DPE Wheels.... My never ending nightmare.

TeRRoRiFiC35

I thought I would tell you all my story thus far with my experience with DPE. I originally ordered my S20's with step lips and matte black centers on April 22, 2011 through DPE, not a dealer. After paying half the amount of the wheels that day I was told these would take 4-6 weeks to get done. On May 27, 2011 I received a call from one of the DPE representatives telling me my wheels would ship out after Memorial Day. When I did not receive an e-mail with a tracking number nor an update, I decided to e-mail them on June 6, 2011. They told me my wheels were in the final stages of being put together and should be shipped out soon. Once again no word from them so I e-mailed them on June 15, 2011 to find out what the deal was and receive no answer at all this time. I e-mail them again on June 22, 2011 telling them how upset I was with the situation at hand and they finally decide to answer because I also had a sponsor on my350z to contact them. They finally decide to tell me they don't have the step lips I wanted and were waiting for the shipment to come in. Figuring it shouldn't take much longer, I decided to give them another opportunity to make this situation right. On July 13, 2011 I e-mail them again giving them an ultimatum of finishing my wheels that week or to give me a full refund. They e-mail me back asking me to call them to discuss options and the person I needed to speak to wasn't there(yet somehow e-mailed me). The next day they call me and reassure me that my wheels will be shipped out the next day. Obviously they missed their ship date yet again. On July 20, 2011 they tell me they finally got my step lips and they were polishing them so they could put them together. Next day I receive an e-mail containing pics of the wheels with an e-mail stating "Here is a shot of the center I just took, and I have the barrels that we got in today when I was supposed to get them on Monday.". That makes me question why are you telling me it was the lips and not the inner barrel. I finally get the wheels at my house AUGUST 10, 2011. After that, I decided I wasn't going to throw the on till next spring since it was too late in the summer for me to justify using them. I put them in my bedroom and leave them there.

The spring comes and I put on the wheels finally. After two weeks of use, one of the wheel's powdercoating chips off with no damage being made from an outside source. I tell DPE about this and they tell me to ship the wheel to them. Being pissed off about this, I tell them I want them to send me a replacement wheel in the mean time or to powdercoat all 4 wheels because I fear the color won't match. They assure me it will match and that they won't send me a replacement for the time being. Just wanting this to be over with, I ship out the wheel and they receive it on May 11 of this year. On June 6 they tell me my wheel should ship out the following week. Obviously since I am posting this I still don't have the wheel. It does not take 5 weeks to strip the paint and powdercoat it. Even if they email me tomorrow saying it was shipped out, it still doesn't excuse these problems. I just want the damn wheel back already so I can sell them since I am getting rid of the car they were on. Never again will I buy a set of wheels from them.

864Zbeast

I would be beyond pissed and aggravated. Wow!

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Fly1 Motorsports

Man...sucks to hear this story bro. I was contacted by DPE a while back about a partial sponsorship; but after hearing this story, glad I turned it down. Their wheels are nice tho, but not remotely worth this type of headache

TeRRoRiFiC35

Haha, that is why I can't actually call them on the phone, it would be me cursing them off and getting nowhere. This time I decided it was time for EVERYONE to see how they have handled this; it was well documented on myg37 about this problem the first time. This incident was the main cause to look at the cost of the build on my G37x sedan and making come to the conclusion of getting rid of it for either a 370z or a E92 M3 (costs associated with the build). The worst part, I know I'm not the only one who has been treated like this. The owners can TRY to defend themselves, but I have the e-mails from last summer that refute anything they can try to deny:


And if anyone wonders what they did to try to appease me the first time, it was to do absolutely NOTHING.

GaleForce

Sorry to hear about your issues. It's really too bad that most companies take this stance on customer service. I'm going through a similar situation (not with wheels though)

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TeRRoRiFiC35

This is the damage I was speaking about



Not huge, but I thought it would continue chipping. You can also see there is no dings or anything in that spot that would have caused it, it just purely flaked off.

JollyGoodChap

sucks man, hope it gets figured out in the long run

Jasonle

Damn what a headache. Sorry your going through this mess.

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2009 Nissan 370z/2003 Honda Soccer Van
Shineauto Amuse Body Kit/UAM Fenders/Bc Br Coilovers/Topspeed Exhaust/Racing Hart Wheels and More My Sexy Beast

Z-Girl 12

Thanks for the headsup, I sure won't be using them ever.

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2012 Z-SOLD
2014 Nismo #565 Fast Intentions CBE/HFC/Swift/SPC/RJM/H&R-15/20mm/Z1 CAI/Headers/Intake Manifold w/Uprev Tune 328.31whp/263.64tq

Presto

thanks for bringing this to light.
unfortunately only when you name and shame these companies they realize how much one thread on the internet will affect their sales. hope its a lesson learnt for them and they fix this as well as any issues with future customers should be resolved quickly

TeRRoRiFiC35

I just got off the phone with them. I didn't want to speak on the phone with them because I knew they would make me angry and they did. First Sean says he was going to send my wheel overnight now that is done UNTIL he and the other people read my posts and were "appauled" I would handle this situation like this. They then wanted to know how I would like to pay for shipping. I of course at this point become LIVID and tell them I refuse to pay for shipping back had I known they would try that I would have never shipped them the wheel in the first place. He then goes on about why I would bring up stuff in the past. There is a simple reason, it shows a damn pattern of my problems leading up to this. Then he goes on to say he will be posting up ALL the emails between us. Go the **** ahead, it still doesn't excuse all the missed ship dates and why it took over 5 weeks for you to get this done this time. Then he tries to say he hasn't had it since the date I said. Well here you go *******, here is the Fedex tracking number: 468600115169885. We go back and forth, I am livid already and I hang up the phone.

TeRRoRiFiC35

And all the emails this time around

98intrigue

That's very unfortunate to hear. I dealt with an authorized dealer when I bought mine back in April 2005. I was considering a set for my Viper since I never see DPEs on a Viper... now I will have to be overly cautious.

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J0J0

I would first like to apologize to the owners, the moderators, and the community of this forum for responding to this thread on behalf of DPE as we are currently not a sponsor. However, I feel it is required for DPE to respond.

That being said, I would also like to apologize to terrorific35 for your experience in 2011. I would also be frustrated with the delay. In manners such as this, it is not the intention of the representative give you the run around or what appeared to be. From the manner you described, it seems as if the communication and/or information should have been handled better, but in all fairness ... there are always varying accounts of a situation. This doesn't mean I do not believe you, I am merely stating there is always variances of a situation. I will say it isn't your problem if there is a backorder with steplips by our lip supplier (this happens to all custom wheels companies at one time or another), or if powdercoat has a bottleneck because in the end you are doing business with DPE not our outsourced vendors. Our representative informs you not as an excuse, but an explanation on what is going on. Regarding your statement "That makes me question why are you telling me it was the lips and not the inner" ... lips, rims, barrels terminology are all one in the same as there is an inner lip and outer lip, etc. So it was more of a misunderstanding regarding terminology in your statement.

Due to the extreme delay with the steplip backorder in 2011, I am not sure why it wasn't mentioned that the DPE represenative and yourself worked together at the time to your satisfaction by way of compensation of one form or another hence no post of your dissatisfaction or frustration in 2011.

Regarding your powdercoat issue, please also know our situation as we were notified of the powdercoat a year later from delivery, but the representative understood that due to the climate of the state you live in, you waited a year to install them, thus would be covered under warranty. Please also understand that many customers, not insinuating you of course, mistakenly may spray them with harmful chemicals causing this, but in light of what you explained to the representative, he warrantied it. The reason why the representative didn't send you a replacement in the meantime is we do not stock wheels as we are built to order. Regarding all 4 being re-powdercoated to match ... it is not a custom color or some form of anodize, which would require that ... it is black. If it was, DPE would have brought all 4 back.

Lastly, nothing is being taken into account that the wheel took 7 days in shipping to be received by DPE. The stripping and repowdercoat of the wheel and assembly should not have taken more than 2 weeks, but it has taken longer due to circumstances that are not your problem. The representative who worked with you in 2011 and working on your powdercoat warranty issue now was unaware of your frustration as no calls have been made to DPE regarding. Your wheel is complete and he has attempted to call you without success.

It is everyone's right to post on the forums and share good and bad experiences, but I feel it is equally important for both accounts of the situations are expressed so that the members that chime in or don't chime in, are allowed to make decisions based on both views. DPE like any company has issues or problems whether what the end customer's account is valid or invalid ... we always resolve or work together with the end customer if we are made aware of the issue. Perhaps the reason why you do not see many of these types of threads over our 9 yr history is most end customers inform us and we always take care of them regardless if they state they will post on the forums or not. If a company after being informed of a situation/issue does not offer solutions or resolve things, then the experience should be shared with the public on the forums. I do not see the point of sharing past experiences that have been agreed and resolved by both parties in the past or posting dissatisfaction with something without contacting the company first to give them the opportunity to fix whatever the issue is.

Note: I only know of one wheel brand in the USA that powdercoats in-house while the others outsource it ... at times to the same powdercoat vendor.

I am sure the DPE representative will continue to attempt to contact you via phone to further discuss.


Addendum after DPE rep spoke to Terrorific35: Sean informed me the two of you spoke. As grown adults attempting to resolve matters, it is imporant that cursing and yelling is not done when trying to discuss things to work together. Due to the extended delay with the repair, Sean stated that he would be shipping to you at DPE's expense, but you insisted on cursing while demanding overnight. At that time instead of cursing, yelling, and hanging up, perhaps requesting to speak to a supervisor who can make that call would have been the best. Your wheel is completed and will be shipped to you and he will provide tracking.

DPE does not wish to have an online battle of views or what has transpired. Issue in 2011, was mutually agreed and compensation was given back in 2011. The 2012 repowdercoat under warranty was delayed, but is now complete and will be shipped at DPE's expense as discussed. Continued cursing by Terrorific35 both online and via phone as well as yelling and hanging up via phone is not a manner in which adults should conduct themselves especially while trying to work together to resolve any issues. Thus, we will not longer respond to this thread moving forward. I have had the opportunity to respond on behalf of DPE. It is Terrorific35's right to continue to post and it is apparent his account of his conversation with the DPE representative varies. Unfortunately, he will not be satisfied nor would be with anything DPE would try to work with him on. It was not mentioned that he was also sent tracking for overnight shipping of his wheel after he so abruptly hungup on Sean, his DPE representative.


Thank you.

Jojo Cagungun
Co-owner

petetlr

I will say this to Terrorific35 I feel you pain most companies now day have a customer service that is nonexistence and that is the main reason why I'm so apprehensive about buying online or from companies that are not local.
The following is for Mr. Cagungun:
I think and I know that the success of a company is measure by not on how many mistakes they make but how they go about fixing those mistakes and believe me sir I know what I'm talking about, I deal with vendors and outsourcing work everyday of the week. I work for a top 3 oilfield company and i can tell you that the minute your powdercoater inform you that he was behind your customer service department should had call your customer. Sir I'm not trying to tell you how to run your company but merely stating the facts i deal with everyday.
I hope a lesson can be learn from this and must say it's sad that all of this had to happen but I would like for all of the members here to remember that DPE is an American product and we owe it to us to buy American first . maybe something good will come out all of this.

Sorry for such a long post is just my .002 cents