Well now that Jamie Pickard and Chris Stump have both left oempartsdirect.com service is terrible and I haven't been able to order parts. I called Hammersley and complained and was told that the dealer had no GM and that the acting GM was responding to emails and doing all internet orders etc. However last Friday, since he was not in the office they could not sell me anything. I told them also that I had been waiting on a quote for wheels for three weeks. Frustrating to say the least.

Where else to buy that's reliable besides the dealership??

 

I'm having the same issues. Try contacting Steve Foster @ Duval, sfoster@duvalmotorcars.com. Their website is shut down as well but he takes good care of the customers.

 

What parts are you looking for?

 

I agree, I had problems w/ using oem parts direct, but stephen foster at duval motor cars has always been there to answer emails/phone calls/questions and complete orders for me. Even though it ships from florida and takes longer to get here, ive always had a++ customer service from duval motor cars.

 

Rumor has it that since Jaime Pickard and Chris Stump left OemPartsDirect, service has been terrible. For example, people not getting quote-responses for 3 weeks or longer, items being shipped to incorrect addresses, no decent customer support given for parts inquiries, etc.... In addition, there seems to be no dedicated GM running the show right now, so things are a little chaotic at the moment.

Also, I read this in the E55 section of the forum:

"it appears that oempartsdirect is actually run out of an MB dealership in Roanoke, Va. I believe it's called Hammersley Group. I doubt they're out of business, they just don't have anyone that can run the online retail side of things since Jaime and Chris left."

 

You're right on all account regarding Hammersley Group out of Roanoke, VA however they said they did not have a GM at the time and the acting GM was doing the internet duties. However upon going to their site today it was down.

 

I ordered something from them about a week ago. I was sent an email today stating that the item was unavailable and that "oempartsdirect will NO LONGER be filling orders."

Looks like the site might be down for good.

I guess whomever is running that dealership is an idiot. Losing Jamie, then Chris, and now cutting off orders? I know that here, and on the "other" mb board, that place was a HUGE hit. They HAD to have been making some bank on that.

I know a while back there was another site posted that you could get parts from and order on the internet. I have been using the search function all night but I can't find it. Found this one though... Does anyone know of another place besides emailing someone? I want to be able to use the parts lookup function that oemparts had. I know I have seen that exact same setup on another MB parts site, I just have to find it.

Wade

 

I hope that's not true. I ordered a key and blade from them on the 23rd of last month (and my card was charged the next day) and managed to reach someone on the phone day before yesterday who said my key would ship today. I haven't received any confirmation that it shipped, but then I haven't received any emails canceling the order, either.

Don

 

OK, folks. Chris here. Here's the skinny. :-)

First off, https://mbworld.org/forums/general-mercedes-discussion/220889-oem-parts-direct-update.html

I was laid off on November 30th, along with 6 of my co-workers. It was brought to my attention then that the company was hemorrhaging cash at the rate of about $100K/mo. That being the case, the owner of The Hammersley Group, one James Walker, decided that instead of trying to cut costs by not frittering it away on a Carrera 4s that he spent about $30,000 to make track ready, he would just arbitrarily ruin the lives of 7 of his employees. The way the GM at the time, Todd Johnson, told the story, Jim essentially said, "Here, Todd. Take care of this. I'm going to go on a six-day vacation with my girlfriend. We'll talk about it when I get back." I have every reason to believe that it happened this way because of two things: One, Todd proved to me, in numerous circumstances before, that he is one of the only honest, fundamentally decent people in the car sales industry. Two, that sounds about like how Jim would really have handled it. You folks ever see "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?" Remember when Cousin Eddie smacks that little wooden propeller-looking thing in Clark's living room? He just stares at it for a second when it breaks, and then he walks away, thinking nothing of it and wholly expecting someone else to clean up the mess. That's Jim Walker.

When Todd let me go, he wrote his home phone number down along with the phone number of a friend of his who runs a larger, more successful dealership on the other side of town. He had called this guy (his name is Gary) and said "You would be doing me a great favor if you could hire this guy, because I don't agree with him being let go in the first place." Todd asked me to call Gary and then to call him on Monday to let him know how things went. When I called him on Monday, he told me that he had gone into his office on Saturday and cleaned it out, but not before typing up a quick resignation notice and placing it on Jim's desk. He told me that he couldn't, and wouldn't, work for someone he has no respect for.

Anyway, when I came back in to drop off my keys, the guys on the parts counter (the same three that I had always asked for advice when you folks came to me) said that they would be willing to help out and do what they could to keep the site up and running. They actually tried for a couple of weeks, but again Jim (or his son Douglas) comes in and says no. Between OEM Parts Direct and the eBay store that I started from scratch in the middle of October, I was bringing in a gross of about $10K-$12K per month. Nothing to write home about, sure, but it was something.

Wade wins the gold cigar! :-)

Sorry for the loooong post, everyone, but I wanted to give you all an update as to what's going on over there, since apparently you've all basically been dumped on. You were responsible for so much of the success of that site, and you were the ones that helped me earn my paycheck. To that end, I want to thank all of you for your business in the past and say that I'm sorry that it's apparently come to a dead end.

Thanks again,

Chris

 

Chris,
It’s a shame for all of us that it ended how it did. I’ve sent them a fair chunk of money during my MB tenure.

Keep your chin up! Nobody in his right mind could fault you. If you need a favorable reference, just let me know.

 

That's quite a meaningful gesture. Thank you very much.

 

Chris, thanks for chiming in and clarifying the situation, we really appreciate that. And I'm sorry to see a successful website go down like that because of GM incompetence. But why not start your own website store, and let it grow. I'm sure you know the insides and outs of the business, and we already know you have what it takes to make it successful; so why not?

 

Such a sad state, I still haven't found a replacement yet. Chis thanks for taking care of me in the past.

 

I ordered 2 seat control modules from OEMpartsdirect.com December 27th. Since then I emailed them and finally Douglas replied 1/8 that my funds had been credited back to my acct. It's been 6 business days now, and I still dont' see it back in my acct. Should I be worried?

 

In a word, yes. Not to sound all gloom and doom, but . . .

The credit card processor OEM Parts Direct used was LinkPoint. Purchases and credits were typically instantaneous, and in general took no more than one day to show up on a customer's transaction history. The fact that you *still* don't have evidence of a credit after a week tells me that your credit was never processed. I'm not accusing Douglas of anything, because he had always been a fairly straightforward guy. Jim, his father, is the one that's such a cob knobbler. I think that your non-credit is more than likely an oversight. Douglas probably thought that you were a different account or something, as there have been many like you (heh, heh) that are asking (or should I say demanding) refunds. He may very well have mistaken you for someone else, as control units were common purchases.

I'm not swearing that this is what happened, but given my history with Douglas, I feel comfortable believing this could be the case.

New update since my last post: I talked with the Volvo parts tech, a guy by the name of Dustin, on Thursday. Dustin is one of the most stand-up guys I've ever met. Period. He explained to me then that the Sales Manager of the Mercedes/Volvo showroom quit without notice in mid to late December. Douglas is being groomed to take over the entire company from his father one day, so he is making his rounds as the manager of every aspect of the dealership. That being the case, he had to assume Martin's job. Dustin, who was eventually going to be promoted to the parts department manager, got the job a bit sooner than he was expecting. The problem, however, is he can't find an experienced counter guy to take his place as Volvo parts tech on the counter. In the meantime, he has all of his normal counter duties as well as all of the responsibilities of the parts manager. Additionally, since I was the shipping manager before I took over the website, they have nobody to do shipping and receiving, so all three of the counter guys are responsible for that as well. It is apparently quite hellish in the parts department now. I am actually glad I'm out of there, at least under those circumstances.

Things have gotten so bad there that they've had 2 negatives posted to their eBay account within about 10 days of one another. I went to great lengths to avoid that in any way I could. One of them was from a guy who ordered a Porsche pedal car to give to his 3 year old son for Christmas. As of this writing, he *still* has yet to receive it.

It is all quite sad, actually. That store and OEM Parts Direct had a lot of potential, but it all went to the dogs.

If any of you are still awaiting refunds, you can call the main switchboard at 1-800-934-1901 and ask for Douglas Walker. Understand that I'm not doing this to be vindictive and making a subtle request that anyone harass them. I'm just giving you all another avenue of recourse that you may not have previously had.

Thanks!