Ordered from Fab9
 

Has anyone ordered from Fab9 recently? I ordered over $2k in parts 2 weeks ago and have had no movement on any of it. Their site just says "awaiting fulfillment". Ive emailed them twice asking for an update and they won't respond. They were sure quick to respond before I made the order when I asked of they had everything on stock though. Going to wait a few more days and then file a dispute with PayPal.

I'd say you should have asked that question before placing the order. This is just the next verse of a well-sung song.

I haven't personally had issues with them, but they have had a significant amount of issues regarding communication and large order wait times in the last year or so. They seem to be great people from all the interactions I've seen, and the issues all have been claimed to come from understaffing, but I would have expected solutions on their end by now.

If you ordered a Kraken kit, check their Instagram. They occasionally post updates about stock on there since they are always back-ordered.

I had acouple 2-3k orders with them this year. Usually Took 1-2 months each time. Whenever I emailed them, seemed like it just got lost and never really heard back. The only way I could really get ahold of them was by calling them.

From my experience, seems like they want all of the items from the order, 'in house' before they ship it out. So if they have 7 out of the 8 items. They're gonna wait for the 8th item before shipping out the order. Also sometimes when they say "We have it in stock". That doesn't necessarily mean they have it in stock, they might mean their suppliers have it in stock, and it still needs to be shipped to them before it ships to you.

I wouldn't open a dispute yet. Call them instead of emailing to get your updates. I pretty much called every week to get an update.

Personally I think they're good people, although I don't think I'd be making any big orders from them again, maybe on certain items, but their service isn't the best.

I have an order lost coming from them right now through USPS, but I really think the issue is on the end of USPS and how completely overloaded they are this year... luckily this order is less than $100 and nothing I critically need right now. The only issue ive ever had with them (and I bought most of my engine build through them) is that they don't use packing slips of any kind and I have received orders in multiple boxes that arrive at different times with no tracking numbers, so I would get one and think that 1/3 of my order just wasnt fulfilled and ended up having them on speed dial for about a month. They have ALWAYS made good on orders and even worked with me when I ordered a head gasket I didn't end up wanting to use and refunded it like a month after I received it even though that was totally my mistake and they weren't responsible for the mistake. Things like that keep me coming back, even with the occasional shipping headache

All shipping companies have been bogged down or nearly overloaded since March. Now throw in Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas and everything is going to take longer not to mention the surge in COVID-19 infections. I'm an USPS Letter Carrier and even though I've been on vacation the last two weeks, my replacement carrier has texted to tell me they are working 12+ hours 6-7 days a week. 8 hour desired carriers are working 9.5-10+. Most everybody is being forced to work 6 days a week, newest carriers are working 7 days for 80 hr/weeks in my area. We are short staffed before any C19 absences.

JMatt, have patience. Two weeks is nothing and you likely have at least 180 days if not more to dispute depending on your payment choice. Call and email a few more times but every business is struggling to keep up. Flyin' Miata had an email lead time of 4-5 weeks for non-priority messages. They've improved but if you don't get any email/phone response in another week or two, and don't get any shipping, tracking information update, try sending one last URGENT email.

That's my plan for this Monday as well as another phone call or two. I shipped my Hydra Nemesis 2.6 computer to Nemesis EMS's repair/upgrade person and they will have had it for TEN weeks. I have until March 29th to file a PayPal claim and escalate it to a dispute but it's VERY annoying being ghosted. It's already been 5 weeks since my first call and email asking when I can expect my upgraded, Nemesis 2.7 computer back. Now I hear another Miata owner has been screwed over by them this year so it's likely headed towards a dispute by the end of the week. Have patience, realize this year SUCKS for everybody, but don't let your dispute window close.

I've purchased parts from just about every Miata vendor there is, and the takeaway has been that if it is a Miata-specific part, make sure to order a few months before you need it. Generic things like fuel injectors or a water pump sit on the shelf and are pretty easy and come quickly, but most vendors are small shops and it is not easy to make a complex, low volume part like a manifold or machined adapter at a price anyone is willing to pay. And stocking large quantities of expensive parts like those is a lot of capital tied up. My Fab9 order took a while, but they always answered the phone when I called, and explained where the parts were and what the timeline should be. Definitely not my worst experience.

I ordered a Kraken hotside kit from them, had the same experience you have had. I needed to call them and stay on their case in order to get any sort of information from them. Took about 3 months from order placement to me receiving them. I found they drop ship from many places, and will wait until a large batch of orders accumulates for items before even placing an order with their suppliers.

Unless it is kraken specific parts, order direct from the vendors that supply them.
I think they are very helpful and nice people but may not have the best business practices.

Just my 2 cents

People who have been physically to Brian's place say fab9 stocks no parts ever. If he tells you it is in stock then he is lying. He will stare you right in the face and smile and be polite and lie to you. He has done it to me. He has sold multiple people open box returns and used parts as new. He has done it to me.

I don't think he understands that you don't have to lie about having everything in stock to have people do business with you. If you are always honest with people about how long it takes to get things and where things are then you don't have to hide from people when you have an order. If every word out of your mouth is the truth then people will trust you and will come back to you, even if the news isn't quite as rosy as you would like it to be.

If you buy anything from him you are asking for trouble.

Just do a charge back now and save your time.

Fab9 sucks.

Fab9 sucks. Avoid.

I will call them on Monday and see what they have to say before I dispute with PayPal.

I have seen some of the other posts.about staying away from them, but they had such better prices (especially on black Friday) that I gave it a shot anyway. I guess I should have listened.

The problem really is the lack of communication. If they told me or responded to my emails saying they are backlogged or some of the parts are on backorder i would be ok with it. right now i kinda feel like they stole my money and ran.

Any update on this? Curious'

Yes! Bryan emailed me back an apologized for the delay. He said they were just waiting for the fluidamper to arrive to to them. He said they just shipped all of my items except the fluidamper. They gave me a tracking number 2 days ago but so far it says that the label has been printed but the shipment hasn't been picked up yet.

Hopefully it will arrive soon and everything will be as I ordered. Ive heard of some people saying they have received used parts. I hope that is not the case.

Same issue I had - the tracking number just said label created and then nothing happened. Took a couple of calls to sort my order out. I am really not sure why you guys are SO nice to vendors. They serve our community - we are grateful but they embarked on the entrepreneur journey of their own accord and said this is how I am going to pay my bills, not fund a hobby but my entire life. Just call - ask they give you a date by which this can be completed and if not, move to claim. It is ABSOLUTELY easy to create a label and send someone a tracking number.

Also - what Jesse said. This year has been tough for everyone in logistics. Freight has to move but the clogged supply chain arteries have continued to make it hard on everyone - from people mailing a ballot in to inbound commercial traffic from China for the retail season. Even then - no reason you cant make a point to give customers a real idea of lead time upfront and then set up a system to update them through the process as delays occur.

I bought some random crap from a volvo dealership/parts house 4 states over and the shipping label was created the same day I purchased everything and it was shipped out/picked up by UPS that afternoon. I don't mind if UPS takes their time due to all the craziness but I'd certainly make a stink if it never got shipped. I, personally, don't understand putting up with that kind of service when the products are readily available elsewhere. I wouldn't feel bad in the slightest disputing the charge and moving on to a business that actually values customer service ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

It's easy to print a label for parts that don't exist and just let it sit on the printer. Don't be a sucker.