TheSamba.com :: View topic - California Pacific aka J-Bugs

Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:00 pm

Well, they charged it. Payment already went through. Still not tracking number and no parts.

Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:01 pm

USPS tacking numbers do not work like UPS. Give it some time or better yet drive the 45 minutes it takes to drive there next time. You'll love the drive near Madonna's bra!

Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:11 pm

werksberg wrote: USPS tacking numbers do not work like UPS. Give it some time or better yet drive the 45 minutes it takes to drive there next time. You'll love the drive near Madonna's bra!

Yeah, I just wasn't convinced when I called yesterday. The guy sounded like he was just trying to come up with anything to get me off the phone. I'll give it more time.

I called around to local shops before ordering from them and it seems as though the seat covers that I ordered are a little hard to come by for some reason. Nobody stocks them.

Still doesn't excuse them charging for shipping before the part is even in their hands.

Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:59 pm

It's cool, but you are not the only person in the world ordering parts from them.

I'm small time compared to them (they do sell my products) and I get 25 e-mails a day and I just hate it when I ship something out via paypal / USPS (which sends a confirmation e-mail) and the buyer wants to know where's the tracking number when it is in their own mail box or spam filter. :?

They sell something like 50x interior kits a month.....no ACVW shop is like Amazon.com with 24/7 days a week with a UPS / USPS truck at their warehouse docks 24/7.

Just a matter of fact and they get burned out answering the same Q's like this.
Give it some time as they are not BFY! :roll:

Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:18 pm

werksberg wrote: It's cool, but you are not the only person in the world ordering parts from them.

I'm small time compared to them (they do sell my products) and I get 25 e-mails a day and I just hate it when I ship something out via paypal / USPS (which sends a confirmation e-mail) and the buyer wants to know where's the tracking number when it is in their own mail box or spam filter. :?

They sell something like 50x interior kits a month.....no ACVW shop is like Amazon.com with 24/7 days a week with a UPS / USPS truck at their warehouse docks 24/7.

Just a matter of fact and they get burned out answering the same Q's like this.
Give it some time as they are not BFY! :roll:

the point is this: no matter how big or how small your operation is, the law is the law. you can't charge a credit card until the order ships. you can authorize it to make sure they have funds to cover the order, but you can't collect the money until it leaves your premises.

anything else and you risk getting fined by the state and/or having VISA/MasterCard come down hard on you, even to the point of losing your rights to accept credit cards.

it's a dumb risk to take and loses you more business and customers than it ever makes you.

I've bought from JBugs many times, but only in person.

Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:27 pm

WELL HO-LY SHIT! The package actually arrived today. The right part number and everything. They managed to keep my business for while.

Thanks for coming through Jbugs!

Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:54 pm

Itawayoflife wrote: WELL HO-LY SHIT! The package actually arrived today. The right part number and everything. They managed to keep my business for while.

Thanks for coming through Jbugs!

Great to hear a positive feedback!

to abgwin: Not to start a fight or anything...but I can show you 100's of stupid laws on the books.

I don't take credit cards in my business so if read your statement of a law...I take an order in, I have to ship it out and hope I get paid? :roll:

With so much stolen credit cards and fraud, no business will stay in business giving everything away. :oops:

Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:19 pm

I've been buying things from them and have no coplaints. Jeff

Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:38 pm

werksberg wrote: Itawayoflife wrote: WELL HO-LY SHIT! The package actually arrived today. The right part number and everything. They managed to keep my business for while.

Thanks for coming through Jbugs!

Great to hear a positive feedback!

to abgwin: Not to start a fight or anything...but I can show you 100's of stupid laws on the books.

I don't take credit cards in my business so if read your statement of a law...I take an order in, I have to ship it out and hope I get paid? :roll:

With so much stolen credit cards and fraud, no business will stay in business giving everything away. :oops:

You may have read my post, but you didn't understand it. You can AUTHORIZE the card (i.e. run it to make sure it has available funds) but you can't FINALIZE the transaction (i.e. take the funds into your account) until you SHIP the goods. Those are two seperate functions, sort of like when a restaurant first authorizes your card, then finalizes it including the extra amount for the tip you added.

Authorizing it first will actually protect you, as a stolen card shouldn't come up available.

If you take Visa/MasterCard, your payment vendor or bank can show you how to do it with their particular system. Big time order management software does it automatically, but smaller systems don't always.

And it's not a 'stupid law' - it's there for good reason. Much like being required to turn on one's headlights when it's raining. Any one with half a brain knows to do this on their own, but enough idiots don't - so you need a law to protect everyone else.

Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:42 pm

So you want an employee to do the same job twice.....so I guess you would like a 5% price increase to pay for this extra work / person? :roll:

We are a cottage industry and not Amazon.com.

What's the big deal if they run the card and ship later that day or the next day? :roll:

I wonder, do you obey every law on the books? I doubt it....

I'm done with this topic.

Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:08 pm

werksberg wrote: So you want an employee to do the same job twice.....so I guess you would like a 5% price increase to pay for this extra work / person? :roll:

We are a cottage industry and not Amazon.com.

What's the big deal if they run the card and ship later that day or the next day? :roll:
I wonder, do you obey every law on the books? I doubt it....

I'm done with this topic.

because sometimes they run the card, then realize it's out of stock, or it's discontinued, or go on break and step in front of a bus, or any number of reasons why the customer gets screwed.

retail is like that. how many times does someone honestly mean to do a void but gets pulled three directions at once and forgets? or puts the slip in their pocket while they handle just one emergency which then stretches out all day and it never gets done.

trust me, it happens a lot. and that's just the honest people. the crooks just say they didn't mean to over and over again, and mostly get away with it.

until there's a law against it, and then they can be prosecuted. so that's why.

and yes, it may take 1 more minute of someone's time to do it right, but that's what it takes. if you can't see the point, I encourage you to ignore it and get fined or lose your Visa/Mastercard privilege. Your call.

Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:11 am

Not my call....I don't take credit cards and just so everyone knows, I'm not affiliated with J-Bugs / Calif. Pac. Interiors but one of their many suppliers trying to help a buyer understand the process.

Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:18 pm

werksberg wrote: Not my call....I don't take credit cards and just so everyone knows, I'm not affiliated with J-Bugs / Calif. Pac. Interiors but one of their many suppliers trying to help a buyer understand the process.

I usually don't get involved/comment in Buyer/Seller Feedback Posts, unless they have to deal with me personally when I buy or sell on The Samba...that said:

abgwin is correct...the seller can AUTHORIZE the transaction with the Credit Card company, BUT...LEGALLY, CAN NOT CHARGE the Credit Card until the item Actually ships!!!

That is VERY SIMPLE for Retailers to understand!!! And SHOULD be just as VERY SIMPLE for their Suppliers to understand!

If this company is beginning to have cash flow problems (or whatever problems), and is maybe going the way of BFY...I'd stop defending them and stay out of this thread!

Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:04 pm

Just hung up on the guy at Jbugs. I am looking for a passenger side Heater channel for my 62 bug- I ask him if he has it in stock- He puts me on hold for 5 mins then comes back and says "We have them in stock, however- All heater channels are standard (generic), so you have to re-fabricate it to fit your specific model" I said, " you have to be kidding right?" he said, " No I am NOT kidding"
I told him he was out of his mind and hung up on him.

Will NOT be shopping at this place.

Ken

Thu Feb 25, 2010 2:28 pm

Dont waste your money or time with Jbugs. I ordered parts 5 days ago and recived nothing, so I thought a follow up phone call would be in order...."your parts are here on the shipping table" Come on folks Jbugs needs to get there "S" together. I have ordered parts form other California vendors and on the average it is shipped and recived within a couple of days.

Just my 2 cents!

Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:15 pm

I shop Jbugs as they are the only people that will ship to hawaii for a decent price. Or at least bother answering the phone to tell me that. A few other california and other west coast dealers, when asked "we only ship fedex 2 day to hawaii... click". In other words.. "we don't ship to hawaii". Fedex 2 day is the same as saying.. "F**K you" when dealing with 5 dollars worth of parts with a $50 shipping label.
And that's if you get a good place. Some add on the overnight or 2 day THEN let your order sit for weeks.. making the 2 day complete crap anyway.

Jbugs ships USPS priority to hawaii.. which is about as fast as Fedex 2 day. So far.. on this project and last. Every part I ordered was in stock. Their shipping was sometimes within a few hours of placing the order. Stuff shows up generally around 2 days later.

I called them a few times recently. Curt would be my description of the service I got. If I had a follow up question I'd have to shout it over the final salutation; No, "any other questions". I also called about a part that was wrong. I checked my parts.. they were right. Checked their part.. it was wrong. they insisted it was right, but at least they went out and measured them to make sure what I had was what they sold. Wrong yes.. but definitely wrong.. not me returning and re-ordering wrong.

I have gotten various quality parts. Usually cheaper. Don't think i ever saw "germany" on anything bought there. Usually "peru" or "brazil".

I'm fairly finicky on the shopping and not so much on the part quality though. If it was cheap and easy to buy.. I'll buy another some other time if it fails. Vs jumping through hoops to get the more expensive good part.

Also.. if anyone needs Rover parts.. http://www.britishpacific.com is basically the same place but for rovers. Curt.. maybe even rude.. But.. straight forward and fast shipping to hawaii. They'll sell you the shirt off their back, cheap, if they havn't already sold it.

I'm still baffled how I can order something on monday morning (local time) and get it tuesday afternoon.. across the pacific.
USPS rules!

Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:46 am

zeroman wrote: I shop Jbugs as they are the only people that will ship to hawaii for a decent price. Or at least bother answering the phone to tell me that. A few other california and other west coast dealers, when asked "we only ship fedex 2 day to hawaii... click". In other words.. "we don't ship to hawaii". Fedex 2 day is the same as saying.. "F**K you" when dealing with 5 dollars worth of parts with a $50 shipping label.
And that's if you get a good place. Some add on the overnight or 2 day THEN let your order sit for weeks.. making the 2 day complete crap anyway.

Jbugs ships USPS priority to hawaii.. which is about as fast as Fedex 2 day. So far.. on this project and last. Every part I ordered was in stock. Their shipping was sometimes within a few hours of placing the order. Stuff shows up generally around 2 days later.

I called them a few times recently. Curt would be my description of the service I got. If I had a follow up question I'd have to shout it over the final salutation; No, "any other questions". I also called about a part that was wrong. I checked my parts.. they were right. Checked their part.. it was wrong. they insisted it was right, but at least they went out and measured them to make sure what I had was what they sold. Wrong yes.. but definitely wrong.. not me returning and re-ordering wrong.

I have gotten various quality parts. Usually cheaper. Don't think i ever saw "germany" on anything bought there. Usually "peru" or "brazil".

I'm fairly finicky on the shopping and not so much on the part quality though. If it was cheap and easy to buy.. I'll buy another some other time if it fails. Vs jumping through hoops to get the more expensive good part.

Also.. if anyone needs Rover parts.. http://www.britishpacific.com is basically the same place but for rovers. Curt.. maybe even rude.. But.. straight forward and fast shipping to hawaii. They'll sell you the shirt off their back, cheap, if they havn't already sold it.

I'm still baffled how I can order something on monday morning (local time) and get it tuesday afternoon.. across the pacific.
USPS rules!

Thank you! :wink:

Sun Apr 18, 2010 4:04 am

I ordered a complete new interior from JBUGS. They provided excellent
service.I received every part that I ordered.JBUGS also emailed me a tracking number for every shipping carton. I had one issue on the carpet set that TMI messed up on. I called customer service at JBUGS and they had the issue resolved with the one phone call.So it seems that JBUGS is an excellent vendor to deal with.I would use there service again.

Matt

Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:36 am

I buy from J-Bugs because they ship to me faster than anyone else. I live in Nebraska and sometimes receive my J-Bugs package within 3 days. Always within 6.

Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:16 pm

So far my first dealings with Jbugs has been disappointing.
I placed a $300.00 online order on Sunday, received a confirmation email on Monday. Tuesday I emailed Gary and asked if my order had shipped and if he had a confirmation number, no reply. This morning I sent another email asking about my order, no reply! :x
I also placed an order with Wolfsburg West on Sunday, Monday I had a tracking number and the package arrived this morning!
Wake up Jbugs, this is not how you get repeat customers! :roll: