Anyone on here from Sparks Toyota want to hit me up before I put your parts department on blast?

I read your thread..
I get it you are pissed.
Life is too short to sweat this small time bullshit..

If you aren't happy with the way Sparks did/does business, then move on.
Crying about it here is not going to get you the eBay price you seek.

I've had sellers do the same thing in my 20 years on eBay.
I took my business to another seller..

As @dittothat suggested, buy from TOCS since he is open again.
I've bought over $7K in parts from @Roman without an issue.

Shop OEM Toyota Parts & Accessories | Toyota of Cool Springs vParts

 

Full disclosure, I have never ordered from Sparks or Toyota and have no dog in this fight.

But, I have more involvement with drop ship 3p sellers than I really should.

My guess, from skimming the above, is that Sparks is a drop ship seller for Toyota for some to all of their parts (e.g. selling product they don’t own, and when it sells they order the product, and Toyota drop ships)… and when they placed the order they realized costs went up and were forced to cancel vs losing money.

If the eBay Sparks account has thousands of offers, it is almost guaranteed.

An example would be to go on any online gun dealer or gunbroker… that is most likely drop ship from the vendor and not owned inventory by the seller.

My two cents… OP has right to be mad but don’t throw anyone from Sparks under the bus. This has become, and will increasingly be, more common as inflation and supply chain woes continue.

Again, that is a guess, but I see similar in another category all the time.

 

^ I am 1lowlife and I approve this message...

 

I have only done business with Sparks for one item. They had it in stock, shipped fast and were cheaper than a lot of dealers. You say they had it listed for 80 dollars more after they canceled your order. Did you notice if it was available for sale? I had that happen once. Someone canceled my order because they "were out of stock". The price went up by around 300.00 so I called them out on it. He said that even thou the price went up it still wasn't available to buy in their ebay listing. It wasn't but I still wondered if they were just jacking me around.

 

It's 3:30 in the morning and I'm still waiting with baited anticipation. When will Sparks be going on blast?

 

Ebay is like an online flea market, a couple steps above the guys that used to sell speakers from the back of windowless vans. It's market economics, not command, don't like it, take your coin to a different windowless van.

Oh yea... and without screen captures, you might just be trolling us all. This thread sucks.

 

I'm hardly crying, just sharing because I did move on and purchase it somewhere else. and I agree, it's not worth it and I was just really pissed - I still think the way it was handled was shady as fuck. I am glad some experts on here let me know the market is bad right now though and inflation is a thing because that was very educational.

I am very glad Roman is back on here.

 

Typically would agree with you but it was Sparks ebay account - not some random person and part of the reason I asked. They could have said it wasn't their account for all I know.
I'm somewhat over it now - I'll change the thread title as it's not worth it but if you want screenshots DM me.

 

Kinda crazy how many members appear to be happily riding on this dealerships nuts.

Now I'm curious what kind of "kool-aid" these guys are sending along with the parts to illicit this kind of protection.

The retailer screwed up and forgot/neglected to update their pricing. Then they expect the customer to take the hit in order to fix their mistake?

This is shitty practice for ANY retailer, and especially bad for a retailer that apparently garners so much respect around here.

Must be some good kool-aid. Drink up fellas!

 

Why would you talk all that shit and then tease the dirt in DMs? If someone/something screwed you over, share the proof, because it helps others. That's why we all come here. Well... most of us anyway.

 

Mistakes happen and we should understand that. With all the items they have, Im sure they make a mistake here and there (like we all do). In my line of business, prices are constantly changing with supplies day to day and we have to pass the additional cost onto the consumer. Not to mention the supply chain which has been a pita. Its unfortunate this happened but businesses are there to make money.

 

They do it enough and word gets out, less people will purchase from them... and they will make less money.

Business need to do the right thing by their customers (the people bringing the money) and hire the right people to keep their reputation and customer base.

I know times are rough, but I still can't get behind shitty customer service and shady, ass-covering tactics.

 

Made me laugh out loud!

 

I agree. I’ve noticed there is quite a few retailers/vendors on this site that can NEVER do wrong. There’s A LOT of kool-aid drinking going on here lol.

 

I had a MUCH worse experience with Cool Springs, but it wasn’t with their parts dept. PM me if interested. I won’t derail this thread with it.

 

Yeah, better to get bees with honey than flies to shit.

I was going to post something to the OP earlier but I forgot to. Many find it too easy to take to social media and the public forums to voice concerns or to post their dissatisfaction about a business. I find the better approach to just call them and leave my grievances off the internet...

 

Sorry, this has happened to you. But I do believe an eBay seller has the option to do this. Price changes happen ALL the time. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it is out of your control.

 

For what it's worth, I'm not on anyone's nuts. My sole point was that I'm not sure the entire department/dealership are jerks - it might have been limited to just one guy hiding behind "Well, this rule here says I can do this...", which is why I'd personally call the dealership before blasting.

But yeah, either way, I'd likely take my business elsewhere anyways, and if it WAS the entire department/dealership, I'd blast 'em.

 

Well, I WILL say that I've indeed gone to social media and blasted people before, inline with what I outlined above.

A good example - my father passed away in 2019 January. I went to pay off his phone and cancel his # (and believe me...that was one hell of a lot tougher than I thought it'd be, emotionally). I was informed that when someone passes away like that, the whole BOGO deal (mom and dad both got one) is paid off.

Fast forward to a month later, when they reneged on the deal....and corporate (the # you call to talk to AT&T customer support) backed her up, though they had nothing in writing, and I did, in fact.

After 2 to 3 weeks of getting nowhere, I emailed the office of the VP of AT&T, and very calmly outlined what happened; and explained I wasn't on the take, and didn't want any special treatment other than for them to stick to their word.

Not even 4 hours go by and I get a call from the secretary of one of the VPs. Turns out the guy knew my Dad (he was a high level manager at AT&T). They paid off all of our phones and our phone bill for the next 3 months, and told me "You take care of your mom." Not ashamed to admit I broke down a bit on the phone.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED talk. LOL