Ricambi = Frustration!

I'll jump on the FedEx rant.

I just received some TIG welding electrodes, day 7 of 2 day shipping.

Last month I had a purchase that shipped from Phoenix AZ to Ohio. It went from Phoenix to LA then back across the Arizona on I-40. It needed a signature upon delivery, FedEx changed the delivery date 3 times so I spent 3 days at home waiting for it's arrival.

Two weeks ago I ordered a new radiator for my Ranger pickup, it arrived smashed with the box taped back together. Actually it was a good thing, I had been waiting for months to specifically get a "made in Canada" Spectra brand (every one was "out of stock") instead of "made in China" junk. My past experience is that Spectra radiators arrive in a logo-ed box with molded foam inserts to prevent damage. This one arrived in a plain box with some expanding foam at each corner. I noticed on the shipping label that it was a cheap Reach brand radiator, not a Spectra as advertised. Waiting for a refund.
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Everything I was going to say has already been said.
1. Ricambi is the best.
2. As a business owner, I concur that shipping right now is completely whacked. Worldwide. Both ways.

 

I don't even ask pricing anymore with Ricambi. Just send it. You pay a premium for exceptional service. And we gladly pay it. Shipping is what it is..pay..or simply don't play.

 

Anyone working with shipping or receiving a lot of products over the past 12-18 months has seen delivery teams severely increase. Even Amazon - 2 day delivery? Oh, those were nice times. Now it's 2 weeks. Or whenever it gets here. And in the automotive sector, it's even worse because parts take weeks or months to even arrive to a vendor. The pandemic did happen, and the aftershocks are still here.

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience, but my orders from Ricambi have always been pretty flawless. I've always chosen standard shipping, and it's often arrived 1-3 days earlier than I expected from the USPS. I think I've only had to call Daniel once, but he spent far more time on the phone with me than I expected he would, going over my various parts questions, determining what he had (and didn't have), and offered advice on who MIGHT have it. He knew I was a brand-new owner of the car, and offered good advice, and reassurance. And at least once, I've made a mistake on my order and sent an email; he got it corrected with no hassle, no weird up-charges nor restock fees. For me, they remain the first website I browse when the Ferrari demands another part.

 

For what it’s worth, I have found Ricambi to be one of the best companies in the space with which to deal. The parts arrive in a timely manner and the customer service is excellent. And I have ordered parts from a variety of places.

 

If you guys want to deal with real frustration try GT car parts..I have begged to give them money..but for some reason the refuse to return phone calls or emails.

 

Good day Miked,

Was this Fed Ex or Fed Ex Ground? I ask, as Fed Ex Ground is actually a separate division to Fed Ex (it was) and the drivers are independent operators. I have had similar experiences to you for Fed Ex Ground International shipments.

As for shipping these days... In general things are still not back to normal. People are still getting sick and the Fed Ex, UPS, etc all have central hubs where if a few people get sick it does not take long before a lot of people get sick. Secondly, some shipments have to clear customs and/or go into bonded area that have Gov personnel ... and at times Gov Personnel do not move overly quick and they, too, can get sick.

I ship Internationally (in and out bound) almost daily and found the following:

1. Fed Ex (not ground) is typically the best for North American International shipping.
Not to make excuses for Fed Ex, but they ship 2M+ packages a day... virtually all packages are sent to their hub in Memphis where all these packages are processed including customs and then reshipped to the final destination City. Given the number of packages coming and going I am not surprised that issues arise. Lately Fed Ex Overnight has a success rate of around 90% compared to pre-covid which was closer to 98-99%.

2. Fed Ex Ground for International shipping is improving, but I have not had good experiences and so I never go with Fed Ex ground for international shipments. Within Canada, Fed Ex ground has been excellent and about 1/2 the cost of UPS (within Canada). For me delays of a day or two are about the norm.

3. UPS for North American International shipping is the absolute worst. Their delivery times can be OK, but they simply nickel and dime on their fees. Their overall importation fees can range from $10-$20 (+taxes) or a percentage of the shipment's value (UPS Ground). UPS Ground within Canada is 2x that of Fed Ex Ground.

4. For oversees shipping DHL has really stepped up and their prices and service has been excellent. DHL seems to have a much larger presence in Asia and in Europe. DHL's delivery schedule is a bit variable... perhaps 1-3 days delay. However, given that mos tof my shipments are coming from the other side of the planet and for a relatively small shipping cost, I am not complaining. It is much cheaper for me to spend $50 shipping 6-7lbs of electronics from Asia than for me to fly there and buy it myself... and guaranteed it would take more than 3-5 days.

Perhaps US only shippers have had different experiences, but for in and out bound from US to Canada ...I found Fed Ex to be the best.

I think we need to relax a bit and recognize the enormous logistics that all shipping companies are dealing with and especially now given all that is going on. That said they should not get a free pass if items are damaged, etc and they don not step up.

Cheers,

Sam

 

DHL’s weak point…in my experience…has been the handoff to the US courier. It always seems like their tracking systems don’t talk to each other. My most recent experiences, though, have been much better so perhaps they’ve improved those systems. Still, it takes USPS 12 days to get a parcel from the NY POE to my address in Florida.

 

Carriers are a lot better if you have them deliver to local main depot for pick up. Don’t deliver to your home/business. Pick up hours are reasonable, even on weekends. And can usually pick up at least 2 days before estimated delivery day. For example if I order from from UK on Sunday on line, gets shipped Monday, dhl says delivery on fri but I select or have pick up at main dhl office in my city as my default, it is available for me to pick up by Wednesday afternoon (duties paid on line). They are open til 8pm so pick up on the way home from work. No waiting at home for delivery. I prefer dhl as they are also open on weekends for pick up. But same with FedEx (I have a fedex account, duties/taxes paid automatically if from out of country, and get discounts). Also picking up is better for the marriage. When I come home, I park and drop off in the garage. Wifey don’t have to accept packages, don’t kneed to know. [emoji51]

 

"Carriers are a lot better if you have them deliver to local main depot for pick up."

Yes but it seems totally contrary to the whole point of having something shipped. I want it shipped to the address I specify, not to some warehouse that I have to drive across town and stand around waiting for some guy to wander off trying to find the item I'm picking up. I did that twice with UPS and never again.

My issue, where a delivery person "confirms" being at the correct address with GPS as opposed to actually LOOKING at the number on the house/curb/mailbox is something that I hope soon gets corrected - either by sufficient complaints which results in the shipping company telling drivers to look at the house number OR higher GPS accuracy!

As far as shipping prices - well, that's just the way it is. I can't expect shipping companies to be in business to lose money!

 

Just to clarify, does this mean that it had not yet been shipped out? Because everyone is piling on FedEx here and FWIW he did call.

 

Ricambi was great when I put in an order back in March. They shipped everything the same day and had very good status updates. Only one state away from me so I got it two days later with standard shipping. And the order was packed well and taped up nicely. All of that is a big plus to me. I don't mind paying for better service on parts I need to get from a Ferrari specialist.

I do think you need to exercise some common sense with more generic parts. Assuming you're not so strict that you put Italian air in the tires, quite a few substitutions can be made with no consequences. I just bought a bunch of fuel system parts and probably saved 40-50% by sourcing the Bosch parts directly rather than getting the identical Ferrari-labeled parts. I have been getting nuts and bolts from the hardware store when I don't have what I need in my shop. For visible hardware I prefer the yellow cad plated stuff so it looks original, but I am less strict about hidden hardware.

 

Honest cadmium plated hardware is for all intents... NLA. Sucks. Everything is now yellow zinc chromate, it'll work but it's not the same. We used to have hardware custom ordered and cadmium plated, not anymore. Costs are sky high and it's highly restricted due to environmental reasons. Replating is not advised due to hydrogen embrittlment.

Just a tangent as the cadmium drop bugs me.

 

Yea there seems to be this myth that since cadmium plating is more toxic than zinc it's better. That's just complete BS.

 

The zinc chromate just doesn't look right, too much pink-green color variation in the plating. If you're lucky you might find a batch that is passable but it could take some picking through.

Cad plated hardware is still used extensively in the aerospace industry and military, so it is available if you're willing to search for it. I can still find it at a couple old fashioned hardware stores in this area -- I expect it's old stock since metric hardware is less popular and tends to hang around.

 

I need 8 new black screws that are correct for holding the fender vents on my 84.

What is the screw size?

 

Here's what my car had when I bought it... each vent held with 4 unique sheet metal screws. I believe the different lengths, thread pitch, heads, and widths helped kept the vent in place - as mis-matched hardware doesn't loosen at the same rate.

I may still have them if you need them, Tommy - send a PM if you're interested.

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True, it is still used in aerospace and mil-spec. Highly regulated and here in CA forbidden in automotive. All my go-to platers cut us off a couple yrs ago by order of the state for automotive industry. Had to look at other states. WA is still allowed but it's crazy expensive. That doesn't help for hardware though. Wurth dropped cad plating as well, so another supplier down. So unless absolutely requested it's bright yellow zinc chromate. Aside from the color not being correct the sacrifice of zinc is faster then cadmium so in my opinion the cadmium is better. But that does depend on who/how the plating was done.

 

That is exactly what I have in there now. Only 2 were the same.

 

Above and beyond!

 

100% not true, if there is a shipping problem, the shipper must file the claim, the receiver cannot, it will be denied instantly. I have dealt with this many times over the years.

 

Yep, last month I went through the same thing. Ordered an Apple Macbook Pro. Got an alert that it had been delivered to me; it was not. I called the shipper, said that they had delivered it to the wrong address.; they said "call Apple." I said, "You delivered it to the wrong address, not Apple." Shipper responded they could do nothing based on my compliant, Apple had to sort it out. Seems totally wacko to me but I contacted Apple and 15 minutes later they called back to advise that a replacement computer was being shipped.

So I learned that same lesson - receiver cannot file a complaint!

 

So, what about my question? Did it ship? Did Blackhorse eventually receive it and then return it, presumably free? I'm just trying to figure out what happened here?