Hot Rods Eelco...Don't do it!!!!!!

Has anyone had any recent dealings with Eelco? Apparently Marty is ill and as a result Eelco's office will be closed until further notice-

the only problem i have with that is they stiffed me for $410-

A while back i ordered a adapter from him(olds to gm)... and it didn't fit- the dowel holes were off-
When i called Marty he said send it back he would replace it, so i sent the one i had back, and also ordered more parts from him that would ship with the replacement trans adapter.. well after numerous promises that it will ship "this week" i never got it, instead i got an email from a guy named Jason telling me about Marty and his health.. i explained the situation and emailed him all my paypal receipts..... Jason explained that it was a mix up and that the package was going out "tomorrow" ... that was a month ago.. today i got an email from him saying the according to his records the package was delivered... and not to bother contacting them, Eelco's office will be closed until further notice-

even though i asked at least 3 times they never supplied me with a tracking #.. i'm totally screwed... besides waiting i have no idea what to do??

if there is anyone out there who lives near canby oregon let me know-

 

I live in Portland, Canby is a short and pleasant drive away. You want me to go over there and see what's up?

 

He's right. Don't bother contacting them Contact paypal instead. unless you like the repeated hosing.

 

shooter54 help this guy out!

 

I had similar issue over 1yr ago with a similar valued purchase and also got the run around. My purchase was eventually delivered a day before the 45 day PayPal claim period expired. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and was ready to lodge a claim when everything turned up. I found customer communication and after sales service very lacking once they had the $$$

 

Before you shoot the guy and bury him in a shallow grave, maybe having shooter54 go over and check things out would be the better solution... I mean, what's the point of having a "network" if you're not going to use it. It's possible the seller really is sick and things are out of his control right now.

 

I'd be glad to go over there. I'm a reasonable person, and business owner myself, so I would approach it the correct way. I would just need as much paperwork and email correspondence, etc as possible so that I could present everything to them in a professional, straight forward way. Just would want all my ducks in a row and a clear understanding of everything that has taken place up to this point so that I can best plead your case, and hopefully get a resolution.

 

same as it ever was.... do a search, there is a long history of this going way back with him.

 

With any transaction whether it be a vendor or egay sale, always start a Paypal claim as soon as there is a problem. You can always drop the claim at the last second when it is resolved just like a court case. Never drop the claim first even if the other person requests it, as like court you can't put the claim in again a second time. Wait on the persons word and you will miss the claim period allowed to file.

 

Excellent suggestion! Then provide Shooter54 all your paperwork. Then he can do the fact finding mission and provide all of us the truth about EELCO.

But from what is provided about the first adapter plate, I don't think I would take that company real serious when looking for such equipment.

 

Wow, it's amazing this guy is still in business. I can't believe how many times I have heard the same story from so many different people..."mix up in the shipping"....."it will go out tomorrow"....etc. my story was, the carbs I was supposed to get were "shipped in a box marked carb cleaner, so the post office sent it back" I finally got ahold of the Oregon attorney general....I finally got the carbs I was supposed to get. But they turned out to be junk. Oh well.

 

My experience with Marty is that he is a pretty good machinist but not a very good businessman. I think more often than not he lets himself get burried and instead of hiring someone to help or burning the midnight oil he just gets farther and farther in the hole.

I don't dislike him at all and it would be a hoot to work or build with him I am sure but I just don't think he is a very good manager.

None of that is any help for the OP but I think he has been given good advice already.

 

The truth is out there. Just search the HAMB.

 

im currently in the process of trying to get my money back as well...ordered nailhead to chevy 4 speed adapter kit, kept saying it was going to ship tomorrow, never gave me any kind of confirmation, filed an ebay dispute, should be getting my money back this week.

 

hope they weather the storm, love their stuff.

 

A number of folks in the old car parts/repair/building/restoration business just weren't cut out to run a business. Oh, they can do the work work, but not the paperwork that is what keeps the show going. Many need a good business manager to corral the paperwork problem and quite often the work work as well.
Then there are the crooks...

 

I'll say it again...TOO bad Marty's taken a good name like EELCO and is running it in the ground....Shame on you!....shit or get off the pot!!

 

Boy oh Boy... news travels fast!

Last night i sent Eelco a paypal money request for the total of the parts they owe me.. lo and behold i awoke to an email with a UPS tracking #......
that email was followed by another email from Jason at Eelco, he got word that i wanted send someone out there to rough someone up...
for the weasel that emailed Eelco-

Violence WAS NEVER MY INTENTION..

i just simply wanted a straight answer.. had i lived close to Portland i would have been knocking on there door a long time ago-

i too run a small business, and i am also a fabricator.. people make mistakes.. i totally get that.. most creative types are bad at anything else but making stuff(i am)..
integrity is the bridge that closes those gaps.. Just tell it like it is... me going to my PO box everyday hoping to get the parts that were send out "this week" was total bullshit, that's what pisses me off.. the waste of time..
if the shit aint gunna be done for 3 months than just tell me, at least i know what to expect-

to my fellow HAMBers... once again, thanks for all of your suggestions and help...
ironically not one of them was a violent one....

bet yer ass i will never do business with these jokers again..

 

Im glad you got it all straightened out. I will look into a different company for my lincages on my 6x2 and 3x2 then.

 

Yeah, past experience is 'like the guy, won't ever do business with em again'

Never got stiffed, but the dealings were awkward and troubled and more hassle than they're worth. Cool guy in person though.

 

One doesn't need violence or even the threat of it but sometimes it is easier to sluff someone a thousand miles away if you can't keep up with everything and the Idea of having someone knock on the door in person serves as a wakeup call.

I just wonder, Is Marty one of those who doesn't make the item or at least do the machine work on the rough casting until he gets an order? I know there are several different outfits around that function that way.

Years ago I bought the hairpin, drag link and rod ends for the steering on my T bucket from MAS Racing. This was in 1973. We waited and waited and waited some more. Finally after a call from the owner of the speed shop I had ordered them from we found out that the only guy who made them in their shop was on a month long vacation. I did get them quickly after he returned from vacation.

I hope his health gets better and he decides that he also needs someone in the office who can work as a shipping clerk.

 

How about this guy...

http://www.vintagespeed.com/

Haven't heard anything bad about him yet.

 

Oh that's so funny!!!

You better do a search on his as well.

 

BAWAHHHAA!!! thats funny

 

about the EELCO stuff, glad you got it figured out man. Been through something similar with them myself.

in terms of the vintage speed stuff, you might wanna look at this

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=496840&highlight=charlie+price+vintage+speed

 

Great, now he's turned to shit too? WTF? Doesn't ANYBODY work in this economy anymore?? Seems no one wants to do their job these days.

 

John
A lot of folks just are not self starters. Even those that are are not that good at time management. There is a lot more to production then just being able to do the work.

Add to that that fact that a lot of businesses open up because the fella lost his job and that was a sign that he should open a hot rod shop and you have a real cluster thing.

There are a lot of dirty no goods out there and that's a fact but I don't believe that everyone that HAMBers have had a problem with woke up in the morning and said to themselves, "Self, I think you should go out and rip someone off today." It is just that they probably should have someone else riding rough shod over them.

 

The one good thing that came out of this (besides the OP finally getting a tracking # for his parts) is that once again the Hamb network set out to correct a wrong, and it succeeded. People like Shooter54 who are willing to go out of their way to help another Hamber clear up a transaction are part of what makes this site so special. My hats off to Shooter 54.

...and to the asshat who made it out that there was going to be violence: grow up.

 

Man I need to get my valve covers sent back in.

 

OK, so as far as I know nobody told him someone was coming to rough him up. I know a guy who knows him and I passed a link to this topic to him so he could get the word to Marty and hopefully resolve this issue for mullskull.
It seemed to have gotten the result we wanted, and that's the important part. I personally think Marty is trying his best to build quality products that we need, but is ovewhelmed by doing it all himself, as porknbeaner mentioned. He seems to be very talented, and demand is taking it's toll on him, so he'll probably not be selling direct to the public in the future, but sell through his reps.