URGH!!! ECS Shipping Woes and Rear Diff Mount Inserts

[ojmcneill]

Mercy I'm frustrated.

So, my s4 just turned over 40k (2013 DSG). Last summer I ordered 034's Tranny Mount and was pleased with the results. Lately though, I feel as if my car's gotten sloppy again. So, I researched a bit and decided to order ECS' Rear Diff Mount Inserts and two new tranny insert mount bolts, as they are stretch bolts (thinking that might help as well). Anyway, so I ordered this stuff on Tuesday, taking advantage of ECS' free shipping deal after double checking that both items were in stock and with the receipt saying they would ship Wed if not later that day. So, I got busy on Wed and then yesterday checked my status and it was marked shipping from warehouse. So, for my job I travel a lot and this weekend is one of the only times in the next month plus, I'll have time to install. I called ECS last night and spoke to a really nice guy who gave great service. He stated they were only waiting on the bolts to come from the warehouse and the whole package would ship this morning. I told him I was wanting to install Saturday and that was a big reason I ordered. He stated if I paid for fedex overnight, ($24) it would show up some time tomorrow (Sat) but it could be late Saturday. He then said if I paid for priority overnight or something along those lines, it would come by noon ($27). Granted, I'm the one pushing for them to get here so I went on and ok'd the $27 shipping on an item that started as free shipping and was marked as 'in house, ready to go' originally. Still, I was cool and understood it was my timeline and had no problem paying an extra $27 for a small package totaling $114.

So, this morning I get a new ECS order email saying they had another delay from the warehouse and it won't ship now until later tonight. I called and spoke to another guy and explained my conversation from the night before about paying extra to have it by noon tomorrow. ECS is up in Ohio and I'm literally one state below, here in KY. So I explain to this guy a big reason I purchased was to get these items in time to install tomorrow. He said even with paying the $27 last night, it wouldn't come until Monday but I could pay $37 and that would get it here tomorrow, some new overnight fedex deal. Still, I'm thinking it's my timeline and I just grin and bear it and say ok thinking an extra ten dollars, to my now almost $40 shipping bill on a $114 worth of parts is fine as long as I get them tomorrow to install. So, we start wrapping up and the guy gives me a final new total, promising it will be here tomorrow, of almost $180. I was thinking they would take off the $27 first overnight charge and then add a $37 new overnight charge but no, this guy wanted to add the full $37 to the original shipping costs that was supposed to get a free shipping item to me by Saturday. So, the new overnight shipping wasn't $37 total, it was north of $60!!! I literally just gave up and waved the surrender flag and told him to take all of it off and ship them out with free shipping whenever. Maybe sometime next year I'll get them and be able to install them. URGH

I mean look, I'm just venting here a bit, and I still think highly of ECS tuning but this is probably the second or third order in a row that I've had an issue with shipping. I feel like the confusion around where the part is, when it will go out and then ultimately how much it will be for expedited shipping has been a mess. I think I was a big part of the problem on this second call by not understanding pricing but also that maybe this guy was trying to pull a quick one describing the new overnight bill as $37 as opposed to $37 in addition to the $ you already paid for overnighting. In the grand scheme of things, this isn't the end of the world and lord knows I appreciate ECS and everything they do for our community, but from a customer service perspective, I'm a bit frustrated. We're all car junkies and we want this stuff literally like it's at the corner advanced auto, but man, I had planned my whole weekend around getting to install these parts Saturday morning.

Hopefully, they find these two bolts and the four bushings and send them out some day. Has anyone installed the rear diff mounts after having the transmission insert for a while? Did you notice a big difference? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry this has been such a rant and all in all, i'm still an ECS customer, but I am frustrated, that's for sure.

Hope everyone's having a better Friday than I am.

[shadycrew31]

Full disclosure I read about 1/4 of that and my ADD kicked in.

Bottom line, if you need an OEM part in a hurry go to your local dealer. If you don't mind the wait get it from an online vendor. If I was in your shoes which I have been plenty of times I would have removed the parts that were not in stock and went to the dealer to get the OEM stuff. Just my $0.2, I have the diff inserts but havent installed them, I had the trans insert installed then removed it for warranty reasons.

[ojmcneill]

Yeah, that's what I was calling them for this morning actually. I was hoping that the bolts for the tranny insert were holding everything up and I could just cancel them to get everything rolling but no dice. I've calmed down a bit now but mercy that gets frustrating. Looks like tomorrow I'll be hanging loose, twiddling my thunmbs until the UK Football game.

[MrFunk]

These things happen... you're dealing with warehouses, shipping companies, weather, delays etc. Most of the time things arrive on time but sometimes things get delayed. If you travel that much for work you should understand these logistical challenges we all face.
You are also not in a situation where your car is broken down and you NEED these parts immediately. Take a deep breath. These are first world problems that are trivial... it's not like you're waiting for a heart transplant.

[jimrobbington]

Should have just ordered 034's rear diff inserts ;)

Sent from my SM-G930VC using Tapatalk

[shadycrew31]

If it makes you feel any better I am still waiting on 2 orders and have at least 4 days worth of work ahead of me to finish my car up.

[ojmcneill]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the ECS crew and more times than not, they've been a+ and I've always been elated. It's just these last two times it's been like a shipping circus. I just felt like I wasn't getting a straight answer and had I not called this morning thinking I could cancel the bolts and get it on its way, I would have been sitting on the stoop of my house waiting on the fedex guy tomorrow morning until Monday, probably at COB. You know how we all are: It' s a car part we feel we just gotta have this minute and we get frustrated like kids at Christmas.
Man, I really wanted to install those tomorrow though..

[MrFunk]

LOL - I get it.
These inserts don't dramatically change the car. They also add noise - you may hate them. Mine make noise and I had to dynamat my trunk to try and reduce the noise which has helped a bit. The metal ones from 034 were too loud for me and I returned them...

These also take all of 30 minutes to install so you can pop em in pretty quickly when you get them. It's certainly not an all day thing.