So I ordered a new intake as part of teh "Black Friday" sale (10% off and free shipping)... Just got a call on our Vonage line ~ 5 minutes ago w/ them asking if I could have it shipped to someone in the 'States who can go to the Post Office and mail it to me since FedEx doesn't ship to APOs.

I asked if they ever went to the post office on their own and explained it only takes about 30 seconds to fill out the customs form...she started hemmin' and hawin' about tracking and chain of custody and I simply asked her to cancel my order. I'm sure that despite their bueracracy the PO is perfectly capable of tracking an order. Hell I'd even pay for the insurance!

She was very polite and really seemed like a nice person but I don't have time for that nonsense...

Looks like it's time to place another order with the fabulous folks at Custom Mini Shop!

 

...and OBTW, we were double billed for the order (timed out the first time but apparently went through) and although the first has been refunded, the second (identical) bill was not despite multiple e-mails.

Now it's officially gone into the next billing cycle so I have to pay for the intake that never shipped. I'll try to call again.

 

I'm sure they will get it sorted. However, as you found out Custom MINI is the way to go for Alta parts and APO.

 

Custom Mini Shop!

 

Before I ordered my pulley, I sent an email to Alta asking if they shipped to APOs. This is their reply:

Ken,

Happy to help! Call us to order. In some cases we can. In others (items over $300 or certain dimensions) have to be shipped to a domestic relative or friend to then pass to you. (Strange rules.)

We are anxious to earn your business.

Thank you again for choosing ALTA Performance!

ALTA SALES DEPT.
3111 NE Shute Rd.
Hillsboro, OR 97124
503-693-1702 Voice
503-693-1782 Fax
WWW.ALTAMINIPERFORMANCE.COM
SALES@ALTAMINIPERFORMANCE.COM

OK, sounds good, so far. I call them up (keeping in mind they are on Left Coast time, -9 hours) and confirm they can ship, then place my order for the v.2 15% pulley. Cool. They were gonna email me my invoice once it ships. No problem. After a week without the invoice, I call them back and was alarmed when the person I talked to couldn’t find my order!! Now, this was after she said they don’t ship to APOs! Nice! But she was able to, after talking to someone else in the office, find my invoice and emailed it out.

Now, here’s where the problems begin with Alta. My invoice shows that I was charged $139.99 for the v.2 pulley, which is on sale for $119.99 according to their site. And here’s my query to Alta:

Holly,

Thanks for the prompt reply, however, there appears to be a discrepancy. Can you explain the reason for being charged $139.99 versus the $119.99 as advertised on the web site?

Frankly, I would be very happy to pay $30 over retail to cover Alta Performance’s costs for using any of the delivery confirmation options available from USPS at their site. As a Service Member overseas, I would highly recommend that Alta conduct a cost-benefit analysis on this capability for, as it is now, I would either have to reship from a relative in the States (another $20-$30), pay online sites to reship (www.shipitapo.com, more costs) or buy your parts from another retailer, such as Customminishop.com. My comfort level is such that I would rather deal with the manufacturer rather than a third party and I am very interested in staying with one aftermarket manufacturer for the continued customization of my 06R53.

I thank you for your time and look forward to your response,

Ken Tucker

To which, Holly replied:

Ken:

My apologies for the confusion! The reason for the discrepancy you see is because the website price was posted on the 15th as a Holiday Special, and your order was placed on December 11th.

I assure you that we are looking into the possibility of shipping to APO addresses in the future. At this point we are not set up with USPS and therefore are not able to track packages sent via that method. You are not the first of our customers to recommend that we ship to APOs, and we definitely take your comments into consideration. We do hope to be able to ship directly to APO addresses in the near future.

Holly Jo Crary
Sales
PERRIN Performance™
AIM: altaperrinsales3
1-503-693-1702 Ex. 102
WWW.PERRINPERFORMANCE.COM

Anyone else see a problem here? Beside little real interest in shipping via USPS, no-one said anything about the part going on sale just a couple of days after my order. For that matter, there is no “no earlier than” date for purchase on the site. Caveat Empor!! As for a lack of tracking capability with USPS, as noted in my original email and at this link, there are at least EIGHT different methods to do so. Perhaps I should have gone with Customminishop.com after all…

Sorry for the long post. I have to say that I am continuously amazed at some of the business practices I've seen from the Germans, Nederlanderers, and now Americans, too.

Cheers!!

 

Now you know why I sent the guys at Customminishop.com. a gift this Christmas!

And why they'll get my business exclusively from here on...

 

Hey folks, we have addressed this concern in another thread. My apologies for any inconvenience to anyone affected.

The postal service simply blows in terms of tracing. There are multiple methods yes, but we have NOT had success with any of them. I did discuss this on another thread HERE

Also, we are working with our dealers to find out which ones do work with APO's. We certainly want the business to go to a dealer that can handle it. I agree with much of the logic to purchase directly, but in many cases a dealer can value ad (like shipping to APO's) and should be patronized for that reason. I think Brad at CMS is a GREAT company to work with and glad he has earned your long term business!

 

I remember working with this case (I think) and we credited immediately. We would have proof of that as well. Might be a simple CC company error. We are VERY good about taking care of these things. My sincerest apologies for any inconvenience. I am out of the office until the 8th, but feel free to e-mail me at taft.adam@gmail.com

Thanks again! Hope you have a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Adam, so that you know, I got my pulley yesterday. It was sent by ya'll on the 18th and arrived on the 26th. In my book, that's not too bad for USPS/APO over Christmas. Of course, when I say "not too bad" that means very good for APO mail.

From a business perspective, I can understand ya'll's reluctance to incur the burden of documentation for shipping via USPS. Just a business decision and another on the long list of non-APO shippers. However, are there no cost-effective automated solutions, akin to what Amazon or Newegg uses, to create the labels for shipping? Regardless, I read your message over on the "other" thread and understand your reasoning/rational. All in all, not too disappointed in having to deal with a third party vendor as I've seen your efforts to keep customers happy here on NAM. Good job.

Cheers!!

 

^^ Guess I have work to do!

 

I know for a fact that Brad and Steve of the Custom Mini Shop WILL go the extra mile to please their clients... Alta or M7...they got all the parts . I also purchased from Detroit Tuned and they are the same

 

Those were great gifts, too, thank you very much. Our business is built on customer service and it's nice to see so many appreciate it.

Steve

 

Thanks, ca$per. We are getting better at it, too. We have shipped direct to Kazakhstan and Cypress recently which are places you wouldn't believe there are MINIs. Even when we ship USPS there can still be problems with customs that the post office has no control over. So far so good.

Steve

 

Steve,

Just keep doing what you are doing. We are really trying to pump you guys up since you do APO so well. Heck, I usually get the parts within a week when I order from you guys and you have made our pulley parties a success as we have gotten everything in time. That is good stuff!

 

Kazakhastan ...


Keep up the Good work

 

Thank you for the reply Adam...well said. I really like y'all's products and hope that the business continues to do well.

vr
Rob

 

You're welcome! Those are real German plates btw..only missing the tax stickers to put 'em on the car!

 

Have you tried www.shipitapo.com? They give you an address that you give to whomever you are ordering from and they ship it to you when they get it. It only adds like a day in shipping. Pretty handy for that stuff. That is how I got my Ipod (Apple doesn't ship APO either).

 

hello 91eunos, i have had the same issue with alta so i ordered thru someone else on ebay. i also got them cheaper and they shipped all my parts to me thru usps! luckily i will be going to hillsboro next week for holiday and i will be hitting them up. my in laws live there which makes it very conveinent! by the way i am about 5 minutes from mackenbach outside of kollweiler. so i assume your at rab. anyways see you around and don't forget to wave. laters

 

Hello 91Eunos, I as well had issues w/ALTA. They royaly F...ed up 2 orders and in the one case didnt even mail it, I recieved it 4 months later. however all the people on NAM thought I was attacking him or some crazy thing. My solution to get ALTA parts is in a GREAT COMPANY called JSCSPEED.COM they usually price match and they ship from Pennsylvannia to your NY APO...they are terrific!!!!!

 

IN fact I paid JSCSPEED.COM 40 US DOLLARS to ship, get this....FULL CATBACK, as everyone else told me over $200(frieght) including ALTA to my shipit APO addy. I also ordered short shift, shorty ant. The 2 smaller items got here in 1.5 weeks. The exhaust took a while because of the back order in oregon, but with the price match, I paid 649 US dollars for my ALTA exhaust for my R56......HUGE SAVINGS = more patient customer. When they did mail it, it took 7 days!!!!!!!!! ALL the way to Heidelberg.

 

 

I just checked the JCS web site. Didn't see any option for USPS or APO shipping. Is that something you have to call them for? I did order an ALTA part from a NAM vendor, back on November 25 and the vendor still hasn't sent it. I would really like to find a vendor that is dependable, honest ships to APO and has a good selection of parts.

 

Guys, if you can't get them to ship APO, use a service like www.shipitapo.com to get it here. I use them and it works great. Sure, it takes a few days more but it works. Just had a Macbook Air sent here using them.

 

Fellas, I was able to order from Alta direct and they did ship APO. It was a bit more work on their part, and they didn't seem too keen to do it, but they did. I didn't use shipitapo.com because, back when I first moved overseas, there was a monthly subscription for the service and I don't need it often enough to justify the $7/mo. I can't help but wonder how much harder it is for these companies to incorporate USPS / APO shipping into their business practices (like Newegg and TigerDirect) and how big the potential client base is overseas that they're missing out on. JMHO.

Cheers!!