discount code EP5Z312522 or the following link to obtain the discount, this offer expires on 01/31/12
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?addtocart=1&addpartnumber=EP501311906&singlepart=1&partnumber=EP501311906
The discount code is a part number and can be entered into the "SEARCH" field on the home page of the website. The "SEARCH" field is located in the upper left hand corner of the home page, just below our banner.
Thank you,
F Norton
GmPartsDirect.com

[Big Injun]

I had a bad experience once with them...and that was enough. You may also note that they offer a cheaper price and then they make up for it with absurd shipping and handling costs.

[Held for Ransom]

Call Flow GM Auto Center.
http://flowgmautocenter.com/

[thefirebirdm@n]

A fellow member over at Trans Am Country provided me with a few numbers to try. I tried the sales line number he gave me (336-542-2039). I got what sounded like a receptionist for the dealership. I asked to speak with someone who could help me with an order placed with gmpartsdirect.com and she transferred me. An automotated attendant picked up and went through the list of options. Option 5 was to talk with a customer service rep about my order. I selected that option and a guy named Matt answered. He asked for my order number and then promptly put me on hold. After about 5min later he came and said he checked the tracking and saw that there was a problem with the order. He said the parts had shipped but they had no idea where the were nor why they weren't getting any tracking information for the shipment. He said I should have received them by now. He then said they were going to have to check with their rep and determine what was going on and that someone would call me back by end of day today. We'll see how that goes. I asked for a direct line to call them back in case no one contacted me and he said they do not have a direct line nor did he have a direct line in his office. Sure you don't. I asked if I should just call the number I did use and ask to get transferred again and he said the best thing to do was use the e-mail address but yes I could call the number and asked to be transferred again. I told him I was done using the e-mail address, I was getting no response using that.

Overall pretty piss poor situation that I've had these problems and that they have no direct line for customer service. Disappointing I had to get a sales number for the dealership from a fellow member to get through to a live person that might finally do something about the problem. Not a great way to conduct business.

[thefirebirdm@n]

Hey Mods!! Just wanted to mention I have tried to post one other reply to this initial post. Just trying to do the right thing and ensure I represent the entire situation not just the first bad encounter. The post below should be the third overall post. Thanks!!


I want to make sure I provide feedback through the whole process of dealing with this vendor to make sure I provide the a complete picture of what happened. When I called Monday I was told I would get a call back before the end of the day. I did get that call back and it was just to say that they had not yet received a response from their shipping rep at UPS. I didn't think that was unreasonable given it had only been a few hours since I called. Matt stated he would call me back before COB the next day (Tuesday). I never got a call on Tuesday and also did not get a call by COB yesterday either so, exasperated I called them again this morning. I was able to speak with Matt directly again. His tone was much different this time. He stated the shipper did not know where the shipment was and was working to figure out what had happened. Matt said he'd like to place a completely new order and try and get the items out to me again as quickly as possible. He said he would just get the first shipment back from UPS when they found it and put it back on the shelf. He also apologized multiple times and said he would personally handle ordering the parts a 2nd time and would personally keep an eye out for them and ensure they were shipped at as soon as they received them. I asked about delays waiting for the parts and turn-around time and he said it should take about 3 days to get the parts in and that he would see to it they shipped out the same day.

This is a huge change from the customer service I initially received and goes to prove my point that they should have a direct line to handle these problems vs. trying to handle them by e-mail.

[oakster]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience w/ GMPartsdirect.com. I have used them many times and never had a problem.

I can't speak to their customer service when they have an issue but they've been helpful when I couldn't find a part number and sent them my vin to have them look it up. It was all via email as you mentioned but it was fast.

They're way cheaper than going to a dealer.

I hope you work things out with them.