Better Business Bureau to the rescue

[jay79cj7]

I bought a radiator online a couple years ago when my old one went bad. It had a liftetime warranty. A couple weeks ago I discovered that it was loose because one of the welds holding the braket to the heat exchanger had broken. The radiator could move around quite a bit and I was worried that other joints would start breaking and leaking. I dug up the paperwork and called to cash in on that warranty.
After getting the runaround, I was denied. They told me that the bracket wasn't part of the radiator. (What? Its all one piece!) They also said they only cover leaking radiators. (Well if I wait a few weeks/months, I am sure it will start as it tears itself apart!) They acknowledged that based on the way the warranty is written that this should be covered, but then told me their manufacturer wouldn't cover it for them, so they weren't going to eat the cost for me! They offered to sell me a new one, at cost. Cost is a pretty good price, but still much higher than nothing! I asked to speak to the manager, this guy told me he was, and unless I had anything new to say, he was done talking with me.
I was ticked. My coworker overheard me on this series of phone calls and suggested using the BBB. I had never used them before. This place wasn't even registered with the BBB, but they let you file a complaint online and they send them a letter anyway. I figured it was free, worth a try.
Well, about 2 weeks later I received a call from their VP of sales. He apologized for what happened and has a new radiator sitting at their local distributor, ready for me to pick up when I have a chance. I couldn't be more surprised. I would highly recommend checking them out if you have a problem of your own.
Long live the Better Business Bureau!

 

[currupt4130]

Awesome! Yea I'll tell you from first hand experience, no company wants the BBB to be contacting them, you get on the bad side of the BBB and you're pretty much done for as a company.

 

[mud4feet]

Good to hear! Good for you!!!

Yeah, I've resorted to the BBB on 2 different occasions and was very pleased with their help. I always thought of them as a "name only" agency and not really worth much.....................I was wrong! Good advice for all, glad to hear you were helped.

 

[judge09]

Glad to hear you stuck it to another business trying to screw their customers.

 

[dropseys]

hell yeah. I love it when the business' that screw people get it back in return. I see it way too many times here as a police officer getting the call for irate customers. Well lcustomers have good cause to be irate over some of the things i have heard that happened to them. Worst i saw was Circuit City did a stereo install for a guy and he comes to get his car and the windshield is cracked. They claim they didn't do it it was done in the parking lot, so they won't pay to have it fixed. I looked at the windshield and you could clearly see where the hood had been opened too far back and the hood cracked the windshield. The manager was not happy when i told him that i was going to write a report about the chipped glass stuck on the back of the hood in front of the starting point of the broken windshield. The manager was taking his employees word that he didn't do it. I told the guy to sue Circuit City and call BBB. I then went next door and watched a video tape from a camera pointing towards the p-lot at circuit city and no one was near the car. The store manager was not very happy that I had evidence that no one touched the car in the lot except for his employees. Circuit City corp. office cut the guy a check after being contacted by BBB. The BBB didn't undrstand why they were trying to argue fault and neither did Circuit City corporate office. I also noticed that the manager is no longer employeed for circuit city and the stereo install group is all gone (new crew). Sometimes you give someone a little power and they abuse or over act with it. It takes the upper level people to get involved to get things done.

 

[daveplot]

I purchased an IBM laptop in 2001. After multiple motherboards, hard drives, displays, even a keyboard and internal power supply, I had had it. I would get it back from one replacement and send it back for something different.

I contacted the BBB, I kept all paperwork, and I got a call from IBM. They gave me a new model laptop. I had an extended warranty so this was 3 years later near the end of the warranty. So I went from a 450mhz to a 1ghz. At no expense to me. Without contacting the BBB, IBM wouldn't do anything for me.

I highly recomend the BBB for issues with companies.

 

[droopey]

I always thought of them as a "name only" agency and not really worth much.....................I was wrong!

Yea me too, But then one day a repair shop tried to stiff me on a clutch repair, and the BBB came to the rescue. Man I sure hope they are always around.

 

[90Xjay]

that is why it is wise to check with the BBB before you buy from a company to see if they have a bad record

 

[Sparky-Watts]

I wish I'd used them years ago when I put a motor in my Toyota PU. The place that put it in offered a 1 year warranty on parts and workmanship. I noticed about 3 months later that the head gasket was leaking, so I called them up. They said to bring it in and they'd "take a look". On the way, the engine overheated suddenly (and I mean suddenly!). Before I could get pulled over, it blew the head gasket completely. I had it towed to the shop, and the next day they called to tell me it would be $1500 to fix it. I told them I had the 1 year warranty, and they said it didn't cover damages from overheating. I tried to explain to them that it was overheated because they didn't get the head gasket on right and it leaked, and that is why I was bringing it in. They still refused to honor the warranty. I took it to another shop and paid the $1500 to have the head machined and the block decked. The guy there told me it was obvious that the head gasket was never installed right, and probably leaked from the day the motor was put in. A couple of weeks later, I filed a lawsuit against them to pay for it, and by the time it was to go to court, the company was out of business. The attorney I talked to said if I'd called the BBB on the first day when it overheated, there's no doubt that despite being written in the warranty that overheating wasn't covered, I still would have gotten a new engine from them. Live and learn.

Glad to hear it worked out for you!! I can guarantee I'll never hesitate to call the BBB in the future if I get screwed like that again.

 

[jay79cj7]

Yep, I had heard of them, but didn't know that they actually had any weight to throw around. I had written off this one completely and chalked it up as a lost battle, so I am quite happy to get this resolution. I hope I don't have to use them again, but now I know they are out there, and wanted others to know as well.

 

[TwistedCU]

The BBB helped me get a full refund from Red Wing Shoe Co. for a $220 pair of lineman boots. Long story (I'll spare ya) but I Red WIng threw in a "25% off your next purchase" couon with it. I showed up with 4 guys and we all bought boots at a 25% discount.

 

[dropseys]

Good deal T.C. Wish i knew about them in H.S. I had a '88 Mustang GT with 347 stroker and had an Art Carr racing AOD installed for every day use costing me a whopping $1200. Within a week of the install the transmission started burning and blew up. The guy said I did something wrong manually shifting it at the track, which i didn't thiink i did, but he offered to repair it for $600. I was ignorant and had him "fix it". Two weeks after this install, never beating on it yet, the transmission blew on the way to my cousins wedding. I was stuck on the side of I 95 for 2 hours in a tux in June. What i later found was that he put a 2500 stall torque converter and shift kit into my old transmission, which was shot, and put it back in my car. I also found out that the Art Carr transmission was one he used to drag race with. This was sol as a "NEW" transmission. I had to sue the crap out of him to get my money back, but in the mean time while waiting for him to pay me, i had to dole out another $1200. I was ****ed. It took awhile, but word got out what he did and he went out of business. He was teh creap that would trailer his "race" cars to a couple blocks away and drive it into the bus station for friday night pink slip races. His cars were in no way street legal and he did all sorts of cheating things. Dirt bag and dirty business man.

 

[90Xjay]

The BBB helped me get a full refund from Red Wing Shoe Co. for a $220 pair of lineman boots. Long story (I'll spare ya) but I Red WIng threw in a "25% off your next purchase" couon with it. I showed up with 4 guys and we all bought boots at a 25% discount.

Did Red Wing rip you off?
That stinks, I thought they were a better company than that.

 

[prariepunk]

I gotta question fer y'all.... concerning the BBB... I brought my guitar amplifer in for repair... I had no idea what was wrong, it just quit working... Well he (repair man) replaced some... well, quite a few parts and gave it back to me.... I played it before I brought it home and it worked, I played it when I brought it home and it worked.... for about 20 min. and quit working again. Well it turns out the parts he replaced were not needing replaced... it was a problem else where which were not related to the replaced parts... I belive he'll try to charge me again for the extra labor....

 

[TwistedCU]

Did Red Wing rip you off?
That stinks, I thought they were a better company than that.

Long story involving a gift certificate, a botched special order, and a jackass store manager.

I had always bought Red WIng. They are now making about half of their styles in China and the last pair I bought (American made) just separated from the sole for the second time.

They made good on the first incident, but with them outsourcing and the poor quality of the last pair I bought I am done wioth them. I just got a set of Halls boots yesterday to replace them.

They were a good company but I have bought my last pair of Red Wings.

 

[jay79cj7]

Prariepunk-
The BBB is a last resort. Exhaust all your options with the repair shop before going that route. From your post, it sounds like you haven't given them a shot at making good yet... I'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt for now and assume that if it worked for you for 20 min, it probably worked long enough for the shop to think they had fixed it. But if they screw you, explore all options!

 

[Sparky-Watts]

Prariepunk-
The BBB is a last resort. Exhaust all your options with the repair shop before going that route. From your post, it sounds like you haven't given them a shot at making good yet... I'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt for now and assume that if it worked for you for 20 min, it probably worked long enough for the shop to think they had fixed it. But if they screw you, explore all options!

x2. That's what I was thinking. It's not likely the guy was going to sit with the amp going for more than a few minutes after he fixed it, unless the original complaint was that it would quit after 20 minutes or so......electronics can be a sticky wicket to fix. If you were closer, I'd have my brother look it over for you. I'm betting he could have it diagnosed and fixed in under an hour.