Etrailer beware

[suprz]

I know they are a advertiser on here, and I hope i dont tick Steve off, but this just is not a good way to treat a customer.
In May I ordered a new light convertor for my Jeep Cherokee which i revcd and installed. It worked ONCE.. I took my PUP on a trip to NH 2 hours one way, and the trailer lights worked fine, on the way back however i noticed the drivers side PUP brake light did not work. I did not have to time to mess with it until today when i noticed that when i had my left turn signal on and i pressed on the brakes, my blinker would blink very quickly!. upon arriving at work, I had a coworker look at my lights for me. When i turned on my left turn signal, and stepped on the brakes, my orange turn signal would stop working and the red brake light on that side would blink!! then when i let up on the brakes, the orange turn signal would come back on and blink as normal. I got home tonight and took the connector apart and verified that there were no wires touching, I verified there were no frayed wires on the harness and that the inline plug for the convertor was seated correctly. When i unplugged the inline connector for the convertor, and plugged the factory harness back together, the lights worked fine.

I called E trailer and spoke to two reps and i was told both times that I have to send the convertor back to them and wait for them to verify the convertor is bad, and then they will ship me a new one. When i asked how i would be reimbursed for having to ship the faulty convertor back to them they both told me.."you do not get reimbursed" They will not ship a new one until they get the bad one back and have it checked.

They sent me a email which basically said that it is a Draw-Tite convertor, and it is under a Draw-Tite warranty, so they wont have anything to do with it.

I think that is BULLS#^T!! so for the price of a convertor, ($26.00) they are willing to piss off a customer that is going to bad mouth them to everyone i meet that has a RV.
all they had to say was, "we will send you a shipping label for the faulty unit along with a new unit and sorry about the inconvenience."

I have a call into a manager at Etrailer right now, let's see what he has to say....

 

[suprz]

I just called back Etrailer again and spoke to a different rep that told me that I have to pay for shipping and that is it!

I have another call into another manager at Etrailer and I swear, if they do not do the right thing, I will NEVER do business with them again, and never tell anyone else to either...

 

[chuck5001]

You sold me! I will never do business with them! Thanks for the heads up and sorry for all your troubles!

 

[mouse6196]

In this competitive world, it only takes a few bad dealings to turn me away. You are the second person to say similar things about this company. It's made up my mind. Too bad they wouldn't look after you better.

 

[george80817]

Ok first off let me say that I do work in the RV parts industry but not for the above listed company. Each company that we deal with have varried policeies on returns under warranty. with our company we will return an item up to 90 days with a reciept and original packaging. but with that being said some part suppliers we all are forced to buy from have some pretty weird rules when it come to warranty replacements. Some will pay for shipping and some won't, some require the old part back first to ensure it is bad before they send out a new one to us and this is because some people can't leave well enough alone and want to re-engineer the part because they got an A in autoshop and know much better then the guy who made it.

Do you want to get good customer service well heck ya you do, but if the manufacture that makes the part won't take it back from the store because they did not follow the rules then thay loose out on the cost and wind up throwing it away. Now to you it is a $26 part and you think it is a small amount for the company, in retro-spect yes it is to keep the customer happy, but with that said you need to keep in mind that is they did that to all there customers they would have to close there doors in a week because they went broke and had a large trash bill.

but thats just my 2 cents.

 

[hvac1877]

I have had no problems with them and i have paid to ship things back to other companys. It just like spending gas to drive to a store to get the replacement.

 

[suprz]

I work in Customer service, and i know that to keep a customer and other potential customers, a manager has at his or her discretion, the power to over ride policy to a certain degree. that being said, If this was a VERY expensive item, I could see the reason to be sure it was a defective part, and not the consumers fault, and I would do as i was told to get the item fixed under warranty.
But in this case, they are losing a lot more money than their $26.00. they are losing potential customers because of $4.00 dollars in shipping.

so what is a better business practice, losing potential revenue that might add up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars, or keeping their $4.00 dollars?

I may be out of line, but i think it is terrible customer service. They need to send me a self addressed PRE-PAID shipping label, for the faulty unit, and send me a new convertor. If i do not get what i believe to be a satisfactory resolution to this. I will never do business with them again and I will not advise anyone else to do business with them again.

 

[FLCLIPPER]

Lucky they said ship it back. Most companies won't accept returns on electronic parts that have been installed.

 

[chuck5001]

Im with supr on this one! want my business then take care of me! If you dont someone else will. I worked a number of years as a manager and always went above and beyond to take care of the customer. Is one part really worth the bad publicity they are receiving on this site. now they are losing more than just the price of one part they are losing a lot of potential customers. Hey supr maybe when you talk to the manager you should give him a link to this site so he can see his policies in action. just a thought...

 

[Nascar Fan]

You can have the best product in the world, but if you have bad customer service your company will go down the hole really fast. Word of mouth is an incredible thing. I won't buy from them!

 

[hzrdous]

Is this consistent with the return policy as posted on their site? If not, I would point that out.

 

[suprz]

i just copied this from their website. It only pertains to "returns" I didnt see anything as far as "faulty products"

Returns Policy

Satisfaction Guarantee
Within 60 days of receipt of your shipment, you may return any new, unused item for a full product refund. No questions. Simply contact our Customer Service team for a return authorization number. They will give you instructions on packaging your return and the best address to send your package for quick processing of your shipment. Items covered by our risk free guarantee never have a restocking fee unless the complete item is not returned or it has been used.

If your shipment arrives and is missing any parts, no problem. Just contact us within 5 days of the receipt of the order. We will have the replacement items shipped to you from the quickest source available, using the same expedited shipping method you used for your original order.

Please note that we cannot exchange items. Simply place a new order for the items you would like. When the original order is returned a credit will be issued for the items.

You can also cancel unshipped items. Contact our Customer Service team at 800-298-8924 to find out more about how to cancel your order.

Problems or Questions?
If you have any problems with your order, please don't hesitate to Contact Us online or toll free at 800-298-8924.

Refunds
We will notify you via e-mail of your refund once we have received and processed the returned item. Please allow 14 business days from the date we receive your shipment for the processing of your shipment and the credit back to your account that was used for the original purchase. Actual shipping and handling charges will be deducted from the product credit unless the return is a result of our error.

Packing and Sending Your Return
Simply include a copy of the return authorization email from our Customer Service team with your return, and wrap the package securely. Clearly mark on the outside of your package the RGA number. For your protection, we recommend that you use an insured shipping service that provides delivery confirmation such as UPS or US Mail.

Send the package to the following address:
etrailer.com
1507 East Highway A
Wentzville MO 63385

 

[Xolthrax]

Suprz, you have always seemed to me to have a good head on your shoulders, so no disrespect is meant by any dissenting viewpoints.

I agree that on a micro level, $4 is a pittance. Heck, the whole $30 is a pittance. The problem for them is consistent implementation of policy. You're in customer service, so you should understand this. They can't tell the difference between you (with a legitimate need) and the yahoo down the street who might ship them a box of rocks in exchange for that new processor.

Look at it from a macro level. There are a lot of dishonest people out there. Some just get off on it, others simply take advantage of a situation when the see the opportunity. Any company who extended their "no fault" customer service policy to include dishonest people would go out of business. You would be surprised by the margin that some of these companies operate at to remain competitive.

As I said, they can't tell you from a dishonest customer. Because of that they can't afford to treat you any differently. Any inconsistency in policy implementation is considered to be discriminatory. It expolses them to all sorts of liability. And if you think that there are a lot of people who will be dishonest to their advantage, you can imagine how may would sue to make money given the opportunity. Dealing with that was a part of my job for years.

I understand your frustration. I think we all do. Before you blame a company that may have simply been forced to cover their @$$, you might want to consider blaming all the dishonest jerks who take advantage of companies and force them into it.

 

[PopUpSteve]

Suprz, you have a right to complain if you feel you are being wronged. I will forward a link to this thread to my contact at Etrailer and see if he can help you. Please update this topic when you get a result, good or bad.

 

[DelorFamily]

Like many others, I value my money dearly and am picky where I will spend it. Sometimes I will even spend a little more on something if I know that store I am buying it from will help me if I have a problem. I am in the very process of buying an electronic brake controller and all the stuff to install it. So far, I have only looked at Etrailer, as they are a sponsor here and I would prefer to support the sponsors of this great site. HOWEVER, I think I may need to shop around and see what other places offer just in case Etrailer fails to right this situation. Like someone else stated, this isn't a really expensive part, so why do they really need to get it back first to test? I could easily see myself in suprz position in the next week or so (that kind of stuff always happens to me...).

Again, I would prefer to support a PUP sponsor, but my money is tight right now and I end up going with a company I have 100% confidence it (it might still be Etrailer, depending on how this is resolved).

Just in case anyone was wondering, my purchase is going to be between $150 and $200, plus there are other things I would like to get in the future.

 

[suprz]

thank you Steve for understanding. I purchased the item from Etrailer from this site to help support this great site. I appreciate you stepping in on my behalf to see if anything can be done.
Xolthrax, I do understand and i really can relate to the poor customer service reps i spoke to yesterday and that is why i was very polite to them and kindly asked for a manager. I know what you said makes sense, but i believe my argument makes sense also. I am willing to send back the defective part, but i refuse to pay for the shipping. I think it is a fine line that companies have to walk to make a profit and keep customers for repeat business and to get word of mouth to get new customers. I almost did not post this because i really didnt want to put off revenue that this site gets from the advertising and percentage from people buying from them. But i do believe that in this instance, they are "cutting off their nose to spite their face" as the saying goes. And that this is poor customer relations / service.
I will most definitely report back and post exactly what happens when i am contacted back by Etrailer

 

[offline246]

My experience with eTrailer has been the exact opposite of Suprz. I thought I had a defective part from them, called them up and explained, they replied that they were sending a replacement part out immediately along with a shipping label to return the original part free of charge. Turned out, I was the problem and not the part, but as near as I can tell, eTrailer did right be me. I'm very surprised to hear such a dramatically different tale. Everyone I have dealt with there has been quite helpful and responsive.

 

[br9]

I have bought from Etrailer twice with no problem. And if they have the best price on next item I want I would buy from again.

 

[jim1999]

I really have no idea what is going on, but from working in retail for several years I know that sometimes it is not a store's policies that cause problems when it comes to returns but the policies of the suppliers.

 

[Big_kid]

Those tail light converters have a reputation for being junk, regardless who sold it. When we were looking for one, the guy at Northern Tool had no clue what I was talking about. We were set to leave soon, so I just added a separate set of brake lights and ran a single wire to them and left the flat four connector alone. That way they still work properly with a TV that doesn't need separate brake lights. I understand this isn't a practical solution for everyone.

There is a wiring diagram for a relay system that is rumored to work flawlessly. If you(or anyone else) is interested I'll dig it out & email it. It was designed for use in the back of a dune buggy, allowing single filament lights on a system originally designed for dual filaments. I've not built it yet, my buggy isn't to that point.