BC GTA

Thank you the comment about Vancouver and BC, I once lived there for over four years. It is a nice city, I live in the Capital city which my hometown.

I sent the painting costs off to my gardener today. To remove and paint an aerowing the estimates are about $340 and $400 from two reputable auto body shops. As soon as I hear from the gardener I will be in a position to order an aerowing.

I can appreciate that once a product leaves a factory or retailer it is then in the hands of the shipper. I have little experience with shipping numbers and tracking numbers but as the point of contact with the customer the supplier i.e. North Country needs to get from the shipper what ever they can to answer customers questions as well as a reasonable estimate on the amount of time to get the product to the customer's location. G&T's customer’s service of not even returning phone calls or e-mails was inexcusable. They deserved to go out of business.

You should try bringing things across the border. Some times they skip right through. Other times they get stuck when a flood of other mail and parcels hit customs. You never know. It can be held up for a day or two or weeks. If I was a supplier in the USA I would do a little research on shipping things to Canada and one or two of my main over seas customers and be in a position to forward information to customers about that. I have seen other auto suppliers provide that on their website. It would depend on how much of my product went outside of the good old USA.

Lets see how things turn out.

KenV

Yo.

I think they will at this point. I told Jim about how it's difficult to keep the faith when there's a continent between buyer and seller. The web moves so fast a company can be broken overnight, especially since many people tend to focus on the bad. I saw how people who received their NCF goods were very happy, and that's what kept me on an even keel.

Man, if FedEx jacks this shipment up, I'll need a pitcher of margaritas, a bottle of lithium pills, or both.

With temps hitting 40+ here, I sure could use some cool Canadian air. I haven't been on the Island since I was a kid. From time to time I hear about IT jobs there, and wonder how it would be to live in Birch Bay (WA) and commute over the border with a CanPass on my windshield. Sounds like fun to me

On-topic: I would really nail NCF down on how they ship north so that both sides know what is expected. My take on NCF is that they're cordial but overworked with orders. They just hired on a few more to cover the load, and if those guys are as good as the current batch of folks making things there, they'll be sitting pretty to turn out things on time. Of course, as I say this I'm kissing a$$ to my bodywork guy over my car sitting to the side. As far as I know I'll be picking it up from his side lot and towing it to my house for a bit

BC GTA

So I when down to Canada Customs/ Border Service yesterday who gave me the low down on how to save brokerage fees. I have to tell North Country to send it to my auto body shop c/o me for "self clearing" is the term to use on the documents with my addresses and phone number. Here in Victoria as I guess with many cities everything that crosses the border ends up in a warehouse and either the shipper i.e. UPS or the person receiving the goods can take the customs documents down to Canada Customs. Once they have given their approval you can go back to the warehouse and either pick up the aerowing in this case or have UPS or whoever take it to your auto body shop. I got this info from Canada Customs/Border Service and the warehouse so if anyone north of the border is reading this and you want to save brokerage fees start by going to talk to the customs house nearest you. Of course if you live right on the border there are options to having it delivered to a USA address and bring it across yourself but I live on an island or you may live far from the border.

Hopefully I will be in a position to place an order next week or the week after.

Yes, one bad experience can hurt a company and we do not hear of the dozens or hundreds of satisfied customers. However, G&T's practice of not returning e-mails or telephone calls was very bad business.

BC and Alberta are still booming economically I guess from all that oil and gas money. It is nice our dollars are at about par now. I have run into several USA citizens up here. Your basic BC'er and Washingtonian are pretty similar. I have three cousins in the USA in Michigan, Washington and California I thing. Our Premier Gordon and Governor Arnold meet quite often on climate issues.

Temperature will hit 29C to 30C with the hottest days of summer being about 35C. The interior away from the Pacific will get much hotter.

KenV

I'd kill for your weather, lol.

Well, the wing arrived. No pics tonight, but here's the lowdown:

Good: Finish is nice with no pinholes. So far it looks like it should line up, but bear in mind you may be on your own for getting the 'spears' to stick. It had small brackets screwed to the spears but they don't appear to be useful at this time. Guess we'll see. Lastly, it's protected by a skim coat of primer that I'll be sanding down AFTER REPAIRING THE CHIPS THAT FEDEX PUT IN IT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IN CARDBOARD WITH CORNER REINFORCEMENTS. So far it looks very straight and won't need much prep aside from 'the bad'.

The bad: Oh yeah, THE CHIPS THAT FEDEX PUT IN IT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IN CARDBOARD WITH CORNER REINFORCEMENTS! I wait this long and they do this. Really, the box was mushed at its corners and some of the (many) huge staples that comprised the box were breached.

Ugly: Communication. Jim seems like a nice dude, but holy crap does that company need some training in customer service. For a product that looks quite good at first blush, the lag time was killing me. Really, they should tell buyers it's a one-month wait, unless the new employees make things go faster.

All in all, I give it a so far. When I get some daylight and a free moment I'll snap some pics. Should be this weekend.

Guro 305

Just be thankful for right now that you got it.

KenV

I most certainly am. And I'm thankful for your input man. I'm not sure I would have pushed as hard as I did had you not posted up. Thanks for looking out for your fellow Thirdgenners

goalieforlife

Sale would be a great start.

BC GTA

I just sent an e-mail to North Country Fiberglass ordering an aerowing. It is 11am Pacific Time Friday July 4, 2008. I just realized that's a holiday in the USA. Happy Independence Day everyone down there. Our independence day or Canada Day as it is called was July 1.

I will keep you posted. I have asked them for an estimate of the time to get it to me and how shipping damage is dealt with. I will keep you posted of how this progresses. I really hope this goes smoothly. North Country Fiberglass could really establish their reputation here.

I have arranged a painting time of Aug 11, 2008 with the auto body shop I am going to use.

You would like our summers. I would like your winters. From November to about April we have months of gray over cast, drizzle, rain and temperatures from about -3C to 7C.

KenV

Here's a few of the wing. The wing is quite smooth, and the chip appears to be a straightforward fix:

BC GTA

Did you go after Fed Ex for the damage? North Country E-mailed me back on Monday saying I am added to the list. North Country advised to approach Fed Ex for damage as they carry insurance.

Also, where is the center brake light set up? Do you transfer everything over from your existing wing?

Stephen

Was the wing poking THROUGH the box? If not, and thedamaged happened during shipping, the broken off pieces would be inside the box. Unless it was damaged, at North Country, before packaging.

In any case...what kind of protection was on the wing tips? Wrapped in bubble wrap or nothing? Wrapped/protected good, it shouldn't break, or the pieces broken off, would still be i place, wrapped in the bubble wrap.

__________________

17"x9" ROH Snypers (with the correct 3rd gen backspacing, no spacers needed), 275 front/285 rear, no rear seats, 4th gen front seats, OEM 2001 TA rear wing, OEM 1997 TA side mirrors

Home of the STS (Sequential Turn Signal) mod
Photobucket of 1989 Pontiac Trans Am GTA-parting out
GOD Bless America

KenV

When the wing arrived the box was 'soft' from being banged around and the box wasn't sealed at either tip. There were corners/evidence of corners of cardboard at the tips, but they were loose like the rest of the box perimeter. Not placed loosely, but banged loose. The box corners/edges were blackened from being dragged around and several of the staples holding the box shut were popped. It's hard to tell from the pics but the cardboard is compressed, suggesting dragging/dropping of some sort. I didn't find the chip, but I found enough gaps in the taped/stapled box, busted open and not improperly secured, to tell me why it was long gone.

I considered sending the pics to FedEx with a claim, but I figure that the $20 they'd probably give, after a presumably long fight, wouldn't be worth my time. Besides, once I fill the chip it'll be fine. That'll take less time than begging FedEx for money. After what I went through to get the sucker I'd rather cut losses and get the car done.

There are holes on the underside of the wing for mounting the CHMSL. The spears will take some work, as they don't clear the clip receivers on the factory glass. There were a couple of small clips screwed to the spears, presumably for retention in place of the factory system. I received instructions for a 4th gen wing with this unit so I emailed Jim for details. I'll post up when he replies.

Stephen

Well, from your description, I guess we can blame FedEx for messing it up.

I'd fix it & still have FedEx pay me something, at least for repairs. You let them get away with it, & they'll do it to others boxes too. Only way they MIGHT stop, is if they keep having fork out $, because of their bad handling.

If mine gets broke, I'm blaming it on YOU, for not teaching them a lesson.

__________________

17"x9" ROH Snypers (with the correct 3rd gen backspacing, no spacers needed), 275 front/285 rear, no rear seats, 4th gen front seats, OEM 2001 TA rear wing, OEM 1997 TA side mirrors

Home of the STS (Sequential Turn Signal) mod
Photobucket of 1989 Pontiac Trans Am GTA-parting out
GOD Bless America

Guro 305

Be thankful you got it from FedEx and not UPS or else you would've had two half wings!!!!

KenV

lawl, you guys are killing me.

Funny you mention UPS Guro. I've had great luck with them. Case in point: I ordered an Odyssey batt for my other car, and FedEx mangled it twice. UPS was tapped for the batt through another vendor and it came through perfect. UPS doesn't forget to at least ring the bell, and they don't play soccer with the packages. That's only my experience, but I order from all over this fine country.

I don't even know how to claim from FedEx, but I guess I'll check their site. It's probably hidden under something about freight costs to Ghana or something...

BC GTA

Has any one been in contact with North Country Fiber Glass in the last week or two?

I placed my order on July 5 then sent follow up e-mails on July 18, 22 and 30 with telephone calls on July 23 and 27. My VISA card was charged and North Country said they would put it on the list as soon as possible. All I get is an automated e-mail or phone message indicting they will respond as soon as possible.

I was expecting at least a month before I got the aerowing, but I am getting a little concerned with them not returning my attempts to contact them. I would just like my messages returned.

Does anyone have a suggestion for me on how to proceed if I do not hear back from them?

Stephen

On the 14th, I got this from Jim..."We had some large orders for the boat parts we build and had to pull our mold guys off to help fill the orders."

Their primary business was the boats, then they bought out G&T, and I think they are still trying to play catch up with G&Ts problems of bad molds, lack of inventory & back orders.

BC GTA

Stephen:

Thank you very much. That puts my mind at easy a little. I will expect to wait a few more weeks. It is not that I mind waiting as I was expecting a month but not to hear back from them was raising my concern level. Guess they are just swamped with boat orders. I will post my results in a few weeks.

KenV

Yep, they're busy folks. I emailed every few days to keep my name on their minds over there. The wing looks good though, good enough that I'm not complaining about the delays every time I look at it. Of course, my car's back home since I couldn't get the wing in time, but that just means I can take my time with it I guess.

Just keep repeatedly contacting them. It'll work out in the end.

80schild

Can anyone tell me how much they charge for the aerowing? My rubber one is shot.

Stephen

Look it up on their website. You'd have it already if you had.

80schild

Yeah I see it now, they had it on the hood page.

boldguy

I bought my ws6 style Ram air hood from them and it is just ok. I also bought an air box from them. It took about 8 months from the time they charded my card to the time i recieved both packages at my house. The hood fits less than ok. it kinda rides up higher than the fenders in the middle and the wipers make the whole hood rise about a 1/4 inch when turned on. Am i pleased with the product? - Not for what i paid, Would i recommend you guys to them? Definately not G&T fiberglass. North country Maybe never heard of em.

Good luck with the business

80schild

Yeah I see the spoiler is only $9 cheaper than Hawks. I don't think $9 is worth the wait and risk.

BC GTA

Here is an update to my last post. I tried contacting North Country Fiberglass by telephone and E-mail again. I get the same message saying they will get back to me as soon as possible.

So I contacted my credit card company who will refund me the purchase price. My credit card company is conducting an investigation into this.

Once the investigation is complete I will consider buying the aerowing from someone else.

North Country Fiberglass may be busy; however, to charge someone's credit card and not return their e-mails or telephone calls except to say we will get back to you as soon as we can is just not quite good enough. I leave it to you to decide if this is good customer service and if you would want to deal with this company.

RAD5