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View Full Version : Caution when dealing with JIC USA



googe
01-14-2004, 10:50 PM
Passing this on from another forum.

Total BS...


DO NOT buy anything from JIC USA

Their customer service is unimaginably bad. If you get a bad part from them you are S.O.L. their policy is no return no mater what. You can send it back for repair or replacement and if they can't easily fix it, you are out of luck.

I want everyone to know so you won't get burned like I did. I am going to join every car forum that JIC sells products for and let the world know.

If you are interested, here it what happened:

I bought a JIC-Magic FLTA2 coilover suspension kit for my 2002 Acura RSX last June. The front left strut would not stay tight and back out every couple days. After several phone calls, e-mails, and digital photo's to Ben at JIC USA he finally agreed to send me a USED replacement locknut. Getting the replacement locknut was like pulling teeth. I had to pull the entire strut off, disassemble it and have the car re-aligned in order to replace the lock nut.

The strut would still not stay tight so I tried using Lock-Tite Blue. After that failed, Ben asked that I pull the strut off again and send it to them after the Sema trade show. I waited and called right before shipping it FedEx to expedite the process and make sure they could get right on it. Along with the parts I included a letter suggesting the problem appeared to be too much free play between the strut and the lower bracket and that thin locknut could not hold it tight.

After JIC USA received the parts and sat on it for two weeks Ben told me they had fixed it by surfacing the top of the lower bracket so the locknut would seat better. I told him that I was concerned that, that alone would not fix it and if he sent it back to me and it was still loosening up I would be furious and was going to expect a full refund and reimbursement for the three alignments, the shipping, and all the labor. He said we would talk about that later. Three weeks after shipping it to them, I got the parts back.

While installing the “repaired” left strut, I checked the right side. The locknut seemed tight by hand, but when I rocked the wheel I felt it move. I could see the strut rocking in the lower bracket. I used the spanner wrench to tighten it and the nut turned, so I kept tightening it, expecting it to stop turning. It did not stop turning, the nut stripped. Inspection of the stripped locknut revealed that only the tips of the threads were sheared off. This could only happen if either the nut was too big or the strut/damper body was too small. I called Ben with this information and he told me it is impossible to strip the locknut and refused to replace it. He did offer to sell me a replacement, however.

After driving it for a couple days I rechecked the left side, the side they fixed. Sure enough it was loose, I tightened it again, drove the car and it was loose by the next day.

After this much trouble you would think they would be willing to replace them or take them back and refund my money. Well, you would be wrong like I was. They are willing to SELL you replacement parts, but no replacements, no refunds, no returns, no reimbursement for shipping parts back to them, no help, no exceptions...NOTHING.

I decided to give John Kaneda, the owner of JIC, a chance to make things right before I through off the gloves and took it to the street, just in case Ben was acting without authority. Here is what happened…

I have been calling JIC and asking to talk to the owner, John Kaneda for the last couple days. Ben has answered the phone every time, recognizes my voice and tells me that John is not in. Today after I said “I’ll call back later” Ben said, and I quote, "I talked to John and told him that you wanted to talk to him and he said you could talk to me, I don't want to talk to customers" end quote. I could not believe what I heard, so I repeated “John said he does not want to talk to customers” and Ben said “yes”.

That is the most amazing display of a lack of customer service or concern I have heard in my life.

JAYMEZ
01-14-2004, 10:57 PM
That aint cool !:thumbsdow

Weapon_R
01-14-2004, 10:59 PM
What forum did you get this from?

googe
01-14-2004, 11:09 PM
http://clubwrx.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49108

Pretty sure I saw it elsewhere too actually

Idratherbsidewayz
01-14-2004, 11:19 PM
Well thats no good, man the arguments just keep piling for me between JIC and TEIN... I guess they both have their unlucky people...

Seanith
01-15-2004, 12:45 AM
Originally posted by Firefly/wRims
Well thats no good, man the arguments just keep piling for me between JIC and TEIN... I guess they both have their unlucky people...

what have you heard bad about TEIN?

Idratherbsidewayz
01-15-2004, 12:50 AM
That they rust in the winter, really damn quickly, haven't heard anything about customer service... And also on the silvia website, everyone said the ride quality between the JIC's and TEIN's was uncomparable, the JIC's were waaaayyy better...

googe
01-15-2004, 04:21 AM
tein does have a poor reputation for quality, at least on WRX's, dont know about their customer service

JIC are supposed to be one of the better brands

thich
01-15-2004, 12:16 PM
get the TEIN Flex's then - they don't rust. (so far from what i've gathered).
I've emailed TEIN USA before and the guy was very helpful in explaining about the Flex.
Usually the coilovers that people buy are the HA's which do rust
the original TEINs were developed for use in Japan with little attention paid to snow... so rust wasn't too much of a factor.

and unless you're gonna use the coilovers for competitive autoX or you do a lot of roadcourse racing (ie. corner weighting etc.), most people just recommend getting ground controls and tokicos (or wutever is comparable)

JIC is a better brand but you sacrifice comfort for quality.
TEIN can be considered as a manufacturer that is closer to the street-end of the spectrum than it is for competition. JIC is comparable to companies like Endless and Zeal... very high-performance and PRICEY

Seanith
01-15-2004, 01:39 PM
Originally posted by thich
get the TEIN Flex's then - they don't rust. (so far from what i've gathered).
I've emailed TEIN USA before and the guy was very helpful in explaining about the Flex.
Usually the coilovers that people buy are the HA's which do rust
the original TEINs were developed for use in Japan with little attention paid to snow... so rust wasn't too much of a factor.

and unless you're gonna use the coilovers for competitive autoX or you do a lot of roadcourse racing (ie. corner weighting etc.), most people just recommend getting ground controls and tokicos (or wutever is comparable)

JIC is a better brand but you sacrifice comfort for quality.
TEIN can be considered as a manufacturer that is closer to the street-end of the spectrum than it is for competition. JIC is comparable to companies like Endless and Zeal... very high-performance and PRICEY


well put. apparently the HAs don't rust if you do certain preventative measures to ensure they don't rust.

Gondi Stylez
01-15-2004, 01:47 PM
shitty to hear! i have only seen pretty good things about JIC but i guess for everything there is the unsatisfied customers! i think ben was just BS cuz in most cases the owner will speak to the customer, especially in a situation like this! o well good luck to that guy!

SinisterProbeGt
01-15-2004, 01:49 PM
:thumbsdow boo :thumbsdow