Kirban Performance weatherstrip replacements - Don't do it!

[P8riot0366]

I just spent the past three days installing this weatherstrip kit on my '87. The test fit looked good and I was able to get the car prepped with some elbow grease and some POR-15.

The problem was with the T-top strips. Apparently they are about 3/4" too short on the front and about 1/2" too short on the rear of each top.

The corners of the rear door pillars are not an exact fit and there is a gap there that will let water in if I ever decide to wash the car again.

Also, because I ordered them in December and finally had the time and weather to do the job just now, it's too late to return or anything.

Bottom line: the product sucks.

 

[Frederickdav]

Oh, Great! I've got some door weatherstrips from Kirban out in the garage just waiting for me to install them.

 

[EVIL]

They have a good rep at Kirbans.

It would have been worth calling them before posting here.

One of the few vendors you don’t really hear bad things about.

D

 

[fastblackracing]

I Agree with Evil^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ P8riot, Dennis Kirban is one of a small handful of vendors who works
very hard at providing us Turbo Regal guys with some really good products and If you did not at least
put the effort out to contact him even 6 months later to see what help he could offer, you are way out of line
to come on here and start bashing.

If you did contact him and if they told you to get lost, thats a different thing and you should have stated that in your
original post.....But I highly doubt that you did or they did. Dennis is a good dude and I will vouch for him, had many transactions and never any issues even with things that needed returned or whatever.

Our Buick community is small and Most every vendor I have ever dealt with was willing to help out when things were not right or damaged or needed returned.

So often the approach that you use with a vendor to resolving an issue will have a
big influence on how the situation is resolved by the vendor.

just like your signature says.... our little buick community needs to stick together so that our
awesome little Turbo Regals can continue to stand tall and kick azz for the next 25 years.
And without vendor dedication and support that cannot happen........Just sayin.....FBR.

 

[MAK507]

I agree... Kirban should be contacted first. I would just explain how I purchased it on X date and how it's been sitting there. I know they have their policies, as they rightfully should, but maybe you got a bad batch, you know?

Let us know how it worked out. I would start with "well I was upset and posted negatively about it without thinking of contacting you first, I apologize for that..." Just out of respect; that's at least what I would do...


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[texasmr2]

I doubt Kirban actualy manufacture the stripping and will help resolve your issue.

 

[Johnnie]

Dennis has always been very good in dealing with me, therefore he is at the top of *my* list to call when I need any parts. Like others said, call him.

 

[P8riot0366]

I appreciate your remarks and comments. I will be going with someone else's product, though.

If you want to think less of me for using my right as a customer of a business to provide an honest review of a substandard product, then that's ok with me.

If I get a part that doesn't work on my vehicle when the description of the part on the seller's website assures me that it WILL work, then I will give feedback when it does or does not actually work as promised.

I should waste more time and money jumping through hoops and calling around to various people to try and get a solution when a solution was supposed to have been seen from the jump?

If I am not allowed to post my experience on this site, then please say so in the forum rules and I'll be sure to not do so.

I just spent a lot of time and money trying to keep my GN in shape. I should keep my mouth shut about a bad product? I didn't know that dissenting opinions weren't allowed.

 

[texasmr2]

I appreciate your remarks and comments. I will be going with someone else's product, though.

If you want to think less of me for using my right as a customer of a business to provide an honest review of a substandard product, then that's ok with me.

If I get a part that doesn't work on my vehicle when the description of the part on the seller's website assures me that it WILL work, then I will give feedback when it does or does not actually work as promised.

I should waste more time and money jumping through hoops and calling around to various people to try and get a solution when a solution was supposed to have been seen from the jump?

If I am not allowed to post my experience on this site, then please say so in the forum rules and I'll be sure to not do so.

I just spent a lot of time and money trying to keep my GN in shape. I should keep my mouth shut about a bad product? I didn't know that dissenting opinions weren't allowed.

You first stipulate that you appreciate the comments and then get all defensive, why?

Take the advice that was given to you and call Dennis. You also have the option of finding a supplier and cutting said stripping your self leaving only you to blame if you come up short.

Good luck .

 

[EVIL]

I'm not thinking less of you.

We've all been where you are.

Angry and upset over a bad product.

Also I'm the last guy to back up a vendor when he is wrong. I have a boycott list and and have been repremanded on here for being harsh on the scum vendors.

We are just saying this is one of the few vendors who is a really really good guy for our community.

It wouldn't hurt to approach the man in a civil manor.

That's all.


D

 

[P8riot0366]

You first stipulate that you appreciate the comments and then get all defensive, why?

Take the advice that was given to you and call Dennis. You also have the option of finding a supplier and cutting said stripping your self leaving only you to blame if you come up short.

Good luck .

It's called being tactful and trying to show that I don't have any hard feeling towards anyone on the forums, but you're testing that for sure.

If it's "being defensive" to stand by my position and to give my reasons for, as a customer, not going on a treasure hunt to find the exact right person at the exact right phone number to maybe get a resolution for a situation that wasn't created by me except as an online order, then your definition of defensive is a new one to me.

The Kirban return policy is very specific on the website. I am not a person who thinks that oh if I call maybe I'll get special treatment if I have a good enough sob story. I guess I don't share that sense of entitlement.

I suppose I should just keep quiet and let someone else in the group make the same mistake I made? What kind of BS would that be?

Anyway, this has gotten to be pretty effed up over a post about a crap product that I got from an advertiser on this forum. I guess that I should have known not to gainsay an advertiser of all people, and now I'm the one who's in the wrong because I didn't do what someone else would have done with contact information for somebody that I didn't even know existed, BEFORE I posted?

I'm clear, now, as to what secret rules apply to advertisers as opposed to site members.

Sure, I've got scads of money to throw away on crap products and I'll be sure to just STFU about any of those crap products if the company advertises for the forums...

 

[P8riot0366]

Look at my original post, please.

Nowhere in that post did I say anything negative about Kirban Performance. I only addressed the crap product and my experience with said crap product.

If what i wrote is taken as a bash against KP, then that's on the reader.

This has turned into a real Charlie-Foxtrot.

 

[texasmr2]

Good luck.

 

[EVIL]

All vendors have rules but they are the ones who once in a while also un-write the rules.

Like stated above.

Good luck.

D

 

[ttypewhite]

That sucks to hear. I know the feeling. I remember buying a set of weather stripping for my car at Bowling Green years back that took one hell of a wind up to close, and when you opened the door, it made a hard disengaging sounds because it was under so much tension that it shot the door open itself.

 

[Wld87GN]

I honestly believe the OP meant no ill will towards KP. However, he posted frustration towards a product purchased from KP that by his account was subpar. All of that is fine.

Where I am confused is why he did not even try to contact KP to see if there was a way to resolve. I have called and spoke to KP and had very favorable results without having to jump through hoops, I assume I am not special and that most would be treated the same.

I am not piling on the OP, nor am I defending what has been said, I however believe that when a problem arises you address it at the source. So, if he believes that the best way for him to handle it is to buy new from another vendor, that is his right.

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

If I had a business and MY supplier was drop shipping poor quality parts to MY customers with MY name on it, I would want to be the first to know.
A business can't fix a problem they don't know about.

 

[MAK507]

Dennis got my TA49 replaced even when I had it sitting there past the purchase window.. I bought it, and like many people, kept it in the garage until God gave me the time and money to finish my build. It was a defective turbo and he got me in contact right away with the manufacturer. Think I wasn't pissed at first?

Geez. I don't know how you read all the replies, but there was ZERO negativity towards you.
Go ahead and buy from a new vendor, we're just saying for you to try to get it handled in a matter that quite frankly would've worked out in your benefit possibly. It always comes down to Character and Attitude. We're not talking about AutoZone; Kirban is *the* owner and while his site has rules I'm sure he bends rules depending on the situation. Our defense to him speaks from our own experiences.


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[seedling]

Hey Man,

I'm not here to bash you at all, as I understand your frustration, I really do! On the other hand, I also know that any dealings that I have ever had with Kirban's have been nothing but positive! And while it is certainly your right to express your sentiment here, no one is denying that. However, I wish that you would at least consider giving Mr. Kirban an opportunity to fix this?

Put yourself in his shoes for a minute. In that, if it were my business then I would want to know about the issue, so that I could fix it. And I am quite sure that he would share that same sentiment! I only say that, because you can tell that Kirban's cares about their business! They also care about products and most importantly they care about customer satisfaction (WHICH IS A FAR CRY ABOVE SOME OF THE OTHERS). So I really do wish that you would at least let Mr. Kirban know about this issue. Mr Kirban is also a very knowledgeable vendor and he may know a solution to resolve all of this for you?

Man I kid you not, I have had some pretty wild experiences with vendors on here. Some of them were not pleasant at all. As a matter of fact, I had to do something that I have never had to do before which is to start the process of a stop credit card payment to a vendor. And I'm not joking when I tell you that Kirban's has bent over backwards, alerted me of back orders and even refunded me (no questions asked) when I needed an item (before they could get it in). And yet, I had to fight another vendor on here just to get my money back (which was absolutely insane)! So again, I would just hope that you might give Mr. Kirban a shout! In that, it obviously is not him nor his service that you are upset with. As you are clearly upset with a product that he offers (one in which he probably has no idea is defective)! Therefore if you truly want to do something, "for the good of the community". Then please by all means let Mr. Kirban know about this issue! As they are tops in customer care in my book!

Thanks and good luck with it!!

 

[P8riot0366]

I seem to have stepped on some toes through my ignorance.

I guess I considered the return policy for KP to be pretty straight-forward and did not think that, after more than twice the return period having passed, it would be fruitful to contact them and ask for a refund.

It's a little disheartening to post about a bad product and then get jumped on for not knowing to call someone who I don't know (but should have, apparently) to ask for special treatment.

I am not in the habit of asking for special treatment. I learned that hard lesson on the Army a long time ago. The policies are laid out in black and white and I don't qualify for a refund. To me, that's the end of the story.

So, in my attempt to share my negative experience with a product carried but not manufactured by a beloved vendor on the forum, I have run afoul of a few people who have decided that I am a "bad guy" for not knowing that there was some other way to handle an issue that I had already considered to be over with.

I apologize for being snarky in my posts. I still will not be contacting that Dennis guy and here's why: The product was purchased and delivered in good faith by both KP and me. Circumstances kept me from using the product until the return period had expired by a lot. Why should KP be held accountable for a refund?

Others on the forum apparently feel that it's necessary to take offense on behalf of someone unknown to me until now and that's their right. If I caused offense by my original post, please explain to me how I did so. I don't want to do so again if I can help it.