Since AC Cars Group had been able to supply pretty much all of the parts
I needed for my Cobra's rear suspension rebuild, last year I sent them
an e-mail inquiring about the availability and prices for the parts
needed to complete the rebuild of the front suspension. My experience
with e-mail inquiries to suppliers has been that as often as not the
responses are curt and incomplete or there is no respond at all. I
wasn't overly surprised when I did not receive a reply from AC. My
reasoning was that their e-mail access was fairly new and was probably
read by someone in the company who wasn't aware I had previously ordered
parts from them. So, after waiting a reasonable length of time, I FAXed
my parts inquiry to the same number to which I had FAXed previous
inquiries and orders. I received no response to this either. After
waiting another reasonable length of time I mailed the same inquiry,
marked to the attention of the person who had filled my previous orders.
Absolutely no response. By this time, I had stopped work on the car so
I didn't pursue it further at the time. A few months later I wrote a
letter to the ACOC concerning a different matter. In passing, I
mentioned my experience with AC. I also asked if AC was still in the
spare parts business. The reply I received assured me that AC was
indeed still in the spare parts business, and also indicated that one of
the club's representative would bring the matter to AC's attention.
Weeks passed with no response from AC. I decided to try one more FAX to
AC and while I was at it, one to AC Spares with the same list of parts.
On the very day I planned to send these FAXes I heard in a radio news
report that there had been a massive re-assignment of telephone numbers
in England to accommodate a huge increase in the demand for new numbers.
Sort of the UK's version of area code shuffling/overlaying, I guess. I
wrote another note to the editor of the ACOC newsletter asking if he
knew whether or not the old numbers for AC and AC Spares were still
valid. I also mentioned that I still hadn't received any response to my
earlier inquiries to AC. He called up the factory and verified that the
old numbers were still valid. He was also told me that the FAX machine
I had sent my inquiry to frequently had problems and to send any future
FAXes to their sales FAX machine number and asked that it be forwarded
to the parts department. In addition, the person at AC to whom I had
been addressing my requests for information no longer worked for the
company. None of these were adequate excuses for not responding to a
legitimate customer inquiry, but at least they offered possible
explanations.
So I re-FAXed AC Cars and sent a nearly identical FAX to AC Spares.
Several more weeks passed without receiving a response from either.
Plan B
There are a few suppliers of Cobra parts in the US. Generally their
prices are significantly higher, but I didn't feel I had any other
options at this point. Cobra Restorers in Georgia has a nice web site
with a fairly good on-line catalog. This made it easy for me to quickly
determine that they had virtually none of the parts I needed. I have a
four year old Motorsports International catalog, which lists just about
every part for a small-block or big-block Cobra. The only problem is
that their prices for most of these parts are astronomical. Another US
source for Cobra parts is Bill Kemper in the Chicago area. Kemper
doesn't have a catalog. In fact, the way he runs his business is a tad
on the eccentric side. While he does have a traditional voice
telephone, he discourages its use, so about the only convenient way to
make inquiries is by FAX. He doesn't accept charge cards, but will take
a personal check with a suitable waiting period for it to clear. His
responses come in the form of tiny and barely readable hand written
script. I was kinda turned off by all of this and if I hadn't been for
a strong recommendation from another Shelby club member I wouldn't have
dealt with him.
Between these two suppliers, I got price quotes for all of the parts I
felt I needed. Interestingly, what one didn't have it seemed the other
did. Where the two overlapped, I picked the cheaper of the two. While
Kemper's prices weren't exactly cheap, they tended to be lower than MI's
prices, and in some cases cases, significantly so. However, there were
a couple of items for which MI's prices were lower.
Even though my payment to Kemper was by personal check and that to MI
was by credit card, Kemper's order arrived much sooner. Not only that
it was complete and, I'm happy to report, "as advertised". Kemper now
gets my recommendation too.
By contrast, several weeks past before I received anything from MI, and
the order that arrived was incomplete. Some locking tabs and the most
important part of the order, the stub axles, were "on back order".
The difference between the two is in the way they do business. Kemper
actually has a stock of parts on hand, while MI tends to source from
other suppliers once an order is received. Since I've dealt with MI in
the past, I was already aware of this.
For quite a while I thought MI was going to bail out on me, re the stub
axle order. The locking tabs were don't care items, since I could
easily make them myself. But to her credit, Marge Guentzler at MI hung
in there for me and found a source in England for these rarities and I
now have them in hand. MI also gets my recommendation.
In the mean time I wrote one more letter to the editor of the ACOC
newsletter complaining about the lack of responsiveness from both AC
Cars and AC Spares and that I had decided to take my business to US
suppliers as a result. At the end of July, I received two FAXes within
a day of each other. One was from AC Cars responding to my parts
inquiry and included an apology for being so late. The other was from
AC Spares saying that they hadn't received my FAX. As it happens, AC
Spares FAX number was one of the ones that had gotten shuffled earlier
in the year. The FAX number I had was incorrect. These responses were
prompted by the fact that the editor had published my complaint in the
August newsletter this time. The power of the press.
I was glad to hear that the communications problem with AC Spares was on
my end because I've received prompt and courteous service from them in
the past. I definitely will do business with them again. My only
complaint is that they don't accept credit cards which means getting a
bank draft written in pounds sterling when ordering parts. Not
impossible, but a hassle and a bit on the expensive side.
As for AC Cars, I'll have to think it over.
Roland
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