Gmgaugeguys horrible experience

tbhuge · January 17, 2014

I have been dealing with Mike Letcher with gmgaugeguys now for the better part of a year. I have shipped my gauges back and forth to him 3 times now and the gauges still don't work right. After getting it back the 3rd time and it still was not working right, I requested a refund. Mike agreed to a refund, however that was almost 4 months ago. I have repeatedly called him, left him messages, and no response. Since I live in Alaska and shipping is awful, I have over $500 wrapped up in this entire project with nothing to show for it.This guy has no idea how to handle customer service or how to honor a refund. Stay away from this sham of a company at all costs.

Chris · January 17, 2014

Dealt with his brother Steve a few times and had great service and not one issue

tbhuge · January 17, 2014

Maybe I need to contact Steve to honor the refund then, because Mike has no business ethics.

tbhuge · January 24, 2014

So I am continuing to leave messages on Mike Letcher's phone with zero response. I have spoken with Steve twice now and according to him they don't talk much and mike won't call him back either. So still no results.

Chris · January 24, 2014

Im sorry. Like said my dealings were all with Steve and he was always good to me

Silverado777 · January 28, 2014

Hopefully I can shed a little light on the situation. I was briefly able talk to my brother Mike the other day about this. Now I cannot confirm any of the time frame in which this all happened. Unfortunately there were some additional issues with the Ops gauge cluster sometime after the initial repair. My brother offered the lifetime warranty as we always do. He got it back and worked on the board again. He was able to get get everything working just fine on his end. However, once the Op got the gauge cluster back still no dice. The gauge cluster then came back once more. After doing extensive testing he discovered there was a defect in the circuit board. So instead of taking any chances on sending it back and it not working in the truck again, my brother purchased him a brand new circuit board, programmed to his current mileage and vin. This cost upwards of $300. So at this point my brother already lost all the money that was made on the transaction and even took a good lump some out of his own pocket. I'm not sure how many times but I know my brother did state that he paid for the shipping both ways a couple times. Each way at $40+. So at this point in time my brother has spent $300+ of his own money to get the situation taken care of. I am not sure what has all been said about any refund though. The Op did contact me regarding the situation. From what he stated, everything works fine it's just that one of the lights is coming on and off. Could be from a defective LED, could have a loose connection depending on how it was handled by the shipper, he could have an issue with his voltage regulator or he could have installed it with the power on. What ever the cause is it's not a big issue. Even though it's not my deal and I didn't know about the situation between them, I explained that he could send it to me and I would take care of the issue for him. I would cover the cost out of my pocket to send it back to him. I felt this offer was extremely fair and is still on the table if the Op wants to get it fixed since he still has the lifetime warranty. We cover shipping both ways if there is an issue within a short period of time after the repair. However, repairs from months or years ago we only pay for the return shipping. This is a better policy than most retailers offer. Unfortunately do not work together anymore and he has branched off and created his own site and what not. His number is still on my site just in case I am unable to answer my phone, there is someone else to call to get the customer taken care of.

OP feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss further.

Thanks,

Steve

tbhuge · February 2, 2014

Steve at this point I have no interest in doing further business with Gm gauge guys. I have too much money and time invested in this project with too little return on my investment. To date I have a total of $438.49 racked up with your cost plus all the shipping that has been going on back and forth from Alaska. I also can not comment on Steve Letcher since all my dealings in the past were with Mike and Steve has only recently been made aware of this situation. Here is a breakdown for those charges and the timeline of the entire story......

On July 18 Mike charged me $160 for service on my gauge cluster. Prior to that my dilemma was that my DIC would work intermittently and sometimes would come on if I applied pressure in certain areas of the upper left corner of the cluster. That was my main problem with the gauges. Mike told me ahead of time that he could fix that issue as well as do an LED conversion and stepper motor replacement for $160. I used fedex for my shipping. I do not have the original shipping invoices with dates with me here at work, they are with my paperwork at home, so I will be using the dates when the charges hit my credit card from FedEx. On 7/19 the first shipping charge hit for the initial shipping to Mike at $57.13. I also had to pay the return shipping blindly for fedex since they were unable to quote me ahead of time, I received the same story from The UPS store, the return shipping back to Alaska ended up being $93.94 which hit my credit card on 7/24. Immediately upon opening the gauge cluster I noticed that the bubble wrap and packaging had not been taped up around the gauge cluster inside the box. It was all placed in there loosely with the gauges at the very bottom of the box against the cardboard. This would have been from poor packaging done at Gm gauge guys and would have nothing to do with the handling done by FedEx. I immediately plugged the gauges into my truck and tried them out. The new LEDs worked, however the DIC immediately did not work at all and I still had to push on the top corner of the gauges to get them to turn on. Also the lens covering the gauges was now cracked at the bottom.

On July 23 at 10:14 am I texted a video of the problem to Mike showing him that the problem was still there. Since he offers a warranty on his work he stated if I sent it back to him he would work on it again. He stated I would have to pay for shipping up front and then he would reimburse me. This time fedex charged me $58.47 to ship to Mike and $54.75 for the return shipping back to Anchorage. When I received the box back the second time, I plugged them in and initially it worked. Within a couple of days, however, the initial problem of the DIC began to flicker again. On august 5 at 1:01 pm I texted another video to Mike showing him the problem was still not fixed. I spoke with Mike trying to figure out a solution to this reoccurring problem as well as the money he owed me from the shipping for the second time. He stated he would look into it and get back to me.

Fast forward a couple of months. He stated he recommended replacing the unit with one from Dorman. He stated for some reason he could not find the short for this scenario and did not want to put any more effort in to chasing it. He stated I would need to put down a $250 deposit on this unit for a core charge which would be refunded on receiving my old unit back. On 10/4 my credit card was charged the $250 deposit. The new unit was delivered in Anchorage on 10/16 with the LED conversion and new stepper motors. I waited just a couple days before sending my original unit back to him to ensure that this new one would work. On 10/21 at 3:02 pm I sent Mike another video of my gauge cluster. This time the DIC was working, however several of the LEDs flickered on and off randomly. They still do it to this day, which can be very annoying when driving at night. I spoke with Mike about this and told him I was not happy. I have sent my gauges back and forth too many times and spent too much money with the project with too little return. The gauges are not 100%. I can understand a second return with a whoops or a problem that wasn't fully discovered and needed a little more work. However after going back and forth for a third time and still not having a 100% working product is unacceptable and made me question the competency and knowledge of Mike. I told him that I wanted a refund and wanted to walk away from this transaction. He agreed to the refund.

On 10/22 my credit card was charged $14.20 by USPS to ship my old gauge cluster back to Mike. And the $250 deposit was refunded to me on 11/19. On 11/20 I texted Mike inquiring when I would receive the refund for the original work. He stated it has been initiated and I should be receiving it soon. I have never received this refund and am still waiting for it. In December after having received no refund and not being able to get a hold of Mike after leaving countless voicemails, I inquired with my credit card company to force a refund on my behalf. After opening a claim it appears that they were unable to do anything for me because this entire scenario drug out so ridiculously long that it had gone past the 120 day mark.

At this point I have no desire to do any future business with gmgaugeguys because of their very poor customer service. When you are inquiring to spend money with them, you receive phone calls back promptly in less than 24 hours, however, when there is a problem after they have your money, they will not call you back for months if ever. Bad news travels faster than good news, so until I receive my refund from Mike like he had agreed to I will continue to tell every one I know thinking about having gauge work done to avoid his company at all costs and filling them in on my experience. To date there are 4 people who have gone elsewhere because of my experience. This number will only grow until my refund that was agreed upon by Mike Letcher is received.

Silverado777 · February 3, 2014

OP. You spent a lot of money in shipping charges. However you forgot to mention that the shipping charges were so expensive because you wanted expedited shipping to and from Alaska. This is very apparent as you stated that to return your core back it only cost approximately $15.

As I read your statement above it seem that you are not interested in getting your gauges fixed, as this option has been offered to you free of charge. Due to you refusing this offer it is apparent that you are only interested in the money. I can honestly say that my brother did not make any money on this transaction but lost a great deal of money to make sure you had working gauges. My brother has been known for going above and beyond to make a customer happy. However, sometimes you just can't please everyone.

Flashing LEDs are known to happen from time to time. We do not know what other electronics, aftermarket stereos or other modifications have been done to everyone's vehicle. Other electrical issues or bad wiring could easily cause a surge in voltage and reek havoc on these gauges and LEDs. However this is why the warranty is offered.

OP. Once again. Since I did not agree to the refund I cannot issue you one. However the warranty still stands and if you would like to get your gauges fixed (which is your current problem) I will honor that.

Other than fixing your current issue I do not know when else to offer you. You paid a fraction of the cost to get brand new gauges that other companies could have made you pay full price for. Unfortunately we are in Arizona and you are in Alaska. Shipping can get expensive especially if you want it expedited. However I think that is just part of living in Alaska. I'm sure Canada has the same issue.

I am not telling you to go piss off. Instead I am offering to fix your problem. If anyone else feels is offer is not fair then feel free to contact me directly to discuss.

tbhuge · February 5, 2014

Steve I commend you for trying to step in and fix your brothers problems. You are right at this point I am frustrated that I don't have a working set of gauges after months of back and forth shipping, costs and time of no gauges and I am only interested in the money......the money/refund that your brother offered me the last time I was able to get him on the phone. It would be one thing if over a period of time things started not working again or problems arose with the gauges. However, it is very frustrating when you immediately have problems repeatedly after plugging in your new gauges after they were suppose to be fixed each time. Now Mike will not answer my calls, or return my messages. I have called, left messages and texted him a ton of times. He is unwilling to honor what he offered me or even discuss this with me. This is apparent because now you are the only one communicating with me via this forum. Bottom line is Mike promised a refund and that's what needs to be honored, whether by you or him.

tbhuge · February 12, 2014

Just an update. Still no refund as I was promised by Mike Letcher. Also, no return phone call or text message. This may be one of the top 3 worst customer service experiences/ business ethics experiences I have ever dealt with. Bad Form.........

Chris · February 12, 2014

I know you had a bad experience with mike. I told steve and he came here. Ive been dealing with steve for almost 2 years. He has been great to me. They operate separately. Sorry Steve cant refund his brpthers work. He tried to fix your gauges.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Silverado777 · February 12, 2014

Op,

Your best bet is to let me fix the problem and be done with it. No sure what you're trying to accomplish here. If we couldn't fix your issue or said we wouldn't fix your issue I could see ranting and raving for a refund.

Have you thought this through all the way? Lets say he did give you a refund ($80 or so), what are going to do then? Spend even more money and to have someone else repair it? You would then have to pay for the repair and shipping charges which would be well over what you would get in a refund.

Just curious did the other 2 "horrible" experiences your delt with also offer to fix your problem free of charge?

txab · February 12, 2014

Perhaps the two of you should continue this conversation through PMs or emails. It doesn't look like this is going anywhere at this point. A fair offer is on the table. If you decide quickly to resolve this then post it here. But to continue as it is now serves no real purpose imo.

Before long this will become......