Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion ORDERING FROM VICS PLACE

Hi Kaelee and welcome!
I would like to see this resolved rather than talking about fried parrots. Very important topic and to be watering it down with with O/T BS is not right. I say hash it out and be done. I have not ordered yet from the new VIC's but I plan on it. After a bad experience with the old VIC's I had to look elsewhere. Selling things that are not in stock is not cool and should show up in your order BEFORE your purchase. Flooding ebay with ads is ok with me because it's a business. Let's work it out so we can get on to the hobby we all enjoy.

Couldn't agree more, I'm at work at 8:30-5:00 pacific standard time and I'm more than willing to help resolve any problems that anyone has. If you give me the chance to make things right, i can guarantee you won't be let down. Also, often when people call in and order we try our hardest to let them know that the items that they order my be out of stock... we also do our best to give an ETA of the items that we do not have.

Hi Kaelee & welcome also......there will always be problem people who are jealous, mean, vindictive & outright troublemakers & its only obvious with negative postings... i would love to go on & on and point out some of these problems however i will stop here.....

Say what???????????????????????????????????? The original poster said he has contacted you folks numerous times and feels as if he is getting the run-a-round. Between your post and Don's I know that my "hard earned dollars" will not be going north any time soon. The customer is always right, ever heard the motto? Instead of these posts, you should be contacting "The Service Garage" and others here who have had a problem, by PM. Instead words are thrown around like "hotheads and hissy fits". I can see where customer service is "job #1" with you folks. I have kept quiet, but I myself have had bad experiences with Vic's since the move. Haven't done anything since with your business, thank you both for reaffirming that decision.

Well, well, well.....if ain't the old "I'm Having A Problem with (fill in the blank)" thread on oldgas.com . Ahhh....the magic of the internet, huh? As most of you know, I operated and/or owned Vic's Place for a decade, so I think that qualifies me to comment on this topic.

All of the other rampant BS aside, I will give you a few facts as to why your pump part vendor of choice always has and always will have supply issues.

1. The Demand/Market Is Simply Too Small To Truly Mass Produce Product.
*When I say mass produce, I mean quantities in the hundreds or thousands. There were only a handful of parts that would warrant serious production. Therefore, one must deal with small manufacturers if not outright ma 'n pa operations to bring product to the market. By their very nature, these types of operations are historically unreliable & unpredictable. Don't get me wrong, I had some great small-time vendors, but if they had anything come up, sickness, vacation, you name it, they might leave us holding the bag for awhile.

2. Profit Margins & Annual Units Sold Too Small To Put Serious Inventory On The Shelves.
*When I owned Vic's, we carried a minimum of $300,000 of inventory at all times, and even that wasn't enough. There were very few items we could afford to carry more than say 20 of. Vinyl Decals, Globe Lenses, Plastic Bodies, and a few others were it. I'd venture to guess over 50% of the parts that are available in any pump parts catalog sell less than 20 units annually.

3. Little If Any Cooperation Between Vendors/Manufacturers
*Even though everyone has their specialty, there isn't much in the way of "brotherly love" in the pump parts business. I remember the first day I owned Vic's. The previous owner (my father-in-law) had some good relationships and some bad ones as well. I telephoned every vendor and offered my full product offering in return for access to their respective inventories. Some gladly accepted, some declined, some cussed me like a sailor and then hung up even though I had ZERO history with them. Attribute to whatever, pride, ego, stupidity, lack of business sense, etc. it's just the way it has always been and will sadly always be. When I owned Vic's, some years, we'd spend over $1,000,000 on inventory over a 12-month period. If someone denied us access to a part we needed, we'd just bite the bullet and make it ourselves or in partnership with others. There are people that haunt this very board that probably cost themselves $50-$60K annually in sales just because they wanted to prove a point.


Now, where Don's concerned with the new Vic's, he's a big boy (literally & figuratively) and doesn't need me fighting his battles, but I do know that it was a massive undertaking for me to move the company across town, let alone 2000 miles. I also know that at least one of my prior suppliers (someone I spent over $100K annually with) cut him off clean the minute he took over. Not to mention the fact that he's had to endure an historic economic collapse within the first 18 months of ownership. So take that for what it's worth.....

As to the ebay issue.....deal with it, sorry. If it makes your searches a tad more difficult, b*tch to ebay about it. The guy's just trying to stimulate sales in the face of what appears to be a disaster of a Christmas season.

As to the website picture issue.....we had a product offering of over 3000 individual parts. I personally took 95% of the pictures in the catalog & online. I have seen ENTIRE ebay stores based solely on my content. I have seen other pump parts vendors xerox my catalog with the name blacked out, then telling people at shows that anything they saw in the photocopy, they could get. I used to confront people about it, but after a while, I understood that some people where getting the pics 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th hand....magic of the internet!

Seth,

You make many good points. I have never been treated unfairly from you or Don.

But.... the customer was not getting any responses for his problem with the vender. From what I have read, attempted contact was not returned numerous times and now he is at fault for coming on here and posting this??

Looks like he got the attention he wanted from the vendor, just took a post about it on a public forum.

Well it looks like everyone got to clear there chest and speak. I think if anyone has issues now can call Vic's and take it up with them on the phone and not on a public forum. 866-427-8807
If you have had good dealings with Vics call and tell them, I am sure after this past weekend they could use it.
Sometimes in business like i work for we have hundreds and hundreds of customers but it's hard to keep everyone happy and the few we don't we always here about it from the the "big guys up front" but never get comments on the 450+ customers that are happy.

It is very hard to get vendors to post on oldgas because they try to avoid conflict. Seth was one of the few that posted regularly.

Ryan....I reread my post and don't really find anywhere that I faulted the customer for anything that he has done. Of course, I cringed when I read his post, because I obviously have a dog in this fight. My point in posting wasn't so much to defend Don, but rather the industry as a whole. It's a tough racket. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't "love" this hobby NEAR as much as Don does. He didn't purchase Vic's simply because there was loads of cash in it, if that was his interest only, he'd just stay in the automotive business. I articulated the points that I did to illustrate the obstacles faced in such a small, niche hobby/business. If Don hadn't bought the assets of Vic's, I was folding the tents anyway and moving on. There were many reasons for my decision and believe me, stuff like this played a definite role. Not that we had a myriad of customer service issues, it was just the fact that in a business like this, there were always going to be unreal expectations that I got tired of trying to meet. Not that expecting an ETA on a part's arrival is an unreal expectation, but I had some real nut-jobs that started to push my buttons in the end, both on the vendor & customer side. I know Don's heart, and it's definitely in the right place.....

I am not defending anyone in this topic. I fully understand both sides. All that I am saying is that if the consumer cant get results from the vendor, then they should explore other options to get their problem resolved.

For example.

If the grocery store sells me some bad milk and will not return my phone calls, I will call the BBB.

I feel this is somewhat the same situation.

I have been called out more than once on here for things I did, it goes with the territory, you will never please everybody.

Ryan...no worries, I agree that if you can't results, you gotta do what you gotta do. I always tried to be accessible by at least e-mail, and I was also very blessed to have Dorothy & Debi who had a ton of knowledge & a ton of authority to take care of situations just like this.

Hi Seth,
I wasn't going to post anymore on this topic until I read your last post. Since you named her you sure got it right on Debi, tell her "it's that screwball from New Mexico calling",bet she laughs!! Wishing all of you nothing but the best.

As for ordering pump parts on Ebay; never have, never will. There is nothing like talking to a knowledgable person who really understands their product line and your project while going over your parts list. I'll wait if I have to; just my thoughts.

By the way Seth, those Texaco stars I got from you really complement my Texaco display. Thank you.

I WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO KNOW MY CYLINDER HAS ARRIVED AND IT LOOKS GREAT. I HAVE NEVER USED VICS BEFORE SO I WANTED TO JUST ASK IF ANYONE DID JUST TO REASSURE MYSELF THAT THIS IS A GOOD COMPANY TO DEAL WITH. THANKYOU EVERONE WHO POSTED, I DIDN'T WANT TO CREATE ANY PROBLEMS.

I FORGOT TO SAY SOMETHING
HOW ABOUT THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS

Just a short 2 cents from me--My compliments to Don and his staff! I have both bought and sold some things to Don and both he and his staff were courteous and professional! Keep up the good work Don!!