In September of this year (2020) I had my mechanic order 4 Koni shocks for my 2003 Mini Cooper S. While he was installing them he noticed that one of the shocks was bad. He contacted ECS Tuning, who he had bought them from, and was told to contact Koni since they did not stock them. So he contacted Koni and was told they would send him a replacement shock and then he could return the defective one. That was the end of it. ECS keeps telling him to contact Koni and Koni won't return his call's or his text messages.

I called ECS but they won't talk to me since I didn't purchase the shocks, and Koni just won't respond at all, by text message, calls or email. I have been driving around on 3 new shocks and one old one waiting for this to be resolved. I'm really disappointed in and fed-up with both ECS and Koni. I'll never again deal with either of them. I would have posted this onECS's and Koni's website's but I guess they don't want negative feed back.

 

Koni customer service
Another reason I won't buy or recommend Koni.

 

Cool story.

Basically, you're a shop's customer trying to deal about a warranty issue with the company that sold the shock to the shop. It's not bound to go well with anyone to be honest, you have no bills with them, only with the shop. In a lot of case, for parts and what not, it's stated to contact the company itself for warranty issue and not the seller. If Koni isn't honoring their warranty, well... that's on Koni.

 

Did you specifically request the shop get you koni's or was this just one of the options offered by the shop?

Think of it more like did you bring the part in to have installed or did the shop make the markup and the labor. If the shop took on the project and sold at full retail, it is on them to get koni to refund or replace, not you. So they should order the new part, install it and bill koni and have a happy customer.

If they did you a favor and did not mark up the part, then you need the receipt and take koni to small claims court.

Of course you can try a complaint with BBB or consumer reports or other agencies. If koni has a facebook or twitty you can try those places.

I have had great luck with Koni, but never any warranty issues. So this is most definitely going to affect any future considerations. And if you let them know you will be sharing your experiences on the webulator, well, that may not be good business to leave you hanging like this.

 

I asked the shop to buy the Koni's and they sold them to me at cost. All I've paid for up to this point is labor. I've made several attempts to contact Koni with out any success. I plan on buying a single shock to replace the defective one. After that I'm done with Koni.

 

If it were me, I live in Cincinnati, I would be personally showing up to their North American hq in Hebron KY and having a bit of chat. But then again that’s me and I’m 30 minutes away. The more I hear about them, the more I want to go with someone else. But I do have to say I’ve been in a couple of minis on Koni yellows and they handled great. Seems like luck of the draw here.

 

I had a set of Koni Yellows on my wife's older Mazda5, and they rode fantastic when new. After almost exactly 1 year, the rears blew their blood all over the driveway. Upon removal, the shaft had corrosion spots, which then proceeded to destroy the seals. I called Koni customer service, sent them pictures, and they wouldn't honor warranty without having them sent in for determination - even after the customer service person that saw the pictures agreed that the corrosion was the cause of the failure. Add to that, they flat out refused to cover in-and-out costs. They were replaced with KYBs. And, that was just one instance of my bad with them.

If someone has success with them, great. I refuse to use them again.

 

noted. Got time to think about it. Thank you.

 

Seriously, though, I would get Bilstein B6 if you plan on keeping OEM springs, or the B8s if you want lowering springs. Or, go full on adjustable coilovers.

 

If your mechanic was the one who purchased the shocks, then he should be the one dealing with the problems. Why doesn't the mechanic just buy another brand new shock in order to make things right with his customer (you), and then he can deal with the warranty issues with Koni/ECS?

It sounds like your mechanic is making you do all the work for a problem that is his..not yours.