BJ's - You blew it bigtime!

[Ralph]

In April, I started the process of painting a 1982 Wag Ltd that used to belong to me. The present owner and I drove 349 miles to a shop in Jacksonville, to drop the Wag off where it will be painted, and I spent a weekend there tearing it down, aware of what parts should have been available according to BJ's web catalog and a number of other sources I've found over the years.

On May 31, we created an online order for a bunch of parts (door seals, weatherstrip, trim pieces, etc.) totalling $670, and followed it up by calling their phone number to submit payment.

Talking to Matt, there was some issue that required me to call back, but when I did I repeatedly received their answering service. And they closed for the day before calling me back.

So I got online on June 1, and re-created the order, this time having the vehicle's owner submit a credit card payment. All of the items were to be delivered to the Jacksonville address.

This was all done with my BJ's account, so they had my phone number and email address along with this order.

Also, I privately bought a tailgate piece from Ryan, as I was buying several parts via eBay and elsewhere and having them shipped to the shop in Jacksonville. The guy who was doing the painting was out of town until last weekend, but when he got back he told me there were several boxes of parts there.

So this past Wednesday, June 20, I again drove to Jacksonville with the intention of helping the painter and putting all the parts on the Wag to finish it. I saw a few boxes there: the tailgate piece from Ryan (which, BTW, was not quite as nice as I had hoped, not better than the piece it was supposed to replace, and I could've gotten one in the same or better shape at a salvage yard); a set of NOS taillamps from eBay'er; and a set of interior panels from Miltrucks Eric), but nothing from BJ's.

So I called them on Thursday, and Matt told me a few things were out of stock (the upper rain gutter molding, interior kick panels, and the antenna), and they had not processed any of the order. He said he had tried to call the guy in Jacksonville a week or so earlier.

I was steamed! I mean, WTF, Matt, why would you NOT call or email me about this?! You have nothing to do with the guy in Jacksonville except to send him the dad-burn'd parts!

I helped the painter do as much as I could. He doesn't know FJS's like I do - this will be my fourth completed FSJ restoration - and I got it to where all he had to do was tape it off and paint (nice 2-tone, Olympic White over Topaz Gold).

I was so aggravated Thursday night I couldn't sleep, and at 2:30 AM got up and drove the 350 miles back here (to Navarre, near Pensacola). A whole lotta drivin' and losin' workin' days...

So yesterday, calmed down a bit, I called BJ's and asked to speak to Brent. Matt said Brent was busy and he would call me back. That never happened. So I tried repeatedly to call before their closing time, 4:00 PM PST, and did not get past their voice mail greeting.

Today, we ordered all the stuff we need from Team Grand Wagoneer. It'll be there next Thursday, guaranteed, and they'll email me tracking numbers. It cost us about $100 more, but definitely worth it. Unfortunately, I have to do the driving to Jacksonville and back again.

I will never buy anything from those +fine fellows+ at BJ's again! Totally lost respect for them, blowing me off as they did.

[Brad W.]

that account of their communication skills (or lack thereof) seems to be the common trend, unfortunately. I've heard of alot of people mention they wont call you back, etc. I don't think they mean to blow people off, they just are not great with communication, and I've been told they run the business besides having real careers. I guess it goes with the old phrase "caveat emptor" (buyer beware).

I haven't bought things there myself, and I doubt I will because i'm the kind of guy who likes to remove things from his jeep rather than put them on. however, I wouldnt rule them out if i needed a door seal or something.

Look on the bright side though, at least you didn't have to deal with usa 6x6!!!

[jeeping1974]

i ordered a new t-case from them and it took about 5 months or so. when i would call, the same thing would happen to me.

then again, i've had that happen with other companies, its not just them.

[Ralph]

I'm with you on that, Brad W. You might actually "need" them for something, which makes it all the worse that they aren't attentive.

Here are a couple of photos of the Waggy. The first was taken in August 2004 at Raider's (RIP my friend!) near Salt Lake City. The other two were taken at the time I arrived in Jacksonville on Wednesday night (3 days ago). The guy had already painted the tailgate this way, one of the things I had to correct when I got there.

[Kali]

Unfortunately a number of threads like this have popped up recently. Perhaps BJs is dealing with a lot more customers...

[Kaiser]

I wont get into it myself, but I feel for ya. Still PO'd over my incidents. Hope they take it as constructive criticism, but am uncertain...

[TPICherokee]

Ralph, just like Matt told you on the phone on Thursday or Wednesday, we had previously tried to contact you about some of the parts being on backorder - before we found out that the rain gutters were discontinued anyway -- and never heard back. I don't know if this was due to us leaving a message with you or if you tried to call back and didn't leave a message or what, but at least 2 attempts were made.

On Friday, I was terribly busy, we just received about 20k worth of parts from one of our suppliers that needed to get organized and put away. This was my project for the day. I had to leave early to take my 7 month old to the doctor and he is WAY more important than you.

Ryan was going to call you back this weekend and if he didn't get a chance, I was going to call you on Monday.

As for calling us +fine fellows+, c'mon, grow up, name calling isn't necessary. If you were that concerned about your order, call and leave a message, it amazes me how many people will call and not leave a message. We are a small shop and if we are on the phone with someone else, we won't put them on hold to answer another line as we view that as rude.

Speaking of rude, Matt said that after I left, he was on the phone with a customer and you called 9 times in a row -- 9 times, one-after-another, each time the call waiting beeping in his ear. We aren't avoiding you, just busy with other people.

Also, on the subject of us calling people back, we will ALWAYS call people back within 24 hours. This was an issue in the years past, but is not any longer, we now have the knowledgable help (it was just me before Matt came on and it was overwhelming for just me) to call people back, most calls are returned within a few hours and all are returned within a day. We are still an internet based company so sometimes the fastest way to get ahold of us is email or the forum.

Sorry we couldn't help you out on this order. I don't mind the critisizm so if anyone else wants to chime in, please do, that is what helps make us better.

Thanks.

[prayforsurf]

that can be frustrating. glad everything worked out though. Just a curious question, one of my dreams is to completely restore a gw. right now it doesnt matter how much it costs i dont have the money or the space, but just out of curiosity, arouund how much did you spend restoring the trucks all together?

[krek]

On Friday, I was terribly busy, we just received about 20k worth of parts from one of our suppliers that needed to get organized and put away. This was my project for the day. I had to leave early to take my 7 month old to the doctor and he is WAY more important than you.....I don't mind the critisizm so if anyone else wants to chime in, please do, that is what helps make us better.

I haven't done business with you guys, but I am a small business owner and I want to respectfully suggest that being too busy sorting and stocking parts to properly take care of your customers is not a business model that is going allow you to thrive (or even survive) in the long run.

Interrupting one customer to deal with another is rude. Ignoring one to stock shelves is more rude.

[TPICherokee]

Interrupting one customer to deal with another is rude. Ignoring one to stock shelves is more rude.

With all due respect here, he wasn't ignored.

I had a lot of product coming in and no where to put it so I put myself on that task for the day. I had a certain amount of time to get it done before I had to take my son to the doctor, read above.

He wasn't ignored because Matt answered the phone to help him. Matt can help with anything people need, if he couldn't deal with Matt for whatever reason, I am sorry, but we have a very small shop, too small in fact, the product, if not put away, would literally be sitting outside for the weekend and as a small business owner, I think you would concur, that this would be not a smart business model.

And again, Matt works here just to help people on the phone so they don't get ignored, but there are other things like put 20k worth of stock away so we can actually sell to our customers is important too.

Brent

[peluns]

I ORDERED A BJS 6 INCH LIFT AND DOZIER 11 BUMPER ABOUT 6 WEEKS AGO GOT THE LIFT IN 2-3 WEEKS AS PROMISED, HAS BEEN INSTALLED FOR 3 WEEKS DONE SERIOUS OFFROADING AND AM VERY PLEASED WITH PRODUCT ... RECD BUMPER THIS WEEK ABOUT WHEN PROMISED WAS VERY IMPRESSED WITH QUALITY AND WORKMANSHIP ... HOWEVER THEY FAILED TO INSTALL WINCH PLATE .... HONEST MISTAKE THEY APOLOGIZED , I ACCEPTED.... RETURNED BUMPER AND HOPE TO RECEIVE 1 WEEK LATER...I CAN TELL YOU I HAVE NOT HAD ISSUES WITH COMMUNICATION... THIS COMPANY IS TYPICAL OF SMALL SPECIALTY SHOP BUSINESS I PERSONALLY APPRECIATE THEIR PROFESSIONALISM AND THEIR HONESTY .... WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES HOWEVER IT TAKES A QUALITY COMPANY ( PERSON ) TO ASSUME OWNERSHIP OF THE MISTAKE I FEEL THAT THIS IS THE CASE ..,., i ALSO REALIZE WE ARE ALL WIRED DIFFERENTLY ... US GOOD OL BOYS IN THE MIDWEST TEND TO BE A LITTLE MORE LAID BACK AND TEND TO CRUISE THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT OBJECTS ( SUCH AS BURRS ) INSERTED IN OUR BACKSIDE ...WE BUILD BRIDGES NOT BURN THEM NOR DO WE BAD MOUTH FOLKS ON WEBSITES WITHOUT FIRST OFFERING TO SETTLE OUR DIFFERENCES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET LIKE A MAN ..... MY .02

[billyrb]

Well, I guess I'll chime in here. First and foremost, the part I sold you was used and was a personal deal between us. I described the part exactly as it was, and if you didn't like it, then why would you wait several weeks and not bother to tell me, but rather post here to supposedly add more fuel to the fire, like you were wronged in some fashion? Look Ralph, I've known you through the forums for a long time, and you know I'm a man of my word. If you didn't like the part, I'm man enough to say hey send it back and I'll refund your money. Doesn't matter to me, but to keep something you obviously weren't happy with, never tell me, then complain on the forum is weak.

With regards to the customer service, dropping the ball, etc., let's analyze that. First, Matt and Brent did call you several times. When you called, you never left a message nor were there any emails. How in the world are we to know to call you back if you never leave a message? As you are probably aware, the several hundred calls each day on each line mean we can't always answer the phone, especially when you call back 9x in a row. Hell, leave a message, the answering machine won't bite (I promise). And if you leave a message, you will get a call back. Don't leave a message, and you guessed it, you won't get a call back.

With regards to them closing, you also know for a fact that I am online usually until near midnight each night (east coast time), and I always respond to your emails and pm's quickly (based on previous conversations together). Also, I have phone hours here from 6pm to 10pm east coast time, and typically call folks back well past that. If you can't reach Brent or Matt as I've mentioned in the past, you can always call or email me and I make a point to get back in touch as quickly as I can. Having said all of this, I can understand your frustration and have been there myself. Would I go onto a forum and write a one-sided post like this and fail to mention that I didn't leave a message with the shop, or answer when they called me back, probably not as I like to be forth-coming on my information. But that's just me, and I don't expect everyone to be the same.

As for not buying anything from us, well that is definitely your choice and your right. If you choose to buy from others, I wish you luck.

There are times that things don't go as planned, and we always do our best to make things right. Anyone that has dealt with us in the past and had a tough time knows that. I personally take the time to make sure we do everything we can to make it right. I've had folks call quite a few foul names over the phone and I don't take it personally, as I know what it's like to be frustrated and not get what I want when I want. If you don't wish to give us a chance to make it right, that is your call and I won't hold it against you if you don't. Are we always able to make everyone happy after there has been a problem? No, as there are times when nothing will satisfy the situation. But, we will always try.

Oh, and back to the tailgate panel, pop it in the mail to me and I’ll paypal you the money plus shipping. I wouldn’t want you to keep a part that you weren’t happy with and that you could have gotten in a junkyard (the money part doesn’t matter to me).

[2003 mcs]

I would suggest if a part is not in stock like a transfer case, say so in the description. But BJ's is not the only business that does this (pet peeve of mine). Anyways due to time waiting (or how long it could take) for tcase BJ's allowed me to cancel. Amicable. I needed some more parts this week. Guess what? I ordered from BJ's and I have all the parts (ordered parts Monday, drop ship fan shroud was last part to arrive today). I will order from BJ's again, hopefully not very soon. It's not a knock against them, I just need to curtail my spending on this addiction. BTW all parts arrived undamaged and look good, the aluminum radiator will look good next to the aluminum overflow and windshield reservoir tanks So count me as a satisfied customer.

[OBX-AUTOMOTIVE]

.. MATT .....KOOL! YOU GOT SOMEONE AT BJs THAT I'M NOT PISSED AT OR IS NOT PISSED AT ME!....I GUESS AS LONG AS WE DON'T TALK,EVERYTHING WILL BE OK! ...OH! I'M JUST KIDDING WITH YA!!..

[del]

sometimes lucky/ sometimes not

I've ordered from BJ's and BUlltear. I think it's the nature of the beast, that the special parts we need aren't just lying around. Sometimes I've had to call and find out why parts never arrived, sometimes they show up when they should. ( I've never had them show up early! ) My only advice is to order as soon as possible and don't plan on doing anything until you have all the parts in hand. Del
I take that back, GEMOBX sent his stuff (floorpans) earlier than I expected.