Wheeler Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 Here is my Sparco saga: I purchased two of the Sparco Tuning Belts for my S30 and they don't fit properly in my car, or any S30 chassis, or for that matter will not fit properly in any car that the lap belts mount to the chassis rather then the seat base. No where on the Sparco web site does it say this or even show a picture to imply this, and Sparco will not refund you. I now have two new belts that I can not use. Attached is both the orginal letter I sent to Sparco requesting my money back as well as later e-mails between myself and Cyberauto, who is the dealer I bought through, (racingseats.com) and Sparco. You can judge for your self if you think Sparco is a reputable company you wish to deal with. Sparco Tuning Belt.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt. Cdr. Tom Dodge Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 In glossing over your Email’s, my personal opinion is that you are shooting yourself in the foot. You have a valid issue with your seat belts, but your approach may be preventing you from getting what you desire. Please do not take offense, I’m not trying to hammer on you. I truly hope that you can get acceptable resolution to this issue, and I hope my reply here may be of help to get you that acceptable resolution. Again, please do not take offense, I'm only offering my view of the situation based on what you presented. Not sure which E-mail listed in the PDF was your first contact with them regarding this, but from what you presented, ALL of your E-mails were rather coarse, with personal emotion, accusations, telling them how to stand behind what they sell and give you what you think you are entitled to, meet your demands, and then threaten them that you will slander their business if they don’t meet your demands?… They don’t know you from Adam and you throw this in their face with lots of emotion and attitude. Business owners, customer support personal, etc are regular people and respond to others attitudes the same way you and I would. Imagine Joe Blow off the street, his first conversation with you and he is hurling accusations, threats, calling you incompetent, threatening to publicly slander you and your business, etc. How would you react? I have found that if I approach anyone regarding an issue I am having with them or their product with a positive approach, whether it be a business or friendship relationship, that only pointing out facts, not accusing, threatening, or including personal emotion, my chances of getting what I want go up. If I include pleasantries as well such as a “please†and “thank you†here and there, inviting them in such a way to want to help me through my problem, my chances of getting what I desire go up even more. In some instances, they will go above and beyond to make sure I am satisfied regardless if the part is wrong or not. What I’m saying here is try a different approach, especially the very first contact. When I approach them with a coarse blunt, “this part is wrong, that is wrong", demand "such an such…" generally that approach will not get me what I want. Than also to add that if they don’t act and perform as I think they should, that I will publicly slander their business, they will more than likely just tell me to piss off, and who’s to blame them?... Again, no offense, I am only trying to help. You still may be able to get you want. I would go back to them, apologize for the attitude, the accusations, and the threats, tell them you would like to start over, this time just point out the issues you are having in fact form, leave ALL emotion, accusations, threats, demands, etc out of your approach, just be polite, you might have a chance of getting a refund. If not, just chalk it up to lesson learned. I hope this works out for you, Good luck, Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheeler Posted December 2, 2008 Author Share Posted December 2, 2008 Tom, My first contacts with Sparco and Cyberauto were very cordial and it was not until I got the run around for over a month that I changed my tone. The first document in the attachment was a explanation of the problem that was sent to cyberauto.com and they forwarded to Sparco (they would not give me a contact at Sparco). The emails below that are in reverse order and as you can see the first emails I made (last in the document) were very nice, i think. Whether I went about this the best way or not though is not the point of this discussion (however your point Tom is well taken). The purpose of the post is to: 1) Let users of this site know that the Sparco Tuning Belt will not fit in the S30 chassis or any vehicle where the lap belts get bolted to the chassis in a similar manor. 2) Let users of this site know how they might expect to get treated by Sparco in the event that they are unhappy with their product for any reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 I have a dumb question, if you can't mount the lap belt to the frame (floor?) what the heck do you mount it to? Sorry to hear of your trouble. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglist Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I don't understand why you would want to mount these in your car rather than the factory seat belts. If you are going to get harnesses get some 5 or 6 points...otherwise I just don't understand the advantage or need for these Sparco belts. Where were you mounting the rear belt attachment to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheeler Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 Evan: I'm not sure what you would mount them to. In one of Sparco's emails they said that they were intended to be used with custom mounts but the installation manual shows and talks about using the stock locations. Even with custom mounts I don't think this would be a good installation. Jung: It is not really realivant why I bought them, or if a 5 point is better than a 4 point. However belts like these are much easier and quicker to get into and out of and are not as restrictive to movement as a full race belt would be so for a street only car I felt they had a slight advantage over a race belt. I have since bought a set of CROW race 5 point race belts (and they fit great). Again, this is not the point of the post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt. Cdr. Tom Dodge Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Tom, My first contacts with Sparco and Cyberauto were very cordial and it was not until I got the run around for over a month that I changed my tone. The first document in the attachment was a explanation of the problem that was sent to cyberauto.com and they forwarded to Sparco (they would not give me a contact at Sparco). The emails below that are in reverse order and as you can see the first emails I made (last in the document) were very nice, i think. Whether I went about this the best way or not though is not the point of this discussion (however your point Tom is well taken). The purpose of the post is to: 1) Let users of this site know that the Sparco Tuning Belt will not fit in the S30 chassis or any vehicle where the lap belts get bolted to the chassis in a similar manor. 2) Let users of this site know how they might expect to get treated by Sparco in the event that they are unhappy with their product for any reason. Understood. Glad you were able to find belts that fit. Regards, Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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