VIP Auto Salon communication problem (not a current CL vendor)
05-07-13, 06:27 AM
#196
Racer
So just to update. Since my last post I was contacted by Clark. He notified me that there was kind of a mix up with my emails therefore couldnt reply back to me. I understand mix ups happen and we got everything straightened out. Ever since we then, Clark has been very helpful and professional. My HIDs lights were shipped and delivered and today I finally recieved my JOEZ exhaust. 
Even though i was initially unsatisfied with VIP Auto Salon, I am glad to have everything work out smoothly. I hope everyone else who has problems with VIP get their disputes solved.
Even though i was initially unsatisfied with VIP Auto Salon, I am glad to have everything work out smoothly. I hope everyone else who has problems with VIP get their disputes solved.can you give me Clarke's direct E-mail or phone number.
I too have been a victim of VIP Autosalon.
Payed them $1,900 for 3 small parts on February 6th 2013 and until today have not recieved anything, just excuses every month as to why my order will be delayed even further.
All I ordered was the below:
- Blacked out emblems
- LX Carbon Fiber fogs
- LEMS carbon fiber grill
these are small parts that weight near to nothing.
One week I'm told it has been shipped from japan and should be ready for dispatch the following week, and then the following week I'm told "Oh wait we will contact the supplier to get a lead time"
Simply put I'm being told lies, so anyone who can help me out with contact details for Clarke I'd appreciate it.
Looking at the amount of issues and the number of members who are having issues with them with no resolution I'm doubtful I will get anything.
I'm waiting until Friday and if no response by then, then I'll be forced to file a claim and get my bank involved.....not to mention sharing my wonderful experience with such a company
05-07-13, 10:19 AM
#197
This is slightly OT but I feel that this is necessary to explain....
First of all, your friend is slightly*** correct. Ordering Items by EMS air takes approximately 1-2 weeks. When you order larger items, for this case lets just use a full Aim Gain bodykit for example, it cant be shipped by air, unless the consumer is willing to pay a few grand for air freight.
When you order any Japanese body kit, they are generally sold on a made to order basis. The turn around time for these body kits to be completed and ready to ship is generally 4-8 weeks.
So right off the bat, if the body kit is not instock your looking at a 1-2 month wait just to have the body kit made.
After the body kit is ready ship, it is then sent to a warehouse near the vessel port and gets prepped for departure. Importers/exporters, such as Jonari (wald), Wedswheels(aimgain), generally have 1 scheduled vessel leaving japan each month.
So for this case lets just say customer X placed an order for a full aimgain body kit from Vendor Y.
Vendor Y orders the aimgainbody kit through WedsWheels NA, which is the North American Distributor for Aimgain.
so Weds sends the body kit order to Aimgain. Aimgain receives the order, production time takes ~ 2 months for the complete kit to be ready to ship to the vessel warehouse. The body kit then arrives at the vessel warehouse in the next week or 2, depending how far the warehouse is from manufacture.
So right now the consumer is ~ 10 weeks into the order, and the body kit is barely ready to be shipped from Japan.
When the body kit arrives to the warehouse, the guys there QC and package up, and get the items ready for departure.
So given that in this case Weds, only brings in 1 vessel a month, the time it takes for the body kit to arrive to the warehouse is crucial.
If the body kit arrives say a day before the vessel is scheduled to leave for the states, the body kit will most likely* not leave until next month and will sit at the warehouse until the next vessel is ready to ship.
So in the case, say this happens, the customer is now 14 weeks into the order, and the item has yet to be shipped from Japan.
Once the body kit does finally depart it takes ~ 3 weeks for the boat to dock in the states, then another week for the items to clear customs and arrive at the Weds ware house.
So now were at 18 weeks.
Weds then does a secondary QC, makes sure everything is good to go, and ships the items to either the vendor or drops ships straight to the customer.
This freight depending on location takes anywhere from 1-2 weeks.
So in this case it takes about 20 weeks or 4 months just to get a body kit in from Japan.
Most people do not realize and or know how extensive the process is....
I myself had to wait 9 months for my Wald kit to arrive, ~ 4.5 months for everything to come and another 4.5 for the front lip alone to come because I received an 06-08 instead of an 09+.
And for those questioning how i know this, lets just say I deal with this sort of stuff on a day to day basis.
First of all, your friend is slightly*** correct. Ordering Items by EMS air takes approximately 1-2 weeks. When you order larger items, for this case lets just use a full Aim Gain bodykit for example, it cant be shipped by air, unless the consumer is willing to pay a few grand for air freight.
When you order any Japanese body kit, they are generally sold on a made to order basis. The turn around time for these body kits to be completed and ready to ship is generally 4-8 weeks.
So right off the bat, if the body kit is not instock your looking at a 1-2 month wait just to have the body kit made.
After the body kit is ready ship, it is then sent to a warehouse near the vessel port and gets prepped for departure. Importers/exporters, such as Jonari (wald), Wedswheels(aimgain), generally have 1 scheduled vessel leaving japan each month.
So for this case lets just say customer X placed an order for a full aimgain body kit from Vendor Y.
Vendor Y orders the aimgainbody kit through WedsWheels NA, which is the North American Distributor for Aimgain.
so Weds sends the body kit order to Aimgain. Aimgain receives the order, production time takes ~ 2 months for the complete kit to be ready to ship to the vessel warehouse. The body kit then arrives at the vessel warehouse in the next week or 2, depending how far the warehouse is from manufacture.
So right now the consumer is ~ 10 weeks into the order, and the body kit is barely ready to be shipped from Japan.
When the body kit arrives to the warehouse, the guys there QC and package up, and get the items ready for departure.
So given that in this case Weds, only brings in 1 vessel a month, the time it takes for the body kit to arrive to the warehouse is crucial.
If the body kit arrives say a day before the vessel is scheduled to leave for the states, the body kit will most likely* not leave until next month and will sit at the warehouse until the next vessel is ready to ship.
So in the case, say this happens, the customer is now 14 weeks into the order, and the item has yet to be shipped from Japan.
Once the body kit does finally depart it takes ~ 3 weeks for the boat to dock in the states, then another week for the items to clear customs and arrive at the Weds ware house.
So now were at 18 weeks.
Weds then does a secondary QC, makes sure everything is good to go, and ships the items to either the vendor or drops ships straight to the customer.
This freight depending on location takes anywhere from 1-2 weeks.
So in this case it takes about 20 weeks or 4 months just to get a body kit in from Japan.
Most people do not realize and or know how extensive the process is....
I myself had to wait 9 months for my Wald kit to arrive, ~ 4.5 months for everything to come and another 4.5 for the front lip alone to come because I received an 06-08 instead of an 09+.
And for those questioning how i know this, lets just say I deal with this sort of stuff on a day to day basis.
making a body kit from scratch (with molds) takes a few days at best, yes that's true. when i ordered my wald for the ls460l, it was NOT in stock. but i can't see how it takes 1-2 months to produce a body kit when a mold exists. if it takes that long, then i can only say 3k is a very CHEAP price to pay (just imagine any other items in life that takes a month to produce)
yes it will take time to make, pack, ship, port custom, delivery, but it does NOT take months to arrive. if you do air freight, which is a lot more expensive, it should arrive in 2-3 weeks. if you do ocean freight just by transportation time, it should be 6-8 weeks max.
i ordered sets of wheels from japan before, most of them had to be built from scratch (not in stock). air freight, i got them in 2-3 weeks.
my wald kits for the ls460l, ocean freight, took about 6 weeks iirc. no bs.
any of the extra delays are all solely due to
1) excuses on delays
2) held at custom for inspection (this happens)
3) miscommunications
i know a lot of jdm companies, given their work ethics and history, i can hardly blame on them on delays. they are very prompt and work very hard / fast to get things done.
but the problem is a lot of shops (or customers) they can't afford air freight. but with ocean, you have to fill up a cargo before you can ship, otherwise cost goes up too. however a cargo is big, not a lot of shops can fill one up timely. even big dogs like mackin industry has to work to do that. small shops will have to team up with others or in most cases, rely on another entity to gather companies to fill up.
results? if others are not ready or cargo not filled, you wait. wait. and more wait. that's the problem most of the time.
it might have taken you 9 months to get your wald kit, but i can't see how that would become a norm. i am sure there are exceptions and i have encountered those too, but what i said have been pretty much avg. and yes, i deal with this all the time too
Last edited by rominl; 05-07-13 at 10:24 AM.
05-07-13, 11:06 AM
#198
Racer
To be completely honest I wouldn't be surprised if my parts have already arrived and simply due to lack or communication or negligence no one has bothered looking.
05-08-13, 06:13 PM
#199
Driver
Concern about the VIP Auto Salon
I've just ordered several things in the online store at the VIP Auto Salon.
However, after the order and transaction has completed, there was no tracking and shipping information about the items.
I tried to email them many times, I tried calling them and leaving voice messages...
But still, no answers, no response, no replies...
I'm really concerned about it because I've spend quite a lot of money on the items...
Any suggestion of what I should do next?
Really confused now ............
However, after the order and transaction has completed, there was no tracking and shipping information about the items.
I tried to email them many times, I tried calling them and leaving voice messages...
But still, no answers, no response, no replies...
I'm really concerned about it because I've spend quite a lot of money on the items...
Any suggestion of what I should do next?
Really confused now ............
05-08-13, 06:16 PM
#200
I read some good and bad reviews about them on here, taking ppls money not sending their orders giving them a run around, some ppl waited anywhere even up to a year and no refunds. I'm surprised they are still a vendor on here
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...autosalon.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...n-problem.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...autosalon.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...n-problem.html
Last edited by RDIS250AWD; 05-08-13 at 06:21 PM.
05-08-13, 06:32 PM
#201
Driver
I read some good and bad reviews about them on here, taking ppls money not sending their orders giving them a run around, some ppl waited anywhere even up to a year and no refunds. I'm surprised they are still a vendor on here
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...autosalon.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...n-problem.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...autosalon.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sit...n-problem.html
Thanks for the help tho ...
05-08-13, 07:10 PM
#205
Driver
05-09-13, 06:03 AM
#207
I ordered my LX mode chrome door handles from VIP Auto Salon and it took 6 months before I get them (no exageration). About 3 months after I ordered, I called them up coz I haven't received the items and it sounded like they never placed the order so that took another 3 months to come from Japan. Very bad customer service. just sayin
05-13-13, 05:33 PM
#209
I have read another thread where a few people got their throttle controller from VIP and all had good experiences, that's why I ordered a couple items from them last week. I hope I really do receive the swift springs this week. I was told they were in stock. The Lexon CF front splitter, however, I was not given a date because they have to find out how long it will take to get from Japan. If I don't get my springs this week, I will cancel the order for both items.
~Ron
~Ron
05-16-13, 09:10 PM
#210
Pole Position
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: WA
Posts: 398
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
2 years and still no parts. If i didnt stumble into this thread i would never have been able to get their email address that they actually reply to. i finally got a hold of them. screw the parts, i want my money back.