Benedict
3 reviews
US
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Dec 13, 2021
A Staggeringly Bad Company
So stupefyingly hideous is the Gmpartsdirect.com experience, you'll need to bathe in 10 gallons of disinfectant, get a full-body scrub and shampoo with vinegar to remove the scummy residue that remains after buying a part from Gmpartsdirect.com experience. It is a scam.

Purchased a bolt from Gmpartsdirect.com. Single bolt. Was charged - ready? - $2 for the bolt and $20 “shipping.” For a 2-ounce, 1-1/2" piece of metal that would fit in a normal #10 business envelope.

Anyway, Gmpartsdirect.com sent the wrong bolt - say by a mile. Not even close.

Thus, the ambush began.

After several e-mails, back and forth, Gmpartsdirect.com, without ever admitting error, finally agreed to accept return of the wrong item. BUT, for the first time, Gmpartsdirect.com revealed that it does not refund shipping charges – even if it shipped the wrong part. Their mistake. You pay.

Wait. Wait. There’s still some chicken on that bone. Even if Gmpartsdirect.com ships the wrong item, it charges the customer a “restocking fee” IF it agrees to a return. Yep. Their “mistake.” You pay. You eat the artificially bloated “shipping” charge AND a mysterious “restocking” 35% fee. Gmpartsdirect.com is coldly efficient for what it is. But what it is - is a scam. Full stop.

Date of experience: December 13, 2021

Ouch, sounds similar to my Tasca experience getting replacement mirrors for our Flex. Listing said they were BLIS equipped, arrived with convex blind-spot mirrors off a base model.
Compounded by Covid & there being no one in their offices, and zero email response.

Ended up filing a BBB complaint & that lit a fire under them get it resolved. Full refund & they covered return shipping.

Ordered mirrors via LKQ off a wrecked Flex & got the right model.

Novel way to make money... just send the wrong part and not only get paid for the 'shipping and handling' but then charge for returning it.

I’ve been out of the GM dealership parts game for a bit over five years but I see GM Parts Direct is still up to the same game.

The game being sell parts at a ridiculously low sale price, 3-5% over dealer cost and make it up on shipping and handling charges.

We used to sell GM Performance Parts and advertised at car shows, together with printed and electronic media. The GMPP line with exception of engines and transmissions were listed with a MSRP of around dealer cost plus twenty percent. I’d get customers that would come in or call wanting to purchase one of these items and when I’d quote the price inevitably “GM Parts Direct will sell me that for xxx and you want how much?”

GM has suggested pricing in the system, Retail, Wholesale and Dealer Cost. In the case of the GMPP line Retail less 10% was the suggested Trade price while Dealer Cost (what we paid for it) was 10% less than trade. Other parts were priced at a spread between List and Trade at 25-30% markup.

I’d ask them if they went to the checkout and get the total delivered price which nobody did, they went to the “sale” price only. Once they got the total shipped price it put things in perspective. That works unless I got one of the customers that insisted “But they sell it cheaper”.

Dealerships cannot afford to stay in business with a 3-5% gross markup and maintain an adequate inventory and experienced personnel for long.

I was a career GM partsman, 47 years of it. I can guarantee you that if I made a mistake in selling a customer a part I’d make it good. I’d also help out a customer within reason when they made the error as long as they didn’t destroy the part. And even though the electronic parts catalogs today make it a lot easier for even the customer to find their own parts mistakes are still made in cataloging. Our EPC’s allowed us to make notes for clarification, identifying multiple design changes, many of these factors we found out through trial and error that even GM wasn’t aware of. And I’d work with customers on pricing, again a good regular relationship between the dealership and the customer could and would go a long way.

It’s like dealing with a gunsmith, sometimes you are better off dealing with a professional than tackling it yourself with a file.

I had occasion to re-seal the intake manifold on an older GM 5.3 recently. Several of the grommets under the heads of the bolts were squashed or missing altogether. These are necessary for proper torque and sealing. The Fel-Pro gasket set didn't come with them, which was stupid in itself. The only way to get them was complete bolts from GM. The local dealer ordered them, and after nearly a month's wait, the bolts finally arrived … in a box of five. There are ten bolts on this intake. Fortunately, there were enough passable grommets left to make a set. There was plenty of stupid to go around. BTW, the truck does run much better now.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I had occasion to re-seal the intake manifold on an older GM 5.3 recently. Several of the grommets under the heads of the bolts were squashed or missing altogether. These are necessary for proper torque and sealing. The Fel-Pro gasket set didn't come with them, which was stupid in itself. The only way to get them was complete bolts from GM. The local dealer ordered them, and after nearly a month's wait, the bolts finally arrived … in a box of five. There are ten bolts on this intake. Fortunately, there were enough passable grommets left to make a set. There was plenty of stupid to go around. BTW, the truck does run much better now.

You’re lucky. I’m surprised that GM didn’t make the package quantity fifteen. That would have been par for the course.

I’ve ordered numerous things from GMPARTSDIRECT and never had any issues. I put in new headlights, taillights, drivers seat leather and foam, front passenger seat foam and a couple other things I can’t remember on the 2005 2500HD that I used to have.
I’ve ordered several things for my wife’s 2008 Acadia. Once they contacted me and informed me that something I ordered was incorrect for the vin number I supplied. They were right.
Everything I’ve gotten from them has fit perfectly and was shipped quickly.