Sparesbox - Seriously?

[Citroënbender]

My order, placed May 13th for estimated delivery early June. I was OK with this because prices were good:

(Screenshot from date of this post on AFF.)

I get the idea of taking a certain number of orders to “bulk up” a wholesale purchase, but have been receiving pretty hollow platitudes the last few weeks.

3rd June:

…I wanted to reach out personally to apologise for the delay in dispatching your order. We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties that are impacting our supply chain and causing some stock availability delays. We are working hard to overcome these delays as quickly as we can.

**At this stage, we predict it will be dispatched from our warehouse on or before the 17/06/2022.**

If we receive an update advising that the delay is longer than predicted above, you will be notified immediately. We will continue with this order unless you let us know you need to cancel in which case we will organise a full refund.

If you have received a tracking number already, please disregard this message as your order is on its way.

_**Please note:**_

_Once your tracking number has been sent, a cancellation will not be available._

We truly appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve the current technical challenges. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know and we will do all we can to help.

Kind Regards,

Luke
Head of Customer Experience
**Sparesbox**

21st June:

…We are still working to acquire an updated estimate on when your order will be dispatched. We have resolved the majority of the unforeseen issues we encountered implementing our new fulfillment system and our team are working around the clock to dispatch outstanding orders.

Within the next few days, you will hear from us to provide you an update on the status of your order.

Kind regards,

Luke
Head of Customer Experience
**Sparesbox**

23rd June:

…This one is on us.

Here at Sparesbox, we don’t shy away from saying “Hey, we dropped the ball.”.
So, we’ll come right out with it.
We dropped the ball.

Our recent customer delivery delays have let you down and for this, we take full ownership.

We can’t take away the headaches we’ve caused. But we can do everything in our power to uplift our performance and definitively deliver on our promises to you from here.

That’s why we’ve recently invested in state-of-the-art order fulfilment and delivery technology. Technology that will improve every aspect of how we manage the products we sell and how we get them to you.

We have experienced some unforeseen teething issues in introducing the new systems and technology. But we have worked around the clock to pinpoint order fulfilment bottlenecks and have now corrected this fully. That means we are set to deliver enhanced ease and efficiency in our order fulfillment performance.

Please bear with us.
We believe it will be well worth your while.

So, what next?

Over the coming days, we will notify affected customers of our partial or full shipments as we are now getting facilities back to capacity. This process will take us some time to clear. Yet we are committed to making this right and hope that you will stick with us while we do.

If your product is identified as not currently available from a supplier, our customer service team will reach out via email to provide you with the option to either wait until these become available or request an immediate refund.

Words are not a substitute for action. We are taking every action we can to uplift our performance and put right the delivery and fulfilment delays. In the meantime, we’d like to say, once again, how sorry we are for the stress, frustration and lost time we’ve caused you.

Sincerely,

Luke
Head of Customer Experience
**Sparesbox**

13th July:

…Anyone who has placed an order online only for it to be unexpectedly delayed would be disappointed. I hope you can accept my most sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.

We’ve recently introduced a new order stock management and fulfilment technology in our warehouses that is designed to improve our service but we've hit a few unexpected road bumps. Our crews are currently working around the clock to sort out these issues and get back in full swing as quickly as possible.

**At this stage, we expect the outstanding product/s will arrive and be dispatched from our warehouse on or before 22/07/2022.**

If we receive an update advising that the delay is longer than predicted above, you will be notified immediately. We will continue with this order unless you let us know you need to cancel in which case we will organise a full refund.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and I will do all I can to help.

Kind Regards,

Gwyn
Customer Experience Advocate
**Sparesbox**

Anyone else having similar experiences with the ‘box presently?

[T3rminator]

Bought a couple of items from them towards end of 2021. Both arrived in very reasonable time frames.

Have noticed that their "location" is not always accurate. Bump stops listed as located in Victoria (I wanted it quick at the time so I ordered from them), but they ended up coming from Adelaide and took a few extra days.

[bangm001]

For their car cleaning and basic items, they arrive really fast, even when not in stock. I ordered a manta exhaust off of them 2 years ago, waited a couple months and when it wasnt even sent yet, i cancelled the order. I think they are slower with car parts for some reason.

[Giant Cranium]

never expect fast delivery of companies the drop ship. ill never use sparesbox or automotive superstore again. they aren't that much cheaper than the big mobs that carry stock and definitely aren't cheaper if the wrong part gets delivered and you can just swap it at a shop

i recently ordered suspension from them and one of the front shocks was wrong, packaged incorrectly and i never bothered to check as they had factory seals on. i then had to buy some from auto one who had them in a couple of hours then deal with the drama of a partial return as the rears had been installed. at that point the $100 saving was negligible

[GasoLane]

They used to be good, but service seemed to drop off when they were taken over by GPC..... who also own Repco and Rare Spares.

More Australian companies now owned by 'Murricans

[.:4:.]

Ive ordered from them before. Nothing overly fancy, just a set of no name slotted front rotors and bendix pads and a no name set of standard rear rotors and bosch pads for my brothers AU. Delivered to my brothers house in 4 days. So not terrible in my opinion, but im assuming it was all stuff off the shelf in their warehouse. Same turn around when prior to that i ordered wheel nuts and studs for tHe same AU.
So all pretty standard parts, but my experience wasnt bad.

[Blueford260]

They are totally useless I would recommend avoiding them if you can. Their customer service is very very poor.

My story - I ordered an EGR valve for a Territory they said 6 day delivery and their price was very good so I ordered it on 24th May, still had no tracking number by Monday 6th June so I emailed them and got a response finally on Friday 10th June at about 5:30pm to say sorry but they have had supply issues and it wont be dispatched until 1st July, I said that wont do give me a refund and I'll get the part elsewhere.
Went to Repco the next morning they had the same part in stock but were about $80 dearer but I needed to get the wife's car going again so fitted it Saturday afternoon got it sorted and everything was sweet. Then Monday morning comes and I get an email from Sparesbox to say my part had been dispatched which I responded to say don't send it because I'd already got it somewhere else and fitted it just give me a refund. So I got no response from them and then the part turns up 4 days later, I've tried ringing and sent countless emails but no response. If the useless barstards had not sent me the email on the Friday then I wouldn't have a spare part sitting here of no use to me
How can they go from Friday 5:30pm - no stock for 3 weeks or so
to 9am Monday - Your order has been sent
Anyway will have to get Fair Trading involved to try and sort it out, I found out the hard way they are cheap for a reason

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

My order, placed May 13th for estimated delivery early June. I was OK with this because prices were good:

image
(Screenshot from date of this post on AFF.)

I get the idea of taking a certain number of orders to “bulk up” a wholesale purchase, but have been receiving pretty hollow platitudes the last few weeks.

3rd June:
21st June:
23rd June:

13th July:
Anyone else having similar experiences with the ‘box presently?

You're buying RDA stuff, they got bought out by GPC and then now you have to source their stuff through their local NAPA branch.

So basically whats going to be happening there is, you place your order with Sparesbox, Sparesbox at some point raises a purchase order on their local NAPA branch, if their local NAPA branch doesn't have it in stock they'll raise an order on RDA (or pull it in from another NAPA branch).

If RDA doesn't have it in stock in their warehouse you're probably in the production queue for the slotting and drilling process to take place in their Keysborough warehouse - then finally once thats done you're going to be dealing with road freight between Keysborough - NAPA - Sparesbox then to yourself.

Before things even get dispatched you might be caught in the process waiting for enough stock transfers to occur to justify the freight costs, or things like they only place supplier purchase orders on certain days, once a week, once a month etc, so even if your order is ready at one point it won't move until these other stock transfer requests happen and purchase orders are raised, sent and processed between multiple businesses.

Its just easier to go buy it from your local independent brake parts reseller, once you start dealing with corporates its all about dollars over customer service, there's a good chance they'll carry it on the shelf, or will get on the phone and jump up and down about it every 5 minutes if they can't get it yesterday for you.

There's a very good RDA reseller in Campbellfield that carries a HUGE amount of their stock on the shelf called Highway Clutch and Brake, thats been around for circa 50 years, they will also ship interstate, oldskool operation but they're cheap, they get **** done and in a timely manner - family owned business.

https://www.highwayclutch.com.au/

They're more phones or walk ins rather than online store, its oldskool but its on point.

[Citroënbender]

Yes, I understood the lengthy “food chain” issues and fully expected their delivery forecast of 27/5-01/6 to run over by a good week or so. Not like I ordered brakes for a Goggomobil, just S&D Territory fronts plus pads - which would almost be a shelf item, you’d think.

Really was wondering is it literally just a few outlying orders in a narrow date range, or is it a sign of business that’s struggling to stay liquid.

Last time I bought RDA was through Repco trade in late 2020, it’s a lot of faffing about to get it through my occasional workplace and was barely $5 cheaper than the ‘box had advertised. I’d prior asked Empowered, another RDA drop shipper but smaller and much more “personal” than SB, could they come at the competition’s price. He (Darrell Hill, one of the tech/sales staff) said no, not enough fat for the risk of it going awry and damaging their reputation. It was a cordial discussion, they know how to decline but leave the door open.

[LG17]

At 2:35pm last Thursday I ordered some brake parts from Online Auto Parts.
At 10:30 am on Friday I rceived a text from my rural PO saying my parcel from them had arrived at the PO.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Yes, I understood the lengthy “food chain” issues and fully expected their delivery forecast of 27/5-01/6 to run over by a good week or so. Not like I ordered brakes for a Goggomobil, just S&D Territory fronts plus pads - which would almost be a shelf item, you’d think.

Really was wondering is it literally just a few outlying orders in a narrow date range, or is it a sign of business that’s struggling to stay liquid.

Last time I bought RDA was through Repco trade in late 2020, it’s a lot of faffing about to get it through my occasional workplace and was barely $5 cheaper than the ‘box had advertised. I’d prior asked Empowered, another RDA drop shipper but smaller and much more “personal” than SB, could they come at the competition’s price. He (Darrell Hill, one of the tech/sales staff) said no, not enough fat for the risk of it going awry and damaging their reputation. It was a cordial discussion, they know how to decline but leave the door open.

GPC isn't struggling, they've got a nearly $20B USD yearly revenue and a share price of nearly $140 USD, the local subsidiary is the biggest auto parts company in our region with a $1.5B AUD revenue, they just don't care thats all.

They would have been a stock item but the problem with the Falcon/Territory stuff is its unique to AUS/NZ market and because the volumes are low compared to say Hilux or other global Thailand Specials its going to be low priority for manufacturing ex China, and carrying stock on hand as the Falcon/Territory fades off into history, they haven't been made for 6 years now and the vehicle on road numbers are getting less and less and less - they'll generally range and stock product based on vehicle on road numbers.

There's also something you should consider, RDA made promises to their reseller network for years that they'd never sell to workshop/trade or retail, and suddenly after the corporate buy out, they're selling to places like Sparesbox or other drop shippers, as well as forcing their resellers to source the product through NAPA, who are also selling RDA to workshop/trade/retail - which is the resellers competitor.

The fact you can even buy their product as you did is a massive stab in the back to their loyal independent resellers.

P.S Empowered was bought out this year, their staff are no more and they were consolidated, it exists only as a website on the internet but its completely operated out of another business.

Support your local independent, before they disappear and you get the same poor treatment from everywhere you turn.

The whole industry is being consolidated between the two big players, its a Woolworths Safeway/Coles scenario playing out.

[GasoLane]

@ Franco........ have you heard of or had dealings with Run Auto, they're in Melb somewhere.

I've been using them for bits and pieces for my Euro (NOT a Citroen...I'm not that silly ) for a while now and service has been great, seems they now cater for most makes and not just Euro's

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

@ Franco........ have you heard of or had dealings with Run Auto, they're in Melb somewhere.

I've been using them for bits and pieces for my Euro (NOT a Citroen...I'm not that silly ) a while now and service has been great, seems they now cater for most makes and not just Euro's

Haven't come across them before (or heard of them) but I usually avoid European stuff like the plagu.....pandemic

Website is nice and ambiguous about their business, no physical location listed.

It could be a plausible deniability operation like Empowered

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Haven't come across them before (or heard of them) but I usually avoid European stuff like the plagu.....pandemic

..................

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Website is nice and ambiguous about their business, no physical location listed.

It could be a plausible deniability operation like Empowered

Just recently I bought an idler pulley, the one they sent turned out to be the wrong one.

I emailed them and had a reply within the hour with an apology saying to keep the old one to save me the hassle of posting it back and the correct one had been sent express post, I got it two days later.

Not an expensive part but a nice gesture nevertheless.

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

GPC isn't struggling, they've got a nearly $20B USD yearly revenue and a share price of nearly $140 USD, the local subsidiary is the biggest auto parts company in our region with a $1.5B AUD revenue, they just don't care thats all.

They would have been a stock item but the problem with the Falcon/Territory stuff is its unique to AUS/NZ market and because the volumes are low compared to say Hilux or other global Thailand Specials its going to be low priority for manufacturing ex China, and carrying stock on hand as the Falcon/Territory fades off into history, they haven't been made for 6 years now and the vehicle on road numbers are getting less and less and less - they'll generally range and stock product based on vehicle on road numbers.

There's also something you should consider, RDA made promises to their reseller network for years that they'd never sell to workshop/trade or retail, and suddenly after the corporate buy out, they're selling to places like Sparesbox or other drop shippers, as well as forcing their resellers to source the product through NAPA, who are also selling RDA to workshop/trade/retail - which is the resellers competitor.

The fact you can even buy their product as you did is a massive stab in the back to their loyal independent resellers.

P.S Empowered was bought out this year, their staff are no more and they were consolidated, it exists only as a website on the internet but its completely operated out of another business.

Support your local independent, before they disappear and you get the same poor treatment from everywhere you turn.

The whole industry is being consolidated between the two big players, its a Woolworths Safeway/Coles scenario playing out.

This in bold, saddens me seeing so many buying online from the big known ones who are clipping the ticket x 2 times and more.....
Wake up fellas, yes I know mouse shopping is easier but call a Independant.

[Hulsty]

When I lived nearby I always used Moparts Croydon, Most of the time they had what I needed in stock (Old Landcruiser, Valiant and Pulsar/Camira bits) always helpful and open something like 354 days a year.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Hulsty

When I lived nearby I always used Moparts Croydon, Most of the time they had what I needed in stock (Old Landcruiser, Valiant and Pulsar/Camira bits) always helpful and open something like 354 days a year.

They're still around, they used to be one of my customers - no bull**** team over there just what you need and quick.

[hackney]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

My order, placed May 13th for estimated delivery early June. I was OK with this because prices were good:

image
(Screenshot from date of this post on AFF.)

I get the idea of taking a certain number of orders to “bulk up” a wholesale purchase, but have been receiving pretty hollow platitudes the last few weeks.

3rd June:
21st June:
23rd June:

13th July:
Anyone else having similar experiences with the ‘box presently?

I use Sparesbox every now & then, delivery’s are so so,you wouldn’t want to be in a hurry for anything,sometimes it can take up two weeks & slightly longer,sometimes you will have it within a week. They aren’t the fastest ‘processes’ of items on the planet.I always ‘plan’ well ahead if I require something.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by hackney

I use Sparesbox every now & then, delivery’s are so so,you wouldn’t want to be in a hurry for anything,sometimes it can take up two weeks & slightly longer,sometimes you will have it within a week. They aren’t the fastest ‘processes’ of items on the planet.I always ‘plan’ well ahead if I require something.

One of them would buy off us but only send purchase orders once a week,

So say for example, you placed an order an hour after they submitted the purchase order you'd be waiting 7 days before they even raised the purchase order on their supplier - there's your wildly varying lead time right there and thats before you even take into account freight which has been a nightmare over the past two years.

You happen to place your order before they do their weekly purchase order on their suppliers then you might get it real quick.

How far you go up the supply chain it gets worse. On our end they'd only process purchase orders on our suppliers once a month, say my lead time ex supplier was 90 days, if a customer placed an order on me outside of that order cycle and it wasn't something I had on hand in the country, then it would add 30 days to the lead time, just because of the timing of the supply chain process.

If you didn't meet the minimum order quantity then you either upped your order to the minimum order quantity, or you left it on back order and hoped other people were chasing the same thing and eventually met the minimum order quantity to justify a supplier selling us the goods.

Plus all the other bull**** which blows out lead times, half the time you'd be quoted a lead time then you add 6 weeks to it and it was about right - thank **** its not my problem anymore.

[sprintman1]

Tried these guys a few months back. If I listed everything that happened nobody would believe me. Just avoid and save yourselves a ton of grief!

[arm79]

I have an eBay Plus membership so get regular above normal discounts and free express post from them, so tend to buy quite a few things from them and they've largely been very reliable.

I had a hiccup the first time I used them where I bought 3 items and one was on a long back order. They refunded the postage, shipped the 2 available items and express posted the 3rd when it arrived.

Bit disappointed on my most recent recent purchase from last week. Rear upper shock bushes, said they had plenty in stock but pushed delivery to the end of the month. Ad is still up saying plenty of stock but delivery is 3 week away.

Otherwise no complaints.

Originally Posted by FTE217

This in bold, saddens me seeing so many buying online from the big known ones who are clipping the ticket x 2 times and more.....
Wake up fellas, yes I know mouse shopping is easier but call a Independant.

It comes down to a matter of affordability. My personal thing is if I can get it in town from a local for within 10 to 15% of online price, depending on size and value, I'll get it from them. But most cases they are 30 to 40% dearer.

Quickly adds up to be alot of cash. Plus it doesn't help I cant get alot of this stuff from local shops.

I was looking for a very hard to find fuel hose not long ago and got it quicker and cheaper from an independent shop in Cairns than I could get it here. That included paying postage from distributor in Adelaide to Cairns and then Cairns to me.

[PG2]

Hey Mr Bender

You live in Sydney, why didn't you give Race Brakes a call? If you did and they weren't competitive then fair enough, though, every time that I have needed brake parts they have been the cheapest while also giving great service.


Up until the last few years, I always shopped locally but then I started shopping on line. For a few years it was great - cheap and fast (and most of the time free) delivery.

What I have found over the last 12 months or so, is that I am starting to go back to local shops due to longer and unreliable delivery times. Also, with delivery charges getting dearer by the minute, the local shops have been more than competitively priced.

[eb2fairmont]

Just cancel your order and never buy again. I support local guys where I can but had similar issues with spares box and auto superstore.

[ivorya]

I waited 5mths for my order from spares.

What makes the process now so S-itty is you can't contact them. You call the number and ther is an automated message. An email to them, and they don't reply.

I even went to the trouble of contacting NSW Fair trading about it but they were in a similar position of no staff.

Spares has gone down hill and i'm not sure i can use them again!

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by arm79

I have an eBay Plus membership so get regular above normal discounts and free express post from them, so tend to buy quite a few things from them and they've largely been very reliable.

I had a hiccup the first time I used them where I bought 3 items and one was on a long back order. They refunded the postage, shipped the 2 available items and express posted the 3rd when it arrived.

Bit disappointed on my most recent recent purchase from last week. Rear upper shock bushes, said they had plenty in stock but pushed delivery to the end of the month. Ad is still up saying plenty of stock but delivery is 3 week away.

Otherwise no complaints.



It comes down to a matter of affordability. My personal thing is if I can get it in town from a local for within 10 to 15% of online price, depending on size and value, I'll get it from them. But most cases they are 30 to 40% dearer.

Quickly adds up to be alot of cash. Plus it doesn't help I cant get alot of this stuff from local shops.

I was looking for a very hard to find fuel hose not long ago and got it quicker and cheaper from an independent shop in Cairns than I could get it here. That included paying postage from distributor in Adelaide to Cairns and then Cairns to me.

The savings - be it 15 to 40% if I have to wait a week or more I have no issue paying more getting my needs within 24/48hrs so I can get on with it than waiting longer the saving is moot for me.
Online buying peeev's me for when you having the wrong item delivered OR have a product issue down the track it's a PIA going through the hoops just to even speak to a human.
Hardly buy anything online for most times the follow up service is woeful, worse than dealing with banks etc.....
In time you guys will run out of Independants as Franco mentions, then you'll really be in a poop.

[T3rminator]

Last 12 months ebay feedback:
81,025 positive
1,552 neutral
1,791 negative

Still seems to be doing alright overall.


What exactly is a local independent? I see local chains, but hardly any "independents" automotive parts providers. Or if I do, they are usually seated in the industrial areas with a front store on ebay anyways.

[aussiblue]

So Franco Cozzo who are the independent in WA? Would you count Amcap https://www.amcap.com.au/ even though they are part of the AHG group? Obviously not Covs now they are part of the NAPA Group.

[Warrenk]

On the 30th April I ordered Superpro control arms and DBA rotors and pads for the front brakes for my FG XR6T Falcon ute. At the time the order said 33 -66 delivery time which I thought was a bit long, but I could live with that. The middle of June the lower control arms and brake pads arrived. I then contacted them(web based contact only) and they did not have a delivery time for the rest, but assurred me they have not forgot about my order, but would refund me if I wanted it. As I broke my ankle in the middle May, I couldn't change the parts anyway, I kept the order A couple of weeks ago I was told my outstanding parts will be arriving by the end July. I have just recieved an email saying the parts will arrive today. This has worked ot well as I am told I can start to load bear on on the healed broken ankle from Friday. I have used Sparesbox a number of times and they have been reasonably quick delivering the items, but these have been through ebay, not their web site.

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by aussiblue

So Franco Cozzo who are the independent in WA? Would you count Amcap https://www.amcap.com.au/ even though they are part of the AHG group? Obviously not Covs now they are part of the NAPA Group.

AMCAP is HDuty industry more so as you'd know right ? and a OE 3pl distribution channel.

Talking Aftermarket Veales in WA.

Hey T3, nothing like a search giving you peace of mind, much like wiki its true.

[aussiblue]

AMCAP is HDuty industry more so as you'd know right ? and a OE 3pl distribution channel.

Operating as LynFord at their same Welshpool site, they are also a good and usually cheaper than the [other] dealer sources for OEM Ford Falcon parts; I often source them there. They even note on their website https://www.amcap.com.au/automotive-parts-distribution/

Ford Parts Distribution

Lynford Welshpool is the state distributor for genuine Ford parts and genuine Ford accessories in Western Australia.