Shipping from Rusty's Offroad problem (long)

[WJ_ZJ_TJ]

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Well…I am having some problems getting some products I ordered from Rusty’s Offroad. I would like to run the scenario by you guys and ask for some advise.
I ordered some custom LCA’s from Rusty’s on the 6th. When I placed the order I was told that the arms would be shipped Thursday. I asked for an email confirmation with the tracking number to be sent, once shipped. “No problem”, they stated. Thursday came and went with no update. Friday afternoon I called to find a status. They stated then that the arms were being shipped that day…Friday (7th). Again, I asked for an email with the tracking number…again, they stated…”no problem”. The weekend came and went with no email from Rusty’s. Monday morning…. still no update. Monday afternoon I placed a call to Rusty’s and was able to get a tracking number, however they were not able to tell what day the package shipped. OK…now I have the tracking number. I go to the UPS page to track the package and the number is invalid and UPS has no record of the package. Tuesday…package still not track-able with UPS. I call Rusty’s thinking that maybe I wrote the number incorrectly. They verify that the number I have is correct. I run over the problem with them and they stated that they would contact UPS and place a trace on the package, and call me back that afternoon with an update. Tuesday afternoon came and went…. no update from Rusty’s. Called Rusty’s…they stated that they have not heard any update from UPS and that maybe UPS was just having issues due to some sort of software upgrade they thought was happening. Late Tuesday evening the package is now available for tracking with UPS. However, it shows a status of “manifest pickup”. From what I understand this means that UPS has received the paper work for the package but no package. Wednesday, called UPS to verify my understanding of “manifest pickup”. Yes, they have the billing information but no package. I asked UPS if a trace has been placed on the package…. UPS stated, “No, it is not possible to trace a package until after the scheduled delivery date as passed”…which is tomorrow. Called Rusty’s to see if they have had any updates from UPS and verify that the package has actually left their location. They stated that they have had no updates from UPS and they YES, the package left. They are supposed to call me this afternoon with a update. If everything continues on the same track as the past few days…they will not call.

My problem and concerns…. I have a jeep down waiting on control arms. If the package actually shipped on Friday like stated they would have arrived yesterday. The package is not in the UPS system…according to UPS. This is the second order I have placed with Rusty’s and this is the second time this EXACT thing has happened. The first time was with a pair of tow hooks for a ZJ. They never appeared and about a month and a half later I was credited my $92 bucks. Now, I understand that Rusty’s runs a good shop and takes good care of his customers…or at least that is the consensus I read on JU. Do you guys have any advise for me or were I should turn now? I have a jeep that is down and I really don’t have weeks for it to just sit around waiting on parts that may or may not arrive. Has this ever happened to any of you before, did your parts ever arrive? If the package was shipped on Friday as Rusty stated why did they just appear in the UPS database late last night (14th). Any advise or help you guys have is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


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[Dan-H]

I purchased from them and it arrived within a few days when expected. No problems.

I would fax what you wrote in your post to them, then call them and ask to speak with the owner. Read through it with (I'll assume *rusty*? ) and see what comes of it.

[DUG]

Welcome to the world of Rustys Offroad.

Rusty is a great guy and he makes a good product at a good price. However, he is often overcome by demand and shipping needs. He will make promises he can not keep and he apperently hates to ever say anything that will upset the customer. I have gotten stuff late from him, I hear about it tons. I have gotten used to it and just plan around it. To me it is not a big sacrifice to make becaus eI like him and his product....The choice is yours for what you want to do.

[cbassett]

Ditto what Dug wrote. I've dealt with Rusty ALOT, and have never received a part on time. It usually takes several calls and emails. The parts do arrive, it just takes time.
Keep calling him, and the fax idea is a good one too; Fax: (205) 655-1551.

Rusty is a one-man show. He's been trying for over a year to move out to Colorado, but workload is causing him (and his customers) headaches.

[Don A]

Originally posted by WJ_ZJ_TJ:
<STRONG>
This is the second order I have placed with Rusty’s and this is the second time this EXACT thing has happened.
</STRONG>

Will you order time-critical parts a third time?

Whenever something is mail-ordered, you should plan for, but not expect, delivery issues.

If my rig was down and I had a trip planed, I would have a backup plan just in-case the mail-ordered parts arrived late.

--Don

[Jacobs]

Ditto-ditto-ditto.
Rusty churns out some decent stuff but shipping problems seem to be the norm. If you're up to your elbows in a frame-off redo then you're probably safe- if you need it in 3 days you're rolling the dice and chances are it's not gonna make you happy.

Rusty's about 20 percent with on-time shipping just from personal experience.

[jeeper1267]

First, let me say I do not know Rusty nor have I ever purchased any items from Rusty's Offroad. I am sure that you guys that support him do so because their products are topnotch. However, being in a business where missed delivery dates on product can cost my customers LOTS of money I understand what the poster is trying to say. It's not so much that the items are taking a long time for delivery but the fact that he is not given honest delivery times. Surely this is not the first time Rusty's has encountered an inquiry on a delivery and should consequently begin quoting more accurate shipping dates.

[RobertXJ]

Par for the course. You are definatley NOT the first person with this story. <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

[AzJeep]

Originally posted by Jacobs:
<STRONG>Ditto-ditto-ditto.
Rusty churns out some decent stuff but shipping problems seem to be the norm. If you're up to your elbows in a frame-off redo then you're probably safe- if you need it in 3 days you're rolling the dice and chances are it's not gonna make you happy.

Rusty's about 20 percent with on-time shipping just from personal experience.</STRONG>

Rusty also makes some bonefide junk. I had his steering conversion and it was...interesting. Had a huge dead zone which made steering a more than a bit unpredicable, and he uses light weight tie rod ends that break on a fairly regular basis. Needless to say, I replaced it and wouldn't sell or give it away to anyone.

Also, I spent more time and money on phone calls to him than it's worth. There are plenty of businesses out there that have their act together, so I find that there's nopoint in messing with Rusty. A real nice guy to talk to, but he's either totally incompetant, or the smoothest verbal fabricator I ever came across.

[cbassett]

Uh, yeah... I think we all agree on that.

I see Rusty's added a UPS tracker function to his website http://www.rustysoffroad.com/UPS.html , which is a nice touch... just gotta get a UPS tracking number out of him. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[rustycj]

I have ordered several Items from Rusty and have never had a delay in shipping I have gotten them right when he said I would .I guess I am one of the lucky ones.
Don't bother emailing rusty he doesn't check his email but it seems he is always in the shop to answer the phone
I like the products and will continue to buy from him but I guess The time will come when I will be needing something fast and not get it .Then my opinion might change

[TornadoTJ]

sounds like the same problem I had with him. Lied to me 3 times about shipping some stuff to me. I'll never buy another thing from him.

I had the credit card company stop payment on him and he finally returned my cash. He did the same thing to a friend.

[Beezil]

does EVERY forum have to have rusty bitchfests?

can we just vote and pick one board for our rusty complaints???

I didn't think the POR board was a good venue for whines

[WJ_ZJ_TJ]

Beezil....This is not a bitch fest. I was only asking for advise and how to go about getting my parts. If you don't like it...don't read it. It is a pretty simple process really.

****UPDATE****
I took the fax advise...he called soon after the fax was sent. Well spent nearly half an hour or so on the phone with Rusty. He was upset with my comments. He explained to me that he has these problems all the time and that maybe it is UPS in his region. Again, I don't know. I really don't think the guy is lying and feel that he is trying to do his best. He still stands by the claim that he sent the package Friday. Tomorrow he is going to find out an update from UPS, and he promised a telephone call to me. If the package still does not arrive he is going to build new ones and ship another method...maybe FedEx. I honestly think he wants to do the right thing and that he has built and shipped my order.

After reading all of these posts with similar problems....I really think if Rusty wants to remain in business and keep some type of customer base he really needs to do something with UPS. I use UPS everyday at work and almost every week at home and never been through anything like this.

Another update tomorrow.

thanks.

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[Day31]

Man that sucks I am sorry you are having a problem. I would like to comment that I ordered some AAL's from Rusty Wednsday morning 8/15/01 I was told that they wouldnt leave untill today 8/16/01 and that they would take 5-7 business days. I called back wednsday afternoon got a tracking # and as of right now they left Roanoke, Virginia headed to me in Richmond with delivery slated for friday morning not even 2 full days. All of that being said, I deal with UPS shimpments a lot for my business, I have noticed that certain areas seem to have major UPS problems one of these being in Alabama. I do not know if this is the same district that Rusty is in but I do know that we have had some nightmare headaches with material dissapearing being lost then delivered weeks later etc. UPS is a excellent company with overall excellent service but I have noticed there are some areas that they have lots of problems with. If this is the case in Rusy's area and you factor in the times the he has problems (of course he has problems/delays etc. if he never did he isnt selling enough stuff) with a possible problem with UPS it could be a major PITA. There are lots of people in the clubs in my area that have nothing but great things to say about Rusty, and they highly recomend him. I hope you get your problem straightened out. Get on UPS pretty hard to they can trace a package before the scheduled delivery date to tell you that they cant is BS they usually dont like to trace packages before the delivery date because they arent late yet.
Just my .02 <IMG SRC="smilies/flipoff.gif" border="0">

[Money Bags]

Originally posted by Beezil:
<STRONG>does EVERY forum have to have rusty bitchfests?

can we just vote and pick one board for our rusty complaints???

I didn't think the POR board was a good venue for whines</STRONG>

Seems to me that the bitchfests wouldn't occur, if there was not a problem. I agree beez it gets old reading about same old shit, rusty and his shipping problems but folks this is nothing new and its always UPS's fault, ya right....

[XJ Hunter]

you guys should go search JU....this topic is always up and you can search through and see how those guys problems were solved, or not....i get tired of people asking whats the biggest tire you can run on a stock grand too <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">


Hunter

[rustycj]

Hi hunter

[Steve N]

Though I have to say I don't like to see vendors flamed. This seems to be a legit delemna. I must say as a struggling business owner (as in owner struggling not bus. :flipoff2 <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> I try to hammer into employees to underpromise and over deliver. This makes us just about so-so. I had alky countermen that would tell the customers what they wanted to hear instead of telling them the truth, they don't work for me now. I would rather tell someone I can't do something when I think I only might be able to. As of now we are just beginning to not suck as far as getting sh*t on time goes. Why can't most business understand this? I think it lies in the fact that most people want to make the customer happy, but don't understand that telling them unrealistic time frames just fawk the happy factor up.

[Voltron]

Seeing as though you are paying shipping on the order, and the whole shipping process has been a complete loss...why not try to get some sort of kickdown for at least the S/H on your order?????

Seems to me that you pay the S/H charge based on the assumption that it will be shipped in a timely manner. If it was a couple days late leaving the shop, that IS Rusty's fault and you shouldn't be charged the same as whatever you originally paid for S/H.

[buschmeister]

Well I wish I could give you some good news but it seems that everyone has Rusty's #! Rusty is a nice guy to talk to and he has awesome products at a great price but he can't deal with any contraverse if there is a problem he will tell you what you want to hear but not the truth just so he can get on with the rest of his day. I personally have been waiting for a trac bar, tie rod ends, and engine skid plate mount for one year and four months now and $800 worth of other parts that I have been waiting for 5 months now! From my phone records I have made 156 phone calls to Rusty and have gotten 0 call's from anyone at Rusty's, and have personally caught Rusty in 5 blatant lies! I went to the better business bureau web site and found out they have 10 complaints against them in the past 36 months which I will soon be the 11'th person to complain. I got my lawyer involved today and supposedly I will be getting some of my parts and a refund for the rest but I will believe it when I see it happen! Here is the main page to the complaints against Rusty's on the better business bureau's web site but I warn you it's not good. Good luck you will need it! http://centralalabama.bbb.org/WWWRoo...&firm=16002083

[UCTJ]

Did you happen to notice that the original poster has been banned and the last post was in Aug 2001?

[Mean_Green]

guess im lucky, prolly bought 4 or 5 shipments and always been within a week of delivery

[B3nMJ]

this thread is 7 years old.

[COOSBAYXJ]

How in the hell did you manage to find a seven year old thread?

With that said, reading what the OP said was like I had written it(except that I learned my lesson the first time). The same thing happened to me when I ordered contral arms for my XJ. When they finally showed the quality was "ok", but I will NEVER do business with them again.