Dorman price fixing

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Dorman auto parts now want to price fix their products that they should sell them at a certain minimum and therefore rockauto will stop selling dorman products in the future. I personally will only purchase from rockauto over other places even if it costs more with their shipping since they are really watching out for the consumer and standing up to Dorman.
I am quoting rockauto's newsletter:
http://www.rockauto.com/Newsletter/?a=NewsletterLinkEmail
"Dorman, a supplier to RockAuto for more than fifteen years, now demands all retailers sell at the same price (or higher) -- or not sell at all. The policy looks like an attempt to protect auto part chain stores and their "charge double what we paid" mark-ups, in the face of slowing sales and plunging stock prices.

RockAuto is an independent, family-owned retailer. We work hard to provide reliably low prices, on all the parts your car will ever need. Our customers depend on their vehicles to get to work, school and all the other places life takes them. We will not participate in any scheme to force consumers to pay higher prices.

Over the next few weeks, we will remove the affected Dorman parts from our catalog. Customers who purchased them in the past may obtain warranty replacements, if needed, through our Order Status & Returns page. We hope customers who need parts in the future will support us, and manufacturers who offer honest, affordable prices, by purchasing other brands."
 
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Originally Posted By: zvm77us
I personally will only purchase from rockauto over other places even if it costs more with their shipping since they are really watching out for the consumer and standing up to Dorman.


If you believe this to be true, that they watch out for the customer, you've obviously never had to deal with their customer service.

Last time I purchased from Rock Auto, I ordered a left and a right upper strut mount and had them shipped overnight. I needed them quickly. I received two right upper strut mounts. Totally, completely, and in no way my fault... 100% the fault of whoever was smoking doobies at the warehouse that day.

Rock Auto's response: We'll send you a new part when we see the incorrect part is being sent back to us by FedEx. I called and asked if they would please overnight me the correct part. Nope. The only way they did exchanges was waiting to see that FedEx received the part before a new one was shipped. I was forced to buy another of the correct part and pay for overnight shipping again. I asked if they'd reimburse the second overnight shipping charge. Also a nope.

Screw Rock Auto.

Amazon is cheaper and actually takes care of their customers when the warehouse screws up. I still want my $17.
 
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Screw Rock Auto.

Amazon is cheaper and actually takes care of their customers when the warehouse screws up.


Do you purchase your items on amazon after you used rockauto's vast catalog to find the correct items? If so ....
 
I have avoided Dorman products for years due to poor quality. I've had good luck most of the time with Rockauto although Amazon is sometimes cheaper. I like Rockauto because they usually give you a choice of several prices and manufacturers.
 
Originally Posted By: zvm77us

Do you purchase your items on amazon after you used rockauto's vast catalog to find the correct items? If so ....


Every single time. I just bought a pair of O2 sensors from Amazon after researching on Rock. It actually brings a slight smirk to my face to use their "vast catalog" and then not spend a dime with them.
 
Originally Posted By: zvm77us
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
Screw Rock Auto.

Amazon is cheaper and actually takes care of their customers when the warehouse screws up.


Do you purchase your items on amazon after you used rockauto's vast catalog to find the correct items? If so ....


What good is the catalog if they don't ship the part you order?
What sort of customer service makes the customer suffer all the consequences for a mistake made by the seller?

If the story is true, and we have no reason to believe otherwise, the RA catalog doesn't seem to be sufficient motivation to continue to do business with them if they are not going to make good on the order.

At the very least, they could have cross shipped the part. They had his CC# or however he paid, and included a FedEx or other return shipping document that could be affixed to the part.

Expecting the customer to wait until the part is returned before shipping another, and making the customer pay doesn't seem to be good service.

Because if I'm reading the account, that is what it seems RA expected.
 
I'm taking a guess a brick & mortar auto parts seller or two told Dorman to either implement strict MSRP pricing to all resellers or they would drop them and find some other company that could whip up making the replacement junk in China overnight. I guarantee you will see more and more of this in the future in the brick & mortar vs online war that is brewing.
 
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Lots of companies have MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) or MSP (Minimum Selling Price). It's due to Joe Bob in his garage buying something wholesale and selling it for $5 more... He just made $5 and didn't even have to handle it, the warehouse drop shipped it. Meanwhile, the local brick and mortar store, who is paying for all overhead has to make at least $25 just to keep the doors open along with paying wages. Then you have online companies who want to make a buck too being chased by Amazon who will match the lowest price out there, Joe Bob's.

I don't blame anyone for wanting to buy at the lowest possible price, I do, but Dorman has a huge customer base (and it's not you or I either), and if they want to stay in business, leveling the playing field is the right thing to do.

It's a free market and you can't price fix, no one can force Joe Bob, Amazon or even Rock Auto to sell it for higher, but Dorman, among many manufacturers, don't have to give them discounts off Jobber or WD so they can make the rest of your customer base hate selling your products. It's called strategic thinking and it will keep Dorman in business.
 
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Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer

If you believe this to be true, that they watch out for the customer, you've obviously never had to deal with their customer service....


Wow, your experience is the exact opposite of mine...
The last time I ordered from them, the plenum gasket they sent me had the wrong parts in a box with the right part number.
It wasn't a mis-pick on their part, but a mis-package from fel-pro.

Had to make a trip to the local oreilly to get the right one.

As soon as I emailed Rock Auto customer service, and explained the issue, they said they would issue a refund, and to hold on to the parts, as they "might" ask me to send them back.
They never did. I still have it
I got a PayPal notification of the refund within 2 hrs of their reply to my original email.
 
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Plot twist, Rock auto will come up with their own store brand that's Dorman but not Dorman but we all know it's Dorman.
wink.gif


Dorman's a reboxer anyway, right?
 
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I'm taking a guess a brick & mortar auto parts seller or two told Dorman to either implement strict MSRP pricing to all resellers or they would drop them and find some other company that could whip up making the replacement junk in China overnight..


They are doing it right now, anyway......

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Plot twist, Rock auto will come up with their own store brand that's Dorman but not Dorman but we all know it's Dorman.
wink.gif
Dorman's a reboxer anyway, right?


That's EXACTLY what I was thinking as I started reading this thread!
 
Originally Posted By: zvm77us
I personally will only purchase from rockauto over other places even if it costs more with their shipping since they are really watching out for the consumer and standing up to Dorman.


The discount code usually takes care of the shipping.
 
I purchased an OEM hitch for my 2017 cherokee from rockauto.

it was losely packaged in a giant wimpy cardboard singlewall box.

It arrived with holes all over and looked like it lost a battle with some transformers.
(dings and chips all over)

They just told me to keep it and refunded me.
 
Over the years I've ordered many parts from Rock, only once did I have a problem. It was on a fuel pump module for a Ram truck. It arrived broken, it must have been dropped at some point so I contacted them. All they wanted were pictures of the box and of the broken part. They shipped me another right away and told me I could dispose of the broken one, no problems.
 
DORMAN completely undermined their own brand. The last things I got from them where the same exact cheap Chinese stuff I could get off brand.

Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
zvm77us said:
I ordered a left and a right upper strut mount and had them shipped overnight. I needed them quickly.


Ya thats the problem. RA can't do quickly. They suck at it.
Fast,Good,Cheap. Pick only 2.
RA is unbeatable for stuff you don't need in a rush. If I need it kinda quickly I pay a few bux more for it on Amazon. If really quickly I am stuck with NAPA.

Brake hoses at NAPA.. 19.90. DORMAN hose is 4.44 at RA.
SKF Seal 9.99 at NAPA. 1.42 at RA.
"wholesaler close out" private label brake pads.. $5 on RA. They show up and they are WAGNER.
Rotors on RA for 19.99 that cost $54 everywhere else.

I have my cars registered on their mailing list so I get notified on closeouts on PN's that fit my rides. Great on stocking up on consumables or spare parts.
 
Originally Posted By: Ethan1
No one should be buying Dorman parts anyway
57.gif


Originally Posted By: 2strokeNorthstar
Dorman is junk. So long....


Yupyup. No Dorman stuff for me.

And yeah, I cross shop Amazon using RAs catalog. So what. If Im ordering several parts, I often am ordering from both, going with whoever is cheaper on a part by part basis. Or sometimes a part is cheaper on RA, but buying that part will add another warehouse and another $10 shipping fee, which neutralizes any savings 99.9% of the time, so Ill get it off Amazon. And no, the 5% off doesn't neutralize shipping when your order has to come from 3 or 4 warehouses.
 
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