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-   -   Problems with Savini - beware (https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120297)

Darth_Emma 12-16-2010 12:50 PM

Problems with Savini - beware
 
EDIT: I just got a call from Savini. They issued me a refund for the entire amount. So, this issue has been resolved.

*********************

I want to share my story of what has happened with the very expensive Savini wheels I ordered back in May of 2010. I’ll start out by saying that I do NOT recommend buying Savini wheels.

Sorry this post is so long, but I thought it was important to share this because wheels are a very expensive investment and I want anyone who is considering new wheels to know this.

Here is the story.

I ordered Savini wheels back in May of this year for my 2SS. Six weeks after ordering them, they were delivered and I took them to IPS Motorsports to mount and balance. IPS took them to a local specialty shop that has a “touchless” wheel mounting system. This shop works on the wheels of a lot of high end cars, so IPS highly recommended this tire shop.


I got a call from IPS later that day saying the tire shop said the paint work on the wheels is not right. The wheels were not properly prepped and that paint chips where falling off the lips of the rims and around the lug holes even though they were being very careful with them. The wheel shop said they’d never encountered wheels with such badly prepped paint work because the paint just did not adhere to the wheels. (By the way, the guys at IPS put the wheels on the car and tightened the lugs by hand using a lug wrench with a thin-walled socket being very careful not to damage the paint around the lugs.)

The tire shop touched up the rims with some paint and IPS called Savini to talk about the chipping around the lips of the wheels and the lugs. IPS told me Savini agreed to refinish the rims under their warranty.

So, in July the chipping on the wheels was so bad that chunks of paint were breaking off when I washed the car. So, I called Savnin and I talked to Tu (the Sales Manager at Savini). I said, “My wheels are chipping pretty badly around the rims and lug holes can you fix them under warranty?”

Tu from Savini said, “Sure, but go ahead and drive on them for the summer and enjoy them. Then, in the fall send them to us when you put your car away for winter. We'll fix them under warranty.” (Their one year warranty states that I pay the shipping to send the wheels to Savini and they’ll refinish them and they pay the return shipping.) So I told Tu I would do that.

In late August, I called Savini and talked to Nick and I said, “I'm ready to send my wheels back while the car is in the shop for some other work. But, I would like the wheels to be powdercoated instead of painted for durability. The lips of the rims as well as the lug areas are all chipped up and need to be refinished.”

Nick from Savini: “We will repair them under warranty, but powdercoating costs an extra $50 per wheel ($200 for all 4). We can also take the tires off and put them back on for you to avoid any more problems with that at your end.”

Me: “That sounds good, so, how much will it all cost?”

Nick at Savini: “$200 for powdercoating, $135 to mount and balance, $150 shipping because shipping the whole wheel with tires costs more. Total $485.”

I confirmed all of this via email and I agreed to pay the $485. It seemed fair and reasonable.

Wheels shipped to Savini on September 13. Shipping cost I paid: $365 to have IPS box them up and ship the whole wheels (with tires on them) to Savini in California. On September 29, I called Nick and give him my credit card info to pay the $485.

Ocotober 27, Nick from Savini: “Your wheels are about done and we didn't even have to take the tires off.”

Me: “How did you refinish them without taking the tires off?”

Nick: “We only refinished the centers (spokes).”

Me: “You needed to repair the lips of the barrels too. I was very clear about that.”

Nick: “That will take 2 more weeks.” He looked at the wheels and agreed the lips were chipped and should be refinished.

December 3, I got an email from Nick's saying “Your wheels are done and I need to send you your bill, Fax or Paypal?”

Me: “I gave you my credit card info in September. Didn't run the card?”
(I checked and there was no charge on my credit card for it.)

So, I told Nick to send me a Paypal invoice for the $485.

Nick’s email back to me: “You owe us $1285. The lip area isn't covered under warranty because the damage was caused by the tire shop, so we won’t cover that.”

So, I call Nick and we had a discussion.

He said the lips of my wheels were damaged by the tire shop. I say they used a "touchless system" and that the tire shop said the paint prep was not done properly. I reminded Nick that Savini had promised to repair them under warranty before I ever shipped the wheels back to Savini.

Nick said: “I told you on October 27 we only did the centers.” He said that only the centers were previously painted and they only refinished the painted areas. The barrel was apparently powdercoated originally (which I didn’t realize at the time). But, I had made it very clear that the lips of the wheels needed to be refinished before I ever sent them to Savini.

I replied, “You can't change the terms of our agreed price AFTER I sent the wheels back to you.” I told Nick I would not pay the extra $800 they wanted to charge.

Nick said he would talk to the owner and call me back.

Two hours later Nick called me: “The boss says we can come down to $885.”

I said, “No, that is still $400 above what we agreed to.”

Nick: “I’ll pay the return shipping and take $685.”

At first I said no, but then I reluctantly agreed just to get this over with. It was still $200 over what we had agreed to originally before I shipped the wheels to Savini.

In the meantime, I called Tony (Nine Ball), who sold me the wheels, and I told him what had happened. Tony sent Tu at Savini an email requesting that Savini stick to the original $485 that we had agreed to.

I have waited 2 weeks and I have not heard anything from Savini, so I guess they aren’t going to do anything about it at this point. I think they really should give me the $200 back.

I have all the email correspondences to back up my story and I can document everything.

So, I feel like Savini tried to screw me out of $800, then $400, and then I still ended up paying $200 more than we had agreed to. Savini lied to me and didn’t stand behind their product.

By the way, I am totally grateful to Nine Ball (Tony) who has tried to help me with this. I have nothing but good things to say about him and his customer service.

I know painted wheels can chip. But, what I do find problematic is that Savini didn’t do what they promised to resolve the issue. I paid $6000 for these wheels. I now have well over $7000 (not including the tires) invested in them with all the extra shipping, mounting and balancing, plus refinishing. For that kind of money, they should stand behind their product with better customer service.

The wheels are now back here in Ohio. I haven’t opened the boxes yet. I don’t think I ever want to put them on my car again. I wish I’d never bought them.

GEEo 12-16-2010 01:02 PM

That sucks! good to know about savani.

Dr Jkel 12-16-2010 01:20 PM

There seems to be a re-occurring theme here with this vendor. In every story told the customer ends up taking it in the shorts if there is any issues that arises. First PQ had his saga play out with the back and forth of his out of round wheels and then the blame game started. Of course the wheels were fixed be he had to pay out of his pocket and many months of his car sitting on jack stands.

Now Emma and this ordeal of the paint flaking/powder coat chipping and the extra cost charged back to the customer.

I too on the advise of PQ and Emma and a few PM's from Savini decided to get a set of Savini wheels, with a promise that this type of BS had been resolved. I clearly think it has not been resloved.

My problems were minor compared to Randy's and Emma's, mine just vibrated, I was sent the wrong lugnuts, and after they re-balanced them they forgot to send the center caps back, OK honest mistake, but still when you pay this kind of money for wheel you expect a little more. BFXAuto made it right, no out of pocket expense for me and I clearly made that point up front before I ordered my wheels with both BFXauto and Savini, they got one shot with me.

Here is my problem with this whole ordeal, especially with this situation. Savini took advantage of the situation they had they wheel and really held Emma's wheels hostage. What was she to do lose 7000.00 for 200.00 no.

Shame on you Savini, Shame on you, I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND YOUR WHEELS TO ANYONE, NEVER and as soon as I can find someone to make me a new set of center caps, the Savini logo will come off my care, I am ashamed of having that name associated with my car.

Emma I am truly sorry and wished there was something I could do.

Savini you think it was bad when you screwed around with PQ, it just got a whole lot worse.

Scott@Bjorn3D 12-16-2010 01:22 PM

After PQ's and your issues I would hope that no one buys there stuff. I hope Nineball drops them also since he gets stuck in the middle of this with both of you.

WHITEonWHITESS 12-16-2010 01:25 PM

go with forgiato next time or asanti i just visited both companies in cali over the weekend and i can tell you there warehouses are top notch. the issues you are having with the paint was due to bad preporation. this should never happen if done the right way. I am in the wheel and tire business and have painted asanti's myself.

Dr Jkel 12-16-2010 01:28 PM

The problems is exactly as you state Scott, the Vendors get screwed too, Savini makes there money they have a set amount they are going to make and leave it up to the vendor to get what they can, so there is not alot of play for the vendor.

I was lucky in a sense that after Randy's issue of the blame game of mounting I made the vendor mount and balance everything so all I had to do was install teh wheels. That way they could say the dumb redneck in Alabama didn't know what they were doing and tore up the wheels.

Funny thing is these are FORGED wheels supposed to be stronger than cast or poured, why is it easier to damage these wheels??????????

Makes you think, and for the money you pay for these wheels the need to be PERFECT, no FLAWS at ALL.

Darth_Emma 12-16-2010 02:31 PM

Oh, I forgot to mention that Nick at Savini also told me one of the drums of my wheels was damaged when they got them - like it was out of round or something. I have no idea how or where that could have happened. IPS packed them up really well for me when they shipped them. I guess Savini wheels are easily damaged.

Tomato 12-16-2010 02:40 PM

Wow. Wish I would have known all this before I ordered. I am still tempted to go down to SoCal small claims court - they love cases like this. Check out Savini's last response on my thread a little ways down...I hope they deliver on the aluminum caps, but I really doubt it. Amazing that they are trying to deny what Nick told me now.

Darth_Emma 12-16-2010 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomato (Post 2644096)
Wow. Wish I would have known all this before I ordered. I am still tempted to go down to SoCal small claims court - they love cases like this. Check out Savini's last response on my thread a little ways down...I hope they deliver on the aluminum caps, but I really doubt it. Amazing that they are trying to deny what Nick told me now.

What's the link to your thread?

Edit: found it: http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119147

el ess A 12-16-2010 03:15 PM

Wow...assuming everything is true, one of the worst customer service cases I've ever seen. Obviously they're likely not to come in here and defend that. I sure wouldn't.

Let that be a lesson boys and girls...ALWAYS...and I mean ALWAYS get every promise in writing first. And if they don't want to do that, then something isn't right.

LittleRockCGM 12-16-2010 03:21 PM

I have had a bad feeling about this company since PQ's issues - his were not round either! I am sorry about your issues and I would also be very frustrated. I wouldn't want them on my car either!

I feel bad for you but I also feel bad for Nineball - this BS has got to get old!

I will say these are probably the best "almost round" wheels you can buy! :facepalm:

Darth_Emma 12-16-2010 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el ess X (Post 2644183)
Wow...assuming everything is true,

I have the emails. Mine and theirs. I would swear to what I said under oath in court. I didn't lie. I didn't embellish. I stated the facts. I just want other to know so they can avoid the same problems. I hope others would share their experiences with vendors to let me know about the good and the bad.

By the way, I have also posted threads about very good vendors to let others know that too.

PQ 12-16-2010 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth_Emma (Post 2644070)
Oh, I forgot to mention that Nick at Savini also told me one of the drums of my wheels was damaged when they got them - like it was out of round or something. I have no idea how or where that could have happened. IPS packed them up really well for me when they shipped them. I guess Savini wheels are easily damaged.

OMG, Tu accused me of bending mine every time I had them. :facepalm:



A few comments I have for your OP Terri.

1. Tony. (Nine Ball) Stand up guy. The company that is Savini is so piss poor and minipulateive that I began to put some blame on Tony. Tony did everything he could from his end. Savini not only cares very little about end customers, they blocked out the vendor as well. I would absolutely use Tony again if I were gonna buy.

2. Funny how they slip lines in their correspondance like:

Quote:

Nick from Savini: “We will repair them under warranty, but powdercoating costs an extra $50 per wheel ($200 for all 4). We can also take the tires off and put them back on for you to avoid any more problems with that at your end.
This is said as if he KNOWS it. He hadn't even seen the wheels yet. This is done deliberately. They remade two of my wheels due to the pressure the forum put on them. PERIOD. Not to 'Stand behind their product', and all the while saying things like "I don't know what he's doing but they are fine when we ship them". :rolleyes: Talking about you, Tu.

3. The part where Nick says HE'LL pay for some of it. He told me that too. I refused to let him. If you'll remember, I STILL have no sensors in my wheels. NONE. And it's ALREADY cost me one rear tire. When I got my wheels back there was a baggie with 4 sensors in them. I sent them back to Tony to get a refund and he showed me how the ones Savini sent me back are NOT the ones that were on the wheels all along. The ones Tony sold me were different.

Tony said he would refund me anyway for my troubles, I said no way. He hadn't done anything wrong. So Nick finally tells me he would send me the money out of his own pocket. Of course I said no. I STILL have no sensors.

Hate to hear this Terri. Like I told you before, I feel a little responsible. You and John both.



Oh, and I got paint chips all around my centers and lugs too. Big solid ones. Goes all the way under the center cap.

BackinBlackSS/RS 12-16-2010 04:32 PM

:facepalm: Savini FAIL
What pisses me off is we get it jammed down our throat that we must spend this outrageous money to get quality wheels. I call BS!! I am so sorry you are having to deal with this. Hopefully more people will find out about them before they rip more people off. :mad0260: :mad0260:


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