I've noticed that aftermarket automotive companies have similar story arcs: 1. Business is started in a small, plucky shop 2. Word of mouth makes the popularity explode 3. Original owners retire, sell, or pass off to children 4. New owners try to cut costs, increase profits. Hire short-sighted managers and cheap, incompetent staff 5. Quality plummets, negative word of mouth spreads, company implodes.
when you as the customer must inspect THEIR parts in order to NOT void a warranty...there is a MASSIVE problem. Essentially, the company is saying "we know our products do not have adequate quality controls" avoid!
@@freeride202 It's not the fact that they issued a warranty on the part. It's that their quality control and customer service is so poor that he took any issue with them. They treated him terrible and accused him of product misuse. He also had to pay for return shipping on said product which is very scummy. For an $800 anything if it is of poor enough craftsmanship and the company can not afford to pay for actual quality inspections they should not even be in business.
Yep, when I first worked with Ford, I noticed that they told me up front that if they built it wrong it was my fault. Huh, didn't realize it, but I never bought Ford again. I never realized their parts department probably had something to do with this.
ETCG or not, word of mouth is a double edged sword in this industry. Companies should be as fair and reasonable as possible in addressing customer issues.
This is ridiculous but sadly common these days. Too many companies don't care about customer service because there is a new customer buying online every few seconds. It's a terrible way to do business and they will pay the consequences sooner or later. You handled it like the class act you are. 😊 See you at SEMA?
I can only imagine the varied level of intelligence installing some of these high performance parts on cars. They are likely to come across user errors quite often. I wouldn't want to be in a company's position to decide who's that fault so many times. It probably keeps them on the defensive which may have led to this situation.
I've worked for two companies that do that nonsense with warranties. I always tried to explain to them that you lose way more money from word of mouth than for a single warranty claim.
Eric this is B.S. I have worked in Manufacturing for many years ( Automotive ) and these things happen. The quality of products now days is junk company's is all about the bottom line. They write these warranty's to no matter what the problem is the consumer is at fault, it's really sad. You handled it in a professional manner. Glad your still posting video's Eric. Hope you and your family has a wonderful weekend.
As of this moment, 16,000 viewers have seen this vid. We all have stories like this, but there's a huge chunk of us who buy parts on the regular. MFactory will need to keep their head down, this prolly won't just blow over soon. Good job Eric.
defective part shouldn't even be a warranty claim for a consumer - it's a manufacturing defect. it's a slight difference. in some countries the difference is quite big though when it comes to how long they're on the hook for it.
If a company has a QC hiccup, that's one thing. If a company blatantly scams their customers out of the warranty, that's reason for me to drop doing business with them. It's called responsibility and I don't do recurring business with companies that don't take responsibility for their own products.
It’s sucks to have to call out a business but when they don’t seem to GAF why should we about their reputation! I own a small business and I care immensely about how people feel about their entire experience when dealing with my company. I’m not sure why every business wouldn’t feel this way.
Customer service these days in general is crap and practically nonexistent. Use a credit card to purchase stuff like that so you might have recourse by filing a dispute for "services not rendered". The only other thing to do is legal action, which is way more expensive and time consuming, and these companies know this. Hope all worked out in your favor, and thanks for the informative video!
@@jeffr878 Probably a new CEO that is looking to maximize profit by cutting costs. Lots of recent cases of random investors buying out random companies they have no basic knowledge as to how they operate as investments to then screw over the company through aggressive cost cutting.
@@jeffr878 Capitalism restricts peoples freedom of choice from who to buy things from, and so there's no competition where customer service matters. You have to get the part from us and nobody else, no matter how bad customer service is, and no matter if somebody else could do it better.
It is crazy that they are putting it on the purchaser to do the quality inspection it should have had before it left them! I can fully understand them wanting you to check it for damage that may have been caused in shipping, but to ask you to inspect the actual engineering of the product is just wrong is so many ways. In the real world who actually inspects the threads of machined holes in a new product? Nobody i know. Glad you called them out on this Eric, might make them think twice in the future about how they run their business.
sorry to hear you've had a bad time there Eric! I've been using Mfactory LSDs for years on track in various cars and they do work good. Never had an issue like this but shit happens I guess the customer service let you down
Every company that makes good stuff has a bad part leave the building every once in a while. It's all about how they deal with it. They clearly don't give a shit. I wouldn't buy from them either
Thank you for sharing this. I was considering an M-Factory diff for my 1-Series but this is cause for pause and thought. I've also read not great things about their customer service but it just seems really wide spread.
Eric, THANK YOU. I was a couple weeks away from ordering an MFactory LSD for my 91 Capri XR2. Saved me the headache. Alas, too bad nobody else makes one
Unfortunately, good customer service has quickly become a thing of the past just about EVERYWHERE! Today, almost no one wants to take responsibility for mistakes, especially in quality control! Glad that you made out well in the end with SUPERIOR parts! And , it's good to see that you're alive and well!
I googled Mfactory. Found a couple of interesting issues. Best one was of a input shaft that was not machined to allow the clutch disc to slide properly. Here is the link.th-cam.com/video/35xQ0GvgKss/w-d-xo.html
So awesome you gave this away after all this. I didn’t see this video until today or I would email you. I *potentially* blew my differential last year in my 01 GS-R fun car during an HPDE. I was about to go MFactory for a replacement but this just saved me so much of a headache. Hope the new owner of the diff gets some use! Wavetrac is about to get a customer (unless I can fix my type r LSD whining issue).
The instructions should read "Please inspect our product for defects that should not be there such as missing threads, missing holes, incomplete threads, etc as we do not inspect our parts 100%" I'm surprised they didn't give you a $77 Credit for their merch lol!
You should be able to bill them for inspection time if they expect you to do it for them. It’s part of the manufacturing process, not an optional extra.
Hell yeah! I had a Wavetrac installed in my K04 GTI and it was worth every penny. The car had so much more grip over stock in every application which was extremely helpful when putting over 300 hp to the front. So glad they took care of you like that Eric.
Similar thing happened to me. My steering rack in my Integra was leaking. Bought a new one, swapped parts, filled and purged the system, drove right to the tire shop and got it aligned. Next morning there is a puddle of power steering fluid under the car. Company I bought the rack from honored the warranty, but I was out shipping it back and the cost of that alignment.
@@ETCG1 I don't remember off the top of my head. I made the decision to swap in a new manual rack for a Civic and remove all the PS accessories. I only regret the decision when I have to K turn 😂.
My supercharged CR-Z has an MFactory LSD and final drive gear installed in it, all done by King Motorsports. I personally have had no issues with King or MFactory and I am quite happy with it. But if I had known about their potential crummy service down the line I wouldn't have bought their stuff. The K20A2 going into my 85 CRX Si will instead be from someone else.
I bought a full 1/2/3/5 gear set, final drive and diferential from m factory and previously ordered a rebuild kit (About 6k canadian with tax and shipping). I mistakenly got the rebuild kit without the sliders, so i emailed them to see if i could buy the sliders for the cost of the difference of the kits as individually the sliders where stupidly expensive priced and i would obviously cover the shipping since it was my mistake. I got a email back saying 5% off the extortionate price was the best they could do, after spending all that money with them already. Only logical solution was ending up ordering a whole another rebuild kit with the sliders, and in doing that ill never buy another m factory part. Fyi on me, I own a collection of 10 euro/japanese cars, sad that business practices seem to be appropriate. Also the person i talked to was Andy henson at syncrotech
Had the same issue. They sent me a recall notice for my MFactory LSD, my diff later had the exact issue mentioned in the recall and I had to fight for weeks to get them to actually do the recall.
You are correct. The part should fit and work right out of the box. I once bought an aftermarket headlamp assembly, and the mounting tabs didn't line up. Totally unacceptable.
So glad you are back! I missed sitting with a glass of bourbon watching EricTheCarGuy. When I heard the new ending... All I can think of is a Screaming Weasel (not a bad thing).
I had a similar experience rebuilding a Hyundai Theta engine. One of the cam cap bolts broke off in the head before it was torqued even remotely close to spec. Shoddy manufacturing.
yeeeeeah, like a few other companies in the past 45 years i have dealt with that after each bad experience never made another dime off of me. it's unfortunate that there are companies out there that behave in such a manner. because of them though the good ones will stand out in the crowd and be rewarded monetarily for doing the right thing when needed. the quality control thing though....that's another matter. ex: ford used to be all about the slogan 'quality is job one'. now look at them. i rest my case. great subject matter eric. in hopes all is well with you and the family... =dok=
I'd prefer an etcg1 episode every once in a while rather than no etcg1 😊. Otherwise, what a crazy story. I was in the parts industry and seeing that hole not completely tapped would immediately trigger a warranty swap no questions asked. Maybe you could have welded the hole and partially retapped the threads but, in my experience, theives are usually pretty lazy and that situation is highly unlikely.
Agreed. I used to watch ETCG/1 all the time. I became a mechanic under his tutelage and left the industry for a better one too. IT. He made a lot more videos than me at DE Nichols, but we both quit making videos. lol
If they (threads in the hole) just weren't cut I am thinking they could have just ran the tap through the rest of the way. My reasoning: Floating tap heads used in machining are designed to have 3/4-1 or so of play (in and also out) to account for certain methods of tapping. Spring loaded of course. This is often how you machine tap on a cnc lathe. Chances are that this part was ran with a floating tap head and it had issues starting in the hole. It almost certainly used up the play in the tap head then started tapping after that. Obviously one can only tell after having the parts, so I could be wrong. Just my guess.
@@tradingnichols2255 Thanks! I am a machinist for a living, but I won't say I am the best or worst for that matter. It's a really fun job! The worst part is the dangers involved with chemicals, smoke from evaporated coolant, and all the sharp and spinning objects you have to keep an eye on. I'm not sure if I'll do it till I retire yet, but the pay I get is really good. It also helps to find a shop that you like working for.
Good explanation with that issue. I'm in a similar situation with a B series LSD from gear X. It was manufactured incorrectly, not fully accepting the passenger axle. Ended up stripping the splines off my 5.9 DSS axle. DSS very good customer service, BTW. Maybe I need to put a video together explaining why I'll never do business with that company ever again.
That sucks. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any other LSD options for gen 2 and 3 Honda Fits, so I guess I’ll have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Thanks for the clarification on the Mfactory warranty requiring that detailed pre-inspection
In my younger days long, long ago. I worked for a retail company. They beat into our heads."Alway,always take the customer's side." Followed with. "The jawbone of an ass will kill a thousand sales." This was way before social media and the internet. The management would go on to explain that we don't know who the customer is. We have no idea of their social sphere. That one bad encounter could result exponentially into thousands of lost sales. Obviously, this company missed that sales seminar.
Customer service is huge to me! For ten plus years I was pouring money into my 94 Delsol SI. I had a few really bad C.S. issues with different venders & a couple with shops. I told those particular people "Not only have you lost any future business from me but, I know other enthusiasts throughout this area & they will all know about this, good luck.". Turned out, word of mouth made a difference. I inadvertently (hope I'm using the right word) spoke to some of the employees & former employees that told me so.
Back when GE made major appliances, there was a sign on the assembly line that read: REMEMBER THE CUSTOMER IS OUR FINAL QUALITY CONTROL INSPECTOR Right now it seems that the customer is the ONLY quality control inspector.
Good on you for giving the MFactory part to someone you can use it and for calling out horrible customer service. Good customer service really isn't that hard and it blows my mind that companies don't get the fact that their absolute best customer is the one that is in front of them at any given moment.
Well said. Baffled that companies don’t understand customer service or don’t have the right people to make the right decisions. It makes all the difference
Thanks for the heads up Eric!! Its hard enough for us to work on our own stuff, but then have to deal with shit like that! Fuuuuuk That! ill never look their way again!!!
Great to catch an episode of ETCG1 even under these circumstances, albeit positive outcome from a more reputable company. Glad to hear the issue got sorted.
No blame on Eric here, he did nothing wrong, explained the situation properly and MFactory should have warrantied the parts regardless - the parts were clearly defective, and he clearly explained why. Perfectly in fact - in the manner that he always explains things. Love his videos. However, whenever I run into a defect problem like this, be it auto parts or any thing else, I learned years ago not to say more than I need to. I never tell them that I tried to install it or use it. I just clean it up, put it back in the box, request an RMA. Only say that part is defective, point out the defect if it is not obvious, and ask for replacement parts or money back. If they want to know more about how I found the defect, or how the parts failed, they can ask. Never give them a chance to pin it on you. Unless you are dealing with a local parts supplier that knows you well and you have done business with many times before, less is more when describing what is wrong when claiming a warranty.
Allll they had to do was take it back and give you a new one and finish the threads on the first one and put it back in inventory. And they ruined their reputation by going the other direction lol.
I have a friend who fitted an MFactory LSD and he ended up removing it because it made clucking noises all the time and he also raced this Civic and said the car was slower than when he had the open wheeler diff fitted. I was so glad I didn't jump on the bandwagon when they made this diff available for our 1st gen Civics (73-79).
They sent it off knowing it was f#cked and hoping the customer at the other end would just give up and figure it out for themselves,shameful business practice.
Yeah, that's not cool. They automatically blame you and then make you pay to return it, smh. I have an Mfactory LSD in my B series car, luckily didn't have any issues. But this will for sure make me consider other options in the future. Hope someone honest and deserving ends up with the diff.
Every couple weeks we get the wrong part in a box with the correct P/N on it, or a monthly error in the automated parts system from a MAJOR auto parts supplier.
Had a similar defect on an exhaust header and J pipe for my 92 Civic. I'm not going to even try with customer service. Thankfully I was still able to use the stock one until I can save up enough to try again.
Hi Eric, I have a B-series swapped Prelude here in Japan and am looking for an LSD, thank you for the warning- looks like Wavetrack or KAAZ might be the way to go.
@ETCG1, good to see you ended up with a good product that works Eric! Kudos to the viewers who reached out and to Wavetrac! It's sad that some companies will try to put the responsibility for "QC" on the customer rather than the people they're supposed to be PAYING for "QC"... It makes me wonder if some of them like Mfactory decided that "QC" no longer meanrs "Quality Control" but "Quit Checking", lol. Anyway, great idea to pass that on to someone who needs it!
So, their lack of Quality Control is supposed to be negated by the bold header: "Check Parts for Defects Before Installing"...? Nope, it doesn't fly with me either. They should QC inspect every part before it goes out the door, regardless if it's manufactured the Wednesday before Christmas, or not.
UNACCEPTABLE! MFactory picked the wrong person to mess with! I feel that you're in the right from the beginning of this fiasco, and MFactory should've just followed through on their warranty service instead of trying to cover their collective arse. "All this could've been avoided..."
sadly as he showed he did not pre inspect... gotta read.. vw dealer was charging me for break fluid change on new car..I read car manuel to them It was free first time..I was the only customer to ever get it for free.. not nice..
I service neighbors cars. oil change was done filled engine started looked at engine oil was spraying into my cabinet.. Fram filter had a hole, painted over .. what a mess.. kitty litter galore.. No quality control.. went back to store cashier wasnt surprised.. I do it for free what a kick in the arse.
I own an older gen Integra, i doubt i could use the diff. But ill definitely take the info, and pass it along. Im also an Acura tech, and proud PACT graduate, I know plenty of Honda folks. We'll spread the word far and wide. Mistakes happen, absolutely, no one is perfect, but you cant let that get out the door and try to pass it as acceptable to the customer. Sad to see.
Unbelievable. A lot of these companies take their customers for granted these days, with no show of remorse for their screw-ups. It's not until they screw over a guy like you with a huge following, and subsequently get put on blast on social media, do they change their tune. We appreciate you, Eric. Sucks you had to deal with that, but the rest of your followers are better for it now that we are warned.
Ah man, that is rough. Sounded like a huge hassle of working with a product that didn't go through good quality control and then having to deal with the "customer service" trying to get the warranty. So much time was wasted, plus the 77 bucks that you've never got back for the shipping. By the way, awesome Type R outro sound!
That is so weird Eric, I have used Syncrotech in the past and never had any issues…I don’t blame you for cutting ties with them. They lost a customer they could’ve gained a bunch from. Forget about them!
I don't do honda stuff too often so I have no experience with MFactory...but I'm sorry, the customer is responsible for inspecting THEIR parts, or the warranty is void? What? That is some downright shady BS, and a huge red flag that says "Hey there customer: our parts and QC are shit, but if you don't catch the mistakes yourself, good luck!" Yeah, you made the right call. What an awful way to treat a customer.
I’m glad you took a stand against a shit product and a shittier company. Customer service and being fair are the ultimate success in any business. The customer is not always right, but when a buisiness screws up, own up to the mistake, apologize, and make it right. 10 times out of 10, that will always retain the customer’s good faith and loyalty. Their loss.
I've noticed that aftermarket automotive companies have similar story arcs:
1. Business is started in a small, plucky shop
2. Word of mouth makes the popularity explode
3. Original owners retire, sell, or pass off to children
4. New owners try to cut costs, increase profits. Hire short-sighted managers and cheap, incompetent staff
5. Quality plummets, negative word of mouth spreads, company implodes.
when you as the customer must inspect THEIR parts in order to NOT void a warranty...there is a MASSIVE problem. Essentially, the company is saying "we know our products do not have adequate quality controls"
avoid!
But they did warrant his differential. So what Eric implied actually was not an issue here.
@@freeride202 It's not the fact that they issued a warranty on the part. It's that their quality control and customer service is so poor that he took any issue with them. They treated him terrible and accused him of product misuse. He also had to pay for return shipping on said product which is very scummy. For an $800 anything if it is of poor enough craftsmanship and the company can not afford to pay for actual quality inspections they should not even be in business.
Yep, when I first worked with Ford, I noticed that they told me up front that if they built it wrong it was my fault. Huh, didn't realize it, but I never bought Ford again. I never realized their parts department probably had something to do with this.
Well said
@@freeride202 He paid $80 for this "warrant". That's complete horse shit.
ETCG or not, word of mouth is a double edged sword in this industry. Companies should be as fair and reasonable as possible in addressing customer issues.
I can't see there being many LSD companies. This probably is really bad for mfactory.
your funny
This is ridiculous but sadly common these days. Too many companies don't care about customer service because there is a new customer buying online every few seconds. It's a terrible way to do business and they will pay the consequences sooner or later. You handled it like the class act you are. 😊 See you at SEMA?
I don't blame you whatsoever, especially after their warranty stipulations. It should be their responsibility for quality control.
But they had an out in print..lesson learned..
I can only imagine the varied level of intelligence installing some of these high performance parts on cars. They are likely to come across user errors quite often.
I wouldn't want to be in a company's position to decide who's that fault so many times. It probably keeps them on the defensive which may have led to this situation.
@@geniferteal4178 they have no grounds to be defensive. It was a clearly defective part.
@@sherlockholmez8764 i agree they shouldn't be. I could see why it might look stripped. I'd imagine that comes up a bit.
Mpower sounds like one of those random Amazon off brands that you need to avoid. Turns out you were right.
You mean MFactory?
Hey, I've considered them for "upgrades" in the past, and now I'll remember them for the wrong reasons.
You mean MFactory.
I've worked for two companies that do that nonsense with warranties. I always tried to explain to them that you lose way more money from word of mouth than for a single warranty claim.
Right when I thought I'm gonna save myself $100 dollars by going to MFactory over Quaife. Ill be going with Quaife now, thank you ETCG!
Eric this is B.S. I have worked in Manufacturing for many years ( Automotive ) and these things happen. The quality of products now days is junk company's is all about the bottom line. They write these warranty's to no matter what the problem is the consumer is at fault, it's really sad. You handled it in a professional manner. Glad your still posting video's Eric. Hope you and your family has a wonderful weekend.
But they warranted his differential
@@freeride202 Some do but, they try there best not to have to trust me.
@@tracydiller9378say what you want but they warranted it, period.
As of this moment, 16,000 viewers have seen this vid. We all have stories like this, but there's a huge chunk of us who buy parts on the regular. MFactory will need to keep their head down, this prolly won't just blow over soon. Good job Eric.
Hey there you are ETCG ! Yep customer service across the board sucks now adays. Kudos for the viewers that stepped up to help !
defective part shouldn't even be a warranty claim for a consumer - it's a manufacturing defect. it's a slight difference. in some countries the difference is quite big though when it comes to how long they're on the hook for it.
Exactly. The part isn't what was paid for. It's junk. Great to know this company is one to avoid, and it will cost them more than a differential.
If a company has a QC hiccup, that's one thing. If a company blatantly scams their customers out of the warranty, that's reason for me to drop doing business with them. It's called responsibility and I don't do recurring business with companies that don't take responsibility for their own products.
It’s sucks to have to call out a business but when they don’t seem to GAF why should we about their reputation! I own a small business and I care immensely about how people feel about their entire experience when dealing with my company. I’m not sure why every business wouldn’t feel this way.
Customer service these days in general is crap and practically nonexistent. Use a credit card to purchase stuff like that so you might have recourse by filing a dispute for "services not rendered". The only other thing to do is legal action, which is way more expensive and time consuming, and these companies know this.
Hope all worked out in your favor, and thanks for the informative video!
I agree! What changed to allow CS to become so bad?
Or just stop buying from the lowest bidder and expecting service.
@@jeffr878 Probably a new CEO that is looking to maximize profit by cutting costs. Lots of recent cases of random investors buying out random companies they have no basic knowledge as to how they operate as investments to then screw over the company through aggressive cost cutting.
but he did not read disclaimer.. big lesson for all.. thanks eric for taking the hit..
@@jeffr878 Capitalism restricts peoples freedom of choice from who to buy things from, and so there's no competition where customer service matters. You have to get the part from us and nobody else, no matter how bad customer service is, and no matter if somebody else could do it better.
It is crazy that they are putting it on the purchaser to do the quality inspection it should have had before it left them! I can fully understand them wanting you to check it for damage that may have been caused in shipping, but to ask you to inspect the actual engineering of the product is just wrong is so many ways. In the real world who actually inspects the threads of machined holes in a new product? Nobody i know. Glad you called them out on this Eric, might make them think twice in the future about how they run their business.
Good to see you again, Eric! :)
sorry to hear you've had a bad time there Eric! I've been using Mfactory LSDs for years on track in various cars and they do work good. Never had an issue like this but shit happens I guess
the customer service let you down
Glad to hear Danny.
Every company that makes good stuff has a bad part leave the building every once in a while. It's all about how they deal with it. They clearly don't give a shit. I wouldn't buy from them either
Thank you for sharing this. I was considering an M-Factory diff for my 1-Series but this is cause for pause and thought. I've also read not great things about their customer service but it just seems really wide spread.
Had similar issues with 1320 Performance. They royally screwed me on a $1200 "stainless" ehaust that is cracked and rusting less than a year later.
K swap Delorean? "When this baby hits 8800rpm, you're gonna see some serious shit."
Eric, THANK YOU. I was a couple weeks away from ordering an MFactory LSD for my 91 Capri XR2. Saved me the headache. Alas, too bad nobody else makes one
Bummer about the diff, but happy to get a video. Miss your content. Can't wait to see you back in a shop. Hope you're doing well!
Unfortunately, good customer service has quickly become a thing of the past just about EVERYWHERE! Today, almost no one wants to take responsibility for mistakes, especially in quality control! Glad that you made out well in the end with SUPERIOR parts! And , it's good to see that you're alive and well!
Thanks for the heads up. Bet they will regret treating you so poorly after they lose business.
I was deciding between a mfactory limited slip and another company for my 135i and after hearing this I'm going with another company.
I googled Mfactory. Found a couple of interesting issues. Best one was of a input shaft that was not machined to allow the clutch disc to slide properly. Here is the link.th-cam.com/video/35xQ0GvgKss/w-d-xo.html
companies dont care..
So awesome you gave this away after all this. I didn’t see this video until today or I would email you. I *potentially* blew my differential last year in my 01 GS-R fun car during an HPDE.
I was about to go MFactory for a replacement but this just saved me so much of a headache. Hope the new owner of the diff gets some use! Wavetrac is about to get a customer (unless I can fix my type r LSD whining issue).
That must be the last hole to tap just before quitting time before Christmas.
The instructions should read "Please inspect our product for defects that should not be there such as missing threads, missing holes, incomplete threads, etc as we do not inspect our parts 100%" I'm surprised they didn't give you a $77 Credit for their merch lol!
You should be able to bill them for inspection time if they expect you to do it for them. It’s part of the manufacturing process, not an optional extra.
Hell yeah! I had a Wavetrac installed in my K04 GTI and it was worth every penny. The car had so much more grip over stock in every application which was extremely helpful when putting over 300 hp to the front. So glad they took care of you like that Eric.
Lordy lordy..... It's Eric .. friend I haven't seen your darling face with your Honda knowledge. Welcome back ...
I currently don't have any projects working on now but would love to use their part as an ashtray in my garage Thanks!
Can I send you a copy of a book and you record yourself reading it. Your voice is amazing. It’s like one of those classic 80’s tv show hero person.
Thanks for returning!
I'm a big fan.
Similar thing happened to me. My steering rack in my Integra was leaking. Bought a new one, swapped parts, filled and purged the system, drove right to the tire shop and got it aligned. Next morning there is a puddle of power steering fluid under the car. Company I bought the rack from honored the warranty, but I was out shipping it back and the cost of that alignment.
Was it an AC Delco rack? I've had a ton of issues with those.
@@ETCG1 I don't remember off the top of my head. I made the decision to swap in a new manual rack for a Civic and remove all the PS accessories. I only regret the decision when I have to K turn 😂.
$77 is a cheap way to learn about a bad business
6+ weeks wasted time though
But let’s ignore that he also spent $800 on the defective part…
Victim blaming?
Dare i say, word..
@@taimaishu-nao1922 did he get charged for the replacement?
My supercharged CR-Z has an MFactory LSD and final drive gear installed in it, all done by King Motorsports. I personally have had no issues with King or MFactory and I am quite happy with it. But if I had known about their potential crummy service down the line I wouldn't have bought their stuff. The K20A2 going into my 85 CRX Si will instead be from someone else.
I bought a full 1/2/3/5 gear set, final drive and diferential from m factory and previously ordered a rebuild kit (About 6k canadian with tax and shipping).
I mistakenly got the rebuild kit without the sliders, so i emailed them to see if i could buy the sliders for the cost of the difference of the kits as individually the sliders where stupidly expensive priced and i would obviously cover the shipping since it was my mistake.
I got a email back saying 5% off the extortionate price was the best they could do, after spending all that money with them already.
Only logical solution was ending up ordering a whole another rebuild kit with the sliders, and in doing that ill never buy another m factory part.
Fyi on me, I own a collection of 10 euro/japanese cars, sad that business practices seem to be appropriate.
Also the person i talked to was
Andy henson at syncrotech
Nice to have you back!
This is the new normal. Customer service is no longer done by the A team. It's B team, C team, D team, the ones who don't give a crap, in other words.
I had put a wavetrac into my MINI before it was totaled. It was great! I miss that car, but I love my M roadster now, and the stock LSD in it is fine.
Had the same issue. They sent me a recall notice for my MFactory LSD, my diff later had the exact issue mentioned in the recall and I had to fight for weeks to get them to actually do the recall.
Despite the circumstances, it's good to see you again, Eric
Glad you’re back)
You are correct. The part should fit and work right out of the box. I once bought an aftermarket headlamp assembly, and the mounting tabs didn't line up. Totally unacceptable.
So glad you are back! I missed sitting with a glass of bourbon watching EricTheCarGuy. When I heard the new ending... All I can think of is a Screaming Weasel (not a bad thing).
I had a similar experience rebuilding a Hyundai Theta engine. One of the cam cap bolts broke off in the head before it was torqued even remotely close to spec. Shoddy manufacturing.
Thanks for looking out for us.
yeeeeeah, like a few other companies in the past 45 years i have dealt with that after each bad experience never made another dime off of me. it's unfortunate that there are companies out there that behave in such a manner. because of them though the good ones will stand out in the crowd and be rewarded monetarily for doing the right thing when needed. the quality control thing though....that's another matter. ex: ford used to be all about the slogan 'quality is job one'. now look at them. i rest my case.
great subject matter eric. in hopes all is well with you and the family...
=dok=
I'd prefer an etcg1 episode every once in a while rather than no etcg1 😊. Otherwise, what a crazy story. I was in the parts industry and seeing that hole not completely tapped would immediately trigger a warranty swap no questions asked. Maybe you could have welded the hole and partially retapped the threads but, in my experience, theives are usually pretty lazy and that situation is highly unlikely.
Agreed. I used to watch ETCG/1 all the time. I became a mechanic under his tutelage and left the industry for a better one too. IT. He made a lot more videos than me at DE Nichols, but we both quit making videos. lol
If they (threads in the hole) just weren't cut I am thinking they could have just ran the tap through the rest of the way.
My reasoning:
Floating tap heads used in machining are designed to have 3/4-1 or so of play (in and also out) to account for certain methods of tapping. Spring loaded of course. This is often how you machine tap on a cnc lathe. Chances are that this part was ran with a floating tap head and it had issues starting in the hole. It almost certainly used up the play in the tap head then started tapping after that. Obviously one can only tell after having the parts, so I could be wrong. Just my guess.
@@joetaylor1089 I don't know machining to guess how it wasn't done right. Interesting comment though!
@@tradingnichols2255
Thanks! I am a machinist for a living, but I won't say I am the best or worst for that matter. It's a really fun job! The worst part is the dangers involved with chemicals, smoke from evaporated coolant, and all the sharp and spinning objects you have to keep an eye on. I'm not sure if I'll do it till I retire yet, but the pay I get is really good. It also helps to find a shop that you like working for.
Thank you for being so willing to share your bad experience with a large company. Grateful ! I will be avoiding using them.
Good explanation with that issue. I'm in a similar situation with a B series LSD from gear X. It was manufactured incorrectly, not fully accepting the passenger axle. Ended up stripping the splines off my 5.9 DSS axle. DSS very good customer service, BTW. Maybe I need to put a video together explaining why I'll never do business with that company ever again.
Thanks for enduring that Ezza, so we the public don't have to.
Appreciate you sharing your experience.
That sucks. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any other LSD options for gen 2 and 3 Honda Fits, so I guess I’ll have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Thanks for the clarification on the Mfactory warranty requiring that detailed pre-inspection
That's a ridiculous statement on their paperwork "Check our work, if you don't, you're SOL!"
In my younger days long, long ago. I worked for a retail company. They beat into our heads."Alway,always take the customer's side." Followed with. "The jawbone of an ass will kill a thousand sales." This was way before social media and the internet. The management would go on to explain that we don't know who the customer is. We have no idea of their social sphere. That one bad encounter could result exponentially into thousands of lost sales. Obviously, this company missed that sales seminar.
ERIC, FANTASTIC VIDEO !!!!!!!!!! THANK U VERY MUCH !!!!!!!! SINCE 1983, MY WHOLE FAMILY BUYS ONLY HONDA VEHICLES.
Customer service is huge to me! For ten plus years I was pouring money into my 94 Delsol SI. I had a few really bad C.S. issues with different venders & a couple with shops. I told those particular people "Not only have you lost any future business from me but, I know other enthusiasts throughout this area & they will all know about this, good luck.". Turned out, word of mouth made a difference. I inadvertently (hope I'm using the right word) spoke to some of the employees & former employees that told me so.
Hi Eric! It seems that MFactory expects you to do their quality control and shipping!
Hi
Back when GE made major appliances, there was a sign on the assembly line that read:
REMEMBER THE CUSTOMER IS OUR FINAL QUALITY CONTROL INSPECTOR
Right now it seems that the customer is the ONLY quality control inspector.
As a Honda guy, that outtro sounds baller! 😄✌
👌
Lesson learned here. I've looked at the part before I buy it. But I will look for defects such as threading.
Thanks Eric!
I was looking at getting an M factory limited-slip but after watching this video I'm going with the other company. Too bad for them.
Thanks for the story Eric, sorry you got the shaft at the first place. Glad it worked out Brother!
Good on you for giving the MFactory part to someone you can use it and for calling out horrible customer service. Good customer service really isn't that hard and it blows my mind that companies don't get the fact that their absolute best customer is the one that is in front of them at any given moment.
I dont speak mandarin...
Mfactory headquarters sounding like Pop Copy training video. “Why treat the customer this way? Because fuck em that’s why!”
Well said. Baffled that companies don’t understand customer service or don’t have the right people to make the right decisions. It makes all the difference
Thanks for the heads up Eric!! Its hard enough for us to work on our own stuff, but then have to deal with shit like that! Fuuuuuk That! ill never look their way again!!!
Thanks for the heads up, Eric!!!
Thanks for letting us know, I was definitely looking at these recently for my car. I may have sent you an email 🙄
Great to catch an episode of ETCG1 even under these circumstances, albeit positive outcome from a more reputable company. Glad to hear the issue got sorted.
Great to see ETCG1!
No blame on Eric here, he did nothing wrong, explained the situation properly and MFactory should have warrantied the parts regardless - the parts were clearly defective, and he clearly explained why. Perfectly in fact - in the manner that he always explains things. Love his videos.
However, whenever I run into a defect problem like this, be it auto parts or any thing else, I learned years ago not to say more than I need to. I never tell them that I tried to install it or use it. I just clean it up, put it back in the box, request an RMA. Only say that part is defective, point out the defect if it is not obvious, and ask for replacement parts or money back. If they want to know more about how I found the defect, or how the parts failed, they can ask. Never give them a chance to pin it on you.
Unless you are dealing with a local parts supplier that knows you well and you have done business with many times before, less is more when describing what is wrong when claiming a warranty.
Allll they had to do was take it back and give you a new one and finish the threads on the first one and put it back in inventory. And they ruined their reputation by going the other direction lol.
I have a friend who fitted an MFactory LSD and he ended up removing it because it made clucking noises all the time and he also raced this Civic and said the car was slower than when he had the open wheeler diff fitted. I was so glad I didn't jump on the bandwagon when they made this diff available for our 1st gen Civics (73-79).
I got a Fram filter that had oversize threads. I didn’t notice it when I installed it and it fell off down the road!
They sent it off knowing it was f#cked and hoping the customer at the other end would just give up and figure it out for themselves,shameful business practice.
And this video has solidified my decision to not buy a Mfactory LSD.
Welcome back @ETCG1
That's too bad! Loved the helical I bought from them for my E46!
Yeah, that's not cool. They automatically blame you and then make you pay to return it, smh. I have an Mfactory LSD in my B series car, luckily didn't have any issues. But this will for sure make me consider other options in the future. Hope someone honest and deserving ends up with the diff.
Every couple weeks we get the wrong part in a box with the correct P/N on it, or a monthly error in the automated parts system from a MAJOR auto parts supplier.
Had a similar defect on an exhaust header and J pipe for my 92 Civic. I'm not going to even try with customer service. Thankfully I was still able to use the stock one until I can save up enough to try again.
Hi Eric,
I have a B-series swapped Prelude here in Japan and am looking for an LSD, thank you for the warning- looks like Wavetrack or KAAZ might be the way to go.
@ETCG1, good to see you ended up with a good product that works Eric! Kudos to the viewers who reached out and to Wavetrac! It's sad that some companies will try to put the responsibility for "QC" on the customer rather than the people they're supposed to be PAYING for "QC"... It makes me wonder if some of them like Mfactory decided that "QC" no longer meanrs "Quality Control" but "Quit Checking", lol. Anyway, great idea to pass that on to someone who needs it!
So, their lack of Quality Control is supposed to be negated by the bold header: "Check Parts for Defects Before Installing"...? Nope, it doesn't fly with me either. They should QC inspect every part before it goes out the door, regardless if it's manufactured the Wednesday before Christmas, or not.
Thank you very much for the heads up Eric. I've had similar experiences like this before and it sucks balls...
UNACCEPTABLE! MFactory picked the wrong person to mess with! I feel that you're in the right from the beginning of this fiasco, and MFactory should've just followed through on their warranty service instead of trying to cover their collective arse. "All this could've been avoided..."
sadly as he showed he did not pre inspect... gotta read.. vw dealer was charging me for break fluid change on new car..I read car manuel to them It was free first time..I was the only customer to ever get it for free.. not nice..
I service neighbors cars. oil change was done filled engine started looked at engine oil was spraying into my cabinet.. Fram filter had a hole, painted over .. what a mess.. kitty litter galore.. No quality control.. went back to store cashier wasnt surprised.. I do it for free what a kick in the arse.
I think that’s customer service for most businesses these days. Crap products and crap service. That’s the world’s motto in 2023.
I own an older gen Integra, i doubt i could use the diff. But ill definitely take the info, and pass it along. Im also an Acura tech, and proud PACT graduate, I know plenty of Honda folks. We'll spread the word far and wide. Mistakes happen, absolutely, no one is perfect, but you cant let that get out the door and try to pass it as acceptable to the customer. Sad to see.
Welcome back
sweet outro!
Happy father's Day!
What symptoms were you experiencing with the original Type R differential prior to it not working?
Thanks for this video. I went with Wavetrac, it comes with a lifetime and transferable warranty.
Unbelievable. A lot of these companies take their customers for granted these days, with no show of remorse for their screw-ups. It's not until they screw over a guy like you with a huge following, and subsequently get put on blast on social media, do they change their tune.
We appreciate you, Eric. Sucks you had to deal with that, but the rest of your followers are better for it now that we are warned.
Sorry for your bad experience. Thank you for the heads up.
Ah man, that is rough. Sounded like a huge hassle of working with a product that didn't go through good quality control and then having to deal with the "customer service" trying to get the warranty. So much time was wasted, plus the 77 bucks that you've never got back for the shipping. By the way, awesome Type R outro sound!
That is so weird Eric, I have used Syncrotech in the past and never had any issues…I don’t blame you for cutting ties with them. They lost a customer they could’ve gained a bunch from. Forget about them!
I don't do honda stuff too often so I have no experience with MFactory...but I'm sorry, the customer is responsible for inspecting THEIR parts, or the warranty is void? What? That is some downright shady BS, and a huge red flag that says "Hey there customer: our parts and QC are shit, but if you don't catch the mistakes yourself, good luck!"
Yeah, you made the right call. What an awful way to treat a customer.
I'm glad it worked out for you! Cheers!
I’m glad you took a stand against a shit product and a shittier company. Customer service and being fair are the ultimate success in any business. The customer is not always right, but when a buisiness screws up, own up to the mistake, apologize, and make it right. 10 times out of 10, that will always retain the customer’s good faith and loyalty.
Their loss.