VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Vendors & Suppliers - Parts Chevs of the 40s problem

. I ordered a starter that was supposed to fit a 38 Chevy from Chevs of the 40s and they sent me one for a GMC.
They look quite similar but the GMC is an eights of an inch too long to fit the bell housing. This is a totally acceptable error if they didn't bother the read the model number on the Starter. Rather than saying, "Oops sorry",
they insisted they sent the right one and I was stupid if I didn't make it fit. I paid shipping both ways and they charged a restocking fee. This was the last straw with other orders that weren't quite right.
. I ordered a starter from Jim Carter's that has always been more than accommodating. Filling station has also been quite good when searching for parts.
. I would recommend AVOIDING Chevs of the 40s. .
. . Lou

I can understand that sometimes errors happen. How a vendor handles the situation can say a lot about them. I recently called COf"s in regards to an item and was not impressed with their response. I had purchased a body mount bolt kit and was less than satisfied with the quality. The length of the capscrews were "close" but not exact-either shorter or longer by 1/4". The washers were smaller OD. Two of the capscrews were allthread and not std thread length One size capscrew was missing altogether. When I explained this to the sales person the response was " sorry you are not satisfied". "We have sold lots of them and nobody else has complained. " There was no apparent concern for the fact that the kit was incomplete and the hardware was "will fit" rather than correct.

I also prefer The Filling Station over Chevs of the 40s whenever possible for a couple reasons:

1. Shipping costs. For a single sheet of A4 paper or a single screw, COf's minimum charge would be $19.54 via UPS Ground from Oregon to Washington state. When you need something small that could be easily mailed by 1st class USPS and you don't want to wait to make a bigger order there seems to not be any flexibility in that regard.

2. Products in stock. The Filling Station seems to be better with their stock control and have an option where they will let you know when part of your order is out of stock so you might avoid paying for the whole order for item(s) that might not be in stock for an unknown amount of time or ever. I had a personal experience where I called COf's to verify that a set of running board rubber was in stock and they confirmed it was. I diverted the family vacation to the ocean to stop at the COf's warehouse in Oregon to collect it only to be told they couldn't find it.

Terry

I think they have gone down hill. Not only do they not admit to their mistakes but I found that they can be quite rude. When I bought wheel cylinders for the front of my 38, I pointed out that they had the left and right switched and identified wrong. They told me I was wrong because they are right.

I too have found the customer service to be better at the Filling Station. Chevs of the 40s seems to be more of a ship and forget operation. My main location for parts purchases as of late has become the Filling Station and eBay. I have had better reliability on eBay than Chevs of the 40s. Also shipping is generally better for individual items. For hardware I have been finding my local Runnings to be vary good. They have a large selection and unlike many hardware stores still sell hardware by the pound.