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Old 02-05-2009, 01:55 PM   #1
ASHRAF
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Default Interior Flaire (fastcb)

Hello everyone,
before i start, I wanna let everyone know that this review is not about the work Interior Flaire do, it's about their customer service, and the way they deal with their problems.

please note: THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT LIGHTWERKZ
Caesar is a great guy, and even though I haven't dealt with him directly, My friends had nothing but awesome experience dealing with him

I bought a brand new avic-z3 head unit, and installed it in my past car ('08 civic mugen si), when I sold the car, I took the head unit out, and since the lighting is blue, and all the interior STi lights are red, I started looking for someone to do the conversion.

Looked at Nasioc, under Lightwerkz thread, and found some pictures of interior conversions, since Lightwerks is a trust worthy company from what I've heard, I e-mailed Caesar asking about the conversion and angel eyes, this was his reply

Quote:
105mm ring kit you need for the 08 sti if you want to keep it inside the casing and then 95mm if you want it on the edge without the casing. Its your choice.

My partner will get back to you about the interior led mods.
a couple of days later, I got an e-mail from Cory Brown:

Quote:
Yes we can converted your AVIC-Z3 backlighting. The cost is $45.

Please ship to the address below and include a Paypal address, return address, phone #, and detailed instructions in the shipment.

We look forward to working with you on this project!


Cory Brown
LightWerkz!
XXX Xxxxxxxx Dr.
Coppell, TX 7501X
I went an wrapped the head unit, and shipped it through UPS to Cory (thinking that he's part lightwerkz)

the unit after taking it out of my civic, and before shipping it to cory, in perfect condition


he did the conversion, took a picture and posted it on nasioc, and here as well, and sent me an e-mail after that, saying that the head unit took 8 hours of his time to convert it, which (based of a friend who does this sort of stuff) is not true, anyhow, he changed the price to $50 which is not even worth fighting for, so I agreed to pay that, and did pay it, and I got an e-mail from him with a tracking number, I was so excited, here is the picture



a couple of days later, I got the package, opened it, and surprise




I called him up and asked what should be done, and the first time he said things like, Oh snap, I'm sorry dude, this is my fault for not insuring the head unit, and so on and so forth

I told him at the time that there is something suspicious, and told Caesar the same thing, if the unit was damaged during shipping, where is the missing censor cover, and if it was dropped with bubble wrap all over it, how come the corner is scratched?

I got this PM on nasioc from him

Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb
AJ,

You saw how the unit was packaged. I made a "pillow" of extra layers of bubble wrap to protect the face and then wrapped the entire unit in several layers of bubble wrap. The unit was tight within the box and the box was lined with large bubble wrap and the box had no visible damage to it? It seems an impact large enough to shatter the faceplate would knock a hole in the box or otherwise damage the box.
I think UPS is going to want to see the unit and how it was packaged. I can check. It hardly seems worth it to deal with UPS for only $100.
I only wished I had purchased insurance!
If I were you I would send the unit to Pioneer for repair and let me know what the final charges are.
I will await your response.

Cory
here is the "pillow" and multiple layers of bubble wrap, all together



So he did not even wanna deal with UPS regarding the damage at first, and the box being in a perfect condition seems abnormal

after that I got this e-mail from him

Quote:
AJ,

The package was obviously dropped in shipment. I asked for $2000 insurance but it was going to be over $50 for insurance. I figured since it was only going to Houston, I thought the risk minimal.

What do you want to do going forward? We can send the unit back to Pioneer service for repair. That is what comes to mind right now.

Cory
and I got this PM on nasioc from Caesar

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightWerkz
Cory had informed me there was soe sort of an issue with your order?

Can you fill me in?

As you may already know Cory does the lightning conversions on his own in TX. We works under our name and has done very well in the past. I dont want there to be any issues , so thats why I am checking in with you to see what exactly is going on.

Thanks

Caesar
That was the first time i knew that cory is not part of lightwerkz, and I started feeling uncomfortable, and after explaining the situation to Caesar, here is his reply

I also told him that Cory might claim that I dropped the unit after getting it (as he did mention that in a phone call earlier), he just wanna get him self out of the situation no matter what

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightWerkz
When he called me to inform of the situation I had heard a unit was broken in shipping. I asked if he had insured the unit, he hadnt. This was a big mistake on his part, because he is responsible for adding that to his own shipping costs unless he wants to be responsible for it.

Another thing is he shouldnt have charged you after you guys agreed on a price, thats not fair. A lot of things take me twice as long to do, I never ask for more money.

Aj you must realize its a sticky situation.

You delt with cory, you paid cory, everything done through him. I am sorry if you were misled thinking we are doing the work, we merely contract the work to Cory, and he takes care of everything else.

Again, I never assume responsiblity on our customers if an item is damaged during shipping, how can you possibly be responsilbe for what happened?

Caesar
After talking to him about Cory using the name lightwerkz, and that is what gave me a false sense of security to send a $1800 head unit to him, he replied:

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightWerkz
Aj

You must realize he is not using my name, or the name LightWerkz.He is only chiming in to the thread. He has his own business, Interior Flaire, not sure if you had spoken to him through that email, but thats what he is known as on Iwsti.com.

He is just advertising through us, using our exposure to benifit the both of us.

If you deal with me, you will know it. You dont get any run around, Im here to pick up the phone every day, and make things happen no matter if extra time is needed to meet deadlines or customer satisfaction. You did not pay or even personally talk to me this time, how can you say I am personally responsible?

This is the first time ever anyone has had an issue with Cory. This will probably be the last too as I will probably need to discontinue our partnership together. Im sorry this has happened to you, but I just wanted to make things clear with you.

Feel free to update me.

Caesar
I replied saying

Quote:
Originally Posted by ASHRAF
I'm not blaming you for what happened, but unfortunately this was not clear enough

he had me ship the package to this address:
Cory Brown
LightWerkz!
XXX Xxxxxxxx Dr.
Coppell, TX 7501X

as you can see, it says LightWerkz! not interior flaire, so if this is something you didn't agree with him to do (advertise himself as LightWerkz!), then I believe that only makes the case worse on his behalf

just thought I'd let you know, and as fas as the head unit, I'm really beinning to lose hope that he is gonna take responsibility for it, so I just wanna make sure before I post anything that he did not have the permission to use your company name, right?

What I want you to understand is I'm not threatening anyone here, I'm just trying to get what I should get, I'm not just going to let a $1800 piece of equipment i invested in slide by, at least if i'm not getting anything, i should give an honest review of the whole process and show it to his prospective customer

Kind Regards,
AJ
Caesar did not reply again regardig the name, but this was his reply

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightWerkz
If you really want to get his attention..

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/dressup-...verted-13.html
Cory then did not reply for a while, and I got this PM from Caesar

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightWerkz
Aj

Did you ever hear back from Cory?

Just got back from a small trip and checking in on the forums.


Caesar
not late after that, I got this PM from Cory

Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb
AJ,

I emailed you right away last week and did not hear back from you. Please do not post in my vendor threads. We will get your AVIC-Z3 repaired.

I do not feel the responsibility of getting it repaired rests 100% on my shoulders. Hey, bad stuff happens.

As stated in my email, the business has been slow lately and I do not have any money to help right now.

I also stated to send my the head unit and I will get it repaired (pay the shipping and diagnositc fee).

This is the only way that I will deal with this is for me to have the unit and be the primary point of contact.

Cory
Now he doesn't even wanna fix the damn thing, and I'm stuck with no gps

checked my e-mail and found this from him

Quote:
AJ,

I got your PM on Tuesday but have been very busy and trying to come up with a solution for our problem. This business is a small side business I run out of my home. I work as an engineer full time but do the lighting business because I enjoy tinkering on the side and making a little extra money in an effort to become debt free. That being said, we are neither insured or incorporated. Right now the business has less than $50 in the bank. It has been slow and we have had to order parts and supplies and pay shipping on a warranty job we had.

I have no money to help with the effort to repair/replace the AVIC-Z3. This is a complete disaster and has caused us to rethink being in business at all-not worth it.

You can send the unit back to me and I will get it repaired. As far as me buying a whole new unit and keeping yours, with what money? You will have to accept a repaired unit or nothing at all.

Another thing to do is not honest so I don't expect you to agree to it. Send the unit back to me insured USPS and we can file a claim for full replacement from my end when the broken unit arrives here. That is my best idea yet.

LMK what you want to do.

Cory
I love his best idea

now he change his mind again saying that he will not pay pioneer to fix the unit, he will do it himself, and want me to pay shipping, and half of the parts cost

Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb
AJ,

I just got off the phone with Pioneer.

A replacement trim piece is $10.95 and the replacement LCD screen is $286.95 for a total of $298 + Shipping. Can we come to an agreement to split the $300 parts bill. You send me the head unit, I get the replacement parts, repair the unit and convert the lighting, and ship the repaired unit back to you INSURED this time.

LMK if this is acceptable to you. Be advised this is the best I can do on this.

Cory
keeping Caesar updated

Quote:
Originally Posted by ASHRAF
I got stupid e-mails and suggestions from him that I don't even wanna talk about

he is saying now that he is not fully responsible for the damage, and explaining that his business is not insured, anyhow, he wants me to either split the repair cost which he say is $300 and he'll do the work, or do something unethical to get the unit replaced

I knew he would handle it like this, and I am not surprised... I think it's a loss i'm gonna have to take, and this is a good lesson for me to not trust anyone with stuff that expensive, he was clearly using your name in here, and that's just to gain trust, once bad things happens he started saying this is a small on the side business, not insured, and only have $50 in the bank. if he can't man up to it, i don't really see the point of you ruining your business name by letting him use it.

-AJ
his reply

Quote:
Originally Posted by LightWerkz
Thats ridiculous, and looks bad on our part. I think this has to be the end of our relationship with him, this just wont work like this.
after replying to Cory that his offer is ridiculous, this is his PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb
I think my offer is fair. You did not specify insurance with the shipment. This is just a bad situation for both of us. Getting out of it for $150 each is a fair deal. I spent OVER 8 hours modding the unit. I normally charge $25/hour for labor. You paid $50 + shipping. How much more am I going to lose on this deal?

Cory
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASHRAF
Hello Corey,

I have had many unpleasant events, and i was not able to communicate with you, but now I need your best solution, and I need that fast please.

the head unit is sitting in the box collecting dust, that's $1800 that went pretty much to waste.

now please get back to me regarding this as i'm finishing up my review because i feel it is my obligation to let everyone know how a huge business owner like yourself take care of their mistakes. I'm not trying to bash you to get some money back as I know from our earlier conversations that this is probably not gonna happen.

This is not the first time i get a damaged product in shipping, but it is the first time i call the vendor about it, and at first they say they are sorry, and it was their fault, second time it became partially my fault (eventhough Caesar@lightwerkz clearly said it is your fault, because as long as i'm paying for shipping, you either insure it, or pay for it if it gets damaged)

"When he called me to inform of the situation I had heard a unit was broken in shipping. I asked if he had insured the unit, he hadnt. This was a big mistake on his part, because he is responsible for adding that to his own shipping costs unless he wants to be responsible for it." (Caesar)

anyhow, I'm just sending this PM so you don't chime in the thread and start with i offered you a fix, you first offered to fix the headunit at Pioneer, then decided u wanna fix it yourself, and make me pay half the parts $$$, and then you offer me sending you back the unit insured, and filing a claim?!

My last offer is you can take the unit, and fix and use it yourself, and send me either a new, or the price of a new Z3, I might go a bit lower than the price to solve this issue fast

regards,
-AJ
his reply was

Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb
Ashraf,

Please take all future correspondence about this matter to email.

We have presented our best offer. Return the unit to us, we will get it fixed, and once you pay half the repair costs, we will ship the unit insured back to you. This is more than fair considering the circumstances.

How do we know you did not drop the unit when you recieved it? As a matter of fact, you stated the box was not damaged at all and the unit was completely wrapped in multiple layers of new bubble wrap with an extra "pillow" over the faceplate. Odds are it was not damaged in shipment.

Our initial instructions state to ship the unit with a Paypal address, return address, phone #, and concise instructions. Your instructions did not specify insurance. If you wanted the shipment insured, you should have specified. I tried to insure the unit but insurance was $75 for $1800 at UPS. I knew you would not appreciate this without prior authorization.

Cory Brown
As expected

If I broke the unit, and I wanted to replace it in a non-ethical way, why wouldn't I agree to send it insured to you and get the money from the shipping company, or even cheaper, send it insured to some one closer than you, and claim that the unit was damaged during shipping. I do not do this sort of stuff, so don't even try to start blaming me for breaking my own headunit

I just wanted to share my experience with him
no matter how great the work is (I can't judge it because i did not even get to see his work) but if the ethics and values are obviously not there, and the customer service is just like what I encountered, then I don't see how can I trust that vendor, especially with expensive stuff like this

One other thing, Cory always go around the review forums *****ing about customer service, and saying that he owns his own business which has been running for a decent amount of years now, and that he know how to deal with business, but let's face it, here is a situation, and according to Caesar, it's the first that you encountered, and what did you do

IMHO, Legendary Failure

I tried my best to keep the review to his PMs & emails to be as subjective as possible

Beware Nasioc'ers

kind regards,
-AJ
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Last edited by ASHRAF; 02-07-2009 at 12:30 PM.
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Old 02-05-2009, 03:07 PM   #2
Irish
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Just so you know my SN is the same over here. I'm not Cory. Happy bashing ****bag.
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Old 02-05-2009, 03:42 PM   #3
Scoobie Do
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Damn AJ, sorry to hear that. Sounds to me that the Shipper should have been responsible for taking care of the insurance. No one should be sending a $1800.00 anything and just hopes it gets there ok, whether the receiver asked for insurance or not.

Last edited by Scoobie Do; 02-05-2009 at 04:01 PM.
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Old 02-05-2009, 04:21 PM   #4
Livin 6 Star
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Wow that sucks to hear. Thanks for the heads up!
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Old 02-05-2009, 04:24 PM   #5
ASHRAF
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish View Post
Just so you know my SN is the same over here. I'm not Cory. Happy bashing ****bag.
Denver, TXIC?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scoobie Do View Post
Damn AJ, sorry to hear that. Sounds to me that the Shipper should have been responsible for taking care of the insurance. No one should be sending a $1800.00 anything and just hopes it gets there ok, whether the receiver asked for insurance or not.

That's what Caesar@lightwerkz said, but it is a different story with Cory
he sent me a message that his deal is off now like I was dying to do it
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Old 02-05-2009, 04:43 PM   #6
lev98
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Why dont you post a picture of the box it came in.

Also he seems more than fair willing to pay for half even thought the box was in perfect shape. If you ask me you dropped it and are trying to put it off on someone else.

Last edited by lev98; 02-05-2009 at 04:51 PM.
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:06 PM   #7
Gfunk720
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Has he no explination for the missing peices? How did they jump out of the box and dissappear?

Either way, you have pictures of the HU in perfect condition when sent to him. It is not your responsibility to make sure it gets back in one peice, rather it's his. He even admitted to making a mistake by not insuring it. He obviously doesn't seem like a business savy individual, and his business sounds like it's tanking...
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:08 PM   #8
ASHRAF
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lev98 View Post
Why dont you post a picture of the box it came in.

Also he seems more than fair willing to pay for half even thought the box was in perfect shape. If you ask me you dropped it and are trying to put it off on someone else.
I will go take some pictures of it now (Tracking number is still on the box)

if i dropped it, and wanna put it off on someone else, It would be smarter to go with his USPS claim suggestion

thanks for your input anyways

will be back to post pics in a minute

-AJ
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:22 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ASHRAF View Post
I will go take some pictures of it now (Tracking number is still on the box)

if i dropped it, and wanna put it off on someone else, It would be smarter to go with his USPS claim suggestion

thanks for your input anyways

will be back to post pics in a minute

-AJ
I thought it was sent UPS? There's no way that damage happened to the unit while it was still in that box. You should've taken him up on 1/2 parts deal. Expecting $1800 for a used Z3 is a bit much. Buy.com has them new for <$1200.

Assuming you're both on the square, which I doubt, it's a crappy situation. Good luck to you both.
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:25 PM   #10
ASHRAF
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pics of the box









I would like to keep the part that has my info private

-AJ
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:32 PM   #11
ASHRAF
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drsnobiz View Post
I thought it was sent UPS? There's no way that damage happened to the unit while it was still in that box. You should've taken him up on 1/2 parts deal. Expecting $1800 for a used Z3 is a bit much. Buy.com has them new for <$1200.

Assuming you're both on the square, which I doubt, it's a crappy situation. Good luck to you both.
at least, fully fixed, and by a third party, with nothing out of my pocket

i would not ship anything, even a damaged unit again to him

not like the $150 he offered was the deal breaker

also, i bought the z3 brand new, when it was new in the market, kept it in top shape, and was only used by me for a short period of time, so I count it as new as I'm the first owner. No matter how much it can be bought for, if i can get a new one, I was gonna be satisfied. but trying to lowball me doesn't really work well, and me paying $200 to get a fixed headunit is not what i call a deal.

thanks for your input

-AJ
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:40 PM   #12
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My reputation and hundreds of satisfied customer speak for themselves.

Don't you think if I dropped the unit I would pay to have it fixed? I recently had to replace an STi cluster that was damaged-$300.

Every single time a customer has had a problem we have worked diligently to a complete solution.

Does that box look like it was damaged enough to cause the damage to the unit?

We offered a very workable solution to this customer and he refused. Now he is using the forums to exact revenge.

Check it out yourself. Like I said, my reputation precedes me.

What I meant by the whole fraud seeming thing is for him to ship the unit back to me insured and I would file a claim on my business insurance-no use in going to UPS.

Once again, another offer he refused.

This customer just contacted me again yesterday, threatening to do exactly what he is doing, after over a month of silence.

The offer to get the unit fixed and split the cost is more than fair.

If the customer wanted insurance, he should have specified and made it clear that he was willing to pay for insurance.

He has posted the instructions we send to all of our customers. Here they are again:

Yes we can converted your AVIC-Z3 backlighting. The cost is $45.

Please ship to the address below and include a Paypal address, return address, phone #, and detailed instructions in the shipment.

We look forward to working with you on this project!


Detailed instructions-not there.
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Old 02-05-2009, 05:50 PM   #13
ASHRAF
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb View Post
My reputation and hundreds of satisfied customer speak for themselves.

Don't you think if I dropped the unit I would pay to have it fixed? I recently had to replace an STi cluster that was damaged-$300.

Every single time a customer has had a problem we have worked diligently to a complete solution.

Does that box look like it was damaged enough to cause the damage to the unit?

We offered a very workable solution to this customer and he refused. Now he is using the forums to exact revenge.

Check it out yourself. Like I said, my reputation precedes me.

What I meant by the whole fraud seeming thing is for him to ship the unit back to me insured and I would file a claim on my business insurance-no use in going to UPS.

Once again, another offer he refused.

This customer just contacted me again yesterday, threatening to do exactly what he is doing, after over a month of silence.

The offer to get the unit fixed and split the cost is more than fair.

If the customer wanted insurance, he should have specified and made it clear that he was willing to pay for insurance.

He has posted the instructions we send to all of our customers. Here they are again:

Yes we can converted your AVIC-Z3 backlighting. The cost is $45.

Please ship to the address below and include a Paypal address, return address, phone #, and detailed instructions in the shipment.

We look forward to working with you on this project!


Detailed instructions-not there.
detailed instruction, as we studied in school is what needs to be done,

I wrote a paper with the instructions (convert led's to red as close as possible to match the sti cluster)

your instructions of instructions wasn't there

all my life I've never been a hater, there is no reason for me to hate.

Some businesses, when they achieve good standing in the community, they think that this is enough, and don't care about the new customers, but they are wrong. maintaining the reputation is harder than achieving it.

-AJ
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Old 02-05-2009, 06:33 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcb View Post
My reputation and hundreds of satisfied customer speak for themselves.

Don't you think if I dropped the unit I would pay to have it fixed? I recently had to replace an STi cluster that was damaged-$300.

Every single time a customer has had a problem we have worked diligently to a complete solution.

Does that box look like it was damaged enough to cause the damage to the unit?

We offered a very workable solution to this customer and he refused. Now he is using the forums to exact revenge.

Check it out yourself. Like I said, my reputation precedes me.

What I meant by the whole fraud seeming thing is for him to ship the unit back to me insured and I would file a claim on my business insurance-no use in going to UPS.

Once again, another offer he refused.

This customer just contacted me again yesterday, threatening to do exactly what he is doing, after over a month of silence.

The offer to get the unit fixed and split the cost is more than fair.

If the customer wanted insurance, he should have specified and made it clear that he was willing to pay for insurance.

He has posted the instructions we send to all of our customers. Here they are again:

Yes we can converted your AVIC-Z3 backlighting. The cost is $45.

Please ship to the address below and include a Paypal address, return address, phone #, and detailed instructions in the shipment.

We look forward to working with you on this project!


Detailed instructions-not there.
This is clearly a crappy situation, but I have two pieces of advice. First, unless you have hard evidence, it's bad business to accuse a customer of being a liar. In this type of situation, you just have to eat the cost and make it right. Second, NEVER ship anything without insuring it. I believe UPS gives you the first $100 free and then it's $1 for every $100 after that. It's a no brainer.
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Old 02-05-2009, 06:55 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by boost junkie View Post
This is clearly a crappy situation, but I have two pieces of advice. First, unless you have hard evidence, it's bad business to accuse a customer of being a liar. In this type of situation, you just have to eat the cost and make it right. Second, NEVER ship anything without insuring it. I believe UPS gives you the first $100 free and then it's $1 for every $100 after that. It's a no brainer.
He already been caught in a lie once on IWSTI, evidence is posted there too
I dunno how he is accusing me of lying, oh well

-AJ
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Old 02-05-2009, 07:38 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by boost junkie View Post
This is clearly a crappy situation, but I have two pieces of advice. First, unless you have hard evidence, it's bad business to accuse a customer of being a liar. In this type of situation, you just have to eat the cost and make it right. Second, NEVER ship anything without insuring it. I believe UPS gives you the first $100 free and then it's $1 for every $100 after that. It's a no brainer.
Wrong! The quote for insurance for THIS package from UPS was $55. The unit was very well packed and the customer did not specify insurance.

I sleep well at night knowing that when I put the unit in the box it was perfect.
That is really all I can say. All I have to go on is my reputation. I also know your only as good as your last customer.

I did not accuse the customer of being a liar.

I also offered a very workable solution to this problem way back on the 12th of December and have not heard another word from him until yesterday.

He came back with threats and decided to be uncooperative and then destroyed my business on IWSTI and ruined my partnership with LightWerkz on here.

Is that enough payback Ashraf?
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Old 02-05-2009, 07:56 PM   #17
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Wrong! The quote for insurance for THIS package from UPS was $55. The unit was very well packed and the customer did not specify insurance.

I sleep well at night knowing that when I put the unit in the box it was perfect.
That is really all I can say. All I have to go on is my reputation. I also know your only as good as your last customer.

I did not accuse the customer of being a liar.

I also offered a very workable solution to this problem way back on the 12th of December and have not heard another word from him until yesterday.

He came back with threats and decided to be uncooperative and then destroyed my business on IWSTI and ruined my partnership with LightWerkz on here.

Is that enough payback Ashraf?
I'm not looking for revenge or payback, as I'm well past that point, I even bought another head unit, but letting something like that slide by will be stupid on my part, the least I could do is share my negative experience. I would do the same if i was happy with product/solution and let everyone know about that as well.

having your business destroyed/partnership stopped is by no means my fault, your partner clearly stated it is a mistake on your part, and that's why he decided to get out of this before his business goes down in this too.

I think I did send you a PM before and you did not reply until 3wks or so after that, my life does not revolve around this head unit, i have lots and lots to do, so i beg you pardon for not replying to you in time.

as far as offering your very workable solution, I don't remember seeing any workable solutions

If anything I posted was incorrect, feel free to point it out, and if i don't have evidence, I will take it out and apologize, but you know that everything in this topic is based on facts, and backed with evidence. I did not list what happened in the first call in details because I'm not sure if i still have the recording of that or not.

also at what point did I threat you?

-AJ
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Old 02-05-2009, 10:59 PM   #18
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I'm surprised this isn't getting more attention over here like it is on IWSTI... but to bring everyone up to speed:

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/review-s...head-unit.html
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Old 02-05-2009, 11:44 PM   #19
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Cory is a stand up guy, he does excellent work. I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone I meet. That's my review.
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Old 02-06-2009, 12:32 AM   #20
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I agree, Cory has come through for me.. my interior looks great.. even sent me a replacement part for something i messed up when i reinstalled everything.. ofcourse, i paid for the part, but he redid the conversion before i got it

1 of 3 things happened here..we all know how well it was packaged, and that it PROBABLY wasn't damaged in shipping

1) cory dropped the HU before he packed it, and shipped it anyways, uninsured

this doesnt make sense:
why would he ship it anyways, damaged, knowing it would ruin his reputation and cause a ruckus?
If he knew it was broken, why wouldn't he insure it as he shipped it out and blamed the shipper? (because it wasnt broken.. not assuming he would have done this anyways)

2) someone affiliated with the shipper opened the package.. dropped the HU and repackaged it.. id check to see if that box has been opened b4 and double taped

3) Ashrad opend the package and dropped it, and tried to find several ways to not have to pay for it, and use threatening to post terrible reviews as leverage

Im not partial to any of those situations, but those are the three that I think could have happened.. i dont know what happened, i dont know the customer, but i know cory

as far as i understand.. ashraf is saying that cory dropped the HU b4 shipping it out, based on him saying there are missing parts... this seems highly unlikely, i dont know anyone in their right mind who would break something and ship it anyways

as far as not insuring it upon return shipping, this should have been discussed well b4 hand, not just "include intructions in the shipment"

if ashraf had any doubt, he should have sent cory a message making sure he insured it on the way back, cory should have sent ash a message if he had any doubts about whos paying for insurance.. this is common sense

its not cory's responsibility to decide on insurance, for his protection sure, but its not his monetary responsibility, esp when hes getting paid less for his services than ins cost.. so again, this should have been discussed b4 hand
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Old 02-06-2009, 01:03 AM   #21
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Cory is a stand up guy, he does excellent work. I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone I meet. That's my review.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

He converted my lights to red, then to blue and helped me install my autometer gauges.

I'll be switching to prosport gauges and he'll be installing those as well.

The guy goes the xtra mile for his customers.

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Old 02-06-2009, 01:37 AM   #22
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I appreciate all the inputs guys

I'm talking about a specific situation here, I see how cory did a lot of conversions in the subaru community, but if he did screw up, that doesn't help him a lot in that specific situation

If I dropped the unit, and just wanna scam the money out of cory, why not go with his suggestion, send him the unit back insured, and file a claim

I just don't do this sort of iffy business, and I'd rather lose $1800 than commit fraud

I'm posting in here and not expecting anything back from cory, just throwing the info out there to warn the community members, using his own e-mails and PMs, just so you can make your own judgement, if you think I dropped the unit and asking for money for it, then I see where you are coming from as most of you don't know me, but I'm pretty sure this post will make a lot of people re-think their decision, or at least be very careful and give him specific instructions to insure your stuff when shipping it back to you.

If you read the post on IWSTI, you will have a better understanding of the issue
he flamed almost everyone on the thread (except one guy), caught in a lie (contradicting posts), different insurance values ranging from $50-75 while the actual insurance is $11.70

he may have a good reputation, but trying to ignore customer claims, saying that I have to either accept his offer or "go away" is only gonna mess up this reputation

we all know locals & friends are treated differently almost always, so pardon me, but saying that he is helpful and does excellent work is not the issue here, I said this thread is not about his work, it's about how he deals with stuff when he does mess up

-AJ
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Old 02-06-2009, 09:30 AM   #23
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Wrong! The quote for insurance for THIS package from UPS was $55. The unit was very well packed and the customer did not specify insurance.

I sleep well at night knowing that when I put the unit in the box it was perfect.
That is really all I can say. All I have to go on is my reputation. I also know your only as good as your last customer.

I did not accuse the customer of being a liar.

I also offered a very workable solution to this problem way back on the 12th of December and have not heard another word from him until yesterday.

He came back with threats and decided to be uncooperative and then destroyed my business on IWSTI and ruined my partnership with LightWerkz on here.

Is that enough payback Ashraf?
I wasn't saying anyone is right or wrong, since I don't know what really happened. I'm just trying to give you some friendly advice based on my experience working in the automotive aftermarket business. In some cases, it's worth it to increase your overhead a bit to avoid these situations, even if it means raising your prices a little bit to compensate. I hope you pull through in this situation because your work looks very good and you seem like a good guy. I'd hate to see a business go under because of one incident with a customer. I have to reiterate though, ALWAYS insure your packages. It's a lot cheaper than replacing the part if it does break.
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Old 02-06-2009, 09:43 AM   #24
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having known a few people who worked for UPS and Fedex it is possible that they damaged the box so badly that they replaced it and re-wrapped the item. They can reprint all the labels with out anyone knowing.
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Old 02-06-2009, 01:04 PM   #25
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wow did you even bother to ask him to add insurance into shipping? you know its not cory's fault or yours.. it's the damn shipping carriers fault. so calm your nuts. There is no reason for a vendor to be responsible for damages that were happened during shipping.

bottom line it is the buyers responsibility to advise vendor that he wants insurance added into his shipping. i mean seriously i've purchased a lot of stuff on nasioc and they've never added insurance on any of my products unless i've requested them to.

you sound like a huge douche. how are you not going to post your address but post cory's
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