[greg_h]

I get the stories of waiting and know that businesses sometimes "get behind the eight ball". I thought it only fair to share my positive experience. It has been a few years back but I found a new set of Patrick's 3.55 gears on ebay at a substantial savings. Right up to the point that they were for a car and not a truck like I needed. Patrick's exchanged them for me and even covered shipping of the new gears to me stating the car kit had slightly more expensive bearings. Neither kit had the shims and pin for the torque tube so they sent that to me. I told them I felt like I owed them for those parts at the very least. They told me what those parts sold for and that I could pay if I wanted but was not obligated to. They went above and beyond to take care of me. Customer service was unbeatable...
That being said, I have heard the stories about how they have got behind with some of their vendors and how at times parts were not being sent to them until their account was settled. I believe that is most likely the root of the horror stories. (not that they don't want to take care of business as it should be, just that they are juggling behind the scenes) I know other vendors have jumped to take advantage of the "exposed jugular" and had competing parts made offshore to sell at a lower price.
Sometimes good people are not so good at business. I think the intentions are good, it is just that there is probably a lot of paddling behind the scenes.
Glad your order worked out. I wish for both you and Patrick's that it was a more positive experience from start to finish. I bet that if you have issues with any of the parts, he will be quicker to try and resolve the issue than some of the copy vendors would be.