I just received an upper control arm from NPD and it had the wrong shaft installed on it. Now, they are correcting the mistake, but it did kill a week of making progress.
I also ordered drop springs from CJPony and 3 days after my order I got an email that states they are back ordered and won’t ship until 1/31. Way too late!
Somehow this post slipped past my radar screen...
But, FWIW, I already knew about this issue. Your (valid) complaint prompted a manager to communicate to our Ford Product Manager (Scott Halseth) that the shafts were different on our current stock of 3082-1B upper control arm shafts.
That prompted Scott to email our supplier in Taiwan, along with photos, to find out what happened. I was copied on that email, as Scott is good about keeping me in the loop.
Now, not to derail this post and thread, I'll warn everyone that prices are going to be increasing on everything from overseas, due to a continuing devaluation of US dollars, combined with a continuing increase in raw materials costs.
That said, our supplier was unable to hold our historic cost/price for the upper arms we've historically sold, so without asking us or telling us, they substituted a
different manufacturer's slightly-cheaper control arms. This "switcheroo" was not discovered until your complaint. Which (sidebar) is a huge reason I look in on this forum so often. Intelligence. Information. Problems. Every problem is an opportunity to fix and improve.
Our supplier has been firmly reminded not to switch-source on us without prior approval (we've gone through this before, although it's rare), we have added the initials of the higher-quality control arm factory to the end of the supplier's part number to insure this cannot happen again, and once we get our next container with control arms (uggh, probably 3 months), we'll be back in business with the right part.
So.... I am sad to see you seeking a different supplier after this issue. But I am proud to see that everyone involved here at NPD handled this quickly and properly, without me having to discover it first here on VMF, and without me having to bark orders and administrate solutions from the top-down. The system worked (employees acted), 100% without me telling it to work.
And I do indeed apologize for the funky-shaft control arm, and the resulting delay. This is part/parcel of being in the restoration parts business. There's never a day-off when it comes to diligence.
Rick
NPD
