Cheap / Faulty Parts No Customer Service-- Oconee Off Road a Jeep Parts Supplier

[Fjguercio]

I was not going to say anything but I saw a few other similar posts in the last few weeks so here we go.

I purchased a few hundred dollars worth of parts from Oconee Off Road or TheUsedJeep.com another name they use. Some of the parts were faulty out of box or failed they did not want to take back or replace. Funny way to do business they do not send reciepts, invoices, email confirmations, or packing slips. Kinda Wiered... Then he asked me for proff of purchase in his email...


First, there was a water pump after installed the fan pully would not clear the water pump housing. The Mtd Flange was pushed on too far--- they did not want to take back or replace. I purchased new one at NAPA worked perfect.

Took pictures of the fan pully clearing and not clearing. They wanted 20% restocking fee and I pay all shipping. I shared this with my credit card and the Better Business Bureau and sent the faulty water pump back with delivery confirmation. Charges reversed.





Second, Just prior to winter my hood was sprayed with OIL????? Turns out my jacket of power steering hose blew from internal pressure. The lower crimp has slow leak into the outer jacket it blew the jacket. I sent the emails below, the rebuilt engine is not even broke in yet. They would not replace or ajust the cost.




I will still need a power steering hose, any recomedations for decent price and quality. Are there any lifetime warranty ones out there?? I have not looked yet.

I am not looking for a solution. These guys did have some nice prices on some odd ball stuff I was looking for. But I had a list and knew what I wanted they gave the $$$ I wrote it down and gave them an order. The transmission front seal was wrong, pilot bushing was wrong, clutch fork springs were wrong & weaker than the 30 year old ones, the door handles shafts were like 2" too long and i needed to trim to fit.





Here are the emails for the recent power steering hose...
Subj: Re: Warranty Claim, Power Steering Hose Failure, HP Side
Date: 12/18/2008
To: alexh@theusedjeep.com


Dear Alex,

I order on the phone, many of the items ordered you do not show on the web. Funny you ask for invoice number, I have never been given an invoice number, invoice or even packing slip. I was given a total amount and payed with credit card. The power steering hose was ordered about a year ago when my engine was out and doing the restoration work.

Fred Guercio




Subj:Re: Warranty Claim, Power Steering Hose Failure, HP Side
Date:12/18/2008 2:28:26 PM Central Standard Time
From:alexh@theusedjeep.com
To:Fjguercio@aol.com
Sent from the Internet

Did you purchase this off of our website, when did you purchase it? Do you have an invoice number? Thanks!!



----- Original Message ----- From: Fjguercio@aol.com
To: Sales@theusedjeep.com
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 11:14 AM
Subject: Warranty Claim, Power Steering Hose Failure, HP Side

Dear Oconne Off Road,

Ref: Warranty Claim.... Power steering hose I puchased from you

I purchased a high pressure side power steering hose for my 1978 CJ7 w/258 restore. I have about 1000 road miles on my new engine rebuild and restore. A few months ago just before I stored the CJ for winter the hose failed and is leaking.

The failure appears to be at the lower crimp from flex rubber hose to solid hose was leaking slowly under the jacket. The pressure built up and popped the jacket spraying the hood with powersteering fluid. The hose still works but has a small leak in the lower crimp area. Pictures area enclosed.

Do you cover this underwarranty. I feel the power steering hoses should last more than 1000 miles. The miles were engine break in miles so quite gentle.

[oteps]

I was going to order some parts from them next week. Your powersteering hose looks like it has a pretty good bend in it, possibly causing a weak spot. You said you had it for a year, how long is the warranty they gave you? I am not trying to make you mad or anything just trying to get some info. I own a small business and sometimes come across problems like this. I would give you partial credit on a new hose just because it was a year ago you bought it. When you own a business you cant make everyone happy but normally the unhappy customers tell 25 people about it and the happy ones tell 1 person about their experience. My advice is to call them and talk to them calmly and tell them what you want and work something out.

[j33pman]

Originally Posted by Fjguercio

I will still need a power steering hose, any recomedations for decent price and quality

Fred-

I bought my power steering hose from NAPA, I think I had to order it for another
model for some reason, '81 scrambler I think because for some reason they didn't show it for a CJ-7

[sparkey]

I try and buy all my parts from a local parts place, Autozone, Napa, Oreilly just in case something like this happens. I use Autozone quite a bit and so far have had good luck, put on Autozone power steering hoses awhile back, fit correctly and no leaks. FWIW.

[illinicj]

I got PS hoses from Autozone a few years back and haven't had any issues.

[jeepguy85]

Oconnee is where I bought the 2 electrical gauges that were DOA that I ended up buying mechanical gauges to replace. Alex is the same person I dealt with. I have bought several parts from them and NEVER had issues. I am not defending them, but I have never gotten bad parts from them until now. If you do enough work on your Jeep you will eventually get something bad though. I sent him an email already asking for an RMA to return those. I will post back my experience as well. I did learn from this that saving 5 or 10 bucks isn't always worth the hassle of returning something to a seller you can't see face to face.

[jeepguy85]

As promised I am updating on the situation I had with oconnee. It took a couple of days for a response, but they are sending me BRAND NEW gauges without even a return of the faulty gauges. I can say nothing bad about oconee, they have stood by the sale. The customer service was excellent too. I will buy from them again!

[JeepHammer]

THIS POST IS RIGHT ON TIME!
I found them on the internet, and I considering an order for my spring projects, but there is no way that is going to happen now!

THANKS FRED!

[andresesquire]

I've probably placed three dozen orders for various parts from Oconee, mainly because of price. While I don't doubt that other forum members have had bad experiences, I just wanted to say that all all of mine have been positive.

I generally make it a point not to get involved in these discussions as I don't have a dog in the fight, but I thought it might be helpful for others contemplating placing an order. I think if you search the forums, there is probably at least one thread critical of each of the big jeep supply stores.

To be fair, at the end of the day, 95% percent of what all these catolog and online stores sell is the same. The products originate from the same manufacturers, so it's really not fair to attribute the lack of quality to the retailer. Which leaves price, service, speed of shipping and return policy as the factors to be considered when deciding from whom to order what. After a few orders, I knew who to order from for the best price, fastest shipping and who to order from if I was worried about having to send something back with the least amount of hassle. In my opinion, none were perfect in each category, so I ordered from all of them depending on my priorities at the time. Just a thought to consider.

[PhatBasturd]

Excellent points Andre.

My experience with Oconee was luke warm at best. During my dealings with them I found they only check their e-mail on certain days (which also means they only check their PM's and posts on this forum on certain days).

My opinion is to only buy from Oconee when price is the main factor driving your choice. Don't expect them to operate in a timely manner and don't expect follow through on anything without a lot of nagging on your part. DO plan on using the phone on a daily basis to remind them what they are supposed to be doing.

It's kind of a shame actually. I think they could have a booming business if they would just wake up. I bought from them at the time because they had a great price on Black Diamond lift springs and bushings. All the other players only sold the BD springs in kits with shocks, shackles, u-bolts, etc.

It only took a week to get the springs and another four weeks to get the bushings.

[JeepHammer]

Sorry, Just won't spend my measly $1,500 or so I have for the spring projects with someplace that has no customer service and treats customers like criminals or suckers...

[oteps]

I just ordered an sye from them, yes because of price. I dont need it soon, ordered it on wed and they said it would be processed and shipped on friday. They are in Georgia and I am in PA, thats 3 days for shipping.

[oconee offroad]

I had a very good customer point me to this thread and wanted to take a few moments to respond. At Oconee Off Road/The Used Jeep, we always try our hardest to push good customer service along with competitive prices. In the industry today with mass internet commerce, too many companies have completely abandoned customer service in order to make a quick dollar. For myself, this represents more than a job for me. I have loved jeeps and 4x4 vehicles in general since the day I got my license, and spend most every weekend wheeling. As customer of many of the more "hardcore" fabrication jeep shops, I completely understand where you are coming from, but as a salesman and manager, I have the opportunity to examine both sides of the situation.

The fact is that we don't have the resources, ability, or knowledge to manufacture many of these parts ourselves, and buy them from the same warehouses that 95% of the companies in this industry deal with (as was stated above). Dealing with these companies can sometimes be a pain, but a few good reps can really help any problems get handled. One thing the companies push is uniformity in their products, so when a product is modified by the customer after it is shipped out, the warehouses completely wash their hands of the part. This was this problem with the water pump mentioned earlier. To help the customer out, we kept the product and ate the original cost of the pump since Crown couldn't take it back since it was painted. I understand that you were upset with the 20% restock, but we had to at least cover our end for the modified pump. We would have been more than happy to warranty the hose if it was done within the time period, but the purchase was over a year old when he had contacted us. We try to consistently sell a premium product, but a bad part does get through occasionally. If ever a customer receives a bad part, especially one that is vital to the engine like a high-pressure hose, We recommend inspecting it before installing it. If you find any defects in the product please contact us and we will get the problem taken care of ASAP. We can also Email any invoice needed, if you still need copies of your invoices, just let us know and we'll get them over to you ASAP

To the gentleman with the springs, I completely understand your point. There was no excuse for the bushings to take 3 additional weeks to get to you. However, this goes back to the problem of dealing with warehouses to get our product. If I remember right, the springs were actually drop shipped from Black Diamond, so when they forgot to ship the bushings, it took them a little while to get it right. There's isn't much we can do about the situation now, but if you ever need anything else, I can try to make it up to you then.

For everyone else, I ask that you at least give us a call up if there is anything else you need. If nothing else, I love talking about rigs with people (and it doesn't hurt that I make a living doing it ). We weren't checking the forum as much a few months ago because of my school schedule, but I am in the shop 6 days a week now and handle most all of the Jeep Forum, eBay, and walk in questions.

And to all of the past customers who posted up, we thank you very much for your support and good words. As much business as we have done through places like eBay, the good word from customers to customers are by far the best type of good publicity we can receive.

BTW, Clint, we got your SYE in a day earlier, it'll leave tonight, Thanks for the order!

JF Rocks!

[gojeepin]

All my experiences with Oconee Off Road & The Used Jeep have been great... I'll be back for my next project.

[neals80]

I have bigger issue with 4wd & quadratrac....As a rep that reps mostly in the boating & industrial industries, I cannot tell you the calls we get due to our manufactures slowing down or stopping production on all diferent parts...raw material costs were thru the roof and a few choose to purchase lower grade of raw materials and failures are poping up now at a alarmimg rate.....I feel the auto industry is no different....99% of the goods we get now for our rigs are oversea's made....I have been to China and I was amazed at what they make and the quality that you can demand...it just takes a few pennies to make a very good product great....most manufactures choose the cheap route....It does start to wear on guys like Oconee and the two big boys I mentioned....Most of these on line guys have no warehose just a good phone system and they set up a wholesale account with one of these guys and drop ship everything....it is the nature of the beast.....I give this guy credit and my hat is off to him for coming on here and explaining his side. Paperwork is very important with all transactions and YOU ( as in me and you) are responsible for keeping those records...I have purchased from these guys, all was good I got everything quickly except one item which was 2 days later......I will buy again as well....Not a perfect world but certain items you should buy local so when you have issues you can walk in and handle it easier when face & face......I am a fanatic about tracking numbers and emails letting me know my order status....no online jeep guy gets it right yet....Sure Amazon does a great job they have deep pockets but you want to impress me assign me a CS person when my order gets placed, confirm with an email & tracking number and send me an email for a follow up....That would impress me........