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blue77bay Samba Member
Joined: February 11, 2006 Posts: 631 Location: Brisvegas Australia
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 7:56 pm Post subject: The Bus Depot |
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Does anybody know if these people are still in business or are they having a break,i have faxed and emailed and not getting a response
thanks |
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richcarl32 Samba Member
Joined: August 02, 2006 Posts: 87
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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they are still in business.
i just got a shipment notice from them today. they are very busy over there. i never have a problem with them. _________________ Richard Carlton
78 Bay
2.0 L FI |
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spiffy Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2004 Posts: 531 Location: Tacoma, WA
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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Your image of our operation is not too far off base. The Bus Depot is not behind my house, but it is no cushy office building with office cubicles and a receptionist in the lobby. Our building used to be a freight train repair facility. You can still see the remnants of the train track going across the roof; at one time mechanics worked underneath trains in the area that we now take phone calls. It is partly below ground level, cinderblock and concrete, with no air conditioning and few windows; more dungeon than office building. We have a lot of warehouse space, but it's divided into many small spaces because we gradually expanded and took over the building one section at a time. We do not own a forklift because the front door is too narrow to get one through, so everything has to be stocked by hand.
Everything is done on a shoestring budget. From the cheap rent, to the lack of a toll-free customer-service number, to the use of factory-overrun boxes (with typos, etc.) instead of fancy Bus Depot branded boxes, and newspaper reclaimed from the local nonprofit recycling center instead of expensive (and environmentally unfriendly) styrofoam packing. (Many of our suppliers also use newspaper for packing, incidentally; it's actually very effective for most auto parts.)
Why do we cut costs so scrupulously? Well, our slogan answers this succinctly - "Better Parts, Better Prices." I'm all about providing the best possible quality at the lowest possible price, and the comments in this thread generally seem to affirm our success in that area. Every dollar I spend is a dollar more I have to charge you for the part; it's that simple. So I spend what I can afford to on important things, but eschew the fancy "big company" trappings in favor of staying lean, mean, and cheap. This approach has worked for us, and many of our customers appreciate it. Many competitors that didn't understand the need for low overhead have overspent and gone bust (Rocky Mountain Motorworks), have had to raise their prices to absurd levels, or have begun to substitute lower quality products to maintain the high markup required by their own bloated overhead. I refuse to accept any of those solutions. I know that my approach isn't for everybody, but you can't be all things to all people. That's why there are Costco and Macy's, and each knows their place in the market.
As for delivery times, we have always specified to allow 7-10 working days for ground delivery of in-stock items. (This is shorter than CIP1's quoted delivery timeframe for their cheapest delivery method, incidentally.) We don't always need nearly that long, but we want to allow ourselves some "breathing room" in case we get swamped, which does happen sometimes. (We're a small business with limited resources; having to stop and unload a trailer full of parts that pulls up to our door can set us back half a day in shipping.) However, we do offer Expedited service, with guaranteed delivery within 1-3 working days (depending on level of service) on in-stock items. These orders get "VIP" treatment, in front of all ground orders. Because of our low prices, you may find that you can order via our 3-day service, get date-guaranteed fast delivery, and STILL pay a lower "delivered" price than if you'd ordered elsewhere via ground shipping (assuming you could find a comparable quality product).
As for the comments of a scratch or ding on a couple of the Koni shocks, bear in mind that these came from Koni all the way from Europe packed two to a box with no packing materlal at all, so Koni deems them to be shippable that way. (In fact the scratch may have occurred in transit from Europe to us.) Generally shocks are pretty resistant to such damage, and in any case may get a small nick or scratch anyway just from being under your Bus with stones kicking onto them. We generally add some newspaper padding to be safe. We have had one or two complaints of very minor cosmetic damage, but 99.9% of them arrive just fine. There are some items that we must spend a lot of time packing very carefully because they are fragile (and therefore must raise the price of that part to cover this extra time/cost), but generally shocks are not one of them.
_________________
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
www.busdepot.com |
Just wanted to pull this off the Koni thread so that you could better understand their operation....I just plan ahead and have the parts on hand before I start a project....not a big deal. _________________ 78 Riviera
67 Riviera
www.rivieraregistry.com |
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Busdepot Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004 Posts: 1306
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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blue77bay, I don't see an email from you in our inbox. I just sent you a pm with my personal email address so you can email me directly. _________________ - Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
www.busdepot.com |
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DurocShark Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2004 Posts: 6624 Location: Crappy town in a crappy state. But the beach is nearby, so I have that going for me.
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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Busdepot wrote: |
blue77bay, I don't see an email from you in our inbox. I just sent you a pm with my personal email address so you can email me directly. |
As many flaws they may have, this kind of thing is worth a lot. Participating in the groups. Bus Depot, Aircooled.net, German Supply, Raby's Aircooled Technology, and occasionally BustedBus all do this to some extent.
I love you all!
_________________ No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. |
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gmag69 Type2 Nutcase
Joined: January 13, 2006 Posts: 1941 Location: northwest PA
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Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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I have bought 90% of my parts from BusDepot and have been very happy with the service. Some of my sheet metal had the primer scrached off it but it will be stripped down and refinished so that isn't a problem. I would recommend them to anybody that needs parts. It is also nice to see Ron pop up from time to time to answer a question or comment on something on here.
Thanks Ron for the service you are doing for the VW community and us Bay Window owners. It's nice to know I can order parts and not have to pay outragous prices on them. I plan on dealing with you on more parts when the 78 gets its resto one of these days.
Geno _________________ Check out my Westy resto. thread.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230285 |
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blue77bay Samba Member
Joined: February 11, 2006 Posts: 631 Location: Brisvegas Australia
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:23 am Post subject: |
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Thanks all , got your P.M Ron ,i will contact you directly soon |
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busseemscool Samba Member
Joined: May 25, 2006 Posts: 108
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:46 am Post subject: |
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Love the Depot!!! |
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galexander Samba Member
Joined: April 17, 2003 Posts: 522 Location: Round Rock, TX
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: |
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Got the Hankook tires for my '79 Westy from THE BUS DEPOT. They are absolutely great tires!
Two Thumbs up!
Gary _________________ enjoy the journey,
Gary
Check out our YouTube Channel, VW Life |
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pb24ss Samba Member
Joined: June 30, 2005 Posts: 1665 Location: sitting around the fire with the bluegrass band - colorado
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:19 am Post subject: |
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galexander wrote: |
Got the Hankook tires for my '79 Westy from THE BUS DEPOT. They are absolutely great tires!
Two Thumbs up!
Gary |
I tried to get mine from them, but shipping killed the deal. I was able to roll 20 minutes down the road and got a set for $75 a piece mounted and balanced. I tried supporting them in this purchase though. |
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MedicTed Samba Member
Joined: August 12, 2005 Posts: 2110 Location: King of Prussia, PA
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:15 am Post subject: |
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BD is even better since they are local to me. I save on shipping, and never get a wrong part. _________________ Ted Wojton
70 VW Bus Westfalia camper
2003 GMC Sierra |
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VWGirl Samba Member
Joined: June 03, 2003 Posts: 2462 Location: Powder Springs, GA
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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My experience with Bus Depot is probably not the best... but they seem to be good people and try to do things right... they do have good quality parts, my backing plates were VW parts, from brazil i believe. and was a REALLY good deal. I got the right parts in the end... it just took a bit of time and quite a few phone calls... I'd do business with them again... so long as I am not in a hurry for the part then there should be no problems everyone there was really polite and as helpful as they could be... which says a lot!
now i guess it's time to actually go put those backing plates on since i am not on the road... _________________ Without love in the dream it will never come true
Last edited by VWGirl on Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TimGud Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2002 Posts: 6459 Location: Rio Rico Arizona
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:08 pm Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot |
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Last edited by TimGud on Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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brianandsarah Samba Member
Joined: June 17, 2006 Posts: 28 Location: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PA
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:28 pm Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot |
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TimGud wrote: |
I'll give the piece of junk away one of these days.
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_________________ 1973 Westfalia Campmobile |
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TimGud Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2002 Posts: 6459 Location: Rio Rico Arizona
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot |
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Last edited by TimGud on Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Skendog Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2006 Posts: 78 Location: Mass.
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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I use the Depot. Takes a little longer lately, but I think it is worth the wait. They Have always been helpful. I wish they had sent me a free B.D. sticker though. Do they even make them? I searched for "sticker" but came up with a ton of items with no picture or description. I'd slap a sticker on my tool box anyday! |
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Chris-a Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2005 Posts: 42 Location: Oregon
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:58 pm Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot |
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About two weeks ago I spent the better half of a day trying to get through to them so I could order a type 4 longblock. I got put on terminal hold once(15 minutes), countless busy signals and was finally able to leave a message. Plus I emailed their sales department. But I never heard back from them, so I went elsewhere for my longblock.
Maybe it was just bad luck! I've heard good things about them, but that was a bummer.
-Chris
blue77bay wrote: |
Does anybody know if these people are still in business or are they having a break,i have faxed and emailed and not getting a response
thanks |
_________________ ----------------------------
I gotta have nice tools, just look at the cars I drive. |
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josh Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2003 Posts: 1773 Location: laid back in the tall grass
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:15 am Post subject: |
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Chris-a wrote: |
Maybe it was just bad luck! I've heard good things about them, but that was a bummer.
-Chris
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That pretty much sounds like my experience with them.
Parts are good, prices are good...
...service sucks. |
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VWGeorge Samba Member
Joined: July 10, 2004 Posts: 342
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:04 am Post subject: |
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I am the owner of a small business, I understand the unreal pressure that the crew at The Busdepot are under at all times. I have made many purchases with BD over the years and they have only come up short once! I ordered a set of H4 headlamps, the lenses came but the bulbs did not! I explained the situation to Ron and had a compleate set of lenses and bulbs by the end of the week on him. No bullshit and no ego. Bs parts I get from the local flaps, real parts I get from BD. I am a customer for as long as I can work on the Vans. Use foresite when you order and you will never be dissapointed and please get rid of the "Quick and Easy" Mentality, The world would be a much better place.
VWGirl it as nice meeting you in Effingham. |
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jasonwlangley Samba Member
Joined: July 15, 2006 Posts: 73 Location: Underwater... New Orleans, Louisiana
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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Has anyone had experience with the bus depot pop-top fabric? I noticed thier prices are a good bit cheaper than any others I have seen, but I was concerned about quality, and/or size match. I have a '71 westy.
Thanks. |
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