As you can see I deleted my first topic about SLR.

I got a call this evening from Spencer and talked to him for some time about my perception and his point of view.

Concluding the conversation, my post and reaction to the initial perception of bad service was an a knee jerk reaction made without taking the time to explore further, thank you to Patrick helping me out. in conclusion, I should not have called Spencer Low Racing a dishonest company.

During my career of being self-employed I have always lived by the rule of 2 things.

1. you never get a 2nd chance to leave a first impression

2. Establishing a trust relationship with a client through open and clear communication is vital to the customer in order to get an understanding for the process of serivce deliver thus eliminating the rick of a negative feel through guessing perception

Spencer, in taking the time to call me and explain how the process of delivery and charging takes place managed to do just that.

I retrospect getting an order from the East coast to Seattle in less than 48 hours by effective work is a feat that has to be recognised.

My Credit card was charged based on an estimate and the difference will be refunded (or re authorised) back to my credit card.

Would I purchase from these guys again?. Without hesitation.

Claus

As I said in a PM to patrick after reading that thread...

Spencer really needs to kick Patrick down some money...

Patrick has done an excelent job of providing customer service for SLR here on XOC... Playing "Middle Man" with upset customers and Spencer is so far above and beyond what anyone would expect...

Just wanted to publicly acknowledge patrick's fine job of conflict resolution.

Sorry, Patrick deserves nothing.

Playing middle man for a company (sorry, one guy with a garage) that doesn't stand behind its products is nothing to cheer about.

My SLR products broke, and sagged, and turned to shit. SLR did nothing to solve any of my problems. Where was my support ?

Claus, SLR illegally charged your credit card, that's something I would be very worked up about.

Is that why you took down your SLR lift kit review in the review section?

Why did you delete your original post, don't you think others would benefit from your experience whether the outcome was good or bad? Isn't that what this forum is for?

And why, if you live by 2 rules, is it ok to break the first one and endorse someone that breaks the second?

All it sounds like to me is he talked you out of being upset. Does everyone who has a problem with SLR have a middleman to explain why crap service is ok? Because, had you not deleted the original thread, this was your first impression after 4 phone calls.

didn't even notice it was taken down... he should have left it, or ammended it to include what he fealt was wrong with it... a review is a review, Movie reviewers don't give everything two thumbs up.

Then kick down some gratitude to the FedEx guy. SLR didn't do that and you certainly paid for the privliedge.

I agree. His original review was favorable. Then after time, he wasn't satisfied anymore. I am curious to find out the details - its a review afterall.

In my mind, everyone deserves a 2nd chance. I, in my business have often wished for that chance to explain and set a misunderstanding straight....Spencer did that by picking up the phone calling me and having a productive conversation. Spencer did not talk me out of being upset, I was pissed when he phoned..he took the time to listen and explain the procedure of delivery and sale which he did not do when I first called

I removed the post as it did not display the level of objectivity I should have displayed had when I let my emotions out through the key board.

The buttom line is, Spencer delivered the shocks in 44 hours flat, I am not charged a penny more than I should (an authorization was made on my credit card for far more than the price but will be adjusted when the charge goes through), I was frustrated by the lack of communication in regards to delivery, My expectation was higher than what was delivered in that regard,

I take this experience as a lesson that no one is perfect, they run small businesses but are sensitive to going the extra mile to set things straight, I respect that and value that enough to compromise and try to understand

OK, recap:
After 4 rude phone calls (your description) and an illegal charge on your card (that you only found out by calling your card company since SLR wasn't helpful),

then complaining here,

and then through intervention of some middleman,

SLR finally contacts you and then talked you out of being pissed and into an "understanding" mood,

now convinced SLR is the greatest,

you delete a thread possibly informational to future readers and post how great SLR is how you were mistaken.

Uh, ok.

That and the poor business practices of SLR. They basically reverse engineered the CALMINI upper control arms, and passed them off as their own design.

I don't do business with people like that.

I have purchased a few items from SLR, not on the level monetarely as some but I have recieved my purchases in a fairly timely manner. Now the concern lies with the middle man why should this person exist?, Should SLR take it upon himself to resolve these blunders and right his wrongs? Maybe there is more to the story that I am reading here. How does the saying go?, one angery customer spreads the word to 10 of his friends, I dont know somthing like that.

I have purchased a few items from SLR with great results. He always took my calls. If I had to leave a message, He returned my call normally within 20 minutes. I never got any attitude from him or his employees. I always made it a point to phone in my order.
He made a set of custom AALs for me and I had them in about 1 1/2 weeks.

My only insignificant complaint was that he ship the AALs in a box, not loose. The centerbolts always get screwed up by UPS.
He did send me new bolts in about a week after I called him up about it.

I'd definitely deal with SLR again in the future regardless of anyone else's experiences.

I had problems getting a straight answer out of SLR when I ordered Bilsteins and when I posted my story on the XOC I got an email from Spencer saying I gave him a bad rap and he didn't believe I was telling the whole story (which was crap and he knows it) and so instead of getting into some huge fight with him I just deleted my posts. Either way SLR defiantly needs some help in the customer service and communications department!

You can also order the bilstein shocks from AC(for liftd Xterras) so their is also another avenue. As well, why not order them directly from Bilstein, as opposed to a parts house?

]

I'll bet you the "prototype" he showed on here and on his webiste is Calmini blue under the gray paint. He conveniently drilled a hole through it where the Calmni log was etched.

He got my money for a Stage III that I couldn't align and started sagging almost immediately. I got no help from him. When I replaced my SLR arms with Calmini arms and posted a picture of the two side by side he called me a work to chew me out for trying to ruin his business. Calmini may take incredible amounts of time to deliver some profucts, but I have never had one of their parts fail or not work. And they have never harassed me at work or attacked me on the internet. YOu decide who should be in business and who should just give up.

Just to clarify:

I speak to SLR almost daily and have for some time now. I do not get paid by them. I am in a very heavily intensive customer service based industry and have extensive experience in dealing with customers both happy and very disgruntled.

Over the course of my conversations with SLR we have discussed customer service issues among other things in his attempt to be a more customer friendly business. Spencer is not always the most diplomatic and patient customer oriented person and is making attempts to be more so.

I believe that SLR has good ideas, a good vision, and sells some great products. I also believe that as shop guys who are happier cutting and welding, sometimes their lack of experience in dealing with customers hurts them and prevents them from moving foreward.

SLR does not have the ability to post on this board nor are they able to defend themselves in any way here. I do not believe that a one sided perspective given , nor do I believe that a disgruntled customer should be left unattended to. Therefore, I have tried to pass on the information about unhappy customers to SLR and spoken with him about the best avenues of conflict resolution.

People are going to continue to order from SLR. Unfortunately, not everyone will be extatic with their experience and because of my relationship with SLR, I can make an attempt to remove the adversarial relationship and assist in resolving these conflicts.

For the record. I dissagree with SLR manufacturing and selling the Calmini design "econ arms" and have told him so. I have spoken to Steve of Calmini and apoligised for anything I had said about Calmini and hopefully put that in the past.

I think that a healthy, competitive marketplace can only be a good thing. The more companies making quality products that people are confident ordering from benefits everyone.

I agree with your statement whole heartedly, especially the last part!

Cheers,

"Spencer is not always the most diplomatic and patient customer oriented person and is making attempts to be more so."

That is no lie. Although in the two plus years that I have seen him operate I have not seen much progress in the right direction. Some of the problems people are having now, I had back before the second GOX when I tried to order shocks from him. Same run around. Same "they are in stock and shipping today" Same "we will call you with a tracking number". SSDD (same shit different day)

In my case it ended up being the same as so many here. Although they told me they were in stock and would ship that day, they were in fact NOT in stock and had to be drop shipped. (I was told this several times)

He knew I was on a dead line and when (after many phone calls to find out where the hell the shocks were) it was discovered that the shocks would not be to me when originally promised and he wanted ME to pay for expidited shipping to get the shocks in time for GOX. Bad form.

I agree that an open market with multiple vendors is the best way to go.. but damn. I just wish we had his dad back at the wheel of the company. His dad earned the respect of the Nissan community (and Nissan) his son is just riding his coat tails.

Carlton, his dad's primary busines at Low Manufacturing was the 4wd conversion kits. The performance, suspension aspect of the company is relatively new and Sr. was only truly involved in the company at the very beginning.

Steve ,in regards to the "econ arms" , your inflamitory speculation is incorect. Those were in fact a prototype.

the econ arms where not just powder coated.... you can tell from the picture and the way the metal deforms that the hole was drilled prior to the bend being made...

they are not repainted calmini arms... but they are reverse engineered calmini arms.

still a poor business decision

Prototype of a copied design. What is the difference. They are blatant copies of anothers design.

But hey you know what they say.. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery..

I know that he purchased a set of Calmini arms for "comparison testing" What happened to the test? In it's place we get a new product that looks so similar to Calmini's it might as well be the same parts.

exactly... they are identical in design(save for a couple cosmetic holes), but not actually calmini's parts

What SLR products have you equiped your X with?, and have you had any probs?
On SLR web site it says somthing to the effect that they have been in this business for 27yrs. has this good business, bad business been around as long? If so i can't believe there still around.
Im alittle bummed out to hear all this, I have planned on buying some of there products in the next couple months. It seems SLR is possible losing potiental customers by not rectifying any probs. in a prompt professional manner.
In my profession (nurse) I have delt with many unhappy "customers" and not once have I been rude nor provided them with anything but the best care I can provide. On a daily basis I have to defuse bad and potientaly violent situations. It seems to me SLR regardless of what customers say he needs take a mature profesinol stance and deal and take care of the probleam. He chose to be in this business, I and Im sure the owners expect quality products and when less is recieved after laying down in some cases lots of money, people will bad mouth you.

First sent. posed to socalpunX.

SLR used to post here to announce new products and personally defend himself when these miscommunications happened. Why is he "unable to post" now? Did XOC kill his account or something?

I too want to do business with SLR in the future, and at first - I heard a few negative stories, but just passed them off as pissed customers complaining and not really giving objective opinions.

Now it seems like its becoming fact that SLR sucks at customer service, and I don't want to be screwed. I don't want to become another example. I want to give SLR the benefit of a doubt, but from the looks of it his company may not be deserving of my business.

The way I see it, SLR has alot of work ahead of them in the "fixing their reputation" area. Maybe they should hire dedicated PR or customer service professionals instead of letting the shop guys pick up the phone. Just a thought.

Why? Looks like they have someone doing that for free already.

That is single-handedly the best thing Spencer could do. Sure it would cost a certain amount of money, but I think that the rewards for his business would justify it.

I won't get into the other aspects of the discussion regarding the products themselves. I will just say that after a year and a half of good wheeling and some tough trail riding, my SLR steering setup is still working flawlessly. In that regard, I have been more than happy.

Airbornenurse: I have the steering , the lift (stage 3ish) , fiberglass and shocks.

Because of problems with other people's experience with improper allignment with SLR upper arms , Spencer sent me three sets of his upper arms with varying degrees of caster in the attempt to find the correct specifications once and for all. He paid to have them installed and pictures were taken and new specs were made. He designed a new fixture based on my requirements so that all new arms he sends out will have proper allignment.

Pictures of my truck can be found here: My Truck

After my collision, SLR was very helpfull in sending out replacement tie rods promptly.

Like I said in a previous post, Low Engineering's primary focus was 4wd conversion kits for 2wd Nissan trucks. In the past few years they have branched out into the performance and lift aspect of the business.

I think that the situation with Claus was handled in a prompt and curteous manner and hopefully it can be taken as an indication of their willingness to be more customer oriented.

A big problem was the fact that Spencer lost his #1 girl who's responsibilities were deaing wtih customers, responding to e-mails and the general day to day customer interaction while he was in the shop. Good help is hard to find, especially out in the middle of the desert, and someone trying to jugle two different things ends up doing both half right. But he's working on it.

I know this from my business that a happy customer is a lot quieter than an unhappy one. And unfortunately the most vocal ones are allways the disgruntled ones. Sometimes, reading this board, you'd think the Xterra itself has massive quality controll issues and constant breakdowns just because the problems are so quickly pointed out. Yet, we know that isn't the case.

KJ: SLR no longer has a barter or advertising agreement with XOC. Thus, in according to the TOS, they are unable to announce, discuss , or post any information about their products, new or otherwise. I am also of the understanding that they are not allowed to post as well. In respect of XOC, although I have spoken in defence of SLR, I do not post information about their products in any way that would appear to be advertising for them.

You are absolutely right about the need for improvement in the customer service department. I don't want to see anyone get screwed either. I don't think they are out to screw anyone. They are a bit understaffed and they they don't have the office personell to appropriately handle the clerical duties as effeciently as possible. I think with patience on the customers part and dilligence and better communication on theirs, they can create more satisfied customers.

I have seen more problems that came from someone fully communicating their needs and expectations while at the same time SLR wasn't communicating their delivery or availibliity sufficiently.

SLR, while taking a new tack in the direction their business has absoutely made some mistakes. From the leaf pack sagging to the allignment issues there have been challenges. They have all the desire in the world to make quality products and they are making strides to improve their interaction with customers and their production processes and products.

I only see the fact that they are one of the few aftermarket companties in the business of making parts for Nissan trucks. Like I've said repeatedly, it is to our benefit to have healthy competition among vendors and the more products available the better for us all. My interaction with SLR is only with the best interests of all of us in mind.

Count yourself luck Socalpunx.

I had alignment issues, and was told it was my truck and my problem.

My leaf springs sagged, and SLR said the solution was to buy new shackles from them, even though they were a part of the kit not initially shipped to me.

My springs sagged further (4 inches total, sitting lower than stock) and SLR said I had too much weight in my truck and I should contact National Spring to have them make me new ones.

I have prototype diff-drop bushings which make for a very harsh ride. When I mentioned they would be offering polyurethane bushings, Spencer had his Dad call me and yell at me for making things up. A few months later, they started shipping the new bushings, which I never got.

The front Bilstein shocks are the wrong length, and I broke two of them and paid to replace them. SLR's solution was to put a huge bumpstop on the piston which decreased wheel travel at rock crawling speeds.

I'm not sure why SLR would treat you better than me. I had spoke highly of their products in my review and on these forums until these problems started. I gave SLR 7 million ads on this site, which drove business to them, since they had no advertising anywhere. Once these problems surfaced, SLR stopped responding to me, and offered no support.

My only solution was to remove the products from my truck. Maybe they just don't like 4X4 Xterras.

It seems to me that the majority of the complaints are with the suspension and of course customer service. Customer service aside how are SLR' other products?, for of those with issues with SLR do you or did you have other SLR products and how did they performe?

fuck SLR. they suck plain and simple. sorry for the profanity.

I have tried to keep my mouth shut about SLR, but needed to reply to this thread. I bought a lift from SLR in the spring of 2002. It took over 6 weeks to get all the parts, It's not a complete package until you can install everything.. I missed having the lift for the first GONE.. By September of that year, the springs were sagging. I took many month's to get any action by SLR. When he did, the leaf's would not fit into the spring pack correctly. The spring pack is not symetrical, the new leafs were.

I worked to resolve this issue when over the fourth of July 2003, one spring pack broke. Well, finally SLR agreed that there was a significant problem and was willing to replace the pack. Problem was that he kept changing his mind and wanted me to pay for the product. I said BS. I said I would pay for freight. (35-50 bucks)

SLR said the product is shipping middle of July, then 2 weeks later, then a month goes by. No springs,1 week before GOX, SLR asks that if I am willing to pay for second day air, Okay yes. I want to replace the spring packs. The product finally ship's but UPS LOSES the springs. They did deliver the U-bolts on time. So I go to GOX with problem spring packs.

I get back from GOX, find the springs, find a charge to my CC for 199.50. 60.00 for U-bolts, and 130 for shipping. Well, since they did not arrive within the 2 day window, I'm told by UPS that they would refund the difference between ground and 2nd day air, but the shipper has to request this. I'm looking at $90.00 refund.

I still have not gotten the "Rancho Springs" that SLR provided due to having a BROKEN, though previously SAGGING spring pack. The QC has made it nearly impossible to find bushings to correct specifications (each loop is a different size).

SLR also utilizes FST and Fly-n-Hi more modification and to ship product. I still have not been refunded for shipping charges that UPS said would be refunded. (2nd day air charges, product got lost, eventually delivered, but I needed the parts prior to GOX. Oh yeah, something about really overprices u-bolts ) They would not take care of the problem, so BBB in Phoenix got a report. They can blow me off, but I figure that the complaint has a greater cost...

SLR has some really interesting and appealing products, but the risk of failure and getting screwed to too much for me to undertake and risk spending month's(13+) trying to get resolved. I do not like the Knock-off of the Calmini product, this is just bad business.

I'm not purchasing parts for the Xterra until I get the SLR fiasco resolved...I've had the springs since I got back from GOX, but can't get the bushings...

So, If you like gambling, go ahead and buy from SLR, but if you value your hard earned cash, take a safer route.

Many know that I've been quiet on this issue for MANY month's. I'll not accept the excuse that he lost Dez(?) and this hurt him. My guess is that she did not like having to LIE for Spencer. I've gotten too many LIES from SLR.

But this again is just my story. Some others are lucky, some have also gotten screwed.

Todd

After thought....
Oh, yeah, my Calmini A-arms are sitting waiting for installation. I'll install them with the new springs. I thing I finally got help from Bryon @ Truck Candy on Thursday, so I'll order bushings and have them milled to fit on the "Rancho Springs"

I hear you....I too was charged a hefty sum for a 2 day shipping. (got the shipment cost from UPS and compared it to what I was charged on my cc) I talked to SLR who advised me they would refund the difference and send me a final invoice. I emailed them this week and was advised they were working on it....So I'll give them the benefit and another week to get their accounting in order.

Claus, your chances are pretty slim with e-mail. Phoning up couple times in a row will be more efficient.

have no real experience with SLR except for some small purchases, but it sounds to me, and please if I offend then Im Fucking Sorry, but he had better UNFUCK Himself because I had planed to send some serious coin in his direction but I may have to find another recepiant to recieve my hard earnd money.
I hear more negative than positive about this guy. It seems like a gamble dealing with him (SLR) and I dont gamble.

Their service must be hit or miss.

I say this because two weeks ago I ordered their econo line UCA's and received them within a week.

When I first called, i was sure to find out if parts were in stock, as I didn't want to wait for back ordered parts.

The next day I received an email with my UPS tracking number and two days later my package arrived.

This was the third time I have ordered from them and have had no problems yet. I guess I have just been lucky.

I guess I must have gotten a miss, I ordered a set of Bilsteins from them and I was told when I ordered them they would ship the next day. Almost a week after that I was told again they were ready to ship. Then a few days after that, the fronts did ship. Then a week and a half after that the rears ship. Granted that was after I threatened to cancel my order, then I did cancel, and then SLR shipped them anyways. YES he shipped them 2 day, but so what, at that point it didn't really matter and I had already paid for the shipping...

What really irked me about the whole ordeal is if SLR told me when I ordered that the shocks were not in stock I would have been cool with the wait, but instead I was repeatedly told they were ready to ship only to find out they weren't when I contacted them to find out what was going on with my order?

I actually love this statement. Seems to be a blatant and very poignant statement that so many of our vendors seem to forget......We are choosing to give them our hard earned money in exchange for dependable, honest products AND service. How do vendors so easily lose sight of this fact?

While I have had one good interaction with SLR as far as getting what I was promised in a timely manner, I can certainly understand the ill feelings of those who haven't. It's a shame really that a vendor's reputation is so soiled as to generate this kind of discussion.

And the choice is purely Jr's as to whether he wants to rectify his image and the image of the company that his father built and is now being so quickly trashed. All the explanations and excuses by SLR and his spokespeople make no difference in the world....real world delivery of products when promised and respect for your customers and their choice to buy your product will make a difference.

Thanks RedX, for the comment on, well my comment.
Im not one to typically use verbage like that, but as you said jr. does not seem to care enough about his business to try and change his now soiled reputation. When people lay down money regardless if it is thousands or a hundred we expect and should recieve a quality product and timely professinal service.
Possibly a class in business would benifit Jr., if he has had one well he got took.

So how long should one wait for a simple detailed invoice after making a purchase over the phone?. How long is reasonable?. I have no invoice to back up my credit card purchase....

That's the funniest thing I've read in a while You actually think your getting one? Have you not read all about all the shitty service? Do you think you're special? When will people learn Have fun dealing with them