I don't understand this.

I bought a wheel and tire combo back in May from a reputable, big name company for my 04 GT. I will keep them anonymous right now, as I am in the process of dealing with the warranty. They say there is a one year warranty on the finish.

Well, it's been less than a year, and both of my rear deep dish wheels have the coating peeling off of the lip.

They want me to pay a 15$ per wheel warranty fee, shipping, and probably also the tire dismounting/mounting and balancing of the new wheels.

Also between the two representatives I've gotten in touch with, they have been very vague about all the info that they need me to provide for them, and have not answered several of my questions that I've asked so that it will be more clear what I need to do to get this resolved. It's like they are trying to make it such a pita for me that they hope I'll give up on trying to get a decent pair of wheels.

I've been nothing but respectful so far in my correspondence with them.

My problem and what I don't understand is that if they have a warranty, why must I pay to have a warranty issue taken care of because of a manufacturing/quality defect.

It just seems wrong to me that I spent all that money with them, yet it's still going to cost me even more to get my wheels swapped out because of their crappy quality.

Quite honestly, I'm kind of pissed off right now, but I will give the anonymous company a chance to make things right before I start throwing their name around. Either way, when this is done I will publicly give this company either a or a based on the way this is handled.

This company is supposed to have a great customer service reputation, but I'm not feeling it.

Thoughts?

trombonedemon said:

Just so you can fight fire w/fire, do you have the waranty in writing, just so when they want to argue w/you, you have there words in front of you, or better yet see if its in there CPU system. You need to have facts on your side, its not what you know, its what you can prove!

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This is straight from their website.

Chrome plated wheels are guaranteed against separation and peeling for one year from original date of purchase. All other wheels are guaranteed against paint separation and paint peeling for one year from original date of purchase.

**********'s obligation under these warranties is limited to repair or replacement at our sole discretion, without charge excluding freight if wheel(s) are found to be defective.

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So I can see paying freight since it's right there in the terms, but why a warranty fee?


I just wish I would have had decent wheels the first time and avoided all this crap.

BurningRubber said:

Maybe the "warranty fee" is really just freight to get the wheels to them.

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I hope so. I mean, I'm kind of cornered into doing it, I can't drive an otherwise sweet looking Mustang around with crap flaking off the wheels.