HID Warranty Issue

[TheJohnny]

Ok, on January 26 of 2004 i purchased a H4 HID kit from www.kwimports.com (http://www.kwimports.com). I have nothing but great things to say so far about Ken and his business. The kit came in great shape and looks awesome. I installed them and had trouble free use until about 2 months ago when the system crashed. I don't know if it was the balasts or the bulbs but nothing worked. Anyway I emailed Ken today, the 25th of January with the following:

My hids that I bought from you on Jan. 26, 2004 have stopped working. I know that you say there is a one year warranty on the parts, well this is cutting is close. I will be more then happy to send these back to you for your review. The entire unit stopped working, both lights. Plugged the factory bulbs back in and bingo, let me know what's up. I hate to just throw away $475 for nothing. You did state that there is a 1 year warranty and today is under that one year. Please understand that I would love to have this covered under warranty. These lights have been bad for over two months now and i just today found your info.

I'm hoping that Ken takes good care of me and these bulbs were awesome. I'll keep you all updated on Ken and on www.kwimports.com (http://www.kwimports.com) as to what happens. Perhaps this should of been in vendor review but it's an appearence option. Anyway, i'm hoping that Ken posts his own stuff on here.

Here is a blurb from his website:

~ Each kit includes : 2 Philips ballasts, 2 Philips Ulitinon D2S bulbs, wiring harnesses, relays, and instructions for a simple plug and play installation.
~ Current draw: 35 watts. Bulbs last 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
~ Our bulbs are not tinted or painted blue, nor will our harnesses melt like many of the cheaper brands.
~ We offer a 1 year warranty. Should the ballasts or bulbs ever stop functioning, simply return them to us and we will replace them. An incorrect installation or mishandling of the bulbs voids this warranty.
~ Not sure what bulb size? CLICK HERE (http://www.sylvania.com/auto/carapp)
~ Sizes available: H1, H3, H4, H7, 9004, 9006, 9007 : $494 with FREE DELIVERY and insurance
H4 hi/lo: $649 with FREE DELIVERY and insurance

[mspdfreak]

I would imagine the lights would have to be post-dated as being under the 1-year warranty. Why did you wait so long to contact them?

[TheJohnny]

I would imagine the lights would have to be post-dated as being under the 1-year warranty. Why did you wait so long to contact them?

I couldn't remember for the life of me what the name of the site was, nor could I find any paperwork. I was messing around with my paypal and saw that I could look back at old transactions and found it. My luck is that is that I waited to long, but I did contact them before the 1 year.

no response back yet, send about 6 total e-mails to two different e-mail addresses.

[goku4658]

g'luck mang!

[TheJohnny]

g'luck mang!

"Thanks so much, no word yet...."

[TheJohnny]

TWO days and nothing back yet, nothing at all, not even a 'NO'.

[TheJohnny]

nothing yet.... starting to think that the guy has shut down his business and didn't tell anyone. Starting to think business is a joke..... Ken, if your reading this please post something.

[mspdfreak]

Is your butt feeling a little sore? You may have been corn-holed in your sleep. Hope not, though.

[TheJohnny]

well i got a set of HID's that lasted me a year.....

[TheJohnny]

Ken with www.kwimports.com (http://www.kwimports.com) has yet to even respond to my requests for warranty info.......

[mspdfreak]

I met him this weekend...I took out both kneecaps and his left ear. G'luck!

[TheJohnny]

I met him this weekend...I took out both kneecaps and his left ear. G'luck!

Thanks, my family owes your family. Someday I shall return the favor and knock out someone you need. I am in Vegas, so the Vegas Mob is on my side.

[TheJohnny]

ok update on this. Some 8 days after I sent 5 e-mails inquiring about my warranty, this is what I got but first this is my response:


Ken, what the hell man, if you would of responded to me on the 25th when I sent you the e-mail and told me about having them prior to the 26th I would of fed-ex'd them to you overnight and this wouldn't be an issue and I would have my new bulbs and or ballasts right now and I would be a happy customer. But since you didn't respond to your e-mails in a timely manner I couldn't send them to you and hence I'm now fucked on my warranty. I did what I could to get a hold of you, I sent you 5 emails all on the 25th, which I have a copy of the date and time, and no response until now, some 8 days later from you. I think that I did my due diligence to get these taken care of via my warranty on time and it's you who didn't respond in a timely manner. If you would of responded on the 26th I would of same day fed-ex them to you. The cost of that compared to a new kit would of been nothing. I would of fed-ex'd them to you on the 26th and you would of had them that day. Dude, that's so messed up bro. I've spoken to many business owners that are on www.msprotege.com (http://www.msprotege.com/) that are in Cali about this and they believe that I did my due dilagence and that you should cover this. Let me know what we are going to do with this Ken.

John xxxxxx
702-xxx-xxxx
Call me and let's talk about this.

"Ken W." <ken@kwimports.com> wrote:

Hi John,

Sorry for the delay in response as we've been swamped. Wish you would have returned the kit to us prior to 1/26/05. If we had received the kit on the expiration date, we could honor it. The best we could do is offer you a discount on the bulbs or ballasts...whichever is faulty.

Thanks,

Ken

[TheJohnny]

If I get no response from him then this is what I"m going to do:

1st of all, even though I payed on the 26th I did not have physical custody of the part for at least 3 to 5 days after that. As such my warranty does not begin until I take receipt of the product from USPS. Also, I will be contracting the California BBB and notifying them of Mr. Kens business practice and do everything I can to have his license under review or even revoked for bad business. Then after that I will put him on the ban list for bad vendors here on the forum. Well that's all what could happen if things don't work out.

[mspdfreak]

Well, I wouldn't count on the BBB for much. What they'll do is file your complaint for three years. If he starts piling up complaints, then he could face sanction. Otherwise, it won't do much good. But really, you should have gotten in touch with him sooner. Good Luck!

[TheJohnny]

Well, I wouldn't count on the BBB for much. What they'll do is file your complaint for three years. If he starts piling up complaints, then he could face sanction. Otherwise, it won't do much good. But really, you should have gotten in touch with him sooner. Good Luck!

i couldn't, i couldn't remember the site that I got them from. It was only when I was searching my paypal logs did it all show up. By the way, possession of the product wasn't until at least 2 days after when I paid. I took physical custody of the lights roughly 2 days after i paid. So if he was a good businessman then he would of responded back the same or even next day and taken care of this.

If i do contact the BBB and he does have other complaints he could lose his business license. He fails to contact me for 8 days, what the fuck kind of business practice is that?

[Msp_guy]

well the one good thing is that indirectly you already trashed this guy's company. I mean even though its only one thread, word will get around MSP.com and eventually everywhere else. I, myself have already warned some guys on Nasioc, v-boards and i-club about this matter. So like I said word will spread. We don't all drive MSP's!

On the other hand i hope this work's out for the best. It would be good for both parties and it would show his potential clients that he's not a fucker!

[TheJohnny]

OK, update.... On Feb 2nd I e-mailed him one more time. Now, 8 days later I still haven't heard a thing. Do not buy from this guy or his company if you want the worst customer service. I would of been within my warranty time-frame if he would of responded in a timely manner. Perhaps he didn't want to respond so I wouldn't have a warranty. How was I supposed to know that if something was wrong with them that he had to have them in his possession. Anyway, i'm fucking pissed, out almost $500 bones. If anyone knows of this guy pass the word that he should do what's right and take care of me. I will be contacting the better business bureau in California to let them know of his business practices and I guess that's all I'm going to get.

Thanks to all for reading this. Beware of this guy and his company. www.kwimports.com (http://www.kwimports.com)

[TheJohnny]

oh yeah, nowhere on the website or in the box did it say must be sent back to him, i.e. in his hands at the 1 year mark... nowhere.

[TheJohnny]

update: Ken says that I was past my warranty period... read this:

Greetings John,

It is unfortunate that your warranty expired the day after you contacted us. However, we must receive the merchandise prior to warranty expiration which is why specific dates must be adhered to. As an accomadation, the best we can do is offer a replacement kit at wholesale cost.

We will correspond with the BBB accordingly.

Thanks,

Ken


*** so now I have responded and I'm hoping that the BBB will help with this ***
i have proof of my date of purchase and I'm sure I can track down proof of delivery from UPS if I need to. Does anyone work for UPS that could help me with this matter. The only thing I would have would be a home address and an approximate date of delivery.

Anyway, here's hoping for the best, and oh yeah, the BBB has been contacted and I"m sure that's the only reason Ken has contacted me back.

Oh yeah, sell me some lights at wholesale, that's customer service, not!

[TheJohnny]

Ok, I now have proof of date of delivery from UPS on January 29th at 2:30 p.m., and a tracking number if I need it.

[TheJohnny]

http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReport_Summary.aspx?CompanyID=100004039&sm=

Don't know if these links works or not, but since this guy didn't want to even respond to the BBB he gets an 'F' rating. Not something that you want with the BBB. Anyway, if the guy would of honored his warranty this wouldn't of happened to him. I feel some sort of justice now.

if anyone knows this guy let me know, i would like to know why he doesn't honor his warranty......

[Demonic-Speed]

I am glad to see you followed up with the BBB....

[TheJohnny]

I am glad to see you followed up with the BBB....

Yeah, it took awhile but the BBB finally gave his business a grade. They have tried to contact him numerous times and he doesn't want to work with them nor me, hence the grade of 'F'.

(fu) you KW IMPORTS.