ST / KW Coilovers: Buyer Beware

Just to be clear I'm not trying to discredit any criticisms of KW or kill this thread.  It sounds like there's issues afoot.  Just pointing out a possible marine conveyance.

In reply to Matt B (fs) :

Didn't notice that, thanks 

thebigchill said:

84FSP said:

Sorry to hear it, I'd reach KW and talk warranty/cheap rebuild.  I would guess they are super helpful given their reputation in the industry.  When I had a problem with a Bilstein PSS9 they charged me for a replacement and shipped immediately.  When they got the bad one back they credited me back fully.  While I'd rather not have a problem i couldn't have asked for better service.  I had similar great service from Ground Control.

Not to be a jerk but, did you read the post? Hahaha. 

They are unwilling to reimburse me for my purchase of a new unit. They expect me to either buy a new unit and eat the cost, or keep my car on jack-stands for 3 weeks while they rebuild the unit. Neither is acceptable. That's the beef, aside from, you know, the catastrophic failure and all.

I did read the post - often times the first answer you get isn't the only option available - I'd go up the chain to their boss.  Threaten to file a NHTSA claim, those are a very big deal and translate to very expedient fines and action if not handled.

In reply to 84FSP :

They don't give a shizz.  I had the same problem with KW back in 2007, they flat out refused to take back their product as an exchange.  I bought an entirely different suspension so I could drive my car while they rebuilt their crappy product.  Which only took them 6-7 weeks to do.

WTF are you supposed to do?  Leave your DD up on stands/lift for 6-7 weeks while they fiddle F around?  As I said in my 1st post, I've warrantied Koni's, Bilsteins, Tokico's, etc, ALL of them sold me another strut/shock and then refunded me once they received the blown shock/strut back. 

KW is the only company that seems to find it acceptable to leave their customers swinging in the breeze.  F them.

Just curious if anything came of this ? Did KW leave you hanging for good ?

I recognize that this thread is years old, but there's obvious interest so I'll contribute.

In some old forum thread from another place that I came across years ago someone shared a story about how they got a little too aggressive with an impact gun on the top nut of their brand new KW coilovers, effectively destroying the strut shaft. They go to KW and ask how much it would cost to have it repaired and they were told they would have to purchase a whole new *set* of coilovers.

So it's not just a customer service problem, their entire business model from the top down treats their product as completely disposable. We're not talking about bargain generic struts from Autozone which may as well actually be disposable, this is simply not acceptable for a suspension product at KW's price point. Known good quality suspension manufacturers like Bilstein, Koni, and Ohlins don't have this problem, they can service their products. Even cheap, questionable quality brands like BC Racing will service or even revalve their product at the customer's request.