topradman

This is a strong caution for anyone needing cylinder heads. Although it was an ecotec engine, I have heard this company recommended on this site before so that makes this very relevant as I would not want to see anyone else on this site be treated this way. Just wanted to educate anyone who it may concern about my recent experience with Odessa Cylinder Head Inc.
I ordered a remanufactured head and timing kit. First, the tensioner was faulty and bent all the valves at the hit of the key. My tech had me inspect all timing marks before closing up the engine and all was correct. The tensioner was preprimed with oil and the oil pumped up before plugging in the coils. Got another head from them and 2nd time the vehicle didn't make it out of the shop and the balance sprockets came apart and destroyed all the timing components. I asked for a refund for only the timing parts... I've attempted to upload the email correspondence between me and the President of the company.
As you can see the President responded with "you win some and you loose some in life it happens every day." When we followed up he responded with "have a good day and get on with it." This is the kind of customer care "Odessa Cylinder Head / Clearwater Cylinder Head" provides when a customer has an issue. We would tolerate it from an entry level sales employee.. but the "President"? Simply unacceptable.

rusty vango

its getting to where we are surrounded by people who are just out to screw any body they can. compounded by the flood of sub standard parts from china.i have been in the auto/motorcycle repair business since 1981, and I have watched the service and repair industry go to hell in a hand basket.to be a mechanic that cares whether my customers are satisfied makes me an oddity. and when I order repair parts I now have to specify "no Chinese parts". and when I have no other choice im now having to tell my customers not to expect the repair to last very long. im considering retiring just so I don't have to deal with parts that A. have had the design changed to make it cheeeper. B are made from inferior metals to make it cheeeeper. its gonna get worse im afraid. not better

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

And people wonder Y I don't want to open my own shop. (I care to much)
Waay to much of a headache between people wanting everything as cheap as they can and then complain when the "cheap" fails....

topradman

It's all a very sad scenario when vendors & manufacturers have fallen down to the point where this kind of treatments is so common. There are still many good vendors as well as parts manufacturers out there. It just seems so hit & miss anymore. I feel blessed that my shop has been successful over the years and has continued to grow but is sure is a lot more work than it used to be as we eat labor and parts so often as a result of situations like this one. I guess you have to resign to the fact that people in general have just changed and maybe it's a sign of the times. I will still choose to do the best I can for my customers and provide the best service possible in spite of this stuff, resigning to the fact that it will probably continue to cost late hours at work and missing out on some family functions in order to try and make my word and my work good on behalf of my customers. They deserve a fair shake no matter what.
The "American Dream" dims just a little, doesn't it?? I certainly would not want to stand before my Maker and try to explain why I mistreated someone for a few dollars or because I wasn't man enough to absorb some of these types of problems rather than pass it on to the unfortunate consumer, especially those that do not have much resources as was the case here. I guess we just continue to do the right thing and be thankful for the jobs that go well.

wyochimneysweep

iTrader: (1)

I work on tractor trailers and we try to stay with only oem parts for repairs. And even now I try to get OEM parts for my vechicles also

topradman

The problem comes in when your customer just plain can't afford the OEM, the OEM is obsolete or the customer just plain can't wait to ship OEM parts in. There are still a lot of aftermarket vendors & manufacturers who make and sell good product as we all know and I also understand that you can get faulty parts, even OEM. We sell a lot more aftermarket parts than we do OEM as I think most independent shops do. You find out what the vendors and manufacturers are made of when there is a problem. Good customer service to me means good support and standing behind your work to at least some reasonable degree.