8
Besides being hard to get ahold of and taking awhile to get what i ordered i have nothing but good to say about VEI. very good product, i have their front and rear bumpers
my VAN AMBURG ENT experience
- Thread starter phatboyfilms
- Start date
T
i wish my drive was only 6 hours.
I agree with not wanting to bash, and I've held my breath for almost two years... I originally called VEI, and spoke directly with Mike (July) and paid for a 174" boondocker tunnel. Arrangements were to call me a week before it was ready, I would drive down to pick it up. I finally got called in November saying it would be ready for pick up in a week. Yakima is a 18 hour drive from where I was living at the time, but planned to pick up a few more things while I was down to make the drive worthwhile. Really I wanted the opportunity to pick Mikes brain as I would be putting it together myself.
Fast forward a long drive. I show up on the date arranged, wait for them to open. They were very nice, took me on a tour of the shop, then brought me to were they were storing my tunnel. Immediately, I noticed a couple problems, first, I paid $200 for the polished finish, to show up and the metal still have the production plastic on it. Not that big of a deal, upon looking closer, I noticed the tunnel looked a little short, so I asked Mike what size it was built. He said 162" like I ordered! Receipt comes out of back pocket, and I show him were it clearly states 174" Boondocker tunnel.
He went on to blame it on an intern they had working there during the summer. He tried selling me the 162" tunnel despite me telling him my 174" skid and track were already waiting.
I somehow kept my cool, got a nifty sweater (that didn't even fit, and advertised their company) so I didn't walk away totally empty handed for my inconvenience.
Mike then proceeded to tell me that he could not give my tunnel any priority, because "I can't put out my other customers" (that obviously ordered long after I paid in full in July). And that he would call me whenever he got around to it.
The following two months consisted of me sending a couple polite emails and calling once to inquire. So now we're into the second week of February. I was sleeping for nightshift and woke up to a voicemail saying it was ready to ship, just to call them with credit card info to pay the shipping!! When I called, I was told outright it would not ship until they got payment. At this point I had no fight left in me, and having missed half the riding season, I caved and paid.
Fast forward another three weeks, and my package finally showed up. Like a kid at Christmas I tore in to see. Come to find again, that instead of nice polished aluminium, it was still in production plastic. I had asked him to only use a few clecos to hold it together, so I didn't have to deal with removing rivets, and it was half assembled with rivets. After looking it over I notice A LOT of blemishes. Mis-drilled holes. Oblong, and holes that were half daylight. Pretty shotty quality for something ordered 7 months prior. Luckily with a lot of tweaking I manage to get it installed straight and square. Also I had requested no laser etched graphics, yet there logos adorn my tunnel, and even though you have to look really closely to notice the flaws, I still know they exist. The quality and service definitely did not meet the level expected for the amount of money I invested into their future.
On a good note, I asked the foot boards be doubled up, and they were. I still love the VE boondocker chassis, but what a headache to get the best.
Sorry if it seems like I'm hijacking the thread, I'm not trying to, just putting another VE story out there
Cheers, Mike
I agree with not wanting to bash, and I've held my breath for almost two years... I originally called VEI, and spoke directly with Mike (July) and paid for a 174" boondocker tunnel. Arrangements were to call me a week before it was ready, I would drive down to pick it up. I finally got called in November saying it would be ready for pick up in a week. Yakima is a 18 hour drive from where I was living at the time, but planned to pick up a few more things while I was down to make the drive worthwhile. Really I wanted the opportunity to pick Mikes brain as I would be putting it together myself.
Fast forward a long drive. I show up on the date arranged, wait for them to open. They were very nice, took me on a tour of the shop, then brought me to were they were storing my tunnel. Immediately, I noticed a couple problems, first, I paid $200 for the polished finish, to show up and the metal still have the production plastic on it. Not that big of a deal, upon looking closer, I noticed the tunnel looked a little short, so I asked Mike what size it was built. He said 162" like I ordered! Receipt comes out of back pocket, and I show him were it clearly states 174" Boondocker tunnel.
He went on to blame it on an intern they had working there during the summer. He tried selling me the 162" tunnel despite me telling him my 174" skid and track were already waiting.
I somehow kept my cool, got a nifty sweater (that didn't even fit, and advertised their company) so I didn't walk away totally empty handed for my inconvenience.
Mike then proceeded to tell me that he could not give my tunnel any priority, because "I can't put out my other customers" (that obviously ordered long after I paid in full in July). And that he would call me whenever he got around to it.
The following two months consisted of me sending a couple polite emails and calling once to inquire. So now we're into the second week of February. I was sleeping for nightshift and woke up to a voicemail saying it was ready to ship, just to call them with credit card info to pay the shipping!! When I called, I was told outright it would not ship until they got payment. At this point I had no fight left in me, and having missed half the riding season, I caved and paid.
Fast forward another three weeks, and my package finally showed up. Like a kid at Christmas I tore in to see. Come to find again, that instead of nice polished aluminium, it was still in production plastic. I had asked him to only use a few clecos to hold it together, so I didn't have to deal with removing rivets, and it was half assembled with rivets. After looking it over I notice A LOT of blemishes. Mis-drilled holes. Oblong, and holes that were half daylight. Pretty shotty quality for something ordered 7 months prior. Luckily with a lot of tweaking I manage to get it installed straight and square. Also I had requested no laser etched graphics, yet there logos adorn my tunnel, and even though you have to look really closely to notice the flaws, I still know they exist. The quality and service definitely did not meet the level expected for the amount of money I invested into their future.
On a good note, I asked the foot boards be doubled up, and they were. I still love the VE boondocker chassis, but what a headache to get the best.
Sorry if it seems like I'm hijacking the thread, I'm not trying to, just putting another VE story out there
Cheers, Mike
Yep had the same problems 5 years ago, had an M boondock chassi built by them, sent him a raw bulkhead and he did a drop and roll,came to me in a big cardboard box destroyed , not his fault, any way got it all together and it looked good,but all through the build,everything had to be massaged to fit correctly, holes wouldnt line up panels didnt fit ,cooling lines too short, but I did finish it! Finally got it in the trailer and I straped the bumper down to the trailer floor and the tunnel buckeled right at the rear suspension bolts!!!!Called him and explained the situation to him and that it needed more tunnel support and was told that they built many like it and never had a problem,I tried to get some support brackets from him and he simply stopped answering my calls wouldnt return emails etc,etc finally had snow eliminators custom made to run from the front suspension bolts all the way to the back of the tunnel 162 long made it nice and strong like it should have been,,the real Issue for me was 5 years ago when I came on here and voiced my experience I was blasted by every one on this site, you would have thought I was a baby killer, HOW DARE I CRITISIZE THE GREAT VANAMBERG ,,,,,wow! Live and learn!!!! He is a great salesman though talked me right out of a evans marine carbon fiber tunnel and my money,,STUPID ME! flame away already took it once,its only money I can make more.
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I also recently had a bad experience with them. Won't go into detail, but won't buy from them again........
Aaron
Aaron
VEI
Wow, I gues I'll never buy from them. I great company gone bad.
Wow, I gues I'll never buy from them. I great company gone bad.
P
Mike VanAmburg, will you please hurry up & come on here being the white knight, give some excuse that you've been busy making great products & didn't know I was unhappy - ur sorry, Ur customers really are important to u, u stand behind your work & will do whatever is needed to make this right...
I'd much rather end this on positive note & see u let everyone on SW know what a great company u have.
I'd much rather end this on positive note & see u let everyone on SW know what a great company u have.
T
Good to know I was going to get thier Boondocker Tunnel for My little 08 600X renagade Making it a 163 I guess I'll go with plan B. Thanks for the info.
P
Couldn't agree more...
Not a word from VEI. What a great way to run your company, just ignore problems & they'll go away...
Nooo problems wont go away! We customers will!!!
I just want to say thanks for posting this thread!!! I almost made the mistake of doing buisness with this vendor. Its bs when someone calls a vendor out and all the cheerleaders pull out there pom poms and then the mods start deleting posts. Buisnesses should live off there reputation.
Jeepin, I'm no cheerleader. I don't know the people at VEI other than when I called to buy two bumpers from them. I'm not disputing anything that others have posted about their experiences-- I have no idea what may or may not have happened. I saw this thread before I ordered and I too was hesitant. I made the call anyway...
My VEI experience is posted here.
http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336827
Murph
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We don't defend poor service.
We delete bashing.
We let civil public discourse run its route.
There is a difference.
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P
Murph,
Glad you had a good experience when you ordered a part from them, but I'll repeat what I said earlier:
Really am glad to hear this, I really am. However, Let me know how it turns out if they ever make a mistake. We all try, but Nobody is perfect, so knowing what a company is going to do about their mistakes is extremely important to know. Everything is usually rosy until there is a bump in the rd.
I gave him every chance to do something, ANYTHING, & the guy straight up crapped on me for believing in him & his company. I ended up paying for half the damage out of my OWN pocket cause I didn't feel right about giving my buyer the middle finger, even though legally, I absolutely did not have to give him a dime.
I have refrained from posting this link on all the VEI product posts & trying to bash him, even though I felt justified to do so..
How a family owned business that supposedly loves the snowmobile community treats a fellow snowmobiler like this just baffles me. All to keep a few hundred dollars in his pocket. Mike you're a piece of work & your true colors show to everyone here.
I don't do business with people that can't swallow their pride & admit when they have made a mistake, then man up & stand behind their work. I guess if that doesn't bother you than keep sending money to VEI.
To end things on a more positive note, Skinz makes an excellent bumper, many of us in our group use them & couldn't be happier.
Thank You for coming on here and telling us about your experience. I dont doubt your story at all. I also appreciate you being level headed about this. I really expected to get towards the bottom of these posts and read something from VEI. The silence on VEI's part speaks volumes however.
I don't neccessarily think that's true.
Sometimes it's just better they don't jump into the forums.
Scott, I kinda see what your saying about no responce but man thats the frickin problem the Republicans have they never defend themselves. If I don't respond to a poor service attack by either ; oh crap we dropped the ball there so sorry --------- and we'll take care of it; or wait a minute you knuckle head that's just not how it happened----- then no one; NO ONE ;need respect me or do business with me again. Just saying thats what erks me to h . Stand up and defend or what happens next is on you. IMO
I
I agree there's probably nothing to be gained by VEI posting in this thread, however it's their COMPLETE silence towards the OP that will be why I don't buy their product again.
They should contact him, make it right, and let him post on the forum how it was settled.
I have dealt with vendors that have treated me perfect. If they cared they would make therebmistakes right... that wouldve had a affect on whether or not people like myself would do buisness with them. They r jus like a lot of other vendors, they only care about the sale. An u know, they have read this thread or heard about it. I was set on buying a tunnel from them but I have already dealt with enough bs vendors that I have found from this site
R
Not happy
I just purchased a boondock tunnel for my 2013 Pro RMK for a whopping 2,600 dollars. I was stoked about the good cooling, and durability of this tunnel, as my stock tunnel had bent.
Basically, to make a long story short, my tunnel bent at the rider left footwell, and bent the bracket that also attaches to the bulkhead. This bracket comes attached to all pro rmk tunnels, and CANNOT be ordered seperately. This bracket is machine riveted into the tunnel itself. The boondock tunnel DOES NOT come with either of the bulkhead brackets. Also, None of my holes were drilled in the tunnel itself, making my project and absolute nightmare.. how am i supposed to line up anything without any holes? I'm not an engineer LOL.
I promptly called Mike Van Amburg to find a solution to the problem. His solution was to bend it back with a rubber mallet and weld any abrasions or cracks, he also said that there were holes pre drilled in the brackets that i could use to drill into my tunnel and rivet together. Upon further investigation, i concluded that there were 2 cracks in the bracket and they were pretty extensively damaged and if i were to try to have someone weld it, it would've made the bracket weaker. Bending and heating aluminum is never a good thing after it's already been formed.. mike should know this.
I got to thinking a little bit more, and realized that the bracket was bent, and even if i were to bend it back, my holes would never be in the same EXACT location as the stock bracket.
In conclusion, it's a business day and i've called mike at least 4 times to try to find a solution and have got no answer or response.
I paid 1,400 dollars more for supposedly a better tunnel and boards, can't even put it on because i don't have the necessary hardware, and to top it off, i could've got the tunnel for 300 dollars cheaper through western power sports.
Hope mike reads this and fixes the problem.
I just purchased a boondock tunnel for my 2013 Pro RMK for a whopping 2,600 dollars. I was stoked about the good cooling, and durability of this tunnel, as my stock tunnel had bent.
Basically, to make a long story short, my tunnel bent at the rider left footwell, and bent the bracket that also attaches to the bulkhead. This bracket comes attached to all pro rmk tunnels, and CANNOT be ordered seperately. This bracket is machine riveted into the tunnel itself. The boondock tunnel DOES NOT come with either of the bulkhead brackets. Also, None of my holes were drilled in the tunnel itself, making my project and absolute nightmare.. how am i supposed to line up anything without any holes? I'm not an engineer LOL.
I promptly called Mike Van Amburg to find a solution to the problem. His solution was to bend it back with a rubber mallet and weld any abrasions or cracks, he also said that there were holes pre drilled in the brackets that i could use to drill into my tunnel and rivet together. Upon further investigation, i concluded that there were 2 cracks in the bracket and they were pretty extensively damaged and if i were to try to have someone weld it, it would've made the bracket weaker. Bending and heating aluminum is never a good thing after it's already been formed.. mike should know this.
I got to thinking a little bit more, and realized that the bracket was bent, and even if i were to bend it back, my holes would never be in the same EXACT location as the stock bracket.
In conclusion, it's a business day and i've called mike at least 4 times to try to find a solution and have got no answer or response.
I paid 1,400 dollars more for supposedly a better tunnel and boards, can't even put it on because i don't have the necessary hardware, and to top it off, i could've got the tunnel for 300 dollars cheaper through western power sports.
Hope mike reads this and fixes the problem.
