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Bob drake again I called Drake Thursday about a '33 radiator cap ( PN 40-8100-AR) that looks excellent on the outside but the threaded hole for the Cap Repair Kit (PN B-8100-RK) is corroding away. Bob actually answered the phone and after explaining the problem, he said (SUPRISE) "we have never had that problem before". He took my name and number and said they would call right back. Well one of his people called in a few minutes and said they have no record of me buying it. I said I may have bought it from one of the other dealers which have his products and I said that could be. I TOLD BOB THE CAP HAD HIS NAME AND PART NUMBER cast into the cap. At that point they said i would need to contact them and I started to voice my opinion and they hung up on me.
Buyer Beware They don't want to admit any fault for their products. Probably the last time I will deal with them. I have also taken MAC's off of my acceptable vendor list for the same kind of response. |
Re: Bob drake again Well.......WHO would'a ever thunk that BD's gang would act THAT way? DD
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Re: Bob drake again Poor business decision ON BD'S part. Your trashing them here will cost them a hell of a lot more than the cost of their crap cap.
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Re: Bob drake again It's really a shame the way they do business because many of their parts are fantastic. I posted a while back about the gas tank that I bought from them for my '40. The tank was too wide to be installed from the bottom, and, of course, they said few others have ever complained about it, despite the fact that they go to pretty good lengths to say that the tanks are EXACTLY like the originals. Instead of lying about this, simply say "these tanks might be too wide to be installed in your frame from underneath and will need 1/4" trimmed from the outer mounting flanges". Then expectations are clear and people would understand that the otherwise beautiful gas tanks would need 10 minutes extra work before being installed. Instead, they refuse to admit, to restorers who are used to making things work, that some minor adjustments will be needed.
It's baffling to me. |
Re: Bob drake again I have simply written B.D. off as a lost cause. It's profit before quality now. If he really cared, he'd take these complaints and get to the bottom of the problems. I don't mind paying a fair price for a decent product. But, we don't get that anymore. He's not the only one. Other areas of business in the country are the same way. Go to Lowe's and buy a paint brush and it's Chinese and of poor quality. On and on....
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Re: Bob drake again You whiners need to go to NAPA. The 'thread people' act like they have ALL the answers and everyone else is wrong, go figure. Bob Drake has done more for the Early Ford hobbie than any of you could dream about.
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Re: Bob drake again wspiker...Drake sells products that have their name on them and they advertise them to be correct for the applications they sell them for. Some of the parts they advertise do not fit the vehicle they say they are for and never would have fit because they assumed the part for a commercial vehicle and the passenger cars are the same which they frequently are not. Their battery trays they made for a 39 are one example where not only did they not have the same shape on the side, but the battery bolts for the pickup would not work on the passenger car tray, yet Drake marketed them for both passenger and commercial vehicles. Their 37 pickup grill stainless when it came out fit very poorly in the corners and was very difficult to get to lay flat resulting in a significant gap in the upper corners between the stainless and the grill. I have one of their stainless pieces on my streetrod. The streetrod has literally never been rained on, has only been wet when washed, and is kept inside the shop. The "stainless" rusted within two years. What is annoying is that they pretend you are the only one with a complaint, they insist they are right when they are not, and if they take back one of their incorrect parts, you pay the shipping even though they are the ones who made the error. The fact that Drake has made contributions to the hobby far in excess of the contributions of hobbyists is not relevant to those of us who purchase his products only to find they are defective, incorrect, or do not fit and then we are treated very rudely if we call their customer service.
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Re: Bob drake again I hear Mac's is pretty good.
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Re: Bob drake again I have ordered three things from "Back Order Bob". I received two of them and neither of them fit, though they were supposed to be a perfect fit. One of them I had to have machined to make it work. It cost me more to have it machined than I paid for the product. The third item was on back order for over 6 months. I found the product in southern California, ordered it and had it in two days. I canceled the order from Bob Drake.
Regarding Mac's, buyer beware. I can't say more, I promised Ryan I wouldn't. It is getting harder and harder to find good products made for our vintage cars and trucks. There are lots of people out there selling things, but many items don't work and the sellers/manufacturers don't stand behind their products. Finding anything of quality is getting harder and harder. I for one will never buy anything made by Vintique. Their products don't fit! Contacting them about their products is wasted effort. It is sad that we on this site fight among ourselves instead of standing together to force the sellers to stand behind their products. Our squabbling is what they count on to stay in business, because if we stand together they will go out of business if they don't stand behind their products. Just because you purchased something from one of them and it fit and worked doesn't make them good sellers. They need to stand behind everything they sell and the fact is they don't! You lucky buyers then argue with and insult those that have the backbone to complain about products that don't fit and the companies that don't stand behind their products. Mostly I just read on this site because of the many that know far more than I do about flatheads and old cars in general. I learn a great deal that I use in the restoration of my old pickup. I try not to get sucked into heated discussions, but sometimes I can't help but give my two cents. |
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Re: Bob drake again What I just CANNOT UNDERSTAND is how these vendors have such problems. Especially the fit of parts. Don't they give the manufacturer a part to look at and measure? It is almost as if they tell the vendor "The front is around 11 and 3/16 or so." Even if they don't have a part and find one on a survivor car the laser, computer etc. measurements should be perfect.
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Re: Bob drake again I feel and have experienced your pain. But try restoring something like my 1910 Hupmobile nothing is available and everything has to be hand fabricated. We are lucky to have any off the shelf parts for our cars. We could have perfect parts we just have to pay for them. Hands up who would pay $300 for a perfect part that now sells ( as an adequate but not perfect part) for $25 ??? Not many hands up out there I suspect!
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Re: Bob drake again I can see both sides, but will say I appreciate the post on problems with parts! It is nice to be forewarned, you can still order the parts if you want, but will know what you are getting and how much work is required to use it. On body parts I normally consider it a starting point "kit" type of thing that required you to figure out would it really needs to be usable. Sad, but that is the way it is most of the time.
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