Quote Originally Posted by Hotchkis View Post
Hi All,

I have been monitoring this thread and have been discussing with the moderators here, and feel its time to set a few things straight. Also would like to thank our customers and friends who have chimed in. First and foremost, for the past 19 years I have built my company on a reputation for superior engineering, quality parts and excellent customer service. We try to make every customer happy and deliver outstanding quality and performance with every part we sell, and we back them with a warranty. That said, when a customer does have a problem, we try to rectify it as quickly as possible with the goal of making the customer happy. Unfortunately, in this instance, despite repeated efforts to do our best to make this customer happy things haven't worked out. I will outline what transpired below.

As soon as Chris contacted Hotchkis, we shipped him a replacement set of leaf springs free of charge. This was in spite of the 8 year old leaf springs being out of their 3 year warranty and Chris modifying the parts with traction bars. Installation of the traction bar constitutes a violation of the warranty since it increases the stress and load on the leaf spring.

Chris then contacted us and claimed his car incurred damages and demanded compensation. As Hotchkis’s President and owner, I spoke with Chris via phone and requested he send a sample of the broken spring and an itemization of the expenses he incurred. Chris supplied the itemized list of expenses but has repeatedly refused to send a sample of the broken spring.

At that point, I asked our General Manager, Henry, to try to find a way to make Chris happy. We made the following offer:

“In order that we maintain our reputation for superior customer service we will agree to compensate you for your inconvenience in this matter for the amount of $2,171. Per our conversation the following items total $2,171:
• Alston shock $175
• Installation of replacement leaf springs $400
• Body work $1346
• Rear tire. $250
• Total: $2,171.00"

The only item we did not agree to pay for was the installation of the Competition Engineering traction bars, which we believe may have been at least partly to blame for the incident. Again this was purely an effort to soothe an unhappy customer, with an eight year old set of springs. Chris committed to this arrangement and said that he would return the damaged leaf spring in the pre-paid box provided by Hotchkis, but at the last minute he changed his mind and declined the offer and asked for more.

We believe in making excellent suspension parts, here in the USA, providing the best customer service experience and backing everything up with real people who really know and understand the muscle car market. This type of incident is regrettable, but fortunately has been extremely rare. In fact, we've never experienced anything quite like this in nearly 20 years.



Again, I'd like to thank our customers and friends who stood up for us in this thread, we will continue to push forward and develop great parts that are made in the USA and provide excellent value.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
John Hotchkis
I've been away from the forums for a while. This faulty leaf spring incident left a bad taste in my mouth and made driving my Firebird feel unsafe and nauseating. Had the failure I experienced happened on the highway the result would have been horrific. I decided to utilize the knowledge I gained from this horrible incident, remove the body from the firebird and start over. I took a queue from the most helpful, knowledgeable individual I've encountered during my 11 year ownership of this car. Mark at SC&C. I installed an entire new front and rear Chassisworks suspension. Paired with one of their new sub frames. I'm extremely happy with this system. Now I drive the car with the confidence I won’t suffer a life threatening failure.

The body damage to the quarter panel from when the spring let go, inspired a new paint job. I went with GM cyber gray. It’s an awesome color. I now own one of the nicest first gen firebirds in my area.

John, unfortunately your depiction of the reimbursement is inaccurate. John, you never made good on the agreement to reimburse me for the damages I suffered as a result of choosing your product. Your offer was exactly what would’ve been required to make this situation right. But at the last minute you decided to rescind it and I was then forwarded to your Hotchkis legal counsel. If I didn’t reside 400+ miles from what would be the venue for a small claims case, I’d have gladly taken the spring, photos, witness/expert statements to court. I instead focused my efforts on the Firebird. The result was positive, a complete 180. I still have the failed Hotchkis leaf spring. I've made an awesome poster board and will have it on display with my car at ALL the northern and southern California Goodguys shows. I will also bring it with me to the local car shows. If I can get the word out and prevent what I experienced from happening to other enthusiasts, I’ll feel vindicated. Being that the Hotchkis leaf spring snapped in two pieces it fits conveniently in my trunk.