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I'd just like to share my first (and maybe last?) experience with Hughes.

I ordered the plenum kit, as well as intake bolts, for my truck, assuming it was bad..Before I actually tore it all apart, I peeked through the butterflies on the throttle body really well, and to my surprise, it was SPOTLESS. So I don't know if it just didn't go yet, or if the previous owner replaced yet.

Nonetheless, I called up Hughes, and I talked to Tim. Tim told me that I could return the parts, and asked if I had put them on. I told them I had not. I did open the packaging they came in, but both the plate and the bolts and such were all in their individual packaging. I fit them in a box at the post office and mailed them back.

I received a call from Tim several days later saying he had some questions, so I called him back. He says "You never put these parts on the truck, correct?" I said that I did not, and he says "well explain to me why they have oil all over them then"...I told him that I had no clue what he was talking about, since they were even still in their packaging.

He argues with me for a few minutes, despite the fact that I told him repeatedly that I never even opened them. He then tells me that he's not going to argue about it, and that he will "this one time" let it slide, and try to not let his boss notice. He tells me that he will take care of it later.

Now despite the ..err..confusion... I did get my money back. But I was very disappointed that I was accused of trying to lie/cheat to do it. I don't see how I did anything wrong. I never opened the parts, got an RMA as I was told to, sent them back out of my pocket, and then was accused of lying.

After hearing so many good experiences about Hughes, I was shocked that this happened. I just felt that I would share with everyone I guess. Hopefully everyone else can have a good report on them.

Edit: just saw sungod's post..so maybe I'm not the only one then.

 

I have never had a problem with hughes. When i had questions about my Air gap and what i needed to run they were there for me. Im very happy with their service and parts. thanks a million guys.

 

It's the reports of less than good customer support experiences that have got me a bit nervous about Hughes. What if I get a casting defect or the wrong part? Will I get all of the parts that are supposed to be included? If they (or Edelbroke on their behalf) screw up my order am I going to have to make a public nuisance of myself to get satisfaction? Will being a big PITA actually work?

I want their airgap manifold so badly I can almost taste it, but I'm seriously considering just fabbing my own plenum plate to avoid the potential for frustration. I can easily enough spend the money on the airgap without missing it, but I cannot so easily afford to waste hours of my life trying to compel a flaky vendor to just do the minimum necessary to hold up their end of our agreement.

 

You can find horror stories for even the best companies out there in the world. With the population here, I am not surprised we have a couple, but, the number of folks that like them, far outnumber the folks that don't. Will you have a bad experience? Odds are, you won't. No one can absolutely guarantee that though. Not for any vendor. Ordering via phone/internet/whathaveyou, any thing that is NOT face to face, basically has the potential to be a problem. Life is Risk. Just ask yourself, do the potential gains, out weight the potential problems?

 

I've been successfully making my own financial decisions and those of my business for long enough now that all six of my grandkids always get birthday presents.

Here's the thing: Hours taken out of my normal business day are very expensive and even more inconvenient. So when I have a warranty claim it is very important to me that it be taken seriously and handled promptly and professionally by the vendor. In this specific case, there is no other vendor for this product so if I buy one that arrives defective and Hughes should then be reluctant to process the warranty claim, I don't have the option of throwing the thing away and buying another from a more responsive vendor.

It's not the risk of a promptly and professionally handled warrant claim to which I am averse, but the risk of a pointless run-around. It wouldn't take long at all for a pointless run-around to drive my purchase price well beyond what a reasonable man would pay for that intake manifold.

 

Rideordie,
I am sorry you felt like you got the run around. I actually was sitting next to Tim when he talked to you. The entire phone call had to be less than 40 or 50 seconds. He questioned you on why it was returned and did refund you all of your money. Depsite the fact the our invoice clearly states their would be a 20% restocking fee, Tim made sure you got a complete refund. We paid our people to rebox all of the parts in nice new clean boxes so that we could resell it again and, took your parts back even though they were not defective in any way. We pride ourselves on our tech support and customer service. Hopefully the outcome (the refund) is what you wanted and you are happy with that. We for sure did not mean to offend you. Tim is by far the nicest guy you will ever meet and is the worlds best customer advocate. There is nothing wrong with asking a few questions when parts are returned. We have to open everything and go through it or the next guy may not get the parts he thinks he will. This all costs money. Again, I'm sorry about the hard feelings. We want everyone to hang up happy but sometimes I guess our human frailty's get the best of us. AND,on another point of interest, I am working on the group buy for the FI AirGaps and the plenum repair kits. I need to get some time with the owner to get the okay to try and cut you guys a deal. I am hoping to get maybe free shipping and a t-shirt or something like that. There is no way I will get them down to that $450 mark you all talk about. If I had that much profit in an item I would be rich. Getting a custom intake produced and then adding on all of the accessorial items needed for the install gets expensive. Maybe, though, I can at least get some type of discount or something for you. I am working on it. I will post something if I can get it done.
Thanks! Kevin @ Hughes Engines

 

Thank for your time and email us

 

I actaully have been trying to order from Hughes but the order form gives me a dumb error. SK is not an abbreviation for the United States. Im not even in united states thats why I have Canada selected I dont know whats the problem with that form, Ive tried several times to order so I gave up.

 

I was very happy with my plenum repair from hughes. It showed up very fast and was a very nice piece.