Hey everyone,
Does anyone know if Evil Empire is still trading? I ordered replacement moon-roof hooks from their site on the 10th, and they never arrived. So i emailed them, and no response. (Yes i checked my spam folders etc)
Kind of frustrating as it would have been good to get the hooks sorted before i went to europe, but that ships sailed now.
Hi mate,
Is best to call him as he’s busy.
Jerry 
Theres busy, and then theres “no reply for 18 days”.
I don’t care how busy someone is, if the website lets a customer place an order, and its accepted, i expect delivery from a UK store, to a UK address within a reasonable time frame. Like a working week, or similar.
If the turn around time is going to be significantly longer than that then either a note on the website BEFORE you pay to say “Sorry we are very busy at the moment and orders are likely to be delayed by 2-3 weeks or more” or at the very least an email to the same effect. Anything else is just terrible customer service.
Its not like I am ordering this to be shipped on the slow boat from china. Or maybe I am, but if that’s the case, that was never explained on the website.
Hello, I ordered a part over the phone on Tuesday and was with me by Thursday. Some parts take longer, I’m still waiting on a aero service kit from a month ago
I agree with you mate,as I was in the same boat with emails etc but then someone told is better to call instead and when I did he answered promptly and I had to clear my day schedule as he never stops chatting 
but he is a one man band and busy also helping our cars keeping them on the road.but I do feel your pain.
Jerry
Frustrating for a purchaser when you get told you have to ring a vendor once an order has been placed via an online shop for updates .
Certainly don’t have to do that with my weekly shopping
@GSXRKID you really do need to answer your online post thread’s especially as you receive email notifications.
I’m on holiday and still answering people because that’s me 
Cheers Dave
CDMH, That was kind of my point, online shopping at this point has become point & click, and 2-3 day delivery (next day with Amazon prime) along with an inbox full of updates, so when something takes longer than a week it feels like the dark ages again.
I have spoken to him now… and yes he does like to talk :D… but hopefully it should be with me in a couple of days. Cheers all.
Glad you got it sorted mate.
Jerry
Just to update, he was good to his word. Package arrived by next day courier (although i was out so had to collect from the depot). So its all good.
That said, I will say that if running the store is a problem from a time / organisational management point of view maybe its worth considering passing the reigns on to someone with more time to manage it? (i.e. sell the whole store as a going concern) Just a thought.
My thoughts are that Rob is an asset to this community. There have been many times when I have been majorly stuck on something and as nice as this forum is, some of the more technical questions that I asked weren’t answered. Rob has always helped me out with these kind of things when he has very little to gain from it.
I realise that sometimes he can be swamped with work and dispatch on stuff can be a bit slow but for that I’d advise Rob to set expectations on timescales of deliveries. We would be lost without the Evil Empire IMO
Personally and this isn’t just aimed at Rob , communication is key
As a purchaser once an order is placed whether it be for a sofa , tv car part etc , being informed of any delays is 1 polite and 2 good business practice .
Radio silence for a customer is annoying as you are constantly waiting for something to turn up . If it’s not critical and I can wait a month I don’t mind being told that upfront , if I need it urgently then I can go elsewhere , problem stems from when you have paid upfront for something and end up,waiting .
Rob is helpful got me out of a jam with pistons and will talk things through over a weekend even when he’s not working .
So communication for me is key
I was at robs workshop last week collecting some bits from him. All I can say is that he’s phone did not stop ringing soon as he hanged up it rang again. He’s a one man bandit. I get Communication is key. Best bet is always to ring him and if he don’t answer he always gets back. And where would we be without him hey.
couldn’t agree more
I don’t disagree that the Evil empire store is essential for the GTO community as a whole. There are few alternatives for parts and there wont be more coming out of the woodwork as the car gets more and more rare… And I am sure Rob, himself, has been instrumental to many a repair by giving help and advice on here. But those two things are not tied to each other.
While technical knowledge is useful, selling things generally doesn’t require a high level of detail. There’s no reason the store couldn’t be run by someone with the time to manage it, and rob could continue to be part of the community as he always has been.
Also, you say his phone doesn’t stop ringing, but how many of those calls are Evil Empire related? If 90+% of his time is taken up with “full time” work, and EE is just a part time gig, then that just kind of backs up my point. If the percentage swings the other way, then maybe he should consider making EE a full time gig. If it already is, then maybe its time to look at getting someone to help.
I don’t know his exact circumstances, and really, there is no reason i should. I am just a paying customer expecting a reasonable service. That’s not too much to ask is it?
As far as l am aware E E is Rob,s full time operation and he is inundated with calls from all over the globe, and also is battling a lot of the time with availability, and deliveries don,t always match orders giving short supplies, so sometimes items have to be waited for.
It would be great to pick up the phone and get overnight delivery but the reality is that it cannot be like that as replacement parts for our cars are being deleted.
We need Rob as a resource for the community as if he was not there we would have less choice and longer waits.
I know the frustration of wanting and wanting a part but l try to look ahead and give myself time (not always possible l know) so its a bit about getting the best we can and Rob gives us more chances a lot of the time to get parts.
If l want to know whats happening l phone and phone again or text and usualy make contact/get answers in reasonable time. So l say if in doubt give him a call and maybe try again if necessary as in the final analysis getting that part you need is the most important consideration.
Understanding all the frustrations, we need Rob and E E and maybe we need to live with the capacity he has to deal with the 3s world platform he supports, I think so anyway.
Also i was sick while finding part for my gto and just one call to rob and he got me like new transfer box at bargain prices and very fast delivery and it was very busy time think in one week time i got part from rob.
He sold me mint condition transfer box which he took out from one of he car very long time ago.
Sort it me out and i back on road with over moon.
Best is always call rob as he is very busy and don’t get time to reply text and even he doesn’t get time for break sometime.
Thanks robb
That’s fine guys and agree for the most part .
However in @wkuk defence (for want of a better word ) I don’t want him to feel ousted for putting forward his review/ thoughts on his buying experience .
Yes parts can be hard to get we all know that , the main problem is when you have to chase parts down all the time , it makes the buying experience unsavoury . You must remember too not everyone can take 20minutes plus out of their work day chasing parts .
Probably sounds like I’m having a go which I’m not exactly , Rob has helped me out in the past and got parts quickly , however other times it has taken an age , which again is fine if I’m not in a rush , but when things don’t turn up it’s frustrating and you end up chasing.
Thankfully my car has never been taking up ramp space where I start being charged for storage due to holding up a workshop .
But this isn’t solely about rob other vendors can be as bad , it seems though that the GT/GTO community accept this .
Just read back through posts where people have been waiting for sourced parts from vendors , it’s quite sad really
One of the reasons I’m glad to be out of the car really
Thanks for the backup @CDMH, although I’ve been on the internet for a couple of decades so i have a fairly thick skin 
My point was not to shoot down Rob for his service. Without people like him most of our cars would have gone to the big scrapheap in the sky long ago. I have bought several things from him over the years and the products supplied have always been high quality.
My point was that providing a service on the internet comes with some expectations these days. Key among which, is the ability to have internet based communication. As CDMH said, its not always practical to chase these things by phone during the day as many of us work 9-5 (or a lot longer in most cases) and don’t have time to stop and let Rob talk… and talk… and talk…
In my opinion email communications for internet based stores (and regular shops these days tbh) is critical to following up on a purchase. If nothing else it leaves you with a clean audit trail so you know exactly where you stand, and you can refer back to it if required. I know my memory for details can be appalling at times so I prefer written communications above verbal 9 times out of 10 because I know I will forget the specifics of what was discussed if its not written down.
Ultimately a slow delivery time is fine as long as A) I know in advance that availability on an item is slow, or B) if delivery is going to be abnormally slow, contact is made asap.
I buy stuff off ebay from china all the time, and I accept that I wont be seeing the item for a month or more as its on the back of a slow-boat, and they make sure to tell you that up front so its not an issue. If the EE website said at the top of the page “Expect minimum 14 day delivery time on all items unless specified” then it would be less of an issue. If that delay was going to be a problem I could then either contact directly to arrange faster delivery, or shop elsewhere. Its all about communication 