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kirkbauer

Well Known Member
I'm not sure the best forum to post this -- if it's in the wrong place and can be moved, please do so.

I was hoping that operations would be improved over at Van's after the restructuring, but so far I'm not seeing that. Even though they close down their parts department for a week or two each year for inventory, the website will often times show things in stock that are not in stock.

With the new flat $15 shipping fee on smaller orders, this has caused an issue for me several times. Here is what you should be careful about:
  • You place an order for parts that qualifies for free shipping -- everything shows as in stock
  • Van's has a new policy that they won't hold orders, so if some of the items are indeed out of stock, they will ship what they have now, and then ship what they have later
  • Depending on the dollar amounts, you will be charged $15 for shipping for each of these new orders
Behind the scenes what happens is that Van's will cancel your original order and then create two new orders -- the first with what's in stock now, the second with what's out of stock.

Two times now I have placed an order with $0 in shipping costs, only to end up paying $30 in shipping after the order is manually split up. $60 is a drop in the bucket compared to what it costs to build an airplane, but I find the practice to be annoying. I also don't think it has been communicated.
 
Van's has many challenges. I've been trying to buy RV-3 parts for about 5K for several months now and they seem to have more reasons to not take my money. Some have some longer lead times and they won't even let me buy the ones that are longer lead to get the ball rolling. I miss the old dot matrix printers and the people you could get directly on the phone, almost immediately. Oh the days of old.......
 
Aden Rich said:
Van's has many challenges. I've been trying to buy RV-3 parts for about 5K for several months now and they seem to have more reasons to not take my money. Some have some longer lead times and they won't even let me buy the ones that are longer lead to get the ball rolling. I miss the old dot matrix printers and the people you could get directly on the phone, almost immediately. Oh the days of old.......
Click to expand...
perhaps it would be cheaper to simply fly to Portland, rent a car, drive to Aurora, buy parts and then fly back home. At least you would know what parts are in stock for sure...just thinking outside the box...:ROFLMAO:
 
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