Mendo

iTrader: (2)

First, What Happened
I placed an order for the Do-Luck CF trunk on October 5th 2009 through Patrick at Bulletproof Automotive. He told me the trunks were not in yet and if I wanted I could just put a down payment and pay in full once they are here; I paid in full from the get go. The trunk arrived to the freight company in the middle of November so I sent one of my parents to pick it up for me. I get home for the Thanksgiving break and unpacked the trunk myself. It wasn't until next morning that I realized there were some serious imperfections on the weave. Everything is underneath the clearcoat, meaning the weave came out bad and it was still coated, shipped, and sold.

Here are pics of the trunk when I first received it:



Here is where my experience at Bulletproof went sour. Started out by first sending Patrick the pics and then called to talk about it. Well, turns out Patrick doesn't work there anymore so I told my issue to Hunter (who had already seen the pics from Patrick's email) and starts telling me the process for damage claims while shipping. I told him that the trunk is not "damage" but has some major "imperfections" from the manufacturer. He then stated it was rare for Do-Luck to send this and some more blah blah and then tells me that he will have to talk to a manager and that he would get back to me as soon as possible. About a 1.5 weeks go by without hearing anything so I called back, Hunter wasn't available so I again told my issue to another person who said he would also have to get back to me. Another week goes by and no one calls so I call back again, this time a 3rd different person answers, I tell her my story and she does the same as the 2 previous people, politely telling me she will have to talk to a manager first. By now it is the weekend before Christmas so I figure the reason they didn't call back this week was legitimate . (At this point I have talked to 3 different people who all told me they would call back and never did, almost 1 month of just plain one-sided phone tag)

I call back after Christmas and talk to Hunter again (he had been sick or something), I told him I was frustrated with them and that at this point I regretted even making my purchase. He politely apologized for everything and finally started to talk about resolving the issue. He said the option he could offer me was to exchange the trunk at no cost (and he kept saying, at their loss) but that I would have to pay for the defective trunk's shipping back to them and the shipping of the new trunk to me and that they could credit me the shipping cost from their warehouse to me. He said this would be the most fair solutions for both parties. (Ummm, excuse me, Fair?) So I told him it wasn't fair and that I didn't understand how/why this is fair. He then mentioned that in Japan they don't worry about visual appearance as Americans do, so they see it as sellable. This completely threw me off since I thought the whole idea about JDM was quality, fitment and all that other stuff. He then said that since there is not warranty on a part like this, they were exchanging the trunk to keep me happy and that financing both shipping charges would put them at an even bigger loss. I told him that this isn't fair because in the end I am the one losing not them, I told him that this could have easily been avoided if someone looked at what they were sending before putting it in a box. He then gave me a story about them using a 3rd party warehouse and more blah blah. By now I was so frustrated I was about to lose it. So I agreed to their "fair" solution....

When I sent the trunk back in January, it cost me almost double the original shipping. When they called me on Monday, I said that since the shipping was almost double than expected I couldn't continue to agree to their "credit" solution. (The 3 shipping costs add up to just over $500, almost half the value of the trunk) By now I was talking to Mike and told him this isn't fair and that I wanted them to pay for the return shipping not just credit it for later. He then said that wouldn't be fair to them because they were taking a loss on the trunk. At this point I was fed up with the whole "they lose" argument and I told him "how are you going to lose, if you are already offering to sell my trunk to someone else". That's right, in their "World Debut Do-Luck Duckbill" thread they had posted they were re-selling it and that they would PM special pricing. He said he wasn't aware of that and that he would call me back after talking to management.

The Cherry on Top
He calls me back and tells me that after contacting the warehouse the defective trunk was damaged in shipping and they sent it back to me. The trunk sustained damage on the 2 top corners near the hinges, 2 bottom corners where it meets the bumper and a major scratch on the front. All this somehow happened inside the box that was packed in even better condition that what they originally sent it. (Now the trunk got there Thursday, I talked to him Monday, shouldn't he have mentioned that first?) He said that since I had used a shipping store to send my trunk, I would have to settle the damage claim through them. He then went on to say that since they couldn't exchange my "damaged" trunk for a new one, I could contact them in the future if I wanted another trunk.... (so pretty much I'm screwed)

A week later I talked to Ben, owner of BP, about my whole issue and he offered to exchange my damaged trunk for a new one (me still paying delivery) if UPS didn't honor the damage claim which was really good from his part. He tried to make me feel better about the situation and offered me some incentives to still do business with BP, but after an ordeal like this it is hard to consider going through them again.

Pics of the damage that happened "inside" the box:



Well today, April 12 2010, I finally got the call from my local shipping store that UPS will honor the damage claim even though they had originally said it wouldn't be possible since the box was not damaged.

Even after my talk with Ben, I still feel a bit cheated by Bulletproof. I spent 1 month waiting for the trunk, then 5 months going back and forth between BP and my shipping store with paperwork, taking my trunk to different body shops so they could state to UPS it was non-repairable, and then there is the 100+ phone calls I have had to make. Then there is the fact that my trunk "supposedly" suffered all this damage in the box, whether that is the case, or it was dropped after the box was opened, I will never know.

(On a side note, does the trunk look salvageable?)

meanmud

iTrader: (74)

can only speak about the weave underneath the clearcoat - that's always my experience. Unless someone tells me differently, I can always expect that imperfection.

As far as the rest - Good luck Ben is really a nice guy, and hopefully he can treat you accordingly

mr.almeida

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like BP dropped the ball here, but I'll wait to hear their side of the story. I've ordered a Gialla grill from them like 4 years ago and didn't have a problem.

Kracka

iTrader: (49)

...and trunk lid

BPAuto

iTrader: (10)

Branko -- I asked Ben about this and here is the email he wrote back to me. Hopefully this will shed some light on the situation:

-----------

I really enjoyed working with Branko although I regret that I only got a chance to talk with him at the end after some of the problems occurred. I was under the impression that he and I were on good terms and that all was left on fair terms for Branko considering the unusual situation that occurred and our effort to make things right. I’m surprised to see that two months after I and Branko last spoke that he is seemingly upset or disappointed still. I’d love to do whatever it takes to make things right, but I’m a bit confused since last time he and I spoke he said he was satisfied with the result. I’m not sure what Branko’s motivation is here since I never got any email or phone call from him in months regarding this issue.

Here is a quick recap of what happened.

First of all – the employee problems Branko mentioned were true and are long since resolved (those involved in the situation who dropped the ball are no longer employed with Bulletproof). It is important that we continuously improve and it is readily apparent that we’re doing that…simply stated, it is inexcusable for any employee of our company to not call a client back when promised. Promising and not fulfilling call backs are completely not tolerated and leads to termination of employment.

In the beginning:
Branko ordered a Do-Luck trunk and upon receiving it was disappointed with the weave imperfection in certain areas. As others have said, in hand made product some carbon fiber imperfections are to be expected from time to time…but I understand that everyone has different expectations which is why we rely on the manufacturer themselves to make the determination of what is defective and what is not. This removes our bias from it and gives a factual response.

As we’re the agent of Do-Luck we asked Do-Luck if the trunk passed their quality inspection because if Do-Luck deems it defective we’ll of course have Do-Luck support the replacement as a manufacturer warranty. In this case Do-Luck said that his trunk was acceptable for Japanese consumption and therefore they would not provide warranty replacement.

Most companies at this point would explain this to the owner of trunk (with some regret of course that a better solution does not exist) and there would simply be no resolution but to accept the trunk. At the time, I authorized my sales guys to accept an exchange and we would re-stock the blemished trunk without making Branko pay any restock fee for the return/exchange. Part of the arrangement was that because we were essentially taking back a perfectly functional and certified trunk, that Branko would pay the shipping fees to do so because the exchange was at his personal preference (something which he accepted and did). That was a mutual choice of Branko and our representative during their conversations and at the time nobody was notified that Branko had any problem with that agreement which he did at his own free will.

Simply stated, at that time Branko said he’d be happy with that solution, and therefore I don’t think we’d ever see a complaint like this online. However on the exchange Branko’s trunk arrived damaged in transit. This is something that we had no control over, yet from that point forward Branko was upset with us because the exchange was no longer a smooth exchange. Because his return to us was damaged and the damage claim has a particularly frustrating process with his shipping agent/company, he rightfully got frustrated due to the delays. We could do nothing in that case as he was the packager and shipper, the damage occurred on his shipment to us, not our shipment to him.

On our end we had already agreed to accept an exchange of a trunk which was/is typically against industry and company policy (Japanese special order parts are sold as is and carbon parts are hand made so occasionally there are details like this which come up from time to time, which is where manufacturer support for defects comes in). When Do Luck did not deem it a defect, we took a financial loss to try to make Branko happy. In the end, clearly we made him more upset because little did we know his return would come in broken. Naturally without a return we could not ship the replacement because then we’d be out two trunks for trying to do this exchange favor and nothing to show for the second trunk. So because of the damage claim Branko had to wait for that process to settle, all while we held another trunk ready for him. We offered to have Branko pay us for the second trunk and then we’d refund him once the first trunk was returned in new condition or the damage settlement paid out in full, but he declined this option.

In the end, it was a messy situation. I felt that we did the right thing by allowing an exchange in a situation where we clearly did not need to and other companies would have not. But sometimes in cases like this trying to do the right thing ends up complicating matters more. I regret the damage on his return to us, but there is nothing I could have done about that. What I really regret however was how Branko was handled and the poor level of service he got from our past staff. That was inexcusable and is fortunately something I have already greatly improved on over here with changing of staff and new hiring. That was the true lesson learned for us to be able to improve, which we have a great deal in the past few months.

Beyond that, I really liked talking with Branko and I genuinely want to make him happy. His experience was indeed a bad one, a trunk that was not 100% perfect as he anticipated it would be, a return that was damaged before it arrived for return, and multiple bad experiences with past sales staff…I can understand his frustration. I just don’t know how to move past it, since I thought Branko and I were happy with the last solution we had when he and I talked. I really wish Branko would have called me to discuss further if he was unhappy since I have not heard from him in two months and I thought everything was in the past. To me, when someone says they are satisfied then I like to hope that an agreement is reached and people can move on to better experiences together. In this case it seems that is not true for reasons that I don’t understand.

Its unusual that in cases like these when we authorize exchanges that break even our own rules to help a client, that somehow we get bashed online for it. I sometimes wonder in this case whether Branko would have been happier if we had we simply told Branko that Do Luck said the trunk was in legitimate sellable condition and that we could not support his request and left it at that. That is how this industry typically works and although I authorized a exchange to bend the rules and try to help Branko, someone I feel that he is more upset at us in that scenario than if we just played it by the textbook (manufacturer determines if part is defective or not and the supplier sticks to that story).

Message board posts like what I’ve been shown are meant to lead enthusiasts away from bad companies. I believe the facts would state that I do not run a bad company when 2/3rds of the problems listed are regarding imperfections in a hand made part (that we don’t physically make in house) and a freight claim for a shipment he made back to us. I do agree that we are a bad company if we exhibit unprofessionalism like not calling people back when we promise…that is unacceptable as a customer and even more unacceptable as business owner who strives for the best possible experience for his customers and friends. Rest assured that solution was put in place months ago, but these other problems still somehow linger with Branko and we’ve never been given a chance to overcome them it seems in Branko’s eyes. For that, I’m disappointed because I never would want a bad taste in someone’s mouth to last this long…since then we’ve made hundreds of clients very happy with seamlessly smooth orders, but I fear that we’ll be re-living some of the unfortunate details of this one for a while longer despite my personal offers to help Branko which he had already said he was satisfied with.


Sincerely,
Ben

Mendo

iTrader: (2)

In response to the post above:
I had no updates or info until today so a call would be pointless. Also, it isn't like BP has called me to see if my claim was settled or anything. My motivation in posting this review is to tell my story, besides I told Ben in advance I was going to be posting this review I was just waiting for it to be fully resolved.

I understand the trunk was "structurally" fine, but the trunk definitely didn't look anywhere as good as advertised. I don't understand why a company with the reputation like Do-Luck would allow a trunk with this many defects represent them. Honestly, who would put a carbon trunk on their car if it had imperfections you could see almost a mile away.

After all the trouble you guys were giving me, I would have felt insulted to be asked for a re-stock fee, specially when there is another thread where you guys are posting that you will sell it and you were already receiving PMs about it. Ummm, to say I accepted that deal on my own free will is a stretch. I accepted it because it was either that or ending up with the messed up trunk. Oh and I did notify that I was not happy about the arrangement, I notified right after I accepted it.

Here is a major part of the problem, and I am actually surprised Ben wrote about it in this way. In our conversation, he said the proper way to handle the return would have been for you guys to send me a return label, not have me fish around for shipping rates.

I was never offered this, what you guys offered me was to wait for the claim to settle; if it didn't I would pay for shipping you would trade my damaged one for a new one, if it did settle we would leave it at that. Besides that would have been asking me to put up another $1200, tough thing to ask after the issue we where having.
Had you told me I would just have to deal with it would definitely not make me happy. I still don't understand how Do-Luck can say " the trunk was in legitimate sellable condition". Paying $1200 for a JDM Do-Luck trunk with all the reputation and hype that you are paying for perfection and quality, to read huge threads with posts about awesome finish and fit; and then receiving my trunk in this condition, how could I not be upset?
Even with all my issues and problems, I still have not called BP a bad business. Had I not had that last phone conversation with Ben, it would for sure be a different story. My talk with Ben really showed me he cared about my issue, specially to hear that my bad experience influenced things on his end shows his commitment, but to say that one talk at the very end of a huge issue would solve everything is a bit much. I am still going to be upset to hear you/Do-Luck viewed this trunk as sellable. To advertise quality, fitment, finish and then not receive what you were told or payed for would upset anyone.

chaotichoax

iTrader: (149)

I added quotes to your last post mendo to make it easier to follow

I just wanted to state that this review needs to remain civil...thus far mendo and bp have stayed calm/collected and keep to the facts which is appreciated

reality is no business will ever make every customer happy...here is an example with clear detailed outlines from the customer and vendor

EvolNinja

iTrader: (22)

I would have kept the first one and save the money spent on shipping both ways. Sorry to hear about your situation

RockmanX

iTrader: (78)

This my opinion on the matter

One could have kept the first one and painted it but seriously paying 1200 for a cf trunk to have defects i mean if he wanted that he could have got seibon junk and threw it on there. When i hear companies like do luck cwest voltex and i pay the high dollar price tag then i expect perfection. What shocks me the most is making the customer cover the shipping. the trunk came to him in **** poor condition so you can take your trunk back he was forced to sollow the cost. The damge in shipping back to you is unfortunate and only the shipper is to blame there. But tack that on to a poorly CF wrapped trunk, junk shipping, and lets face it Agents of BP that did not care about there job and just wanted the next check and you have a upset customer that will never do business with you again.

On top of that he will spread word of what happened to him to others. Most people like myself will think twice about ordering from you now just based of what I read and how you agreed to it. Now will that hurt your sales?? alittle you will still be wheeling and dealing but potential customers that could be lifers may find a new vendor to spend there hard earned money with. Nobody in this bad economy wants to lay down 1200 for something they worked hard doing those 8-5s for everyday turn into a situation where they should have just kept the money and spent it on something else. Then to have 1200 turn into 1700 then pay the waiting game with your money(shipper reembushment check) those can take awhile and he is suppose to be satified HOW? where is a respectiful resolution? where he is like man oh man im using them again??? I dont get it