Parts Gateway www.partsgateway.co.uk Review

Overall Rating

Detailed reply from the Parts Gateway.

The site is not sufficiently robust. There seems to be no consequences for the suppliers acting poorly. If people are supplied the wrong part because of the suppliers fault, there ought to be a consequence. Not a mere contractual remedy which is just not worth the hassle of pursuing in practice - unless involving a lot of money. Perhaps in addition to a FULL refund of the original payment some kind of (inconvenience) tariff ought to be payable by the suppliers if they get it wrong at their end - guaranteed by the Parts Gateway. Let's face it, the Parts Gateway gets remunerated somehow so ought to bear some of the risk (which will be reimbursed by their supplier...if they want to continue being part of it's network). This would at least make it a more user friendly place to do business..

I tried to source a part using Parts Gateway and ICS (one of the suppliers that quoted) said it had the part.

I then read some of the reviews on this site. Accordingly, to make sure it had the correct part I replied to it's offer asking it to double check the part no. (which I had supplied in my original request), and advised that if wrong I was not interested in paying all the postage charges and restocking fees etc. that some of the other night mare stories have advised.

Deathly silence ensued.

After chasing Parts Gateway a couple of times it wrote a detailed reply to it's credit. It said ICS phoned me twice but 'it just rang out'. I have a voice mail messaging system with messages left all the time but none from ICS. I don't believe ICS.

Apparently they were phoning to advise that the part no. ended '45' rather than '77', so might not be compatible. Apparently "ICS did quote that they had the physical pump, but due to the fast-moving nature of such items, they may sometimes only check specific part numbers upon request"...why the heck are customers asked to supply the part numbers if it is a lottery as to whether the supplier actually uses them? Apparently most of the others within their 80 strong supply net work would definitely check the number...if one believes that then maybe I just got unlucky...doubt it though some how.

Note; when ever Joe public purchase second hand / recon parts it always has to make sure it's part no. is the one advertised...why does it not work the other way round?

In short, I am glad I double checked other wise I could be in the same position as some of the other customers; wrong part supplied, wasted time & energy, possibly a bill from your garage trying to fit the wrong part, and the company itself possibly trying to deduct P & P and re-stocking fees and refunding just a fraction of what you originally paid them.

I suggested to the Parts Gateway ought to ensure that the part numbers match - it needs to be embedded in their system and if used (not every one will know it) made a term & condition for both the customer AND the supplier.

In summary, until this site is more robust, use it at your peril. Double check the quote is definitely for the part you want, and don't be surprised if you hear nothing more because it is too much like hard work to answer questions, especially if the part they offered doesn't in fact match your requirement.

Members' Comments onJeremy Mott's Review

• REGK on 16th Nov 2009

  I found this review helpful because...i to have been ripped off by suppliers one sending no part after i paid then after phoning they just hung up on me second one was no better sent part which was totally the wrong one again paid for and no refund but third time lucky through Parts Gateway Supplier got exactly the part neede and spoke to someone who knew what i wanted begin to think to myself i may as well have spent my money paying full price for a dealer part as i,ve paid out near to dealer price going through second hand parts dealers. TREGK.