# Blasting Black Forest Industries



## starface111 (Feb 9, 2009)

I will never do business with Black Forest Industries ever again. They sold me the wrong part for my Beetle. They would not let me return the part without making me pay for shipping and charging me a 15% re-stock fee.
Buyer beware. They have horrible customer service and employ people who are complete liars.


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## deletedo1m (Jul 10, 2007)

Sorry for your bad experience. I have ordered stuff from them a few times and never had an issue.


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## jthomp (Jan 22, 2005)

Not saying they did or didn't do anything wrong, but there is always two sides to every story. Have you tried calling them back again, and talking rationally, two another employee? I have never ordered from them perosnally, but I have always heard good things about them... Good luck!


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## CodeMan (May 12, 2006)

starface111 said:


> They sold me the wrong part for my Beetle. They would not let me return the part without making me pay for shipping and charging me a 15% re-stock fee.
> Buyer beware.


Are you sure *you* didn't *buy* the wrong part for your Beetle?

Did you read their return policy?

'Buyer beware' should be common practice when purchasing anything over the internet. It sounds like you didn't do your homework.


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## tSoG-84bit (Mar 2, 2007)

CodeMan said:


> Are you sure *you* didn't *buy* the wrong part for your Beetle?
> 
> Did you read their return policy?
> 
> 'Buyer beware' should be common practice when purchasing anything over the internet. It sounds like you didn't do your homework.


they have a reputation of shipping the wrong parts. they have a reputation of treating their customers poorly once they received payment. they have a reputation for getting these threads to disappear. 

I give this thread a day before it's in the black hole.


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## starface111 (Feb 9, 2009)

*Caveat emptor*

After 10 days of not hearing back from BFI, I gave them a call today. The rep took the time to listen and understand my situation (he was aware of these posts.) We came to an agreement that I am not 100% satisfied with. I guess I will just have to deal with that. 
I am still waiting for a confirmation email about the conversation that took place today. They must be too busy.


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## vento86 (Oct 13, 2008)

mjm is stoopid too:thumbup:


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## [email protected] (Mar 25, 2005)

I sent an email to your address immediately after speaking with you yesterday. I can forward it to you again if you would like. You also agreed to the conditions we discussed, and admitted that the part would in fact have fit your car. You are welcome to return the part to us, as we agreed for a full refund.


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## jthomp (Jan 22, 2005)

I would love to know the whole story to this.. Sounds like BFI is doing their part to make the customer happy.


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## Corrado_ryno (Nov 13, 2010)

BFI, and MJM are great part stores! Most of the complaints are customers own ignorance, misunderstanding, or just plain dumb ****s! 

Thumbs up to both BFI and MJM! I will continue to do business with both!


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## PSU (May 15, 2004)

I ordered wheel spacers from them... they shipped me the wrong spacers and ended up shipping me someone else's boost gauge.

Long story short, I had the correct spacers in a day and they paid me to ship the guy his boost gauge. 

People aren't perfect. Mistakes happen.

I'd buy from again.


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

BFI killed my grandmother and MJM ate my dog.


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## PSU (May 15, 2004)

wantacad said:


> BFI killed my grandmother and MJM ate my dog.


Sorry to hear that.


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## vento86 (Oct 13, 2008)

wantacad said:


> BFI killed my grandmother and MJM ate my dog.


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## aoj2108 (Sep 12, 2003)

wantacad said:


> BFI killed my grandmother and MJM ate my dog.


Condolences to your dog


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## Mr.Tan (Jun 9, 2004)

ordered a c-pillar bar from them a few years ago, got the part right away and had no problems. Also have emailed them numerous times with questions and received answers right away with indepth details. 

:thumbup: to BFI


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## blampl (Oct 22, 2009)

Glad to hear that I am not the only one who is totally apaulled by them. Last year I purchased a pair of smoked e codes from them. When they arrived one of the adapters was missing. Think I could get in touch with them? Of course not. Later I also realized that my beam adjustment problems were due to what appears to be a broken adjuster. I tried to get in touch them. Did I get a response. Of course not. They do seem to produce a lot of good stuff for VW's, but I will never purchase another item from them again.


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## Righteous Bucks (May 9, 2011)

egads, how do i even begin to consider buying a few hundred dollars worth of BBS parts from them if this is how they do business.

on a more appalling note i did notice in my searches that advertiser complaints seem to get black holed. i know a guy in Chicago who got defrauded by Autobarn, and everything he posted was wiped clean off the vortex. Strange bed fellows i guess.


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## Jagdtiger (Mar 23, 2011)

I ordered a motor mount from them on Sunday and it was not shipped out until yesterday(Thursday) and I believe they only do ground shipping. How does it take four days to pull a commonly ordered part and put it in a box. They have a good selection of parts and the website is well designed and looks professional, but 8 or 9 days to get a mount? Car is taking up needed space in the shop and still has to be put together once the mount comes in.


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

Jagdtiger said:


> I ordered a motor mount from them on Sunday and it was not shipped out until yesterday(Thursday) and I believe they only do ground shipping. How does it take four days to pull a commonly ordered part and put it in a box. They have a good selection of parts and the website is well designed and looks professional, but 8 or 9 days to get a mount? Car is taking up needed space in the shop and still has to be put together once the mount comes in.


As for you parents about "sending away" Suddenly 9 days to get something won't feel so bad.


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## whit_yo (Oct 6, 2010)

mistakes happen. it seems to me they're trying to help as much as possible


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## CodeMan (May 12, 2006)

Jagdtiger said:


> I ordered a motor mount from them on Sunday and it was not shipped out until yesterday(Thursday) and I believe they only do ground shipping. How does it take four days to pull a commonly ordered part and put it in a box. They have a good selection of parts and the website is well designed and looks professional, but 8 or 9 days to get a mount? Car is taking up needed space in the shop and still has to be put together once the mount comes in.


8-9 days?

hugemanatee.jpg

:facepalm:


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## deletedo1m (Jul 10, 2007)

As far as I know, some of their mounts are cut to order and aren't just sitting on a shelf waiting to be put in a box and sent out. I have ordered stuff from them a few times and have never had a problem. If in the event they do make a mistake, so do you sometimes. Nobody is perfect.


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## Righteous Bucks (May 9, 2011)

everyone is taking up for them, mistakes happen, people are human, etc.

it seems the more you read about them, the more the norm is long delivery time, and mistakes.

as for the motor mount, if it's not a ready to ship item, do they state so in the product description?

a little communication on your company website makes customers understand a helluva lot more.

unfort it's the day of the internet, which is supposed to make things "faster", people order something, and pretty much expect it shipped that day unless stated so.

well, my expectations are such, that, if i order before noon (vendor time) i pretty much think you can ship it unless explained otherwise. which is why it says "IN STOCK" on most websites near the product description.

i worked at a professional camera shop with professional photographers who expected us to perform at a high level, if they ordered a rental, an item, or someone bought from us on ebay, i shipped it that day. no questions asked. if i didn't, i CALLED THE CUSTOMER. or emailed them. this was 2000/2001. they appreciated it and were understanding provided i had a good explanation. our last UPS pick up was 4:00pm.

it's not that hard. 

i refuse to order from BFI now b/c i've read 2 things:
1. they are unreliable.
2. their bolts are crap and break, and they blamed it on operator error even though the guy used a torque wrench to specs. i mean cmon.

oh and we are in a depression/recession, if they can afford to piss off customers, ok, roger that. np sending my money to an overseas vendor.


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## novacircuit (Aug 24, 2009)

Righteous Bucks said:


> everyone is taking up for them, mistakes happen, people are human, etc.
> 
> it seems the more you read about them, the more the norm is long delivery time, and mistakes.
> 
> ...


What about the hundreds of orders that are delivered without any problems? You don't hear about them because noone is going to post a thread that says "got my stuff delivered from bfi on time today!" These are one in a million so chill out.


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## i8apylon (Mar 11, 2006)

I have ordered from them mult times. 
Quick to ship - good prices - no drama.
I didn't think to make a thread, though.


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## 08jettas (Jul 2, 2008)

I have ordered parts numerous times over a span of many years and have had no problems at all . :thumbup: to black forest !


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## Righteous Bucks (May 9, 2011)

novacircuit said:


> What about the hundreds of orders that are delivered without any problems? You don't hear about them because noone is going to post a thread that says "got my stuff delivered from bfi on time today!" These are one in a million so chill out.


i always love people who justify mistakes and waiting by saying "well, 95% success is good enough". "screw the other 5% of the customers"

well ok, fair enough, i'm not riled up about it, i really don't care either way, it's their business and they can run it how they want. free market rules.

as for saying people don't post about the successful transactions, well, i beg to differ, i've read plenty of classifieds on here where people state "good guy" "great business", etc. in fact i did so with Checkered Flag on their carrier bars b/c i want them to get more business b/c they have been great to me and are batting 1000.

i am one of the few that goes out of my way for good businesses and bad businesses. 

i've just chose to not do business with them for the way they themselves have handled the mistakes and blunders. if you like them, go right ahead and buy from them.:thumbup:


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## tSoG-84bit (Mar 2, 2007)

A satisfied customer will tell someone he knows.

An unsatisfied customer will tell everyone he has ever known.


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

tSoG-84bit said:


> A satisfied customer will tell someone he knows.
> 
> An unsatisfied customer will tell everyone he has ever known.


I'm not happy with your sammichs.


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## deletedo1m (Jul 10, 2007)

Righteous Bucks said:


> in fact i did so with Checkered Flag on their carrier bars b/c i want them to get more business b/c they have been great to me and are batting 1000.
> :thumbup:


So if you order from them again and you have a sub-par experience are you going to start a thread and bad mouth them? Even if they were batting 1000, but make one mistake, is that the sign of a bad business? Again, people make mistakes. You can either get over it or keep complaining. But don't think your complaining is getting back at them by people no longer buying from them that otherwise would.


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## tSoG-84bit (Mar 2, 2007)

wantacad said:


> I'm not happy with your sammichs.



 thems fightin words. 
show up to mk1 madness, and be sober enough sunday morning to come find me and you might get one, or you might get a tire iron to the face for pretending to be an unsatisfied customer, when you've never had a Soggy Sammich... 




deletedo1m said:


> So if you order from them again and you have a sub-par experience are you going to start a thread and bad mouth them? Even if they were batting 1000, but make one mistake, is that the sign of a bad business?


mistakes happen. how they are dealt w/ after the fact seems to be the major problem people have w/ bfi. 

order something, get the wrong something. call them up, and find out that you have to pay a restocking fee because they screwed up? :facepalm:


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

tSoG-84bit said:


> thems fightin words.
> show up to mk1 madness, and be sober enough sunday morning to come find me and you might get one, or you might get a tire iron to the face for pretending to be an unsatisfied customer, when you've never had a Soggy Sammich...
> 
> [ /QUOTE]
> ...


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## Jagdtiger (Mar 23, 2011)

"As for you parents about "sending away" Suddenly 9 days to get something won't feel so bad."

Lol I am 38 years old I well remember sending away for things and the 4-6 week wait thereafter. As for the motor mount it is going to another car. My car was taking up needed space at the shop so they picked up some poly and made a mount. I'm not pissed at BFI I just didn't expect it to take so long. They carry a lot of cool stuff so I can see ordering from them again as long as it's not a rush.


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

Jagdtiger said:


> "As for you parents about "sending away" Suddenly 9 days to get something won't feel so bad."
> 
> Lol I am 38 years old I well remember sending away for things and the 4-6 week wait thereafter. As for the motor mount it is going to another car. My car was taking up needed space at the shop so they picked up some poly and made a mount. I'm not pissed at BFI I just didn't expect it to take so long. They carry a lot of cool stuff so I can see ordering from them again as long as it's not a rush.


 :laugh:

yeah i know just busting balls here.. i get all antsy too when stuff isn't here in a week and I don't have a tracking number within 24 hours. T


then I remember being like 8 and just waiting weeks after weeks for the UPS man to stop by and cursing at him when he zoomed by.


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## RabbitsKin (Feb 12, 2003)

Positive bump from me. I've never had a problem with BFI, either ordering online or by phone. I've found their employees to be helpful and courteous, and their parts of high quality.


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## tSoG-84bit (Mar 2, 2007)

wantacad said:


> I actully was temped to fly out for Madness but backed out. I had not heard about the sunday Soggy Sammich at which time my decision was made...what could have been.


 Soggy sammiches are


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

tSoG-84bit said:


> Soggy sammiches are


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## tSoG-84bit (Mar 2, 2007)

wantacad said:


> work, **** got busy and I'm stuck for now. Had to give up Sowo too.


 july is still a long way away... and yeah, you heard me right. I usually only give away normal soggy sammiches, but 3-5 dollars of bacon per sammich. depends on market price.


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## FourEyes (Jun 11, 2010)

It seems to me like all these part store bashing threads actually attract praise. From what I hear it's either the customers fault or it can be easily and graciously resolved by the company. 

I don't have personal experience but I know i definitely plan on ordering with both MJM and BFI. :thumbup:


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## skrudumra (Aug 12, 2010)

Man... I'm checking out BFI's site now. They seem to exactly the parts that I've searched night and day for Mk IV Jetta. Great prices too! Thanks for the tip.:laugh:


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## wantacad (Apr 4, 2003)

skrudumra said:


> Man... I'm checking out BFI's site now. *They seem to exactly the parts that I've searched night and day for Mk IV Jetta*. Great prices too! Thanks for the tip.:laugh:


 
So how much are they paying you to say this? or Did they just start creating random accounts to boost their rep in threads like these?


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## blampl (Oct 22, 2009)

My issue with BFI was the lack of response (that is a big zero times!) and the multiple problems with the headlight assembly (missing harness and broken mounting) that I purchased. It seems that they are producing and supplying products that we are interested in. I just wish the customer service part was up to par. Customer service will always be as important as the quality of products supplied. In my experience they failed with both. I will take my business elsewhere.


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## [email protected] (Mar 25, 2005)

Blamp- We apologize if we have not been responsive. We have had issues with both our phone system as well as our email where sometimes messages are missed. We are always here 10-6 Monday through Friday and we pride ourselves in being responsive assuming the messages get through to us.

Additionally this is a very busy time of year what with all of the shows going on (Waterfest H20 and our own 10 Year Anniversary- and Oktoberfest) 

We realize that is no excuse to let other customers fall by the wayside- and in your case we should not have shipped you the lights without the harness (which are now on the way to you). The added strain of shows make us question if it is even worth the potential negatives caused by attending.

We are doing our very best to increase efficiency with shipping. We have implemented our own internal bar code system, which should help to eliminate mis-pulled items.

We have hired a new warehouse employee as well to increase organization and prebox items items to ensure quality and accuracy.

Additionally we have hired a new inside sales person to help with customer service. Pete has been doing a fantastic job here and I think anyone who has spoken with him would attest to this.

These new expenses only cost us more money and are in place to ensure that we satisfy our existing customers and are around in the future to do more business. Ultimately mistakes will happen unfortunately but again we are here to fix them in that event. 

Keep in mind that we are still a small business, and not a giant superstore. We appreciate all of the support we receive and we do our very best to return the favor.


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## Righteous Bucks (May 9, 2011)

blampl said:


> My issue with BFI was the lack of response (that is a big zero times!) and the multiple problems with the headlight assembly (missing harness and broken mounting) that I purchased. It seems that they are producing and supplying products that we are interested in. I just wish the customer service part was up to par. Customer service will always be as important as the quality of products supplied. In my experience they failed with both. I will take my business elsewhere.


:thumbup:

recession going on, good time to support those businesses who support YOU. :thumbup:

only took them 3 months to respond here.:thumbdown:


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## dubwife8 (Aug 6, 2011)

tSoG-84bit said:


> A satisfied customer will tell someone he knows.
> 
> An unsatisfied customer will tell everyone he has ever known.


 True that


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## R32 802 (Sep 6, 2011)

Righteous Bucks said:


> oh and we are in a depression/recession, if they can afford to piss off customers, ok, roger that. *np sending my money to an overseas vendor*.


 Re-read that line to yourself a couple times. Do you realize the first part of that is because of the second part? 

I'd love to hear the whole story, but it appears that yet again someone ordered the wrong part and blames the vendor. 9 times out of 10, it's not that they were "sold" the wrong part- it's that they bought the wrong part. What would I know though, owning a parts distributorship?


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## Squirrel Nuts (Aug 25, 2010)

*FV-QR*

I'm sure theres more to this story.


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## [email protected] (Mar 25, 2005)

Righteous Bucks said:


> :thumbup:
> 
> recession going on, good time to support those businesses who support YOU. :thumbup:
> 
> only took them 3 months to respond here.:thumbdown:


 I actually responded long ago to address the initial post- this thread died and I was not aware it was resurrected. If you notice I actually brought it back to address the follow up issues. 

We are not trying to hide anything, deceive anyone, cheat or profit from the community 

We are as accessible as we can possibly be. We hold regular hours, answer our emails extremely promptly. We have an ever increasing staff of customer service individuals working multiple phone lines. We respond to PM, facebook, smoke signals, and even when hit on our pagers with a "911"


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## allyourboostarebelongtous (Jun 1, 2010)

As someone who works in retail, I second all of the 'mistakes happen' comments. It is impossible to guarantee that every employee will handle each situation in the proper way, the important part is that the retailer corrects the mistake/miscommunication. But, I can say from personal experience that the customer is not always right, in fact they're usually wrong, but we as retailers choose to make the situation right because that is good customer service, as well as just good business. I have had nothing but positive experiences with BFI, and I always enjoy their booths at shows. Hopefully people's trash talking will not discourage them from being an active part of the vw community.


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## Righteous Bucks (May 9, 2011)

R32 802 said:


> Re-read that line to yourself a couple times. Do you realize the first part of that is because of the second part?
> 
> I'd love to hear the whole story, but it appears that yet again someone ordered the wrong part and blames the vendor. 9 times out of 10, it's not that they were "sold" the wrong part- it's that they bought the wrong part. What would I know though, owning a parts distributorship?


 well --- if i have to choose between a genuine german part from a german vendor and a part from BFI that has been documented as inferior, it's not a hard choice. i paid the same price for the german bolts, and got them in 3 days LOL from germany via fedex and i didn't even pay extra for the fedex. 

they blamed the customer for poor assembly or implying he didn't know what he was doing -- which is a lame excuse out, the guy broke a few bolts, for christ's sake send him a few bolts for nothing. the guy wasn't asking for anything extraordinary. why was i going to subject myself to that? 

as for sending money overseas, oh well, look how many american buy japanese cars, etc. we don't tax foreign goods enough or at all. that's OUR fault.


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## Laser04 (May 25, 2006)

ok, you made your point. time to move on. 

It's not up to you any more, it's now up to the rest of us to decide whether or not we want to do business with them. You've clearly made your choice. we get it.


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## [email protected] (Mar 25, 2005)

Righteous Bucks said:


> well --- if i have to choose between a genuine german part from a german vendor and a part from BFI that has been documented as inferior, it's not a hard choice. i paid the same price for the german bolts, and got them in 3 days LOL from germany via fedex and i didn't even pay extra for the fedex.


 
It's funny you mention the quality of those "German" bolts. Up until recently we were getting all of our bolts from P&P (Pertsch & Partner). From the beginning until just recently. People had "trouble" installing "our" bolts but no problems installing their "superior" bolts which were in fact one in the same. 

Come to find out that P&P's superior "German" bolts are in fact not made in Germany after all. We now purchase those exact same bolts in large quantities from our new supplier who still supplies them. 

People are welcome to think what they would like but that is the absolute truth. Anyone purchasing from overseas is just paying more and waiting longer (assuming we have them in stock) for the exact same hardware. These are very specialized bolts and likely there is only one actual source. 

And regarding the particular customer who broke his bolts. We typically would handle that situation by replacing the bolts if it were a few- but if someone is over tightening 50 and snapping 50 or more bolt heads there's a better chance it's the installer. We have never heard of that issue before or since.


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## R32 802 (Sep 6, 2011)

I'm glad this thread came up, as I found a vendor that I WILL do business with that I didn't know about before. 
Breaking one bolt can happen but it's rare to get a defective bolt, but breaking several- you're doing something wrong.


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## VWRedux (Jun 3, 2009)

Oh geeeezzzz.... Who cares... sh*t happens all the time in the e-commerce world... Grow up! Just take your buisness elsewhere .... End thread. :wave:


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## DRBOOMVW (Sep 30, 2006)

Have ordered many things from BFI over the years and the ONLY time i have EVER had a problem with them was when i ordered the front control arms with poly bushings and ball joints mounted when they recieved the arms they attempted to instal the bushings but found out that they were cut to small, I waited almost 5 weeks for them to reorder the bushings and install them and send me the arms the whole time i was in contact with them about the arms and other items i was going to order from them. 
The whole crew down there is awesome never had a problem with them and you need to realize also that they have just moved into a new larger facility so they are still getting things arranged and to what i remember was before there latest move was that there whole warehouse was offsite so they may have been moving it all into the new building when you ordered the parts and goofs happen


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## Laser04 (May 25, 2006)

I'm srsly PMing a mod and getting this thread locked.


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## VWRedux (Jun 3, 2009)

Laser04 said:


> I'm srsly PMing a mod and getting this thread locked.










:laugh:


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## Laser04 (May 25, 2006)

VWRedux said:


> :laugh:


HAHAHAHA I really just felt like getting +1 on my post count... make that +2


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## xJOKERx (Apr 8, 2009)

In before Lock - BFI has my vote! Always courteous and never have had issues! 

by phone or by shipping parts for my car :thumbup:

eace:


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## deletedo1m (Jul 10, 2007)

They have always been good to me.


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## vento86 (Oct 13, 2008)

never ordered from bfi. so i really cant complain


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## deadendarmy993 (Mar 17, 2011)

never once had a problem through bfi. i mean one time they forgot a decal that was ordered but in return sent me the one left out and 2 freebies. cant coplain.


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## sharonb2010 (Jun 10, 2008)

das klakityklakk said:


> As someone who works in retail, I second all of the 'mistakes happen' comments. It is impossible to guarantee that every employee will handle each situation in the proper way, the important part is that the retailer corrects the mistake/miscommunication. But, I can say from personal experience that the customer is not always right, in fact they're usually wrong, but we as retailers choose to make the situation right because that is good customer service, as well as just good business. I have had nothing but positive experiences with BFI, and I always enjoy their booths at shows. Hopefully people's trash talking will not discourage them from being an active part of the vw community.


X2


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