tl:dr version: Strafe has poor customer service (especially Lawrence) and will lie to you regarding shipping, and long lead times for parts. Recommend going with a different vendor, even if it costs a bit more, if you want to get your parts.



Okay, so back in mid September, 2011, I purchased, via Strafe's website, a set of hood dampers and hood pins. Nothing crazy, no high end parts or anything. Got an email from them saying they should be in soon, and here is my invoice. No problem.

A month later (mid October), not having recieved my parts, I emailed them back, asking when they expected them to ship. Got a short reply telling me to read the disclaimer on the website. great, thanks, already read that, wanted to get an update on an order, not a link to a disclaimer.

Mid November rolls around, still no parts, and no updates. After a series of emails back and forth, I finally get an update saying that they would be shipping soon. Great. But I never get anything, not even another email saying there was a delay.

Holidays roll around, I forget about things, and don't follow up (my fault, I know).

Suddenyly, its late January, and I email and ask about my order, and where the heck is it, 4 months later. I get a reply saying that the hood pins were on back order. I reply saying "Great, then cancel that portion of the order, refund my CC for that, and ship the hood dampers" Get a reply saying okay, we will ship the hood dampers shortly, and send a check for the refund on the hood pins. Would have preferred a CC refund, but fine, whatever.

3 weeks later (mid February), haven't heard anything back. Send them an email saying where is my refund check, and where are my hood dampers. No reply. Send them an email on a Tuesday, saying that if I did not get a tracking number by that Friday, I would be disputing the charge on my credit card. Also posted in the Strafe Vendor Announcements thread with more or less the same (thread has since been deleted, see below for more info on that). Finally got a response saying I would get a tracking number by Friday, but that if I went the route of disputing the charge, they would charge me a $25 chargeback fee (a fee for what? Holding my money hostage for 5 months without sending any parts? yeah...)

Friday comes and goes, and then Presidents day weekend, and then its Tuesday night after the weekend. Nothing from Strafe, not even an email or call saying there was a delay. I email them one final time telling them I will be speaking with my CC and disputing the charge. Get a snarky email back telling me that Lawrence personally answers all chargebacks (must get a lot of them, poor customer service...) and that they would win the dispute. Whatever.

Called my CC, disputed the charge, have recieved the full amount back, plus the interest charged. Going to laugh at Strafe and take them to small claims court if any $25 chargeback fee shows up on my CC.

Bottom line: Poor customer service. Would not recommend unless you enjoy getting the run around, and snarky comments. Oh, and not receiving your purchase.


As for their Announcements thread in which I posted my comments, Lawrence told me I better go back and delete my comments in their thread (with an unspoken 'or else'). Couple of days later, their entire thread was deleted. Funny thing was, my comments were not at all the only ones from dis-satisfied customers. Sure, there were plenty of satsified customers, but a rough estimate was about 2 satisfied customers for every dissatisfied customer. Would you want to do business with a company that only satsifies 2/3rds of its customers? Not me.

As for the hood dampers, ordered them the next day from Marinelli Motorsports (another vendor on here) and recived them less than 5 days later. Apparently hood dampers were not that hard to come by.

 

These guys should be banned!

 

everyone is having bad beef w/ Strafe. I just order something from them 2 weeks ago and got it super quick.

 

Wow sorry to hear that dude . Ill buy from Strafe since I could pick up but I know how hard it can be to run a business with many transactions online and sometimes stuff falls in the cracks . Glad you got your refund

 

Lol, that's a LOT of cracks.

Seriously though, having dealt with Lawrence, or Andy, or some person during my first order, I will now ONLY deal with Dustin. And after that first order I've learned you can't be in a rush for your part., as they will tell you it's shipping next week, but in actuality it might take a month.

The second order was flawless start to finish. Dealt with Dustin solely on that one.

The quality of the body parts I received from them was excellent for the price though.

 

^ Dustin is bomb.

 

I ordered a rear diffuser on Tuesday. It shipped 2 days later (today) got a tracking number. Will update if a problem arises. It's in FedExs hands now.

 

caelric, sorry to hear about your experience, sucks that those hood dampers are on backorder. A suggestion for the future is to check with the vendor prior to paying to see if an item is in stock, just a thought. Not saying you should have to do that, but doing so would let you know if there will be a wait for a particular item.

Not really a "beef" Yoshi, but this guy is just noting his experience. If you were waiting since September for an item you ordered I bet you would take similar action.

 

backorder I understand. Backorder for hood pins and hood dampers for 5 months.....excessive. Add the poor, snarky, and snide 'customer service' and, well, I recommend going somewhere else.

Also, I know there are folks that have had good dealings (and deals) with Strafe. Still, though, a 66% average is considered damn poor.

I know you are just trying to keep things in perspective, though.

 

Lol wow.....Another one of these?

 

uhmmmm!!

 

i always deal with B2autodesigns. they are fast with shipping and prices are good too! Marinelli is also another good vendor that iv had pos experience. strafe always seem like they have way to much going on so i stay away in general.

 

I understand that but its just another unsatisfied person.

 

ive had great experience with b2autodesigns and marinelli motorsports..2 great vendors..never delt with strafe and never will now

 

I had a couple issues with strafe back in the day but now I ONLY deal with dustin and everything is great!