www.importrp.com

[The Critic]

Today, I ordered a rear set of Akebono ProACT brake pads for a 2001 Acura TL from www.importrp.com.

RockAuto had them for $49.10, but they ship out of their Midwest or East Coast warehouse, meaning that I would not have them until next week. I needed the brake pads this week.

I spoke with a sales representative, Jeff, from ImportRP via AOL Instant Messenger. They are located near Seattle, which means that the part transit time would be much less compared to RockAuto. I came asking him to beat the price offered by RockAuto. He said he doesn’t stock Akebono products; he normally sells Hawk and PBR/Axxis brake pads. Not only was he able to locate the exact Akebono ProACT pads that I needed from an alternative source, but he was able to ship them out with UPS today (so that I can receive them Thursday), while still beating RockAuto’s price by $0.10.

I’m not trying to advertise for them exactly, but I was just truly impressed by the way that Jeff at Import RP handled my transaction. Rarely do I find a store that goes to such undue lengths to satisfy a cheapskate customer.

 

[Dave H]

I had a mixed experience with them when I ordered my Tokico adjustable struts. The struts were at a very nice price. Shipping was fine, and I received them a few days later. All of that was fine by me. However, the struts boots I ordered were shipped from a different location, and took an additional 3 days to arrive. I didn't have an additional 3 days to replace my struts, so the new ones went on with the old boots for now. The new boots will go on whenever I get around to renting a spring compressor from AutoZone again. And when I have the time and motivation to do the job again. Luckily, my rear struts aren't that difficult to do.

All in all, I'm not really upset with the situation, but it could have been better. I can say the price was really low compared to other online vendors. So much so, that I could afford the Tokico adjustable rear struts for about the same price as the stock Tokico struts. And I've been very impressed with the adjustable Tokico's.

I've learned to verify that all parts will be shipped/received at the same time. In the past I just assumed that all parts ordered from the same company would be shipped together. It didn't dawn on me that they may be shipped at different times from different locations. So now I ask the salesman.

I will most likely use their services in the future, mainly for the price and selection for my vehicles. But I will verify the shipping a little better.

Dave

 

[The Critic]

The brake pads arrived on Thursday, as promised and expected. The pad box was inside another brown box, secured by newspaper. No damage to the box, and the pads were even of a fairly recent build date. (4/21/07)

As a side note, Akebono packages their pads very well...they wrap the pads in shrink wrap (is that what they call it?) and then glue it to a piece of cardboard.