Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

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kreemoweet
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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by kreemoweet » Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:08 pm

"Rebuilt" distributor (Bosch #022.905.205S), being sold at busdepot.com. http://www.busdepot.com/022905205s

I bought one of these last Spring. The price at that time was $120., outright. It was a piece of crap, about what you might expect for a $10.00 swap meet item that has been "cleaned up". It arrived from BusDepot in a box with the infamous "OEM" brand label on it.

The shaft had significant sideways (radial) play, enough to disqualify it immediately from being considered "usable".
The braided copper bonding strap was badly frayed, more than 50% of the strands were broken, and the thing parted completely with subsequent normal handling.
The points were used, the stationary point was (mostly) filed down, and the moving point had a gigantic crater in it. The condensor was some beat-up
"made in usa" thing, the wire plug was not correct (round instead of rectangular), the original wire to the coil had been replaced with a badly soldered on length of
stiff 18 AWG house wire.
The distributor body was all nicked up, and had to be filed so it would go into the case hole. The O-ring was incorrect, and had to be replaced.
The top of the shaft, where the rotor (not provided with this unit) would go, was all banged up, and has had at least 1/16 in. cut or ground off. Much filing was necessary
to get the rotor on without making a pile of plastic scrapings.
Upon dissassembly, I found the points plate did not move easily or smoothly, but it did when I replaced the 6 mm ball under the retainer spring with a 4.75 mm ball.
There seemed to be a bunch of random, non-stock washers between the drive dog and body, and between the body and mech. advance plate.
The advance can was also all dented up, with a huge gouge where someone had obviously tried to pry the rim band off, and the hose nipple was gouged up and
flattened. The can did seem to hold vacuum.
EDIT 12/3: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the cap hold-down clips were a mis-matched set. They may have functioned OK, but really now, anyone who
can't dredge up a matching set of clips has no business turning out "rebuilt" distributors.

I've replaced the shaft bushings, and the play is gone. At some point I intend to actually install it and see what it does. My hopes are not high.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:54 am

kreemoweet wrote:"Rebuilt" distributor (Bosch #022.905.205S), being sold at busdepot.com. http://www.busdepot.com/022905205s

piece of crap,
Did you call Bus Depot? An emotionless run-down of "just the facts, m'am"?
Give 'em hell, before they think this is a new cash cow. Demand excellence.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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hambone
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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by hambone » Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:51 am

I can't believe BD would sell that crap, they are generally a good name. I would send them a copy of this thread too, that is unacceptable.
In the era of diminishing Volkswagens we gotta stick together. Perhaps impossible in a money economy....
http://greencascadia.blogspot.com
http://pdxvolksfolks.blogspot.com
it balances on your head just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Dec 01, 2015 5:15 pm

hambone wrote:I can't believe BD would sell that crap, they are generally a good name. I would send them a copy of this thread too, that is unacceptable.
In the era of diminishing Volkswagens we gotta stick together. Perhaps impossible in a money economy....
It might be *difficult*, but not impossible. Many of the consumers of air-cooled VW parts will bargain-shop to their own detriment. The vendors who have to pay their bills, will purvey the junk. If we well-informed and experienced VW owners, manage to make the case for high-quality parts to our fellow forum members, our vendors will follow suit. If we offer appropriate polite but relentless feedback on the inadequate performance of the trash out there, it would only help.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

kreemoweet
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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by kreemoweet » Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:11 pm

hambone wrote: I can't believe BD would sell that crap . . .
Well, seeing is believing, but I don't have a camera - that's been on my to-do list for several years now - last camera I owned was some cheap Polaroid thing
back in the '60's - can't even understand modern camera-talk.

As for BD, I think they will sell crap if it's the only thing that can be had, but I think they could be more upfront about such things - their website product
descriptions tend to be on the sucky side. I don't know what the deal is with this distributor - maybe they sent someone's core return by mistake? I'm sure
BD would offer to take it back and all, but I decided to keep it and see what I could make of it, 'cuz I wanted a spare dist. to match my current Mexican SVDA,
and Life Is Short, y'know?

Check out what BD's website returns if you search for "distributor". Hundreds and hundreds of "rebuilt" distributors. Really? Like mine? If BD has decided
to start dealing with the "OEM" people, it seems they have already gone over to the Dark Side.

And yes, of course, I will be sending them a little note . . .

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by busdepot » Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:13 pm

kreemoweet, I really don't understand why you waited until 7 months after buying this distributor without making any attempt to contact us about it whatsoever, and then 7 months later gave us this public slam followed by an email to us gloating that you had done so (your first contact with us about the issue). If instead you'd just emailed us 7 months ago, you'd have had a prompt refund or replacement right then and there. And it would have been much less unkind to us. I will never understand why some people jump directly to a public medium when they have a problem with a product or merchant. If I went to a restaurant and got an undercooked steak, I'd tell the proprietor. If he refused to make it right, or if I went back three times and got three more bad meals, only then would I even consider a public flogging. Similarly, if a customer's credit card declines, I call him directly about it; I don't post it to social media to "warn other people" about him.

Based on the things you describe (used points, etc.) this may have been a return that ended up on our supplier's shelf and inadvertently got sold to us as new. (We have not taken any back ourselves so it couldn't have been return from one of our customers.) Certainly no rebuilder is putting used points in a distributor. I can't say that for $100 I would expect $500 German quality, but I will say that we have sold a fair number of these and so far have not had any complaints or DOA's. (One exception is a customer who is having trouble with the advance, but he's not sure yet if it's an issue with the distributor. He's working with tech support, and if they determine it's a product failure we'll take it back of course.) I would not be surprised that the tune up parts inside are US made given that it's rebuilt by a US company. That is common among US rebuilds. At least they're not Chinese. The included points, etc. are pretty much afterthoughts/freebies anyway and nothing is stopping the user from swapping them out for Bosch ones if they want to. That's what I'd do. As for the brand, I have never heard of "OEM brand" and we don't sell any such brand, so I'm not sure what you are talking about. OEM stands for "original equipment manufacturer," which is a good thing, not a bad thing. That being said, this particular product is not an OEM product, it is independently rebuilt, and the web listing clearly states that. If we could still get them from Bosch (the OEM supplier) we would, but they haven't made it in years.

Unfortunately, since you waited 7 months (and also modified the unit yourself) I can no longer send the distributor back as DOA, damaged, or incorrect. That window closes after 30 days. However the product does carry a one year warranty from the rebuilder, so if it doesn't work we could certainly assist in having it sent to them for inspection and potential warranty coverage. I'm sorry we can't do more; it's a shame you didn't contact us directly at the time.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by Jivermo » Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:50 pm

The Bus Depot guy is right. The customer should always take the problem up first with the vendor, and give them a chance to respond. It happens in my business frequently, and we take care of most of the issues. My dealings with Bus Depot, and there have been many, have been consistently pretty good. A public forum ought not to be the first place to register a complaint of this nature.

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by wcfvw69 » Fri Dec 04, 2015 4:40 pm

I also have to side with Ron and Bus Depot. To ridicule any business on a public forum without ever giving said business the opportunity to make it right, is simply wrong. No business is perfect and most will make a mistake. How they handle it after being notified is what will make or break the company.

I've used Bus Depot many times. I bought their best stock muffler for my 70' bus. It came with the wrong tail pipe. A couple emails with them later, they shipped me the correct tail pipe, no charge.

I appreciate that Bus Depot supports are old VW's and the try to secure the best parts they can find. I always try to spend my VW dollars with vendors who source the best parts and specifically, vendors who have NLA parts remade. Wolfsburg West and a couple of other vendors have really stepped up recently to have the NLA parts remade.

The only critique I'd share w/Ron about his business model is how long they take to ship out parts. If I need the part quickly, ground shipping will get it to me from Wolfsburg West in two days since they ship out the parts the same day you order. Bus Depots web site states it will take 2-3 days to ship the order/parts unless you pick overnight or two day shipping. I don't know all the dynamics as to why it takes that long. I'm only sharing with Ron that he's lost a lot of business from me (and probably others) due to it. If Bus Depot shipped the parts the same day, I'd use them much more often.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

kreemoweet
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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by kreemoweet » Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:46 am

I really must respond to some of the points put forth above:

1) -- 7 months later - - I really have no idea why this would be considerd an issue. It's the same product being sold then as now. I didn't do anything with the dist. until
this summer, and seeing that it was bad, I nontheless decided to take it apart and document what I found. I had intended to post up after I installed and saw the actual
performance, but before I got around to that, I saw in another forum another fellow having problems with what seemed to be the same or similar item from BD, and I
thought it advisable to share my experience. I still do, too.

2) -- BD custormer service -- Sure, BD's c.s. is superior to many other VW parts vendors, some of whom will try to weasel out of taking any responsibility at all for
shoddy or misrepresented product, even to the point of fraud. I said as much above. It is also totally beside the point. It is NOT OK to be sent junk, just because the
company will make good if they are found out. I would guess it is only a minority of VW owners who would know junk when they see it, and of course there are many
who only order parts when in dire need, and are therefore all too willing to just grumble and take their chances with substandard goods.

3) -- Not Nice to Tell -- I totally reject the notion that it is inappropriate to say anything unless a company refuses to make good on a failure to send what is
reasonably to be expected from a transaction. If someone purveys crap, then it should be made known by all concerned. It is a public service to tell it like it is.
I am frankly shocked that so many express the contrary.

4) -- OEM Brand -- I post below a scan of the only identifying marks on the box containing the distributor in question. Ron (BD) says above "it's rebuilt by a US company".
Last May, Ron posted in thesamba.com forums and said it was rebuilt in Mexico. The label on the box corroborates that. If there is indeed a US company involved (care to
enlighten us, Ron?), they do not put their mark on the product. I wonder why?

5) -- Overwrought Prose -- Good grief, look at these dramatic phrases being thrown around: "gloating", "flogging", "public slam", "public flogging", "ridicule". There is not a bit of any of that in my posts above, or in my email to BD. I simply stated the facts about what I received, rendered a judgment re "quality, lack thereof", and sent an
email to BD, as a courtesy, in case they wished to make comment. I also suggested to BD, perhaps rhetorically, that they either inspect such items themselves or only
deal with entities who could be trusted to do so.

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by busdepot » Sat Dec 05, 2015 7:11 am

1) Our website and paperwork advise customers to inspect all products within 7 days and report any DOA's within 30. After an initial period we no longer have the ability to file a damage claim with the carrier or get an immediate credit from the manufacturer. Coverage transitions from return/exchange to warranty, which is a whole different process (and also may have more limitations, i.e. shipping costs may not be covered). This is pretty much standard across most online retailers, auto parts related or not. (Some are even shorter, i.e. Best Buy's return policy is 15 days.) I strongly advise customers to closely inspect their order upon receipt even if they will not be using it right away. If the time period goes over slightly we can usually get some some wiggle room out of the supplier, but when issues are reported months or even years later it is harder (or sometimes impossible) for us to argue on your behalf. (And if it's shipping damage the carrier will reject it out of hand, stating that for all they know the damage occurred after delivery.)

2) I take offense to the implication that we would knowingly ship junk. Frankly this is a cynical statement in general even if applied to our competitors. Reputable auto parts retailers will not gleefully ship you crap and hope you won't notice. We ourselves are VW enthusiasts ourselves and we personally use the products we sell. We are widely regarded as being known for our quality. Sure a substandard part will make it into the pipeline periodically - we cannot personally test every sample of all 300,000 parts that we sell, and if we did and passed that expense on, every $100 part would become an $800 part. We are also limited to what is actually available, not what we wish was available. It is easy to say "I bought XYZ part and it is clearly not as good as the original." But the original hasn't been made in 40 years, and when converted to 2015 dollars was 20 times the price when it was last made. Unless you have a time machine, the 40 year old part is not an option. The standard must be, what is actually available TODAY and will it effectively and reliably do the job? In the case of a $100 distributor, if it is unreliable or does not meet spec that is unacceptable. (As I said, used points and other issues like that make me wonder if it was a return mistakenly sent to us as new.) On the other hand, if the included rotor is not German, or if the two hold-down clips don't match but function properly, in my mind that is of less concern. If the distributor had been $500 rather than $100, I'd have expected it to not only be functional and reliable but cosmetically beautiful. It is reasonable for price to be a factor when considering what you receive, but a nonfunctional or unreliable product is no bargain even for a nickel.

3) I think most people will disagree with you here. Nobody likes someone who runs directly to social media and "tells on" other people whenever something happens that they don't like, without having the common decency to come to that person directly first. As a small business owner I don't like it either. To be completely frank, if that is the way you like do business, I'd rather you do business with someone else.

4) Just because a company is based in a country does not mean everything they sell is assembled there. Not everything made by Bosch is made in Germany, for example. The rebuilder is a third generation family run business headquartered in Philadelphia. Unlike most of their competitors who rebuild in China, all of their production is in North America (3 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico). A fair amount of their VW part remanufacturing occurs in Mexico; not surprising given that there is a some VW expertise there. "OEM remanufactured part" is a description, not a brand name. As you noted, I have openly stated on the Samba that this particular part is rebuilt in Mexico, and our listing clearly states that it is aftermarket-rebuilt. Nobody is even remotely pulling a fast one here.

5) "Overwrought Prose?" You go to an online forum and tell everyone that a small business's products are a "piece of crap," that their website descriptions are "sucky," and that they may have "gone over to the dark side." Then you send the retailer an email saying "go look at this link where I disparage your product." If you do not feel that this constitutes a public slam, what does?

As for wcfvw69's comment that our ship times could be faster, it is something we have been working on very hard over the last year or so. Our website says to allow 1-3 working days (not 2-3) for shipment of Ground orders, but 1-2 is now much more typical. Regular customers have commented to us and on the Samba that they have seen steady improvements in that area. My goal is to be able to say "1-2" instead of "1-3" but there can be extenuating circumstances and I'd rather promise less than I can deliver. We are a small business and sometimes incoming orders simply exceed available manpower. For example when a container arrives from Europe, it's all hands on deck to unload and 1-2 days may realistically stretch out to 2-3. We are now and always trying to hire more people. We do offer 1, 2, or 3 working day "expedited" shipping, which pushes your order to the front of the line. If the item is not large or heavy, 3-day expedited shipping may only be a few bucks more than ground. You may find that even with that expense added, given our low prices (and no sales tax outside of PA) your total delivered cost is still lower than elsewhere and the order ships right away. Right before or after you place your order, feel free to email Fred at sales@busdepot.com and he can quote you on your cheapest "expedited" option if the order is time-sensitive.

We are a company run by enthusiasts and we truly care about the products we sell. If you ever have any issue with a Bus Depot product or order, or have feedback or suggestions, do not hesitate to email sales@busdepot.com. If you feel that it requires my personal attention as the head of the company, or you do not feel that the service you received from another employee was satisfactory, add ATTN: RON to the subject and Fred will forward it right to my desk. Sorry for the long post.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by wcfvw69 » Sat Dec 05, 2015 8:56 am

busdepot wrote:
As for wcfvw69's comment that our ship times could be faster, it is something we have been working on very hard over the last year or so. Our website says to allow 1-3 working days (not 2-3) for shipment of Ground orders, but 1-2 is now much more typical. Regular customers have commented to us and on the Samba that they have seen steady improvements in that area. My goal is to be able to say "1-2" instead of "1-3" but there can be extenuating circumstances and I'd rather promise less than I can deliver. We are a small business and sometimes incoming orders simply exceed available manpower. For example when a container arrives from Europe, it's all hands on deck to unload and 1-2 days may realistically stretch out to 2-3. We are now and always trying to hire more people. We do offer 1, 2, or 3 working day "expedited" shipping, which pushes your order to the front of the line. If the item is not large or heavy, 3-day expedited shipping may only be a few bucks more than ground. You may find that even with that expense added, given our low prices (and no sales tax outside of PA) your total delivered cost is still lower than elsewhere and the order ships right away. Right before or after you place your order, feel free to email Fred at sales@busdepot.com and he can quote you on your cheapest "expedited" option if the order is time-sensitive.

We are a company run by enthusiasts and we truly care about the products we sell. If you ever have any issue with a Bus Depot product or order, or have feedback or suggestions, do not hesitate to email sales@busdepot.com. If you feel that it requires my personal attention as the head of the company, or you do not feel that the service you received from another employee was satisfactory, add ATTN: RON to the subject and Fred will forward it right to my desk. Sorry for the long post.
Ron,

I appreciate you commenting on my post. It was not meant to be negative but rather, just to give you some feedback and offer a customers view point on your business. As I mentioned before, I like to support business that support our VW's. I'm glad to hear you're working on the time it takes to ship parts out after the order is placed.

I'll continue to use your company and again, I appreciate that you do work hard to find and source the best possible parts still made for our VW's.

Bill
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by asiab3 » Sat Dec 05, 2015 9:53 am

kreemoweet, I think the reason some users here are siding with BusDepot in regards to your timely reporting, is that quality issues affect us all. Telling the community may help other members not get burned on a bum part once or twice, but telling the vendor quickly and concisely will help the entire worldwide VW community. Trust me, the quality of parts and vendor-customer relations DO matter, but I think some of the readership here is let down in that your actions do not help anyone now, but they could have.

Just my 1.7 cents, adjusting for inflation of course,
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Dec 05, 2015 9:58 am

busdepot wrote: We are a company run by enthusiasts and we truly care about the products we sell.
If you feel that it requires my personal attention as the head of the company, add ATTN: RON to the subject and Fred will forward it right to my desk. Sorry for the long post.

ATTENTION: RON

Hi Ron :cherry:

I appreciate the time you have devoted to responding here.

Itinerant Air-Cooled is a sole-proprietorship run by an enthusiast who also truly cares about the products you sell.

In the span of 26 weeks and 21,501 miles in a 1970 VW bus that has its share of Bus Depot-supplied parts, I visited 68 fellow enthusiasts this last summer. I ran into approximately 67 Bus Depot order experiences.

The hope and enthusiasm I witness at 9:00AM on our appointed day strikes deep into my heart. It is important to me that we vendors/servicers keep the spark alive. I will share with you what I have shared with them, it is a street-level review of your business, but you will have read between the lines.

a) always give yourself plenty of time to order, there will almost always be screw-ups and you need to have them sorted out before I arrive.

b) always check your order immediately for damage, Bus Depot is not known for careful packing, and we know that FedEx/UPS employees are often overworked and harried and throw boxes with vehemence.

c) give feedback regarding parts that do not meet your expectations and demand better parts but do NOT bitch about the prices! WE have brought this rain of cheap crap down upon our own heads by not distinguishing between price and value.

Ron, in a long-ago phone call, I said that I would happily pay twice as much for a part that lasts four times as long. I begged you to send my criticism of those horrid front side reflectors that lost all of their orange within a year up to the manufacturing decision makers, I said that they could *make more money* by spending the extra dollar for excellent non-fading orange dye, and charge $12.00 instead of $8.00, so long as we knew these things were guaranteed to maintain their color.
You told me at the time that you had no means to communicate with the manufacturers, that you were at the stone cold mercy of cargo shippers and that we were lucky that they even bothered to make our low volume parts.
At the time, I retired from our conversation somewhat wiser to the constraints that you have to battle under but all the more despairing of our new world's cynicism and indifference to quality.

After years of visiting hopeful VW owners and battling their shipping-dented Dansk/Jopex exhaust systems into a semblance of "installed" (always with the WRONG tailpipes for baywindows, come on already! Part # 211251237B),

Image


I join in their irritation because the productivity of my day with them is damaged by wrong and damaged parts, and it could damage my business model if we end the day thwarted by stupid errors and incomplete orders.

I am asking you and us to carve a communication path to those who sell crap and try to convince them that quality matters so much more deeply than ad copy. It defines our very existence, in fact. We may not be able persuade them through volume, but we can and must shame them as necessary to make good parts because the cars deserve good parts. We retail customers can TRY create competition amongst our suppliers to provide the better quality parts (and we have to PAY for them so shut up and pay up), but you vendors have to also warn your suppliers that the internet age can quickly label suppliers, vendors, and parts either as good or as trash.

You are held in higher regard here than people let on, Ron. It is merely the downside of great enthusiasm that people feel the disappointment more richly.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by wcfvw69 » Sat Dec 05, 2015 11:50 am

I think Colin makes a great point about how quickly a product or company can get a negative impression in these internet times. The Samba is littered with many feedback threads on vendors who are horrific in customer service, parts and especially, communication. Think GEX and many now out of business VW parts vendors. I have to note one other VW bus vendor who I only used once and will never use again. Horrific communication to the point they don't answer their phone nor reply to emails. They took weeks to ship out a simple parts order. I have a LOT of pleasure in directing folks who mention using them to their well deserved, negative feedback thread on The Samba via PM. I simply don't see how they stay in business as they HAVE to be aware of how poorly they are viewed yet they do nothing to right their sinking ship.

There's no doubt that we are a very small segment of automobile parts sales with our ever decreasing air cooled VW's on the road. Even with that, there is still a tremendous amount of VW vendors out there seeking our VW parts dollars. Some have really impressed me and others and stepped up not only their customer service and trying to sell the best parts but also invest money in getting NLA parts remade to high quality standards. These are the vendors I'm going to continue to support. Companies like Mid America that sell the cheapest, crappiest parts from China, for the highest prices and do nothing for the hobby, have their well deserved, negative feedback thread as well.

I also will ALWAYS be willing to spend more $ for quality parts vs. the Chinese crap being peddled by so many. A quick side note; I had a leaky brake switch on one of my bugs. I ran to Autozone and bought two new ones to get by until I ordered some good ones later. Well, I got busy, forgot to order the good ones. The other day I was driving down the road and a guy was nice enough to tell me I had no brake lights. Today, I installed two ATE, German made brake light switches that I happily paid $25 each for and threw the Autozone, Chinese switches in the garbage. They lasted about a year.

Again, thanks for having an open mind to the feedback Ron.

Bill
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Re: Parts: Belatedly Discovered Junk

Post by kreemoweet » Sun Dec 06, 2015 3:30 pm

A) -- Why We Are Here -- I would like to point out that this is the "Belatedly Discovered Junk" thread. It's very purpose is to contain reports and descriptions
of defective/substandard parts encountered in our VW air-cooled adventures. That purpose seems to me to be self-evidently valuable and wholesome, but
amazingly enough, some have questioned here its propriety. I see this as further evidence of the diseased state of the vintage VW parts market. That market
is one in which outright fraud is commonly encountered, and where reports of such fraud are commonly just shrugged off. We actually see in this thread
a VW parts vendor (and one commonly viewed as being in the top tier) who expresses a disinclination to do business with anyone who would dare to promulgate
a factual review of merchandise received without first consulting with them. I know of no other market where such an attitude would not be considered pathological.

B) -- Just Who Exactly Is The Cynic Here? -- I would claim that the low regard I have for the aircooled VW parts market is based on actual experience with it, not any
sort of cynicism. I am always prepared, and gratified, to have my expectations exceeded.

I made a simple, factual post here, demonstrating an apparent failure of QA in my transaction with BD. Instead of addressing that issue, BD responded with
mostly irrelevancies and evasions. I am sure everyone can understand BD not performing its own QA on the products it sells, but then the question arises as to how
BD determined its suppliers had an adequate QA program. Did BD do any such thing? If so, why is that info not forthcoming? If not, why is BD even dealing with that
supplier? It seems to me that leaving any and all QA to the end user is a sure-fire way to ensure that most product defects will either never be discovered or will not
be attributable to the source. I can hardly think of a more cynical practice than that.

C) -- A Few More Actual Facts -- The "rebuilt" distributor I received had numerous little dabs of yellow paint applied to it. The hollow at the top of the shaft was packed
with a large blob of some sort of bright blue "grease". Seems rather unlikely a core return would have any such things, so evidence points to this dist. being the
actual finished product of good old "Mexican VW Expertise".

Brand new distributors of similar or identical design can readily be had today for $75.00 up. There is no evidence I'm aware of that these are of inadequte quality.
The last new distributor I bought 6 years ago was a Mexican Bosch, of excellent quality, for $160. Distributors are rather simple things, containing no exotic or
extreme-precision technology. Anyone paying $120. (last May) or $140. (today) for a rebuilt BD distributor should expect to get a high-quality item. Figures of
$500. touted above are just plain ridiculous.

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