Stillen Experience

[kyle@stillen]

Hey Guys,

My name is Kyle Millen. I am Steve Millen's son. I have worked at STILLEN for many years now and I have seen things that I completely agree with and other things that I do not agree with at all. I am the first person to raise the flag and speak out on ANY topic. With that mentality I have put myself into numerous Customer Service related issues to expedite or resolve the issue so that our customer is happy. First and foremost, unfortunately our Customer Service representatives in the past had hurt our reputation becaue of their lack luster efforts. Recently we have revamped our companies policies and we have a new General Manager, Customer Service Manager and new Customer Service reps. We are dedicated to making your experience with us as good as it can be.

To those of you that have had a bad experience. I apologize profusely and I ask you to give us a second chance. If you would like to work directly with me, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or you can call me directly at 714-540-5566 ext. 173. I look forward to helping in anyway I can, whether it be Customer Service related or a question about one of our products.

To address some of the issues here. First off on the brakes. You would be AMAZED at some of the things we have seen. I kid you not, I have seen dozens of cases when a "wrecked rotor" was caused by the tech. installing the brake pads backwards (mounting plate on the rotor.) Yea, that's not good for a rotor...Also, I recently had a customer that had a bad warping issue with one of our big brake kits. It turned out that the shop doing the work grabbed RTV silicone instead of anti-squeal lube. Well, the silicone jammed the pad on to the rotor so that it was always in contact...The rotor exceeded 1,200 degrees and burned off all of our temperature paint. This is why we always ask for the parts to come back for inspection. If one of our reps stated that they were faulty without seeing them first hand, then I need to have a serious talk with them.

To the gentleman with the exhaust issue. Dean has been with our company for quite awhile and I can pretty much gaurantee that if he put you on hold for 6 minutes, he was probably calling Greddy to check their inventory and see how quickly he could get you the exhaust. That doesn't change the fact that you received the wrong STILLEN exhaust. I doubt it was "defective" but it could have been a mis-box or mis-pull. Either way, there is not justifiable excuse for that and I greatly apologize. If you have not yet received your refund please contact me immediately and I will get that processed right away.

As it has been pointed out. Our warranties, like most other companies warranties, only extend to the original owner. I need to look into that sway bar issue it seems to me like we should be able to sell one of the bars individually but I might be missing something.

Again, if anyone has any questions or concerns PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me.

[cristios]

Wow, that post really gives me confidence in Stillen! Thanks Kyle!

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,

Kyle, thanks for posting here. Now, how about developing parts for the Y34? Though our numbers are small, what we lack in numbers we make up in enthusiasm and pent up desire to do anything to our cars. It seems the only thing available for the motor is the $30,000 5.1 Stroker kit from Impul. It does add 30 h.p! Not bad, a grand per h.p.Cheers,ML

[Boon]

Hello,

Kyle, thanks for posting here. Now, how about developing parts for the Y34? Though our numbers are small, what we lack in numbers we make up in enthusiasm and pent up desire to do anything to our cars. It seems the only thing available for the motor is the $30,000 5.1 Stroker kit from Impul. It does add 30 h.p! Not bad, a grand per h.p.Cheers,ML

I 2nd that motion. I would love for Stillen to make something as simple as replacement springs and struts for the Y34. I would buy them in a heartbeat.

I'm also glad that you posted in here Kyle, as a consumer not related to the topic in anyway it put a bad taste in my mouth about a company that I had nothing but good dealings with in the past. Amazing how one bad experience/example can forshadow numerous good ones. Your post in here showed Stillen's dedication to quality customer service. Now get us some damn Y34 parts already hahah jk.

Like the studies show, people who get really good service tell 3 people, people who get really bad service tell at least 10.

Much like the media people love to tell and hear bad news!

[kyle@stillen]

I can definitely recommend that we begin developing more products tailored specifically to your cars. Fortunately, one of my job's is to oversee new products and product development. Which means I can recommend anything. I can't gaurantee that any of it will be built, but I can at least push hard for it.

What kinds of items are you all looking for?

[CakeDaddy]

I can definitely recommend that we begin developing more products tailored specifically to your cars. Fortunately, one of my job's is to oversee new products and product development. Which means I can recommend anything. I can't gaurantee that any of it will be built, but I can at least push hard for it.

What kinds of items are you all looking for?

Not to speak for everyone , but a nice set of drop springs,Cat Back Exhaust with nice twin tips, Sway Bar & Intake would be a good start. If I were in Newport CA I'd loan you guys my car 90 days.


Modified by CakeDaddy at 10:50 AM 8/28/2008

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,Kyle, thanks to the reply. Given the absolute lack of enhancements available for the VK45, there is not a performance part that would not be well received. Just to dream a little dream: Supercharger kit, pulleys, headers, exhaust and intake kit. Given the engine is in the M45 (2003-current), FX45( 2003-2008) and Q45 (2002-2006), there is a fairly widespread application. The VK45 was derived from the VQ35 so perhaps this is not impossible. Oh to dream...Cheers,ML

[Boon]

I can definitely recommend that we begin developing more products tailored specifically to your cars. Fortunately, one of my job's is to oversee new products and product development. Which means I can recommend anything. I can't gaurantee that any of it will be built, but I can at least push hard for it.

What kinds of items are you all looking for?

Like I said I would be happy with simple suspension components like springs, struts, sways, bushings, ect. There is already some of these items out there but they are Jspec items that are an arm and a leg and a 30 day wait to boot.

I know there is a lot of R&D that goes into making a new product, and with less then 10k of these cars stateside it might not make sense, but if you market to Canada and other places then the numbers should go up. Also there you could probably use specs from similar products made by other companies. I know that Tein, Epsilier, Eibach all produced springs for our car at one point in time. I'm sure you could get a hold of a pair of those and test them and get feedback from the members here about height and stability with the different ones.

Anything that I could waste some of my $'s on would be great. It kinda sucks to not be able to mod this beautiful car. One of the only things that bothers me about it.

[kyle@stillen]

Hey Guys,

I wanted to jump back on this subject as it has been dead for a little while. I think the best thing to do is to put together some interest polls of what you're looking for. I have talked with our manager's and some of the manufacturer's and we're all on board to make products for you guys, we just need to know that there is a demand. There is no point in us ordering 25 lowering kits if we only sell 5.

Thanks!

Kyle