OP you should keep calling. Try to talk to Steve Millen himself lol. He's a New Zealander n they don't rip people off (if only the sales dept. were New Zealanders as well..)
Personally, I can never really get a response from them unless I'm buying something. Kind of pisses me off..

from the conversations ive had with stillen in the past, it appears their clerks aren't very trained when it comes to accounting and they just innocently make mistakes (or just too loose/causal minded...like TGIF every day).

their managers should be able to fix the accounting problem. they would, however, benefit upgrading their online store for more automation.

Honestly, He is the next person I call.. Even if you said that in fun..

This forum is a means of communicating with all members and give help to one another. If 20 people are "privately" working out bad customer service issues with a vendor and not letting others know this, then the bad service continues because the issue is kept behind closed doors. We need to let everyone know what kind of customer service to expect from our vendors and make those vendors change or loose prospective business. I too had the same type of support from Stillen where they promise to call you back and never do. Return the call myself and get the same response again. Twice I will do, but there will not be a third time and I will never buy another Stillen product either.

:iagree: +1 spot on :iagree:

That's kind of my point. How is it bad customer service if it gets resolved?

Wow, I hope this gets resolved quickly. This will be something I weigh out when I am looking for parts for not just myself, but many of my buddies here locally who come to me for help. A few of which that have already placed orders with vendors on here.

I'm kinda glad this thread is around because I didn't know at all that this many people were having problems with them. Helps create transparency.

^^see what I mean. Maybe 2 legit, bad service rep encounters on here, but a long thread like this makes it look like there are 30 people with problems. That doesn't seem like a fair assessment for ANYone.

There's been more than two. Maybe you can only find 2 but there has been more. Furthermore, you go through other forums and you will find other customer service issues. And honestly, rudeness is an issue. Even if you get the product and everything went fine... being rude to a customer is enough to say something. When I talk to someone I'm about to give anywhere between $100 or $10000 to. I'm giving you my money. Treat me with respect.
So I think if that's the reputation they have? It should be known.

I have ordered several times from Stillen and never had a problem,I'm waiting for a radiator from them right now,everything has been on time,price quoted,and received on the date I was suppose to get it.

:iagree: That's all we are asking for! :iagree:

you find that with every vendor. the automotive aftermarket is full of mediocre service, and the modding community has a lot of "me-first" buyers. you combine the two and you get a ton of bad service stories (some legit, some not)

:iagree:

Exactly, I'm the one who pays you makes your pay check( or helps) but just treat the customer nicely and respectfully. Thats all I was asking- if that happened from the get go I probaly would not be writing this, But the whole time it was like I was trying to take something???

So anyway talked to the again today and they have been talking to my dealer about doing something with the bucks?? Funny thing is they always bring up that I'm posting things on line, But seriously this should have been taking care of long ago, So we'll see.

OP After reading your thread I think you are in the right to share this. You were more then fair because it has been 2 months+. :iagree: with many of the others who think they should be treated better then they have been doing of late (reputation is growing at least. It's been mentioned on the z32 forum as well).

Forum brothers should always give us the heads up with both good and bad experiences they are having IMO. It helps us all! I know some of us that have been here for a while will remember a past company from around here(not any more). What would have happened if people were not warned! There was already more then enough people that lost money/got ripped off completely!

I am one of the few that give out positive remarks to our vendors and no so much negative unless asked for. There are three exceptional vendors that I have delt with through the forum. It just so happens that each of them is named Tony. These vendors can be of assistance to you at Fast Intentions (F.I.), Carbon Fiber Element (CFE) and Motordyne. It is still the responsibility of the person using any vendor to do their own homework of the vendors reputation. Some of the comments made on the forum are only opinions, but many are factual experiences. Weed out the BS from the facts. A truly good business can advertise with word of mouth alone IMO.

Couldn't have said it better. :iagree:

Interesting, I recently bought Gen3 CAI and oil cooler from them online and didn't have any troubles at all, guess I should consider myself lucky then and reconsider for future purchases..hmmm


'09 F.I. CBE/HFC-Stillen Gen3,Setrab +ModBod

Yea, I only dealt with them once but got what I ordered when promised, no issues. And, the HFCs work great on my Nismo. They used to be pretty active responding to folks on the forums but haven't seen them in a while. I would find them in the sponsor list and PM them from this site.

See how you feel after you need support from that initial sale. Everyone is nice while their hand is out getting payment. It's the way they act after, once payment is in their pocket that divides the good vendors from the not so good ones IMO.

Still no word ,I do know that he said we was working with the dealer I purchased through to get something done?
So far he has been helpful. :/

I too had a horrible experience with Stillen. The guy I spoke to specifically was Kenny and he literally was trying to provoke me to come down and fight him? Wtf. There was another thread on here that went into specific details. Pretty much anyone I've dealt with at Stillen has been rude, flakey or confrontational. Never bought anything from them and Im glad. Good luck OP. My biggest concern if I were you would be getting them to honor any type of warranty after this debacle.

Well, I'll pile on this thread. I've generally avoided really harping on Stillen negatively very hard, because I think they *do* put some quality stuff, and I have had some nice interactions with some of the guys there, especially Josh (who was/is a frequent poster here) back in 2009.

I've had so many bad experiences with so many car parts vendors over the years, I'm kinda at my limit. It seems like the whole industry sucks, and I'm just getting a little bit tired of how we, as aftermarket car parts consumers, tend to hold them to a lower standard and just accept it.

I've had two issues with Stillen and my 370Z over time, which I'll recap here:

The first was their ridiculous first-generation catback exhaust back in 2009. I spent untold time and money on that piece of ****, running around to different exhaust shops having them try to fix it, all the while Stillen's getting the early marketing benefit from me being an early adopter (at full retail price!), and telling me their exhaust is perfect and it has to be an install problem. Then they finally announce a "minor design update" to correct the fitment issue. Just before this, one of my frustrated exhaust shops made a new bend in one of the pipes to try to work-around the problem. That bend ended up leading to a persistent leak problem at a nearby flange. Stillen didn't want the installer-damaged exhaust back and didn't want to give any kind of refund. I ended up throwing the whole catback in the trash and buying Fast Intentions in the end.

So figure the whole cost of the Stillen cat-back, my time doing the initial install, my time trying to fix and re-installing it a couple of times, my money spent at two different exhaust shops on labor trying to fix it, me buying custom gaskets trying to fix it. All of that and in the end it just goes in the trash as unusable and no compensation. I sure as hell wasn't going to pay retail for a replacement from the same guys.

The other incident came along when I bought their 7AT cooler kit, stupidly. The gist of the incident is documented in this post, but the bottom line is the lines were too large for the factory fittings, and I wasn't about to take that sort of increased risk of an ATF cooler line blowing off during hard usage from improper use of clamps on an oversized hose. I emailed them about the issue twice two days apart and *never* got a response in the ~9 months since. I ended up basically just re-using their Setrab core and making my own fittings/hoses kit that I sourced myself. What a waste of time and money - I basically paid them to put a kit together and validate it, and ended up only using the core from their kit and putting together my own validated hose/connector setup. As far as I know they're still selling people the same kit, and I'd imagine most installers just follow the directions and don't think twice. I'd be wary of running this kit if I were you.

It's doubtful I'd ever buy another product from them again.

wstar, MAN sorry to hear about your issues. But the things they did with you are rediculous,, I cant say I feel your pain cause I did not have to spend bad $$$ chasing $$$$. But the thing about their cooler kit it the lines leak,( Dealer had to fix them) An I think is was hilarious when they could not even help me with my trany temp sensor install and it cost me almost $400 to have some thing customed.

I really hope nothing happens to the kit in the first year( Only warrenty I have-would be a complet cluster IMO if something did) My dealer kept my 60k mile drivetrain warrenty because they installed the kit, So I did not buy they 3-36 Stillen warrenty, Plus I would have had to run their crap tune for that time, The car would not start all the time with there tune, So hot start issue, That was fixed by Kaizen,

This is not a case of mediocre. They insulted him. Its unnecessary. I been dealing with Z1 for many things I need and I get good service from them as well as auto-anything. But it seems to me that the best way to get good service is through your local speed shops. Let them haggle out a good price...
First research the MSRP of the things you want. Then go to a speed shop and ask for a "street-price". They will usually get you a good deal on parts.

Well another 4 days goes by and NO contact with them again, I did contact my dealer and they told me Stillen called him and he called the back and left a message-No return call the them either? That was last week.

An they did insult me, Not just mediocre service, No service?

:icon18:

This is really sad because in my few dealings with them I have always had good service.

Well, that's what makes this all so tricky. It's not like anyone founds an aftermarket parts company and starts out with the mission "We're gonna screw over our customers". It's reasonable to assume they all start with good intentions. In the end some are more or less successful at being the kind of company that customers enjoy doing business with, I guess due to various differences in business strategy and hiring decisions and probably a million other factors.

Most of them don't end up perfect: you'll find one or two bad stories about almost any company. Most of them don't end up completely horrible either (because if they piss off every single customer they go out of business quickly). It's the ones like Stillen that are in that sad middle ground IMHO. Like I said before: they have some nice employees I've enjoyed working with at times, who have made good efforts. They have a few well-designed products that do the job right as well. But they've definitely screwed up some over the past several years, and it's not just a one-off isolated incident.

All transactions that go smooth will make a happy customer. It's when something doesn't go 100%, what the company/vendor does to make it right, this is what makes the company shine.

I recently had some case covers for my race bike sent out, one was for a different bike. The vendor immediately made the phone calls, apologized and said he would make it right. Which he did, he sent out the right part immediately no questions asked and I sent the incorrect part back once I got the return label.

If a part didn't fit correctly, he would have done the same, no questions asked. This is how companies make things right. And he was polite, and apologetic all throughout this.

Will I purchase again from them? Without a doubt yes, will I refer them to many others locally and through forums, absolutely. Others where it has been a legitimate bad experience, well, no more orders from me, but most importantly, everyone that knows me personally will order from other vendors as well.

To wstars point, I had a convo with a guy from the G37 forum looking to go SC on his G( He local to me) so he calls me up and we talk for about 35 mins. He had called Stillen to ask them questions on the kit and the sales guys where not able to answers the guys questions. Tech questions about the compressor side.. He said to me" Is it me or is most of their sales guys, young kids who just do not know or don't care to know?". No here is a guy calling them direct wanting to buy their kit and they can not answer his questions. Granted I know we or they do not know everything but you'd think they would find out, ask someone who knows, Not just not answer the question???

Maybe he was to smart( Coming from SC mustangs and does his own tuning). LOL

Ok so the next call I make will be over this guys head. I was blown off three times of Friday.I told him it was VERY important he call me back an guess what nothing!! I even check the website for the Stillen bucks and even the FN fine print says the bucks are even redeemable through a authorized dealer WTF So I can pay them (authorized dealer) with the bucks but Stillen says they will not honor a purchase through them. OFFICIALLY the worst company ever. Will be looking for the owners voice on Monday when I call.

I wouldn't go quite that far :) Given the average of the whole industry Stillen's about par for the course. A lot of shops suck a lot worse, and Stillen's not entirely bad.

I had to return an oil cooler that was the wrong one and Stillen has been great at assisting me with returning it and getting the right one sent out (my fault not theirs), and normally he said they would charge a stocking fee and they were waiving that. So far they have been great all around, sorry you a having a bad experience with them, maybe it has to do with that "authorized dealer" bit as I am dealing with Stillen directly.

Just IMO tho :). You can say that cause you actually had atleast one plesant experience with them, I the last few years I had zero.( Well one cause Josh was very helpful) but thats it. :/

I mean to be honest with you If I get a offer on the kit I may remove it and go GTM.. I know this is a pretty steep thing to say but I fell so bad about them I do not what anything of theirs on my car.

So got a call yesterday and was told they where going to make this right. Really going out of thier way on this. I can not get into the details but really happy with the outcome, They tried reaching me last week with this but missed there call, Had phone issuse the end of last week. They are stepping up.

Glad to hear everything work out! :tup:

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