HERITAGE GRILL - BEWARE OF GM PARTSHOUSE!!!

[Hooper]

Beware Camaro5 members. The following are absolute facts, and I am writing purely to help keep anyone else from my winding up in the same screwed situation. My wife bought me a painted black grill from GM Partshouse that was warped as you can see in the attached picture (although it doesn't do justice to how bad the warping is). I wanted one for Christmas and gave her 2 different vendor options and asked for painted black with no bowtie. She went with GM Partshouse and I received the package and all appeared well, except apparently they do not sell the painted versions without the bowtie so I just assumed I would remove it and be happy. The rest of the grill looked fine. I removed the emblem (carefully and skillfully as I do with every mod to my car) and the grill veins are warped right where it had be tightened down. The upper vein is even slightly dented. Completely obvious that the emblem had been overtightened which crimped the grill. I contacted them and got a message response that "The grills all come from GM with the emblem attached. GM does not intend for the bowtie to be removed or use the grill with it removed. So there is nothing we can do for you." So I emailed Gene and asked for help, sending him the picture. Gene stated the same story and he was willing to replace it with another grill but I would have to pay the shipping cost back, as well as the cost to send the new one ($50-70). And, the new one may have the same issue because they "All come from GM with the bowtie attached." First of all I know for a fact that is not true. Heck, even GM Parttshouse sells the unpainted versions without the emblem so he is contradicting his own website. So then I asked for a full refund and he refused that since I had "modified, removed something from it." And he even said because I handled it." He also said that he could not be sure that I had not damaged the grill while taking the the bowtie off. Really? Nice. He has no basis or reason period for thinking that any of that is what caused the problem. He has every reason to see what I have told him and perceive this as I have shown him. These are just tactics to stick me with a damaged grill. So basically this grill has been sitting in its box wrapped up since 12/27. All l I did was open it, remove the emblem (as about half the members on this site do with the heritage grill) see the damage and pack it back in the box. But GM Partshouse and Gene have rejected any wrongdoing and laid off the damage on possibly my doing and that he would only exchange it if I paid the $50-70 in extra shipping costs to get it back and ship a new one to me. I tried repeatedly to help him see that I have a valid complaint but Gene's position is completely one sided and puts the fault on the customer. Okay that part is not fact but rather my opinion. And the following will probably have some opinion over fact as well. I did not see this coming at all. I thought I would have no problem getting this exchanged or returned on their behalf since I received a bent grill. They could have gained a good customer but instead are attempting to stick it to me. Why? Guys all over this forum are buying these heritage grills from other vendors on this site painted without the bowtie and in perfect shape so hiding behind the opinion that the emblem is not supposed to be removed is a complete screw-you tactic. Plus if that were the case then they would not be sold from GM without the emblem - which they absolutely are.

So now the grill still sits on its box and I am having to dispute the charge on my credit card to keep from getting shafted. Was it worth it Gene? I hope so because you can't do this to people without it coming back on you at some point. This is just plain wrong and karma is unavoidable.

I'm sure GM Partshouse has sold things in their day that were just fine, but beware and buy elsewhere if you want a heritage grill and don;t plan on using the bowtie. If its bent then its your fault! Thats GM Partshouse's position in this purchase. If you always plan on using the emblem then you may not have any worries here, except they will obviously not help you or stand behind their products if they can find a way not lay off on the customer. So if something else is wrong it will probably be your fault too. Again, the earlier statements about the events and statements from Gene and GM Partshouse are pure fact and indisputable. Make your own judgements, but as I said in the beginning, I warned you.

[Andys562]

Hmm. Strange.

I also didn't know that they offer grills without the emblem... I never seen that on their website.

Anyways I purchased a painted black heritage grill from them with the emblem. I removed the emblem, and it was absolutely flawless.

I guess there are some bad ones in every batch.

[jesserayjames]

I for one will rethink buying from GM Partshouse, thank you for the alert, I just bought my 2012 SS, and was thinking of buying from them, but not now.................

[Buffnshine]

Have never had a problem with Gene and Patrick, top notch with everything I have bought from them. Not saying that things dont happen. I do know that you can not get the GM painted heritage grill without the bowtie. I purchased the unpainted from GM Partshouse no problem, perfect condition, fantastic price, quick shipping and no emblem. Had my local paint guy paint it for me.

[orion2011]

Same as the guy above. I ordered mine unpainted, had it done locally, and the grille was perfect. The only complaint I have of GMPartshouse is the customer service, which takes forever to respond to emails (maybe they are just backed up) but I also asked for the price of an item months ago and never received a response. Other than that they are top notch in my book.

[SM0KE]

I wish someone would explain to me why companies tarnish their reputation for a couple hundred bucks...and sometimes even less than that.

[nj85z28]

well at least i now know where not to buy a heritage grill (which is my next purchase if i cant get the spoiler soon) Thanks

[John Deere Boy]

Only complaint i have about GMPH is their local UPS branch is pretty poor. Everything i've bought from them comes in a banged up box, but no damaged parts so far, and GREAT prices.

I buy from Newegg and Amazon pretty frequently, and never get damaged boxes from them.

[BigRed585Lbs]

Shame, shame, shame on "somebody" not telling the truth.

[patrickt]

So here we are this is the most redicoulous complaint I have ever seen.

From General motors all of the painted heritage grilles come with the bowtie attached. The only one that does not come with the bowtie is the unpainted version. Dont believe me? Go to any dealer in the country and order one and see for yourself. GM does not support removal of this bowtie and it is not supposed to be nor do they advertise it as such. The reason they do not is because with the torque specs to make sure it stays on the grill it will warp and bend the center. Anytime you see a painted heritage grill without a bowtie it is where someone has taken an unpainted heritage grill and custom painted it. We do not do custom painting and all our painted peieces come directly from GM. So lets get the facts straight that we do not sell painted heritage grills without the bowtie. I know myself I have had many people call and ask about removing of the bowtie and I tell everyone they only come with it and if you remove it there could be damage to the fins beneath as part of the installation process.

This is a case of someone not knowing what they were buying and then when trying to fix their mistake they ruined the product. If we were to take the item back and return to GM as defective they would send it right back to us since the damage was caused by modifying the item

Here is also a screenshot from our site where it clearly states that the grills come with the emblem and nowhere does it say they dont. So hence I would kindly as the OP to show me where the grill is available from us painted without a bowtie

If the item was damaged or defective and it was not from modification then we would have taken care of it. This happens on all the GM painted heritages when you remove the bowtie its part of how it stays on there


Also to the mods I believe this post to be in the wrong section

[f5journal]

^^^ +1 That's the very first thing I noticed. Read the first two sentences, look at the picture, case closed.

[Daily Driver]

I have bought from GMParthouse a few times. I did have an issue with my heritage grill but that was due to UPS damaging the box along with the product, called Patrick and sent another one with a call tag for the damaged piece.

[BigRed585Lbs]

Why not just put the emblem back on the grill and sell it, buy an un-painted one from whom ever you choose, get it painted like you want, and remember when a supplied part is modified by the consumer, there's no fallback on the original supplier. I've still got some stuff I screwed up over the years.

[dorfmac]

Originally Posted by f5journal

^^^ +1 That's the very first thing I noticed. Read the first two sentences, look at the picture, case closed.

Bingo. This is like trying to return a computer after switching out the hard drive, and saying the processor is messed up or something. Once you modify - or in this case, technically "break" a piece off of a product - you can't expect a company to accept a return.

Granted, everyone does this, but ultimately, this usage is not how the piece is intended to be used. If I were the OP, I'd probably be upset as well, but this is the risk we all take in modifying our vehicles and parts we order for them.