Pay for parts up front?

[Prowler_Doug]

I lost an awning this summer in a bad storm. My insurance is paying for it less my deductible. The repair shop wants me to pay for the awning up front before they'll order it. Is this a common practice? I manage a auto body shop and we always pay for parts and collect when the job is complete. just seems strange.

[jwmII]

IDman wrote:
I had to replace our awning this summer and I used my mobile repair man. He came and measured, made the install appt. withg me for the next week, and came back with the awning at the appt. time. He installed it, I paid him THEN, and we were all happy!

If the small business mobile repair guy can order it without payment, CW certainly should!!!

Really. Camping World in the best interests of running a for profit operation SHOULD NOT. Camping World could probably order a thousand awnings and pay for them. Why should they? They probably don't know you or the guy making the purchase. Why should any business regardless of size give away their profits that way?

[Nomad297_]

Prowler Doug wrote:
Thank you for all the replies to this post. As usual this website is very helpful. I ended up using a small independent RV repair shop fairly close to here. They asked for nothing up front and I have an appointment in 2 weeks to have the awning replaced. Thanks again.

You are a very smart man. You never would have received service like that from Camping World.

Bruce

[bob_nestor]

Prowler Doug wrote:
Thank you for all the replies to this post. As usual this website is very helpful. I ended up using a small independent RV repair shop fairly close to here. They asked for nothing up front and I have an appointment in 2 weeks to have the awning replaced. Thanks again.

You've answered your own question why they asked for money up front for special order parts. Had they ordered them for you without you having any "skin in the game" you could have gone off and possibly found what you thought was a better deal and left them holding the bag on the parts they'd ordered for you.

[Nomad297_]

The reason they want your money now IS because they are Camping World. They know they won't get your parts ordered in a timely fashion and they know for sure that they won't get the job done until three months after the awning supplier has shipped the awning to them. They don't want to have the burden of carrying the cost of your awning until they eventually get around to installing it.

I would NEVER use Camping World for an awning replacement. NEVER!

Bruce

[Bigdog]

Another thing to take into account is the amount of your deductible. If you have a $1,000 - $2,000 ded, they are surely going to want a deposit or in full up front.
My late BIL had $1,000 ded on his car to save on his insurance costs and had an accident and was really upset about having to pay up front when his insurance was paying for it. Oh sure, the parts were $1,700 with a $1,000 ded.

[Prowler_Doug]

Thank you for all the replies to this post. As usual this website is very helpful. I ended up using a small independent RV repair shop fairly close to here. They asked for nothing up front and I have an appointment in 2 weeks to have the awning replaced. Thanks again.

[JALLEN4]

I once bought a dealership that included a $400,000 parts inventory. In the dealership business, parts inventories are owned outright and represent real cash. An analysis of the inventory revealed a very low turn-over rate and a high percentage of parts with no sales in 12 months. A properly managed $150,000 inventory would have been more effective than the $400,000 they had.

When we looked further, we found the parts manager ordered "special-order" parts with no control on them and had very poor follow up procedures to get the customers back in the door to pick them up. Returning parts is a very expensive process and many of them are non-returnable to begin with. If even 10% of special order parts are never used, you will soon have a major parts inventory problem. We instituted the proper controls, including paying for special orders, and soon corrected the on-going problem.

Many owner's simply don't understand their parts inventory since they came from the sales end of the business. They allow their parts manager to be the "nice guy" and take the easy way out. They will suffer the monetary consequences.

I really do not know why so many responders on here object to paying up-front. They put the cost on a credit card and can challenge the charge if the part never arrives. On the other hand, if they order the part out of convenience and then start shopping for a better price, shame on them and their ethics. Find the better price and then order.

[majorgator]

IDman wrote:

If the small business mobile repair guy can order it without payment, CW certainly should!!!

Let's all stop and take a deep breath...
Keep in mind that CW is an exceedingly successful business. Consider that before questioning their policies. Anyone who has an issue with this should immediately STOP making online purchases.

My business, my money, my rules. Don't like it, go somewhere else.

[mich800]

IDman wrote:
I had to replace our awning this summer and I used my mobile repair man. He came and measured, made the install appt. withg me for the next week, and came back with the awning at the appt. time. He installed it, I paid him THEN, and we were all happy!

If the small business mobile repair guy can order it without payment, CW certainly should!!!

Maybe. But maybe this mobile repair guy was never stung by a custom order that he had to eat. Maybe competition is strong enough in the area that he needs to do whatever it takes to get the job. Maybe his policy changes if this happens to him and he does the next 3 jobs for zero profit to eat one bad debt. There are many reasons why a business implements the policies they have. Just because a company is a big player does not mean they can ignore sound credit policies that mitigate their risks without turning away too many customers.

[IDman]

I had to replace our awning this summer and I used my mobile repair man. He came and measured, made the install appt. withg me for the next week, and came back with the awning at the appt. time. He installed it, I paid him THEN, and we were all happy!

If the small business mobile repair guy can order it without payment, CW certainly should!!!

[Bobbo]

At most, I would pay 50% up front.

[Bird_Freak]

Alabama Jim wrote:
Must be a small dealer if they want payment upfront. If they won't accept a deposit of some smaller amount you may want to find another dealer.

I don't think CW is a small dealer but as a repair shop myself I would still want to be paid upfront for special order parts unless the vehicle was on my lot waiting for parts.

[FlatBroke]

I was a farm equipment parts manager. If they had an account I just ordered the special order the part. No account I put it on a pending charge card. When parts came in I called them to let them know their part was in. If it wasn't picked up in a couple of weeks they got another call. Still not picked up the part was billed to them and an invoice attached to the part. You would be surprised the amount of parts that would get paid for and still not picked up. Those parts were returned to the manufacture with a 20-50% surcharge. Some were not returnable.

[Alabama_Jim]

Must be a small dealer if they want payment upfront. If they won't accept a deposit of some smaller amount you may want to find another dealer.