I rarely – I don’t think I ever have – aired issues I’ve had with a business I’d dealt with. But I have never had an issue with a business that is in the business of selling parts (and services) for old cars before now. And I think it’s your business to know about it – because this is a car site and I am a car writer and you come here to find out/discuss stuff about cars.
And I think you ought to know about this business I’ve been dealing with – F Body Warehouse – which specializes in parts for . . . GM F bodies. That is, Chevy Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds. I own one of the latter – a 1976 model – as most of you who have been reading my stuff already know.
I needed (and still need) a hard-to-find part for my car, the electric rear defroster switch. I have my original but it stopped working years ago and I have been wanting to replace it or get it working again. While searching around online, I came across F-Body Warehouse, which offered restoration services for this hard-to-find part. I was elated to come across this and sent them $49 – the cost of the service – and sent them my carefully packaged original defroster switch via mail.
This was back in June.
After not hearing anything – or getting anything back in the mail – for what seemed like too-long, I got in touch with F Body Warehouse to try to find out when to expect my refurbished part. I spoke with a woman named Heather who told me the part I’d sent had never arrived. I told her I have the tracking number that shows it did. She promised to look around/check around and let me know.
Long story short, the part either got lost or (somehow) mis-delivered, though (again) I have the tracking number that shows it was delivered.
No worries, though. Heather told me they had a switch for my ’76 in inventory and would just send that one out to me. I was very happy and thanked her very much.
But the part did not arrive. It has yet to arrive.
It is now almost December.
I do not believe it will ever arrive – and for that reason have been trying to contact Heather to get a refund of my $49. She has not responded to multiple texts – and calls – over the past several weeks. The most recent – and last – text I got from her was about a month ago when she promised she’d “try to get to it.”
She never did.
I am not sure what the issue is. But I know she lied to me – about getting me the replacement part for the one that was lost. She either never intended to or she decided not to. Either being the same. Having figured out that this was the deal, I texted her – and called her, leaving a message for her – that at this point I just want my money refunded. I asked nicely – repeatedly. I have the text feed. But when she didn’t reply, I realized I was being ghosted – and ripped off.
And so I told her – via text – that I wasn’t happy about that and also that I am a car writer and that if she didn’t respond, I planned to write about this dirty business. And so I have. So that you know to be careful and think twice about doing business with F Body Warehouse.
$49 isn’t much, of course.
But see how you like it when you get fleeced of the same. And – worse – I am out the part. The original part I sent them, which is now lost forever. I will have to search around for an original replacement, no easy thing for a 50-year-old (almost) Trans-Am.
It’s all so petty and sordid that makes me both sad and angry. Heather could have just told me that the part she thought they had wasn’t in stock after all and hey, we’ll just refund your money. I would have been absolutely cool with that because why wouldn’t I be?
But I am not cool with the way F Body Warehouse – via Heather – decided to just ghost me and keep my $49 and leave me hanging without my defroster switch.
So, now you know. And now you’ve been warned.
Addendum: Within 24 hours of this article’s publication, I heard (via text) from Heather. She refunded my money. I thanked her – and I thank you.
. . .
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Bastards. At least you got your money back but now you need a good core or a working switch.
Hi Landru,
Yup. Bastards indeed. They ignored me for a month going on forever; multiple texts and calls. But within 24 hours of publishing the story, all of a sudden I got my money back. That’s what it takes. If I didn’t have the ability to publish the story, I doubt I would have ever heard another peep – much less gotten my money back.
If the post office confirmation shows it was delivered and they deny it, wouldn’t that make it a case of interstate mail fraud seeing as you are in Virginia and they are in Tennessee? I believe the USPS might be interested.
Wow, what a trifecta of a mess!! Lost your switch permanently, and your $50 (for awhile), but most tragically, all the TIME it took to straighten out the mess!!! And now you still have to get a switch for your Pontiac!!!
Oy Vey!!! The Goyims and their schemes!!! Do they think their Yiddish???
Hi Saxon,
It was a real clown show, that’s for sure. But at least I got my money back… finally!
The PO box address on the invoice says it all. Only fly-by-nighters use PO boxes as their primary “business” address. Not to mention the website looks fishy as hell (i.e. broken links, security risk warning when attempting to visit a second time, and overall appearance looks unprofessional).
Yeah, you definitely been had.
Hi Blue –
Good news! I woke up this morning to a text from Heather. She refunded my money. I am happy – but still annoyed I had to go to this length to get her to respond. More finely, I have zero doubt she never would have refunded my money were it not for my ability to make a very public stink. Most people do not have that power. They just get screwed.
Cool! Sometimes that what it takes to get these dildos to straighten up and fly right. Make them sweat a little, you know?
I hope so, blue –
I also note there was no apology. Just a begrudged refund issued to shut me up.
“The PO box address on the invoice says it all. Only fly-by-nighters use PO boxes as their primary “business” address”
Well, thank you…I did not know that about myself. Living 25 minutes from a quart of milk, with a post office that will not allow locking mailboxes at street level, I conducted my business through a post office box…thousands of orders. Wish Ida known this sooner….
Okay, maybe not EVERYONE. But if I come across an online store that apparently has HUNDREDS of items in stock at any given moment (i.e. a warehouse), using a PO box as its main address, then I’m going to assume one of two things: either they’re inefficient, or they’re a scam. Usually, it’s the latter.
You should look into a trip to Carlisle, Pa for the GM nationals. The car shows have tons of parts vendors. Sometimes the only place people can find some of those impossible parts.
Definitely dispute it with your credit card if you paid by card. If these businesses get dinged with enough chargebacks, the rate they have to pay in order to accept cards goes up…and eventually they are dropped completely, and musteither stop taking CCs, or switch to a thrid-party processor, which costs them a LOT more.
I’ve seen this happen to a catalog company which had a habit of delaying refunds for so long (As in saying that they’d be issued “in two months” and never actually sending them) that my dad used to deal with, and now they are out of business.
And I had a go-round myself with a big retailer. I really had to be persistent and fight with the CC to get my money nack on that one, but I was relentless, and finally got it. A nice lady on my last call to the CC told me that company is on the shit list already, so they’ll likely lose their CC processing account soon.
Fight these bastards! Even if it seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth, as that is the best thing you can do (in conjunction with using this platform to warn everyone). I spent several hours of my time over the course of about 6 weeks to get my $80 back, but it was worth the many calls to keep re-opening the case, to finally prevail.
It made me feel like crap, knowing that they were getting over on me. It felt good to prevail in the end.
I agree, Arthur –
It’s just a matter of finding the time… sigh.
Good to know man. Thanks. If I ever get back around to my F body ill avoid these people!
Absolutely, Steve –
I hope this article gets their attention. I’ll happily publicly say they made it right. If they do.
Or stuff that’s supposed fit like OEM but doesn’t, always exciting. Land Rover Defender front turn signal light assemblies. The originals guts turn to plastic dust then the lenses fall off. The after market assemblies look OK, but the molded rubber outer housing too fat for the sheet metal front panel hole. Son in laws rig, I was trying to help while car sitting for 5 years. He gets home and via contacts finds new in box OEM that fit perfect.
Ever see the movie “The Beekeeper”?
Lol
“That bastard isn’t gonna get away with this. I mean, what is going on in this country when a scum sucker like that can get away with sandbagging a Doctor of Journalism? Can you tell me that?” -Hunter S. Thompson
Dang Eric. That sucks that you lost the original part. Is that the same part for multiple years or is it exclusive to that year model?
Hi Jason,
GM (Pontiac) made a few running changes over the years, so while some switches look correct, the plug in the rear is different. Others have not-exactly-the-same appearance. Sigh. I hate when this stuff happens…
My 1950’s Brooklyn mobster dad had a senior moment with his 2004 Cadillac Deville – lost the drivers side mirror hitting an electrical pipe in his driveway. A new one at the time was over $600 and didn’t match the color. Went on eBay and found one – that didn’t fit. Returned it the salvage place refunded without problem.
Finally found one that would fit for $50 but the wiring was different. I ended up grafting the old wiring on to the new with the help of a 9 volt battery to test the motors and signal. It was a project but worked in the end aside from the Up and Down motor buttons being reversed.
Unfortunately, this seems to pretty standard for this business….
https://www.bbb.org/us/tn/dunlap/profile/auto-repair/fbody-warehouse-0483-40053930/complaints
Contact the credit card company and place a dispute.
Yes, and don’t just do the automated dispute thing, but actually talk to someone, and ‘splain about losing your original part and all.
If paid with credit card, stop payment/refund available.
I hope you used a credit card, preferably Amex for this. You have enough evidence for a chargeback.
If the criminal lack of service is the topic, I have one to add.
I’ve been trying to get reimbursed for about $1,900 in dental services since last January.
Humana lost the claim forms that USPS says were delivered to their PO Box.
I sent images of the claim forms via email to their customer “service” 5 times without any action. I finally had to get in touch with my Congressional rep to apply pressure. That finally got some positive response. I’m still waiting on the reissue of a $750 check that Humana pretended they sent in early October. Stay away from Humana.
When the Baby Boomer generation was forced to retire, customer service in America went straight to hell (by way of offshoring in Jamaica and the Philippines.)
https://www.firebirdcentral.com/70_81_Firebird_Rear_Window_Defogger_Switch_p/das-2075.htm
Warning, I’ve never used these guys so am not vouching for them. But it looks like they have the part.
Good to know. Seems there’s lots of similar stuff going round these days, people not keeping their word & living by lies, etc.
Anyway, why did you send them your carefully packaged original defroster switch via mail? …Some kind of ‘core deposit’ before the fact? …Is that a red flag to watch out for?
Fifty bucks, geez thats pretty short sighted. Some people are just too stoopid for their own good. Probably a DEI hire that just shows up and feels entitled to a check, unaware of the idea of value added, value created.
Too bad Radio Shack is gone, you could always find a generic switch that would work for that application, I did a few for my cars over the years long gone.
I was similarly ripped off by this Pennsylvania-based company:
http://car-speaker-adapters.com
Not on the shipment, but when I sought to return them. He gave me an RMA, and I sent them back as agreed. But — no refund, and no response to emails.
Shun this guy. He’ll take your money. But he won’t refund it.
Thanks for letting is know; people and businesses like them need to be publicly shunned. Fish heads, served cold!