Thanks for the offer Adam. In the future, I will contact you directly if I have a problem with Alta parts. Contrary to my rants regarding customer service, I say nothing but good things about your products to anyone who asks

 

Thanks!

Adam

 

I offered to overnight the part to Alta, if they would repair it and overnight it back (because they had no new units for a simple replacement). That would have gotten it back here by Thursday (in time for the trip), and welding it in the field would not have been an issue. The only reason this was not done was that Alta didn't want to pay for overnight shipping on the return. In retrospect I suppose that I might have offered to pay for the overnight return shipping, too,


Whatever. I guess I should have asked when I called around "Hey, can you weld up an intercooler and pressure test it in 10 minutes for 20 bucks?"... I'd probably still be calling. I stood there and watched the guy who did weld it, who seemed to be reasonably skilled and well equipped, and I was there for well over an hour. I expect that he charges something for his materials, too. Guess this is just my week for being taken advantage of.

Dan

 

Dan,


I sympathize with you, but feel that some of your current situation has been brought on by yourself. You got the point where "you had to have it". Whenever you get to that situation you make split decisions that is a result of wanting it done very quickly. This ultimately leads you to spend extra money, because you are "just trying to get it done".

I would have ripped out the Alta, put back on the stock unit, and just sent the unit back. You can't let yourself get to the point where you have to have it right now.

I think Alta should have done a lot more, but as many posts have confirmed, they are often willing to do a little less to correct the problem (i.e. customer pay for express shipping, customer needs to return entire item....). Alta tends to put the customer through a little further inconvenience to correct their problems, instead of putting the inconvenience on themselves. At least that is the impression based on feedback left on the forums.

I don't think Alta is intentionally trying to promote bad customer service, I think it is just sloppy at times. I don't think you will have to much trouble with GSR Motorsports is concerned, at least with contacting them, since they are constantly posting on Mini2. Good luck with your resolution.

 

Just my additional .03 cents here:

Alta's statement of:
...is true. However, Speaking as someone who recently had to have a small aluminum weld job done...and "shopped" around for prices, not one shop would do it for less than a one hour minimum charge ($80). The shop owner even told me it was ~15 minute job, but if he had to stop other work for little 15 minute jobs all the time, he wouldn't make money. Any auto repair shop would also charge a minimum rate.

enough said. I guess the issue is now dead. Thank you Adam, for responding.

 

Adam- Since we are all bitchin' ...

I didn't even get an apology from Alta when you guys forgot to
include the bracket in my swaybar and I had to put my car back together
because of the missing part...had to do the work twice to get it working.

Outmotoring was a great sport and apologized for you, but I think
I really wanted that gesture from Alta.

 

Yep, I suppose that's all true, and probably would have been the smart thing to do. In retrospect, the smartest thing of all would have been to get my money back and buy the GSR or RDR part for a few hundred dollars less.

But can you see that you've expressed a viewpoint heard way too often these days in some form or another... "it's the customer's fault"? Yes I wanted it in a hurry for my trip, so for my part I spent 7 hours driving to Austin and bought the expensive Alta unit because it was the only one available in that time frame. How very unreasonable of me to think that a $1000 low production volume intercooler (which in reality is probably worth $500 in a competitive marketplace) might be serviceable out of the box (er, bag). So wouldn't you know, I was the unlucky one who got the "one in a million" (1 in 100? 1 in 2? 1 in 1?) part that was defective, and was completely untested/uninspected. OK, so it's only Tuesday morning... I need it by Thursday afternoon... still have time. The dealer or manufacturer doesn't have a replacement in stock, and won't for a few weeks. My fault, or poor production scheduling by the manufacturer? I offer to overnight it to them for repair (arrives Wednesday, "10 minutes to repair and test" per Alta, and they could overnight it back to arrive Thursday morning, right?). Nope, overnight express is too expensive for them... they'll only go for 2nd day (might as well be 2nd week in this case). My fault, or is Alta just unwilling to spend a few bucks to make this right (at this point I'm real happy that I spent $1000 for a part backed by their "superior customer service"). The only options left (assuming that I am still willing to keep the Alta at this point) are put the car back together with the stock intercooler, send the bad part to them, wait weeks for the part to arrive and for me to have time to deal with it again, tear the car apart again, (assuming they actually produced a good part this time) reinstall it, and be happy that Alta was so "responsive"... or just go get the thing welded. I did the latter, and since Alta apparently quotes welding jobs by watching "American Chopper" they're only willing to pay $20 for what is in reality a $75-100+ job. I apparently also get to pick up most or all of the the tab for this too since, after all, it's my fault that all this happened the way it did, right?

I travel (by air) almost constantly, and was really looking forward to taking the MINI out for a real drive after parking it at the airport almost continuously for the six months since I got it. I wanted to do this with the new intercooler. I was willing to spend the time, effort, and money to make this happen. Alta had the opportunity to really shine and distinguish themselves (and in part justify their higher prices) after their mistake with outstanding customer service, or fold their arms and blame me because of my unrealistic expectations. For the most part, they did the latter.

If you think I brought all this on myself and that I'm to blame, well, we'll just have to disagree on that point.

Dan

 

GoodolDan: I just wanted to point out again that we were willing to pay the 2nd day Air charges on the I/C. I agree this would have missed your trip, but you would have a fully inspected and warrantied part. Warranty repair items are generally shipped ground and we stepped up strongly to expedite this repair for you. Looking at the price you paid you coul dhave spent significantly less and paid the difference between the 2nd day air and the next day air to get it on time. Again, our mistake for putting it in the box in the state it was in. We do appreciate your business and hope now that the item will perform, and appear the way it was intended to from the start. Keep my number handly for any other ALTA Performance purchases or concerns.

Dgsweda1: Your assertion that we do "a little less to correct the problem" and ask that customers to return part of the item or the entire thing. That in many cases benefits the customer. If we take an item back we may find other issues in with the finish or performance that the customer didn't notice initially. We will then replace it with a brand new, updated and improved version. Plus we want to help every ALTA customer as best as possible. Don't post here without calling or e-mailling us directly first. Give us an opportunity to impress you with customer service before assuming a lack in the service we provide. Very rarely does a customer ever mention in bold letters how good any experience was. We ALL gripe (myself included) about bad experiences with any company or product.

As always folks keep me posted.

Side note: If anyone would like to start a separate thread in specific about ALTA customer service and our products I will answer any and all concerns there instead on the end of a intercooler complaint post. We want to resolve any issues!

Adam
ALTA Performance

 

Kenchan,

Again, let me and MY staff know of the problem with a part missing in packaging. If we don't know we can't help. We would have certainly apologized for any inconvenience. I am glad that Out Motoring took care of the problem promptly for you.

Also, note check the content of any box from any company to verify items crutial to install have not been lost in shipping, at the retailer or from a (now former) inept ALTA employee. Again, we all make mistakes and we want to resolve any issues. If I can help further let me know. Thank you for your ALTA purchases.

Adam
ALTA Performance

 

Alta,

If I spent that much on a defective part and then you required me to pay to ship to you, I would never buy from you again! You should have been willing to give Good 'Ol Dan an account number to ship to you. Why should he have to pay any shipping at all! Your $20 allowance is a joke.

 

Dan,

I can completely understand your frustration as did Jeff in our technical staff.

Again, I do NOT want to throw Terry Sayther or yourself under the bus. However, they (Terry Sayther) did not have an item in retail packaging. (You mention the item was in a bag. The item is shipped in a box. Wrapped in foam. Insulated with expansion foam and each piece is wrapped in plastic bags to prevent damage between the parts.) Because this was an "open box" buy any complaints about missing items should be directed to the retailer. If you had purchased it from us (not saying you should have too) it would have come as described above. Again, you were anxious (also acceptable) to get the part and you chose to buy it out of the box anyway. Knowing that the item did not include the sprayer, instructions, etc.

You keep saying we did nothing to help. We offered 2nd day air shipping on a warranty item both ways. We also offered to 2nd day air out a complete replacement when they came back from production (today). If it was not for your hurry to get going on your trip we could have replaced this in a more than timely fashion. I hate to bring this up but Sony would not Next Day Air you a replacement TV if the one you purchased (that you understood was missing the owners manual, power cord etc. when you bought it READ: Not in retail packaging) had an undiscovered problem a day later! Even if you drove 7 hours to get the TV. Instead they would offer to pay for a local repair person to go out to your home to repair the TV in a reasonable amount of time (much the same as our monetary offer for a repair). Truly I am not trying to offend but where do we draw a line as to what is unacceptable customer service?

Please give me a call today or provide a daytime number where I would be happy to discuss further.

Again thanks to all!

Adam
ALTA Performance

 

I think something got lost here. We DID offer to ship the item both directions 2nd Day Air. We could call tag or have him use our account number. He chose to attempt a local repair for a cash amount not us.

Adam
ALTA Performance

 

As with any story there's always at least two sides. Now after hearing both sides of the story, I'm utterly ashamed of the responses from Alta. This guy should get a full refund directly from ALTA and reibursements for time and effort to resolve the issue. Heck, Alta shouldn't even require him to send in the defective part after issuing a refund. At this point, I see this as the only good avenue for repairing ALTA's corporate image...that is if they're so interested in doing repairing their image...

 

We offered to replace the part. Terry Sayther offered to return his money and/or get him a replacement. At no point did any employee of either Terry Sayther or ALTA ever dis-allow a return for cash. (Obivously a part purchased at a retailer needs to be returned to the retailer not to ALTA.) Your assertion that we should give GoodolDan a $1000 check and he keeps the part is ludicrous!

Comments like this are obvously meant to poke and tarnish our image. As I mentioned in a reply before: Please start an ALTA gripes thread. Send me a link to adam@altaminiperformance.com. We are happy to address any and all issues. I also welcome happy and satisfied customers to post as well. We sell literally thousands of parts worldwide every month. As mentioned before we are human, we make mistakes and we correct them in a timely fashion. Also, they need to mentioned to us when they happen. If you purchase a product from our retailer and you have a problem. Let us both know. Send e-mail to sales@altaminiperformance.com or tech@altaminiperformance.com at the same time you e-mail the retailer. This way we can be involved in helping out and not be blamed for retailer or shipping related issues.

Adam
ALTA Performance

 

GoodOlDan's original post was on Metroplexmini.org and is a fellow club member here in Texas. Your first response was that he had to pay to ship it to you and Alta would pay to ship it back to him. This should not have been your first response! He should not have to incurr any additional expense for a defective very expensive intercooler from Alta.

 

Because of his traveling schedule, Alta could have avoided a tarnished image if you would have quickly agreed to overnight the part both ways. I have sure this would have been cheeper than turning off potential customers.

 

I just have to mention how much Alta's responces to this incident are in line with the B.S. some of us (I myself) have gotten from BMW service depts. and managers. it figures.

 

I have worked in a heavily customer service based area for almost 7 years straight (since I was 15). The way that Alta has handled this problem is probably exactly what I would have done if I were in their shoes, and PROBABLY what many of you would have done were you in their shoes.

Now, it was Alta's mistake to begin with and they know and accept the blame for that. They made a good offer to have the item repaired and sent back within 4 days! Keep in mind that Terry Sayther (and so I am assuming Dan also) are in Texas and Alta is in Oregon.... to get a part from Texas to Oregon, repair it, then send it back from Oregon to Texas within 4 days is pretty damn impressive. Now everyone is saying "they should have offered overnight service". Why? Does anyone know how much overnight service for a package of this size would be from Texas to Oregon and then back??? I think that it is completely rediculous that anyone would even demand that! I understand you are in a rush to get your product that SHOULD have been completely installed already back to you and installed in time for your trip, but Alta has already given you a few options to chose from.

There is one thing however that I do disagree with. If Alta was willing to pay 2nd day air both ways from Texas to Oregon and back, I think that they should have picked up more of the price of the local weld job. It is afterall their mistake, but they should not have to pay a ton extra because the customer is in a rush to get this done. They had already made a great offer of having it completed within 4 days, but this wasnt good enough. In this case I would think that since Dan wanted it done immediately, Alta should have paid the equivalent to what shipping would have costed had they paid for it 2nd day air 2 ways, which I looked up and it would be roughly $25 each way.

Thats my .02.

 

I would also like to add that Alta even OFFERING 2nd day air is more than most companies would do!

 

Alta,

Are you going to reimburse Good Ol Dan that actual cost to repair your defective intercooler? Or are you going to stick to your $20 joke?

 

We offered to fix, replace etc. This item. Where is the BS? Are we really supposed to fly an employee out to him with a new part?

If anyone can take the "I'm leaving on a trip" out of the equation; Did we do anything wrong with the offer to repair, replace or (Terry Sayther offered) to refund the purchase price? We offered expedited shipping both directions. Having been in business since 1996 I must have truly learned nothing about customer service. I just don't get it. I want to but I just don't get it.

Also, having sat here at my desk since 7 am local time, not one customer (including Dan) has called or e-mailled to discuss this or any other issue. If this is so serious why have I not seen any response?

Adam
ALTA Performance
503-643-4677 xt 203
adam@altaminiperformance.com

 

RLMINI, you are one of thoes guys who goes to a restaurant, sees a hair in HIS food, and demands that EVERYONE hes with gets a free meal arent you

 

Two things.

1) He chose to spend the higher amount beyond our offer. We should not have to bear that cost.

2) I do not have Dan's address. If he provides to us (or even a phone call) his address, we will cost out the exact shipping for the item for 2nd Day Air both directions (including insurance) and reimburse him that amount immediately.

Adam
ALTA Performance

 

What I think was the real BS on Alta's part was they DID NOT OFFER shipping both ways initialy. Dan was expected to pay one way freight to them! This is BS after spending $1,000. He should not have to pay even more to get what he should have had in the first place.

Alta, So we can assume you are sticking to the $20 to cover the cost of welding?

 

Dudes, we are talking about a cough, cough $1000.00 part here. I'm in Client Services myself and work for a Co. that charges Premium rates for the service we provide......OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS WHAT ALLOWS US TO CHARGE PREMIUM RATES AND KEEP CLIENT'S AT THE SAME TIME. take care all!