So after looking all over the place both here and other sites, I decided to buy the Westin Platinum Ovals for my truck. In the past I had heard good things about AutoAnything so I decided to buy them there.
On the positive side of this mess, AA's prices were very good and their shipping was both free and very fast. I ordered the bars the night of Memorial Day and installed them on Thursday. So that was the good part...
Once they were installed, the passenger side looked perfect; exactly the way I was wanting it to look like. I didn't have that same luck for the driver's side. The bar angles up towards the back......WTF??? I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination so I measured everything and the driver's side sits about 7mm higher than the passenger's side. So I double check all the brackets making sure I installed the correct locations. Also loosened up the bolts and pulled both the bracket and bar as far down as possible. After all of that, I'm still high and angled.
So I call up Westin and explain my problem, the girl hangs up on me as soon as I finish my explanation; she didn't even say anything. I call up AA and he says he'll get things fixed. I send him over 10 pictures of both sides, the brackets, etc. After a couple days he responds via email telling me I have to return the entire package (even though it's probably a bad bracket) and go through the whole "BS" exchange process in order for this to get resolved. Said they would not send a new bracket because they didn't want to break up a set. Supposedly that came from somebody at Westin.
After hearing that I decided to try Westin again. I finally get a hold of somebody and after asking for a manager, she tells me that's her title. So I go through the whole process again, pictures, explanations, all of it. I get an email from her the next day telling me their engineers have to look into and she'll let me know by the next day. Well, that was a couple days ago. I emailed her yesterday asking for an update and she wouldn't even send a courtesy response. This is getting so pathetic.
Finally I decided that BOTH Westin and AA are bad companies to work with. I ordered another set elsewhere and will just send this crap back to AA; they can deal with Westin on their own.
Why is it so hard to find good customer service? How hard would it have been to just send out a new bracket? I could understand AA not wanting to do that but Westin should have backed their product up. How pathetic is it that they want me to uninstall everything all because of a faulty bracket on one side. This worries me about how well they will handle their warranty issues if the bars start to rust. I know that from now on those two companies will be at the bottom of my list to purchase from.
Oh yeah, they also shorted me on my hardware. I called about that last Thursday and I still haven't received them. I guess it's faster to ship a big *** box than it is a small bag of bolts.
Anyway, sorry for the long rant but I needed to vent my frustration. AA and Westin can suck the big one
Hmm. Sorry about your luck and the crappy customer service. I was looking forward to buying some Westin nerf bars this month. I guess I'll check out the other brands I appreciate the warning as customer service is one of the most important factors in choosing what and where I buy. I hope things get worked out and let them know they just lost one sale.
I was looking forward to buying some Westin nerf bars this month.
Don't get me wrong, the bars are beautiful and were a great price; $252 (black) shipped. The quality seemed very good.....minus the whole wrong braket issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsimmons
....customer service is one of the most important factors in choosing what and where I buy.
I agree 100% If a company shows they appreciate my business, I'll happily pay more money to deal with them. One would think that in these crappy economic times, companies would go the extra mile to make their customers happy.
7mm, you're bitching about 7mm? Just over half a centemeter? I would have hung up on you too. Sorry OP, but damn people are so freaking anal. Who gives a crap about 7mm? Like anyone but you will even know. Give me a break man.
EDIT: I can help you though. Check out TruckCandy.com. Best pricing I could find. I even had to send my Westin's back under warranty, customer service was great. Check them out.
__________________ Mods - Westin 6" Oval Steps, Cracked Windshield, Revo's, "The Rancher" w/ Hella 500's, Compustar Remote Start, A.R.E Topper, Bedrug, Multiple Paint Scratches, Cracked Front Bumper, Bent Hitch Safety Chain Hoops, More to Come.
7mm, you're bitching about 7mm? Just over half a centemeter? I would have hung up on you too. Sorry OP, but damn people are so freaking anal. Who gives a crap about 7mm? Like anyone but you will even know. Give me a break man.
Yup, 7mm. I guess I am a little anal when I paid a lot of money for a nice truck and my after market stuff comes out not the way they should be.
Thanks for the website tip though....I'll check them out.
Yup, 7mm. I guess I am a little anal when I paid a lot of money for a nice truck and my after market stuff comes out not the way they should be.
Well now that you post the pics, I might have to swallow my pride and eat my words. That looks like a lot more than 7mm.
Watch the coating on those bars, especially the underside. Mine started peeling and flaking really, really badly. I suspect it started with rocks getting kicked up and flaking the underside. It literally got so bad that there was little to no black coating on the underside, which eventually started peeling up the sides. I sent them back probably a year ago, they sent me brand new ones that have been flawless, no peeling at all.
__________________ Mods - Westin 6" Oval Steps, Cracked Windshield, Revo's, "The Rancher" w/ Hella 500's, Compustar Remote Start, A.R.E Topper, Bedrug, Multiple Paint Scratches, Cracked Front Bumper, Bent Hitch Safety Chain Hoops, More to Come.
^^^^ No worries....I'm sure it's greater than 7mm but I just picked a point on both sides just to confirm I wasn't seeing things. I feel like an idiot with it on right now; people probably think some special ed installed it.
Thanks for the tip about them. I'll watch for issues to come up. I know the stainless would have been a better long term choice but I'm not too fond of the shiney look. Hopefully this little issue will be my only problem and Westin's quality will hold through the years.....knock on wood.
AA is right, they're not going to break up a set to send you a new bracket. I'd expect Westin to do that - but they are a typical aftermarket parts company - terrible customer service. Remember in this world, as much as people try to prove it wrong, you get what you pay for!!
Can you add a few washers to the underside of the one the brackets to bring in down? Any way you can create space between the running board and the bracket?
I have had excellent service from AutoAnything in all of my purchases from them.
I would agree that the requirement to ship the whole set back isn't much fun, but I can understand AutoAnythings (or any other dealers) position, they don't stock replacement parts, that is Westin's job, Westin is who you need to be upset with.
Just my .02
__________________ Nick Brewer NickBrewer@msn.com
2007 Toyota Tundra RCSB 5.7L
1988 Toyota MR2 Supercharged
1987 Toyota Corolla GT-S Coupe
1979 Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special
1986 Yamaha SRX-6
2003 Yamaha FZ-1
I have had excellent service from AutoAnything in all of my purchases from them.
I would agree that the requirement to ship the whole set back isn't much fun, but I can understand AutoAnythings (or any other dealers) position, they don't stock replacement parts, that is Westin's job, Westin is who you need to be upset with.
Just my .02
Agreed. If Westin required this of Auto Anything, what can AA do? If they try to accommodate you, they will probably not be able to return the parts to Westin and will in turn be eating the cost of the parts.
I have had excellent service from AutoAnything in all of my purchases from them.
I would agree that the requirement to ship the whole set back isn't much fun, but I can understand AutoAnythings (or any other dealers) position, they don't stock replacement parts, that is Westin's job, Westin is who you need to be upset with.
Just my .02
x2. Thumbs up from me to AA; their response to you on this did not seem unreasonable.
__________________ 07 DC SR5 TRD 4x4 5.7 TRD exhaust, 46K miles, 17 mpg city after battery disconnect reset. Truxedo Lo-Pro with deck rails. Front Susp: Stock coilovers, 4" lift (http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...6-4-inch-lift/), swapped extra spacers for Bilstein 5100s on lowest setting, wheel well height still 41.5." Rear Susp: ProComp ES3000 #326510 (2.25" taller than stock), 1.25" blocks plus PRG mini-pack (http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...and-new-truck/) gives 2.25" total lift, parking brake cable bracket spacers, wheel well height 43." Front diff and rear ds drop; trailer hitch electrical harness tucked up above bumper. After 20K miles swapped 305/65/18 BFG AT for 285/75/18 Toyo AT, still on stock 18x8x60 offset TRD wheels, about 1/8" clearance to sway bar. Like the extra height but miss the width. Next time either 305/70/, 295/70, or 35x12.50/18. Added 5th 285/75/18 Toyo AT as spare. Bed Bounce: Stiffer E-tires are worse than stock P-metric; biggest improvement from PRG mini-pack, slight improvement from shocks. Still a stiff ride but tolerable now. Best things about this truck: 5.7 and transmission, interior size and comfort, very quiet at high speed. Worst things about this truck: bed bounce, no VSC in 4wd, mileage sucks above 70.
As bad as it may be for AutoAnything and their various costs they would incur in returning this, they were the ones who sold a bad product. I agree that Westin is the main company I am more unhappy with but I would have thought AA would have tried to help me out in some way. That is where it pisses me off from their side. I firmly believe both AA and Westin could have shipped a replacement bracket and things would have worked out. Instead of me having to get a whole new setup just for one bracket, AA could have done that themselves. It's over now and lesson learned. I just think they both have terrible customer service and could really care less. I'm sure the large majority of their sales are all positive so the every one bad out of one hundred probably doesn't mean too much for them.
I'm on Dex's side on this. AA could have sent him a new bracket then returned the bad bracket with the set they took it from to Westin. Or, they could have worked with Westin to make sure he got his new bracket. Customer NO-Service. This customer no buy from them.
I'm on Dex's side on this. AA could have sent him a new bracket then returned the bad bracket with the set they took it from to Westin. Or, they could have worked with Westin to make sure he got his new bracket. Customer NO-Service. This customer no buy from them.
Westin / AutoAnything Rant...
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