I totally get it, and they do deserve to be defended, especially when they're not here to tell their side of the story. This is long, but important to read.
There's definitely more involved, but I'll try to sum it up. I bought the hood from their website, and it arrived shipped LTL. I helped the driver unload and signed, and he went on his way. I didn't know I was supposed to inspect the product before signing with LTL freight - lesson learned. When I opened the box, I noticed very little packing, just two cardboard "corners" stapled to the box to keep the hood in place during shipping. One of the corners let loose and the hood traveled around in the box during transit, resulting in a chipped corner. I called the freight company, they advised to contact Stinger. Stinger asked for pictures and said they'd reach out once it was on the owner's desk. Up to this point, I was pretty happy with how they were handling it.
The owner called pretty quickly after I sent the pictures. He noted that the chip was pretty small, and he was right (about 1" of the corner). He said an auto body shop might not even take a job that small, and suggested I make the repair myself. His argument was pretty convincing, so I agreed. After looking at the hood more closely, I noticed another chipped corner and pretty shoddy work at the cutout for the scoop. At this point I had started the thread on FABO. Not because I wanted to call them out, but simply because I was disappointed at the condition of a brand new hood I bought.
I recontacted Stinger to ask for some compensation for the repairs, no reply. Granted, it was over the Christmas and New Year holidays, but there was sufficient time between and after for them to get back to me. During this time, the FABO thread had gotten pretty "colorful," some might say offensive towards Stinger. I posted my experience in a Google review, and after a few days they replied, but still no reply to my email requests. I sent yet another email and they finally replied, saying I could return the hood at my expense, and if they found no defects, I would not get credit for the hood. I also found one of the corners of the hood had been repaired, but the contour didn't match the contours of the fender. They disagreed and said I could used bumper stops, etc., to correct the problem.
I again asked for them to cover the costs of repair. They refused, over and over mentioning the FABO thread and how I personally attacked them and that they couldn't forget that.
So, I'm not without sin in this case. I should've kept my stupid mouth shut and not make jokes online, but I also feel it shouldn't have gotten to that point in the first place.
