5.7RamJet

iTrader: (2)

I am providing the following review of Group-A-Wheels (Auto Trend Tire & Wheel), based on my personal experience in dealing with them. I’m not going to bring out personal details in this review, so I’ll just refer to this person that I was dealing with as ‘Joe’.

Part I
I contacted GroupAWheels on Oct 3, 2015 because I was interested in buying a set of the ROH Snyper wheels. At this point, I had already made up my mind that I was going to purchase a set of the Snypers.

I received an email reply back from Joe the same day, saying that they sell a lot of those wheels and would “…have what I needed available in the snyper, even if it means we need to custom machine something…”. I was ok with custom machining if it meant getting something in a perfect fit. In fact, after living for years with wheels that didn’t fit right, I certainly didn’t want anything less than a perfect fit… especially given it was going to be a large purchase.

Since my application is a little different from stock (hence the existing wheels that didn’t fit right), there was much back and forth via email discussing fitment. Joe was very helpful during this stage of the process. Our email conversation slowed down at some point due to the holidays and my travel for work.

Somewhere around the beginning of the year, I called Joe to discuss, as there was still some confusion about what exactly I needed. He wanted to make sure the fitment was correct before selling me the wheels, so he suggested sending me a ‘blem’ (a used or blemished wheel) that was similar in size and backspacing to what I thought I needed, so that I could mock it up and take measurements to be sure, and we could then go from there. Note that this conversation did take place over the phone – this is a very important detail. Before I went forward with this, I reiterated to Joe my understanding of how exactly this would work – Joe would ship me a blem wheel, for which I would pay the shipping plus $100 for the wheel. I would do my testing and measurements, then ship the wheel back (I cover shipping) and I would then receive a refund once it was returned. This was exactly what was discussed at this point, nothing more. At the end of the phone call, I provided Joe with my credit card information in order for him to proceed with sending the wheel.

I received the wheel on Jan 14, 2016. I did my testing and measurements. After taking measurements, I was ready to move forward with the purchase. It should be noted that my measurements confirmed what I had told Joe that I needed from the beginning.

I actually asked Joe about pricing for the wheel that he sent, as I decided I liked it as well (after seeing it on the car). Joe at this point said that he could not get this wheel or the Snyper in the backspacing that I needed (according to the measurements), even with custom machining. I would have to settle for having the wheel outboard further than I wanted, or nothing he had for those wheels would work. Needless to say, I was very disappointed to hear this, since I really had my heart set on one of the two wheels.

On Jan 20, I told Joe that I’d have to do some soul-searching to decide whether I wanted to settle, or get something that was an exact fit.

At this point, I want this to end part one of this review. For the first part of the review, I can honestly say that I was completely happy with the level of customer service that I received up to this point. This is what I would expect from a good company, and I would consider it very good customer service. I have no problem with giving credit where credit is due, and it wouldn’t be fair to say otherwise.

Part II
I shipped the wheel back on Jan 21, 2016. I followed up on Feb 9, to make sure Joe had received it. Joe said he would check, and asked if I had made a decision yet. I had not, and said as much.

I had not received a follow-up response, so I inquired again on Feb 18. I received no response to this inquiry.

I followed up with another email on Feb 23. On Feb 24, Joe confirmed that it was received, and said the reason I had not yet received a refund was because he was waiting on a to hear back on my decision to go forward with the purchase, so that he didn’t have to run the credit card multiple times.

At this point, I decided that I didn’t want to settle for something I wasn’t going to be completely happy with, so I thanked Joe graciously for his help and told him I would not be purchasing the wheels. I received an email response back that simply said “ok”.

I kept checking my credit card statement, and finally saw the refund post on March 5. However, the amount that was refunded was $74.45. I sent Joe an email asking about the amount, as I was under the impression that $100 would be refunded, based on our conversation.

Joe replied on March 7, stating that the amount was correct due to “return costs”.

I asked Joe what return costs there were, since I had paid to ship the wheel back, as agreed. I even mentioned that the invoice clearly stated “CREDIT BACK ON RETURN”, $100, for the line item for the wheel.

Joe replied on Mach 11, saying that the invoice was saying that the wheel would be “returned at the $100 minus the return costs for processing. That is also on the invoice.”

So, I pull out the invoice again, and lo and behold at the bottom, in fine print, it does say that “all returns are subject to a 20% return charge”.

VERY IMPORTANT – I did not receive an invoice, until the wheel arrived at my door, so there is no possible way I could have known about a 20% return charge. Joe did not mention this during our phone conversation.

I wrote Joe a follow-up email stating that, again, I was very appreciative of his help and again expressed my own disappointment that I wasn’t going to be purchasing the Snyper wheels. I also said that I didn’t think this was a fair charge, since it wasn’t mentioned in our phone conversation, and there’s no way I could have known until the wheel arrived. I basically asked him to return the full amount, since the return fee wasn’t disclosed, but if he wasn’t going to that I would leave appropriate feedback, but I’d prefer it not come to that. However, if he did decide to honor the full refund as discussed, that I would be more than happy to leave him positive feedback.

Joe replied to this email on March 17 saying I “could see the return policy under the Terms&Conditions page when you are doing the checkout process before you do your final checkout.”

To be clear, and to restate this fact for the record, I did not go through the website – this was all done over the phone.

He then went on to say the following:
“The purpose for return charges are simply to cover return cost incurred on our end, primarily on the credit card processing side with the processing machine. Obviously, it wouldn't be right for us to absorb those fees. I was just trying to do you a favor.”

I understand this. I do not dispute that he may have incurred a small charge from running my credit card, and I do not dispute that he may have lost some time in helping me during the sales process. My point of contention is that he did not communicate this, at all. Furthermore, he seems unwilling to admit this, and has taken the attitude that he is right and that’s all there is to it.

I feel that I have tried my best to communicate to Joe why I didn’t think this charge was fair, and he refuses to even acknowledge where I’m coming from.

The part of his last email that I was least happy about was the accusation that I was trying to “strong arm him by using a threat to bad mouth us on a forum”, and that they “do not comply to threats”. However, this was a faulty interpretation on his part – my response was simply attempting to be as clear and straightforward as possible, and I said I would leave appropriate feedback, so here we are.

Final Thoughts
Since this wasn’t really a ‘purchase’ from GoupAWheels (Auto Trend Tire & Wheel), and it was clear from the beginning that I would be returning the wheel (because it was only for ‘test fitting’), it just seems that he should have been careful to note that there would be a return charge. Yet, this was never mentioned prior to receiving the wheel.

I feel like I have tried to be a straightforward and clear as I can be with Joe, but he is unwilling to see the situation from my point of view, and that’s just terrible customer service. In fact, had Joe been willing to admit that maybe this hadn’t been fully disclosed, at least acknowledged this, I may have just dropped the whole thing altogether, cut my losses, and lived with it.

Last but not least, in case anyone else caught this as well… the wheel was $100, and Joe says I was charged the 20% for the return, yet I only received back $74.45. My calculator must be really broken.

I’ve decided not to pursue this discrepancy, for obvious reasons.

Invoice attached for reference.