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Ordering parts from abroad

4K views 39 replies 14 participants last post by  Crazyeyeschase 
#1 ·
Thus far the worst part about my restoration project has been contacting and ordering parts from across the world.

I cannot tell you all how many E-mails I have sent to different suppliers and have gotten nothing in return and its beyond frustrating.

I placed an order a few days ago from a place in London and it still says processing and they have still yet to reply to an E-mail from almost two weeks ago but i couldn't find the part anywhere else so i figured ill place the order any ways.

So my question is how do you all go about getting parts from abroad? How do you keep in contact with companies that fail to contact you back?

I am lucky enough that i know people all across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand (thru the power of the internet) that are more than willing to help me out by making phone calls and acting as a middle man if need be but that is usually my last resort.

I am in no real hurry for the parts i order but i would assume three days is more than enough time to pick, pack, ship, and confirm shipping with the buyer.

I also dont see why most places wont check their E-mails or reply to their E-mails.

This isn't even just to places abroad but here in the states as well. I have made phone calls and gotten false information or "Send me an E-mail and ill call you back" when im calling because E-mail didn't work the first 5 times.
 
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#3 ·
I am the one restoring a TSX and i have a set of original decals but i think im going to have them painted on. I have a friend who would like to do the decal work but i think i might try and find someone here on the forums or the BritBike forums who can do a great job and has done so repetitively. My originals will go with the tank so they can match the best they can.
 
#8 ·
Hi Chase,

I placed an order a few days ago from a place in London
www.cbmotorcycles.com

Order was placed early Sunday morning so im counting Monday, Tuesday,and Wednesday as full business days with no response.
:D Ye-ea-ah ... that's a little way from London - about 130 miles; a 'phone number beginning "0121" is the Birmingham area (the "Walsall" in the postal address is close to Birmingham).

http://www.cbmotorcycles.com/contact-us.html gives the postal address.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6080594,-1.9194412,3a,41.9y,268.13h,81.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9Ie1-aaRZF9bi6P01qvCJg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 is Google Maps Street View of the postal address.

I'm not suggesting the guy's a crook or anything, just you're being a tad naive expecting a hive of activity around your order ...

Hth.

Regards,
 
#9 ·
Never heard of them

Not saying that they aren 't honest or anything

You can use Skype or in the uk, we can buy cards at newsagents that have a scratch code. You ring a long number, then the international number. I used to ring Canada that way for ages, on the work phone. They work by buying bundles of time.

I would buy from lp Williams or an established uk dealer that has recommendations
Some dealers are just run out of a domestic house, whereas you need somebody who's got a lot of stock and a postal department
 
#11 ·
I can honestly say that I haven't had any issue with buying from outside of Oz and by and large have had excellent response to email queries. My only complaint with buying from England is the post rather than the seller. Even the smallest parcel, envelope, has taken forever to land here. In contrast, stuff bought Stateside often lands at my door quicker than something purchased online within my home State.
 
#16 ·
Calling me naive for expecting some progress to be mad in whats now 4 days is silly isn't it?

Look if they were taking my order then running a part thru production then yes i wouldn't be so unhappy at the moment but im ordering a 30+ year old part they say they have in stock. I just dont see why on earth it would take over 4 days to pull, pack, and ship an order when its in your inventory.

The parts in question are Triumph #83-8244 and 83-8246 or the left and right air cleaner cover. I ordered from this company because they were the only place that had both parts and the only place with #83-8246 that i could find so i figure its a rarer part and i better order it while i can. Again im in no rush for the part and this thread wasn't to complain about this company its more asking how others contact companies abroad.

I forget all about Skype and its a great option.

I have had parts come from Belgium thus far and it took about two weeks which i was fine even though B-Post was horrible with their tracking process. They had the parts in the mail within two days of ordering and i had an E-mail confirmation with tracking.

I am going to have to look into Skype a little more thanks for the recommendations.

As far as my current order goes i dont need the parts now, the order is placed and i am sure they will be sending it as soon as possible its just a little frustrating not hearing anything back (aside from an auto confirmation) when you are buying parts from a far away land.
 
#18 ·
Hi Chase,

Calling me naive for expecting some progress to be mad in whats now 4 days is silly isn't it?
im ordering a 30+ year old part they say they have in stock. I just dont see why on earth it would take over 4 days to pull, pack, and ship an order when its in your inventory..
Do you really still have no idea how big even just a Triumph oif "inventory" is? It took me less than fifteen minutes to find that picture of Classic British Motorcycles's 'business' address; do the same for any of the British suppliers mentioned so far - L.P. Williams, Norman Hyde, TMS, etc. - and note the size of their premises; do you really imagine even just a Triumph oif inventory fits in a domestic garage?

The aforementioned retailers are long-established commercial businesses and, even if only one or two people are full-time, ime they often have one or more part-timers whose sole job is to pick and pack orders, so the turn-round time between order placement and dispatch is as short as possible.

Otoh, you expect the same from a 'business' whose postal address is the guy's house? :confused: Even if he has a storage unit somewhere else, ime at best he's the only full-timer, and could well be part-time as he has a regular job. Worse still, he could be a back-bedroom 'dealer', who simply passes your order straight to the likes of Wassell for fulfillment and dispatch; in that case he's wholly-reliant on the wholesaler for turn-round time and dispatch notification, even if he's sitting at his computer when the latter arrives.

Note I'm not saying you shouldn't deal with him. But, as I say, it took me less than fifteen minutes to find the picture of the 'business' address, starting from the website address you linked. Otoh, it seems you'd rather spend fifteen minutes bitching on-line about the "business's" order turn-round speed, without appreciating the sort of 'business' it is?

I forget all about Skype and its a great option.
Errrm ... and where on the Contact Us webpage does it mention anything about him having Skype? However, it does say, "Please note the phone is not always manned during the opening hours" ...

Regards,
 
#17 ·
I've ordered a few items on ebay from UK & they arrived in 2-3 weeks. I ordered 7plate clutch from Norman Hyde & was in California USA in about 11 days. They sent to a special place on Long Island, New York & they transferred to regular US postal service from there. I was shocked at how fast it came & shipping was not high priced. I got the Triumph DVD from AU & arrived in about 2 weeks.

I paid for clutch with credit card & they did the currency exchange rate + service charge & all that. Was not out of line for charges. The other items were paypal which exchanges currency for you. Was all very simple.
Don
 
#20 ·
I send parcels under 2KG to Canada on a regular basis. They leave the Uk generally within 2 days. But they then take ages to clear customs and Canada post.
Royal mail can loose things, like all postal services. But it is rare, and blaming royal mail is a bit rich if you take a vendor's word that it's "in the post - mate" while you can hear him scrabbling though his list of unfinished orders.
 
#22 ·
are you sure that you have the correct part numbers?

The number comes up on LP Williams as an alloy airliner cover.
I am surprised that TSXs had that, as they had changed to plastic much earlier, once the bikes had an extra fibreglass/plastic over cover.
The alloy covers are rare in the UK, so much so that I have bought them and imported them (used) from the states, cheaper than I could see them in the UK for sale.
 
#26 ·
I had excellent feedback from a couple of English establishment I ordered parts from, or even inquired about pricing, like LP Williams, Leighton and perhaps 2 smaller businesses selling alternators. I mean next day answers.
I had to wait for packages sometimes around 3 weeks, but taking into consideration English and Canadian post and customs in between what else could you expect ?
I see my opinion about English dealers is better than Stuart's :).
 
#27 ·
After a week of no replies to the order or my E-mails i finally found their social media sites (the links didn't work before).

Their twitter account is full of all sorts of random posts about politics, boobs, bikes, and all other issues. The facebook page is full of customer complaints about not getting orders or not getting replies via phone, email, and other sources.

I have left a message on both outlets and if i do not hear a reply in a day or so ill be filing a claim with PayPal.
 
#28 ·
After a week of no replies to the order or my E-mails i finally found their social media sites (the links didn't work before).

The facebook page is full of customer complaints about not getting orders or not getting replies via phone, email, and other sources.

.
This is a worry Bro. Keep us informed of final outcome. If these fellows are rogues, the world needs to know. RR
 
#32 ·
I know the package will take some time to get to my house and pass customs if that was the case i wouldn't have an issue because at least then i know my part was on its way and will arrive once it goes thru the process, but when a company will not reply to you via Twitter, Facebook, or E-mail and apparently refuses to answer the phone for others who have tried calling.

If they would reply to any outreach of mine then i wouldn't care either but when you go to their professional Twitter page and they are replying to half naked pictures of woman (Not saying i oppose this but its not good business sense). Or if you have multiple people complaining on their Facebook page about not receiving product and waiting months with no status updates and later having their login info dissapear then yes i start having an issue considering i spent them a small amount of change.

I am going to try to reach out to those who were making complaints and see if they ended up getting their product or not.
 
#33 ·
Interesting that some postal times can be so long.I send parts out using ebay Global shipping and most items arrive anywhere in the World within 3 weeks.Post direct to Australia and the goods can be there in 1 week.Of course,there can be losses or delays.I lose about 1 in 100 packages using Royal Mail postage to UK addresses but that is not to say receivers might be trying to get parts for free.Not lost any International posts although some items i order from China get lost and i am always refunded.The paypal/ebay protection scheme is good for a buyer.
Goods from China can take around 7 weeks as normal.Goods posted UK to UK usually 2 days max.
 
#34 ·
I ordered roll of 4" tape from St. Petersburg, Fla. on Dec.17 by USPS Priority Mail. It arrived yesterday, 97 days for 2 day delivery.
I sent a bearing carrier in a 6" padded envelope to China, trackings last post was when it left Miami on Feb. 4th., no word since, today is day 48 (7 weeks).
 
#37 ·
Every time I see this thread pop up, and I read the title, I always think it's some guy asking advice on if he should order parts from a girl. (Ha!)
 
#38 ·
I ordered a set of metric 25mm holes from China and just an empty package arrived.Somehow,the holes got lost in transit.The Fallopian tubes i ordered came through all right but were a bit messy.Not much use in the tyres anyway as it happened .
 
#39 ·
Dispute has been placed and PayPal will try to contact the merchant. If for some reason they cannot contact them then PayPal will decide what steps to take next.

Even when companies dont take PayPal it is so nice having a PayPal debit card because they still stand by their users. Hopefully this will all be resolved and when it is ill let you all know what happens.
 
#40 ·
After allowing the vendor 30 days to send the parts i have finally been refunded by PayPal. The vendor has 45 days to prove to PayPal the parts have been shipped or why they haven't made any contact with either of us.

I am extremely happy as to how this has turned out and i hope that everyone else can learn from my mistake and we can all avoid this vendor.
 
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