On or around 8/14/07, after many phone consultations with Frank Rehak regarding his required measurement procedures, i ordered a set of custom axles. When these were ordered, Frank told me that the measurements were odd, so i had a Honda technician take them again and they were the same, so Frank moved forward with the order, with the understanding between us that they would be what i need for my vehicle. He did mention to me that there is no warranty against breakage and that he can't guarantee the length since i took the measurement, but there was the guarantee (of course) that the product would be received in useable condition.
They were shipped to me on 8/21 and i received them a couple days later. On 8/31, i travelled to a repair facility to have these axles installed. The location was Weisenthal's Shell in Ocean City, NJ. Upon removal from the package, the proprietor at the facility, Don Weisenthal, expressed concern about the quality of the outer CV of the axles. His partner, who also has been in the business for 30 years, Glen Weisenthal, stated the same thing. The technician who is employed by these experts, Chris Hartmann, was concerned as well. They were installed into the vehicle and they rendered the vehicle, which was previously operable sans a slight axle vibration, now inoperable due to immense clunking and vibration. We removed one side, and replaced with a stock axle, and did vice versa, and the only time there was a remedy is when Frank Rehak's product was totally removed from the vehicle.
I contacted Frank 9/3 and described my issue and my concern that the product was defective. He doubted they were defective and said it's merely a case of them being brand new (despite the fact that they rendered my vehicle inoperable and were seen as defective by certified technicians) and offered to take them back to review their condition. I decided to send them to him under the premise that the outer CV was defective on both axles, and the length possibly needed to be shortened a tad upon his inspection. On 9/5, i brought the axles to a performance vehicle tuning facility, RT Tuning in Lansdale, PA. The proprietor Vince checked the axles and deemed them to be defective in some capacity due to an overly tight outer CV.
I sent them from RT Tuning via FEDEX on 9/5 with the following RA # 12795 and with a tracking number of 651108460000757. The package was received on 9/7. I called on 9/7 to assure they received it and they did. I called on 9/11 to check on the process. The customer service contact Tad stated that they were still being examined. I asked him to have the owner call me before they were sent out or anything was done as the owner was not available. I called back on 9/14 as i did not hear back from them and the customer service contact Tad stated that there was a problem with the outer CV's in that they were defective in construction. I confirmed this with him, and stated I am glad they were honest about the situation. I asked what is the next step and he said they will attempt to salvage what they can, reassemble a new set of axles for me, and send them out. I asked him to have the owner call me so i had a better idea of what is going on with the situation as the owner was not available according to Tad.
I then called back on 9/21 to see what was going on with my axles and Tad said they had some issues taking the axles apart and needed to charge me for some labor or parts with the outer CV's since they were hard to remove. I asked how could this be, since they were already defective; i should not be charged for taking apart something that is defective to start! He renigged his previous statement on 9/14 about the outer CV's being defective and told me to contact the owner. I stated to him that I'd love to, however he has not called me in weeks. I told the customer service contact Tad I do not want the axles at this time due to these issues and their incompetence and he said I need to discuss that with the owner, who evidently is unreachable and has been unresponsive for 2 weeks. I then told Tad I would dispute the charges with my bank because of the ineptitude and unresponsiveness of their company.
I filed a dispute with my bank on 9/21 and about an hour later, Frank calls me, finally. I explain my problems again to him and he tries to convey to me that this is not his fault because i took the initial measurements and he was uncomfortable with making the item based on them. I asked him how else can he offer such a service, if he does not have a reliable system on which to base the production of his products? Regardless, the defective outer CV problem is totally independent of my measurements and the 'custom' aspect of these axles. After reaching no resolution with Frank, I stated to him that because I received no response from him about my axles, and got nothing but cryptic and untrue responses from his customer service people about my paid-for item which was defective, I felt the need to dispute the issues with my bank. He then told me that he has nothing else to say to me because I disputed with my bank, and he claimed that 'it doesn't matter anyway because I (Frank) will win, as it states clearly that the item is custom and there is no warranty'. I told him that that does not mean he can send me something that is not what i paid for and that is defective out of the box. He then terminated the call by hanging up on me.
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