Guys i just wanted to ask wheather anyone has had a warranty claim put through for a McCulloch product. I have read that they closed their US offices and only work through distributors and so wondering how long it would take for warranty claims....

the reason i ask this is that i bought a HID kit off HIDPLACE.COM and had a faulty ballast. i e-mailed them and they said to send it in so i did, this was over 2 months ago and until now i have no idea when i will be getting my replacement ballast.

i have e-mailed hidplace many times and all i've been told is that they are out of stock and they have no idea when they will even know when my replacement ballast will come...

is there anyone out there that has put a warranty claim through and had the same prob? if so how long did it take to get a replacement... or how long have you been waiting?

it's kinda weird cause they sell them on their web sites and i can;t see why they don;t just give me one off the shelf....

Sorry I can't help you with your specific situation, but things like this are a result of the fact that since '03 it has been illegal to sell any aftermarket HID kits in the US. Most of the larger vendors pulled out of the US market after the NHTSA issued its order, leaving only a few smaller and less reliable ones who continued to sell kits. Obtaining replacement parts can be a major problem, as you are finding out.

Supposedly some kits are ordered direct from japan. Smuggled, perhaps. haha.

A couple years back, a few of my friends bought the McCulloch HID kits during a Group Buy. A total of 5-6 ballasts blew and all had to get replaced. The vendor charged them shipping and some extra money to get replacements (not anywhere close to full price though). Nevertheless, they got them in decent time. I believe the first gen. ballasts were the ones that were bad - I don't know about the more recent ones. Anyways, you may want to get a ballast from this guy - his Web site is here:

http://www.ultrabrightlights.com/

Of course pursue this at your own risk ;)

well i still want to wait for my ballast... as i don;t want to fork out more money and besides i already sent the ballast to them with extra $15 for them to send the replacement back... if i knew it would be this hard and take this long i wouldnt have sent it... i only sent it cause they said they already had a replacement waiting for me... so i expected it within the week or the least the next week...

have you checked ebay for the ballasts?

... if i knew it would be this hard and take this long i wouldnt have sent it... i only sent it cause they said they already had a replacement waiting for me.....
Unfortunately, you're getting first-hand experience with why the cheaper vendors are cheaper. Since they've already lied to you once, I'd assume that no ballast is coming from them and start applying the pressure to get your ballast and all your money back. Use the phone and be persistent, calling everyone at the company whose phone number you can find again and again until you get results. If you paid with credit card, put it in dispute quickly if it is still under the time limit.

does anyone know if HIDPLACE has any other numbers besides their 888HIDPLACE number? i'm about to call them and give em heaps... this is a joke... the fact that i havn't even gotten my ballast yet... i e-mailed them heaps of times and they havn;t replied to any of them for about a month now... so i dunno whats happening there... so if you guys know any other contact numbers that i can have please let me know ...

Thanks in advance...

Sam

The HIDPlace.com Contact page gives the name Allan Barshtak.
Googling that gives (from WRXFanatics):
Allan Barshtak
Brooklyn, NY
Abarshtak&hotmail.com or eye8u0ut&aol.com
(2 more email addresses and a home city!)
His screen name there is Subie2.5RS2003.
Looking at the profile for that gives:
birthdate: XXXXXXXXXXX
location: NY
More Google results give his old high school:
XXXXXXXXXXXX Secondary School Allan Barshtak
More Google results give a bunch of info:
Subie2.5RS2003
09-22-2004, 02:12 PM
HIDplace
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Brooklyn, NY 11235
XXX-XXX-XXXX
10am - 11pm EST
Sun - Sat
HIDplacedotcom@aol.com
Paypal, Money Order, Western Union
Allan Barshtak
HID (Xenon) Lights
www.HIDplace.com

OK, now you've got an address and a phone number. I think you can continue on your own.

Remember, Google is watching you! ;)

NOTE: Edited by request of the subject here. If you want the info, just do your own Googling.

thanx for that... i'll try and e-mail both his addresses first... and then i'll look up some more... :)