Not Happy w/ BLOWSION!!!

[motojunkie96]

Gonna have to say, right now I am less than impressed with Blowsion. Back in June, I sent in a handlepole bracket (the old style 1/2" solid chunk of billet aluminum) from my RN SJ that had bent where the handle pole fits into it, and thus could not get my new stock handlepole to fit into the bracket. The two tabs had bent in towards the center. I called John at Blowsion and told him what was going on, and he said to send it in and they would get it taken care of.

If I may quote from their web page about their claim about this product: "Will not break or bend- Guaranteed !" and "Precisely machined from a chunk of billet aluminum (not welded steel like other brackets on the market), this piece will not break or bend.....There is not a lower bracket out there that performs this well and comes with an unbreakable guarantee !"

That being said, I went ahead and gave them a credit card to get the bracket sent so I would not be without a bracket at any point in time. After receiving the new bracket, I sent in the old one. A week later I called to confirm that my old bracket had made it there, and it had. Never heard anything back, period. Now, 3 months later, I see I have still never got a credit back nor have been contacted. I inquire as to why this is. I am told that due to having worn out pole bushings, that continual tightening of the bolt and nut caused the bracket to bend as it did. Thus, they will not cover it under warranty, but will give me a $50 good will credit and offered to send me back the old one, but that's it (but he did offer to buy me a beer or redbull at Pismo if I make it out there) - regardless, I'm out $259.

However, I find it very hard to believe that I was able to bend a solid chunk of 1/2" billet with a hand ratchet drive so bad that I could not install my new handlepole (and no, I never used a cheater bar to tighten anything down). I have wrenched for way too long on too many different things to believe that brute force from my right arm on a regular ratchet would bend a solid chunk of billet.

So basically, I'm just miffed that they make the claims like they do on their website and then I am told that this does not apply to me. My theory is, don't make a such a robust claim and guarantee and then not back it up.

Am I wrong to be pissed?

Thoughts & comments would be appreciated.

 

[John Dady]

Hello Paul- I would like to clarify to our detractors here that you originally called to return a "broken" pole bracket. As I do with all warranty requests, in order to get you back on the water immediately (remember you wanted a new one next day air?) I told you we could bill and send you a new one for now and credit you back after we review your "broken" bracket and confirm the product failed.

As you can see from the attached pictures, 1) this bracket was not broken, nor did it fail 2) it was torqued down numerous times w/o replacing the handelpole bushings (1/16th- 1/8th inch wear rings in the aluminum are pretty evident) 3) it is an early design "SOLID" bracket (integrated -not bolted upright sections) that has not been offered by us in over 4 years.

Forgive me for maybe not taking this request of yours serious enough. After seeing the bracket you returned first hand I presumed you were kidding when you referred to it as "broken" and needing warranty. You and the riders down there in Texas are very talented and qualified, so my assumption of "common sense" here was with that in mind. This is an obvious case of not maintaining a common wear item (handlepole bushings). The comments about our text saying unbreakable and unbendable also requires that same form of common sense.

With that said I have posted my actual reply to you below. As you can see I credited you 50.00 to your card (interesting you failed to mention that here in your post?), and also offered to send you the old one back as well. As you can see it is still worthy of use, (hardly broken). I will take that one step further and put it in a press and do our best to flatten the minimal stresses it has endured. If you want your "unbroken" bracket back, feel free to return the new one I sent you for a full refund. (less the 50.00 already credited).

Let me know via reply direct to my email address at john.dady@blowsion.com what your wishes are.
Thank you,
John Dady
President
Blowsion

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Blowsion
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 3:08 PM
To: 'Paul Wallace'
Subject: RE: Need Charge for Handlepole Bracket Credited Back

Hi Paul- attached is a 50.00 "good will" credit.
The bracket you sent back was not broken as you said to me on the phone, but it had been run with worn out pole bushings and overtightened so many times that the pole bolt had stressed the uprights.
Replacing pole bushings will have kept this from happening. This is the first bracket we have ever gotten back in this condition, so you must have been really hammering on that pole bolt and nut.

Let me now if you want the old one back. It is on display in the Blowsion Abuse hall of fame here.
If you are going to Havasu or Pismo (links below) I will buy you a beer or red bull.
Cheers,
John Dady
President
www.Surfslam.com
www.ijsba.com

 

[motojunkie96]

Interesting that I failed to mention the credit you gave me in my original post, huh? You might wanna go back and re-read it. I will never fail to leave out any details if I am going to post something like this. Also, the first time I talked to you, I NEVER referred to the bracket as "broken", I said it was bent - the two are very different. I told you exactly what was going on with it and your exact reply to me was "Send it in and I guess I'll either have to buy you a beer or curse you..."

The thing that amazed me the most was that I was never contacted regarding the final outcome. No phone call, no e-mail, nothing. I can understand a couple weeks, but months go by without any word. Why does the customer have to be the one to do the follow up work?

I suppose I was wrong to make any assumptions on a warranty. To me, bent is bent. With any industry that I have been in, if we offered a warranty, we stood behind it. No matter if it was our fault, the customers fault, or a mix of the two - it was our good name and reputation that was riding on the line, and to us, customer service was our #1 priority. It may have cost us a little time and money, but maintaining a lifelong customer and having a good reputation was our goal.

Finally, I appreciate the offer to send me my old bracket back and to return the new one. However, after all this, I just don't feel like dealing with anything else. I will cut my losses and move on. Best of luck to y'all at Havasu and Pismo.