Getting racked over the coals on AG shipping costs

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It seems most of the shipping complaints come from those in Canada! I wish I could share with you guys how much it costs for me to ship even the smalles tthing from Toronto, to me here in Los Angeles. Shipping anywhere out of your country is going to suck unfortunately.
 
I wanted to get an Autogeek sticker, but the shipping was $7.99. For a sticker?!? Really?!?
 
Auto geek stickers and banners ought to be free! After all, all it is is advertising for them. They could give them away free and take a tax write off.
 
Ok... I think the number of unreasonable requests has surpassed the allowable limits. :laughing: Not sure if Flash mentioned it in this thread or another, but he's right, a lot more goes into running a profitable business that many realize.
 
I tend to prefer fixed rate shipping with free shipping over a certain amount. I would give up BOGO's (not aware of any competitor that does this on a regular basis) in order allow shipping changes.
 
Seems like a lot of Canada people are paying a lot for shipping. Are their any good car care lines originating in Canada? Maybe someone should start one.
 
I find this thread a bit ironic. I know the cost of hosting forums has dropped way down, but it does cost.


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I've found free shipping codes on other web sites...sometimes it pays to look at the little side adds. lol
 
Texsox said:
Scrubs, you mentioned that customer service is a rarity these days. I was thinking just the opposite. I am 50 and can remember no receipt, no return, no possibility. Now many stores offer email receipts (Macys), can track by phone number, hell Walmart just takes it back most of the time. No questions asked seems to be more the norm.

So perhaps it is more accurate to say less skilled employees are servicing customers with better policies and better tech. But I believe consumers never had it this good, at least based on policies.
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Yes, I agree with today's technology this part of customer service has much improved. I am talking in terms of the extra mile that a business will do, such as back in the 60's and early 70's... the attendant would come out and wash your windshield, check your oil and air pressure while the pump is filling.

Down here in Florida, contractors are unreliable for the most part - not all, but many. Many companies either do not return phone calls or are out right rude. Everything you mention is automated, pre-programmed which also leads to "press one for English, press two if you think we really care..."
 
All great points scrubs. I Ike it when automated phone stems work, hate it when by don't. Another factor is those brick and mortar stores are competing with stores without salespeople. Tough to pay a decent wage to get someone who knows the product. But you are correct the personal touch is lost at a lot of businesses.


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Im an international buyers, my previous order only $134.59 and the shipping cost to jakarta indonesia is $75+$35 for tax and custom (at indonesia) i just bougt 2 wheel brush (leitner and mothers)6cobra, 2BOGO on chincila 16"x24", 4" x 4flat pad lc, s100 polish soap, surbuff pad, free sample, 2megs wash mit, megs sanding block, 1finesse pad BOGO. Thats my items that i purchase. When i pick up at post office, the post office guy said AG using an expensive courirer. Thats why u have expensive tax, and much faster. Well not that fast either, i order 31 august my order arrive at jakarta post office at 10th september. So if i order from AG thats mean every 1 items that i buy x2 times the price.:(
 
oldgeek said:
Auto geek stickers and banners ought to be free! After all, all it is is advertising for them. They could give them away free and take a tax write off.
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Good point, but they already have Bruno as a tax write off ;)

mswerb said:
I wanted to get an Autogeek sticker, but the shipping was $7.99. For a sticker?!? Really?!?
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Well, uhhhhhh.......do you realize how much trouble goes into mailing a sticker?!?!?


:o
 
Shipping to Hawaii is ridiculous too. I've tried to order gallon sized stuff before and picked the highest cost shipping option just to be safe and then got an email asking for more shipping. I would have ended up paying more for shipping then for the actual product. Needless to say I canceled my orders.
 
dertoLearN. said:
Im an international buyers, my previous order only $134.59 and the shipping cost to jakarta indonesia is $75+$35 for tax and custom (at indonesia) i just bougt 2 wheel brush (leitner and mothers)6cobra, 2BOGO on chincila 16"x24", 4" x 4flat pad lc, s100 polish soap, surbuff pad, free sample, 2megs wash mit, megs sanding block, 1finesse pad BOGO. Thats my items that i purchase. When i pick up at post office, the post office guy said AG using an expensive courirer. Thats why u have expensive tax, and much faster. Well not that fast either, i order 31 august my order arrive at jakarta post office at 10th september. So if i order from AG thats mean every 1 items that i buy x2 times the price.:(
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Dude, shipping anything to anywhere near you is going to cost, it's 1,000's of miles

DHCrocks said:
Shipping to Hawaii is ridiculous too. I've tried to order gallon sized stuff before and picked the highest cost shipping option just to be safe and then got an email asking for more shipping. I would have ended up paying more for shipping then for the actual product. Needless to say I canceled my orders.
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Same as above? just because Hawaii is a state, doesn't mean it's like the rest of the 49. It's got to go on cargo, across the country from Florida to Hawaii? Besides, you have pshak, why not just buy local and save???

This is so funny, this topic has popped up so much lately. Do you guys get free shipping on every other site you use? If not, do you complain on their forums too? Just curious if your beef is with just AG shipping or every other site that charges shipping too?
 
silverfox said:
I no longer buy products from AG unless there is a shipping special and no... I don't fall for the free shipping over $95 gimmick from AG or anybody else that uses that sort of marketing. I can get stuff cheaper from CG shipped 3000 miles to my house than places even in my own state. I'm buying more and more megs and duragloss products sold OTC locally.
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X2 I tried autogeek it came late and shipping was outrageous now I just only buy from chemical guys where shipping a 200 dollar order is only 9 bucks
 
Shipping is a "pass through" cost. There isn't any profit on it, it's purely a cost covering expense. Plan your purchases accordingly and take advantage of the free shipping.
 
Just use "retailmenot" guys. They have a lot of awesome coupon codes for literally every website or store
 
I've paid high prices for shipping from AG before but that was for product experimenting purposes. Thanks to the large inventory they have I was able to try a lot of different stuff and as a result I now have been able to settle on two lines of products for most of my needs: Duragloss and Griot. Duragloss products are not found locally in my area at any Napa or CarQuest stores so I order from Duragloss directly. They ship anywhere in the US for five bucks. Yes, they charge a few cents more for their products than does AG but not enough more to off set the cheap $5 shipping. And the products they send are absolutely fresh and new.

Griot's Garage is the other supplier I use. For most of their products you can get free shipping if you buy at Amazon.com and spend at least $25. Once again, Amazon is a little higher priced but not much. For example, I needed Griot's orange 6" pads and paid $28.99 at Amazon shipped. At AG, they would have cost a dollar less but I would have to pay shipping. If you want different products in your order from different manufacturers and the order is over $95, AG will probably save you a little money. Having everything come in one box and making one charge instead of six or seven is very convenient.

So the whole thing comes down to deciding what products you want to use and then finding the supplier who offers the best price, including things such as tax and shipping. If you need lots of different products or want to constantly experiment with many manufacturers, you simply have to bite the bullet and pay - but don't forget convenience is worth something too and should be factored in.
 
jpegs13 said:
Shipping is a "pass through" cost. There isn't any profit on it, it's purely a cost covering expense. Plan your purchases accordingly and take advantage of the free shipping.
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It is a cost that any online seller incurs. Each company decides how they want to cover it. The decision depends on their profit model and other overhead expenses. Of course, shipping (and how they hide it) gets to be not only a financial discussion but an emotional one as well.

A one or two person operation with no forum or in house staff is going to have lower costs. These operations rely on other forums to handle some of the promotion and word of mouth to generate demand but pick up the orders from those looking for lowest acquisition cost. Some may rationalize it by thinking it is supporting the little guy. These guys do not do much in regards to demand generation (finding new customers) but rely on others to do this and word of mouth from existing customers.

This is equivalent to people going to Best Buy to check out stuff then order online elsewhere because they can get it cheaper. This is called showrooming.

For manufacturers that sell their own products like CG and Duragloss, when they sell their own products they have more margin to work it to absorb shipping costs plus the list price does not undercut the other sellers of their product.
 
cleanmycorolla said:
Dude, shipping anything to anywhere near you is going to cost, it's 1,000's of miles



Did you see what the person wrote. The postal worker explained that AG is using the most expensive shipper. I agree with the amount that AG ships they are getting deep discounts from the shipper that they are using.

If they are not getting discounts they need to negotiate the rates. Fed Ex, UPS, USPS all offer better rates then what AG is charging. I know that you feel that most people feel that their customer service is great but I beg to differ that the customer service is good.

The shipping charge is not part of the cost of the product. The cost of the product is all the overhead that is added to the item purchased. So the price of the product should include the person shipping, the tape, the work station, the air conditioning just like customer service people, sales people, purchasing, and overall management.

The shipping should be determined by actual cost not flat rate based on order value.

I for one will be looking at other vendors to buy the products I use as an enthusiast. I don't have a lot of orders but Shipping charges have made me not place orders.

If anyone from AG has a question about why I feel customer service is not good please feel free to private message me and I will provide full details. I give praise were praise is good and will let a vendor know what they are doing wrong. I work with vendors everyday as a Purchasing Agent. I have our customer in mind. Shipping is a big part of the negotiations that I do. It is also a big cost savings in a lot of companies.

Ed
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