Ferd did the same thing in terms of creating an online portal for customers to order direct.
Recently needed a new engine. Called Jasper and the other go-to shops for a rebuild and they were all COVID stocked (read: none in-hand and seriously back-ordered by maybe months, maybe never). Learned from one of the go-to outfits that they actually sourced their engines directly from Ferd. Hmmmm . . .
Had the shop call the local idiotship and was told: 'Engine for that truck is NLA.' With that, I dug some more and found the Ferd online portal.
Registered with Ferd's online parts portal and ordered a *NEW* (not reman / rebuilt) engine for that decades old vintage pickup which parts desk person #1 told us was NLA. Then it gets better. Day after I placed the order, parts desk person #2 calls and tells me that they are canceling the online order (which had already hit against my credit card). WTF?!?!?! Parts person #2 goes on to tell me that he verified with the Ferd mothership that the online price was correct and my order was valid, but it was the *actual* cost of the engine, and there was *NO WAY* he would sell it to me at actual cost. Read: now I have to pay an additional local stealership tax for an engine that they could not initially figure out how order for me until I did it for them. Nice. Am smelling the mafia model here, but, whatever...
After paying for the privilege of talking with parts person #2, the long block was delivered ~2 weeks later (per advertised delivery schedule). Bonuses were that delivery to the shop was part of the 'fee' and I got a 12 month unlimited mile warranty good at *any* Ferd dealership.
www.thedrive.com
www.roadandtrack.com
