Called Dennis, just on a whim... after all... the ad clearly said attachment bolts included.

Dennis figured that since they didn't ship with the kits, that "they must have been out of them" when they put the kits together and that I should go buy them from a hardware store.

I realize that they are fairly cheap bolts.

But I think that it sucks that they were shipped without them, that I paid for them, and that now I have to go find some on my own.

Not impressive.

I think that he should change his ebay ad to say "attachment bolts NOT included."

Learn something new everyday,

I guess he's a pr*ck.

I sent him an email because I felt that he should change his ad:

"Hi Dennis,

I just wanted to suggest that since your ad for this item clearly and boldly states that attachment bolts for the risers are included, but in reality the kits ship WITHOUT any attachment bolts at all... you should change the language to read attachment bolts NOT included so that guys who order kits know that they are gonna be SOL for bolts before they waste a week waiting for complete kits.
Not really about the money... but I am not at all happy that I am on my own to get bolts after your language was SO specific about the bolts being included, right down to a photo of the bolts that don't come.

Thanks.

Maybe a small issue to you. Not to me.

Instead of opening the box and finding the bolts that I PAID FOR... I have a new project hunting down bolts."

That was it. Nothing but a suggestion that he make the ebay ad match the actual items. And a simple statement that I wasn't happy. That was it.

His response:

"I am sorry you are so upset about some bolts that you didn't get. Life must be really challenging for you if you let something like this make you so unhappy! Most mechanics wouldn't find this small challenge worth sending an E-Mail...I guess you are quite a novice when it comes to working on any mechanical projects."

So... the guy is a public relations expert.

The point was not that having to go buy bolts because Dennis ripped me off was such a challenge.

The point was that people should advertise their items correctly.

So.... now I am a novice because this guy doesn't ship what he promises.

Its false advertisement, pure and simple. The least he could of done is send you the bolts.

Guess that will knock the positive feedback number down a few ticks...

Sorry to hear the response you got...Still hope the stuff you did get works out for you. Shouldn't cost you more than $20 for good stainless...And you'll be better off.

So I responded to Dennis:

"Dennis,

While I appreciate the fact that it's easier to insult someone than to take personal responsibility for an error...
This is not a mechanical issue. It is a customer service issue.

I simply suggested that you make the ad match what you sell.

I can live with the reputation that I was less than happy when you did not send the kits complete as advertised... as long as you can live with the reputation that you ship incomplete kits and then insult people when they suggest that you probably shouldn't advertise things that you don't ship.

If I have to be one of the people in this situation, I guess that I am ok being the guy who didn't like getting an incomplete order."

I didn't even complain to ebay....
thought it was a man to man kind of thing.

I felt that it was within my rights to express the opinion that he should make the ad match the actual product. That was it.

Didn't call him names.
Didn't threaten anything.
Didn't even call him dishonest.

I just suggested that the ad match the product. Period.

Apparently that was simply unacceptable.

If I was trying to be in business for more than the next month, I would have sent a guy his bolts two-day air if he let me know that he had not rec'd all that was promised in 899.90 worth of kits.

Whatever. Not that big of a deal.

It was actually a bigger deal that Dennis handled it so poorly than it was that the bolts were shorted from the kits.

I'm over it. But my Dennis Moore story is what it is.

He didn't deserve to be slammed over the shipping.

But he OWNS this crappy customer service and false advertising badge. He earned it.

In our business, I have used counter to counter at my expense ($100+) to ship in some cases a $2 part to keep a customer happy. Overnight would have probably been fine in this case.

I wasn't even sure that I was gonna use his bolts when I got ahold of him.
I just was curious how he would handle it. I had time to wait for ground.
Ground would have been fine.
Instead he told me to go to the hardware store to buy something that I had just bought from him, but didn't show up.

I am not very bummed over the bolts compared to the fact that I thought that I had found a good resource for future projects.

Instead I found one more guy who couldn't care less about his marine customers.

Being a small block guy who likes to do builds....
I actually thought about buying a copy of his book.

I've kind of chilled on that idea.

You reap what you sow in life.
I am pretty comfortable with what I have said to Dennis. I wasn't trying to be a hard azz at all.
I can only assume that if he has any wit about him he will have a moment later in the day when he says to himself "What was I thinking?"

I just ordered new manifold to block studs/nuts/washers from Go2Marine.com.

If they only send the studs, but short the nuts... do you think that they will ship them or tell me to go buy them locally?

My question is this:
Do these marine vendors think that we don't discuss them amongst ourselves?

Some must not at all...

I guess I am even happier that I bought Revolutions for mine. They even came with the bolts! Terry from Revolution also rapidly and politely answered all of the questions I had. Yes, they were more money, but that should not matter.

Another thing, I tend to work on these things either at night or on a weekend. If you are missing a part, you have to take time out of working on it and go buy it. On nights and weekends this is can be difficult or impossible. It can make a simple project turn into a nightmare.

We all don't have shops that have inventories of bolts and such that we can simply grab from a drawer.