Anyone purchased from departstop.com / DPS-Motorsports.com? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

husker boxster · 03-28-2007, 05:36 PM

Right now I am sitting on an 0-2 count with them. Want to see if anyone else has any experience with them.

Strike 1
After biting the bullet and deciding to spend big bucks on center caps, I called departstop because they had the best price. This was Mon, Mar 19. Talked to the owner (Dayton) who took my credit card info. Figured I should have them by Thur. Fri my wheels for Whl Dynamics arrive but no center caps yet. There is a msg on my answering machine from my credit card company asking me to call them. Turns out Dayton entered a wrong expiration date so the transaction was rejected. I call Dayton. He said there was a problem running my card. I told him he used the wrong exp date. Why wouldn't he call on Mon? If I wouldn't have called him, nothing would have happened. OK, now he's going to get them ordered.

Strike 2
I figured with some luck the caps might be here today, tomorrow at the latest. Get home and they're not here. I call Dayton to see if I can get a tracking number. He's looking, looking, then says to hang on. Several minute pause. Comes back and says "they" are making them, that I got aced out of the last set. Should be ready by Fri at the latest. Won't see them until Tue or Wed. He thinks they could be ready tomorrow but he doesn't want to get my hopes up (how thoughtful). I asked why he didn't call. He didn't answer but sort of mumbled that he might be able to over-night them.

Somehow I feel strike 3 is 60'6" away. Dayton writes a real nice cover letter on his website about building relationships with his customers. His business prides itself on its service. Guess I've been aced out of that too. Meanwhile my wheels and tires sit in the garage.

On the other side of the spectrum is Harvey Peck. I dropped a check in the mail to him on Sat for a rear speaker plug for a 6x40 amp. Tues morning at 6:30 am his time he sends me an email and said he got my check and the plug was being sent. All this effort for an $18 part. Here's someone who understand customer service. Cheers, Harvey!

Thanks for letting me vent. I feel a little better. Would be interested if others have dealt with Dayton.

03-28-2007, 05:44 PM

Sorry about your probelms. It looks like you selected the supplier with the lowest price. The true cost of that low price is poor customer service.

Jeph · 03-28-2007, 05:55 PM

I've dealt with DPS before. The first time was a couple of years ago for my clear corners. Smooth as silk.

Almost 2 months ago I ordered another set of clear corners (eBay) from them:

a) after 2 weeks, I contacted them and said forget it, just give me a refund. Kindly he said he would.

b) about 2 days later from that, still no refund, but I get a tracking # emailed to me.

c) few days later the part arrives... and it's side markers for a Cayenne!

I told him I don't want to pay to ship these back and he had UPS pick them up (as well as a refund). In the end I really didn't lose much time or money, but it was a bit annoying. (I didn't leave negative feedback because I live in fear of retaliatory negative feedback.) I just won't use them in the future...

Perfectlap · 03-28-2007, 06:05 PM

Jeph,
you need an ebay ID for buying and another for selling. I use my "expendable" ID for buying and guard my selling ID with my life!

DE Parts is also DPS Motorsports. Took nearly a month for me to receive my GT3 bumper from him.Very mixed feedback on slow shipping, mistakes and customer service issues but he seems to find the products at the lowest price. Do a search on Rennlist and you will see some nasty email exchanges between some disgruntled customers but most are positive.

Cloudsurfer · 03-28-2007, 07:09 PM

I just used them for a set of Litronics, when UPS destroyed the box on me, I had to wait almost a month for them to get more in, so they kindly hooked me up with free clear corners and sidemarkers, and gave me a super deal on a new shift knob/boot. So, I would rate their customer service as excellent, though overall the buying experience could have been a bit smoother.

Patrick

blinkwatt · 03-28-2007, 07:20 PM

I talked to Dayton not too long about updating my Boxsters rear end to the 03'+ w/ diffusers and he was nice and answered the zillions of questions I had and gave me some parts #s that I needed. Glad I get to see this thread before I bite the bullet.

RandallNeighbour · 03-28-2007, 08:22 PM

DPS sold me a set of black leather seats in mint condition out of a 996 for $750 bucks SHIPPED two years ago. Those guys rock in my book.

porschegeorg · 03-29-2007, 03:14 AM

I purchased a GT3 front bumper and side skirts from Dayton. There was a couple week delay and I had to keep calling Dayton to get updates. It turns out that the shop that paints the skirts was taking longer than expected. Dayton *could* have called me to keep me posted. BUT when they did arrive, I called Dayton more than once for advice on how to install them, and he spent more than enough time with me to get the job done.

So overall....I can live with delays as long as the price is good and service is decent.

JAAY · 03-29-2007, 04:21 AM

I bought all my lights from Dayton a couple years back. He's seems to be a real nice guy.

docdyh · 03-29-2007, 01:19 PM

I also have a thread on here about DPS Motorsports-bottom line-few can beat their prices but their customer service (i.e. Dayton) sucks. I bought a set of painted pocket covers in Dec 06. Got two rights instead of L/R. Shipped back. Dayton promised overnight shipment due to the error, with tracking no. After multiple calls to DPS and emails, I received them about 3 weeks later with no tracking provided. I actually emailed him stating that there were multiple threads on this forum about POOR customer service. I assume that they get enough business that it doesn't matter to them.

Perfectlap · 03-29-2007, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

DPS sold me a set of black leather seats in mint condition out of a 996 for $750 bucks SHIPPED two years ago. Those guys rock in my book.

ad Borat says, That's a nice...Think I paid DHL $180 to ship my (wayyyy lighter to ship) GT3 seats. dang oversized boxes..

blinkwatt · 03-29-2007, 01:53 PM

Is Dayton the only one that works there or something?

Perfectlap · 03-29-2007, 02:09 PM

Nice signature pic Jaay, I guess no one thinks to show off their unecessarily expensive lights in the pics.

986Roadster · 03-30-2007, 05:42 AM

well here's my horror story........

Last year i bought side skirts from dps. they were suppose to be for a boxster, and for some reason i got 996 skirts. they too were 5 weeks later, but took the skirts back right away, and within 2 weeks sent me out the correct skirts.

this year/ 2 months back i bought the gt3 bumper, and i finally got a tracking number from him this week, and it looks like i should have the bumper on monday. now i'm hoping it's not a cayenne front bumper!!!!!

in my opinion, i think the body shop that does the painting is slowwwwww! not sure i can explain why other parts are taking longer to ship. maybe he orders from porsche and has to wait for the parts to come in.

prices have been very good, and in the future i'll just order 5 weeks ahead!!!

husker boxster · 03-30-2007, 03:38 PM

Are we seeing a pattern with the posts? The theme with the people who have done business with Dayton - nice guy, very knowledgable but generally 3 wks late, never follows up, and often sends the wrong parts.

At 2pm CDT today I called Dayton to see if my caps were "done". He said they weren't in the inbox but they might be on the dock. He would check and call me back. After an hr I went to Plan B. I bought a set from Ralph Boothe. Ralph assured me he had what I wanted in stock. I asked if he could get them in the mail today and overnight them. He said he could. I waited until 3:30 for Dayton to call, then decided to enjoy the rest of this nice day and get a quick 9 holes in.

When I got back from golf I had an email from Ralph. He said he has a normal UPS pickup at noon but we missed that so he boxed up the caps and took them to the UPS store. They are in the mail, I have a tracking #, and they will arrive on Mon.

No msgs from Dayton, though. I called to have him cancel my order. He said they were just shipped (yeah right). Wait a mintue, they haven't gone out yet so he can cancel the order (what luck). I will be contacting my credit card company on Mon to be sure he has.

Then I can put my caps on my wheels and put my wheels on my car!

to Dayton.

03-30-2007, 04:09 PM

I am a firm believer that quality does not cost more. And poor quality can be very expensive. It really comes down to what you value.

A low price with bad service & poor follow-up might be fine for one customer. Another customer likes great service, good follow-up and is willing to spend a little more for it. Neither is right or wrong. Just a matter of what you value and are your expectations met.

986Roadster · 03-30-2007, 06:13 PM

you are right bmussatti. even though i have gone through hell. i've saved at least $1500 buying from dps. i don't care if he take 2 weeks or 5 weeks (obviously i'm not cool with waiting for a year).

i'll still buy from dayton (maybe i should wait until monday), the quality was good, and i cant complain with the paint job.

monday i might be pissed 50/50 chance....lol

docdyh · 04-01-2007, 03:10 AM

why doesn't someone print this out and mail to Dayton, then again, I am sure he already knows....

edevlin · 04-03-2007, 02:54 AM

I ordered a Dansk Sport muffler (the one that looks like the stock muffler) from them last week. Hopefully, this will give a little better flow rate and not have the resonance issues of their sausage-shaped muffler that I tried previously. Their price was goodand they were very helpful and sent me a tracking number. The muffler should be here tomorrow. As long as it is the model I ordered, I will be very pleased with their service.

Ed

Perfectlap · 04-03-2007, 06:47 AM

Husker,
Dayton has been operating like this for a couple of years now. He does business with the large Rennlist community(don't think he's a sponsor though) as well and ebay on top of that. Sounds like he needs a business manager or more assistants. The margins must be small since he sells for so little and obviously that requires him to sell more quantity.