Creative Engineering

[daknuckler]

wolfsburg west, wolfgang intl. Steve at wolfgang imo is very helpful and has a wealth of info. good luck with your order they seem to have nice stuff but not worth the hassle. Theres a place in Canada that carries CE product but cant think of the name off hand. you can find it on the samba though.
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Looking for jail bars for 13 window
rear over rider bars and uprights
all rear seat mounting hardware.

[RobzKombi]

I am glad to report that email replies have been prompt and up front. So far customer service gets an "A" . However my order has not been shipped due to my banks security measures which have now been resolved.

Thank you Mandy for working with me.
To be continued until parts are received.

[RobzKombi]

Got home and I had a package waiting at my doorstep from CE. Got it into the garage and opened up, all parts where accounted for. CE get's an A+ from me.

Thank you Mandy for working with me and my bank. The shipping was fast (considering the location). Packaging was adequate meaning no bent or damaged parts arrived.

I would consider ordering from Creative Engineering again based on this transaction.

[JsOiNmAmToHnAsN]

I will never buy from Creative Engineering again. I ordered $3700 worth of parts(was $4000 including cost of shipping) on Feb 20th, and still havent received them. Its been four months, which is ridiculous. I have been given every excuse you could imagine. It usually takes two emails to get a single reply. I have been given 5 different promised arrival dates, and has yet to come in. The last email I got from was 17 June, Mandy said she had half of my order in boxes and was going to go ahead and send it. Promised that I would receive it 20th of June. That is a blatant lie. Even if it were hand delivered, it could not possibly make it from the UK to Tx in three days. They have offered nothing for the order taking so long, and have only been apologized to once.

I heard that half of their orders take a while, and noticed that most of the orders that were delayed, werent expensive orders. I thought that I would have better luck, and was terribly wrong. I was going to see how this order worked out, and would place another order this size or larger if it went well. Unless you live by their building, where you can go by every day to bother them, do not order from them. Even if they tell you they have your part(s) in stock, it could take 4+ months to get.

I will update this if/when I get my parts. I will be canceling my order at the six month mark.

[JsOiNmAmToHnAsN]

I couldnt edit my post, it has been too long. After going back and forth with another couple of emails, I finally received most of my order on July 1st. The only thing that I havent received is the beam. Everything looks to be decent quality, but I am not going to mess with anything until I get the beam. Have not heard anything from them since the 1st.

[JsOiNmAmToHnAsN]

Finally received the beam on the 14th of Aug. I came very close to canceling my order. We'll see how well these parts fit/work. Maybe it'll be worth all of that lost time.

[nivea7573]

My experience has been horrendous. I ordered a pair of polished door tops ($1800 US) for my 1961 15 Window bus back in October 2015. The initial conversations with Mandy over email stated that the parts were in stock and ready to be shipped. I decided to complete the order and payment, which to my surprise, it has been over 12 weeks and the parts are not even out the shop. According to Mandy, now the parts need to be glazed and it can only be done by one of her employees who had a heart attack recently and can't do it until he recovers. Since all I was getting are excuses, I decided to request my money back and cancel my order. Since I don't know how it is going to end, I will update this blog once I either get my money or whatever else happens. I'll keep you posted.

[Rusties]

My CE experience has been ok.
Not as bad as the past horror stories I've read here.
I called to ask about lead times, when would they ship my order.
The reply was, 2 weeks.
They shipped my way order a week later that I was told.
There was a little bit of bs as well they gave me with an overnight tracking number, 3 days before UPS did the pick up.
Product showed up it perfect condition with all the parts.

[lightice]

They have a product - frameless popouts, which I wanted to get.
But shipping glass from UK to Singapore isn't exactly worth the hassle.
I have experienced a few times where glass broke in the mail.

So I offered to pay for all the hardware and seals, and to pay for a template or drawing of the glass cutout. But they did not want to entertain my order.

I ended up getting some used VW brazil frameless popouts for considerably less money.

[austriadeluxe]

To refresh this thread... I tried to buy deluxe trim this spring, they told me that it will take about 6 weeks, I was ok with that, but after 2 months I asked about my parts, nothing happened, they told me stories about new tools, blablabla, long story short, after 3 months I got my money back by PayPal, they told me to inform me when it is in stock, I am still waiting... and if they were the only one selling those parts, i wouldn’t buy a screw from them, liars!!!

[Juan]

Placed my order for an IRS kit on April 7th.

Two months later it has not been shipped.

On April 19th (a Monday) they told me they were waiting for the spring plates to be finished and they "should ship by end of week."

On April 29th I asked again if they had shipped, they told me no, that "they are at the plater's" and would let me know as soon as they're back (they never did).

On May 11th (a Tuesday) I asked again, asking for an ETA on when my order would ship, since it had been over a month since I'd placed it. They responded on that same day apologizing for the delay, saying they had 2 people sick, and that my order would ship Friday (May 14th).

On May 17th I asked again if my order had shipped, since I hadn't received a tracking number on May 14th. The next day, May 18th, I got a response saying that unfortunately my parts hadn't shipped yet, "but they will tomorrow" (May 19th).

On May 20th I received an email with a UPS tracking number. Tracked it on UPS website, said "label created" but not shipped yet.

On May 26th I wrote them again saying that the tracking number still only reported "label created." I did not receive a response.

Yesterday, June 7th, I wrote again complaining about all of it (lack of response, how long it's taking, lack of clarity on what actually is going on) and asking them to please simply tell me if they will be able to fulfill the order or issue a refund. I have insisted again today since I did not get an answer.

The tracking number continues to only show "label created." Still not shipped.

Total nightmare.

I want to think they are fine, well-intentioned people who are, for some reason, just terrible at handling their customers and their orders. It baffles the shit out of me that a company that makes what appear to be seriously well made and seriously well presented and well explained products, can on the other hand be a complete fucking disaster when it comes to order fulfillment and customer service.

I debated going to IRS for a while and did a good amount of reading and research before choosing to go with the CE kit. I liked the clarity they provided about their product, which also seems to be well made. The instructions on their website were also very clear and easy to understand, which is very helpful for someone like me who isn't very mechanically inclined. I did read that some people had shitty experiences like mine, but seeing that so many of those comments were from several years ago, and that other people reported positive experiences, I chose to give them a chance and bet on their service having improved over the years.

I'm so fucking mad.
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Instagram: @juanskombi
1967 Velvet Green/Pearl White Kombi
1964 Pearl White Ghia Coupe
1969 BMW 2002
1959 Ford F100

[Juan]

UPDATE: IT FINALLY F*CKING SHIPPED TODAY!
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Instagram: @juanskombi
1967 Velvet Green/Pearl White Kombi
1964 Pearl White Ghia Coupe
1969 BMW 2002
1959 Ford F100

[sunnysamba]

Awesome products sullied by poor customer service (to put it politely). Good place to buy if you enjoy being ignored for months at a time and repeated lies about shipping dates.