Leaving on a flatbed...

Jo · August 16, 2006, 03:22:33 PM

Sorry to hear your caddys broke, hope you have a nice hols & get the caddy fixed

HardRockCamaro · August 17, 2006, 12:10:16 PM

<RANT>
Wednesday:
Them: "It'll take a couple of days sir"
Me: "Can I pay extra and have it on a next day or even pre 10am delivery please"
Them: "I'll find out sir".
Me: "No problem sir, it's going on a a 24hr guaranteed delivery".
Them: "So it'll be here tomorrow"
Me: "Yes sir, guaranteed delivery, come rain, wind or snow."

Thursday:
Me: "Has it arrived yet?"
Them: "No"
Me: "Well it's been 24hrs"
Them: "Well it should have been here, but it isn't"
Me: "But you said it was guaranteed, no matter what it will be here".
Them: "Yeah, well, it isn't. We're chasing UPS"
Me: "That was hours ago, every package has a waybill number and UPS know exactly where it is at any given minute"
Them: "Well they haven't got back to us"
Me: "So will it arrive before you close or maybe tomorrow morning for sure?"
Them: "Don't know sir"
Me: "Can someone call me just before you close today and let me know if it has arrived or not so I know to collect it first thing tomorrow morning? Or at least to tell me when UPS say they will deliver it?"
Them: "We'll call you as soon as it arrives sir"
Me: "That's not what I said, please call me before you close whether it arrives or not"
Them: "Erm, ok sir"

UPS's fault my ar$e!!!
They're about the most reliable package company around.
Where's my ******* overpriced part!?!?!
They've just graduated from thieves to thieves and liars, or thieves and just plain useless, I'm not sure which...

And what's the betitng they WON'T call?

</rant>

Roadkill · August 17, 2006, 12:15:31 PM

Bugger.

Bad news, Mate - But it's always the way . . . I paid extra to get a new water pump for the Caddy over here in 3-5 days, guaranteed . . . . . . . 2 weeks later it showed up.
I'm just glad the old one held itself together for the duration . . . .

F Body · August 17, 2006, 12:19:26 PM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

UPS's fault my ar$e!!!

Useless Parcel Service

Black Circles were going to send my new tyres via UPS , I said no way I want them before next week

Ordered 16:00pm from Scotland and they arrived the next morning with Green Parcel.

Hope you get it sorted Mate.

HardRockCamaro · August 17, 2006, 12:20:09 PM

UK suppliers suck.

I broke my "don't ever buy stuff from UK suppliers unless there is a gun to your head" rule and all I've done is prove the rule right yet again...

Why do I just know that if I'd ordered one from the USA yesterday and got them to UPS or Fed-Ex it I would have it on the car by now?

Guaranteed = Might be, maybe, but let's face it, probably not.

When it does finally turn up and I go and collect it he's gonna cop an earful... Mainly because I know he's lying to me and I *really* hate that.
If the GM depot had a backlog and didn't send it out like they should have then tell me. Don't leave me hanging on...

HardRockCamaro · August 17, 2006, 12:25:47 PM

Quoting: F Body

Useless Parcel Service

Cor, first time I've heard that!

We use them at work becuase they:

A) Don't break things
b) Don't lose (read: steal) things
C) Deliver on time

The downside is they're a little pricey, but I pay the extra for peace of mind.

Better than:

(T)omorrow (N)ot (T)oday
Shi**yLink
Parcel Farce

The current record is held by FedEx in my mind. I ordered a part at 12pm my time from a Chevrolet dealers in Detroit. At 8:15am the following morning I was just going out my front door to catch the train to work and as I swung it open there was FedEx man with his finger on the buzzer. That's about 20 hours from my placing the order on the phone with a company some 4,500 miles away to having it in my hand.

Roadkill · August 17, 2006, 12:30:01 PM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

The current record is held by FedEx in my mind. I ordered a part at 12pm my time from a Chevrolet dealers in Detroit. At 8:15am the following morning I was just going out my front door to catch the train to work and as I swung it open there was FedEx man with his finger on the buzzer. That's about 20 hours from my placing the order on the phone with a company some 4,500 miles away to having it in my hand.

Bugger - That IS impressive.

The USPS is good, too - took 4 days to get a set of wheel nuts here on a standard "pop it in the mailbox" delivery.

HardRockCamaro · August 17, 2006, 12:43:57 PM

The USPS is very good.
Back in my college days I used to send and receive a lot of stuff from the USA. A regular airmail letter got to me in 3 days once.

The problem with parcels and USPS is when they get to this side of the pond. Parcel Farce takes over.

I ordered a load of stuff from the West Coast of the USA.
I tracked it online.

Day 1 midday leaves supplier in California (West Coast)
Day 1 evening, arrives Virginia (East Coast) and is sent overnight to NY
Day 2 evening, arrives UK
Day 3 sits in Heathrow
Day 4 arrives Birmingham
Day 5 sits in Birmingham being scanned a couple times
Day 6 leaves Birmingham for Barking
Day 7 scanned around Barking a few times
Day 8 leaves Barking out on delivery

8 days, not bad.
Problem is, it coevered 3,500 miles in just a few hours, then flew another 3,500 miles across the Atlantic and arrived here. Total elapsed time 2 days.
The final 30 miles took 6 days...

And if customs decide rthey want some money, that adds an extra day, but Parcle Farce won't drop the card through your door to tell you until 10 days AFTER they get it to the depot closest to you. They waste 10 days of your time for no reason. And then charge you for "taking care of customs" for you!

I'm off on holiday to the USA on Thursday.
I will no doubt suffer culture shock from the high level of service I will receive...

Jamieg285 · August 18, 2006, 03:48:38 AM

I've been most impressed by Fed-Ex.

Will avoid DHL like the plague though. Every single parcel they've delivered has had a problem. The best was when they left a brand new DVD player(in it's original box, so obvious what it was) on our doorstep in plain site because we weren't in. Didn't even try hiding it, or leaving it with a neighbour.

Roadkill · August 18, 2006, 04:37:04 AM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

I'm off on holiday to the USA on Thursday.

Taking a large, empty suitcase, Mate ?

HardRockCamaro · August 18, 2006, 05:28:40 PM

AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Fitted the new fuel pump and...

NOTHING!

Me and Edge pulled the old pump apart and put 12v across it and it span.
We then looked at the wiring of the old pump "module".
Turns out were were testing for 12v using the ground that belongs to the fuel sender! Checked for 12v using the correct ground wire and 0v!
Checked for continuity between it and a point on the chassis and, nothing! So the wire has broken or come away from its grounding point.

Mike cut the wire just short of the pump connector and twisted on a length of household flex cable and attached it to the battery negative terminal via the ski hatch and, voila, the car fired right up!

Tomorrow we'll do a proper fix by running a new ground wire (I have no idea where the original ground wire runs to)...

So I didn't need that expensive pump but hey, at least the car works again!

HardRockCamaro · August 18, 2006, 05:29:44 PM

Quoting: Roadkill

Taking a large, empty suitcase, Mate ?

Obviously!

Actually, now that I'm down £400 it will probably remain empty...

Roadkill · August 18, 2006, 06:25:18 PM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Mike cut the wire just short of the pump connector and twisted on a length of household flex cable and attached it to the battery negative terminal via the ski hatch and, voila, the car fired right up!

D'Oh !

Spare Caddy fuel pump anyone ?

Still, at least it's going.

HardRockCamaro · August 19, 2006, 04:17:48 AM

Here's a pic of the new pump.
Strange looking thing...
The pump itself is in the bottom part and looks like a windscreen wiper motor.
The puple wire and the black with a stripe wire run to the (pressure?) sensor at the top and the grey wire and the all black wire run to the fuel pump.

I was testing for 12V between the grey wire and the black with a stripe wire...

Still, at least the car is now going.

If anyone in the UK needs an STS fuel pump and sender module I'll sell my old working one for £150, (the new one is £420).

My final concern is the ABS system. The car still says "Speed limited to 90mph" and according to the codes is the ABS. Hopefully it just got confused and driving it around will clear it. If not, the cranking and low battery somehow damaged it (fingers crossed not). I haven't driven the car yet as the ground wire I ran was only a temporary one for testing.

Big thanks to Edge for helping me out!!!

HardRockCamaro · August 19, 2006, 11:05:10 AM

Right, problem solved!!!

And it was actually an easy one (hangs head in shame).

In the trunk of the car I carry one of those booster/jump start packs, you know, the kind that has a battery inside them that you charge at home and carry for you to start your car if you get a flat battery?

Obviously, it weighs quite a bit.

I went around the roundabout and that caused the jumper pack to slide across the trunk to the passenger side (right hand drive remember!). I had then exited the roundabnpout sharply and that caused the jumper pack to slide across the trunk into the drivers side wall of the trunk. Behind the carpet on that side is a big multiway connector that is the earthing point for several things (the real turn signal, fuel pump and possibly abs, I dunno).

The jumper pack had hit that and caused it to become partly disconnected so the fuel pump had lost its ground...

Plugged that back in and everything works A1...

I only discovered that was it as I old my turn signal was out and so I went behind the carpet there to get the bulb out, that's when it all became obvious...

I'll put this down as a learning experience...

Hot tip: Don't have unsecured heavy items in your trunk!

Pic (the black connector below the green one is what had become disconnected, you can see where it earths to the car).

EDGE · August 19, 2006, 07:40:57 PM

philoldsmobile · August 20, 2006, 06:48:29 AM

gotta love the priceless pic!

glad its sorted dude!

55starchief · August 20, 2006, 12:21:06 PM

Damn thats alomst as funny as the empty all clubs

Well at least you have a new fuel pump mate

philoldsmobile · August 20, 2006, 12:29:23 PM

still waiting on UPS for my steering wheel puller... now about 20 days late..

tracking number confirms its in transit, but thats all..

philoldsmobile · August 20, 2006, 12:29:55 PM

Quoting: 55starchief

Damn thats alomst as funny as the empty all clubs

you mean some clubs....

Titsy · August 20, 2006, 12:31:01 PM

Pod · August 20, 2006, 01:46:12 PM

Hehe, priceless.

Incursus · August 21, 2006, 03:51:01 AM

Glad its sorted

ianjpage · August 21, 2006, 06:05:00 AM

v funny pic