Worst customer service experience ever!

[anti_flag_army]

WARNING: Long read, but I want all details to be disclosed as to showcase the bad customer service and to hopefully save someone else from the same fate as I.

So as some of you know I was having clutch problems with my little ol' Miata (thanks to everyone that offered suggestions!) and after I figured out the problem (crappy ebay parts, I know for shame!) I bought an OEM clutch kit and it was good to go.

At the end of the thread I mentioned that I was going to try to get a refund and knew that they would fight me on it but it was worse than I expected.

I first emailed them about returning the part after I found out that the disc was severely bent (no I didnt install it backwards!) and had already bought a different kit because I needed my car on the road. I very politely asked for an RMA number. I received a response some 2 days later telling me that I had to have installed it backwards blah blah ( I am so certain that it wasnt in backwards its not even funny) So I kindly ask for an RMA again, this time to no response.

I filed a paypal dispute, and gave negative feedback on ebay and wouldnt you know the next day I am getting emails and phone calls like crazy. The general manager, after hearing what i had to say, and viewing my thread i made on here agrees to refund me after I return the faulty part. I ship it off, and wait patiently, a couple days after they receive it I decide to email back so see when i can expect the refund. This is where the real fun began...

Here i will post the emails from the time the GM contacted me:

It seems like you are unhappy with the transaction you had with us. Can you please explain? I asked Art and he said you are not willing to talk to him. I'm Lenny and I'm the General Manager. Maybe there is something I could do for you that he can't do. Please let me know and allow me to help you help me. Thanks!

- gripforce-clutches

Hello, the issue wasn't that I was unwilling to talk to him, I stated in the email that I had already purchased a new clutch from Mazda because I needed my car back on the road, and that a replacement part would do me no good and requested an RMA, as your return policy states that you will issue an RMA and inspect the part and make a decision from there. I tried everything I could to make the clutch work (you can read this thread on a forum I am on, where I was looking for solutions to my problem) post5989400.html#p5989400 I know I installed it correctly the first time... and the second time.

I see... Sometimes, it may seem like we are not giving you any help but that's because sometimes we are way too busy. We have 12 people in customer service and sales and they are busy all day and maybe your order got slipped somehow.

We do apologize you didn't get any help you needed.

We are more than willing to work out the problem although it's late.

We will give you a full refund and also the shipping fee that you would need to spend to ship it back to us. Would this be enough for you to revise the feedback from negative to at least middle (neutral feedback with 3 out of 5 starts ratings)?

Please let me know and we will assist you as quickly as possible. Thank you!

Best regards,

That sounds like a perfectly reasonable solution here. I have no problem paying the shipping back, just let me know if i need an rma number or any other documentation needed.

Thank you on that.

Please ship the part back to our 1350 address and write down the RMA-147397-J0 on the outside of the box very big and legible.

Please pack it really well and insure the package so that if anything goes wrong, you and we are covered.

Thank you. Oh, meanwhile, let me send you the agreement to revise the feedback and would appreciate if you could do it quickly. Thank you very much!

Best regards,


Hello, I am writing to find out the status of the return I submitted, RMA# 147397, the package was delivered back to you on friday the 4th.

Sorry. We refused the package because you lied to us.

You said clutch was bad or not fitting but in brand new condition. We opened the package and checked the parts and saw that the disc was installed backwards, meaning the flywheel side was put in wrong.

Obviously, if you do that, the clutch will NOT work at all. Nothing will work. The disc is seriously bent, which proves this fact.

So, first you installed wrong and tried to use it so it's not in brand new condition nor we didn't do anything wrong to cause that problem.

If you have any further problems, please let us know.

Best regards,


I beg your pardon, I in NO way said that it was not fitting, NOR did I say that it was in brand new condition, I was told by your general manager "
I see... Sometimes, it may seem like we are not giving you any help but that's because sometimes we are way too busy. We have 12 people in customer service and sales and they are busy all day and maybe your order got slipped somehow.

We do apologize you didn't get any help you needed.

We are more than willing to work out the problem although it's late.

We will give you a full refund and also the shipping fee that you would need to spend to ship it back to us. Would this be enough for you to revise the feedback from negative to at least middle (neutral feedback with 3 out of 5 starts ratings)?

Please let me know and we will assist you as quickly as possible. Thank you!"

After I told him the issue, he saw the photos of the damaged item, there was no talk of returning a "Like New" item. Since your employees seem to be incapable of decent customer service I have esclated this through paypal to get my refund.

Sorry to have given you a bad news.

But the main issue was the fact that you installed the disc backwards and that's what caused the problem by bending the disc. You shouldn't have blamed us for that.

Best regards,

Do you even have any clue what the circumstances are with this transaction? I have repeatedly told you people that I did not install it backwards. Read this thread: help-me-with-my-miata-s-clutch-guys-t524286.html

If i had installed it backwards this sentence wouldn't exist "So the next thing mentioned was putting the disc in backwards, now i was sure i put it in the correct way, but then questioned myself after reading about it. I have now verified that the disc was in correctly." Did you look at the clutch disc?? It has burn burn marks on the inner part of the friction pads, that is impossible is the disc was backwards. This is a joke, has anyone at your "company" heard of customer service. Calling me a "Liar" isnt the best way to treat a paying customer, a customer who will now tell everyone i know about the horrible experience I had with your "company".

I am done communicating with you this way, I have filed a formal clain with paypal, any communication should go through that medium. And also, your communications are written with the finesse of a Nigeran scammer.

What's important is what we see and hear not what you said in the forum or saying to us right now.

We saw the disc and it was seriously bent. If you don't put the disc backwards, it will not bend.

This is all we can say and nothing else to say or hear.

Best regards,


And that is why I am so shocked that you are so shocked, I SHOWED you pictures of the BENT disc before i sent it in, its not like i was trying to pull a fast one by hoping you would just refund it, your general manager was going to issue me a refund not based on the return of a "like new" item, but because of the crap service I received. It should have been no surprise that the clutch showed up damaged, seeing as I fully disclosed to you the condition. And I didnt make up some elaborate forum post with many responses because I was being dishonest, I was truly trying to make your crappy repackaged Chinese knockoff work on my car.

Ouch... Really sorry. The person who saw the picture (Art) and the person (me) who refused the clutch are different...

I wish I saw the picture as well...

No need to write condescending remarks like that, though...

Best regards,


Ok so where does this leave my refund at this point? And I was very much trying to remain as professional as possible but after getting the runaround all day and being called a liar I couldn't keep my composure.

You know what? We will just give you a refund because we feel sorry for your loss not because you are right and we are wrong.

So, hope you say the right things in the forums.

Please expect the refund tomorrow since we are now closed for the day.

Best regards,


And 2 days later I finally got my refund. Sorry for the long read, but I feel that I had to disclose as much about the transaction as possible.

[OutToWinPAHC]

This is why I like spec.

[frapjap]

Alright- definitely won't be buying parts from Gripforce in this lifetime.

Glad to hear that you got your cash back.

[Amays U G37S]

What company did this?

[TroubleBound]

Sounds like he said it was gripforce clutches(http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/grip ... 4340.l2559). Haha looks like you struck a nerve calling him out on his pos knockoff bullsh*t.
I will personally ensure that neither me nor anyone i am acquainted with does any business with these retarded crooks, even if it was the last clutch on earth.

[anti_flag_army]

Yes it was gripforce clutches, and for the record, I only went with that clutch because it was well recommended on the Miata turbo forums. I have since learned my lesson on no name ebay parts.