March Performance - Be careful

[wmhjr]

Just a quick note about a recent issue with March Performance. I purchased a March 13105 Serpentine kit through Summit Racing on March 17th, which was delivered on the afternoon of March 19th. Upon receiving the kit I discovered a few problems, most notably that the front alternator bracket had a blemish on it. This is before attempting to mock up the kit. I immediately called March and talked to Elija about it and some of the other issues. The rest really weren't that bad - more that there were some discrepencies and some slightly incorrect bolts. Elija indicated that I should first try to work it out with Summit, but that if Summit wouldn't take care of it then March could probably resolve it.

Summit had no way to swap out just the single bracket, so I called Elija and sent the bracket to March. When I sent them the bracket, I sent a copy of the invoice, which shows the tracking number. I also showed a copy of the UPS delivery confirmation which shows the date and time I received the box. Finally, I included the date and time that I talked to Elija, which was about an hour after UPS dropped off the package. Now, recall that I identified the blemish within an hour of UPS dropping the package off, and that I immediately called March. Now, March is saying that I must have scratched or damaged the bracket and they won't replace it. They stripped the clearcoat but the blemish is apparently under the clearcoat so it won't go away. They're charging me for return shipment, and that's the end of it.

I can tell you there is zero possibility that I scratched or damaged the parts. I opened the box on a padded table, and even when I mocked up the parts I was wearing latex gloves. The fan was never on the alternator (until I just placed it over the shaft after the alternator was in place but never put a nut on it).

Not sure what I'm going to do about this, but I'm not happy and frankly do not believe that March stands behind their products. We'll see what happens but I can promise it's the last March product I'll ever purchase. In general, the quality of their product seems good, but I no longer have any confidence that they stand behind their stuff. I worry that if clearcoat starts to come off in a couple months, I'll be on my own again. At the prices they charge, this is unacceptable.