CIP1 - Customer service FAIL

[BAJA-IT]

Peel the bezel off and make a new window from Lexan. That's what I did when my tach's glass broke.

I may just have to do that, and save it for a spare. 3 cars have the same tach.

[KarenTheBug]

Look what I just got in the mail! This is how the damn thing should have been packaged in the first place.

This muffler is truly a thing of beauty.

I will say that, in the end, CIP1 made me whole and I am a very happy boy. We both had to go through way more than was necessary, when a simple replacement swap at the start was all that was needed. When buying top shelf parts, telling the customer to try and fix a damaged piece really isn't the best start to a resolution.

Would I have given them a second chance and done business with them again? Yes, eventually, after I got over my butt-soreness from this whole mess. This was a big customer service faux pas on their part, but mistakes happen and I don't expect perfection - all I expect is that if you make a mistake, as we all do, own it and fix it. I'm willing to bet that they learned a valuable lesson in the cost of shipping a replacement vs. the cost of bad press. Unfortunately, I probably can't do business with them any more, since they've basically told me they no longer want my business (they sent me a message saying they deleted my account from their site).

It is what it is, which means I now have to find another vendor to build a relationship with (which sucks - I've used CIP1 for a hell of a lot of my parts up to now, and my bug still needs probably around $1k - $2k worth of parts over the next few years). Their shipping costs were a lot higher than some other vendors I've used here-and-there, but I'm a creature of habit and like hitting the same bookmark every time I need something.

[ssmalibu2]

Unfortunately, I probably can't do business with them any more, since they've basically told me they no longer want my business (they sent me a message saying they deleted my account from their site).

If that's the way the take care of there customers and mistakes, they can remove my account also. [email protected]

[Jim Ed]

Look what I just got in the mail! This is how the damn thing should have been packaged in the first place.

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I am glad that they finally knuckled under and sent you another muffler.

I probably would have tried to fix it myself and use it.

To do that though I would have needed a hack saw and a welder.

It fits underneath the tin where it does not show.

It goes to show that, "What you expect and do not receive makes you angry!"

[KarenTheBug]

I probably would have tried to fix it myself and use it.

To do that though I would have needed a hack saw and a welder.

It fits underneath the tin where it does not show.

It goes to show that, "What you expect and do not receive makes you angry!"

The problem is that I don't have a hacksaw and a welder - I don't do nearly as much work on my cars as the rest of you guys probably do. I do minor maintenance and some cosmetic stuff, but anything serious or requiring some real know-how or special tools I leave to one of my mechanics. I normally just buy the parts myself to save some cash.

In the end, as I said before, it didn't have to get like this - the stuff hit the fan when their first response was to push the repairs of a brand new, top shelf part back on the customer. Besides the fact that if this really was damaged in shipping (something I still doubt since the box wasn't harmed in the least), they should be able to file a UPS claim on their merchant account - doesn't UPS automatically include insurance on every shipment? And if not, shouldn't they be tossing insurance on each shipment (even at customer cost) just to cover their own backsides? Why their first response was to toss ten bucks my way and ask me to fix it myself is beyond me.

The last email I got from Kris Ingaldson (received this afternoon) contained a real gem - "Sometimes there are defective parts and sometimes there are defective customers. "

You would think he would stop when he's behind. Classy to the end I'm done with this.