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It seems that the difficulties with e-mails being treated by some ISPs as being spam & filtered out before you receive them is not going away. If anything it is increasing, sbcglobal joins Hotmail & Comcast in currently having particularly aggressive spam filters which can also deny legitimate non-spam e-mails
AlfaStop does not seem to be alone, see: click here..
You may want to consider giving an alternative e-mail address when contacting AlfaStop if you use one of these ISPs.
AlfaStop will be closed from August 17th to September 7th (inclusive).
Our Easy Quote System and Contact Us/Feedback page will be unavailable over the same period and will resume operation on September 7th. Any outstanding requests will be replied to as soon as we re-open.
The instability of the international currency markets has progressed from affecting a few individual items when they are re-stocked to the current situation where virtually every re-stocked item is costing considerably more. This, coupled with the recent increases in energy & material costs to both UK & international suppliers, has result in an on-going total review of all AlfaStop's prices, the first ever carried out in over 15 years.
To cite a couple of recent examples. An item from Italy cost euro 80.00 in 2006, the supplier has recently increased his price to euro 180.00, this combined with the euro: £ changes has resulted in a new cost price to AlfaStop 3x that previously charged. It is likely that this item will no longer be stocked. A UK-based multi-national supplier of a much requested item doubled their price during 2008 due to "low demand & we do not really want to make it any more." In this case, discussions are currently taking place.
However there is some good news in that US & European EU Customers will be compensated by the continuing weakness of Sterling which is now about 25% cheaper than just 6 months ago, & this looks like continuing for the foreseeable future. In addition, AlfaStop's bulk buying power has recently resulted in some fast moving items being obtained at reduced prices which are being passed on to you the Customer.
It has just come to light (December 16) that there are considerable delays in the processing by US Customs of dutiable international mail received into the USA.
It appears that recently introduced increased US Customs examination requirements have severely increased the time to process incoming mail, seemingly by 3 weeks or more. Enquiries have revealed that mail posted 4 weeks ago has still not been processed by US Customs.
The usual procedure of the scanning by US Customs of tracking information of all incoming registered mail immediately on entry into the US, for forwarding to the USPS tracking facility (see usps.com), is reported to have been abandoned due to the backlog. Hence the USPS tracking information could be 3 or 4 weeks out of date...
Official information on this very scarce, in fact virtually non-existent.
AlfaStop will be sending small dutiable orders of less than 2kgs. by alternative routes such as DHL until the situation is completely resolved.
It is not known if low value air mail items of a value of about US$35.00 or less which are generally duty-free are also affected.
UK VAT is being increased from 17.5% to 20% on 04 January 2011. This will apply to all orders from within the EU.
Easy Quotes prepared after 24 December 2010 will reflect this increase.
The search facility (top RH corner) will now search for un-punctuated Alfa Romeo part numbers, such as 135645164, as well as for punctuated numbers, such as 1356.45.164.
General text searches can also be made, such as "Sprint bonnet".
Our E-mail service now appears to be working normally again, _although_ earlier E-mails are no longer accessible & cannot be replied to...
I keep thinking that the number of new items to be found must start to diminish, but this year's trip has again proved me to be wrong... It is very satisfying to discover some long-lost stock in a warehouse, especially when it is still sealed in the original 1950's Alfa Romeo packaging, more so when the owner was not aware that it was there!
Once again, the trusty VW Caravelle groaned over the Alps, although it did not have a vehicle on a trailer this time!
Many interesting new items will be listed on the website over the next few weeks, including some which are exclusive to AlfaStop. Some will be useful for your restoration, some are just nice to have. You can monitor these here.
The ever increasing number of Romeo enthusiasts should also find something to their liking.
There was a functionality problem with the Easy Quote system from June 6th to June 10th. This has now been resolved. Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
The Romeo Register is launched, at www.romeoregister.com. Sponsored by AlfaStop, the Romeo Register caters for the Romeo, Romeo 2 & the derivative F12 & A12 models world-wide. Some 30 years after launching the Giulietta Register, I felt that there was a similar need to fill the void of information & communication between owners & enthusiasts of these models.
Please stop by and check out the new site.
My latest European buying trip produced some more gems. Whereas I reached new depths last year by getting down into an old-established supplier's cellar, this time I reached new heights in that I discovered a treasure trove in the foothills of the Alps! Please keep an eye out for these new parts.
AlfaStop will be closed from Friday, March 21st to Monday, April 14th inclusive.
Please note that our "Easy Quote" system and Contact Us/Feedback page will be unavailable beginning Friday, March 21st.
AlfaStop has commissioned the manufacture of a number of new Giulietta & Giulia 101 items, the first of which are now in stock. These together with other new items can be found in the Latest Products & general listings.
More new AlfaStop parts will be listed over the coming months as they come into stock.
October November:
This
was the semi-closed period here at AlfaStop, while I
was away scouring for new items to offer you over the next few months. I travelled more than 8,000 kms, visited many existing & new suppliers,
arranged for the production of some interesting new items which will be
appearing on the site when they are available, & brought back 2 van
loads of Giulietta parts.
