Just call them. They will answer the phone if you wait on hold 20/25 minutes average. Sometimes you get lucky, this week the answered in 17! Just don't complain about the wait to the guy that answers, you'll get an earfull and an attitude. I'd like to know what's going on at Drakes, we buy a lot of parts from them at the shop, besides the failing service we've started calling him "back order Bob". Last week I needed about $4500 worth of parts, about 1/3 of them were out of stock with no time frame when the parts would be availible. I had to go to another vender which means a lot of Vintique parts which I hate, makes me sad.
I gave up on them years ago with the rude 'tude and a couple sub-par parts they wouldn't stand behind. Sounds like not much has changed. Some of his stuff is great, but I will not buy direct.
Got their sale catalog few weeks ago with free shipping prices were good, needed a gas tank on sale for $99, lower panel under deck lid $220, inter front fenders, $100 ea. All back ordered, got the tank in a couple of weeks, Lower panel would be available in 6-8 weeks, gave up on them and cancelled the order.
I called them a couple times yesterday, sat on hold forever, finally gave up. Do you think Bob has any idea (in spite of his glossy catalogs) how many sales he looses due to lousy customer service and no inventory. Whats the old saying? "You can't sell out of an empty kart?"
Wow, every time I have called they have always been friendly and most of the time they had what I needed in stock.
all 35 to 1951 ford tailpans and 55 to 58 ford tailpans in stock at ems automotive and usa made too 216-541-4585 www.emsautomotive.com the ems guy
I'm still pissed about the $25 binder that he sold years ago, vowing to fill it with monthly mailings that never happened. Quality parts, no service. It would be a great business if somebody knew how to run it.
We have a HAMBer here that used to work for ol Bob. There was a room full of telephones for a call center that he was too cheap to staff hence the long waits. I know of a couple folks that bought that binder as well and got the same fat goose egg.
I do understand the problems with back ordered parts, as I've had (and have some presently), but I've never had a problem with simply calling and talking to someone at Bob Drake. A little patience may at times be necessary, but that's something many do not seem to have anymore. I don't understand those that still cry about the failed binder. The binder's price was fully refunded with a large enough order placed at that time, (I think $500) and a $50 coupon was also issued a few years ago to those that purchased the binder, more than making up for the failed binder concept. I think that horse has been beat to death enough.
My gut feeling ( I probably shouldn't speculate) is the coupe project is the root of the problems they seem to be having, if so I do hope they can recover and restock their shelves. These sale promos, shipping discounts and all seem to be they are trying to move the inventory they have to raise cash but not able to replace the inventory when they run out of something. I hope I'm wrong, these techniques are usually a death sign of a business. I tried to order one of those $99 gas tanks last week, of course they had sold out. The guy said I could get on the waiting list but there was 139 people ahead of me on that list!
i still have my $25 binder sitting on a shelf in the garage. i keep it as a badge of honor , most on here are probably not old enough to have bought one. i'm starting to think it will become a collectors item. it is definitely a piece of hot rod history. i wonder how much i could get for it on eBay? or...maybe someone should start a $25 binder social group? who's all in?
I've always had pretty good luck with Drake until now. Here's the problem, I placed an order for some parts for my woodie. The next day I received a confirmation for the order. The day after that I received an email stating that they no longer accepted American Express, even though the web order site accepted it without problem and issued a confirmation. It gave a number to call which I've attempted on three occasions and each time waited a minimum of 15 minutes. I then emailed the customer service email address explaining the problem and gave a number I could be reached at.....nothing. I then called back and picked the option to contact someone personally, the result was an automated directory that wanted the first letters of the person's name....since I couldn't reach anyone how the hell would I know their name. The recording stated I could push 0 for the operator which I did and received a recording stating that there was no 0 in their system...Aaaarrgghhh I then emailed the front desk that issued the original post stating that they did not take Amex cards. In that post I requested a read receipt so I would know that they at least got the email.....NADA, no read receipt, no contact, nothing.... I would really like the parts as Drake parts have always been high quality but driving from Oklahoma to Oregon to pick them up in person seems a bit excessive. I thought by some chance there might be a Drake employee on the HAMB that could help. I'm running out of options.
I have a Binder also,and I did get the $50 gift cetificate. I use the Binder to keep my Pornography Collection . Works great .
I got suckered into that $25 binder thing also, when I questioned Bob about it he just mumbled some nonsense and moved on to another customer. Drake was very good in the 80's and 90's but has gone downhill since. It seems like many of the parts I have ordered don't fit or are of very poor quality. I think Bob realizes that the hobby just isn't what it was at one time and he is also getting old and might want to move on. There is no need for his sales people to be rude after waiting a long time to speak to someone!
I order a '36 gas tank in Apr. along with the optional fill neck. 7 mos. later, still no gas tank so I cancelled the order. I then ask how to return the useless filler neck and was told if I didn't want it ,it should have been returned in the first 30 days. DUH !!!!
I went to Bob's place in Grants Pass 2 years and was given a tour by a very nice person. However, when I call for parts, the person on the other end is usually an ass hole
Back in 2011 me and my gal went to the L.A. roadster show, they had their new all steel 40 coupe body on display. Was looking it over and the man himself was there. Asked him about needing a new trunk floor for my 40 coupe, told me to look in the catalog didn't give me the time of day!
I got the recent sales brochure and noticed that Bob is still claiming that the tailgate hinges fit 1938 to 1972. They fit 37-73
That awesome sell someone something that doesn't exist and then tell them they can get their money back if they buy another $500 worth of product. Quite the business model. How long did people have to wait for the coupon weeks, months, years? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Me too. I like their stuff, and have had virtually no problems (well, some '40 door latches needed to be replaced, but they made it good).
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