S14 Parts, Shipping and Billing Issues

Added 2/22/04

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 2:42 PM

To: glenn@stillensucks.com

Subject: Stillen indeed does suck

Hey Glenn,

I ordered suspension techniques sway bars (remarked as 'stillen'), a Stillen front strut tower bar, and an Injen cold air intake for my S14 240SX from Stillen.  My contact was Bill Claytor, we agreed on a deal, I provided him with my address, apartment and buzz code, and the products were shipped out, and I was supposed to get a call with the tracking number.

No call.  Bill wouldn't call me back when I left messages.  I basically forget about it for 2 days, but three weeks later when the parts don't arrive I'm peeved and call again.

According to Bill, I refused the order.   That's impossible, since the UPS delivery guy never appeared at my door.  I ask Bill to read the address posted, and he confused the buzz code and number.  I ask him to repeat, he does it again so I said "there's the problem, can you fix that and ship it out again?"

His reply?  "We'll have to charge you shipping one more time."  Even though it was his fault that they confused the buzz code and number.  We get into a heated discussion and I threaten to call my credit card company and get ALL my money back - they could shove their 25% restocking fee where the sun don't shine.  Suddenly Bill got co-operative, sent the items out again...and this time I made sure to get a tracking number immediately.  Good thing too, because Bill confused the buzz code and apartment number yet again.  Whatever, I got my parts, time to drop it.

That's until my credit card statement arrives and I see a second charge from Stillen.  I call in to ask what it is, they said it must have been the 25% restocking fee.  I looked at my statement and pulled up the previous month's on the internet and I didn't get a refund in the first place, never mind the restocking fee.  After some discussion, they pointed out that they'd paid for shipping.  Regardless, I put off dealing with Stillen because I simply can't wait to install the goodies.

Funny thing though - the sway bars, while they fit, have brackets that don't.  Some are weird shapes.  Others are a quarter of an inch too short. Obviously they are not for my car, even though the instructions say they are.

The strut tower bar ending up banging against a plug of some sort when the engine revved.  I moved that out of the way, but later ended up cutting a vacuum line that got pinched between the plug and the strut bar.  Great fitment, Stillen.

I call Stillen again.  I'd have to pay shipping to get replacements, and they deny charging me shipping a second time even though I can clearly point it out.  Forget it.  I don't even want to deal with this company anymore.

Bill suggests I call Suspension Techniques.  My inquiries there are politely dealt with until they hear I bought from Stillen, then they tell me all complaints must go through Stillen.

I absolutely cannot ever stress enough - Stillen. Sucks.

Additional feedback in a follow up email:

Actually, if you could append a note that after the second time that Stillen shipped it and I noticed a "missed delivery attempt" according to UPS, I parked out in my apartment block's lobby for three hours to wait for the delivery.  Thank God I have the luxury of working from home and can do that :)