96 replies to this topic

[pete l]

Both Mini Spares and Somerford have been good for me so far.

 

Not long had my mini but I have spent a lot of money with Minispares on body panels, their service is top notch and their packaging to protect the panels is second to none.

 

I also went to somerford in Calne while on holiday at my mothers and Pete behind the counter sold me some cheap front wheel bearings, telling me "we use them on our restoration cars". I went out and spoke to the guys that rework the minis and they said they only use timken bearings !!!

 

I have now decided to try and reuse as much of the original parts from my mini that I can.

[hazpalmer14]

I use minispares all the time generally. And buy genuine parts where possible, why should I buy something non gen at the sake of a couple if quid. When it turns up you don't know what the quaility is going to be like. If i can't get genuine then its minispares branded stuff that they have had remade.

[gazza82]

And with TMF+ you get 7.5% discount with MiniSpares .. what's not to like!

[blacktulip]

Great post and well presented, cheers.
 
I don't disagree with any of it.
 
However,,,,,,,,
 
I did run a Mini Business from circa 1980 to 1991 when I sold it (still going today under yet another owner).
 
One further thing I will add to the overall 'philosophy' of all these poor parts;-  I feel that the owners - yes us lot - also have played a part in this rubbish hitting the shelves of our retailers.
 
So, how are we in part to blame?  By only ever shopping on price. Because so many want / demand / will only pay as little as is possible, anything that was once of quality can't compete in the market place and so today, is gone.
 
I'll further add that there is always and has always been crooks and gangsters - that's present in any market, not just mini or car parts.
 
But, even if we all turned around tomorrow and bought on quality and looked at the price 2nd, the situation wouldn't change as it's so engrained and has been for a long time.
 
I guess it all comes down to supply and demand. If we demand cheap parts, then guess what, we'll be supplied with.

Moke you are spot on. People are just as to blame for demanding cheap prices. Here where I work (plumbing merchant) it's the same. People would buy a cheap £400 boiler rather than a £800 one that's from a better supplier, better developed and recommended from installers.

[whistler]

 

Great post and well presented, cheers.
 
I don't disagree with any of it.
 
However,,,,,,,,
 
I did run a Mini Business from circa 1980 to 1991 when I sold it (still going today under yet another owner).
 
One further thing I will add to the overall 'philosophy' of all these poor parts;-  I feel that the owners - yes us lot - also have played a part in this rubbish hitting the shelves of our retailers.
 
So, how are we in part to blame?  By only ever shopping on price. Because so many want / demand / will only pay as little as is possible, anything that was once of quality can't compete in the market place and so today, is gone.
 
I'll further add that there is always and has always been crooks and gangsters - that's present in any market, not just mini or car parts.
 
But, even if we all turned around tomorrow and bought on quality and looked at the price 2nd, the situation wouldn't change as it's so engrained and has been for a long time.
 
I guess it all comes down to supply and demand. If we demand cheap parts, then guess what, we'll be supplied with.

Moke you are spot on. People are just as to blame for demanding cheap prices. Here where I work (plumbing merchant) it's the same. People would buy a cheap £400 boiler rather than a £800 one that's from a better supplier, better developed and recommended from installers.

 

Just an add on to the Plumbers Merchant post. In France the copper pipe and unions are nearly twice as expensive as in the UK but they are the olden days quality and thickness. 

[tiger99]

You can try the several kit car suppliers or mainstream parts suppliers like Euro Car Parts for generic items and some Mini - specific bits. You may find a source of cheap body panels from a mainstream source if you Google around. Haven't got time now but I have seen it before. Can't guarantee that they are from one of what we know to be good manufacturers, but the prices were really low.

All I am saying is look around, there are people other than your usual supplier who "may" be better. If you find good quality parts elsewhere, please be sure to let us know.

[minitalia1275]

I have to say that I have rarely had any problems with parts supplied by any of the main players in the classic Mini industry, with one exception who I won't name at the moment.
But I never go for the cheapest if there is an option.
I do buy Mini Spares own stuff and apart from an oil pump problem many years ago I have had no real issues.
If anyone has a problem with a part from an established supplier then discuss it and if not satisfied with the response then come on here as we all need to know about it. So long as your report on here is factual there can be no adverse come-back
Let's name-and-shame when necessary.

I totally agree, I have also bought from Minispares since 1980, I have only had a couple of problems but they resolved them even though the (new and unused) items were no longer under guarantee.
There is obviously a lot of cheap rubbish on the market and the buyer is always looking for a bargain. Occasionally and unfortunately these items are also sold by the the Main Mini stores but from my experience, they are very helpful in resolving these issues.
Naming and shaming should only be done if we are also willing to praise them for the excellent service and parts supplied for 99% of the time.

[1984mini25]

And buy genuine parts where possible, why should I buy something non gen at the sake of a couple if quid. When it turns up you don't know what the quaility is going to be like.

 

That's all well and good, But I've recently bought a new wiper motor park switch (needed for mot) for £15 being advertised as being genuine Lucas with part numbers etc, from one of the mini suppliers on eBay. Only for it to arrive a few days later in a jiffy bag rapped up in blue roll and for it to be a half price cheaply made non-genuine copy. It works (for now) but that's one mini specialist to cross of the list.

[the.stroker]

And buy genuine parts where possible, why should I buy something non gen at the sake of a couple if quid. When it turns up you don't know what the quaility is going to be like.

 
That's all well and good, But I've recently bought a new wiper motor park switch (needed for mot) for £15 being advertised as being genuine Lucas with part numbers etc, from one of the mini suppliers on eBay. Only for it to arrive a few days later in a jiffy bag rapped up in blue roll and for it to be a half price cheaply made non-genuine copy. It works (for now) but that's one mini specialist to cross of the list.

If that's the case that's false advertising, and should be reported in accordance with eBay procedures, if things like this don't get reported there is nothing that can be done

[KernowCooper]

I've just had issues with a well know Brake Company who make Biased Brake Valves, when you make the concave end on the brake pipe and screw it into the brass adaptor there is only 2 threads done up and thats after compressing the copper pipe, the adaptors are simply not deep enough to allow more threads to be screwed in. I spoke to the company and he said I've sold loads of these and no ones mentioned it before ? My reply was in that case then there are a lot of cars going around with a serious problem on the hydraulics and a failure waiting to happen. I made new adaptors to over come the problem and sent drawings to the company of the product, not heard anything back as yet ? 2 weeks ago but I suspect nothings been done and there still selling the product as is ?

[Compdoc]

 

And buy genuine parts where possible, why should I buy something non gen at the sake of a couple if quid. When it turns up you don't know what the quaility is going to be like.

 

That's all well and good, But I've recently bought a new wiper motor park switch (needed for mot) for £15 being advertised as being genuine Lucas with part numbers etc, from one of the mini suppliers on eBay. Only for it to arrive a few days later in a jiffy bag rapped up in blue roll and for it to be a half price cheaply made non-genuine copy. It works (for now) but that's one mini specialist to cross of the list.

 

That really is bad service. In fact bordering on criminal. No doubt this supplier is busy using even more blue roll to to protect his Chinese made parts in transit and making a good living out of it. In fact there is probably a TMF member right now just about to hit the "Buy Now" button to order another of this suppliers poorly made parts.

What I find almost as despicable, is the posts on here that cry about the bad service or poorly made parts they have received, but are not prepared to tell the rest of us WHO THAT SUPPLIER IS!

[lewBlew]

I'm so happy (as it were) that someone else noticed the squashy windscreen wiper spindle rubbers. I thought I was going mad when all they did was squish up and bounce over the nut which is supposed to be holding them down. Who on earth specs this, and who on earth gets away with selling them? This was an Ebay purchase by the way. Went to Minispares to get the proper ones.

[jonlad]

Montpelier van man was there ever a response to your complaints to aforementioned supplier?

 

I'm eager not to spend my hard earned cash on rubbish, please let us know the outcome.

 

And thanks to everybody else for recommending the worthy suppliers, I too have had good service from MiniSpares and Bull Motif

[paulrockliffe]

There's another issue here that's not been mentioned so far; it's so easy for anyone to sell stuff now that often you might as well buy the cheapest; there's always someone punting out the cheapest crap further and further up the price scale to catch those people that try to pay more to get quality.  as a result you can pay a lot more and end up with the cheap crap anyway, it's an absolute minefield, with no real answer other than buying on reputation.

 

But so few people will name the crap suppliers that it's impossible to know who is selling good stuff and who is chancing their arm charging the earth for cheap crap.

[tiger99]

That is the root of the problem! People MUST identify the culprits if progress is to be made. It is socially irresponsible to allow them to continue to defraud other people and in many cases put them at serious risk.