- Location
- Duck River
I've had a bad experience with Nates 4x4 that should serve as a warning to anyone considering doing business with this guy. The short version is that he made a simple mistake that should have been easily and quickly corrected, but he will not respond to any telephone calls or e-mails attempting to resolve the problem, which seems to be part of a longstanding pattern of customer neglect.
Here are the details for anyone interested in knowing the complete story:
I called Nates on Friday October 7 to ask if they had any of the XJ rear bumper frame-rail tie-in brackets in stock and ready to ship. There was no answer, but I left a voice message. Receiving no response, I called again on Monday the 10th and spoke to someone I assume was Nathan or Nate himself. He told me he had the brackets ready to ship, so I told him I'd go ahead and place the order via the online order form form on his website, which I then did right after hanging up. I never received an order confirmation or any shipping information, which I thought was kind of unusual, but not really any cause for concern.
I received the brackets on Monday the 17th, which was pretty quick delivery from Michigan. So I was a happy Jeeper.
On Tuesday the 25th, I cut into the left-side frame-rail and was fairly well satisfied with the fitment of the bracket. Then I started working on the right side and noticed for the first time that Nates had sent me two left brackets. That wasn't a big deal to me. I understand that mistakes happen and I figured this mistake would be pretty easy to fix. I called Nates that day, just after noon Pacific time, which would have been just after 3 p.m. in Michigan. No one answered the phone, but I left a message explaining problem and asking for a returned call. I also explained that I was in a hurry to finish my project and that I'd appreciate a prompt response. That message went unanswered.
I called again on Wednesday. There was no answer and the voice mailbox was full and not accepting messages. Same on Thursday.
Also on Wednesday, I sent an e-mail via the "contact us" feature on the Nates 4x4 website. That message bounced back without having been delivered for this stated reason: "Email rejected per DMARC policy for yahoo.com (G15) (in reply to end of DATA command)." When I saw the failure send notification, I sent an e-mail to "[email protected]" that read as follows: "Nathan: [¶] left a voice mail for you on Tuesday. Now your voice mailbox is full. [¶] You sent me two left tie-in brackets. I need a right side bracket. Please call me ASAP and let me know when I can expect a right side bracket to ship. I need to finish this job and reattach my bumper ASAP. [¶] Thanks." I also provided my name, email address, shipping address, and phone number. I include the full text of the message here so that anyone reading it can see that I was not yet taking an aggressive tone and that I was still trying to resolve the situation amicably. That e-mail did not bounce back, but has gone unanswered.
I called again on Friday October 28 at 9:14 a.m. Pacific time and left another message, with a less friendly and understanding tone. No response.
I called again yesterday morning and left a pretty angry message, and then called back just a few minutes later and left a message demanding a refund because I'm just thoroughly fed up.
This behavior by Nathan, sticking his head in the ground rather than dealing with customer service issues is nothing new. Its been the subject of at least one thread on
, and has been complained about on other forums as well. Here's a link to the the thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1011254. And here's a link to another forum on which a user compiled and posted a list of similar complaints: http://www.militaryjeepers.com/community/archive/index.php/t-11650.html. I actually looked at some of these discussions before ordering from Nates, but I noticed that the complaints were pretty old and figured he had cleaned up his act. Alas, he hasn't changed. As far as I'm concerned, at this point, he's provided nothing of value to me for my money and is no better than a thief.
I paid by credit card and have initiated a claim with the credit card issuer. Nate will either have to respond to them or risk being denied merchant credit card services. I'm betting that he'll respond.
Here are the details for anyone interested in knowing the complete story:
I called Nates on Friday October 7 to ask if they had any of the XJ rear bumper frame-rail tie-in brackets in stock and ready to ship. There was no answer, but I left a voice message. Receiving no response, I called again on Monday the 10th and spoke to someone I assume was Nathan or Nate himself. He told me he had the brackets ready to ship, so I told him I'd go ahead and place the order via the online order form form on his website, which I then did right after hanging up. I never received an order confirmation or any shipping information, which I thought was kind of unusual, but not really any cause for concern.
I received the brackets on Monday the 17th, which was pretty quick delivery from Michigan. So I was a happy Jeeper.
On Tuesday the 25th, I cut into the left-side frame-rail and was fairly well satisfied with the fitment of the bracket. Then I started working on the right side and noticed for the first time that Nates had sent me two left brackets. That wasn't a big deal to me. I understand that mistakes happen and I figured this mistake would be pretty easy to fix. I called Nates that day, just after noon Pacific time, which would have been just after 3 p.m. in Michigan. No one answered the phone, but I left a message explaining problem and asking for a returned call. I also explained that I was in a hurry to finish my project and that I'd appreciate a prompt response. That message went unanswered.
I called again on Wednesday. There was no answer and the voice mailbox was full and not accepting messages. Same on Thursday.
Also on Wednesday, I sent an e-mail via the "contact us" feature on the Nates 4x4 website. That message bounced back without having been delivered for this stated reason: "Email rejected per DMARC policy for yahoo.com (G15) (in reply to end of DATA command)." When I saw the failure send notification, I sent an e-mail to "[email protected]" that read as follows: "Nathan: [¶] left a voice mail for you on Tuesday. Now your voice mailbox is full. [¶] You sent me two left tie-in brackets. I need a right side bracket. Please call me ASAP and let me know when I can expect a right side bracket to ship. I need to finish this job and reattach my bumper ASAP. [¶] Thanks." I also provided my name, email address, shipping address, and phone number. I include the full text of the message here so that anyone reading it can see that I was not yet taking an aggressive tone and that I was still trying to resolve the situation amicably. That e-mail did not bounce back, but has gone unanswered.
I called again on Friday October 28 at 9:14 a.m. Pacific time and left another message, with a less friendly and understanding tone. No response.
I called again yesterday morning and left a pretty angry message, and then called back just a few minutes later and left a message demanding a refund because I'm just thoroughly fed up.
This behavior by Nathan, sticking his head in the ground rather than dealing with customer service issues is nothing new. Its been the subject of at least one thread on
, and has been complained about on other forums as well. Here's a link to the the thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1011254. And here's a link to another forum on which a user compiled and posted a list of similar complaints: http://www.militaryjeepers.com/community/archive/index.php/t-11650.html. I actually looked at some of these discussions before ordering from Nates, but I noticed that the complaints were pretty old and figured he had cleaned up his act. Alas, he hasn't changed. As far as I'm concerned, at this point, he's provided nothing of value to me for my money and is no better than a thief.I paid by credit card and have initiated a claim with the credit card issuer. Nate will either have to respond to them or risk being denied merchant credit card services. I'm betting that he'll respond.
