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The Bus Depot
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blue77bay
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Joined: February 11, 2006
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Location: Brisvegas Australia
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 7:56 pm    Post subject: The Bus Depot Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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spiffy
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
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.
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- 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.
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Busdepot
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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.
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The Bus Depot
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DurocShark
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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!

Smile
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gmag69
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have bought 90% of my parts from BusDepot and have been very happy with the service. Smile 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. Rolling Eyes Laughing

Geno Very Happy
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blue77bay
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks all , got your P.M Ron ,i will contact you directly soon
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busseemscool
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love the Depot!!! Laughing
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galexander
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got the Hankook tires for my '79 Westy from THE BUS DEPOT. They are absolutely great tires!
Two Thumbs up!
Gary
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pb24ss
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BD is even better since they are local to me. Very Happy I save on shipping, and never get a wrong part.
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VWGirl
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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 Smile 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...
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TimGud
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:08 pm    Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot Reply with quote

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brianandsarah
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:28 pm    Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot Reply with quote

TimGud wrote:
I'll give the piece of junk away one of these days.


Smile
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TimGud
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:42 pm    Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot Reply with quote

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Skendog
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 9:58 pm    Post subject: Re: The Bus Depot Reply with quote

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

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josh
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chris-a wrote:
Maybe it was just bad luck! I've heard good things about them, but that was a bummer.

-Chris


That pretty much sounds like my experience with them.
Parts are good, prices are good...
...service sucks.
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VWGeorge
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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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