Again, let me preface this post by saying that I have nothing to do with Brandywine except for the fact that I have bought numerous parts from them costing thousands of dollars. As I said in a previous post, I have been completely satisfied with my dealings with Brandywine, and in particular Justin.

The thing I find most uphalling about this forum (and others) are threads like these. I have read and reread each and everyone's posts - some pro and some anti-Brandywine. I will reitirate what I said previously, I'm sure there are two sides to this story, but the bottomline here is a reputable company (IMO) is being trashed without any recourse to the posters.

Like you guys who did "research" on JDL175, I did some research of my own about Cory's "saga." It seems he has been considering a GT3 bumper since February 13, 2005 when he was asking questions about paint costs (there are numerous threads about this subject started by Cory since then). I don't know Cory, but unlike me, Cory seems like the type of guy that doesn't make decisions rashly, without careful consideration, and without speaking with numerous people.

Is it possible that after learning that the factory bumpers were not available worldwide, Cory was offered a OEM/replica instead? And, after driving to Brandywine to pickup said bumper, Cory frankly didn't like the quality and asked/received his money back? You guys decide.

 

some would call that marketing.

others would say its fraud and outright deciet.

the fine line has been crossed.

 

ESK,

I was never told till I got there is was non-factory and if you reviewed my prior-posts I did the research of fiberglass vs. plastic/poly and learned that fiberglass is not the way to go for a street car. Forget the fact that I had decided to go oem porsche factory (you should be able to find my posting on that months ago when you do your search). As someone who researches everything, don't you think if I was told it was aftermarket I would have asked what's it made of before I drove 200miles round trip. If I was told fiberglass, I wouldn't have bothered as I would have known right off the bat it was a knockoff. I even called a day or two before I went to pick it up to check that it was the right bumper.

The issue I really have that caused me to make the post was it seemed so much like "Bait and switch" since he spent about 1/2 hour while I was there and told him I wanted factory, "researching" if he could get me the real porsche bumper, but then tells me it's 2000 dollars, about $700 more than was agreed upon on the phone.

In sales that's bait and switch.

Then when I saw the ebay ad, I really got pissed about the whole thing (Justin has since revised his ad based upon the threads here and ppbb)

Nothing against you, I'm sure some people have had good luck with them, the point is it's luck. It should not be. They should treat all customers as if they need them and be honest and forthcoming. That's what my customers expect and that's how you get repeat business.

Cheers,
Corey

 

That thread with JDL175 is pretty sickening...

I had a vendor tell me a couple of weeks ago over the phone that there are a lot of usernames on these boards that other vendors have set up to pass mis-information about their products and competing products to help sell theirs....

With threads like that, I now believe that...

It really undermines the integrity of boards like this...

 

I've done business with Justin (not to the same degree that you have) and have been very satisfied. I also agree that there are two sides to every story and that misunderstandings occur every day. We've all had them, they're an unfortunate part of life.

What really galls me is the complete lack of INTEGRITY on the part of Justin as witnessed from his posts here and some of the other experiences that have been posted by numerous different people. His overzealous attempts to move the merchandise, including fraud, are appalling. If an employee of mine pulled these stunts, he/she would be terminated immediately. (He better hope that his manager doesn't find out what he's been up to...)

 

I too, didn't have the best buying experience form Justin from Brandywine.

1/2 year ago, I ordered my PSE and dash switch from him. I scheduled my install appointment with Andial (thursday) for the day following the scheduled arrival of the exhaust (wednesday).
The pakage arrived promptly on the day promised minus the switch (which I had paid for already).
I called Justin immediately. He replied that the switch was coming thursday for AM delivery since it was coming from the warehouse. He said "I personally set it out and you'll have it in the morning by 10:30 AM...I promise."
10:30AM comes and goes and I can not reschedule my appointment with Andial (at the time, it was a 3 week wait for extensive installs).
I call Justin again on the way to Andial and he doesn't offer me an apology or explanation, and just replies that I'll have it by friday.
I ask him if he's "100% sure" and he replies with utmost confidence since he is going to send it out "personally."
I give him the benefit of doubt as I tend to and guess what? no switch on friday.
Andial now will not release my car until them can test it out with the switch (understandable). Andial explains that they can get a switch for me, but not until monday!
I call Justin, who wouldn't accept my 3 calls on that friday.

Luckily LB Porsche has one in stock and I was able to pick up the car.

Followed up with Justin on 4 seperate occasions over 1.5 months to have him refund my $30 for the switch that I never got. 2 of the times, I said he did already.
Yeah, right...

Isn't about the money, but the principle. I later said F--- it, and swore I'd never buy anything from him again. never got my refund either...

 

If there are two sides to the story, I can't want to hear Justin's side. Come on Justin, tell 'em they're wrong!!!

 

ok i didn't want to pipe in but here goes. I called wanting to order a tech rollbar from them and they told me that they had one in stock and that i would have it in a few days since im only 100 miles away. so i give them my credit card number and waited a week, then two weeks. so i called and told them to just forget it ill get somewhere else.they told me no problem. well week 3 and 4 went by and i get my credit card bill and it has price of rollbar on it. so i call them and tell them that they charged me for something i didnt get. they say no problem we will refund your money. i say ok great thinking it was an honest mistake. week 5 comes by and theres a roll bar on my front porch from them. when i had already bought one form somewhere else. i called them up furious and tell them that i had cancelled this and that i didnt want the rollbar. i get the line you cant return a special ordered part. i then blow a fused and snap out telling that they told me it was in stock so how was it special order. then i get sorry no return on special orders click. next thing i heard was i dial tone. of course i was mad and i might have used a few in correct words. so being that it was 6 weeks after pruchase i called my creditcard company and told them what was going on they told me it was a little late to try and reverse the charges and since i did have the part that wouldnt be fair. they asked if i could work it out with the company that i bought it from. i figured i would just eat the cost of the bar and sell it when i could.

AS YOU SEE IN MY SIG. ROLLBAR FOR SELL REALLY CHEAP!

 

Doesn't surprise me the least.
That's why I try to buy everything with the Amex. They gots my back...

 

These threads are always interesting.

2 sides to the story? Perhaps.
Corey should have asked the guy(s) at Brandywine to specifically say "it is a genuine OEM GT3 front bumper". Car salesmen like to play on words like that "it's OEM quality" ... but it's just another knock-off, or "brand new parts" ... they're rebuilt. It shows a lot on ethics, if you ask me. It's not technically wrong, but that's misleading a customer ... and that does not deserve any business.

This being said, the prior threads are awesome. I understand Justin. I have dealt with myself earlier, and I was a great guy to do business with. You know , I paid myself quickly, even refunded myself within a few hours, I even got a great deal, as a seller and a buyer ... how often does that happen?
Pathetic.

You got burned, mate. Time to create a new username... or perhaps re-consider your business ethics?

 

 

If you look at my earlier posts, I did ask it if was a real porsche bumper.

If it wasn't I would have just waited. I had already been told the day before by "Jay" at Brandywine when checking up on my status for my order placed a month before, that there is no stock at porsche for this part right now and it might be a while. I said OK. Don't you think I was a little curious when miracusly one appeard available the next day for brandywine and a new party "Justin" started to be involved. I asked, trust me I asked, but in the end I'm glad I physically went there to pick it up instead of shipping it (My plan all along was to pickit up since it's a rather large box to go, otherwise I would have used Suncoast in Florida, whom I happily deal with all the time)

The point is I was the first to open my mouth about some shady practices, lucky for me I was an informed buyer and a person who does not suffer even the attempt of being made a fool of, because now there is plenty evidence this kind of stuff has happened in the past to other people and it was not isolated to my one purchase.

Cheers,
Corey

 

Holger - I use your quote only because it summarizes many of the comments made by other individuals.

So you guys are convinced Justin's guilty as charged? He should be fired based upon the allegations of few individuals? Where's the due process? I'm not a lawyer, but words like fraud seem awfully strong and border on slander. This appears to be a classic case of he said - she said, with a lot of piling on.

Regarding JDL175 (if this in fact Justin): In my opinion, the real mistake Justin made was not making posts under the screen name "Justin from Brandywine" or something like that. Brandywine Porsche is a Board Sponsor. This gives them/him the right to make posts to push or hype his products. Other Board Sponsors do it all the time.

 

Your right being a board sponsor does let him push his wares, but it does not give him the right to pretend to buy stuff from himself and post positive reviews of a non-existant sale.

I think that's what ticks people off...

 

I just want to deeply appolize to anyone that is offended by my earlier posts under this username. Please understand that I am not a chronic poster on these boards and honestly had no idea how to register a username as a board sponsor. In hindsight, I should have done my due dilgince and taken care of that immediately.

This being said, please look at my older posts and notice that they all revolve around a product that is being offered for a substantial discount or value to this community. I was trying to get the word spread about some awesome deals that could be had. I do understand how that can be viewed as misleading etc. That was never my intention. What is important here, is that this board was offered a notice of a special pricing sitsuation. The way it was offered was not something that I am proud of.......

I should not have posted in that way. I should have been very direct and accepted the retaliation for advertising directly on the board. I'm sure I would been chastised either way. But, my understanding of how these web boards work is very minimal. You will see that I have posted very few times overall.

I have learned alot from this sitsuation.

I feel that I and Brandywine have offered some great bargains over the past few years. This includes Excellence, EBay and many other advertising methods. We have contributed money towards the Porsche club, sponsored Porsche related events and offered parts for substantial discounts to the Porsche community. In addition to this we have participated in a national march of dimes campaign and many national charity auctions.

I have spent the past 5 years negotiating very large bulk purchases that enable the Porsche community to purchase certain parts at huge discounts. (Ex- Hardtops for $1500.00, 18" wheels sets for $1800.00 w/ tires and the latest litronics special of $1000.00) This is something I think that most of us can agree on.

I can tell you first hand that it is not easy to maintain a business that is so heavily based on large discounts, low availability and heavy advertising expenses. There is an extreme amount of pressure to meet everyone's expectations completely and then some. Although we try our best, there always will be human error, shipping damages and mispackages from Porsche and other suppliers. Each and everytime these things occur we do our very best to correct it quickly and at no expense to the customer.

This being said, I will not appologize to customers who are told that they are recieving an aftermarket bumper and unreasonable expectations of that part. I will not appologize to the customer who orders a light kit, installs the parts on thier car and sends us the used parts for a full refund. I will not appologize to the customer that recieves a damaged part and is offered a replacement or repair, and still chooses to post only the negatives only on a web board after we have replaced or repaired the item.

I will however accept responsibility for the things I make mistakes on and the things my employees make mistakes on. I suggest that if you have a concern that you contact us immediately via e-mail or phone before you tell the world how much we stink. I will do what is fair by you. If you still are not satisfied after that, there is probably something much more to the sitsuation than just our error.

I am bothered by the fact that the positive things I and Brandywine have done are overlooked when someone has a individual concern. These boards have become an excellent place to bash the vendors or even each other over what they did or didn't do. It seems that the crowd tends to lean towards the person starting the thread's view before they hear the whole story. I have seen people bashing each other's cars even. This to me seems very childish.

In the case of Mr. Cohen, I first learned of his concern on this board, which is truely unfair. I wish he mentioned something to me in person. He actually stated that it was not what he wanted and to keep the item on order right before he left. I would have offered him free shipping or an additional discount just to keep him as a customer. I work in a very customer service oriented manner overall, but I need to know when someone is angered or upset. I would have solved this problem right there on the spot had I known he was this upset with me.

Please look at Mr. Cohen's experience from my point of view. It does not make good business sense to order in a bumper for $1000.00 plus shipping, when you think there may be even the slightest chance of a cancellation. I am interested in building a large satisfied customer base. I am not interested in even the slightest chance of loosing money or a customer over what really is a tint gross margin.


Right now we have over 4000 customer on our mailorder customer list, and it is a shame that the very samll percentage of upset customers will acuse us of being unscrupulous or crooks. If you consider that less than .5% of our customers have had a negative experience, those are damn good ratios.

There is a heavy amount of dealer against dealer shopping that makes it even harder to offer low prices. It becomes almost impossible to offer products at lower prices beacuase of the time and money spent trying to earn a customer that is shopping solely on price. We want to earn the business of long tern loyal customers, like Erik. He knows that we will always be fair with him and generally doesn't shop for the best price. This is type of customer that we try to earn with every new phone call or e-mail.

I hope that this gives you some food for thought. I also hope that you can understand that I appologize for any confusion that came from the past posting sitsuation. It was never my intention to offend anyone. In the future you will not see posts from me on any web boards.....period. You can find our best pricing in Excellence magazine or on EBay. If there are any unusually special deals to be had, they will be loaded onto EBay immediately or sold locally.

Thanks to all of the customers that have used us in the past and will use us in the future.

Justin