Dont buy from AutoGuy!!!

[BigDuck]

I dont like posting negative information but I owe it to you other Charger owners. I purchased a hood scoop from AutoGuy and when I opened the package the paint had about 12 flaws (white specks all over). I have pictures if you want to see them. He first told me that I could take it to a local paint shop and have them wet sand it but I shipped it back to him (costing me $25) so he could see for himself.

He agreed it was unacceptable but stated he inspected himself before he shipped? He sent me another scoop wich still had 2 flaws but I touched up with OEM paint.

When I asked that he refund the money I was out for shipping his flawed product he went on a tangent about how much he was out?

Long story short is the product wasnt that great and his customer service was very poor. I wouldnt do business with this guy.

[No Moa]

been there more than once. I just don't get the fact that sellers will do a half-a$$ed job at getting you what you paid for the first time. Then expect the buyer to pay to send it back when they screwed up.
Makes no sense to me.

[mywhitecharger]

Autoguy is very activer here. I'm sure he'd be willing to help out and make things right again.

Sorry to hear you a bad experience. It just makes the mod less fun when you have to go through all that.

[1bad4dr]

Sorry to hear about such a bad experience. I believe that he should reimburse you for your shipping fees, it is "The right thing to do". How can he complain that he is out money? However, I am sure that there is a second side to this story. Not saying you are wrong, but is always good to have both sides.

Good luck.

[autoguy]

Ok...here is my side.

I sent the scoop to him. I did personally inspect it before I shipped it. I did not notice these small spots he is referring to. He notified me and I gave him a coupkle options. One was to see if a local shop could look at it and maybe whatever it was could be buffed out, and the other was to send it back to me and I would look at it and show it to my painter. He chose to send it back, at his expense. (The return shipping refund was never mentioned at this point.)

When I received it, I took it to the paint shop and had the painter look at it. He determined that these small ( and I mean very small) marks were a result of buffing and are most noticeable on dark colors. (His car is Black Crystal) It was white wax in some minor spots where the scoop was buffed and there were some high spots where there was some dust or dirt in the paint. I was told this is hard to avaoid with a dark color, but I have him re-paint it anyhow. If I sent it with dirt in the paint, there would have been a problem as well.

They could have been cleaned out and never wopuld have been noticed. I had the painted re-paint the hood, and there were 2 very small spots the size of the metal flakes in the scoop that had to be held in a certail light and looked for to find. Again, when the scoop was installed and the car was washed, the wax would have been washed out, and not very noticeable. I did notify him of this, and there did not seem to be a problem.

I sold this scoop to him at a very good price to try and help him out. I did cover the shipping back to him, and I did not think there was a problem.

Then I receive a PM from him stating he got the scoop, but it has 2 spots, but I guess thats better than 12. He said he will use his OEM touch up paint to fix it. Then he goes on to tell me he is not happy that he had to pay $25 to send the product back, and was I willing to credit my PayPal for the shipping because the steller write up and pictures he will put on the forum should generate more business.

At this point I started feeling like it was a blackmail move and a threat, but I offered a better solution to him. I offered him a finders fee or a certain amount per scoop for every one I sold based on his "Steller" write up. That was not good enough for him, so he sent another PM stating...

"I guess I dont have a choice but to warn others on the forum in regards to the product and treatment..."

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyone have problems with their Decals?

[NYT]

well, sounds like he just wasnt happy with the painters ability. i would ask for my money back as well. i always expect perfection, i dont want to see ANY flaws. no matter how minor they are.

[RandysWay]

After reading the first post, I agree with Big Duck. After reading AutoGuy's post, well... I CERTAINLY don't agree with BLACKMAIL. There is many other ways to handle it more professionally. If you don't want to see ANY flaws, even how minor they are, you better start contacting Daimler-Chrysler to try and get your car returned for a complete repaint.

I learned a long time ago, this is not a perfect world. After so much information, help and deals AutoGuy has gaven this forum, I'm siding with him.

-R

[autoguy]

Well I have been in business for 15 years and have never had any problems with any quality of any products. If you saw what he is talking about, you might change your opinion. You need to be within 2-3 inches and have the thing under flourescent lights and really be looking for them to even find them.

[mechanicjack]

the only problem i see here is that the 2 options that were given to Duck both would of cost him money out of his own pocket on a product that should of been good in the first place.. money in shipping or money taking it to a local painter is still money that should not of had to be spent on a new product..

[GoDaddy]

while in this situation i can't comment b/c i am not involved in this situation i speak from experience that autoguys is a class act and went out of his way to help me.

i had bought hip stripes from him and never recieved them due to mail issues....it was not to long after the hurricane down here. anyway, brian sent me a new set with a "first of design" for free. no charges what so ever. i have since used him for other decals and he is always quick and the product is top notch.

i understand that you are frustrated but some face time on the phone would be much better than going this route.

i have used brian (autoguy) before and will continue to use him for my needs. i hope you guys can work this out in private.

[elcobra44]

If you don't want to see ANY flaws, even how minor they are, you better start contacting Daimler-Chrysler and getting your car returned for a repaint.
Now that's no joke.

[autoguy]

After reading the first post, I agree with Big Duck. After reading AutoGuy's post, well... I CERTAINLY don't agree with BLACKMAIL. There is many other ways to handle it more professionally. If you don't want to see ANY flaws, even how minor they are, you better start contacting Daimler-Chrysler to try and get your car returned for a complete repaint.

-R

My point exactly....But he told me his car is perfect.

[autoguy]

while in this situation i can't comment b/c i am not involved in this situation i speak from experience that autoguys is a class act and went out of his way to help me.

i had bought hip stripes from him and never recieved them due to mail issues....it was not to long after the hurricane down here. anyway, brian sent me a new set with a "first of design" for free. no charges what so ever. i have since used him for other decals and he is always quick and the product is top notch.

i understand that you are frustrated but some face time on the phone would be much better than going this route.

i have used brian (autoguy) before and will continue to use him for my needs. i hope you guys can work this out in private.

Thanks Scott....I just didnt like the way I was threatened with a bad review if I didn't do it. I agree there are other ways to solve an issue like this, and this is not the way. I offered him a better solution that would have paid him more than the $25.00 he was asking for, and I believe it was just a case of if you don't do it I will flame you.

[GoDaddy]

understand completely. let me reiterate this guys....he didn't need to send me another stripe set. he could have made me pay for shipping but he took really good care of me and not only sent me a new set but also sent me the first run of a new design (he let me pick something else out).....to me that is top notch stuff and earned my loyalty. the comments made just don't sound like brian to me....i am not calling anyone a liar. just that things can bet misconstrued.

Thanks Scott....I just didnt like the way I was threatened with a bad review if I didn't do it. I agree there are other ways to solve an issue like this, and this is not the way. I offered him a better solution that would have paid him more than the $25.00 he was asking for, and I believe it was just a case of if you don't do it I will flame you.

[danaM]

I am not sure of the communications breakdown between Big Duck and Autoguy but, I have never experience any issues with Brian. I got customized decals from him ( they go one the car as soon as we get some waxing weather up here). The transaction was smooth and fast and, I got exactly what I wanted. It's cool to be able to go to him and say, Brian I need this or that and have him make it happen. I am sure Big Duck and Autoguy can work this out.

[PghSE]

Seems to me that in a business deal, you should work out details before you take action instead of trying to Monday morning QB the deal. Ask for shipping fees before you ship. In fact, have shipping labels sent to you from the vendor before returning. This avoids all of the nonsense. Once the deal is closed, you cannot go back and renegotiate terms... unless you play professional sports :D

[Winky8]

I would have to agree with most of the others. If the paint had flaws in it big enough for wax to sit in then everytime th eguy waxewd the car he could have to clean the speccs out. I would go to a different paint shop. I have painted black cars amongst others and nerver had this problme unless I rushed the job and didn't take car.

I would ask for my money back as well.

[Winky8]

Unlike my spelling which I clearly do have a problem with.

[Winky8]

All said and done this is probably not the place to air dirty laundry on a single basis.

[arfur]

All said and done this is probably not the place to air dirty laundry on a single basis.

Very true.

[NYT]

i disagree. the best place for these discussions is out in the open. that way, one person cannot get away with ripping off/sh*tting on, multiple people.

im not saying autoguy did any of this, its just that airing out this predicament publicly gets perspective buyers interested in the outcome.

this isnt ebay, if a customer gets ripped off by a vendor here, there is no negative feedback that he can give to warn off other buyers.

[1bad4dr]

Autoguy, Thank you so very much for giving us your side of the story.... This is what I suspected to begin with.

This is defenitly a private issue, and the maturity level of this kid has come out. Too bad.... We never want to see good guys being blemished for minor and fixable issues.

Heck, I had an issue a couple weeks ago with a vendor that we spoke diligently on the phone. He gave avenues to try and find the why"s...


Turns out it wasn't even the vendors fault.... It was mine. I just didn't think things out for two full days. I apologized and we are still good. He is the best.

Anyway..... Thanks, you seem and sound to be a great business man. Keep up the great work.

[arfur]

Autoguy, Thank you so very much for giving us your side of the story.... This is what I suspected to begin with.

This is defenitly a private issue, and the maturity level of this kid has come out. Too bad.... We never want to see good guys being blemished for minor and fixable issues.

Heck, I had an issue a couple weeks ago with a vendor that we spoke diligently on the phone. He gave avenues to try and find the why"s...


Turns out it wasn't even the vendors fault.... It was mine. I just didn't think things out for two full days. I apologized and we are still good. He is the best.

Anyway..... Thanks, you seem and sound to be a great business man. Keep up the great work.



That doesn't surprise me Ron....It's because you are a WANKAAAAAA!!! :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :D :D :D :D

[arfur]

i disagree. the best place for these discussions is out in the open. that way, one person cannot get away with ripping off/sh*tting on, multiple people.

im not saying autoguy did any of this, its just that airing out this predicament publicly gets perspective buyers interested in the outcome.

this isnt ebay, if a customer gets ripped off by a vendor here, there is no negative feedback that he can give to warn off other buyers.

One sided discussions are best in the open? I think not!

I am all for ppl not getting ripped off - trust me, but you can't rubbish an entire supplier based on one piece of feedback. If the supplier is bent - burn the joint. If there has been a mix up in communication (or whatever), then both side should be heard before the rope is slung over the hanging tree! (IMHO). Marty Robbins would be turning in his grave! :ninja:

[josephmartins]

well, sounds like he just wasnt happy with the painters ability. i would ask for my money back as well. i always expect perfection, i dont want to see ANY flaws. no matter how minor they are.

The problem with consumers...and I'm not implying this is the case with you specifically NYT...is that they expect Maybach workmanship for a Daewoo price.

Take the average hood paint job. A show quality multistage paintjob for a hood alone (here in New England) runs north of $1000....an entire car easily over $15,000. Yet the average consumer will complain that their $500 hood paintjob is not absolutely flawless.

Similarly a race-quality 100% carbon fiber hood easily runs north of $3000. If someone just paid $300 or $600 for a carbon fiber hood, then a) it's either not 100% carbon fiber and uses a non CF substrate, and/or b) it's manufactured for use as a visual effect (i.e. for the "look") and not the physical properties of CF. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend using that $300 CF part as a structural component on a racing vehicle....that is to say, don't complain about the poor strength of the low-cost CF part after jumping up and down on it.

In other words, more often than not, consumers have unrealistic expectations of low price with high quality. It just doesn't exist. Take your pick...you can have one or the other, not both. And if you do find it, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

It doesn't mean a vendor shouldn't back up their work, and I'm in no way defending the vendor community...but the quality of the product should always be considered into the context of the price.

You can always expect perfection...that's fine. Just don't expect perfection on a less-than-perfection budget.

[JakeDagger]

Seems to me that Big Duck was irresponsible in slamming Autoguy in a public forum and asking others to boycott his products thus restricting Autoguy's ability to earn a reasonable living.

Big Duck has offered no proof (pictures) and no witnesses to his complaints of poor product quality.

Boy's about as suttle as a hand grenade in a barrel of oatmeal...He may be simply one of these guys who can't get no satisfaction and is generally abusive with vendors everywhere.

Dagger

[autoguy]

Seems to me that Big Duck was irresponsible in slamming Autoguy in a public forum and asking others to boycott his products thus restricting Autoguy's ability to earn a reasonable living.

Big Duck has offered no proof (pictures) and no witnesses to his complaints of poor product quality.

Boy's about as suttle as a hand grenade in a barrel of oatmeal...He may be simply one of these guys who can't get no satisfaction and is generally abusive with vendors everywhere.

Dagger

My thoughts exactly. If anyone saw the pics I think they would agree with me. I have been supplying dealers in my area for 15 years and pretty much do 99% of my business on brand new cars and never have this type of problem.

I think he is one of those people that just tries to get every last nickel out of a situation, and I didn't fall for the game. If he was so concerned, he should have asked me before sending it back. I just did not like the PM because I did not reply to him quick enough, and he took it as a no, and said he would do this.

[josephmartins]

My point exactly....But he told me his car is perfect.

No big-three factory paint job is what I would claim to be perfect. I'll give $500 to anyone on this forum that can show me one mainstream Chrysler, Ford, or GM that shipped from the factory with a "perfect" paintjob. I guarantee I will find flaws on the vehicle.

RandysWay is absolutely correct.

The multimillion dollar paint facilities of the major manufacturers turn out some of the crappiest finishes in the automotive industry. Sad, but true.

Installing a show quality painted part, say a custom hood or a tonneau cover, on a factory vehicle makes the rest of the paint look sad by comparison. I actually have to have my local painter match the color AND finish of the rest of my vehicles so that the parts do not look out of place.

Word to the wise...do not buy painted parts from afar unless you have no alternative. It's always better to paint locally. That way you can a) match the color AND finish, and b) bring it back to the local shop to be fixed if they don't do it right the first time (assuming you didn't get a Maaco special...then you deserve what you got :D ).

[oregoncharger]

In my business, If someone thinks my stuff is crappy, and wants their money back. I give my sorrys, and give it! Then I hope they think better of me. Then move on.

[InsaneCharger]

sorry to hear man about that experience.

[JasonB]

I wish he had not tryed to tar and feather autoguy, since I have been here his posts have been nothing but helpfull and I highly doubt he would do something underhanded...

[NYT]

One sided discussions are best in the open? I think not!

I am all for ppl not getting ripped off - trust me, but you can't rubbish an entire supplier based on one piece of feedback. If the supplier is bent - burn the joint. If there has been a mix up in communication (or whatever), then both side should be heard before the rope is slung over the hanging tree! (IMHO). Marty Robbins would be turning in his grave! :ninja:

i am not implying that autoguy did a piss poor job. i am stating that open discussion on the purchase, bad or not, should be displayed for the community. personally, this is one thread on autoguys performance as a vendor. one in a 100,000 threads isnt bad imo.

this certainly is not a one sided discussion...autoguy is here to defend himself.

The problem with consumers...and I'm not implying this is the case with you specifically NYT...is that they expect Maybach workmanship for a Daewoo price.

Take the average hood paint job. A show quality multistage paintjob for a hood alone (here in New England) runs north of $1000....an entire car easily over $15,000. Yet the average consumer will complain that their $500 hood paintjob is not absolutely flawless.

In other words, more often than not, consumers have unrealistic expectations of low price with high quality. It just doesn't exist. Take your pick...you can have one or the other, not both. And if you do find it, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

It doesn't mean a vendor shouldn't back up their work, and I'm in no way defending the vendor community...but the quality of the product should always be considered into the context of the price.

You can always expect perfection...that's fine. Just don't expect perfection on a less-than-perfection budget.

i understand that. i also understand that you or others may be used to the quality of craftsmanship where youre from. here in california, we hold autobody guys to a much higher standard. this is the show car capital of the world. if i was shipped a product with specks of white through the paint job, i would be furious. not to the point of that guy in FL who burned down the dealership, but furious nonetheless.

i have also found that people who do business primarily on the internet are not held to the highest of standards that, say your local bodyshop is. they get to round up business from ads, group buy gimmicks, etc. a local shop is only known by word of mouth.

from the prices you have mentioned, i can only guess where you come from, car painting is a very sought after skill. here, you tend to have a quality sprayer on every block.

[a14umbra]

I'm on NYT's side on this one (how the hell did that happen).

Look at the thread. If anything, I'm more likely to purchase from Autoguy now. By it being aired, we got to hear both sides, and it turns out that there are a lot of satisfied customers.

I'm not crazy about the 'boycott' spirit of the title. A title of "My unhappy experiance with a vendor" would probably be more appropriate, but the guy was obviously ticked off so I understand.

Yes, Autoguy is one of us and a good guy. But he's not the first and wont be the last to have his integrity questions (but let's not go there).

And, like the others, I think this information is ultimately valuable.

[arfur]

this certainly is not a one sided discussion...autoguy is here to defend himself.

.

I believe at the time of my posting, he had not replied. Logically, if he chooses to reply after I had made my comment, it makes my post void - which is fine. Don't understand why you had to mention that?

[autoguy]

Thanks for the support guys. I did offer a refund but did not hear anything. At this point...it is his. I will no longer offer a refund, compensate him for the shipping, or offer any other help. If it was handled differently, the situation would be different, but to be pushed into a corner, I had to push back out. The customer is always right deal only goes so far until someone tries to take it too far to take advantage of someone.

[BigDuck]

Wow, this sure generated a great discussion. I would like to clear up a few things.

1. This is business not personal (I have nothing against Brian as a person, I just disagree with his business practice of making the customer pay to ship back a faulty product)

2. A few comments were made that I was trying to take "advantage" of the situation? How in the world would I make out ahead? I had to pay $25 to ship back a product that should have been what I expected it to be in the first place.

3. I will post the pictures of the flaws so you can see for yourself (tonight).

4. If you choose to do business with Autoguy its no skin of my back, I just felt obligated to warn others that if the product is flawed you will have to pay to ship it back (period). I disagree with that business practice

Overall my intentions are to help everyone (even you Autoguy, maybe you will do the right thing next time and pay for the customers shipping on a faulty product).

[1bad4dr]

That doesn't surprise me Ron....It's because you are a WANKAAAAAA!!! :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :D :D :D :D
lmao Art.... I am hold my archer fingers up to you bud. lol

[autoguy]

Well like I said before, I offered you something even better and it was not good enough for you. Then when I did not reply to you fast enough you threatened to flame me. That is where it made it obvious that you were using that to try to make me decide what to do. At that point I decided that I was not going to be intimidated and decided to do nothing for you.

If you would have asked before sending it back and we would have come to some type of agreement, then I would understand, but we never had that discussion, maybe I could have done something differently as well, but I refuse to be intimidated and threatened.

Maybe next time you will be a bit more patient and not be so quick to use the "customer is going to flame the suplier" angle, and you might make out better. My next offer was to send you a set of stripes if you wanted, but....nevermind!!

Make sure to put a penny or something next to the spot so everyone can see the actual size, and be sure to post the pics of the second one and not the first one, because it was re-painted.

[BigDuck]

Im not flaming you, I stated the facts so others wouldnt have to go what I went through. If you spent more time listening to the customer and less time trying to provide something else this would have been resolved. I dont want $10 from every sale generated from the site (how would you be held accountable for that anyway? I dont want stripes on my car. What I wanted is what I asked for, to be reimbursed for shipping costs as a result of a faulty product.

As far as I am concerned this is over, no big deal.

[Zandian]

My opninion is that if someone purchases a pre-painted product and has it shipped they are already taking on some risk--something normally not recommended, but sometimes worth the risk for the discount.

In terms of paint quality I am on the fence a bit. Sure, when someone purchases a discounted paint job they should not expect show quality perfection, i.e. perfect match color, fish eyes, irregular particles that make up the sparkling part of the paint job, etc. I do have issues with significantly sized contaminants. I'm no expert on painting, but it doesn't seem that difficult to keep large particles from contaminating a paint job--unless you are doing the job on a sawhorse in a sandbox. Thus, even with a discounted paint my expectation would be that contamination should be minimal.

As for how autoguy dealt with it. Well, if the contamination was significant, I think it should have been repainted for free, including the shipping. If it was borderline reasonably free from contaminants, and thus a more subjective opinion as to quality, then I think a fair trade-off is to have it repainted for free, but the customer pay the shipping.

As for how this issue was dealt with by BD, I think you could have alerted the forum with a little more restraint, but I do appreciate the heads-up.

Now these opinions are coming from someone who lived through the RamAir fiasco, so I hope my opinion carries some weight. I had to make some of these very same decisions myself. I myself had to think about what is a reasonable expectation of quality when getting a pre-painted hood from RamAir, and I made my own decisions. There were some imperfections in the hood I got, but I decided I paid a good price for it and to be honest I don't even think about them any more. Afterall, how often was I going to have absolutely no dust on my car--except for these few small contaminants. most of the time there is enough on the car that I really don't notice them, even after washing At first I thought about it every day, now I really don't think about them. I myself didn't feel justified having them pay the shipping back and forth (or me pay the shipping) just to fix those small flecks. But of course we are talking two different products and size is definitely an issue--its just an example.

So there is a "range of reasonableness", and that range is subjective. When the two parties are at the very edges of that range and it could go either way depending on how someone views it, I think both should agree to share a bit of the burden.

My fingers are tired and I need some coffee--cya

Z

[PaCharger]

i think your both doo doo heads....:grin:
Good discussion, and thanks to both Duck and Autoguy for keeping the discussion civil. No one has been called an a$$ or a *****, or any of the other terms we use for Arfur :wink:

good job guys, honest!

[marwan85]

really interesting discussion .. let me put my 2cents..

While the 'imperfections' in the paint job are expected to some level, there are times where its not acceptable either.

I think what autoguy did was very professional. I guess he could have taken more time to check the first time rather than go in this trouble. I do still think that his services and prices are very competitive. He is trying his best and he probably felt used at this point. The customer, while being honest, is also trying to ruin Autoguy's business. There should have been more communication between the two rather than 'threatening to flame'.

I am almost 100% sure that autoguy along with his brother will do their best to solve the issue. But this is only if you gave them some time.

I do not work for autoguy, nor have I done any business with him. I have contacted him on ebay and few times here and he was professionaly responsive. He even took the time to PM me few new decals. In a month or so when the weather is nice, I will sure order decals from him. He offers total customization to our liking, his prices are great, he ships to canada :D, he offered even better prices to me and he sounds like a great businesman. What more can you offer?

Things like these will always happen no matter how professional the business is, we just cant judge autoguy on one person's bad experience.

Cheers! :smile:

[oregoncharger]

Things like these will always happen no matter how professional the business is, we just cant judge autoguy on one person's bad experience.

Sure we can! Thats whats cool about the net, being able to hear outright the problem both sides. I would be very carefull when doing business, not to get flamed on a forum. For as many folks as you pick up from this type thread, you also lose that many.

[arfur]

i think your both doo doo heads....:grin:
Good discussion, and thanks to both Duck and Autoguy for keeping the discussion civil. No one has been called an a$$ or a *****, or any of the other terms we use for Arfur :wink:

good job guys, honest!

Oi - I resemble those remarks!!!! :ninja:

[marwan85]

Sure we can! Thats whats cool about the net, being able to hear outright the problem both sides. I would be very carefull when doing business, not to get flamed on a forum. For as many folks as you pick up from this type thread, you also lose that many.

i agree with you to some extent .. but it shouldn't be handled in this fashion either. People had many problems with their Ramair hoods and they complained publicly on the forums. They got what they wanted in return. The client here didn't have to go and threaten the seller as well as flame him in every way.

Should autoguy be responsible to fix it? YES
Should the client expect few imperfections? SURE

Price of hoodscoop: $250
Return Shipping: $25
Re-painting the hoodscop: $50
This thread: PRICELESSS

There are decals money can't buy, for everything else there is autoguy .. :D

fun talk guys

[BrilliantRT]

No one has been called an a$$ or a *****, or any of the other terms we use for Arfur :wink:

good job guys, honest!

Shut up ***** a$$.....

:ninja:

[GoDaddy]

watch it a$$!......:tongue:

Shut up ***** a$$.....

:ninja:

[arfur]

watch it a$$!......:tongue:

Don't be an a$$, you a$$.....:tongue:

[a14umbra]

...what a bunch of beeyatches......:slapper:

[arfur]

...what a bunch of beeyatches......:slapper:

Shuddup a$$ face! :silenced:












:devil: :D

[Miranda]

The problem with consumers...and I'm not implying this is the case with you specifically NYT...is that they expect Maybach workmanship for a Daewoo price.

Take the average hood paint job. A show quality multistage paintjob for a hood alone (here in New England) runs north of $1000....an entire car easily over $15,000. Yet the average consumer will complain that their $500 hood paintjob is not absolutely flawless.

Similarly a race-quality 100% carbon fiber hood easily runs north of $3000. If someone just paid $300 or $600 for a carbon fiber hood, then a) it's either not 100% carbon fiber and uses a non CF substrate, and/or b) it's manufactured for use as a visual effect (i.e. for the "look") and not the physical properties of CF. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend using that $300 CF part as a structural component on a racing vehicle....that is to say, don't complain about the poor strength of the low-cost CF part after jumping up and down on it.

In other words, more often than not, consumers have unrealistic expectations of low price with high quality. It just doesn't exist. Take your pick...you can have one or the other, not both. And if you do find it, consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

It doesn't mean a vendor shouldn't back up their work, and I'm in no way defending the vendor community...but the quality of the product should always be considered into the context of the price.

You can always expect perfection...that's fine. Just don't expect perfection on a less-than-perfection budget.

Very well said. An example of this, I was faced with two options. 1) Buy a painted aftermarket spoiler for $295 online, or buy MOPAR spoiler and have it painted locally for $325 parts + $100 paint. I opted for the cheaper option, the $295 spoiler. I was not satisfied with the quality. It was nice but not perfect, and I decided to send it back and buy the MOPAR spoiler locally.

The vendor refunded my purchase price, but not shipping either way, so I was out $45 total. I did not complain about this or ask him to refund shipping. I realize that most customers would have been satisfied with the quality of the spoiler, so I didn't think it was fair for me to ask the vendor to eat the shipping, which was probably more than his profit margin. The way I see it, $45 was the price I paid for gambling on a long distance bargain.

This is not to take sides and say this reflects this situation, just relating a similar experience.

[danaM]

Shuddup a$$ face! :silenced:














:devil: :D

If I said it once, I said it a 1000 times. YOU GUYS ARE A TRIP. Damn yaw crack me up.