Just sent my 547R wheel with polished black finish on the inside to HRE to have it repaired since the outer wheel lip was damaged by my tire hitting a piece of concrete. I sent it next day UPS air after talking with Check from HRE. He replaced the outer chrome section of the wheel with a new one and also recommended replacing the inner section too. I was pleased to find they had a used inside portion in stock and the total bill with shipping was only $486.00. I offered to give HRE my credit card, but they insisted on a cashiers check COD which I thought was a bit odd for such a large company. Even my little company takes V/M/AE and the like.
I received the rim back with scratches on the inside portion of the wheel, a scratch on the outside lip of the wheel and the rim was still full of brake dust. I was in shock and called Chuck from HRE to see what he could do about the situation. I did need the wheels back on the car ASAP as I needed the car aligned and it is my only driver other than my 680 HP 467 CID GTO and my cargo van which is down.
Chuck was surprised at the wheels condition and made certain that the wheel had in fact a scratch on it. I was able to wipe some of the scratch away as it was in the clear coat, but it is in fact a scratch in the fresh wheel. it was minor and livable, but the inside of the wheel just looked like hell with lots of minor scratches over the surface that previously was in excellent condition as I clean my car with a toothbrush, Zaino, et cetera and I know my car and rims VERY well. Chuck offered to let HRE look at the wheel and make the outside portion right, but that there was no way it could have been damaged by HRE. I went round and round with Chuck, but it was clear this wasn't going anywhere. I said see what you can do Chuck and I will wait to hear back from you. I said I could keep the wheel and get compensation back as the scratches were minor, yet all over the black polished portion of the wheel and that area of our conversation was not moving forward. Chuck said well sometimes they do not clean the wheel unless he checks off a box to have it cleaned and that he might have forgot that. Back to the outside new section that was scratched, I awaited a phone call.
I received a phone call today from Chuck citing he talked to John, the VP (perhaps of sales?) at HRE and that HRE could do nothing but look at the rim at HRE, so I explained that it was my driver and obviously it was important to me to have my car on the road, so I wanted them to pay for UPS red to and from for expeditious service since it was HRE’s fault. John was firm and said only 3 day select, but that meant my rim would take over 1 week and my car would be laid up in addition to me changing the tire, getting it dismounted, balanced, et cetera and was one of the reasons I offered to accept some compensation off of the bill. I was told Chuck would talk to John again and get back with me as I was not satisfied.
At 4:20 PM today, March 16th John the VP from HRE called and asked for me at my business. I had another call on another line at the time, but took the call and John identified himself. I told John what had happened and he vehemently denied any allegation of damage to the inside of the wheel, and that it was in poor condition when they got it with brake dust on the rim. I said brake dust is certainly differentiable from being in poor condition. John further went on to say that if my wheels on the car were in great condition, why would I need touch up paint. I explained that my wheels were in excellent, in fact like new condition, but one of my wheels literally has a small pinhead size of black gone from the surface like a small paint chip and I wanted to touch it up.
For $486, plus my shipping costs to HRE, I have approx. $600 out and now ended up with a scratched up dirty wheel and was basically told to send it in for the outside lip to get looked at and too bad on the other inside part. No wonder I was asked to give them a cashiers check instead of a credit card! I told them forget their offer, I can look at the rim myself. I told John of HRE to go check Viper Alley at the end of the conversation and I will leave a detailed and truthful account of what happened. I hope their extremely poor service is noted before others purchase from the company, I for one was very happy with their beautifully designed wheel but their after sale service is reprehensible in nature bordering criminal in my opinion. Not only did they beach the contract, they are in breach of warranty for bailee bailor assignment, et cetera and frankly I would sue them if this was a bit bigger for me to engage them.
HRE HAS EXTREMELY POOR BUSINESS PRACTICES and if you check my posts on the Alley, I am not a basher of people and or businesses here. Thanks Viper Alley for letting me share my views and folks I do millions of dollars worth of business not only on my website, but I am also a multi million dollar Ebay seller with 99% positive feedback and I am quite credible in my opinion for Internet/phone sales and service as my company does service and sales over the phone and Internet daily. This is just a case of neglecting to live up to responsibility pure and simple. If you are considering purchasing HRE wheels, think again-you might need them repaired someday.
you should rate them here. You didn't put a rating on them. Look at the bottom of this page to do so. That is a screwed up situation. Especially considering how much business the Viper owners throw their way.
That sucks you had to go through all of that. I hope that you can avoid a situation like this in the future. For future wheel repairs, you might want to check out Wheel America they will fix any wheel, with any amount of damage (within repairable limits) for 100 bucks. I've had a few CCW's reconditioned through them and they came back to me flawless with a 1 day turnaround time.
I have HRE 545's, high polished and clear coated...The day I got them, I got a call from the shop I had purchased them from (Avalon Racing), and was told the bolts used on my wheels were wrong, and that if they ever got wet, they would rust...
This call came about two hours after I spent $200 getting them mounted and balance...I told HRE to send me the new bolts, I'd put them in myself...Which I did, no biggie, with a free t-shirt...But the bolts I received did not say "HRE" on them, like the ones that came with the wheels...I got some "knock off" bolts...Which look just fine, but still...
Also, the passenger rear clearcoat started peeling the second I took it out of the box, brand new...I decided right then I would eventually have them chromed, and next week, they will be dropped off at California Chrome...
Complacency will kill one's business...don't fuck up your good name!
This is all too familiar. I have a set of fully polished HRE 547R's. It took forever to get them, as I think most have experienced when purchasing from HRE (suppliers). No biggie, you want them perfect so you wait. After I finally got mine they looked great EXCEPT for a place on the back left outer rim where the damn clear is peeling. I have been in "negotiations" for over a week now. WTF? The rim is screwed up, for this much damn money they should simply say, we will pick it up, have it over nighted to us, fix it ASAP ( I want it turned in a week), and ship it back to you overnight. I run a business and this is how I correct any problems I have with customers. HELLO, the customer is always right.....I think HRE has forgotten or never learned this. I mean these are not cheap wheels by any stretch. Rest assured this will be my last set I ever buy or recommend anyone buy. There are way to many other choices out there to have to put up with this kind of customer service. IMHO.
all of the above plus their designs, though nice, are played out and are as common on Vipers as stock wheels. Time to move on to a company with better customer service and fresh designs.
I live right by HRE and went to their place and was given a tour and showed how they are made, all the different types, etc and the place is pretty clean, big volume too, they seemed like good people there. I am surprised they would dick you over like that
Yes, good post!! It is amazing how many companies I have come across that have SHIT for customer service! Have most of the business in this country forgotten why they are in business, and who it is that keeps them in business!!??? WTF???
I don't want to hijack this thread, but ...
Compaq Computer's customer service pissed me off royally 9 years ago! To this day I will NOT purchase a phucking Compaq (now HPQ) computer!! In addition to numerous computers I have purchased personally (and for business puposes), I have influenced MANY to not buy Compaq because of it! I would be willing to bet that Compaq's lack of good customer service was the largest reason for their declining sales! <---- (Subliminal = BUY DELL!) Compaq, consumers do REMEMBER!!! Forever and a day, I would be willing to tell Compaq... [img]/images/graemlins/upyours[/img]
Maybe HRE's poor customer service will end up biting them in the ass too!!
Update.......Not sure if the post here have anything to do with it but all of sudden HRE is born again. They are being more than gracious helping me with my clear coat problem on one of my wheels. Hope it last, I will keep the board posted...Matt
i hate the finish on my wheels! the clear is pealing, and has been since day one. i am going to chrome my wheels now b/c of it. sorry to hear your story, i'll never buy HRE again...
I live right by HRE and went to their place and was given a tour and showed how they are made, all the different types, etc and the place is pretty clean, big volume too, they seemed like good people there. I am surprised they would dick you over like that
I've also met Mike (RSM) and Evan (President) and they seem to be very customer service oriented people.
Its a shame that you had to go through the bullshit you did
HRE, this is all it takes to turn off multiple customers! I was seriously considering the 547's and now I won't just from this. Don't forget what made you successful - your customers. The day you quit putting them first, they will put you last. This post cost you my $5000.
Tito mentioned Wheels America. I contacted them and they have a store local to me. I'm considering painting some wheels. Has anyone else had experience with them? (Maybe I need a separate thread?)
First, thank you all very much for the supportive comments here in regard to my post. This is a matter of principle to me, and I think to you folks too. Seems others have had bad experiences with HRE, so I am glad I started this thread. My purpose of the thread post was to let folks on the Alley know so that can get a comprehensive view of HRE before making the decision to buy from them. I really like the wheel designs, played out or not-but if I can't trust my vendor AND they give crappy service after the sale I will walk.
I just posted the facts too, sans fluff and (perhaps my) one sided thoughts and was pretty calm when I posted. I even have two little typos in my post, but that is my normal lack of attention to detail when posting. You know I really appreciate this website for us and all the work that goes into it as a way to communicate about the cars, the available goodies, et cetera. Met a lot of really nice people that I ahve talked to on the phone and such so thanks again for the support. I wil let this issue rest and I will take my lumps from HRE-simply live with my scratches on my inner and outer portion of the outside of the rim since they will not fix the cneter section which was the part that was messed up the most.
LOL HRE didn't scratch it, maybe it was my cat that scratched the hell out of my $1,500 rim [img]/images/graemlins/cursin[/img] For the $486 I am now the proud owner of a scratched wheel-THANKS HRE FOR THE SHITTY ASS "SERVICE" [img]/images/graemlins/soapbox.gif[/img] Really guys, thanks for the other posts and I am very happy for Blown that they took care of him. WTF is "negotiations" when the new product is screwed up? For $6,000 worth of rims, Brittney Spears should come out to the house (okay, I am just dreaming now) and fix it when a new in box item is screwed up
Okay, off to sleep now [img]/images/graemlins/blah[/img]
You know I really appreciate this website for us and all the work that goes into it as a way to communicate about the cars, the available goodies, et cetera. Met a lot of really nice people that I ahve talked to on the phone and such so thanks again for the support. I wil let this issue rest and I will take my lumps from HRE-simply live with my scratches on my inner and outer portion of the outside of the rim since they will not fix the cneter section which was the part that was messed up the most. 