Awhile back someone was extolling the virtues of Victoria British and
their rapid shipping. Something to do with the company having a UPS
shipping terminus directly across the street. Well, I live in Northern
California (Sacramento area), and I find their shipping times are
abominable, and it's not all due to UPS.
I called VB today (5/28) to check on my order, and I got the following
info. I ordered my parts on 5/20, they were shipped on 5/26 (six days
to get an order out the door? hmm...) and UPS will take 5-7 days to
deliver the parts (not sure if that is "working" days or not). That
means that the earliest I could see the parts is June 1st, since UPS
doesn't deliver on Sunday. That's 12 days to get the order to my door.
If we assume worst case (7 day delivery with activity only occuring on
"working" days) that would mean 15 days from order date to receipt of
parts! I'm glad I'm only doing a slow restoration, and not waiting with
the car belly-up to get it back on the road!
I have gotten parts faster out of England (small orders traveling air
parcel post) than I have out of the Kansas prairie! Those UPS brown
trucks hurtle about so quickly that I am surprised it takes them so long
to deliver. More disturbing, though, is the long lag time for VB to
process and ship an order. No excuse for that in the 1990s!
On top of all this, I have no idea of the quality or configuration of
some of the items I have ordered ("original" style MGB sill plates, for
example) until I open the box and look. That's a result of VB's
incredible policy of "no knowledge" salesclerks! At least with Moss and
TRF, it is possible to talk with someone who knows the parts, or who can
pull the part and describe its characteristics (original quality vs
Taiwanese claptrap). VB doesn't even give you the OPTION of talking
with someone in the know! I was once told that if I had a specific
question, I could send them a written description of my concern and they
would convene a "committee of experts" to discuss my issue and would
respond to me in an unspecified time! What an amazing way of doing
business!
Well, thanks for letting me rant a bit. Any other denizens of
California (or elsewhere) that agree on the snail-like pace from VB?
Cheers,
Paul Kile
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