The short version of this story is that I think I’m getting screwed by a company called Quantum Fuel Systems. I ordered a fuel pump for my Yamaha V Star last Thursday (who knew that carburetor bikes had fuel pumps?) with overnight delivery to be delivered on Friday. It never showed up and I’m starting to worry that it never will.
A little more detail on why this is so frustrating: I live in Chicago, my bike is in Michigan, I was in Michigan for work and had the chance to pick the bike up last week when I was there. And late on Wednesday night is when I discovered the problem with the fuel pump. Since my plan involved riding the bike back to Chicago, I pretty much needed it to be fixed or come up with another plan for getting home.
Thursday I started calling around to find a replacement fuel pump and came across the above company. An OEM pump was in the neighborhood of $300 while Quantum’s was $70 which seemed like a pretty slick deal even if I had to pay for overnight shipping (around $35). When I spoke to the sales guy on the phone, he assured me that they would ship that day and with overnight shipping it would arrive sometime on Friday. I provided my credit card information, shipping address (my buddy’s house), and my email address for tracking information.
I checked off and on the rest of the day but never received an email for tracking information. I didn’t think much of it, maybe they ship stuff at the end of the day so there’s nothing to send, maybe they forgot to send the update, who knows? I did see the payment pop up as pending on my online credit card statement so I had some confidence they wouldn’t be holding off on shipping due to a non-payment.
Friday, still no ship confirmation email. I leave work and head up to my buddy’s house. There’s a shipment from Amazon but nothing addressed to me. Fine, it’s early afternoon, maybe UPS hasn’t come yet. I check my email, nothing. I call Quantum for an update, voicemail. I leave a message and start taking the bike apart for when it comes.
I called a few more times getting voicemail each time with the outgoing message telling me to leave a message or to email the sales group. So I emailed the sales group and about an hour later I get the following response:
Racescort666, can you tell me the part number you ordered, your address, and
the exact year, make, and model of your bike or vehicle?
Thank you,
Quantum Fuel Systems
http://www.highflowfuel.com
sales@highfowfuel.com
1-818-574-FUELM-F 9am-6:30pm PST
I had already provided the address in the previous email but sure, if it makes things simpler, I’ll send those things again. No response and it was well within their operating hours.
So here I am, I ended up taking the train from Michigan back to Chicago. Disappointingly trudging through Union Station with my motorcycle helmet tucked under my arm like a loser. Presumably, the pump never shipped, in which case, I want my money back for the overnight shipping. If they’re out to screw people, I want the motoring community to know because that’s bullshit. We have enough frustrations with our vehicles that only occasionally work to have to deal with unscrupulous companies when we’re in a pinch.
Seriously, this fucked up my whole weekend. Thanks for reading, what are your thoughts?
UPDATE: I received shipping confirmation (USPS priority). I asked to be reimbursed for overnight shipping, we’ll see how it goes.
UPDATE 2: They will be refunding me for overnight shipping. This is really all that I can ask for except that my weekend was ruined. Still frustrating but I think all that can be reasonably requested has been done.