Guess I will start at the top -
"I previously had all my parts bought through SDHQ and they were very expensive (marked up)"
You had bought parts through us, that is correct. The parts that you purchased were the same price in our store as you would find them on line at other places. The prices were not "marked up" over what you would get them for elsewhere.
"I didn't mind that very much but I expected to get what I was paying for."
Prices weren't higher and we gave you exactly what you were paying for. We also worked with you on all your issues with your parents credit cards and your limits.
"In the end the shop time took much longer than projected"
The time frame of this job was longer because of the parts you brought in for us to install along with the paint that was needed to be done. We had the front bumper, front suspension and rear bump stops done in a day. What took extra time was fitting your roll pan, rear "bumper guard" and the time it takes for a body shop to paint the parts you wanted done. Before you dropped off the truck you understood that we did not do paint and body work in house and that we would be send these parts out. That being said, we still had the truck done and ready for pick up before you made it back to the states after your trip home to Canada.
"and cost much more than was anticipated."
The cost of the front bumper, front and rear suspension was to the dollar what you were quoted when you dropped off your truck. The only variable was the rear roll pan and "bumper guard" you dropped off. We explained to you that we charge by the actual amount of time it takes us to install these parts. We charged you for 6 1/2 hours of shop time for trimming and fitting the rear roll pan, rear "bumper guard" install, wiring for the rear license plate lights, and r&r of the other body parts you asked us to get painted.The 6 1/2 hours that we charged was very fair, and in fact less time than that was spent on that but not billed to you.
"I also bought many suspension parts there and as I was new to this whole long travel stuff I didn't know much about the difference between the brands."
We spent a lot of time with you in person, on the phone and in the +++ different emails back and forth making sure you did not have any questions or concerns about the parts your were asking about. We also explained that you were not getting long travel but rather getting a more controlled suspension. You ended up purchasing coil overs, alignment cams, upper control arms and tie rods in the front. In the rear you opted for a rear bump stop kit. Later on you picked up rear bypass shocks and Deavers.
"I was told total chaos and camburgs UCA were 'exactly' the same by the salesman"
During the question, answer and schedule portion of our interaction you wanted to run upper control arms but you did not want to spend the money on the Icon billet arms. We had two choices that were in your budget - Camburg or Total Chas. Both are great arms with no issues. During this time Camburg had taken their UCA's out of production to look at doing a less expensive arm so we were out of them as well as Camburg was out of them. What we told you is that they were both in your budget and the only two we would recommend other than the Icon arm.
"by that I thought they meant the same uniball 1.25" however it was not, the total chaos is a 1.0" and now is the weakest link in my suspension."
The Total Chaos arm does run the 1" uniball and the Camburg runs a 1.25" uniball. You are misinformed about that arm now being your weakest link, I can assume by the same person/shop who told you we were "too expensive". The size of the hardware that attaches the upper control arm to your spindle is the same size and same strength between the 2. The thought being that the 1.25" uniball is stronger that the 1" uniball is also false. The 1" uniball actually has a larger ultimate static radial load than the 1.25" uniball.
"Now I ordered gears through them (as no one nearby had them in stock besides SDHQ) and they told me I would be able to pick them up Monday l, I come in today and the salesman calls the warehouse to see if they got his email?! I told the salesman I needed them Monday because that is when my truck is getting work done to the front diff.......now that has to be delayed another day, which means My truck won't be able to go into the next shop by Wednesday, which means I will have to reschedule with the next shop and I will also have to pay for another day of rental car service. Why couldn't he have called them Thursday when I spoke to him or even Friday?"
You called and spoke to Louis Monday or Tuesday and asked him how long it would take to get gears for your truck, we didn't have your ratio in stock and he told you about 1 week. You did not order them at that time. You called back on Friday and spoke with Jason and you ordered gears at that time with him. He told you we would have them in the beginning of next week and he would call you as soon as he had them in his hands. You then showed up yesterday to pick up the gears you ordered on Friday that we did not call you about.
Also not sure why you all of a sudden have such a negative vibe towards SDHQ... After the work was done we followed up with you and you wrote us this-
Subject: Re: Dunes!
From: will vida <
[email protected]>
Date: Tue, November 05, 2013 11:57 am
To: "
[email protected]" <
[email protected]>
It was fantastic! Only went for about 2 days but so incredible, however it was insanely busy so I never really could max out the raptor in the popular areas in fear of hitting one of the millions of little kids on quads. That being said it performed exceptionally. I even at one point took a nasty nose dive (at low speed) and smoked the nose of my truck and incredibly only dented the top skid plate (so big ups, that bumper is tough as all hell). I do have some questions about the shocks however. First off they make a sort of hollow noise when I really hit a big bump, is that a concern or is that just the bumpstop or the shocks doing what they're supposed to. Also the shocks heated up immensely, I was driving for maybe 7-12+ hours with few breaks so I'm wondering if that's healthy or maybe if I'm just abusing them. Anyways it was incredible and I constantly was asked where I got my work done and can say I proudly told them it was through you guys. Great work, I very rarely saw any other trucks venturing where I did and when they did 9 times out of 10 they were struggling and I flew by them (except for those insane pre runners and other much more heavily modified trucks). I can't tell you how many times I had to sit around and wait for the other trucks to catch up. Thank god I went to you guys because if it weren't for all the suspension goodies there's no way a total newb like me could have lasted out there.
\XX/