4wheelparts.com & pro comp what are they thinking?!?!?

and some more awesome customer service by 4wp's and pro comp tada!
http://coloradofans.com/forums/63-a...8-4-wheel-parts-gets-busted-state-agency.html
http://coloradofans.com/forums/63-a...8-4-wheel-parts-gets-busted-state-agency.html

 

i have just lodged a formal complaint with the bbb in hopes they will expidite the solution to my problem.

 

In situations like these, it's going to be rare if you get ALL money back. You either lose time, money, or both.

Complaining on this forum causes 4WP little to no harm. You've made your statement for us, job done, now focus on the other issues.

You can issue a complaint with the BBB, but that doesn't harm 4WP much. You have to care about your BBB rating for it to matter, otherwise BBB has no teeth.

Your best case is either the class action suit or small claims, or get 4WP to refund parts. Unfortunately, it's going to cost you additional money for small claims, and even if you win you will come out upside down on the money.

Emails are considered nearly the worst form of formal communication because they can be easily ignored and sent to spam. The top 3 best (in order) are
in-person communication
phone
written letter
The best you can do is try having a phone conversation with the complaint department, followed by a letter sent certified mail (certified mail means they have to sign for it and you receive delivery confirmation). Write down all dates and names.

If they state that they don't warranty their work, you can't fight that and expect to win outside of court.
The best you can expect is a full refund on returned parts WITH shipping paid AND no restocking fee. Mileage may vary, the goal at this point is to recover as much as possible and move on.

Once you get the settlement (in whatever form it may be, either court or by their agreements over the phone), get it in writing!! Note that email counts.

When it comes to removal, only do it once you have the written settlement in hand. They may require professional removal. If not, I HIGHLY recommend posting in your regional forum for help. You can find help, tools, and space readily available. Expect the job to take an afternoon or so.
I assume you don't have stock tires. Do you own your house? If so, you can put the truck on blocks (EDIT: make sure you don't have a HOA!). If you rent, you will need to obtain tires. Ask to borrow some from members or buy some baldies from a tire shop.

If you get enough money from the settlement, buy the OME setup and have members help you install. Otherwise, just let it continue sitting and save up. You are just burning more money by worrying about spacer lift band-aids.

 

and since they are a vendor here on tacoma world i think it's fair to ask one of the moderators to blow them out as stated by another member in this thread.

they literally sold me the wrong parts for my truck and now expect me to solve the problem on my own dime!

i have remained calm and asked for a solution to the problem in a polite manner slowly making my way up the ladder until i reached the general manager of 4wp's he stated the solution was for me to buy the bull bar and just take a loss on the whole thing he discounted the arb bull bar to 689 dollars and that was his final offer as friday the 15 july.


i called him back to see if i could further escalate the problem in hopes of getting it resolved by someone who had the power to make these kinds of decisions in the company. he said this "dude if it was up to me i would give you the bumper but, i just can't i don't mean to leave you out in the cold here but, i can't do it and i'm the last person you can talk to on the matter so do you want to just pay for it or what"?

i told him i wished to speak with mr. adler in hopes he would be able to help. they said they have no contact information on him he then proceeded to put me on hold for over 45 minutes while he tried to get his extension number and or company email address!

he came back on the line and told me to compose an email and send it to his email address the he would personally make sure that mr. adler received it by on of the day friday. i asked him when i could expect a response he sid by the end of the day monday. well its 5pm eastern standard time and i have not heard shit.

i plan on hiring a lawyer now i filed a formal complaint with the bbb and thats now under way as well. lets see how fucking funny it is when he gets a letter from my attorney this matter will not be held in small claims court either. as it has the potential to cost me into the thousands in possible damages and to professionally replace the fucking crap they sold me.

 

yes i realize as a consumer i'm powerless..

i'm actually in the process of talking to an attorney to see what my options are and it won't cost me shit to get involved in the class action law suit already under way.

idk who told you the best method of communication was over the phone? i email and send letters that way i have proof of contact and these messages are going straight into their personal work email accounts. if they dodge them it will not be suprising at this point.

you have a point about the bandaid thing with the spacers. that would only cost me more in the long run. i do not however think that posting on this forum is useless thats lost revenue to them the fucks. the whole point is to not lay down and take it in the butt hole which is why this thread and the complaint with the bbb and the attorney are all working in unison.

i don't need a plan to know i'm fucking broke after all this. i know what i want and should have purched in the first place i also know what will fix this. the problem is i can't afford to do it.

which is why this fucking turd of a company needs make it happen for me. it's their fault 110% fucking even if i had the money to pay for a fix to this problem i wouldn't they need to step up and do the right thing here.

 

4WheelSteal and ProCrap...............................................

 

pretty much dude.

 

Seriously, read what I wrote in my last post.
It sounds like the general manager is trying to work with you, I assume his hands are tied to a certain extent. It sounds like you didn't have the option to remove the parts, so he's trying to give you the best fix he can think of with the best discount he can apply. He's out of options and you don't want any options.

Don't get me wrong, 4WP is still terrible and is at blame, but that general manager might be a somewhat alright guy and he's trying to work within a shitty environment the best he can. Lots of the time, the guy knows he's at a shitty company, but he can't tell you that because their's someone above him and the manager still needs to put food on his own table too.

Trying to ask for the CEO of a large company is not going to happen. When your computer starts crashing, do you jump on the phone with Steve Ballmer? Sorry to say, but you aren't carrying enough monetary heft to mean squat.

Everyone's always told me that when you take a case to court over money, the only person who wins is the lawyers. If you have the financial reserves and the time to spend, more power to you, but our court system is going to bend you over worse than 4WP.

My advice still stands, call up the GM and say, "After thinking the matter over, I would like to propose a settlement. I understand that your policy does not warranty install work and I cannot expect compensation for removal. However, I would like to return all products and receive full compensation on those parts in the form of a check or refund to my credit card. I will NOT accept in-store credit. I do not expect to pay shipping or restocking. I need a written confirmation of these terms."

If you can record the conversation, do so. Check with local laws first.

 

Sounds good, I'm just worried that you won't be able to use your truck at all until the settlement.

Phone conversation ensures that both parties are present and communicating. You can hear tone and emotion.
Granted you don't have recorded information, but what I'm getting at is that you are guaranteed response. Following up with written information just increases your odds that you have reached them, have proof of conversation, and have recorded events, which it looks like you are doing, but I urge written letters.
In regard to email, once you send it, it doesn't mean anyone reads it or will EVER read it. At one of my previous jobs, the secretary to the the manager would receive 500 client emails daily, in addition to phone calls and meetings.

I'm saying that this thread is worthwhile, the point is made, but now you are burning effort with us. You accomplished what you needed to here, go take that energy where it's going to be more effective for you. Maybe call the local news or something, or post on as many forums as you can. Ensure you state the facts succinctly and avoid pitfalls like defamation or slander.

I'm only saying you don't need to pay for install fees. It's disaster recovery time and I'm helping in what little way I can to lessen the bleeding.

Ain't gonna happen. Last year redbox tried overcharging me. I told my credit card company that there was an error, and we got redbox on the phone. redbox said it was for a disc they claimed I didn't return, even though I knew the exact day and location I returned it. After going round and round, redbox refunded something like $5, and my credit card company stepped up to pay all but $2 of the remainder. Sure, I'm talking on a much smaller scale than you, but I still wasted an hour on the phone and still ate $2. I'm just saying that there's no reset button and I guarantee you are going to eat some of that bill in the long run. It's terrible and I hate it, but I don't see where this ends any better than what I stated

 

And my offer for parts and labor are still available. Get them to do a UPS or Fed EX pick up for your parts and have them refund your cash for the parts. When you send the parts back, include in the box a copy of the install reciept and make your point, in letter form, of how you would like to be compensated for the price of the insall do to the fact you were sold the incorrect application to your vehicle that they are at fault for. They may or may not refund you for the install, but at least at this point you have your money back for the parts. You can take them to court for the labor another day.

 

all good info thanks for the heads up. i will have to buy the bumper fabb something up to make it compatible with my all pro high clearance skid and sell my brand new light bar to recoup some cash and then i should be good.

the bumper would actually solve the problem believe it or not only 50 pounds of kitty litter on the radiator the other day brought it down some. so the arb bull bar will most likely will bring it down a good 3/4 of an inch whick would be plenty. bear in mind it would still be higher than 3 inches but, it would work and the kit will settle a bit more not much but, a little more than it already has.

it just stinks i really like my randy ellis light bar lol and my skid plate. i hope i can make the arb compatible with the skid other wise this will really blow!

 

even though it looks as if i have to give in and fucking pay for their mistake i'm def not going to rest until these assholes are not welcome on this site any more.

i began this whole process one week ago! and they still have not removed that kit as a model specific choice for 4 cylinder tacomas on their website! they should no longer be able to post on tw as vendors.

wtf they sell shit to you thats wrong then screw you into buying more from them to fix their mistake! and it looks as if they are willing to let this happen again.

what moderator on here would be the one to ask about getting these guy's removed form the vendor list? it's my personal opinion that they have no right catering to our community of toyota tacoma enthusiasts anymore if they let this type of problem persist. every truck is a little different in my case a bumper would fix the issue. if another guy had a 4cyl taco and buy's this lift kit it may be better or worse than mine turned out. i mean the worst case scenario in this situation is pretty fucking grim. having to replace your differential would probably cost at least a few thousand with labor thats nothing to sneeze at.

there is unique about having a poor experience with a vendor, but to have a company catering to toyota enthusiasts on a tacoma forum and marketing lifts for trucks they have no business being on is imho enough of a reason for them to gtfo.

 

lol I was wondering what the kitty litter was about. I thought you were sprinkling it on the radiator or something because the lift cracked your radiator or something

 

Don't let one person dictate to you the outcome of all this Hans, they only speak for themselves & not for us, legal or otherwise, small claims court laws vary from state to state, what goes in one state may be unacceptable in another, you were told that even if you win , you'll be money behind, not true, there again laws vary from state to state,like I said earlier had this been in Ca. & if you won, not only would the defendant be on the hook for all those parts but they'd have to pay ALL court cost as well & I was the member banging the drum for a perma ban of shady vendors, just as theres a code of conduct for we the members, its only commonsense & fair to have the same parameters for vendors also

 

agreed that is totally in order here. 4wp's does not deserve a space on here as a vendor at all. my story was a bad one but, there are many other's that got burned just as bad or worse by them! i would bet my life that if you called 4wp's right now they would still sell that lift for a 4 cylinder tacoma and tell you it would work.

lol yeah like if by work you mean you can bolt it on your truck then sure it'll work just fine, but if your idea of working is to not have 5 inches of lift and shocks that bottom out and no down travel then your just out of luck lol.

tcbob is the mod i should possibly pm about this then? i hate to bug our moderators with this shit but, i at least think they need to know that a vendor on here is straight jacking people! i get pm's almost every day about my set-up and if i didn't take the time to awnser them i'm almost positive their would be more than a few people having the same problem i'm having.

like i was saying before every truck is a little different and maybe the next guy will not be as lucky. if the worst case scenario was to take place that would be a really sad thing to have happen to fellow tw member. i will try private messaging a moderator to see if i can persuade them to kick these d-bags off of tw for good. i'm sure another vendor can fill their spot and their orders.

thanks guy's for commiserating with me about this and for the advice and the offers of help that is what makes this site so different from the others i have been on. i had complete strangers offer to help me instal a new kit, help me choose a new kit, christ even trade me parts and help me instal them. i truly appreciate all of the help it means a lot to me and if i can ever return the favor just let me know

 

my new buddy on here oswego had an idea on friday what a nice guy! he told me to come over and he would check it out for me. he had the idea of placing 2 25 pound boxes of kitty litter on the radiator and it lowered the truck around 1/4 inch give or take. needless to say i was shocked! since he is running one of relentless tacos plate steel bumpers he had his factory cover laying around he even let me check that out so we could get an idea of what weight we would be talking about once all the factory parts where removed and the arb installed! and it looks like will be enough to solve the cv angle problem.

man that guy keeps saving me headaches lol! first he had come over and helped me with putting the snorkel on now this. so if you see this post thanks buddy i appreciate it big time

 

Boyd's a douche

 

I concur.

 

i did not know much about this stuff until i got on tw. i had never lifted one of my trucks so i was all new to this stuff but, even i knew that past a specific point a drop bracket was needed to keep things from eating themselves alive.

i guess thats what bothers me so much. from what it looks like 4wp's is continuing to recommend this lift for 4 cylinder tacoma's

 

lol an awesome douche