Bad Job Northwest Off-Road Specialties, Inc.
06-12-2014, 12:18 PM
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Bad Job Northwest Off-Road Specialties, Inc.
Hello Yotatech:
This is my first post here! Yeah! This is the story of how terrible it is to do business with Northwest Off-Road, Inc.
Now, in many adversarial situations, it helps to view oneself with a critical eye. Here's who NWOF was dealing with:
---Me, via Web Commerce, because I live in San Francisco
---N00b. I've always been a Paper Motorhead, but until recently I was too broke to own cool cars or trucks.
---New to performance automotives in California. I only recently, and AFTER I ordered from NWOR, understood what CARB means.
---I was motivated to add an exhaust header to my 2.7L '96 4x4 by a cracked exhaust header that was robbing me of power, fuel, and was venting exhaust gasses into my cab. Rather than bolt on the OEM part and probably replace it again in 10k miles, I decided to go big.
I imagine John at NWOR, the fellow who took my order over the phone on in May 2014, was thinking "this jackarse, well, I'll take his money, anyway..." That's fine. I think things too.
As some of you know, NWOR has a primitive website with no baked-in e-commerce. That was strange, but I was OK with it. I was actually happy to speak with a real human and get a few tech questions in. One question I was careful to ask is "will my truck pass smog with this part?" John assured me it would. I could see that the part has all emissions system fittings, it looked good-to-go. In fact I'm sure the part would pass the sniff test. But it doesn't come with the Executive Order sticker, which means my vehicle will fail smog inspection immediately upon visual inspection. I didn't know that until I much later.
Oh, here's the part:
http://www.northwestoffroad.com/parts/triheaders.php
http://imgur.com/1zony7J
I was willing to pay for this part due to perceived quality and that Lifetime Warranty. And yes, I know. "NWOR = No Warranty Or Returns." My thoughts were, they couldn't be in business if their products and services were that crappy! Well, the services really are.
The day came to actually bolt the part on. My N00bness shined this day as I determined I couldn't effectively reach the bottom 2 studs to properly torque on the new header. I took it to my favorite mechanic. This is where I learned about the CARB sticker. Jim was insistent that I reconsider using the part because of the visual inspection component of smog tests. I trust Jim a lot, so I decided to go with a CARB-compliant header system and return the NWOR Headers.
I'll simply summarize this part: Returning this part has been a goddamned nightmare. I called several times for an Return Merchandise Authorization. I got John each time and, aside from becoming noticeably angrier with me each time I called, assured me that the RMA was in the mail. NWOR has both a 25% Restocking Fee and a 30-Day Sales-Final Policy. I began to suspect John and NWOR were stonewalling me to run out the 30-Day Sales-Final Policy. It was either intentional or simply incompetence, but I believe they would have pointed to that Policy the 31st Day after delivery when would call, yet again, for my RMA. I bet it worked in the past!
This morning I called Visa to dispute the charge. The Dispute Resolution Specialist heard me out, then called NWOR. The Visa Specialist told me he spoke to John, and that John assured him my RMA went out in the mail yesterday. That's exactly what John told me last week. Twice. It was "yesterday" 3 different days now. I at least feel protected against this charge, be it by negligence or outright fraud on part of NWOR.
The part itself? I bet it's awesome. It is really, really well-built. I would have loved to use it. God forbid it would have ever cracked though, I can't imagine the living hell it would have been to warranty this thing.
If you choose to do business with Northwest Off-Road Specialties, Inc., take care to pay with a major credit card, and pay extra mind to those policies, I'm sure NWOR will twittle thumbs until 30 days pass, then point at the Policy and say "Pound Sand."
Finally, I must say the Trail Gear Rock Ripper CARB-Compliant headers I got instead works awesome. There's power on the low-end now that was missing even when the stock manifold was intact. Naturally my cab is stink-free, well, engine-stink-free, and the system is quieter, or at least as quiet as a Flowmaster cat back system ever gets.
This is my first post here! Yeah! This is the story of how terrible it is to do business with Northwest Off-Road, Inc.
Now, in many adversarial situations, it helps to view oneself with a critical eye. Here's who NWOF was dealing with:
---Me, via Web Commerce, because I live in San Francisco
---N00b. I've always been a Paper Motorhead, but until recently I was too broke to own cool cars or trucks.
---New to performance automotives in California. I only recently, and AFTER I ordered from NWOR, understood what CARB means.
---I was motivated to add an exhaust header to my 2.7L '96 4x4 by a cracked exhaust header that was robbing me of power, fuel, and was venting exhaust gasses into my cab. Rather than bolt on the OEM part and probably replace it again in 10k miles, I decided to go big.
I imagine John at NWOR, the fellow who took my order over the phone on in May 2014, was thinking "this jackarse, well, I'll take his money, anyway..." That's fine. I think things too.
As some of you know, NWOR has a primitive website with no baked-in e-commerce. That was strange, but I was OK with it. I was actually happy to speak with a real human and get a few tech questions in. One question I was careful to ask is "will my truck pass smog with this part?" John assured me it would. I could see that the part has all emissions system fittings, it looked good-to-go. In fact I'm sure the part would pass the sniff test. But it doesn't come with the Executive Order sticker, which means my vehicle will fail smog inspection immediately upon visual inspection. I didn't know that until I much later.
Oh, here's the part:
http://www.northwestoffroad.com/parts/triheaders.php
http://imgur.com/1zony7J
I was willing to pay for this part due to perceived quality and that Lifetime Warranty. And yes, I know. "NWOR = No Warranty Or Returns." My thoughts were, they couldn't be in business if their products and services were that crappy! Well, the services really are.
The day came to actually bolt the part on. My N00bness shined this day as I determined I couldn't effectively reach the bottom 2 studs to properly torque on the new header. I took it to my favorite mechanic. This is where I learned about the CARB sticker. Jim was insistent that I reconsider using the part because of the visual inspection component of smog tests. I trust Jim a lot, so I decided to go with a CARB-compliant header system and return the NWOR Headers.
I'll simply summarize this part: Returning this part has been a goddamned nightmare. I called several times for an Return Merchandise Authorization. I got John each time and, aside from becoming noticeably angrier with me each time I called, assured me that the RMA was in the mail. NWOR has both a 25% Restocking Fee and a 30-Day Sales-Final Policy. I began to suspect John and NWOR were stonewalling me to run out the 30-Day Sales-Final Policy. It was either intentional or simply incompetence, but I believe they would have pointed to that Policy the 31st Day after delivery when would call, yet again, for my RMA. I bet it worked in the past!
This morning I called Visa to dispute the charge. The Dispute Resolution Specialist heard me out, then called NWOR. The Visa Specialist told me he spoke to John, and that John assured him my RMA went out in the mail yesterday. That's exactly what John told me last week. Twice. It was "yesterday" 3 different days now. I at least feel protected against this charge, be it by negligence or outright fraud on part of NWOR.
The part itself? I bet it's awesome. It is really, really well-built. I would have loved to use it. God forbid it would have ever cracked though, I can't imagine the living hell it would have been to warranty this thing.
If you choose to do business with Northwest Off-Road Specialties, Inc., take care to pay with a major credit card, and pay extra mind to those policies, I'm sure NWOR will twittle thumbs until 30 days pass, then point at the Policy and say "Pound Sand."
Finally, I must say the Trail Gear Rock Ripper CARB-Compliant headers I got instead works awesome. There's power on the low-end now that was missing even when the stock manifold was intact. Naturally my cab is stink-free, well, engine-stink-free, and the system is quieter, or at least as quiet as a Flowmaster cat back system ever gets.
Last edited by kevinzeemail; 06-12-2014 at 12:23 PM. Reason: spelling
06-12-2014, 01:55 PM
#2
Registered User
This is why its best to deal with NWOR on a cash basis and in person. My question is, Being that you're in San Francisco. How in the hell did you find NWOR before LC Engineering and/or Trail gear? They're local and have smog legal parts. Not to mention, a member on here sells a mini header that is also smog legal.
Be sure to do extensive searching next time and avoid business like this. It doesn't hurt to ask questions either. Were all here to help.
Be sure to do extensive searching next time and avoid business like this. It doesn't hurt to ask questions either. Were all here to help.
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