WARNING - FK coilovers

[androt]

Hello,

Long story short: DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM FK-AUTOMOTIVE - a punch of German liars

My story:

I bought FK coilovers from FK 1 year and 2 days ago, after using them for 10 months, one of the front shocks started to leak. The next day I sent an e-mail to FK with my claim because I knew that I had a warranty of one year for these. They wanted to see pictures as they could not start the claim file without corresponding pictures. After sending the pictures they promised to send me a replacement in 6 weeks, as my kit was not in stock. 5 weeks after that letter I sent them an e-mail where I wanted to know when exactly they are going to ship. To my surprise their answer was: we can't send you a replacement as your warranty is over, it is only 6 months. I was like WHAT THE HELL? Why did they even need the pictures then, all the details of my purchase were in the first e-mail. Now, if you look FK's website, there is said:

"Orginal Brand goods
We sell original FK Automotive products with a minimum Warranty of 6 months."

Link: http://www.fk-shop.de/en/Tuning/Our-Warranty/

Now check out the site on the 3rd of February 2013:

Link: http://web.archive.org/web/201302030.../Our-Warranty/

So between now and some time in February, they changed their warranty from 24 months to 6 months and try to deceive me, although I bought them with a one year warranty.

When I ask them explanations, they only say "Sorry, but we can't do anything in this case"

If someone wants to read the exchange of letters with FK, I could upload it somewhere.

[Skraight.]

I don't know about the laws there, where they run their business, but in the USA that's illegal and you could take legal action.

[mayhem]

IIRC there is a warrenty cart that comes with their products?
European law states a minimum warranty of 2 years. Any EU member is allowed to adjust their laws on this, but only in favor of the consumers.

This means, here in Holland, law states that you may expect a reasonable term of function, in other words, some products (like a car or laptop etc) are expected to last way longer, and therefore are longer lawfully protected.

Google EU warranty laws , most likely you will even find premade claim letters.

[androt]

I give my best to find out how I should act. I know that it isn't a major financial loss as they were one of the cheapest kits available but it's just not right thing to do for such a big company and I want to warn others before someone decides to buy FK products.

mayhem, it is the same in Estonia, this is where I live.. but I assume that the consumer protection in Estonia has her hands tied in this matter. I will try to sort out the law of obligations in Germany and make my moves then.

Funny thing is, they don't even explain anything, they only repeat "Sorry sir, but there is nothing I can do in this case" and that's it. I'll see if I can upload the conversation somewhere, I think you will all be pissed after reading this, it's like talking to an imbecil.

Thank you for you replies!

EDIT: Here is the conversation between me and FK-Automotive. If you want to see the fun part, skip the first pages and read the last ones:

http://speedy.sh/pFd9X/conv.pdf

[Minty_Fresh]

Ive heard FK is going to shit. i use to love there coils, had them on 2 cars with out problems. and decent prices for good stuff that, but I've heard from a friend who works for one of the largest FK distributers that they don't even do business with them any more because of thing like this. they aren't what they use to be.

[Topazkd]

Yes I used to run the fks on my e46, but they leaked within a year. It took me over 3 months to get replacment from ecs tuning(which sucks too)

[androt]

Handed the case over to a EU consumer protection, we'll see what happens but highly doubtful any positive solution will come.

[skiierman]

tell fk your taking it to court, usually they will just give in. Thats what i did with my health care company. I tore my mcl and acl playing soccer because someone tripped me. they said they wouldn't cover it because it was "my fault that it was an accident" it didn't make any sense. I told them it was fraud and that I was filing a lawsuit, when I asked for the workers name over the phone she was like "well maybe I can figure something out". They just want you to give up, I talked to a guy who dealt with claims, and he said that they were told to throw out the first 6 and if they keep coming in then consider addressing it.

[Stupid Kid]

hmm I'm not an expert but is there a warranty sheet? Any physical literature that says FK will honor the warranty?
Here i the US I think that the text on the website does not constitute an in writing agreement because it is not specific to you and it is not signed by fk. I don't know if it applies in this situation but the way it works here is that an oral agreement is only binding for a year, even if the agreement is longer. So if FK "oraly" told you that they would give you a two year warranty its only valid for up to one.

However anything that says stuff about the warranty that was sent to you directly on the internet then it constitutes a valid, in writing, contract. For example if they sent you a message or anything with the warranty outlined to your email account or account on the site they you bought them that constitutes a legal contract because it was sent from FK specifically to you. For the record all of my legal knowledge is from undergraduate business law and i'm a pretty vapid person so i'm probably wrong about all that.

What i do know for sure is that none of this matters though because if you took this to court it would be incredibly expensive. Most people don't understand that court is expensive as hell and is only worth it when there is a lot of money to be made or lost.
The best thing you can do is try to get in contact with someone with more power in the company than the general support people and display an understanding of the situation and they will probably work with you. That and file a complaint with whatever is like the BBB in Estonia and trash them on the internet wherever you can.


Either way I'm glad i don't have to potentially deal with this shit from FK because mine have a 2 year warranty from black forest industries..

[Max the Probie]

Hi Im german and when you bought the coilovers when the warranty was 24 month you HAVE 24 month warranty.
You just have 6 month warranty when you bought it AFTER they changed it.

I hope I helped you and sorry for my bad English Im German

[odie]

European law states a minimum warranty of 2 years. Any EU member is allowed to adjust their laws on this, but only in favor of the consumers.

it is not a eu law...for example nikon dslr cams hab only 12 months warranty in europe.

[Vladi]

Just dont buy their coilovers, it's that simple.
Spacers/Adaptors are fine but their dampers and warranty are shit.

Spend a few bucks more on a decent setup, I swear it will be worth every penny.
You will have more pleasure driving and most other companys have a good warranty policy.

[theseeker411]

Fuck, I wish I'd known this. I ordered a set of streetlines for my GF's mk3. Haven't shipped out yet though, maybe I can get that order changed...

[NeViLLa]

Thanks for the post man, now I know not order shit from them bro! Thanks!

[bimmerbabe]

A little side note...

You are lucky to even get a response from them! Plus, I don't think you would have gotten any replacement from them ever.
I ordered parts there, they first sent the wrong stuff, then it took them 6 months to find out they don't have the right part in stock and another 3 months (and a lot of phone calls from me) to finally refund me my cash.
Their entire "customer service" is a piece if **** and I'd never ordere there again.
Plus, they have 2 online-shops and seem to be unable to track all the orders from both sites properly.