| Author | Message | ||
| Jay Gerlick
Rating: N/A |
Since most of you were not satisfied with the "widget" description, I will give more details. Feb 4,2004 I ordered my dash and guages for my MCI 9 from Custom Instrument Panels. Total bill Almost $1500.00. April(ish) 2004 took delivery of the dash. As soon as it arrived I noticed 2 (two) guages, speedo & dual air guage that the bezel did not touch the face of the gauge. I called Mac @ C.I.P. to inform him of this. And also that the trans temp sending unit was missing. He wanted me to send in the dash. Can't do at the time but will when I can. Finished hooking up the dash (every wire in my bus has been replaced). When the dash lights are on at night, the light shines very bright around the faces of the two defective guages. These two guages looked like shit. Agian I called Mac to remind him of my situation. He reminded me of the two year warranty and to send them in ASAP. Which I did, Dec 2005. He sat on these guages for 3 months now, and has not returned one call, NOT ONE ! Finally when I got a hold of him in MAR.2006. He told me that he could not help me, that I waited too long. Doesn't 2 years mean 2 YEARS?? If I had these installed and a year and a half later they went bad I would have sent them in and expected them to be under warranty, WOULDN'T YOU? The worst part,is now I want a pyrometer to match the rest of the guages and some more of the "spanish burl" material for my side panel. Not to mention a speedo and dual air guage, plus the missing trans temp sending unit. He has already said he's not helping me with the defective guages. And will not even acknowledge the missing sending unit. But I don't want to get bent over on the additional items. And don't know of any other place that specializes in buses that could help. I'm feeling pretty helpless here. Don't know where ,or to whom to start complaining. But if things dont get resolved I will start squalking like a wounded eagle. So, All prospective customers of Custom Instruments Panels BEWARE!!!!! Until you here otherwise. If this can somehow prod MAC @ C.I.P into doing the right thing I will sing his praise and retract any negitive thing said. If not,let the mud slinging begin. Jay | ||
| Doug Wotring
Rating: N/A |
Jay, I would call him and kindly discuss the fact with him. In the conversation point out that your very active in the Online Bus conversion community and you would like to leave positive feedback about his company, but right now you don't feel that you can do that. Then see what he says. If he doesn't come around , just flat out tell him your are going on an informational campaign about your situation and that will likely hurt his sales. Did you pay with credit card? If you did, dispute the charge....your credit card company will always side with you in a dispute like this | ||
| JW Smythe (Jwsmythe)
Rating: N/A |
Two years is too late to do a chargeback. I believe most banks will only touch it within 3 to 6 months. Our company (my weekly check, not my hobby) is actually really good about it. They're for online subscriptions, so we don't lose a physical product, but if someone comes back a year or two later and says it was a fraudulent transaction, or we can see the account was never used, we'll refund. That's *VERY* rare. We have to actually credit the card though, it's not technically a refund. At least I'm 99% positive about that. I'm not in billing, I'm in systems administration, but I deal with everyone.  I'd go back to my previous message. Call, sweet talk them into fixing the problem. If that doesn't work, call the local BBB. If that doesn't resolve it, sue. In the future, I'd say screw 'em. You have the dash panels now. Go with a third party supplier for the gauges. I've bought plenty of stuff through Summit Racing ( http://summitracing.com ). My car has 3 autometer gauges in it now. One is broken, but I haven't bothered to pull it out to have it fixed. It's my NOS pressure, and I removed the NOS system. As much as I like summit, I ended up getting my gauges locally. That shop was very helpful, they went as far as calling Autometer to get just the right ones with the right face and bezel. One of them wasn't even suppose to be in production, but they put it together for me anyways. I'm planning on building my own dash panels, and putting in my own gauges. It's not really very hard, but I've done it before, so I have practice. You have *LOTS* of choices for gauges, and lots of choices for vendors. Do the gauges have a company name on them? Maybe you can get them repaired or replaced from the manufacturer. I know it's not ideal, because this guy should be doing it for you, but at least you'll have it working right. As for retracting your statement, don't. I have no experience with him, but every person's experiences count. I'm sure there are a few people who are satisfied with their product. On the other hand, this sounds like shitty customer service. Maybe there's a reason for his delay. Maybe those particular gauges are expensive. Maybe business isn't going very well and he doesn't have the money to get the replacements, and maybe his vendor doesn't offer a 2 year warranty on the gauges, so he has to eat the replacement expense. Hell, maybe the gauge vendor is gone. | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
"April(ish) 2004 took delivery of the dash. As soon as it arrived I noticed 2 (two) guages, speedo & dual air guage that the bezel did not touch the face of the gauge. I called Mac @ C.I.P. to inform him of this. And also that the trans temp sending unit was missing. He wanted me to send in the dash. Can't do at the time but will when I can. Finished hooking up the dash (every wire in my bus has been replaced). When the dash lights are on at night, the light shines very bright around the faces of the two defective guages. These two guages looked like shit. Agian I called Mac to remind him of my situation. He reminded me of the two year warranty and to send them in ASAP. Which I did, Dec 2005. " You returned defective/missing equipment 8 months after being told to send it back immediately... and after installing it and removing it? And you want the dealer to assume that it wasn't you that may have damaged it when it was installed, and that a needed part was missing before you installed it? I dunno boss... The "Good Sams" club's magazine has a column you can write to. It's worth the pittance to join, and the mag's in the mailbox every month (other perks, also). The editor of the column alerts the merchant in your behalf, regarding your plight. They seem to get decent results. It's like the difference between you sending a letter, and paying a lawyer to send a letter (which isn't a bad idea either), but you should look at the other side of the coin.. The story didn't seem to unfold all that graciously to me..... You may have pushed the envelope an inch too far. | ||
| motorcoach1 Rating: N/A |
Well it's a good subject. I'm getting ready to put new gages in mine and still wondering what to purchase. to get a full and matched set is from what i found is impossible. I do have to large Spanish burl panels 3/8 thick , if it matches what you have I'll be more that happy to send some to you for the shipping charge, or send me a pattern and I'll cut you one ,,it only has a seal coat on it now so it will have to be finished. hope everything turns out well for you, see if you and mac can work something out. if some one can help me in the right direction for gasser gages would be appreciated | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
Rating: N/A |
The dollar amount is just about right that if you want to play a bluff, or maybe even play it for real, you could mention to him that you'd be quite willing to take him to court over the 2 year thing. The reason I say the dollar amount is right is that even if you totally loose, if you file a suit against him it will cost him at least $1500 just to have his attorneys answer the suit. If he wins he just spent the same if not more on lawyers than it would have cost to simply fix you up out of court, and if he looses, it would cost him a lot more. So for him it is a loose-loose situation and for you a win-win. It would be lots cheaper for him just to make you a happy customer. If the dollar amount were less, it wouldn't work, as the claim would have to go thru small claims court & he wouldn't have to pay for a lawyer. If the dollar amount were more, it would be a chance he could take and maybe win. But at $1500, it's about that magic number that avoiding court altogether is the best option for him... I've never been to court yet, and hope to keep it that way, but when I was in business I used that ploy more than once and it always got the attention of the guy on the other end... they become very realistic when it is pointed out to them what your "intentions" will be, and what the likely outcome will be for them... That said, I agree with John, you probably should have jumped on it immediately rather than waiting this long. Windows of opportunity have a way of fading rapidly with time. If you don't delay you always have a better chance of getting things corrected. But if you dally for long at all, things have a way of falling by the wayside no matter who is a fault, and it gets a lot more difficult to "prove" anything...even harder to get anyone to do something about it... | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
I mis-typed! I thought "one year, 8 months", and typed "8 months". That's 20 months, or four months short of the contracted guarantee. We're in business selling Antiques and Collectibles. I have quite a few unfamiliar "dealers" buying items from us, and attempting to re-sell the item on Ebay...... and then trying to return the item when it didn't sell at their grossly inflated price.... often many months later. You've sent the dealer a "note" saying the product was defective, then waited twenty months to return the item... Really. ? You serious? It's gonna' be a tough row to hoe! | ||
| Pat Bartlett (Muddog16)
Rating: N/A |
I waited to answer this, I wanted to see how everyone reacted to his question. During the same time that Jay was buying his panel from Mac I was also. When my panel came I checked it out throughly, and I was satisfied completely, it was very well done and I couldn't find anything wrong with it. Now maybe when I go to hooking everything up there might be something, you just never assume that anything is really right, you have to check them out especially when its electrical wiring, I've been doing this to long to assume everything is ok. My gauges looked great I used the black faced Isspro gauges which brings up a point, Jay you probably did wait to long as I'm sorry to say. Isspro can probably be contacted where you could get two new gauges, but at your cost! My warranty will run out way before I have it installed unfortunately! Thats just the way it works when your converting, it always takes more time than you thought it would! There are some pictures of my panel on my site if anyone wants to check it out! Pat http://prevostlemirage.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Jack Conrad (Jackconrad)
Rating: N/A |
Jay, This will not help resolve your problem with CIP, but for another source of gauges,I have had excellent service from Precision Speedometer in Arizona. www.presicionspeed.com They have a wide assortment of matching gauges at reasonable prices as well as a great technical rep to answer questions. No financial ties to this business, but they have been a great source of gauges and information for me. Jack | ||
| Sean Welsh (Sean)
Rating: N/A |
I'm not going to weigh in on the issue here, because I don't think there is enough information. However, I think anyone buying these panels should know the following: CIP uses Teleflex-Morse gauges. They have an exclusive arrangement with TM -- they are the ONLY authorized distributor for TM "automotive" gauges. (By contrast, TM marine gauges are widely distributed, and are availabe at, for example, West Marine). So there is no alternative source for individual matching gauges for these panels -- you have to get them from Mac. If you call TM and ask for a replacement, they will refer you to CIP. If you are OK with mis-matched gauges, there are many alternatives, including Stewart-Warner, VDO, and Datcon. If you want a matched set, though, you will need to replace them all, or resolve your issue with CIP. FWIW. -Sean | ||
| Pat Bartlett (Muddog16)
Rating: N/A |
Sean, I've thought about this post for several more days and I am wondering about the gauges, if CIP uses TM gauges, how in the world did I end up with Isspro gauges? Second question is not being familiar with Isspro gauges do they have a good track record, and how do they rate as gauges go? They do look good, I found their website and they have tons of information on their products. I was just wondering, thanks! Pat http://www.isspro.com/ | ||
| Sean Welsh (Sean)
Rating: N/A |
Pat, Sorry, I should have mentioned that my information about CIP is a couple years old, as of the last time I researched them. Perhaps they have either switched to ISSPro or they have added a second source. ISSPro gauges are widely available and would not present the same issues as the Teleflex ones. Perhaps Jay can tell us which brand of gauges came in his panel. -Sean | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
I wonder if Muddog's price negotiations with CIP resulted in CIP "quoting" the job with Isspro rather than Teleflex and they didn't make much mention of the difference? It could explain the poor fit in two of the positions Food for thought | ||
| Pat Bartlett (Muddog16)
Rating: N/A |
Sean, I checked CIP site and they don't avertise using Isspro gauges, this is interesting. Marc, I honestly can't remember, lol....but I'm satisfied they look good! I could look through my files and see what was quoted but, I don't think that is necessary...! I'm sure when dealing with the public that information gets twisted, either by accident or well whatever the reason! The end result is that they look good, and I've gotten many compliments on that dash! I'm not the type to buy junk, I believe in quality and usually most of the stuff I use is tried and tested by someone........one of the great things about this board is the ability to choose, and the input we get from everyone else! LOL after typing that about buying junk, I guess i did buy an old rusty bus.......so much for that argument! Pat |