Reviews of products and services - The Saab Site
Location
The Saab Site
310 Cannon Drive
Rock Hill, SC. 29730
http://www.thesaabsite.com/
Toll Free: 800-774-4496
Also doing business as
http://www.themercedessite.com/
What they do
Sell automotive parts.
Why I conducted business with them
To purchase a replacement oil cooler for my 2000 Saab 9-5 SE.
My experience
* * * Please read the follow-up at the bottom of this page * * *
The facts of my experience are this:
- I ordered a replacement oil cooler from The Saab Site.
- I was shipped the Cadillac Catera oil cooler instead of the proper Saab oil cooler.
- I was able to return the oil cooler to The Saab Site.
- The Saab Site refunded my purchase price.
Sounds like an honest mistake and a problem resolved. True.
But, along the way I ran into extreme difficulty contacting The Saab Site.
Business practices: To the best I could determine, a guy named Tony is the only employee at The Saab Site. He seems to be simultaneously working The Saab Site, The Volvo Site, The Mercedes Site, and BMW Automotive. Sounds like a great little set of online businesses. The parts I received were shipped directly from a Saab Dealer. It seems The Saab Site has a relationship with a number of dealers around the country and at least some of the parts are shipped directly from them (nothing inherently wrong with that).
Phone calls: When I made phone calls, they were nearly always answered by a machine. At times I would phone half a dozen times throughout the day only to have the call answered by the answering machine. At one point I figured they were avoiding my calls altogether (using caller ID) so I began blocking my caller ID. No change whatsoever…the calls kept getting answered by a machine. If I had to guess, I'd estimate 1 in 10 calls were answered by a human being. Big companies seem to be able to get away with automated phone systems, but even with them you can eventually get to a human being if you try hard enough. No such luck with The Saab Site - straight to machine.
Return phone calls: Honestly, I really don't mind an answering machine. Sure, it would be great if I always got a human to answer the phone on the first ring, but that just ain't going to happen. I understand that businesses, especially small businesses, need an inexpensive method of handling a sudden increase in call volume. Answering machines work well for this. What really frustrates me, though, is when the message I left on the answering machine is not returned. And that is exactly how The Saab Site treated my messages. I started by leaving a message, and then waiting a day, or two, or three, without any return call. Then I would call again and leave another message. No return call for days, if ever. Finally, I gave up altogether leaving messages. I would just continue to phone until I got someone to answer my call. To say I felt ignored after I spent over $400 is an gross understatement.
All in all, the entire process took over a month to resolve. Frustrated. Ignored. Mistreated. Those are the feelings The Saab Site brings to my mind.
Oh, one last thing, a couple weeks after my credit card had finally been credited, I received a return phone call from The Saab Site regarding one of the messages I had left from them well over a month prior.
Follow-up
Not long after I posted this review I received an email from Tony. He was very apologetic and mentioned they were working on a new phone system at the time I had placed my order. Seems that new phone system is now installed and the problems I experienced may be a thing of the past. I may give them another try.