Caliraised LED sucks

Nolan is busy negotiating a raise.

 

I'm just playing devils advocate. I am actually discussing a Voodoo rack with another member as an alternative too. I've not spent my money yet, and may still be steered away from them, but it was a reputable source that pointed me toward their rack in the first place, and I like their design. I have lots of time to ask questions and weigh the pros and cons.

I would be too if I had to tangle with this forum! We tend to be a pretty rough bunch if we feel we've been wronged, and rightly so. Nobody likes getting screwed.

 

Nolan leaving the office

Ha - I think most people on here are pretty fair and the ones who aren’t usually get called out pretty quick - we’re not half as bad as TW.

 

I agree and I wasn't implying otherwise. I was just saying that Cali Raised obviously effed up here, and this is not a forum that is fun to deal with when you have screwed up.

 

Yep. Victory 4x4 also on my do not buy list due to how they handled issues and support for their products. That one pissed me off because I like their logo more than RCI’s… oh well

 

Yeah, Victory was really bad, and there was some serious safety concerns on their roof racks. The run around for a member having bumper sensor issues wasn't great either. Cali Raised did at least do some swaps, but apparently their QC is crap. Where they really went off the rails is refusing to just do a refund and eat the shipping, and then they topped it off with the insult of a restocking fee. Bad form for sure.

 

I guess the big question here, is this: Is one customer's very poor experience justification for writing off a business or vendor by the community here? Is that kind of poor experience the norm or is it a rarity?

I've mentioned in PMs to a couple other members here about a vendor whom I had a garbage experience with, but he is highly regarded on the forum. The absolute vast majority of members here have had positive interactions with him. Is my one bad experience enough for everyone here to refuse to buy his products when I'm one of the only ones who has had a negative experience? I mean, yeah, he won't get a dime from me, but i certainly don't begrudge other members buying from him when there are so many others who have positive experiences. I'm not going out and blasting him for ignoring me for over a year when I asked questions about his products. That, in my book, is just awful customer service, but I'm not trying to nuke him on here for it. Is it so bad that I feel the same about CR LED?

 

Whenever I have a poor customer service I usually just stop using that companies products and/or service. Out of the hundreds of Yelp reviews I've submitted, I think about three are critical, and all of the others are praises. The way I see it, there are enough people out there complaining about bad service, and very few that praise good service. That said, it seems like @helidave had exhausted all resources to deal with this issue directly with the company, and wanted to warn us so it didn't happen to us; and whenever someone gives me information like that I usually listen, but then make my mind up for myself. I wouldn't have written off @Caliraisedled's simply based off of what @helidave said, but for Nolan to come in here, give a vague "we stand behind our products" statement and then confirm everything @helidave had said was true was enough for me to write them off.

Some companies are shitty to customers in private, and act like a White Knight in public - but @Caliraisedled pretty much came in here and was like "Yup, we told him to pound sand." makes me worry about their business practices in general.

Ultimately, as I said before - I think we all have serious questions about the quality control now.

What I would have done, and of course it's much easier when looking from the outside in - Is I would have come in here and said "We stand behind out products, and believe the product @helidave received is perfectly fine. To address this issue we would love to pay for it to be shipped back to us, and we will do a complete teardown of the product on camera to show what is causing the rattle, and why we believe that is a non-issue.".

It's a sticky situation to be in though now that it's been all muddied up.

 

I just don't get companies that brush off or ignore issues like this. The world is too small and too interconnected to leave a paying customer with a sour experience. I completely agree that the way they handled the issue with @helidave probably lost them more $$ than if they'd actually addressed his problem rather than seemingly sending him back the same exact rattling light bar. Twice.

For example, at this point, I have ZERO ideas regarding what to do for off-road lighting on my truck, but it is on my list of mods to get to. When that time eventually comes, the only thing that's going to pop into my mind is how a very reasonable guy had an awful experience with one company that he calmly and rationally warned us about. All I'm going to think when the time comes is, "beware @Caliraisedled."

I'm sure lots of customers complain unreasonably or have ridiculous expectations of companies they purchase products from, BUT I also think that communicating well and taking care of reasonable customers is a critical part of any business model. Just seems foolish and shortsighted to ignore stuff like this.

 

They didn’t completely abandon this thread. They liked 3 posts, 2 of which could been seen as defending them and the 3rd was edited after they liked it, so I’m not sure what it originally said. Then they gave that non response.

 

That was all within a minute or two of their response. I think it's safe to assume that the brush off response is as much as they're going to say in the public forum. With OP disputing the CC charges, this particular incident is going to be written off as a loss, and they likely view any further acknowledgement/interaction as pouring gasoline on a fire that has already burned them.

 

They could send us all free light bars and we'd probably forgive them...

 

I agree with that, but no matter who was right, it looks bad when a company comes in and starts liking posts seen as against the OP. As said earlier, his best response should have been “call me directly” if not “hey we will not charge the restocking fee since we acknowledged an issue by sending 2 replacements already”.

They gain nothing by liking posts.

 

But what if it rattled?

 

I’d eat the cost and take it apart to see what was rattling. At this point it’s either a loose bolt or a middle finger.

 

Either way, a free bolt or free finger are cool with me

 

My guess is that it's a loose crimp connector on the wiring. Hopefully not a wire nut, they tend to loosen and fall off in a vibrating environment. If it's a crimp connector, it'll eventually wear through the insulation, or the wire will break due to the continuous flexing. It'll take a while, probably a couple of years in most cases.

 

As long as it’s past their 2 year warranty period, all is good with them.

 

Exactly

 

For sure. Were I in his shoes and wanting to introduce myself as the new name/face of the company's online presence I think I would have gone this route:

"Hello, I'm (name) with Cali Raised LED.

OP, I'm sorry to see that this situation has not been resolved to your satisfaction. Would you please contact me? I'm sending you a PM with my number. I'd like to get the details of this incident from you as I'm new to the company and I'm not fully up to speed on this incident."


As soon as that was posted and the PM was sent, I'd be heading to my boss to express the massive opportunity for good press that we had on our hands. For the low low price of an honest apology, refund, and return shipping (or letting the light bar stay where it was) we could work wonders toward repairing a black eye situation with a customer, and a positive first impression for myself as the new online ambassador for the brand. That first impression as the new rep is key to being effective.


All this would hopefully polish up a little of the tarnish on the company reputation and show my boss that I was serious about my job.



Alas, if wishes were fishes...

 

Mine was the edited one, the only thing I changed was one word that was autocorrected incorrectly. I was actually surprised they liked it because it felt like they weren’t taking this seriously.

 

Hey guys, I just got a new job! On a completely unrelated note:

Hello, I'm (name) with Cali Raised LED.

OP, I'm sorry to see that this situation has not been resolved to your satisfaction. Would you please contact me? I'm sending you a PM with my number. I'd like to get the details of this incident from you as I'm new to the company and I'm not fully up to speed on this incident.

 

I can agree a little, but if that rattle is a loose connector, or random metal, that could cause a problem like a short down the road and cause some real damage.

 

Possible shorts on something pulling ten plus amps of power seems like a gamble I wouldn’t take. What if the user fused it improperly and the light bar catches on fire? Would Caliraised like to be held liable for a vehicle burning in a total loss scenario? What if someone died? Especially after it was determined that they told the operator that the light was fine it’s just a little rattle no big deal.

And also agree, huge missed opportunity here. They could have shown what separates them from other companies with superb customer service. Instead it seems like they viewed it as a hassle

When I owned a business I used to get excited when something had an issue (they happened rarely when I did the work) because I could get a customer for life. Everyone sells the same crap but I do business with people I can trust will take care of me if an issue pops up.

 

When the boss asks Nolan how marketing and chatter on the forums is going-