Today I received my package from Hawks Thirdgen, I ordered two outer door handles, and a hinge pin/roller. The packaging was horrible IMO. One of the door handles was loose in the box(outside of plastic bag) and came out with a nick in the paint. The pin was loose in the box as well, no bag to be found for it. To top it off, in place of packing peanuts was an empty bag of dog food! Not so much of a big deal just a stupid mistake in my eyes, they marked the wrong city in the shipping, which if UPS wasn't competent in my area, I would have had to wait longer. I called about that to correct it, the lady searched my zip code and came up with the wrong city again, which if you took two seconds to google it, the whole first page comes up with the correct town. I was told to "just call back if it doesn't show up on time" I'm not willing to go through the hassle or extra charge of returning a single thing either, I would however like to give them a call tomorrow about why I received a damaged product and a bag of dog food! Has anyone else gotten this type of crappy shipping job? Is it me or was it half-assed?

dog food bag

you know i HATE to say it but there has been alot of bad things said about them on here lately and it really makes me wonder, i mean hawks does alot for us, i would hate to see some lazyness ruin them, this has been said a few times here with the past few months about them, do a search and you will see a few bad stories with them

I shiz you not! A bright yellow bag of Purina!

I think I will do a search now, just really wanted to put my experience out there for others.

On another note though, I will laugh at whoever has me on the phone tomorrow if they say something along the lines of...
"Well Styrofoam is bad for the environment" or even better "we are going green by recycling"
C'mon now, thats just bad business IMHO

...........well i wonder if the drug/bomb sniffin dog alerted on your box


really man hawks is a good company from all i hear, i have meet most of them personaly, and have a friend that had alot of work done by them, they seem to be a real good company, some used parts are a little pricey compair to other 3rd gen sources

i HIGHLY recomend searching this board for ANY company you are fixin to trade with you can learn alot of what to look for

Haha, I wouldn't doubt that.

I trust them as a company to order from again, I just don't think the people my order went through and that I dealt with were all too bright honestly.

EDIT:
Apparently I'm not the only one who's order was protected by an old bag of dog food.

Another point to make... in sending us used dog food bags, they could also be sending us mites, not going to argue it but its a point to be made.

I can't stop laughing A dog food bag!! Used newspaper is ok for packing material but a dog food bag you are just going to look ridiculous to your customers.

I like Hawks so I am just going to laugh this one off. Call them about your damaged parts and they will take care of you.

When companies start trying that, their are just getting too big for their britches, thinking they can cut back on shipping costs.

Well, I know it wasn't a mistake...
But I will call tomorrow and update.

LOL uh i just got a duel fan harness for my wifes iroc and while it came in a timely fashion of about a week....yea mine was packed in the yellow purina dog food bag as well....

My parts were packed with several dog food bags as well.

I love Hawks, they are local but for small parts its worth the shipping to me. I have always gotten properly shipped and packed boxes.
Also, alot of stuff has been going on with the local car scene for us lately and Hawks stepped up and helped a car show get off the ground in six days. So yes, they are busy.

I was going to order the LS1 and t56 combo and all the swapping parts from them but after one of my friends on the board told me how he got treated, I won't spend thousands of dollars of my money for them to f around with me. My buddy needed one part and it didn't come complete and he had to keep f ing around because of it. He eventually got it but I couldn't be that forgiving.

I would like to strike my dissatisfaction from the records. Before I had a chance to call and speak with somebody about this little issue about my order that I had, Bruce took the time out of his day to call me and clear things up with me about all this.

As far as the dog food bag goes, he had explained that to keep shipping premiums as low as possible, he takes a ride to a store where he buys shipping paper in bulk, some of which is recycled. Hence the paper labeled Purina, I had thrown it away so fast that I didn't even notice that it wasn't just "an old bag of dog food"
So that one was my fault for being excited and opening it like a kid on Christmas morning.

The rest turned out to be no big deal as well. I can honestly tell you that I drew my conclusions too soon.

I respect Bruce for taking his time to call me about this, and I apologize for any confusion. Even if he never called, I still would have ordered from him in the future, I even referred my brother to Hawks yesterday.

Hey guys, just wanted to make a quick reply to the above message and all I can say is WOW!
My response is as follows:
885speed :I spoke with you on the phone today and believe I explained everything in grave detail as to your complete situation and I will let you make your response below in your time and again thanks for your business and let us know if we can help you more in the future.

89rs_82Z: I can assure all of our 14 hours days we are not getting lazy and are trying the best we can for you guys.

stephen: I will explain below why we are not cutting cost but maintaining in a tough economy.

Paulisgod: I would love to help you with your LS1 swap I can assure you we are very reliable and dependable to deal with give me a call and see how we can help you.

NOW to the above thread that was started, I personally packed the parts in 885speeds order and remember packaging them and sticking two of the small parts inside one of the handle bags to make sure it would not get lost.
I called and spoke with him today and explained everything where he can understand the situation. We do use and have been for several years excess rolls of paper from a paper plant (that I purchase 3 times a year at a cost of 300.00-1200.00 depending on the amount) for packaging to maintain our S&H cost and I cannot control what is printed on the rolls of paper in this case Purrina Dog food was the paper of choice. BUT this is not a used dog food bag it is NEW paper rolls that are used for packaging purposes.
So guys please understand WE SINCERELY CARE ABOUT OUR CUSTOMERS and the product they recieve. We have a 7 man crew that works 8-14 hour days to make sure you, our customer, stay happy and are by no means cutting costs but maintaining cost in an almost impossible economy for most. And are doing our very best to keep all of you happy.
So with that please keep in mind if you receive something you are not happy with please do not be quick to be a keyboard warrior on the boards and be an adult. Call and let us know and we will fix the problem because we genuinely care about our customer base and there satisfaction. So again thanks for everything and I hope we can help you in the near future.
Sincerely,
Bruce Hawkins
www.hawksthirdgenparts.com

i figured it would be ok, but some others had bad luck, they may of got it solved also, like i said its a good company

Nothing worse than "the boy who cried wolf", who was quick to judge & didn't investigating things fully.

So true, I have purchased several times from them and alot of those times was sending my mom who knows nothing about cars and they help her get the right part. I have been satisfied with my purchases and the dyno day they put on last year. Please just call Bruce if you have a problem and he will fix it.

oh i know it man, i meet you up at the gathering,(Jason) i was riding with Brian... trust me im lookin at your site now at some parts (pay day is friday ) i just got a little worried for a while, some others had a few problems with yall, never checked back and cant remember where i seen it to see if they got them resolved or not......im telling ya, it says alot that YOU called him to make sure everything was ok

see ya next year at the gathering!!!! ill be in my baby too

lol wow but i guess it works i was going to say you could send them a full bag of dog purina dog food back and maybe a little poodle?

Yeah, I'm the guy that Paul was making a reference to. I dealt with hawks and wasn't happy about my experience so I went back to TPIS, they are quicker and the customer service is better. If the price is higher there, so what? I'm able to get things cleared up in less than the two weeks it took to get a fuel pump. Oh well, I feel bad that Paul doesn't want to work with Hawks because he does want that LS1 swap, it's all he ever talks about at work. Paul, shut up and buy the parts from Hawks! You've been wanting it so long that even if they screwed up the order, you'd still get it worked out by now if you ordered when you first got that camaro! Do it and shut up! Bye the way, I miss out running you every day after work, bring that POS by after you do the swap.

My only gripe with hawks is there reliability on answering the phone. On occassion i have called and left 3 messages every day for a week before finally getting a hold of someone. This always happens... only once have they picked up the first time and they have never called me back. Even after talking to someone who said he will call me back in 30 minutes one time.

But otherwise they have fantastic products and prompt delivery's.. when i can get a hold of them to make the delivery (just for special orders do i call).

I have found someone to supply me most of everything I need for the swap. I only need the wiring harness but I'll get one from speartech. TPIS will be taking on some of the parts I need but that isn't an issue. I think I will be happy with my plans and not need to worry about finding parts. I know that you have that pump in, is it working ok? Did it feed the 406 or did you put it on the 383? Just wondering how it worked out.

Honestly Bruce, I found nothing wrong with the service here. The harness came in fairly good time, considering that you had to wait for the part as well. the delivery got me closer to getting through emissions testing and saved me from having to hand fabricate the wiring. The payment wasn't taken before shipping which I thought was decent. The customer treatment of my wife while checking on the shipment was also decent. I did really find it rather amusing on the packaging method, my dog thought it was for him, he was really happy till he found no food

You know, having never purchased from hawks before I can't speak for them, but I will agree with the above statement.

Hawks to use a cult following that would cast a voodoo ritual upon anyone badmouthing them. But lately I have seen more and more complaints.

I love Hawk's...except they could have test fitted my hood. The right front side was, and still is all out of wack. Below is a thread, but the company shipped mine perfect. Would have liked foam all the way around. (The shipping truck had the package the wrong way, and there was a forklift hole in the box...at least it didn't hit the hood)

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/au...tona-hood.html (New Daytona Hood!)

Come on guys.. Hawks is a good supplier.. more honest then most and unfortunately we can't rate the buyers of parts... who are in the vast majority good folk.. but here is also the butt heads, dim wits, thick heads, crooked, thieving, low life Jerry Springer rejects that walk in the door.. and you have to make time for them too.. How often have your stood in line when some jerk off is up front taking 10 minutes to order a big mack.. or moaning and growning at the disinterested server at Walmart trying to return something THEY obviously stuffed.
Then you go to a place like Hawks.. that is primarily staffed by people who live, breath and sleep parts.. who ALSO learn something probably EVERY Day with the help of good restorers & visa versa...... who were around long before the internet happened......and people bag them over the use of packaging material.. !!! Come on .. the parts are good & guarenteed..... that's what matters

ya know im glad ive never had to order from them. Ive read alot of horror stories about them too. No matter how bad i need a part i guess ill never order from them. sorry about your luck. they may be a BIG sponsor on here but they are NEVER getting my money for sure.

Unless you did not read the WHOLE thread he got it cleared up. That is also a problem people only read half not to come back and see they most of the time it gets fixed. I have dealt with Hawks many,many times and yea I got the dog food bag (lmao).

Ha I everything I ordered so far was packaged in dog food bags... I just thought it was funny. Their customer service to me has been excellent, and everything I ordered got here extremely quick. I've had a fiberglass wrap around on order with them for the last three months and I believe they called me the next day after I ordered it to tell me I was number 80 on their list, and that they can only push out 4 a week. I am very happy with Hawks overall, and would recommend them to anyone on here. Sure I thought the dog food bags were extremely weird but Who cares if I got the part... They must have a shitload of dogs though...

My body shop said the spoiler was the best one they'd ever worked with, so I'll give them that. VERY happy and would go back in a SECOND for one. The door handle, not so much. The mirror gasket, absolutely!

Basically, I have a mixed review and find it depends on the part. Hawks is a VERY popular place and very busy...I think (maybe) they just (might) need a little more help and they're getting too big for the "small, family owned" business they portray themselves as.

Having been on-site and seeing their shop first-hand, I know Bruce was running around like CRAZY while I was there. I saw them send back GTA reproduction badges because they didn't have enough metallic in them. They have very high standards and generally do things quite well, but when things get rushed, it's easy to mess up, order the wrong part, or just not be able to return a phone call as quickly as you'd like. It happens.

Well just my 2 cents on it.. I went down to Hawks..and I was very happy with them....I drove my ta to pick up a ram air hood..and that place was pretty busy...after reading stories about hoods not fitting.I had called them and said I wanted to make sure the hood would fit cause It was a 6 hour drive back home and I did'nt want to have any problems.plus the drive there without a hood.they assured me that it would.Bruce himself help put on my hood and showed me exactly what and where to adjust. and it fit great with no problems..I was very happy with them, not to mention I also picked up a 6speed console top.witch was very hard for me to find elsewhere...I will go back when its time to finish my iroc....sad news is that a lady smashed into my door and fender 2 weeks later...but 2 thumbs up for Hawks.......

I'm convinced that the best way to get into a wreck....Is to improve your car. Drive a junker & it never gets hit!

hawks in my opinion is first rate... i just recently completed the powertrain upgrade in my '85 IROC with a complete new buildup of LS376/480, T56, 9" rear axle, 4 disk baer brakes, front to back suspension, etc... everything under the car was strip out and everything replaced

bruce was a major help in providing a lot of advice and recommendations and supplied most of the parts... like all of us nobody is perfect but i can say he, bj, and the rest of the staff always responded to any question or issue and i would have to say i think they are about the most honest people i have dealt with that i have never met in person

also bruce got me set up with getting my "CAMARO" interior redone and that is going to work out great

anyways in my opinion they really try and do the best for their customers

I also have mixed reviews on Hawks. I have ordered quite a bit from them in the past....some things were great, and some not so. I got a TPI wiring harness that had some connectors spliced on with different colored wiring, and I paid 250$ for it!! It was kind of a junky harness and I wasn't too happy about that. On the other hand, I also ordered BMR A-arms and they are top notch. I recently had a problem with my J&M caster camber plates because I have the old shotty style and wanted to upgrade to the new ones. I'm a little upset that Hawks wouldnt even give me a credit towards the new style. The old style is absolute garbage and they seem extremely flimsy, and it's just a crappy design. J&M offered to give me a credit if I send my old ones back, but I'm still not very happy with it, and believe that I should have gotten a better deal. I may just end up getting the Spohn ones which are VERY nice.

Oh well, it's either hit or miss I guess.

I've had great experiences with Hawks. Glad to see the OP got everything cleared up.

I got the Spohn A-Arms through Hawks, and I can tell you they improved the ride VASTLY! The back end still knocks your teeth out if you're sitting back there, but the front is MUCH nicer. Go for the Spohn...you won't be sorry.

No matter how much A friend of mine and I say it or type it, people continue to use Hawks, and either get screwed or are disatisfied in general.

HAWK'S SUCKS STAY FAR FAR AWAY!

Their customer service sucks, their packing & shipping sucks (A dog food bag seriously WTF?) and their Prices are outrageous

I've been buying parts from Hawks for years, and have never been dissatisfied. Really, who cares what it says on the packaging material? They've explained the source of the stuff herein... so I don't see the big deal. Their prices are very competitive - and if that's one way they do it, it's fine with me.

Did you read the whole thread or just the first post? NEW paper with dog food printing =/= dog food bag. You make it sound like you got a package from them and had to dig through Kibbles n' Bits to find your part like a freakin' Cracker Jack prize. And if you read the threads about people complaining, you'll find that almost every case was resolved to the customer's satisfaction. Don't think that would happen if they've got terrible service, would it? The rest of 'em seem to be some sort of hatespewing rage-a-thon that certain types of people get into after finding a minor, even negligible, defect and coming straight here to rant instead of trying to resolve the problem with the vendor like responsible adults first. As for the high prices, that's fairly subjective. All I know is that if I could get stuff locally for those prices I'd be pretty damn happy.

I would support anyone who feeds their dogs this well. :woof:

I have no dog in this fight(no pun intended),BUT I get it about the dog food bag paper!If I'm understanding this right,it is rolled paper that was to be made INTO dog food bags.I work at a re-cycled paper mill that does get rolls of packaging paper to be recycled.For some reason packaging gets obsoleted and the paper is no longer used and is disposed of.Sorry for the hi-jack,carry on!!!......BILL

P.S......a pretty creative solution to packaging materials,actually!!!!!!

Just want to say I have bought from Hawks on a few occasions. Great shipping and packaging was top notch. I WILL continue to deal with Hawks in the future.

I think it was fairly creative to keep thier costs down by using recycled paper. Feel free to use "dog bags" on any of my future orders.....

wow

The ppl at hawks are awsome, just got to give em a little slack, and yes they have been slacking a bit recently, but they always been there for us and honestly im not like the import boys that jump from brand to brand and vendor to vendor in a heartbeat cuz they sneezed the wrong way once. Sorry to hear that your first purchase turned out awkward.

I love doggie bags.

I purchased a set of LS1 swap headers yesterday, ad says 1 3/4'' 3'' collector. I noticed the tubes looked a little small. Didn't think to much of it, thought it was just me. When I got home I decided to measure them, 1 5/8" WTF. By this time it was too late to call back. They dont even have a 1 5/8" swap header listed. I will see how well their customer service is monday morning. I will report back later, Dean.

Are they 1 5/8" internal, but 1 3/4" external?

They are 1 5/8" outside diameter, external. The flanges look to be 1 3/4" and the tubes are swelled out at the flange,to fit. Also the flanges are NOT stainless steel. They are plated, I assume mild steel. They look great though. Pictures will be posted shortly. Dean.

HI, pics of headers are on the LSX swap page http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/lt...headers-2.html (LSx Swap headers)

Well I just got my 1st order from Hawks which was a Areo Spoiler for my '89 GTA and other than taking a while because of so many orders for these I think overall it was a good first experience with them. I would buy from Hawks again :-)

Guys, I talked with Bruce at Hawk's this morning, the situation has been resolved. GREAT customer service. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with again. Great guy to deal with. Dean.