alphax
For anyone looking to ocean freight parts out of the United States via Kaplhenke Racing, be very careful about dealing with Ben Kaplan and his little friend here in Victoria who likes to dabble in ocean freight in his spare time.
I ordered parts via Ben in late April and now in almost mid-September, I still do not have the parts. That would not be a problem at all - had I been kept in the loop, but get this:
You see, Ben chose to use someone here in Victoria who appears not even to be a registered logistics business, except nobody told me that. I was given a mobile number to call. And that was it. Call this number Ben said. Ok, so I did.
As it turns out, my $1500 of parts, (quite small items) were consolidated with 5 cars, except nobody told me that until the parts apparently docked 5 months later, not that there is any proof of that. Yep, no proof, no documentation.
Despite the parts being off the shelf, they were at least 2 months late to ship when I was told they would ship in two weeks, except nobody told me that either, because despite sending well over100 emails and literally hundreds of sms over 5 months, I never received vessel details or any firm dates. Just vague responses as though I am some complete piece of garbage, secondary to whatever they are doing.
Now I cannot get any meaningful responses out of anyone and there is no actual proof of the parts having landed here in Melbourne at all. In fact there is no proof the parts ever left the United States. I suggested to Ben that this feels like fraud to me, since I have literally hundreds of emails asking for specific details over months and months, yet nobody will provide these details. The response from Ben's little friend here in Melbourne via sms was, and I quote: "No worries mate, I can easily return the goods to sender, then they don't have anything to do with me anymore"
What a guy!!
When I call Ben's little friend here in Melbourne, turns out he's always in a meeting and never calls back. Must be coincidence I guess!
For the past 5 weeks, the parts have been just about to clear customs every week. This week there was no ETA anymore.
5 months later. No proof the parts ever left the United States. No proof they arrived.
I even called Ben Kaplan on the phone and left an irate message with him this last week. His response via email? We've never had a problem before. We're doing everything we can.
Yet nobody can provide proof of anything.... I mean zilch, nada, zero, nothing.... and nobody will return a phonecall. Ben is not taking responsibility for this.
He put parts that I own, that I have paid for, 5 months ago - into the hands of someone else who absolutely does not care about anybody, or anything other than himself, will not return phone calls, will not provide evidence of the parts having been shipped, will not provide evidence of the parts arriving and even threatened to send my parts back to the USA.
Not once has Ben apologized for any of this, or taken any real steps toward resolution.
This has been the single worst purchase experience that I have ever encountered in my life, I mean without question. My expectation was the complete opposite, because Ben really appears to know his stuff and I was impressed by his product range.
Ex850R
Never had anything g but great contact with Ben , helpful , my parts arrived fine via regular post , this is a bugger.
alphax
I have one of his super nice strut brace's in the shipment, so the size of that item made ocean freight worthwhile, especially given that the ship was leaving 2 weeks from time of order. Except not really.
rb30e
That sounds odd because my experience was the complete opposite.
I sent Ben loads of emails with several questions in each email regarding product information before I made my order. Ben was happy to answer all questions and in a timely manner. Further to that he was happy to tailor the components I required to suit my specifications.
Upon finally making my order I asked if there was anyway he could help me work out a cheaper way to get the stuff here to Oz as air freight was gonna rinse me. I ordered springs and shocks all round, front struts and all sorts of other bits and pieces so it was probably in excess of 30kg.
Ben explained he knew a bloke that ships things back to Oz in a freight container and he would help me get in contact with him. I spoke to his 'little friend' who seemed very keen to help out and also a dead keen Volvo enthusiast. There was also a shipment due to leave the states in the next few weeks.
Ben helped me to get the parts to the shipping yard and in the container for a reasonable price. His 'little friend' then contacted me to confirm they were in the container with proof of the shipment leaving. It took a few months to get here from the states which you could expect. I was kept up to date with what was going on the whole time. Once they arrived his 'little helper' helped me to get em past customs then sent em up to me here in nsw. His fees for the overseas shipping, interstate shipping and handling were much cheaper than any other option I had. Definitely mates rates I thought.
Both him and Ben followed up with me to make sure the order arrived, everything was there and I was happy with it all. Ben even emailed me a month or so later to see how it all went fitting it up. Unfortunately I have been so busy I haven't had a chance yet to get em in.
I also thought the quality of Bens work was second to none and can't wait to get it in.
I can't comment on why you had such a bad experience. For me I think this was probably my best experience getting bulky stuff over like this.
iceton1975
Sometimes things take time! I have has 3X sets of wheels 17 & 18 inch Polaris style had have my goods, Been part of the Berry Motor Group here in Melboune, never had any Trust issues what so ever, I think your barking up the wrong tree. Just give it another month, Customs can be a pain in the arse. My wheels took 4 months. regards Mark feel free to call me on 0434 897144
Ex850R
It isn't in his or the freight guys interest to NOT be good businessmen.
To me this is totally the polar opposite to how Ben and his father (and no doubt his mate ) operate.
Vspeed
I have only had 1 purchase experience with Ben.it was for adjustable spring perches and it was a positive experience.
He replied to my email.shipped quickly and supplied tracking info.
It was only a small purchase as shipped via USPS.
Larger items may be different
Angus242164
I made a large order with Ben a few years ago, my experience was that email communication could have been better, messages took about a week to be replied to, and sometimes questions weren't answered so I would have to ask again.
Once the deal was set up and paid for, it took a little while to be sent, but nothing unreasonable. When the order arrived, one small part was missing, and after a few more emails that part was sent.
It could have been better, but was far from the horror story the original poster is going through.
alphax
<del>I am pleased to hear It maybe a one-off, or opposite of the norm, but it does not negate my experience in any way. </del>
You are right Snoopy, these are supposed to be business people. I don't need people pretending to be my friend helping me out with 'favours' - only to then shroud the entire process in a haze of uncertainty. I thought I was paying for parts and service through a Business, not relying on a mate of a mate, or anything like that. I'm okay for that to happen, but just tell me.
Had somebody said to me, listen Michael, we handle shipping through a friend that ships parts on the side, and your order is going to be consolidated with 5 cars, so you can expect some hefty delays both on departure and arrival - I would have 100% said, okay, thanks for telling me, lets look at other methods - Or I would have planned my build around the delay.
But I never had that option because to this date, I still don't even know when the ship actually left port. I just know it was months late by which time it was too late to do anything about because the parts had already been shipped across the States to Port of departure.
When I started to get an inkling about a late departure (which I had to ask about, nobody told me) - which was a long period of time in itself, I actually asked about having the parts air-freighted from the Port location to Melbourne. What was the response from Ben? One line. "I am not sure if we can do that" - nothing else. No other assistance.
Can promise you I am not a whinger, whiner or complainer type of guy, but this is beyond a joke.
GingerNinja
I've bought a lot of parts from Ben and had mixed results. He was very helpful via email when I was trying to decide which parts to go with. Once the money was sent I was getting no replies. Even just basic questions like an ETA on getting the parts made or when they might be shipped. No response which is alarming when you've sent a lot of money OS. Phoning him didn't seem to speed up the process either. Several months later parts did arrive which was a relief. The next order I just sent the money and left him to it. It took the same amount of time but was less stressful for the both of us. Great parts but customer service after payment is going to be worthless.
tbro
Funny that you can buy a race car, have it shipped across the USA, packed into a container and shipped to Sydney in 10 weeks. That included 2 engines, 2 x transaxles, 12 race rims and tyres + 2 crates of parts.
Ok not cheap , over 6 grand but gee's I would of ripped someone a new one taking 5 months.
USATOAUS, everything was done for us, we paid,they organised pickup, they kept in contact all the time.
Would I use them again, f' oath
BUT, I have used a MX5/Miata parts supplier who without doubt would have to have been the most useless tosser I have ever dealt with. In the US customer service is either really good or terrible and not a lot in between.
alphax
GingerNinja;85444 wrote Great parts but customer service after payment is going to be worthless.
Interesting. I contrast this to the likes of Ash at DVS, who I also bought a quantity of parts from. I encountered significant delays for a particular product which was completely outside of his control, but the difference was that Ash actually gave a crap about me as a customer and took total responsibility for the transaction - well after money had changed hands.
How about Summit Racing this week. I bought a master cylinder from them back in April of this year. This week I found a reservoir o-ring was missing from the package. No questions asked, they sent me a complete master rebuild kit via DHL Express. This from a faceless, nameless, customer service operator half a world away.
Whereas Ben seems to think that late one-line replies are perfectly reasonable, that no apologies are needed - no matter how atrocious the situation - and believes that deleting my truthful one-star reviews on his website was a good idea, without resolving the issue with me first.
Philia_Bear
When I moved here... I shipped a pallet of stuff (700kg) here
Set me back about $1000aud in total with insurance
I arranged the shipping and from drop off in PDX to pickup in SYD was the grand total of 3.5 weeks
Ghettobird
Sorry to read you are having issues, I had Ben and his mate bring over a set of Eikers for me, It took a while but they definitely arrived in the end
Its not good that you were given no option as to how you got your items, My own dealings with Ben have been a bit lackluster at best, but his contact here has been pretty good to me.
Any updates on the situation?
alphax
Ghettobird;85625 wroteSorry to read you are having issues, I had Ben and his mate bring over a set of Eikers for me, It took a while but they definitely arrived in the end
Its not good that you were given no option as to how you got your items, My own dealings with Ben have been a bit lackluster at best, but his contact here has been pretty good to me.
Any updates on the situation?
I sent this link to Ben to which he replied: "My friend will send a copy of the manifest".
Not sure when that will be. I did receive a tip off that the parts are indeed here, but are held up with other items in customs which is costing someone a lot of money.
I know Ben's mate was probably caught up in this situation and probably has bigger things to worry about than my parts by the sound of it, but that doesn't help me very much after waiting for 5 months now - and it doesn't make me any less pissed off about this whole debacle.
Ex850R
At least a response and it makes sense now , annoying your stuff got caught in the customs crap.
alphax
Ex850R;85635 wroteAt least a response and it makes sense now , annoying your stuff got caught in the customs crap.
Yeah at least a response, but it far from makes sense.