Thread: WHEN WILL PARTS SUPPLIERS LEARN

Originally Posted by SLOWBOAT

A mate of mine a few years ago was working at Tom Price and needed new tires on his Hi*ux and was quoted something like $2400 for 5. So he jumped on the computer and ended up driving 700km round trip and had the same 5 tires fitted, balanced and a wheel alignment for $1790. Yes it took a whole day to get it but well worth it. Oh and the dear guy would not even deal on the price when he was told. Bad luck no service not sale!!

Tyres are often like that. I buy out of Sydney or else were the last set of road grippers worked out to be two for the price of one here in Canberra

Just a little to info to back up what I was saying about how business should employ younger people to set up the online sales if they can't do it as this is the way to offset your own showrooms.
The motorcycle business I was referring to who had a young owner with the parents bank rolling him to get started, was awarded:-

AUSTRALIAN RETAILER OF THE YEAR!

Saturday 13th of April, Sydney hosted the 2013 Australian Business Champion Awards.

Australia’s own and only Motorcycle Company ----- took home the Australian Retail business of the Year Award!

The 2013 award makes ----- the most winning retailer in the history of the award with 4X National Retailer of the Year Awards

Not a bad way to say you are doing it right.

I'm a mountain biker. I was looking for a rear derailleur (changes gears on the back) I met the head aussie importer at a race, asked him what the retail price was, he told me $390. shops up here were $4-450, not too bad. saw one in a shop in Sydney for $560. due to occasionally hitting & breaking them when riding I ended up buying two from the US for $360 delivered to my door, back when the dollar was 92 cents. btw, I brought my frame and fork local for warranty, but I saved nearly $4000 buying all parts from the US. ($9000 bike) Genuine battery for my camera in aust, $80-120, met a nice chinese girl nye, she sent me two genuine ones for $45 for both. looking for modular wheels for my defender, saw them $150 each in Sydney, guy wanted $100 each for freight, so $1250 for 5. I ended up getting 5 from the UK for $760 including freight. hmmm, I know you have a business to make money, and there are expenses involved in running a business, but where do we draw the line at blatant rip off tactics by the aussie retail industry?

I needed to buy some wheel nuts for a vehicle and searched on line for Aussie suppliers and found what I needed but when I went to the cart the item was different - I then rang the supplier to query the issue but was told - "sorry I cannot deal with your query - I am the only one here and have a que of 20 people - ring back next week". Sorry no sale.

I rang another supplier - sorry - ring back next week.

Ordered online from the US - the delivered price is less than half the aussie price and will be here by about next Wednesday.

Why bother with Aussie suppliers - most really do not deserve our custom.

Garry

Grrrr, I'd better not get started on trying to buy Landie parts, much less anything else, from Australian companies. I plain won't buy from WA and I'm down to two or three over east that I trust and I won't try anyone else. They're always either too slow or too expensive or both! I can't afford to keep getting ripped off with damaged parts, never mind the high prices.

I have to buy a lot of stuff for work - mostly electronics and technical / lab stuff.

Some recent examples:

1.
Part listed on UK and AU websites of the same company. UK price ~AU$100, AU listing $600, 7 day delivery ex-uk (i.e. they weren't paying warehousing costs).
The UK (head office) would not sell direct, but I managed to negotiate with AU office down to $150 ea...

2.
Parts listed on US (head office) website for US$825. Quote from sole Australian agent $1250. Australian agent was not even aware that US head office was allowing direct (web) purchases. Grudgingly agreed to price match +GST. 7-day delivery ex-US. 14-day delivery ex-AU. AU agent originally told me parts were in stock, then after ordering I found out they weren't.

I try and support Australian companies wherever possible, but sometimes they make it hard when they have ridiculous markups and delays, with no value added...

On that note I have bought about $250k worth of equipment from company 2. over the years, and they (AU agent) are quick to quote the service and warranty advantages of buying from them (vs. a competitor with no Australian agent), owever every time I have a technical question or need warranty work they have to defer to the US head office. Repairs and maintenance would be so much faster if I could deal with the US head office directly. Quite simply the Australian agent offers NO value adding (in fact the reverse), and I often have to explain technical aspects of the products they sell to them!

Just so I don't give the wrong impression...
On a personal note though, we buy most of our produce from a farmers market, or from friends who have farms. Often that means we pay more than supermarket prices, but are getting top quality produce with known provenance - and our money is going to the actual producers who are adding value, rather than large corporations.

It's not just retail and suppliers.

The other day I booked tickets to fly to the UK, I thought I'd make a quick check to see how much it would cost to fly from the UK to Aus. On the same days, same route, same airline. Guess what? Just shy of twice the cost. That was no fluke, I tried a number of air lines and on a number of days - always the same, booking from Aus. Cost ya nearly twice the price.

Australians are just getting ripped off. Plain and simple.

Ian.

I have lots of problems with suppliers getting back to me so I can quote on jobs. It makes it hard to run a business here. I am a week waiting already for a simple quote/ list for a road freight order (including the bits for a member on here) so yes it just adds more stress to the day

JC