Poweralfa

[chris_n]

I know naming and shaming is a no-no on PH so I will simply state some facts that may be of interest to the many Italian car enthusiasts who frequent this site...

• On 15th March, I ordered 3 x 2L tins of Selenia oil online from Poweralfa (www.poweralfa.com)

• I received a confirmation e-mail from them by return telling me it would be dispatched next day

• Payment was taken from my account on 18th March (Including £8.95 for delivery)

• Having not seen the oil, I chased them up on 25th March

• I got a reply the same day saying they would invesigate and get back to me

• I have had no further word from them since

• I still have no oil and am currently light to the tune of £70+

I will leave anyone considering using this company to form their own opinions.

I am now going to e-mail a link to this thread to them and point out how many members frequent this site in the hope that they might resolve the above situation.

I will report the outcome on here factually and objectively to be fair to all involved.

Chris

[pdV6]

chris_n said:

On 15th March, I ordered 3 x 2L tins of Selenia oil online

I take it there's no Alfa dealership near you, then? They usually stock Selenia (as well they ought to, seeing as its recommended in the handbook!) and there's no delivery charge!

Probably get ripped off by the Alfa parts dept, so maybe I can see the point after all

[chris_n]

There is not one especially near to me - I thought ordering off the web would be nice and convenient!

[chris_n]

An update on progress as it happens - just had a call from an apparently helpful chap at Poweralfa. Seems they have had a supplier problem with the Selenia oil that is in the process of being resolved. Reason for lack of feedback is down to him having been out ill. I've been told I can expect the oil in the next few days or was offered a full refund if I could not wait. I'm feeling better for having been updated already, and in actual fact can afford to wait, so watch this space! (If you find my oil shopping experiences interesting that is!)

Chris

[kinky]

Chris,

It's good news that it looks like it's being resolved.

But it's still a jolly bad show. They should have told you as soon as they knew there was supply problems AND that xxx was out sick so hold tight for a few days.

In the ideal world I suppose .....

K

[chris_n]

Well, two weeks further on and having not received my oil or any further update from Poweralfa, I have asked them to cancel the order and refund my money.

Yesterday I did what I perhaps should have done in the first place and took a drive to my nearest Alfa dealer and bought some over the counter there.

Don't know if this is representative of their service generally as it is the only time I have tried to use them, but personally I would not use them again after this experience.

Chris

[alfa145uk]

Had a similar V bad experience - only lasted for about 3 months (can't say I didn't give enough warning!!) I knew it could take a few weeks to get the cams in from Italy, so when it came to 1 month before I needed them, I was split whether to cancel, then order elsewhere - after countless grovelling conversations from PA I decided to let them have the order - needless to say they got a phone call every day for the last month. Each day slowly getting more irate than previous day. On the final day - I asked him if he had actually placed an order with the manufacturer in Italy.... he could not say yes.
He also was ill for a week - but each time whoever answered the phone always had to go and 'check' to see if he was in (or ill), etc after asking who was calling. Needless to say after PA made initial contact with me to ask to link to them and recommend them on my website as a preferred supplier - after trying to use their service for the first time, they weren't recommended much longer!!! (But this fact didn't seem to carry any weight when I queried it with them!!)

No more PA for me. Shame I'm also an admin on an Alfa forum as well, eh?!

[chris_n]

I have now received my refund from Poweralfa. In addition, for my inconvenience, they have offered to make some sort of concession against a future order. Now I've got sufficient oil to last me a while I probably won't take this up.

Does seem they had a genuine supply problem rather than anything more sinister. My thoughts, for what they are worth, are that in buying over the web I was looking for speed and convenience, compared to the alternative of waiting a few days until I could take a detour to drop in to an Alfa dealer. In this instance I did not get the outcome I had hoped.

Hope I have reported the situation fairly.

Chris