Forbidden-USA.... I will never deal with them again
02-20-2014, 05:36 PM
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Forbidden-USA.... I will never deal with them again
I would like to start this off by saying I have bought several things from them, and bought a rear diffuser of theirs from a third party and have never dealt with such a poor company. The Customer service is the worst I have personally dealt with in my life.
Last May I ordered their double sided carbon fiber OEM replica hardtop from their eBay store thinking they had them ready to ship and in stock. After ordering the Hardtop I waited and waited, approximately two weeks later after not receiving any shipping notification or the hard top I called them to see what was going on. After speaking with an employee there he told me "They are on back order and we will ship it when we can, and they are made by order." so I told them Im only two hours away and I will pick it up from them. After a month of waiting I called them again and got the run around saying "it's just coming out of the mold' then days later, "its being finished and polished" then after 6 weeks from the initial order date, and my final time calling them they told me they were just installing the window because the window guy was out of town, and that I could pick it up the next day. I took the next day off from work and drove from San Diego to Long Beach which is about a two hour drive without traffic. After getting to their shop, I stood around waiting for 30 minutes before they could find my order number and get me the top. While I was waiting I decided to buy the Carbon Fiber side splitters as well and had them install them while they were looking for the top.
About two to three weeks after owning the hardtop I noticed the Clear coat was hazy and that the Hardtop had a weird rough texture to it, not to mention there is a three inch long and one inch wide spot that the carbon fiber was not molded so they just filled it in with resin. I contacted Forbidden-USA over email to see why it was doing this as my car is garaged and the only time it sees daylight is while I'm driving to work, at the time I was working swing shifts and it was only sitting outside for about 3 hours before getting dark out. they told me to buff it out and it would clear up, after trying their suggestions I contacted them again telling them it did not clear up and that the top had a bunch of low spots or dimples on it that were starting to appear. After a couple more emails back and forth they told me the would replace it, and that I could pick it up from them, after they made a new one. I called them every week to get an update, and finally a month later they said they had the replacement and I could come up that week and get it. so after a 4 hour drive up to Long beach due to traffic, I was finally getting a new top, or so I thought. When I arrived there was only one employee at the shop, and he was helping another customer. When he got around to getting the replacement (which he knew nothing about) the top had a 9-10 inch gash in it, and the seam of the carbon fiber was horrible looking and fraying under the gel coat. The employee told me he wasn't going to give me the top in the condition it was in and that he would have the owner call me when he got back into town. Come to find out from the employee the rest of the shop was at a car show up in San Francisco that weekend for Wekfest. I never did receive the return call from them and the three times I called them since then concerning the top, the owner was never there and I was told that he would call me when he came back to the shop. I finally gave up on trying to get it repaired or replaced. The top also buzzes from the exact center from the two layers making slight contact.
In late July my friend was getting out on the passenger side of the car and clipped the side splitter with his heal and cracked it to the point the carbon fiber separated. When I bought these the owner told me they were very durable and that aside from wrecking or hitting something with the car they should hold up with no problem. I don't blame them for what happened but they seem overly fragile and the quality just is not there. I called them to see if I could just buy the one replacement and was told they were only sold in sets. I also emailed them about it and received a different story saying I could and they were $180 each. Next would be the Diffuser. I don't have much to say about this except for the quality is about the same as the side splitters, it didn't fit well, and it seemed too fragile, and ended up shattering when I hit something in the freeway and it tore off.
The most recent run in that i have had with Forbidden was very recently. January 12th I ordered their OEM style two piece hardtop brackets, when I placed the order it said that they were shipping out the first week or two of January and that they had 30 some in stock. About two weeks later I called them to see if they had shipped them yet and they told me "we are waiting on a bushing and they will ship out that thursday." they also told me that I was in the first shipping group for the first batch of them. After waiting for two more weeks I attempted to call them with no luck in getting an answer. Finally today February 20th I got in touch with an employee there, I asked if they had shipped the brackets yet and he then told me that I was in the second batch shipping group and they wouldn't be shipping them out till april. After asking to speak with the owner he told me that he was not in the shop and that he would forward my concerns and phone number to him on monday. I hope they don't blow me off again.
Forbidden USA certainly leaves something to be desired in their product quality and customer service. I will never ever consider dealing with them again, and I will make sure anyone that asks me for my opinion will know exactly how they are and that they are very unreliable.
-David
Here you can see the hazing or fogging of the top, it's about half of the top and you can see spots that haven't hazed.
These were hard to take pictures of, but towards the front where it connects to the windshield all the dark spots are really low spots and creases in the gel. this continues over the whole top though.
The whole top has almost an Orange peel texture to it. The employee told me its from the heat in the mold.
This is the gap that they just filled with resin.
Then the side splitter damage just by clipping it with your heal.
UPDATE: 02/22/2014
The owner called me yesterday while I was at work, he seemed to know nothing about what was going on, and told me there must have been a miscommunication between his employees and myself concerning both the top, and the brackets I just ordered. He told me I was number 33 on the pre order and that the brackets wouldn't arrive till April. It seems like he may be trying to make this right as he said he would replace the top, and he was going to see about having a couple extra brackets made to accommodate me, he isn't sure when or if they can even do it yet though.
Update: 04/19/2014
Forbbiden replaced the top last month, but this new one is very thin compared to the old one I had to the point to where you can actually see the weave texture under the clear coat, as well as having the same discoloration of the clear coat but on the inside of the top this time which isn't too big of a deal I guess. Also I finally got the brackets that I ordered at the beginning of the year, but these things creak and pop very bad, just driving down the street is almost unbearable to deal with and going in and out of drive ways/parking lots/ over speed bumps these things pop very loud. Now I don't know if its the top that is causing all this or the brackets but I am still very unhappy with all this, and have decided to cut my losses and sell it all.
The powder coating on the brackets looks like its just flat black spray paint with over spray on them and the rods stick out at about a 75 degree angle from the top and can not be opened unless i pull the seat forward otherwise they hit on the seatbelt stay.
Forbidden also charged me for shipping on the brackets even though I had to drive to back to long beach to pick them up.
Last May I ordered their double sided carbon fiber OEM replica hardtop from their eBay store thinking they had them ready to ship and in stock. After ordering the Hardtop I waited and waited, approximately two weeks later after not receiving any shipping notification or the hard top I called them to see what was going on. After speaking with an employee there he told me "They are on back order and we will ship it when we can, and they are made by order." so I told them Im only two hours away and I will pick it up from them. After a month of waiting I called them again and got the run around saying "it's just coming out of the mold' then days later, "its being finished and polished" then after 6 weeks from the initial order date, and my final time calling them they told me they were just installing the window because the window guy was out of town, and that I could pick it up the next day. I took the next day off from work and drove from San Diego to Long Beach which is about a two hour drive without traffic. After getting to their shop, I stood around waiting for 30 minutes before they could find my order number and get me the top. While I was waiting I decided to buy the Carbon Fiber side splitters as well and had them install them while they were looking for the top.
About two to three weeks after owning the hardtop I noticed the Clear coat was hazy and that the Hardtop had a weird rough texture to it, not to mention there is a three inch long and one inch wide spot that the carbon fiber was not molded so they just filled it in with resin. I contacted Forbidden-USA over email to see why it was doing this as my car is garaged and the only time it sees daylight is while I'm driving to work, at the time I was working swing shifts and it was only sitting outside for about 3 hours before getting dark out. they told me to buff it out and it would clear up, after trying their suggestions I contacted them again telling them it did not clear up and that the top had a bunch of low spots or dimples on it that were starting to appear. After a couple more emails back and forth they told me the would replace it, and that I could pick it up from them, after they made a new one. I called them every week to get an update, and finally a month later they said they had the replacement and I could come up that week and get it. so after a 4 hour drive up to Long beach due to traffic, I was finally getting a new top, or so I thought. When I arrived there was only one employee at the shop, and he was helping another customer. When he got around to getting the replacement (which he knew nothing about) the top had a 9-10 inch gash in it, and the seam of the carbon fiber was horrible looking and fraying under the gel coat. The employee told me he wasn't going to give me the top in the condition it was in and that he would have the owner call me when he got back into town. Come to find out from the employee the rest of the shop was at a car show up in San Francisco that weekend for Wekfest. I never did receive the return call from them and the three times I called them since then concerning the top, the owner was never there and I was told that he would call me when he came back to the shop. I finally gave up on trying to get it repaired or replaced. The top also buzzes from the exact center from the two layers making slight contact.
In late July my friend was getting out on the passenger side of the car and clipped the side splitter with his heal and cracked it to the point the carbon fiber separated. When I bought these the owner told me they were very durable and that aside from wrecking or hitting something with the car they should hold up with no problem. I don't blame them for what happened but they seem overly fragile and the quality just is not there. I called them to see if I could just buy the one replacement and was told they were only sold in sets. I also emailed them about it and received a different story saying I could and they were $180 each. Next would be the Diffuser. I don't have much to say about this except for the quality is about the same as the side splitters, it didn't fit well, and it seemed too fragile, and ended up shattering when I hit something in the freeway and it tore off.
The most recent run in that i have had with Forbidden was very recently. January 12th I ordered their OEM style two piece hardtop brackets, when I placed the order it said that they were shipping out the first week or two of January and that they had 30 some in stock. About two weeks later I called them to see if they had shipped them yet and they told me "we are waiting on a bushing and they will ship out that thursday." they also told me that I was in the first shipping group for the first batch of them. After waiting for two more weeks I attempted to call them with no luck in getting an answer. Finally today February 20th I got in touch with an employee there, I asked if they had shipped the brackets yet and he then told me that I was in the second batch shipping group and they wouldn't be shipping them out till april. After asking to speak with the owner he told me that he was not in the shop and that he would forward my concerns and phone number to him on monday. I hope they don't blow me off again.
Forbidden USA certainly leaves something to be desired in their product quality and customer service. I will never ever consider dealing with them again, and I will make sure anyone that asks me for my opinion will know exactly how they are and that they are very unreliable.
-David
Here you can see the hazing or fogging of the top, it's about half of the top and you can see spots that haven't hazed.
These were hard to take pictures of, but towards the front where it connects to the windshield all the dark spots are really low spots and creases in the gel. this continues over the whole top though.
The whole top has almost an Orange peel texture to it. The employee told me its from the heat in the mold.
This is the gap that they just filled with resin.
Then the side splitter damage just by clipping it with your heal.
UPDATE: 02/22/2014
The owner called me yesterday while I was at work, he seemed to know nothing about what was going on, and told me there must have been a miscommunication between his employees and myself concerning both the top, and the brackets I just ordered. He told me I was number 33 on the pre order and that the brackets wouldn't arrive till April. It seems like he may be trying to make this right as he said he would replace the top, and he was going to see about having a couple extra brackets made to accommodate me, he isn't sure when or if they can even do it yet though.
Update: 04/19/2014
Forbbiden replaced the top last month, but this new one is very thin compared to the old one I had to the point to where you can actually see the weave texture under the clear coat, as well as having the same discoloration of the clear coat but on the inside of the top this time which isn't too big of a deal I guess. Also I finally got the brackets that I ordered at the beginning of the year, but these things creak and pop very bad, just driving down the street is almost unbearable to deal with and going in and out of drive ways/parking lots/ over speed bumps these things pop very loud. Now I don't know if its the top that is causing all this or the brackets but I am still very unhappy with all this, and have decided to cut my losses and sell it all.
The powder coating on the brackets looks like its just flat black spray paint with over spray on them and the rods stick out at about a 75 degree angle from the top and can not be opened unless i pull the seat forward otherwise they hit on the seatbelt stay.
Forbidden also charged me for shipping on the brackets even though I had to drive to back to long beach to pick them up.
02-20-2014, 06:03 PM
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I figured I would give them a second chance since its almost a year later and they should have their stuff together. Im not to sure, I know their website has a Carbon Craft copyright, Im not sure what that means though, I thought carbon craft was a different company
02-20-2014, 06:13 PM
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The OEM style brackets were the only other thing I have bought from them. The side splitters I bought the same day I picked up my Hardtop. and the Diffuser I picked up from someone else just cause it was inexpensive, and I didn't have to deal with them to get it.
02-20-2014, 07:25 PM
#5
I ordered a double sided CF mugen top from them. I wasnt expecting the best quality but I certainly wasnt expecting the crap that I recieved. I had the top installed for all of a week before selling it off at a massive loss. I'd love to complain, but it was the first piece of the puzzle that has made me stop buying replica parts. I would however look into RSG for a hardtop. I've heard (and seen) great things from them.
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02-20-2014, 08:45 PM
#8
Sorry to hear about your bad experience(s) but I don't see anything out of the norm. What you listed are byproducts of replica parts. If you were expecting good quality and top notch customer service you shouldn't be purchasing from flybynight companies.
The resin filling on the side is just shady. I'd love to hear which excuse they're going to come up for that. Good luck having the issues fixed.
The resin filling on the side is just shady. I'd love to hear which excuse they're going to come up for that. Good luck having the issues fixed.
02-21-2014, 12:03 AM
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same experience here with forbidden, long story short
ordered on black friday, got my hardtop march, after making 4 trips too long beach from riverside because their hardtops kept coming out defective. i finally go home with one, the next day i come out of work too find my soft top latches that i used on the hardtop laying on my seats with huge chunks of the hardtop attached to them. yea it completely fell apart. they replaced it that night with another shitty top, squeaked like a mofo, i sold it within 5 days of owning it. will never buy ANY replica hardtop again. thats coming from seeing rsg window fitment and forbidders tops, and vis etc. shine is no different, plain and simple you get way you pay for. oem ftw
ordered on black friday, got my hardtop march, after making 4 trips too long beach from riverside because their hardtops kept coming out defective. i finally go home with one, the next day i come out of work too find my soft top latches that i used on the hardtop laying on my seats with huge chunks of the hardtop attached to them. yea it completely fell apart. they replaced it that night with another shitty top, squeaked like a mofo, i sold it within 5 days of owning it. will never buy ANY replica hardtop again. thats coming from seeing rsg window fitment and forbidders tops, and vis etc. shine is no different, plain and simple you get way you pay for. oem ftw
