While I always get my car serviced by Jim Russell at Hopkins Acura in Redwood City, I usually buy any pricey parts by mail with my NSX club discount. In the past, I have always used Neillo Acura, but I just had an experience which made me switch to Marin Acura. I wanted to share the info. My point is not to hurt Neillo Acura in any way, but I do want my fellow owners to have the benefit of the knowledge. Who knows -- this might even spur a change at Neillo.
First off, Neillo has dropped from a 30% club member discount to a 25% discount, and secondly they must have had some sort of fraud which they are reacting to in a way which has now made their ordering system really hard on the real customers. They now require that every order is followed up by a fax of your credit card (front and back) and drivers license (front and back), and achieving for me was even more of a pain than it sounds.
Quite aside from the security concerns of doing this (not just credit card fraud but potentially identity theft from this combination of documents being faxed), it is a real hassle. And they won't simply create a verified customer record you can use in the future -- you have to do this all over again each time. After they asked me to fax it a second time (the first one ended up across two pages somehow on their end) and then their fax machine wasn't picking up anymore so I couldn't (patience getting thin), I decided to give Marin Acura a call instead. I remembered Prime listing they had a club member discount too.
Marin Acura has the same 25% discount, likely for me the shipping will be better as they are closer to me, and they don't have a system which causes security concerns and burns up your afternoon time. You call, specify you order, give your credit card info, hang up -- done. I understand something must have happened at Neillo that changed their system, but when you are frustrating your real customers out of ordering, you may not be dealing with it correctly.
But what really surprised me was that the prices actually turned out to be significantly better at Marin. The front spoiler (the rubber part which gets scraped up) was 10% less, and the new passenger window switch (mine just quit, oddly) was 17% less. While it didn't add up to that much money on these parts, that sort of difference would be huge on larger ticket items, or simply over time. In fact, I think all the times I had been using Neillo for 30% off instead of earlier trying Marin Acura, I might have been actually paying more than Marin's parts at 25% off. Surprising, as I thought dealer prices were standardized.
I'll post again if there is any problem receiving my order, but for now I have a new parts source, and wanted to spread the word. Thanks Marin Acura!
Chip
First off, Neillo has dropped from a 30% club member discount to a 25% discount, and secondly they must have had some sort of fraud which they are reacting to in a way which has now made their ordering system really hard on the real customers. They now require that every order is followed up by a fax of your credit card (front and back) and drivers license (front and back), and achieving for me was even more of a pain than it sounds.
Quite aside from the security concerns of doing this (not just credit card fraud but potentially identity theft from this combination of documents being faxed), it is a real hassle. And they won't simply create a verified customer record you can use in the future -- you have to do this all over again each time. After they asked me to fax it a second time (the first one ended up across two pages somehow on their end) and then their fax machine wasn't picking up anymore so I couldn't (patience getting thin), I decided to give Marin Acura a call instead. I remembered Prime listing they had a club member discount too.
Marin Acura has the same 25% discount, likely for me the shipping will be better as they are closer to me, and they don't have a system which causes security concerns and burns up your afternoon time. You call, specify you order, give your credit card info, hang up -- done. I understand something must have happened at Neillo that changed their system, but when you are frustrating your real customers out of ordering, you may not be dealing with it correctly.
But what really surprised me was that the prices actually turned out to be significantly better at Marin. The front spoiler (the rubber part which gets scraped up) was 10% less, and the new passenger window switch (mine just quit, oddly) was 17% less. While it didn't add up to that much money on these parts, that sort of difference would be huge on larger ticket items, or simply over time. In fact, I think all the times I had been using Neillo for 30% off instead of earlier trying Marin Acura, I might have been actually paying more than Marin's parts at 25% off. Surprising, as I thought dealer prices were standardized.
I'll post again if there is any problem receiving my order, but for now I have a new parts source, and wanted to spread the word. Thanks Marin Acura!
Chip
