RCM Automotive

[shoon]

Placed 2 orders with RCM, and for the first order everything seemed good.. since then absolutely no communication or confirmation of anything.

Order#1
payed them on the 12th of Feb for the first order of Injector O-Rings, the next day they kindly informed me shipping was going to cost $7 more to send to canada.. no problem so I send the money off and haven't heard or seen them yet. Maybe its just poor shipping?

Order #2
paid them on February 16th for valve tools, and spark plug wires. sent them 2 emails and heard nothing back until 10 days later (Feb 26) when they send me another invoice for additional shipping... I paid the additional shipping but still they won't email me to tell me what the @#$@ is going on with my order...

would be nice to at least get a confirmation that the order was shipped so I know when to expect it... and also for a place that supposedly ships most orders within 24 hours; why the **** did it take them 10 days to invoice me for additional shipping??!


So as it is now (12 days later; today being the 28th), I have no clue if the second order shipped yet.. or if they lied about shipping the first order.

My car is all torn apart and im ****** because I still don't have parts or tools... A fellow member on the forums was kind enough to ship me 2 injectors AFTER I placed both orders with RCM, and I got them faster through regular mail!!

ughhh

/endrant

 

[Lightning]

shipping from the US sucks lately, took my last 3 orders (all from different vendors, one of which was RCM) 3 weeks + to arrive at my door. The worst was one by UPS, that one took almost a month...

Then again, these were all early december, so that was the height of Xmas rush in the shipping world.

Be patient, your stuff will arrive.

 

[NovaSS]

yep UPS has been slow for the last few weeks, I think the drivers have been told to drive slower to save gas
Same with priority stuff with USPS. Orders that took a couple days last year are taking two weeks.

Plus you aare shipping stuff between Canada and the US ... can you say "customs"?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Slow shipments and poor communication have been a long-standing problem with RCM. :shakehead

 

[shoon]

I can understand that shipping is slow.. but the fact that they wont respond to my emails or confirm that anything has even been shipped yet is what bothers me.

 

[Lightning]

yeah, but that's just how he is, and always has been AFIAK.

I know I had a couple of questions post-shipping for him and he answered me quickly, but from what I have heard this is atypical, most everyone here that has bought from him says the same thing; fine communication up to the point of sale, then nothing after...

 

[AREA 91]

I am lucky. RCM is a few hours from me. I usually get my stuff very quick. I am a valued customer as well.

 

[Mike Kopstain]

Slow shipments and poor communication have been a long-standing problem with RCM.

Ditto. There's stories all over this forum of great communication until he has your money then he disappears and you get your items whenever.

This community isn't desperate. I can't understand why people keep ordering from him. Personally, considering how tight nit a community this is I would be suspect of anyone who's not advertising on the forum or actively involved with the community. Russ appears to be neither.

 

[groove83]

Mike, I can kinda see where you are coming from, but then again, in another way no....I have ordered twice from RCM without a problem....and I didn't even hear about RCM from this forum, I actually found it on a search I did on google.

while his communication does suck, I have never had a problem with orders.

 

[Bizzy]

I've never had a single problem with getting parts from Russ, in fact I ordered some stuff from him a month or so ago on a Monday and had them on that Thursday. Russ has always been willing to expedite shipping when I needed it to be.

To the original poster, give it some time. I know it sucks not knowing for sure what's going on, and Russ or someone else at RCM could/should be answering your emails, but more than likely your order shipped and is at customs or somewhere along the way. Hopefully that's the case. Regardless, I hope things get worked out for you soon.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Ditto. There's stories all over this forum of great communication until he has your money then he disappears and you get your items whenever.

This community isn't desperate. I can't understand why people keep ordering from him. Personally, considering how tight nit a community this is I would be suspect of anyone who's not advertising on the forum or actively involved with the community. Russ appears to be neither.

problem there is that there have been forum sponsors/vendors take money and not deliver parts,then threaten bankruptcy. at least with RCM you know you'll get your parts.it might be a bit slow,but its better than getting stiffed.

 

[SolidState]

Communications are up and down. The first thing I ordered, I got promptly with good communication.

The next order I couldn't even get a response on shipping.

What gets me is that after researching it, his prices aren't any better than RockAuto or the like. AND, I ordered those same chassis components from RockAuto last Sunday and had them by 12pm the following tuesday...and that was including crossing the boarder...

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Some food for thought...

Many SHO vendors have come and go over the years. Some of the more notables that are gone include:

SHO Shop
IPT (Shawn P.)
SHOFast Performance (Brad H.)
SHOWerks (Dave P.)
Bittersweet SHO (Chris D.)
SHO Bros. Garage*

One GLARING thing that they all have in common, is that leading up to their failure, THEIR COMMUNICATION GOT WORSE AND WORSE OVER TIME UNTIL THEY JUST STOPPED COMMUNICATING ALTOGETHER. They vanished. They stopped answering calls and emails. They hid. Most importantly, they all walked away with money essentially STOLEN from members of the SHO community.

They saw this community as a cash cow since the number of vendors and selection of parts is so small. They may have started out as a true member of the community, but as time went on they only became interested in making money from the community, and eventually for most ended up taking advantage of the community.

Take some time to read through all the old Hall of Fame/Shame threads about these vendors and see how people started out being thrilled with them, and as they started to falter how some people would defend them and tell everyone not to worry, and how eventually a whole lot of people got screwed. Even after many were exposed as thieves, people KEPT sending them money.

I've seen all the companies noted above come and go, and I'm sure there are others that I've missed, and others that came and went in my absence from the SHO community from 1996-2002.

I find the similarities to these companies and RCM troubling. He has a disappointing history of communication problems, and numerous complaints for slow shipments and people having to make quite a stink before receiving their purchase. Sadly, I suspect that eventually he'll be just another name on the list of vendors who has screwed members of the SHO community. Call me a pessimist, but I'm a firm believer in history repeating itself and learning from the mistakes of others. The pattern is all too familiar.

Ultimately, I hope I'm wrong and that no members of this community get screwed. I'm always suspicious of vendors who don't provide a phone number for their customers,. People like Josh with SHONut, and when Mikey ran Midwest SHO proved over time that they were right on top of emails so their not having a published phone number wasn't a concern, and in situations that required it, either was more than happy to pick up the phone. Unfortunately, like so many other scams on the internet, I have an inherent distrust for a vendor who hides behind his email address and won't talk to anyone on the phone. It makes it far too convenient for them to take the money and run.

Again, a lot to think about.

*I put SHO Bros. on the list since there are still a number of issues outstanding with them, and they fit into the pattern. I have great hopes that Brian gets everything straightened out and people get their products or refunds. I applaud him for maintaining open communications with everyone, when it would have been easier to run and hide like all the others.

 

[Mike Kopstain]

while his communication does suck, I have never had a problem with orders.

I understand you may not have had a problem with him but that doesn't mean there is no problem.

His communication is terrible. This is well documented on the forum. Contrary to Chris I don't think Russ is going to take advantage of anyone or leave anyone hanging. He hasn't demonstrating anything that would lead me to believe that.

I guess I just don't understand why people buy from him when his prices are on par with most parts stores and his after sale support is not only bad but essentially non-existent. I can't fault him. He's not forcing anyone to buy from him I guess...

 

[Mike Kopstain]

In addition, I think you're doing a dis-service to vendors that do offer after sale support and do support the community.

 

[groove83]

I order from him because when I order a part from him, its actually for my car... unlike every other time I order from a local place (takes just as long, but makes me more mad). and I can't say anything about ordering from Rockauto or any other place, because I don't have a credit card to order with (OR do I want to...) and since I pay with pay pal...I can dispute it if I feel its taking to long to ship my parts

no offense to Josh @ shonut...but I have a hard time looking though his site (hurts my eyes)
Shosource... doesn't have alot of 60k parts yet

So who else is there? While I do agree that RCM does charge more on some things then he should (like the 50 bucks in shipping charges when he shipped everything for 11 bucks)

 

[Racer X]

If you want to get a more appropriate shippping quote from RCM, you'd do well to e-mail him your order rather than use their website.

Additionally, of the 4 or 5 times I've ordered from Russ, I've never gotten stiffed, and only once did the parts take longer than normal to arrive. Instead of hammer his Inbox with e-mails asking where's my shit, I just waited it out, and my stuff arrived a couple of days later.

On "Supporting Vendors"... I'm not going to mention names, but some of the "upstanding" vendors have sent me the wrong part in the past, and left me holding the shipping cost to make it right.

Because it's my fault that you put the wrong effin' type of brake fluid in the box.

 

[zorlack]

Ordered (2) rod bearing kits, (2) Cooling Hose sets and (2) Clutchmasters Stage 3 Clutch kits - I rec'd the rod bearing kits and the cooling hoses, but I have not heard a peep from RCM Automotive about the Clutch kits. This was ordered November 12/07 and they do not respond to emails. I am out $1,099.98! I will never buy anything from RCM again. Beware of this company. Any person in Canada - try to buy in Canada. We have no recourse to go after them in USA. No more SHo's for me! I have 4 SHO's. There are no more reliable vendors left. All companies have been going out of business.

 

[stoessjc]

I am still waiting for a used gen 1 oil pump. Three weeks now. Promptly took my payment after telling me that they had reconditioning pumps. My motor swap is stalled untill I get this part. Not happy.

A while back I tried over and over to contact RCM and got no response. Finally got back to me and told me I had been blocked because of a neutral feedback on ebay. The reason for the neutral feedback was the unreasonable length of time it took to get me the part. It did show up, just much longer than it should have.

Guess the same thing is happening again.

Definition of "crazy". Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

John

 

[thecrew2999]

rcm falls threw, gotta remember they arent always stocked with everything... im in PA and they are also located in PA sometimes it takes me a little over a week... might as well as forget about getting replies from them.. they get swamped at times... gotta be patient with SHO olny vendors.. remember limited.