The service, prices and attitudes of the people I've delt with at Courtesy have indeed gone down hile in at least the past two years. Five years ago when I started buying parts, they would give a 25% discount, go out of their way to find what you needed and seemed to care if you were satisfied with your parts buying experience. Lately, the discount has gotten lower (now seems to be gone), they don't "search" for parts, (they order it, if it comes fine, if not fine), and many times they don't even thank you for calling and placing an order.

Thank goodness Chloe at MIDWEST Z has come on the scene. She puts them to shame, even when they were "on their game" 5 years ago.

I don't think the IdealZ guys work at Courtesy

One thing we need to take in to consideration here is that one person

posted they had a bad experience with Courtesy , since are only hearing one side

of the story we shouldn't jump to conclusions . In the past I had great dealing with their parts department .

The owner of the Dealership is a Z car enthusiast . I am not sure if it is under rhe same ownership as before. I do know that

my connections in the parts department left a few years back, and since I can bur direct from Nissan I haven't had to deal with any other Vendors for awhile.

I believe that 2ManyZ's brought Midwest Z car on as a sponsor of this site , and it would be nice for the members to use their services. One thing to remember if you aren't buying the parts then Nissan will keep dropping them from their inventory.

Mike

My only experience with courtesy was in person.

I drove over and went in to buy some shift bushings last year, the guy behind the counter was very cold and unfriendly.

Suffice it to say, I avoid doing business with them now.

I would much rather take it to midwestZ whenever possible.

I wasn't around when MSA was 'in their prime,' but ordering some stuff from them earlier this year did not leave me with a positive feeling. The job they did on packing my stuff was very poor and i'm amazed it arrived without any major damage.

I've done business with MSA exclusively until the past few years, and yes, when they were starting out their customer service was much friendlier as they didn't have nearly as many customers.

Back in the early 90's, I could call them up to order something and the person who answered the phone would many times recognize my voice and ask me which one of the cars I was buying for this time...

If MidwestZ can't get it, that's the only reason I can think of to go elsewhere at this time, and then I'd go with MSA before any of the rest.

So why don't all the Zed parts dealers have the FSM CD in their catalogs!?? :devious:

It's probably one of the most (if not -THE- most) important part they would have in the catalog. Probably the first item anyone should order, and should price it accordingly, so everyone can afford one.

Originally posted by TomoHawk

So why don't all the Zed parts dealers have the FSM CD in their catalogs!?? :devious:

The FSM CD's are not produced by Nissan, just like the parts CD sold by our club is not produced by Nissan (Mike does have a copyright release from them).

Probably because the marketers (and I believe they are also the "creators" of the product) do not see a need to, or for some other reason have not made arrangements to sell it elsewhere. It is available through their own company and from Courtesy.

YES, it is a handy item to own. If one does not have a hard copy of the FSM it is even more valuable.

As for pricing, the USA is a capitalist, free-market country. Businessmen (at least the ones who want to be successful) charge what the market will bear for their products. When the market is small, costs must be recovered from a limited amount of sales. Once they start selling huge volumes of the product, the price will drop. Welcome to Economics 101

there is a movement nowadays to price items according to what they think the final price would be (Economics 1001). It'sa chancy, but some companies (.nets) got rich or broke doing it. Not the old way, as you would expect.

Did you read the heading on the Zcarcreation website ? It states that

Courtesy Nissan is the sole distibutor

of the CD.

It lists on the website for $69.95 . What did Courtesy tell you they sell for ???

If you have to have one did you check with 2ManyZ's buddy Andy about buying

a hard copy of one ?

Mike

Might be fine for a product with a huge potential market, but in a niche marketplace (like individual year FSM's for 25+ year old cars) IMO that business model would be a huge and unwise risk.

Z Car Creations (IdealZ, whatever) is a small business, IMO They cannot afford to do that.

Originally posted by spudz

It lists on the website for $69.95 . What did Courtesy tell you they sell for ?

...buy a hard copy of one?

That is what I paid. There are no discounts on top of that. No club discounts.

A hard copy costs about $80.

I'm not suggesting that the FSM CD be sold for $19.95 or something cheap like that. I just think that other companies should make it available through them. It doesn't cost much to add it to a catalog, and everybody benefits on each one sold.

Originally posted by TomoHawk

I'm not suggesting that the FSM CD be sold for $19.95 or something cheap like that. I just think that other companies should make it available through them. It doesn't cost much to add it to a catalog, and everybody benefits on each one sold.

From our viewpoint that is a good idea, but from someone entering into a marketing/sales agreement, it would dilute the sales "each" retailer can expect to make in an already small marketplace. Sales = Money. Maybe Courtesy would only distribute it if they were granted exclusive sales rights, just guessing, but it's certainly been done that way before.

(Retired)