I thought a while before posting this, but I feel that I need to get this off my chest. I do not want to turn this into a trash talking thread either, but after receiving screwed up info and parts several times, I felt that my story had to be told.

My experience with Alta started about three months ago when I purchased my 05 MCS. I spoke with a sales rep (won't mention any names here) and ordered their 15% pulley, belt, and colder plugs according to their recommendations. I also rented one of their pulley removal tools. I installed everything with the help of a professional and found out later that month during a dyno run that the belt was slipping because it was too long for the reduced pulley and that the spark plugs made my car miss-fire. I contacted Alta, but they did not seem to care too much about my problem nore did they offer to replace the parts. I went to a local auto parts store, purchased another belt and plugs and spent several hours fixing this problem.

2 months after my initial purchase, I still did not receive a refund for the pulley rental tool. I contacted Alta several times. At first they stated that they did not receive the pulley tool back from me, but I was able to provide tracking info and they agreed to reimburse me. Several weeks later I still did not receive a refund even though I was told that it had been submitted serveral times. I finally gave up and told them to send me a pair of springs for the money they owed me.

Before I installed the springs, I contacted their tech line to find out exaclty what I would need to remove the OEM springs and they told me that it could be done with one person and no spring compression tool was required. I discovered after I removed the front springs that there was no way to remove the springs without a spring compression tool and had to make arrangement to borrow one which was a huge inconvenience. I finally got the springs installed and they seem fine.

Again, I don't want to turn this into a trash talking thread, and I do have to say that their products seem to be pretty good quality. I am just very disappointed in their customer service and tech support. Their mis-information has cost me additional money and work.

Due to this, I will not be ordereing Alta parts anymore and will not recommend them to any MINI owner in the area. There are plenty of other, quality vendors out there that want our business.

 

Thank you for your time sharing this event. This is just the type of thing that can happen to an consumer out there and then they almost feel like the bad guy for saying anything. I however look for being treated well from a company that takes my money.

I think your post was full of facts, and to the point. There was no trash talking at all. I'm glad I read your post, I just bought a 05' MCS this past Tuesday and was looking at Alta for my mods. I'll have to rethink my plans. I live in the Puget Sound and if this had happened to me, I would have drove the two hours south and done a face to face in one big hurry!

I hope you have smooth driving from here on, it's the last thing you need to have further problems with your car.

Regards

 

Thanks brother! I agree that customer service is very important as you want to feel like the company cares about their customers. Take a look look at the other NAM vendors on here, I have nothing but good things to say about them.

 

Sorry you shared the bad customer service as well. Unfortunately They make excellent parts and lots of people simply cannot believe ALTA would ever step on customers toes heck when I complained I was rather looked down upon. It happens more than most will admit.
If you want your parts you can get your parts cheaper and get excellent service from other retailers like jscspeed, I wont say they are the best, but simply no complaint and they price match. Adam at ALTA tends to try to be a problem solver, however since you are one of many to complain about customer relations perhaps they should look internally for solutions. You know be proactive. Unfortunately many think Alta walks on water and turns water into wine, IN ADDITION to making good parts Before anyone responds angrily, I like ALTA parts, just not the factory direct team.

 

I agree that the problem seems to be internal management. The parts are good quality, and the people seem to be nice on the phone, but the process in place seems to be broken. Adam can jump from fire to fire taking care of things, but until the internal process changes, this is going to keep happening to many customers. I thought twice about posting this, but I am "glad" to see that I am not the only one who feels this way. Maybe Alta can use this intel to make some positive changes.

 

i duno bout customer service,but the product quality i dun think is tat great,i was jus wippin my rear alta control arm n paint came off alreadi,i was wippin it wif a towel n wipe it off gently,the ball point joint is gettin brown alreadi,i assume is rust,u may say where i live or where i drive or how long i hv it on can cause this,but i jus got it install like last month and is not snowin here so there is no salt,so the control arm shud b fine imo,i dun expect it to b spankin new for more thn a year,but in one month,rust n paint comin off im kinda disapointed in the product itself,mayb other alta product is great but i guess not the control arm

 

Dude, what?

 

"hey thx for the purchase"!!!
days later..... "you want it fixed" ?
send it to us .....we'll check it out . lol welcome to the club . sry .

 

Sorry about the bad experience... I have to the belt and plug issue sounds valid.. But I was able to change out my front springs with out the use of compressor.. I required a second set of hands but it was easy enough...

Not to disagree with your points about gettting money back for the tool rental, which I did and kept the trackng number it was not worth putting a 100 or so bucks at risk.

I do have say that I have done a lot of Mods tom 05 MCS and really find that their products like the headers (which are awesome check out everyone elses and compare you will see the difference) and V2 Intercooler adn pulleys are fantastic quality.

Maybe someone had an off day.. We all have those..

Best of luck.

Mattias

 

wth umm is this english??

 

I guess some people mix up text messaging with forum posting

 

Basically, what he said is that he got Alta control arm about a month ago. And he was clening them and the paint was peeling of, then cleaned them later on and brownish rust was developing only after about a month.

 

Sorry, my wife is an english teacher

 

"I don't know about customer service, but as far as product quality...I don't think it is that great. I was just wiping my Alta rear control arms and the paint came right off already. I was wiping it gently with a towel and the ball joint is discoloring to a brown color already; I assume it's rust. Where I live or how I drive or how long I've had it on could cause this problem; but I've only had it installed for about a month, and lately it hasn't snowed nor is there salt in the road. In my opinion, the rear control arts should be fine. I don't expect it to be spankin' new after a year of use but I'm disappointed in the condition of the product it's in after a month of use. Maybe the other Alta products are great but the same can't be said for the control arms."

 

Thanx Dog, dat be da wai he shood be typin fo sho


I'm having too much fun with this, I'm going to stop now