Forged wheels

[C240Sport97]

those are tyre sizes for the 987 Boxster.

shall I post a link on boxa.net for you?

sorry, the rears are not correct for 987 Boxster.

 

[developer]

I feel for you Rash, but if you can get a full refund for the wheels, that's more than some people get from some dubious traders.

Try to keep the glass half full or you'll drive yourself mad .

Edit:235/35/19 tyres will fit the front of W207 Coupe/Convertible - Dr Nab perhaps?

 

[Rashman]

Rash I am so sorry to hear the outcome of this debacle. I think you had a feeling this would be the outcome, simply because of the previous conversations you have had with them. I have a feeling they didn't send them back to the manufacturer and sent the defective wheel to there local wheel refurbisher. Maybe you should ask for a copy of the email they sent regarding your concerns.

Even at the beginning when they screwed up your delivery, you having to phone all the time for updates etc. Terrible Customer Service from the beginning. If only they knew how damaging this sort of publicity is. I doubt if they will be getting any business from us. Maybe they should be made aware of your disappointment ?

Put it behind you Rash and move on. Easier said than done, I know.

Hey Peter

Yes, you're right.
As I said before, I am well aware of how things can be complicated if they are not thought out carefully and exvery possibility explored.

This whole situation has proved me right.
They thought I was being funny and awkward for the sake of it.
How wrong they were because every one of my concerns has been realised.
They're supposed to experts in this field. A well established company that does business "all over the world", who has customers that spend ludicrous amounts of money.
Frankly, I see no evidence of this.
They have even failed to work with their wheel manufacturer to resolve a "valued" customer's issue. An issue that arose from poor manufacturing topped off with a huge helping of possibly the worst customer service I have every experienced.

It is clear that they are incapable of servicing high maintenance clients. Clients that are particular about the way they like things... and have every right to be!

Judging by the way I have been treated, Projex obviously sees demanding customers as annoyances, hard work.

I will posting up some pictures in the next 10 minutes... which I'm sure you will agree illustrate exactly why I feel so disappointed with both Projex and BC...

 

[Rashman]

I can't get my head around why they would have taken any metal off?

Hey bud
Not only that, but the quantity of metal they took off!

Give me 5-10 mins and I'll post up some pictures.....

 

[Rashman]

Ok guys, picture time.

What I will do first, is post up some pictures of the face of the other rear wheel. The wheel that was fine. The wheel that WASN'T refurbished.

You will see nice, neat consistent lines where the spokes meet the dish of the wheel.

You'll also notice that this thin gap is only around 1mm wide.. perhaps even less than that.

Also take note of the thickness of the very tip of the spokes.. the protruding final "finger", if you like, of the spokes.



Refrain from posting replies just for the moment guys as I will need a few posts to give you comparison shots and it'll be easier to have them all next to each other on the thread...

 

[Rashman]

What I will also show you now, are some of the bolts on the inside of the wheels. How the bolts should look from factory.
You will see that the factory place a dash of paint on each bolt to show that it has been torqued correctly and to help the wheel technician recognise which bolts he has torqued up.

Nice, little dashes of red/pink paint.

 

[Rashman]

Now, let's move on to the main event.
The wheel that WAS refurbed.
The wheel that both Stewart AND James at Projex told me that they had inspected several times and that they said was "perfect".

"Perfect". This was their exact wording.
In fact, James described this refurned wheel as "brand new". A "perfect match", if I recall correctly.

You'll notice the gap between the spokes and the dish is now around 4mm.
In fact, the gap is so large around the entire wheel that teh face of the wheel looks like it is not bolted in place properly.
It is in fact, bolted down, but they have removed so much metal that the spokes now sit around 4mm off the dish.
In some places, it's more than 4mm!

Notice the "fingers" of the spokes. The very tips of the spokes.
See how much thinner this now is compared to the original wheel. They have truly butchered this wheel.

I can see what they've done.
They literally just shaved the outer edge of the spoke tips and laquered it up.
They haven't even done it with any finesse.
Halfords, anyone?

What I cannot believe, is that the guys at Projex deemed this as acceptable and then had the cheek to get the hump with me in the fashion described in my earlier post.

Absolutely shocking.

Ladies and gentleman,
For your viewing pleasure,
A wheel which was sent to the factory, carefully refurbed, declared "perfect" and sent to the customer.....


Again, refrain from posting until I have posted all the pictures.. because there is one more thing I have to show you after some more pictures..

 

[Rashman]

More pictures of the "perfect wheel"....

 

[sjmaxwell]

You are right to complain, that is a huge gap!

 

[Rashman]

Ok, now for some icing for this cake,

When I spoke with James when the wheel was being returned from the factory, I asked him to inspect the bolts on the inside of the wheel to make sure that they all had dashes of paint on, to indicate/ certify that thye had been torqued up correctly.

This was to remove any liability on my part if every there was an air leak - which I also voiced as a concern, or any accusations of foul play or doubt in the factory or indeed their mind if ever there were problems that arose in the future.

James said he would do this.

When I then spoke to James when they finally did get round to inspecting the wheel, I asked if he had check this.

He said that the wheel was packaged up and they weren't prepared to open the packaging to check.

I was little annoyed, but I said that I would check when I had the wheel.

So I checked, when I had the wheel.

This is what I found...

Slightly gnarled bolts, some of which did not have any dashes of paint on them

So now we're talking safety implications here.

Either the factory didn't put paint on the bolts after re-torquing them or there is a chance that some bolts weren't even torqued.

Remember what I mentioned about leaks?
Remember what I mentioned about liability?

Absolutely shocking.

Couldn't even be bothered to check before sending it to me.

I made all of these requests by email too.

A large portion of blame lies with the factory for their incompetency in addressing a manufacturing fault.

An equally large portion of blame lies with Projex for their appalling customer service, their lack of interest in resolving an issue and their complete lack of attention to detail before sending a product out to their customer.

 

[acej]

Rash,

I absolutely see where your coming from.Where the QA at both the factory and dealership?

It looks far from right.

 

[Rashman]

Rash,

I absolutely see where your coming from.Where the QA at both the factory and dealership?

It looks far from right.

You see what I mean!

It's shocking.
How the hell can they say this wheel is perfect?!

Then they had the cheek to give me attitude!

 

[jotter22]

My god you would not accept that on a cheap wheel let alone one you paid ££££ for!
it beggars belief!
I think their reputation is shot on here to be honest you would have to be mad to put any trust in a company that would expect you to accept that!

Tony.

 

[sjmaxwell]

I think given what Rash has been through and the lack of quality control compounded by a lack of customer service and given the high price paid, we all best avoid this company as they clearly just want your money for rubbish service and poor quality control!
AVOID!!

 

[Rashman]

My god you would not accept that on a cheap wheel let alone one you paid ££££ for!
it beggars belief!
I think their reputation is shot on here to be honest you would have to be mad to put any trust in a company that would expect you to accept that!

Tony.

Absolutely.

How on earth they can send wheels back to a customer like this is mind boggling.

They clearly don't care about the impression they are giving of themselves.

I have been incredibly patient and extremely forgiving over the year.

I have bitten my tongue about the complete lack of communication, the countless times I have had to call or email them when they haven't got back to me when they said they would, the mess up with the order in the begining, the 2+months that I had to wait for the wheel to get collected, re-done and returned to me - the terrible state the re-done wheel was presented back to me and then the attitude I was addressed with on the phone when I wanted to voice my concerns over the wheel when I received it back.

This has been the most stressful purchase I have ever made for the car.
One of the most expensive too!

I loved these wheels but there is no way on earth that I would accept them in this state.

Ironically, I have a set of wheels that only cost me £1000.
They are 5 +yrs old and are spotless!
That was one of the best buying experiences I ever had.
Customer service was spot on (bought from WheelsUK - ask for John) and the wheels have never let me down.

 

[markmifsud]

Rash, did you pay by credit card? if so there is a good chance they will get the full payment reversed, including the tyres.

 

[whitenemesis]

Where did they skim the metal from? That's a massive amount to loose!
Are you sure the wheel has been assembled correctly? Have they perhaps mixed and matched from another set?

 

[Rashman]

Rash, did you pay by credit card? if so there is a good chance they will get the full payment reversed, including the tyres.

Hi Mark,

I paid by visa debit card.

They should have enough sense to resolve this quickly and refund my money.
I think they would agree that they have damaged their reputation to wish any more harm to it.

They have flat out refused to refund the tyres to me.
I am not an unreasonable person so I have no desire to make this situation any more stressful or worse.

I will probably have to sell the tyres myself.

 

[ricky s]

Read through this thread this afternoon, along with a few txts with Rash. Not demeaning you here Rash, we all know and respect your high standards, and accordingly you have then paid high end hard earned monies for these wheels to meet those standards of yours.
Given the said wheels failure to meet the UK weather conditions, within a very short time span, 500 miles if I am correct, Its just unbelievable that you have been treated in the manner it seems you have. Just looked at the photo's posted up, the refurbed wheel, its chalk and cheese, BIG unacceptable difference in wheels. The original wheels were 'not fit for purpose', given the environment within UK, worryingly, you only used them in dry weather anyway, so god knows what they would look like if the rest of us had used them, hopefully you get your money back, and move on, but to my mind whilst you have the stress of dealing with all this, and I am in no doubt your further out of pocket anyway, calls, time, shipping, packaging etc! am in no doubt that the Projex company will no doubt recall this event as a very bad PR exercise, a very vocal and onging negative to them, that will spread through the motoring forums, anything I need I immediately google it, google Projex company in a months time, I wonder what comes up.
It is not a nice thing to see or read of falling outs of any nature, life is so short, and the older we all get the more most of us appreciate this, but in life today, you would like to think people, or business's will do the right thing, to have happy clients, sadly in this instance seems not. All the best Rash, hope you get paid out, as you should be, and move on mate.

 

[markmifsud]

I would talk to your card company first, explain the tyres were purchased to match the wheels. They are refunding the wheels but not the rubber. Card company's hold a lot of power and they have often come up trumps for me when a retailer has been ****y over refunds