The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Caution against dealing with Truck Shop / Car Shop

Be careful dealing with Truck Shop / Car Shop. I was sold a lower pass. door hinge for an AD truck ($62 plus shipping) which was defective. The door won't close at the lower part by over 1.5 inches (at the rear where the door meets the cab). I explained to the customer service people there I had mounted the hinge and eyeballed it before painting it (and honestly I don't install hinges before painting them), thought it looked basically ok and then painted and mounted the door before discovering the hinge (from Taiwan) was defective enough that you can not use it. The problem with these hinges is that a deviation of 1/4" at the hinge end translates into a much larger deviation 3 feet later when the door meets the cab.

So bottom line is I have a hinge which was incorrectly made. Whether it was drilled at the wrong angle, whether it was bent incorrectly (which is what I assume) or something else doesn't really matter. What Truck Shop / Car Shop told me is basically "if you did anything to the hinge, we won't take it back even though it probably is defective." They agreed with me that some of these simply don't work. This was part of a $300+ order, by the way. The last order I will ever make with this company.

Plus since this item exceeded $50, I'm reporting them to the USPS, the Attorney General of the State of Texas, the Attorney General of the State of California and the Better Business Bureau in both states.

Jon,
After dealing and buying reproduction panels/parts of various description, I’m not surprised your hinges didn’t fit. Taiwan parts (are they still arguing if Taiwan is part of China...? 😉) just don’t beat old USA stuff. I have used various patch panels of sheet metal, but I would rebuild every single door latch/ hinge before I bought a “stock replacement” aftermarket. The odds aren’t in the buyer’s favor. Buyer beware, but after searching hinges/aftermarket here on the Bolt I would never buy an aftermarket hinge/door latch.

Jon
I experienced this same scenario with these hinges. After finding an original hinge and did a layout of the aftermarket hinge lever I discovered is out regarding the offset and twist. As you had stated this minor amount at the hinge is amplified at the latch side. The aftermarket hinge frame is the only thing useable.

I had a similar issue with the aftermarket brake drum. Way out of round. My guess is the casting was not stress relieved prior to machining. Luckily I found some NOS drums.

Thanks guys,
That is pretty much what I figured. This isn't a complex hinge, however and I'd expect one to be a little closer to correct than this one is. I suppose you could heat/bend it. The twist is ok, but the offset isn't. And this makes me wonder if they make each hinge without template nor die or what. I've rebuilt the original hinges in the meantime and will use those.

But I didn't expect the treatment I got from the Truck Shop. The minute I mentioned the problem was with the hinge, the attitude became "you bought it, it is your problem and in case you somehow got confused, we don't care at all and we're going to use any excuse to waffle on this." The manager said if I could return it to its original powder coated look they would take it back. I told them "you don't want to sell this hinge again unless you just want to seriously irritate a customer." But I got the feeling they would sell it again without any hesitation. Definitely not an outfit I think anyone here needs to support with their purchases.

As for brake drums, that is interesting. I bought 4 new drums from J.C. Whitney back in their good old days. I haven't used them, but they seem fine. At any rate when Whitney was closing this stuff out, the price was right. About a year ago there was a discussion here about brake parts made in the USA and the difficulty in finding them. I mentioned I had bought 4 new brake cylinders through Rock Auto and when they arrived they were all made in the USA. I thought the master cylinder I got from them was not made in the USA, but while under the truck after that I noticed it was a USA product. The brake cylinders were sold under the AC Delco brand name and the master was sold under the Raybestos brand name.

After that post I did some research. What I learned was rather fuzzy. Part of it made me think a company in the USA had produced a great quantity of wheel cylinders and master cylinders (particularly those which were common to many vehicles) and the unsold inventory was being handled by a jobber or entrepreneur and sold by other companies under their own name brands. And then part of what I found made me think there is still a company in the USA making or machining master cylinders from blanks which may or may not be imported and wheel cylinders in the same manner. But definitely these parts are still around and they were or are made in the USA. My guess is this entire situation revolves around unwanted liability. I think if the parts were made here by some company who stopped making them and now somebody (and the "who" is a wild card) bought the inventory and has sold parts of it to others who will sell under their name and hold this person 100% harmless from a legal standpoint. I think if a small company is making them, they can't assume the cost of liability or the time involved in defense and so they're selling them to others who have deeper pockets. Cardone was another company selling master cylinders made in the USA, and there were one or two other brands. The master cylinder sold by Cardone and the one sold by Raybestos looks exactly the same on the Rock Auto site. In fact, I believe it is the same image on both of them and not long ago I bought a NOS master cylinder made in 1998 by a company now located in Africa which was at the time based in the USA and it is exactly the same product as the Cardone/Raybestos product. Exactly. But the message here is brake parts made in the USA are available if you just look for them. Otherwise, you're going to get a product made in Mexico, India, China or possibly Brazil, depending on the make of vehicle you own.

Jon,
I and others here have had similar issues with the Truck Shop. The problem is that almost everyone else sells the same stuff.
The advantage that I have is that I can walk in there and show them the old part and demonstrate how messed up the new one is.
I'm almost sure that they just throw it back in the shelf for the next unsuspecting person, however.
It's still frustrating though to make several trips to get what you need.
My friend bought a gas tank from them for a 54 Ford truck. The fitting for the pickup tube was in the wrong location, wrong angle, and no one could determine what size & type of fitting was soldered in. It wasn't standard or metric. They pulled several from the stock and all were the same. They ultimately made it right and subsequently went back to the supplier to have it corrected.
I believe I'm about 60/40 on parts I have purchased there. I'm being generous here as some of the 60% I still had to modify somewhat to make it fit. This is the world we live in.
Fred

Thanks Fred,
Maybe I should send you the hinge. But you wouldn't have the receipt, would you? 60/40 and that's generous? That leaves me amazed and nearly speechless. A doctor with those odds would be dead broke from malpractice suits and spending his few remaining days in jail somewhere.

On the flip side the folks at Classic Parts have bent over backwards whenever a problem occurred. Telling a customer to go pound sand is not a smart solution and the people I talked to seemed to know this hinge was very likely to be a problem. I only dealt with Truck Shop because their prices seemed a bit lower and because they sold this single hinge by itself, but now I understand why. Thanks again.

If you ever purchased a part with the “counter parts” label on it is most likely from the same supplier. Regardless Of vendor.

Most all the vendors sell these Overseas parts.

It has been speculated that truck and carshop in orange Is own by the same company that supplies “counter parts” to all the vendors



All the forums are filled with post about ill fitting overseas parts. Pretty typical



Ive had no issues with truck shop in orange, except For the long line at the counter

Good luck on your claim, I hope you can get a refund

You probably would of had the same fitment issue regardless of where You purchased the overseas door hinge.
They should of honored your return request .....but since you painted it your probably S.O.L.


Good luck

Well thanks for the good wishes, but as I see things I'm S.O.L. because I chose to deal with these people. And that's why I posted this. The only thing the coat of paint means is Truck Shop would have to repaint it to sell that defective hinge to another unsuspecting person. And they don't want to do that for reasons that should be obvious.

I think we need a rogues' gallery of questionable or known bad sellers here.

I’m not a corporate law expert but doing so (rouge gallery)might just put Stovebolt.com in a legal pinch. Whereas your personal opinions are just that “Personal”.

Jon, the issue you have is not about a bad vendor. The vendor said they would take it back if it was unmodified. If a person modifies, disassembles, paints or otherwise change the part, no vendor will take it back. That's all there is to it. As has been said, there are many stories of many parts that seem to be "bad". These vendors don't make the part. Most times, with limited demand, there is only one supplier for the vendor (middle man). These suppliers have only one maker, China/off shore country. They can't send a part back for refund to the middle man if it is modified. If it is not modified and meets whatever other rules they have, they will take it back. Chances are the next one on the shelf is OK. All of our vendors have had unusable parts sent to us. Not that many, but a few. We either tweak them or send them back. The big, long time, Chevy Truck Parts only, vendors are good about returns. Stick with those, read the policy.
I know how you feel, but it was you who painted it. We have all bought things over our lifetime, American made or otherwise, that turned out to be less than desired. As far as restoration parts, it's part of the gig. The Truck Shop is not your enemy. They are not our enemy. You are mad right now. You should probably not guess that they would repaint it and sell it again. That would be ridiculous. Trust me, we ALL have had this happen. Take some blame or call it bad luck and move on.

There are many times when it's the user, the truck has been modified or improperly repaired after a 30 year ago collision or a mistake in ordering. The vendors are forced to take back parts when there is nothing wrong except "it won't fit" supposedly. This is their side of the story. Then they get parts back that have been hammered on, bent, cut, painted yellow, drilled to fit.............

Martin is absolutely right. Stovebolt.com does not judge or investigate a dispute. The forum is full of great stories about vendors, Some are sponsors from time to time. There are issues reported as DADS50 said, on all forums. We see these stories and keep them in mind.

I WILL SAY JON, I looked for a reasonably long time on their website. If it is the one is Orange County. I found no mention of a return policy or it is hidden deep somewhere. This is a RED FLAG to me. The other vendors have a return policy which is displayed for all to see. The website for Truck Shop has "FAQ". Nothing about returns in the FAQ. RED FLAG NO. 2. If I missed it, let me know.

But the hinge is the same hinge, from the same maker, as all the other vendors. Click.

On another forum I moderate, we have a rule against vendor bashing. This thread would have been long gone there.
Bartamos has some good advice. Write it off as bad luck and move on.

You are a good guy with a lot of good info. I'm not bashing you. I respect you. I have been mad at parts I've received. I know how you feel. We are all just saying that a bad experience story is good info. It's just it was too much trying to turn others against a company and wanting some action to take place. It strayed from a bad experience to a vendetta. I'm sure upon reflection, you can see our point. Hope you continue to enjoy building your beautiful truck. We are with you. This is just a bump in the road. Stay well buddy.

I've had nothing but good experiences with the Truck Shop. I really hate it when someone gets on a forum maligning a business. If that business goes under due to widespread gossip and slander, that means fewer buying choices and higher prices for all of us.

Just an FYI for anyone who is wondering about The Truck Stop and their return policy. It is on the first page AFTER the cover in their catalog (also available online) and it is very clear on what and how to return something. This is NOT an endorsement for them as a vendor (although I've purchased a number of items from them and all have been acceptable) but wanted to add this to the forum as there were questions regarding this a few days ago. Happy wrenching...