ATTN: warning about Stillen / Steve Millen Sportparts

Case in point. A few weeks ago I purchased a 180 pound 6" jointer / planer from Harbor Freight. Harbor Freight is known for inexpensive "Made in China" tools. Some are, well, junk, others are of decent quality for the price. From what I've read, the jointer was in the latter category, and at less than half the price of even a "cheap" Delta or Rigid plus free shipping I figured "what the heck". It arrived via truck last Friday. All was well until I noticed a crack in the front table around a large adjusting bolt. It was obviously just a matter of time before it broke, rendering the jointer useless. Harbor Freight's policy is similar to Stillen's -- send the part back at your expense for inspection and they'll replace it if they believe it's defective. The last thing I wanted to do is ship back a 70 pound piece of cast iron, so I sent them an e-mail along with two pictures showing the crack. The next day I received an e-mail saying they were sending me a new front table, and no, I don't have to send back the defective one. That's customer service. Would I order from Harbor Freight again? Absolutely! Would I if they had stuck to the corporate party line and made me send back the defective part for inspection at my expense? Very doubtful. Oh, BTW, the jointer works beautifully. :-)

Let me ask you this. Let's say I bought a part from you, and it failed... I am expected to give you a blank check or a CC pending your testing of the failed part for as much as $100 to get a replacement?

If this is accurate, then with all do respect, there is no chance in hell I would agree to those terms, nor would I do business with a company who as a matter of policy does this. Unless the item was 75pounds or more this is most unacceptable.

Based on my experence with defective goods... every business I've delt with returns defective goods on their own dime. I assume it's because it's their fault a product failed. Some offer faster shipping options for a fee... but for the most part if it's bad I pay to send it, they pay to replace it. Other places choose to provide a UPS tag and the process is free.

I've tried to verify your return policy as I was most curious about who to do business with, and I must say your staff wouldn't answer any questions about the subject and did indeed hangup on me. As a rule I take all internet warnings with a grain of salt. Based on a lack of clearness of your policy, I fear your company isn't compatable with my needs as a consumer. The rudeness of your staff in answering questions about policy is not compatable with my needs. It doesn't matter if Mr. Lilly's allegation is accurate, there is no excuse for staff yelling at basic questions of policy.

Harbor Freight is a company who I do business with, though only localy. I'm fortunate enough to have one near me. My only complaint is the checkout staff is painfully slow, as a matter of policy simple things need a management password, as well as consumers who request goods from the back hold up a line till someone grabs it. But as far as returns go, never had a problem. I returned their tranny jack adapter because it didn't fit my jack, which wasn't a problem as they said it would fit my jack. The other is a simple soldering gun bought onsale which took moments to return. "It broke, bought it yesturday, just want it replaced please".

But yea, alots of their goods are pretty cheep will break sooner or later but need to finish a project and will only use the thing once sorta deal. Though I was very impressed with their 1/2 inch sockets. I have not broke one yet.

Exactly!

All Stillen has to do is to tell Mr. Lilly to ship the part back - if it is defective, Stillen will pick up the shipping cost for the return and for the new part. There's a big difference between a DOA component like this one and one that goes bad after four years.

Bob

Hummm sounds friendly enough. So are you going to fix it?

Reminds me of Wheels Direct here in Toronto. Good God... expect a year to get a pair of Rims.

I bought a Weber gas grill a couple of years ago and assembled it myself (as a mechanical engineer it's my professional duty to do things like that). The plastic shelf that mounts on one side of the grill was cracked. I wrote Weber a letter and in a few days a new shelf appeared at my doorstep, no questions asked.

Since I already had the grill almost completely assembled when I unpacked the shelf and discovered it was broken, I couldn't very well return the grill to Home Depot. However, it *could* have been that I had broken the shelf while trying to assemble it. Weber didn't know which was the case, they just took my word that it was their fault and went ahead and sent me a new one.

Another example of Harbour Freight standing behind their products - bought a set of cheapie combination-wrenches - the 14mm broke while I was working on the car - I called them up - told them which one broke and in less than a week a new one showed up on my doorstep - no out of pocket cost to me. They just took my word that the wrench broke while using it.. didn't need any proof/pictures etc. Even though this is a smaller and cheaper item, it still shows how well a company is willing to stand behind their products and keep the customer happy. This is especially important in Harbour Freight's case - where the general opinion is that they sell cheap quality tools. Of course a big company like Stillen - they don't have as much motivation to be customer-friendly - since they dominate in the aftermarket Nissan/Infiniti space and have a line of customers waiting to pay for their add-on/replacement parts and accessories.

Unless in Canada, consult your state's consumer fraud statutes, your state's mail-order regulations, Federal mail-order statues and regulations, any news bureau "help" lines and drop by Tom Martino's "Troubleshooter" site

I'm not sure if I would call the message BS my self. It is far too vague to be either fact or fiction. It's mostly marketing speak, which tends to use many words to say nothing at all.

As far as the rudeness of the staff, while I've never bought anything from them I did call to ask about their return policies. I was hung up on. So i'm inclined to believe the poster's claim of being treeted rudly.

As far as their policy of returns, I can't conferm this all all as it seems no one is willing to state what their return policies are. I don't know the weight of the poster's package, but i'm inclined to agree that $100 to ship something twice excessive. While I'd be willing to ship defective goods on my own dime, I'm not willing to pay handling fees for something that is broken. After all, it's not my fault it's defective, and I already paid for it.

I wouldn't blame the kids, as they are just following the rules laid out for them. After all, as Bill Claytor pointed out, they are acting with his approval.

I don't think that's the entire issue. Based on what I read in the first post, the person had to issue a blank check or credit card for shipping charges two ways... in otherwords, they were expected to pay $50 for shipping tags to their company and $50 for shipping from their company, roughly 33% of the product's value.

Based on what I read, the gent would rather ship the product him self rather then pay $50.00 to get it shipped to their location, something not permited under their policy. It's my personal assumption that this company is issuing shipping tags at a fee in order charge handling fees for return parts.

I feel the issue is charging extraordinary fees for shipping and handling in order to get an item replaced under warrenty, and forcing the customer to pay their rates to send defective parts to them. So in this case, all I feel Stillen had to do was accept defective goods send by the consumer. Whether or not they should pay for shipping is a debatable issue all together.

They could have worked out a deal whereby they agreed to pick up all shipping costs if the part was found to be defective right out of the factory. Instead, they foolishly hid behind "corporate policy" as if it were the word of God.

Bob

I'd say irrelevant what his claims were. I still remember the classic L.L. Bean story. Some guy bought a pair of boots way back in '55 or so.

In '78 or '79, they went bad.

L.L. Bean paid for shipping and replaced his "defective" boots.

End of story.

LL Bean had a lifetime, no questions asked, warrantee. Look for that to change under the new ownership of Sears.

Huh?

What are you smoking Bill?

How about a link that substantiates that change of ownership.

DaveN

Almost...

Sears bought Land's End last year.

Rick

Sorry, I had a brain fart. I tried to cancel the message immediately after I discovered my mistake, but it apparently got through. It was Land's End that Sears bought.

I was planning on buying some stillen parts but not any more!