TheSamba.com :: View topic - Cip1.com - steve@cip1.com

Tue Mar 12, 2024 4:37 pm

Bruce wrote: yamaducci wrote: Now I know why I always deal with CB Performance.
And when you buy a front beam from CB, it will have the same scratches on it.
You quoted the wrong post. I didn't buy a beam.

Sat Mar 16, 2024 9:52 am

I've used CIP1 over the years...and have had both good and moderate experiences.... I recently made a couple more transactions.

While I'm not buying parts from them that require super high standards or what I would consider original German quality equivalent.. the parts I ordered are pretty much what I expected.
One thing I will note.. they have a lightning shipping program with DHL.. The parts are to my door faster than CIP1 updates the shipping information on my order.

.

Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:41 am

I have a 1971 Type 3 Fastback and needed spare keys. I went on their site and found the one captioned to fit my car. Got them quickly but they were the wrong profile which I'll admit is partly my fault for not double checking. As it turns out I assume someone changed out the ignition tumbler in mine with either a beetle or ghia and now uses an "M" profile key. i paid about $30 for two keys and shipping. I spoke to Martin at CIP and when i referenced returning them re referred me to the return procedure. Seems like he was going out of his way to prevent me from returning them. He even said "Sometimes for items this inexpensive we suggest going onto www.thesamba.com/vw/ and sell them privately." I've been know to be a spiteful person occasionally. So I am packing them in a manilla shipping envelope in their original packaging and have submitted the return request form and I'll be sending these little fellas back to them only because Martin was not friendly or helpful.

Fri Mar 22, 2024 12:03 pm

highwheelerboy22 wrote: He even said "Sometimes for items this inexpensive we suggest going onto www.thesamba.com/vw/ and sell them privately."
Funny, because in dealing with a number of companies, when the item was so inexpensive, they tell you to keep it and give you a full refund without returning it.

Fri Mar 22, 2024 12:08 pm

The Cip1 Saga continues.......... redefining the term "German Quality" with every sale!

Sat Apr 20, 2024 9:09 am

I had my own cip1 interaction on a turn signal switch I ordered. But, to their credit, there was a bit of operator "learn something new every day" involved too. Still, their suggested process for initial resolution (destroy the first item ordered and send photos for a refund) was a first though I/we didn't get to that. But, right people make it right (though I ended up with two of the switches now) and I give them credit for responsiveness to my email or phone call as well as their tech (Gary) reaching out directly to suggest an installation tip that ended up working (watch that gap on the backside of the steering wheel housing to the column! :wink:). I had to order a second switch after I thought the first one I ordered was faulty so now I have two- the one that's installed and the first one I had ordered. I never destroyed the first one sent. Cp1 sent the second switch and paid the postage. I also have the original I initially took out and will find some plastic pieces, the "W" spring/clip, and soder some frayed wire to rebuild it. It was blowing the fuse every time I put the right signal on, and was not returning to the neutral position after left or right turn. I guess I'll have to buy another fixer/Beetle now so I can install it! :lol:

Fri Jul 05, 2024 12:44 pm

Personally not a fan, its great they found a loop hole for no sales tax, being that they have hubs and a business address in Washington and also in Canada, I've had parts arrive in the past with a US address, so not sure how this works on their end, if they are deducting the cost of tax and paying it on their end, or a real loop hole that works or some little tax trick or scam?

Nonetheless, I build my bus in 2013, and had no need for major parts and had shopped local for the small stuff I needed over the last 11 years. Recently I bought a type 3 project and 4 days after the order was placed it was cancelled without reason, I call and speak to a rep, not the friendliest fellow, puts me on hold and comes back on the line saying the owner and I had some type of disagreement, or argument in 2013, so apparently I am blacklisted, like in Seinfeld blacklisted from Hop Sings! I don't recall any issues back 11 years ago but apparently we didn't see eye to on on either a sub-par part, shipping, or the service that was provided.

Fri Sep 13, 2024 8:46 am

CIP1 sucks a$$! When I bought my car I started puttting together parts for my build. I bought a really nice set of Split bumpers,close to $1200 I think is what the set cost,2 bumpers. The bumpers were the last thing I put on the car and 4 of the chrome bumper bolts are missing. No big,I'll just call CIP1 and have them send out the missing bolts,good luck with that. Because I bought these very expensive bumpers 9 months ago CIP1 won't help with this,out of luck for 4 bolts. Now someone over there stated they will try and send me the missing bolts but the shipping manager won't do anything to fix this. They want pictures of the bolts that came with the bumpers,a copy of the invoice etc. all this for 4 bolts. I've spent $1800 on parts with CIP1 in the last 10 months,no more. Is business so good at CIP1 that they can just $hit on customers? If CIP1 treated their customers as his way in the very beginning would they be in business today?

Sun Sep 15, 2024 7:41 am

DUNTOVFAN wrote: CIP1 sucks a$$! When I bought my car I started puttting together parts for my build. I bought a really nice set of Split bumpers,close to $1200 I think is what the set cost,2 bumpers. The bumpers were the last thing I put on the car and 4 of the chrome bumper bolts are missing. No big,I'll just call CIP1 and have them send out the missing bolts,good luck with that. Because I bought these very expensive bumpers 9 months ago CIP1 won't help with this,out of luck for 4 bolts. Now someone over there stated they will try and send me the missing bolts but the shipping manager won't do anything to fix this. They want pictures of the bolts that came with the bumpers,a copy of the invoice etc. all this for 4 bolts. I've spent $1800 on parts with CIP1 in the last 10 months,no more. Is business so good at CIP1 that they can just $hit on customers? If CIP1 treated their customers as his way in the very beginning would they be in business today?

Hmm... Never had bumper bolts included with bumpers. Always had to buy them separately. Maybe yours are different though..

Sun Sep 15, 2024 10:58 am

VOLKSWAGNUT wrote: I've used CIP1 over the years...and have had both good and moderate experiences.... I recently made a couple more transactions.

While I'm not buying parts from them that require super high standards or what I would consider original German quality equivalent.. the parts I ordered are pretty much what I expected.
One thing I will note.. they have a lightning shipping program with DHL.. The parts are to my door faster than CIP1 updates the shipping information on my order.

.

Their DHL shipping is super fast and free if you buy enough to receive free shipping. I've used CIP-1 for years. I've only had to call with issues with an order or parts 1-2 times. In both cases they resolved the issue to my satisfaction.
Cip-1 like the other big VW parts sellers do sell some really poor quality parts. I think they "try" to let folks know the quality of the parts isn't the best. I've found that we as consumers need to do the research on the quality of the parts before ordering them. A lot of the "new" VW parts are simply crap/junk and to be honest, it's disappointing that many VW parts vendors sell them. They know these parts are crap and they really shouldn't sell it. How much extra work are these companies going through with people calling and complaining about this crap parts or wanting to return them.
Cip-1 could raise their game if they had some parts reproduced to the original VW quality like Wolfsburg West does. The most common parts that we use on our VW's are still needed in large volumes. People will pay more for a quality part vs. the Chinese EMPI junk.

Sun Sep 15, 2024 1:43 pm

wcfvw69 wrote:
A lot of the "new" VW parts are simply crap/junk and to be honest, it's disappointing that many VW parts vendors sell them. They know these parts are crap and they really shouldn't sell it.
They sell the junk because VW people are CHEAP. They want the crappy parts. Most VW people are drawn to the lowest price with no regard to the quality.

Sun Sep 15, 2024 6:12 pm

Bruce wrote: wcfvw69 wrote:
A lot of the "new" VW parts are simply crap/junk and to be honest, it's disappointing that many VW parts vendors sell them. They know these parts are crap and they really shouldn't sell it.
They sell the junk because VW people are CHEAP. They want the crappy parts. Most VW people are drawn to the lowest price with no regard to the quality.

I get what you're saying Bruce and for years/decades this was very true in our hobby. However, I think with VW's climbing in value and respect in the collector car word, people are now paying for the best parts available. With that said, there will always be a segment of the hobby that shops the cheapest part cost available. I just think that percentage of folks has shrunk significantly.

Tue Sep 17, 2024 12:38 pm

wcfvw69 wrote: VOLKSWAGNUT wrote: I've used CIP1 over the years...and have had both good and moderate experiences.... I recently made a couple more transactions.

While I'm not buying parts from them that require super high standards or what I would consider original German quality equivalent.. the parts I ordered are pretty much what I expected.
One thing I will note.. they have a lightning shipping program with DHL.. The parts are to my door faster than CIP1 updates the shipping information on my order.

.

Their DHL shipping is super fast and free if you buy enough to receive free shipping. I've used CIP-1 for years. I've only had to call with issues with an order or parts 1-2 times. In both cases they resolved the issue to my satisfaction.
Cip-1 like the other big VW parts sellers do sell some really poor quality parts. I think they "try" to let folks know the quality of the parts isn't the best. I've found that we as consumers need to do the research on the quality of the parts before ordering them. A lot of the "new" VW parts are simply crap/junk and to be honest, it's disappointing that many VW parts vendors sell them. They know these parts are crap and they really shouldn't sell it. How much extra work are these companies going through with people calling and complaining about this crap parts or wanting to return them.
Cip-1 could raise their game if they had some parts reproduced to the original VW quality like Wolfsburg West does. The most common parts that we use on our VW's are still needed in large volumes. People will pay more for a quality part vs. the Chinese EMPI junk.

They are handling a fair amouny of BBT and other better supplier parts. There are also a fair number of the Wolfsburg West stuff on their website. I am pretty tight with them and they do their best to try to not handle junk, but there are some parts that there are no alternatives. WW is in the same boat.

Wed Feb 12, 2025 10:18 am

I won't buy from them anymore. I learned my lesson on cosmetic parts. Prior to this I ordered many parts that were fine. I tried ordering vent window latches because mine had the center deteriorate. This was the website picture that they rated 5 stars.

This was the actual products I revived.

Not sure if you can see how blocky it is and the dingleberries that were chromed over, but hardly a 5 star product. I called customer service and they would take them back with a 20% restock fee and me paying the shipping. Customer service basically told me tough, and that their website picture could have been taken batches ago. Lesson learned stick with Wolfsburg West or West Coast Metric.

Wed Feb 12, 2025 5:59 pm

I don't usually leave reviews, but I feel like I need to add this to the feedback thread for Cip1.

A number of months ago I bought a muffler kit from Cip1 for my 1968 double cab. The muffler kit was advertised as "VWC-211-251-051-E - 211251051E - MUFFLER 15-1600CC - TOP QUALITY EUROPEAN MADE" - the Cip1 website lists the manufacturer of the kit as Dansk. When it arrived, I wasn't ready to install it yet (I was waiting for the body shop to finish the paint job), so it sat in the unopened box on a shelf in my dry California garage for a couple of months. When I finally opened it to get it installed, I was shocked by what I found. The muffler was completely rusted out, one of the preheat canisters was loose and flopping around, and the tailpipe outlet tube was dented & bent. It was completely unusable.

I called Cip1 and talked with Kris K. who asked me to send them a couple pictures of the muffler kit. After sending the pictures to him, I didn't hear back for a few days, so I decided to call again. Kris told me they couldn't warranty anything because it had been a couple months, and they couldn't be sure that I hadn't damaged the muffler and caused the rust. It didn't matter what I had to say - it seems the customer is always wrong with these guys.

I took the Cip1 muffler to a well-known local VW restoration shop and compared it to an actual Dansk muffler in their stock room, and can tell you with 100% certainty that the muffler they sold me was NOT Dansk - it's clearly a cheap Chinese knockoff and it was clearly rusted-out when they sold it to me. I threw it in the trash and bought the actual Dansk product from the local VW shop. This life lesson cost me ~$200. I won't be buying anything from Cip1 again, and I advise others to do the same. Pictures of the muffler are embedded below - I took the pictures within minutes of unboxing the muffler.

Thu Feb 20, 2025 7:12 am

Joebiewan wrote: I won't buy from them anymore. I learned my lesson on cosmetic parts. Prior to this I ordered many parts that were fine. I tried ordering vent window latches because mine had the center deteriorate. This was the website picture that they rated 5 stars.

This was the actual products I revived.

Not sure if you can see how blocky it is and the dingleberries that were chromed over, but hardly a 5 star product. I called customer service and they would take them back with a 20% restock fee and me paying the shipping. Customer service basically told me tough, and that their website picture could have been taken batches ago. Lesson learned stick with Wolfsburg West or West Coast Metric.

I use CIP1 a lot, BUT vent window latches are only ordered from Wolfsburg West.....

Tue Mar 11, 2025 3:34 pm

garbage floor mat- do not waste any money on their floor mats, youd be better cutting a piece of industrial carpet to shape- the piece i bought, across both front floor and the tunnel for a 70 beetle, didnt last 6 months til it basically fell apart- when i approached cip1 about the issue they could have cared less about the shit quality because the warranty had expired- total bs vendor beware what you get from them

Mon Apr 07, 2025 5:24 pm

I've used CIP for years and it's been mostly positive, until today.
The order I received had 10 parts, and 6 of them had problems. (wrong part sent, damaged before shipping, not matching description, low quality)

That's OK. I took pictures of everything and requested a return. I also offered to keep some of the parts and bang out the dents, but I wanted them to know that they showed up poorly. In the past, they've taken care of stuff like this by offering a partial refund, store credit, or something. But this time, they are unwilling to budge on the restocking fee and won't cover return shipping. Their claim is that they sell the best parts possible, and sometimes good quality is just not possible.

They used to have decent quality parts, and then if not I could count on them making it right somehow. But this experience has soured me. I guess that's it. I'll shop from others now.

Tue Jul 29, 2025 12:45 pm

All, not needing anymore negative these days... and yet I feel compelled to communicate with my fellow VW friends.

I recently sent the following email out to about 15 of you:

"XXXXXX,

I recently ordered pushrod tubes from Cip1 and never received them. It has been a month and they also refuse to return my money. They are blaming FedEx. I would appreciate it, in support, you do not use them for your future needs.

Thank you,
Steve"

What is amazing is out of the 15 emails I received 12 back saying they too, have had problems with Cip1.

I urge people to play their collective conscious and do what is right for all of us and boycott Cip1. We do not need that kind of player in our community.

Fri Aug 01, 2025 5:02 pm

Update on CIP1. I get notified by somebody with CIP1. Nice enough. "Sorry...etc, etc, but you didn't notify... I hope you can change your post on The Samba... etc, etc." "I have been authorized by management to go ahead and replace your..."

Today, 1 month after the original order it comes via UPS. Now CIP1 said they wouldn't ship it unless I gave another address. WTF??? So I give my daughter's. No biggie. My daughter is notified (I never was the first time) and she leaves work to be there for UPS boy. Package comes. STILL THE WRONG ORDER. 1 month and I still have nothing. Kris, you seem very nice but... I have people trying to work here.

I have been lucky enough to have worked on The S.F. Opera House, The S.F.O. International Terminal and the Apple Headquarters. In all the procurement of over $8.5 billion of work, I have never had as much trouble getting a single part. Hats off to CPI1.