Caliraised LED sucks

No, but it sure as hell is the quickest way to lose a few thousand potentially.

Just a couple of points here on customer service Nolan.

- No one cares when you arrived at the company. Posting you’ve been there a month adds nothing and can be taken by some as an “excuse” (I/E - not my fault - I just started here)

- You have every right to not respond publicly as a company, and it is likely a no win if you try to argue with a pissed consumer on a forum. The “best” reply can sometimes be as simple as an immediate “I’m sorry OP, I’d like to discuss this matter off forum with you” and give them a phone and email. Keep it private until the customer continues to bring it public - then post something more as needed. Jumping into a thread a month later and in essence posting “we tried but the customer won’t accept our resolution” is just a bad look. If you had posted her within a day of the original post - different story. Bottom line is your employer had an account here and likely got an alert telling them someone was talking about them - it’s called being proactive…not waiting for someone else to be hired to handle customer service a month later.

- Sometimes your gonna have to suck it up. Not sure how much they are paying you to handle customer complaints or how much time you devote to the role - but it’s clear how much supporting membership as a vendor cost here and how much services like google charge for those “top 3 search” results - I mean seriously…the OP asked for a refund after multiple emails - and your company reply is shipping ok your dime AND 15% restock?!? I will reserve my judgement on the shipping cost until I know who paid the last 4 (2 outbound/2 returns) - but the 15% restock is just kind of insulting. It’s clear what your firm feels about the OP - but why be so petty as to seek to impose a small restock fee. Just give the OP what he’s owed and move on with life - it’s unlikely he comes back anytime soon - but now you’ve created a situation where your running off others potentially. Losing a customer over a bad experience happens…losing them before they even try you is not something that has to happen.

 

Ok - there we have it - OP said I’ll accept either. Perfectly acceptable and normal reply - the vendor OPTED to send replacements on 2 occasions.

So in my judgement- the vendor doesn’t have any room to cru about “lost cost” - they could have ended those cost after return #2 and just given a full refund - instead they wasted more money. That’s on them - no need to “punish” the OP for their bad calls.

 

Well that just is poor business.

 

Oh Nolan, you sweet, simple fool. Way to run off even more customers with your snarky corporate response. I know I will never consider your products again.

 

Unless the vendor is disputing this, the biggest issue is that they thinks it's acceptable to have loose parts rattling around inside the housing.

 

The light is meant to produce light. If it makes a sound that doesn't mean it is broken. You haven't described the rattle much unless I missed it.

I'll agree that $260 is not cheap for a light bar, I don't care what anybody says. Sure you can buy one for a thousand if you want something cool to tell your buddies, but for a 30" it isn't cheap to the point where you expect defects. Harbor freight has 32" for $99, that I consider cheap. Black oak has 30" for $460, maybe it lights up faster because its black? By that comparison you're middle of the road.

However, I haven't seen anything definitively proving the product is damaged here. This is up there with people complaining that they bought coilovers and found a chip in the paint on their coils. Test the light, if it works throw it on and stop worrying about it.

I had a friend who thought a subwoofer I gave to him was blown. Every time the bass hit he heard rattles. I pulled the sub out and looked at his box, turned out the bass port was loose. A bit of silicone and some wood glue in the screw holes and the problem was solved. My point is, maybe the light really is fine and you're too focused on a rattle to care.

 

I think they shot themselves in the foot when they authorized the first return/exchange based on OP’s description of the rattle. They pretty much admitted there’s a fault in the unit when doing so. Can’t really walk it back from there, IMHO.

 

I’ve been planning on replacing my bumper light bar and adding one to my hood bulge. Guess Diode Dynamics or Baja Designs can have my money now.

 

You can find my original thread in the lighting section with a video of the rattle if you need proof. There might be a link in this thread somewhere.

 

Wow - fun read. I have a feeling this whole exchange will cost caliraised more in future sales than the cost of shipping and the 15% restock fee they've been fighting for.

 

I felt the same way... until I watched the video @helidave posted in a different thread. This sound isn't normal:

 

Sounds like it to me as well, and to be fair before the third was sent out I would have damn sure shook it to see if it rattles. I would have inspected the ones sent back too but im not in the lighting business.

That said, lots of happy customers have their gear. I don't, I have no dog in the fight. My truck is far to loud to worry about a rattle on a light bar.

 

Exactly!

 

Nobody has time for hunting down posts. Just saw the video, sure it makes noise. Sounds like a connector bouncing around.

Does it light up?

 

Yes, the light bar makes light.

 

Great idea. Plus maybe cross check and see if the customer requesting a refund is an active member of a forum that directs a lot of business my way!

 

All I've gotta say is that someone named "Darkness" has no right to have an opinion about lighting.

This is a joke.

 

I would just assume every customer should be treated well. Every customer also has a loud voice. These days everybody has social media and there is a good reason that big companies scan for mentions of their name to put out fires. My company has an entire team scouring the internet daily for mentions, and if they see complaints they reach out to make things right.

When the 2nd one rattled I would say refund me and be done. To be fair that rattle wouldn't bother me much, but if it did I wouldn't go for 3rds. I don't agree with a restocking fee for a defective part, but I also don't agree the part is defective if it does its job.

 

I have two 42in Caliraised light bars and the side shooters, and I have had ZERO issues with them….

 

Overall it looks like there's tons of people who've had no issues and are happy customers, some that have had issues and got satisfactory results, and then some that had a bad experience all around. I agree, the way this was handled sounds bad as explained by the OP, and should definitely have been done differently.

I do have one question though, and I may have missed it if it was already said: @helidave did you buy your light bar from @Caliraisedled or from Cali Raised Off Road?

 

Unfortunately there are probably tons of people who don't search and read forums about vendors. Marketing people are really good to get people to buy their products.

Caliraised, the LED light bar that rattles out the competition! Our lights rattle so you know it's working!

 

caliraisedled.com

 

Hmm. That's certainly disappointing service.

 

Yep. And totally avoidable. A little better quality control or a little better return policy and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Well, I was trying to be patient and let them deal with the situation as they saw fit. I wasn't in a huge rush and I certainly wasn't expecting to get multiple defective parts.

 

Almost sounds like same bar was sent back 3 times, when ever I send an item back I always mark it in some discrete spot, just for that reason. Never take apart ,or you've just bought it for good. Not heavy offroader either, so my 20" was just a try out off Amazon for 40.00 , makes me happy and saved alot of deers lives.