Negative experience R1 Autoworks
 

I recently had minor front end damage that necessitated a replacement front bumper. I ordered a Nismo bumper from R1 at the beginning of January, ended up waiting one week for the order to actually ship, and another four days or so to get here. A bit of a delay, but I understand things happen with smaller companies. No big deal.

When it arrived the bumper was fractured in multiple places. A look at the packaging indicates that they basically threw a layer of bubble wrap on the bumper and called it a day. Terrible shipping and completely unacceptable. For a company that sells bumpers for a living they should know better. I contacted Stephen at R1 and fowarded him pictures of the broken bumper and inadequate packaging and he assured me he would "take care of it".

Fast forward one week I did not hear anything, at this point I'm really upset as my car is stranded in the autoshop with no bumper in sight. When I contact them to cancel the order they refuse to give me a refund due to me "already having the bumper" which makes no sense since it came broken and I have no use for it. To show goodwill I offered to spend my own time mailing it back if they send me a prepaid label.

During the course of this nonsense the new bumper, which I didn't even want at that point, magically ships and they just forgot to tell me. So rather than refusing delivery and starting a chargeback with my credit card company, I just let bygones be bygones and take the bumper.

I asked R1 to reimburse me something for this whole ordeal, since my car has been out of commission for a much longer time due to their negligent shipping, and now I get complete silence. Their excuse for this entire issue is that they have NO CONTROL over their own warehouse and by "taking care of me" what they really meant was they would ask their warehouse to ship another bumper to me whenever they felt like. Now I'm sitting here still waiting to hear from my autobody guy about the condition of the new bumper they sent me.

Bottom line I would not order from a company that apparently by their own admission has no control whatsoever on their own supplier, has no quality control for how the products they sell are packaged, or a company that only replies in a timely fashion before they have your money then conveniently forgets everything after you pay. Just my 2 cents.

Don't worry folks I'm here to answer any questions needed.

Finally got time to add in the facts so here we go
Order placed on 1/9/2014
order shipped on 1/17 which is about the normal time for orders to ship about 3-4 business days
tracking shows delivered on delivered on 1/22 which was a Wednesday.
Was notified on 1/27 about the damage which is 3 business days after the bumper was signed for. Due to being a poly bumper we requested pics of damage due to possible fraud. Pics were sent and verified that bumper was damaged due to poor packing. We are still trying to figure out why the bumper was sent this way. Customer was notified he would be taken care i.e. replacement bumper being sent. Unfortunately there is a process for a replacement to be sent. On 2/2 i was asked for a refund which was on a sunday and i replied to the email stating i have not received any update but would check on monday 2/3. Monday I was notified that the replacement bumper was shipped on Friday 1/31 which is 4 days after being notified of the damage bumper. On 2/3 I was asked for partial refund for his lost time which normally not something I would even think about but due to poor packing it was an idea. I wanted to wait til the replacement was received before any decisions were made as the customer stated he would do a chargeback if needed to. On 2/6 the bumper was signed for and was contacted by customer asking about a refund. I replied and stated I normally would not as a replacement bumper was sent but due to poor packing the first time I would refund $50. Customer refused that and now we are here. I apologize for the semi long post if its crude in nature but I hate writing these responses as I never like having a dissatisfied customer.
Anyone has questions feel free to ask

asking for a prepaid label is not showing any goodwill on your part.
asking for money for downtime...........lol. Get real. I would be rich if that was the case.

They probably drop ship and never put their actual hands on the bumper.

Lesson learned...open the box before you sign.

I'll be posting the facts up shortly. Been a busy day. Don't want anyone thinking I'm avoiding the post. Hope everyone is having a good wknd.

So they sent u a new bumper no questions asked and u are complaining?? Sounds like they came through.. It sucks your car was down for a little extra time but sh!t happens sometimes, at least u got a new bumper in a decent amount of time..

I personally placed an order with R1 a week ago for a sedan front bumper and ducts. Stephen has been available within 30 minutes of every email or text I have sent his way, even when it came to me being on the fence for weeks prior to ordering. Personally, I believe his feedback and reputation speaks for itself. Obviously not every customer can be 100% satisfied, but I'm subscribed to this thread for outcome.

Thread updated with the facts and dates.

Thanks Frankie. We try to take care of everyone but sometimes things happen that are out of our control.

One of your poly bumpers was damaged? If it was anything like the quality of the one I recently received I find that difficult to believe! Looks and feels like this thing could take quite an impact before being damaged.

Sounds like Stephen did what he could, even offered a refund..

Thats what we thought and the only thing that we can think of is due to the extreme cold temps in the north east the poly will become more rigid. Coupled with the poor packing the damaged happened in shipping.

You can't open the box before you sign. Are you serious. I come from a 40yr UPS family. You're essentially taking a chance when you open the box. Once you do...it's yours. If your UPS/Fedex guy has been letting you do this all the time make sure he's getting a GREAT Christmas tip because we're not supposed to let you guys scrounge through your chit to see if it's good or not.
If the box is destroyed to hell...refuse it and file a damage claim.

HMMM .. i needed a sedan bumper ..
subscribed for a result and pics ..
im sure theres pics ..

If the box shows damage I open it before I sign...if the box doesnt show damage then i sign and open.

Last body kit I ordered came from Pilot or similar shipping company. Not a UPS, dhl, USPS or Fedex.

TragedyCat, I had the same thing happen from a different vendor. Bumper received and it wasn't right, new one sent and installed...sh!t happens! We don't live in a perfect world, but close! :NOD:
Gary