Carpet - Jax vs. Car Motorsports

[ALBERTAN]

I am sitting here with samples from Car Motorsports and Jax, as well as a sample cut from my original carpet from under the console. I thought I'd post an unbiased comparison of the two products to help someone in the future doing a search trying to decide on which one to get (as I was a few weeks ago).

First the color match. The Jax carpet is a closer match than either the 1033 (Dark Blue) or 1019 (Lt. Blue) I received from Car. From a few feet away the Jax product is bang on, being just a hair darker. But then the carpet, even from under the console, is old and perhaps a bit faded. Both Car products are too dark. The Light blue is closer. But...the richness of the color with the Car products is much, much nicer than the Jax carpet. I'll post a follow up later today after I have a chance to lay the Car products in the car and see how it blends with the rest of my blue interior. I'm sure it's going to look off a bit, but I also think it's going to look in fact better than an original color match for all but the purist's restoration. I'll call the color a draw.

Next the texture and overall quality of the material. This is where the Car products stand out far and above the Jax. The pile on the Car products is close to twice as deep as Jax's. Pushing a finger into the carpet reveals the Car product to be more plush. The Jax carpet is glued to a rubberized plastic backing while the Car product uses a fabric backing making it much more flexible than Jax's. Jax's carpet is still more pliable than the thicker rubber backing on the stock carpet, so installation of either should be relatively easy as long as it's laid out beforehand to relax the creases. Not having a rubberized backing on the samples, Car's products allow water to leak through very easily. Definitely get the rubber backing on this carpet or your jute backing will be getting wet and moldy before long if you use it as a daily driver I would suspect. Keep in mind that we are now talking about one carpet set which is considerably more expensive than the other if that's an issue for you.

Now customer service. When you are mail ordering stuff, especially across an international border, this is a critical consideration. Jax's sample arrived instantly after I contacted them...I think it was maybe three days up to Canada. I waited and waited for Car's samples to arrive. I got sick of waiting and ordered from Jax. Finally, with my carpet and floormats on the way from Jax and sitting at Customs according to the tracking info, the Car samples have finally arrived. Maybe I am too impatient, but I don't have months to complete these transactions. When I want something I want it now, and Jax will deliver in this aspect. Maybe Car's customer service is the norm, but regardless Jax's is just that much better.

In conclusion, I think the Car Motorsports carpet is a richer looking product than the Jax carpet with the above noted issues. The color match to stock is closer with Jax. The water permeability of the samples from Car needs clarification. And if you do a search there are previous posts regarding Car Motorsports' customer service. In the end I am still happy I went with Jax even after seeing Car's samples.

I hope that spiel helps the next person looking for carpet.

 

[AsphaltAnihil8r]

Dean ,thanks for taking the time to post this,,I have 2 blue samples from CAR,,not sure if they are the same numbers as yours (1019,1033)

Curious what color you would choose now that you have all the samples,,I also have a Dark Blue T....just not sure which color I like the best..

Thanks Dennis

 

[AsphaltAnihil8r]

OK ,I have the same color samples,I like the 1033 better ,I think it has a richer (deeper) look to it...

Is your dash glove box door a different color than the dash,,my dash looks awesome but the door looks funky...is there a blue spray that will match the dash better....

 

[Phatman]

Good information Dean, here I thought I was just too impatient.
I know when my customer's call, they want service NOW! or they call someone else next time around...

 

[Alan Faircloth]

Carpet

Dean,

I hate to tell you this, but you don't have carpet samples. You have floor mat samples. Plus, those samples don't have all the backings on them that you find with the final product. They are JUST samples of the fibers and colors. Even our carpet samples aren't full production pieces with all the correct final production backings. So, while your comparison of samples would be correct as to what you have compared, your statements can't be attributed to the final product because the final pieces are nothing like the samples you have.

As far as customer service issues, samples (whether carpets or mats) are sent out within 24 hours of a request. However, we do run out of samples and occassionally have to wait for the supplier to send more. I'm not sure whether this was the case with you or whether its just a delivery thing. I do know that we recently got caught up in a squabble between the U.S. Post Office and a UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes etc.) where we drop off all our outgoing mail. It seems that the USPS returned a lot of mail to the store, including ours, because of their failure to fill out some required forms and pay a delivery fee as per a contract they had with that store (each store is franchised and has its own arrangements with the Post Office branches where located). I spent about 4 hours at the local PO branch in the manager's office and on the phone with people sorting this thing out. Suffice it to say, the USPS and I have reached a compensable arrangement to our satisfaction.

In any event, I don't recall any phone call from you inquiring about the MAT samples. We have a TOLL FREE number you can call so that you don't have to pay for the call. The samples were sent out First Class Mail and I do not have a clue what delivery times are to Canada. Did you check the time stamp on the envelope to see when sent? The receiving/originating post office stamps each piece of mail.

I'm not saying you didn't get your samples late, but what I do think is that your judgments regarding customer service are not accurate. Customer service would have come in when you called to say that you hadn't received them. At that point, we could have sent replacements via 2 day priority mail. Like I said, I do not recall ever receiving a call from you. BTW, for more info on customer service and products, why not visit ebay and read our feedback or visit our website and read our testimonials. I know about the other post from Bob Litzlbeck about a customer service issue he had with us. Granted, there were problems there, but in the end, he was sent 3 carpets and we gave him several items for free because of the problems. The point is that we continued with it until he was satsified with the product, including some gift items. I'd say we followed through with GREAT customer service. There's not many vendors that won't give up until the customer is happy. I know of many vendors that I've read about on this list who have FAR GREATER customer service issues AND sell crappy products than us.

If you like, I'll be glad to send you carpet samples so you can amend this post with a more accurate comparison of colors. However, as with the FLOOR MAT samples you have (1019 and 1033), they won't be complete final pieces with backing (we offer the polypropylene backing which is standard in the industry even on the Auto Custom Carpet sold by Jax AND a rubber backing for SUPERIOR heat and sound insulation). The samples are intended only to show fiber density and color. We have spent considerable amounts of time at the production facilities of both our carpet manufacturer and our mat manufacturer and could give you more information than you might want to know about these products, how they are made, what processes are involved, the production steps, the materials used, etc. Its rather interesting but perhaps not necessary to a decision on carpet.

Thanks and let me know on the carpet samples. Right now, I'm afraid that this post is VERY inaccurate.

Alan Faircloth
car@carmotorsports.com
www.carmotorsports.com
877-FOR-CARZ

 

[NEWCHAPTER]

Hi Alan can you send me a sample of Black for an 87 Grand National. thanks

 

[krom]

I ordered blue mats with a Buick logo for my Limited from Car Motorsports, they were delivered very fast and are very high quality.

 

[Alan Faircloth]

Absolutely

Originally posted by NEWCHAPTER
Hi Alan can you send me a sample of Black for an 87 Grand National. thanks

I will send you 3 samples. One sample of our OEM Plus carpet. One sample of our Premium Carpet (about 60% more plus than the OEM Plus). Finally, One sample of our Mat carpet.

Do I have your address? Just PM it to me.

Alan

 

[ALBERTAN]

Hi Alan,

I don't think that my original post is inaccurate at all. I e-mailed Car Motorsports the same evening as Jax requesting samples. It was you personally who mailed me back. I still have the posts in my inbox. The dates aren't really important. The fact remains your samples arrived weeks later two days before the actual carpet I wound up ordering from Jax arrived. It may be that your supplier was slow to mail the samples out, which is out of your control I understand. But in the end you have to understand that such an event remains a reflection of your customer service when it is you that people are dealing with. I'm not saying your customer service is necessarily bad. I have ordered thousands of dollars of product from the likes of Tony DeQuick and other notorious vendors....I know what bad is. What I am saying is that Jax's service was, in my experience, much better than yours. Other peoples' experiences may vary.

As for the product itself, I'm not sure why floor mat samples were sent when I indicated I wanted to replace my carpet. Your reply certainly does clear up the issue with backing on the samples I received. And as far as the actual color comparison goes, that part is bang on. Jax's carpet is a closer color match. Your carpet does look better as I think I indicated. It is a much richer color. But for the purist trying to match an 80's interior, Jax's product is a closer match. At least based on whatever samples I have received.

As I read back through my original post, I think I was very fair and quite honest and generous with your product even after I had ordered from Jax. The quality of your product is not an issue. You just need to get your stuff out in a more timely manner. Especially when there are now multiple threads on this board that question your customer service.

BTW, I have ordered from Car Motorsports before. But it was TTA specific stuff and I dealt with Rich. No complaints with what I received.

 

[Alan Faircloth]

Dean,

Somehow, you seem to be missing my point. Had you called to indicate that the samples had not arrived, new samples would have been sent priority mail. There can not be customer service if a customer does not give an opportunity to service them. Surely, from your post, you realize that we don't control suppliers, by the same token, we also do not control the US Postal Carriers or any aspect of that process of delivery. Nevertheless, you hold us accountable as though we do. You do this by measuring our customer service based upon their conduct and actions, i.e., delivery of samples. In fact, you state that we need to get our "stuff" out in a more timely manner. How do you know that we did not do this, but that the fault lies with the post office, or the Canadian border people, or the Canadian mail service. Once the samples are dropped in the mail, they are out of our hands.

As I stated, you need to check the stamp date on the envelope you received from us with those samples. That will tell you when the post office stamped them as received and you can then figure the number of days of delivery by the date you received them. We have seen stamps and receipt dates vary quite a bit. Therefore, even if your post was correct as to the length of delivery, it is incorrect as to your view of our customer service. BTW, the "Multiple posts" about customer service you refer to are this one and one more. Your posts suggests something grander on the scale of the specific vendor you mention. Clearly, this is not the case and I proffered an explanation of the other circumstance.

Your post also is inaccurate as to the color comparisons. As I stated previously, you are comparing our mat colors to your carpet and not our carpet colors. Yet you continue to refer to our samples as carpets that don't match your carpet color. So again, the statements that Jax's carpet is a better match than our carpet is not accurate because you do not have our carpet samples. Its like comparing apples and oranges, or perhaps for your neck of the woods, bears and elk.

BTW, I spoke with my partner Rich about this and he also does not remember getting any emails or calls from you about not receiving your samples quickly. We both agree that its hard to fix something when we don't know it is broken. Likewise, its hard for us to send you more samples if we don't know you didn't get them the first time.

In the end, I'll guess we'll have to agree to disagree here.

Alan

Originally posted by ALBERTAN
Hi Alan,

I don't think that my original post is inaccurate at all. I e-mailed Car Motorsports the same evening as Jax requesting samples. It was you personally who mailed me back. I still have the posts in my inbox. The dates aren't really important. The fact remains your samples arrived weeks later two days before the actual carpet I wound up ordering from Jax arrived. It may be that your supplier was slow to mail the samples out, which is out of your control I understand. But in the end you have to understand that such an event remains a reflection of your customer service when it is you that people are dealing with. I'm not saying your customer service is necessarily bad. I have ordered thousands of dollars of product from the likes of Tony DeQuick and other notorious vendors....I know what bad is. What I am saying is that Jax's service was, in my experience, much better than yours. Other peoples' experiences may vary.

As for the product itself, I'm not sure why floor mat samples were sent when I indicated I wanted to replace my carpet. Your reply certainly does clear up the issue with backing on the samples I received. And as far as the actual color comparison goes, that part is bang on. Jax's carpet is a closer color match. Your carpet does look better as I think I indicated. It is a much richer color. But for the purist trying to match an 80's interior, Jax's product is a closer match. At least based on whatever samples I have received.

As I read back through my original post, I think I was very fair and quite honest and generous with your product even after I had ordered from Jax. The quality of your product is not an issue. You just need to get your stuff out in a more timely manner. Especially when there are now multiple threads on this board that question your customer service.

BTW, I have ordered from Car Motorsports before. But it was TTA specific stuff and I dealt with Rich. No complaints with what I received.

 

[ALBERTAN]

Originally posted by Alan Faircloth
Dean,

Somehow, you seem to be missing my point. Had you called to indicate that the samples had not arrived, new samples would have been sent priority mail.

I'm head down ass up at work making money to pay for these toys. On a good day I get lunch. Chasing down a vendor two time zones away is not an option for me.

There can not be customer service if a customer does not give an opportunity to service them. Surely, from your post, you realize that we don't control suppliers, by the same token, we also do not control the US Postal Carriers or any aspect of that process of delivery. Nevertheless, you hold us accountable as though we do. You do this by measuring our customer service based upon their conduct and actions, i.e., delivery of samples. In fact, you state that we need to get our "stuff" out in a more timely manner. How do you know that we did not do this, but that the fault lies with the post office, or the Canadian border people, or the Canadian mail service. Once the samples are dropped in the mail, they are out of our hands.

I did give you the opportunity to earn my business when I asked you for samples, and I eagerly awaited the samples knowing your products are top notch. Your samples were sent out with regular postage (stamps) on it like Jax's. All of your points above are valid, and any one of the listed possibilities are just that...possible. While you don't control your suppliers, if they are not drop-shipping for you in a timely manner it's gonna reflect on Car Motorsports. There's not really much more to say on that IMHO. In the end two products were shipped internationally by the same means and one arrived significantly sooner.

As I stated, you need to check the stamp date on the envelope you received from us with those samples. That will tell you when the post office stamped them as received and you can then figure the number of days of delivery by the date you received them. We have seen stamps and receipt dates vary quite a bit. Therefore, even if your post was correct as to the length of delivery, it is incorrect as to your view of our customer service.

I just pulled the envelope. It has your return address sticker on it which makes me suspect the samples were not drop shipped from your supplier but rather came from you guys directly. Perhaps the samples had to come from the supplier to you and then to me? Not my concern really. There are two 37 cent stamps on the package with a blue felt mark across them. There is also a red stamp across the front saying that it had cleared Canada Customs. There is no date stamp on the package anywhere.

BTW, the "Multiple posts" about customer service you refer to are this one and one more. Your posts suggests something grander on the scale of the specific vendor you mention. Clearly, this is not the case and I proffered an explanation of the other circumstance.

That's true there are only two. But then do a search on replacement carpet and there will only be a limited number of hits..it's a limited topic. Even one poor comment on a vendor can be damning left unresolved. Like the poster on the other thread, my intent is not to make Car look bad. I think you guys have great products and would still order stuff from you now. But the fact is I made an honest post to try to help out others down the road trying to make the same decision I had to make and now I keep seeing these replies that my observations are false and inaccurate. So I find myself making longwinded replies so that my reputation is not questioned.

Your post also is inaccurate as to the color comparisons. As I stated previously, you are comparing our mat colors to your carpet and not our carpet colors. Yet you continue to refer to our samples as carpets that don't match your carpet color. So again, the statements that Jax's carpet is a better match than our carpet is not accurate because you do not have our carpet samples. Its like comparing apples and oranges, or perhaps for your neck of the woods, bears and elk.

Then perhaps you should have sent the samples I asked for... Also, if your carpet is a perfect match but your floormats are that far out then the floormats are gonna look goofy. Jax's carpet and mats are a perfect match made from the same material. BTW, we have apples and oranges up here too.

BTW, I spoke with my partner Rich about this and he also does not remember getting any emails or calls from you about not receiving your samples quickly. We both agree that its hard to fix something when we don't know it is broken. Likewise, its hard for us to send you more samples if we don't know you didn't get them the first time.

I never contacted Rich. See point number one above. BTW, say hi to him for me.

In the end, I'll guess we'll have to agree to disagree here.

Alan

I'm not disagreeing with you about anything. I am detailing my experience in replacing the carpet in my daily driver. Again, I think I have done that in a fair manner and won't be replying here again or this thread could go on forever. Feel free to reply again and then this thread can sit here for future reference and people can make up their own minds. That was my intention in the first place.

 

[insane6]

After my dealings with Carmotorsports never again !
My steering wheel was quite a ordeal (Long story)
and the carpet order was the straw that broke the camels back
Must have be lost in shipment ( will sent you another right away), there supplier was at fault, custumer service my A_ _ ,sounds like the same story Alan's telling you .

I too was to receive free gifts for my troubles (Per Rich) never seen, them over 2 months ago ?

I ended up with the Jax's floor mats, was not giving them another dime !