SUBJECT: GRUBBS INFINITI SUBSTITUTING AFTER MARKET REAR SPOILER WHEN BUYER ASKS FOR INFINITI REAR SPOILER
I apologize in advice for the length, but wanted to provide you with the facts.
THE POINT OF THIS:
The point of this is to let people know that I specified that I wanted and Infiniti Spoiler and was told I was getting exactly what I had before. I did not get what I paid for. The paint on the spoiler does not match and in the case of another user...his unit leaks.
Grubbs charges $500 for an Infiniti Spoiler and $220 for an aftermarket.
This affects you if you have bought your car at Grubbs Infiniti and the dealer installed the spoiler and may affect your decision if you are planning to buy from Grubbs.
I purchased a 2004 G35 Coupe from in December of 2003. The vehicle had a factory installed Infiniti rear spoiler. When that vehicle was totaled in June, I went back to Grubbs to replace my G with a new 2004 G35 Coupe.
I discussed with the salesman that I wanted to exactly replace my car, same color, and options. He said he had a coupe coming in July that had the options I wanted except for the front lip and rear spoiler. He told me, “Robert, We can make this one coming in just like the other one. It will be just like the one you had.
Instead of putting on an Infiniti Rear Spoiler, Grubbs installed an aftermarket spoiler.
The aftermarket spoiler is not the same quality as the Infiniti part. The paint on mine is blotchy and another member in NY has had a problem with his spoiler as his was substituted with an aftermarket spoiler as well.
(See TOPIC below) http://www.6mt.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7002
Grubbs claims I asked for a spoiler and it is standard practice for a dealer to install an aftermarket spoiler. I do not agree, I negotiated an Infiniti spoiler and specifically said I wanted exactly what I had before my accident.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE AN INFINITI SPOILER OR AN AFTERMARKET
The top picture shows the Infiniti part on my December 2004 G35, the picture below shows the aftermarket part installed on my July 2004 G35. The aftermarket part LED is shorter and has the extra painted contour around the LED light.
INFINITI PART
AFTERMARKET PART
CONTACT WITH GRUBBS
My salesman told me he had no idea that Grubbs was installing aftermarket units and that he thought I was getting an Infiniti part.
The General Manager at Grubbs, Danny Mayer, still has not returned my calls and told Steve Mally, Finance Director, to deal with me.
Their position is they gave me a spoiler. My position is that I made it well known I wanted an exact replacement of my existing car, went in and asked for that, and I got something less.
I have let Infiniti consumer Affairs know of my displeasure, however, the decision lies with the owner of the dealership, George Grubbs.
I plan to file a complaint with the BBB and if anyone else feels they were provided a disservice, I will file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General.
Again, I can accept a position that if I just asked for a spoiler, the I got what I asked for. I did not ask for a spoiler, I asked for an exact replacement of my totaled G35 and that's what the financial negotiations were based upon.
Can't for sure say because I bought my car used thru Grubbs but I believe the previous owner bought it thru them as well. I have both the light on my spoiler and in my rear windshield so I know for sure that it is aftermarket.
You missed the part about the blotchy paint. If I can get the lighting right to take a pic of that...I will. Also, my spoiler, since it is aftermarket, is not covered by the factory warranty.
Kind of interesting that a few posts have disappeared off this topic after being posted.
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Kind of interesting that a few posts have disappeared off this topic after being posted.
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I withdrew mine after you made clarifications and answered my questions. I didn't want to be a smart @ss (for once)[]
LOL...ok...I though maybe someone was trying to mute my thread.
FastForward...yours was not the only one to be gone.
I would have just been happy if Grubbs would have been a little more courtious with me and took care of me. That's what is most disturbing about the whole thing. I bought two cars from there and sent a third guy that works here there to buy his car as well.
Don't feel totally bad about the situation. All dealers suck. Maybe a generalization but I found out that they can not be trusted. For example, Pinnacle Infiniti sold me a car on a Monday that 1. they did not have possession of from another dealer and 2. tried to switch cars with out telling me, except for the financing manager already processed the paper work on Monday and I already had the first cars Vin number which I gave to my insurance company. As the story unwinds I find out later when I have to re-sign everything and realized that the VIN number was different. I thought that was shady. Then when I went outside to look at the car that was on the lot it only had half of the aero kit and was missing the front chin spoiler. Of course they played dumb to noticing that. I actually found that out prior to knowing that they switched cars. I know the one I was supposed to get came complete. So after much haggle, they promised me the chin spoiler. Two weeks later and I had to pester them three times to get it, it is finally in the shop today to get it on. About an hour ago the service guy called and told me that they installed it but found that the clips that hold the middle on were missing so they need it for another day until the clips get there by the morning. But let me tell you that they lied their ass off about ordering the right parts then ordering the aero package and not the kit. As it turned out the car is actually the first one I test drove from the another dealers lot. That dealer didn't want to deal on the price but the other dealer did. I found out I got the original car I test drove later that night when I was looking through the glove box and found the other dealers windows sticker and some advertising material. A bunch of no good dirty bastards that will lie, cheat and tell you anything.
Dude, if it ain't one thing then it is something else. As far as my rear spoiler goes, it was installed aftermarket, I have the third break light in the rear window, disconnected of course, but mine looks like the picture in the top view. Also I have metal shavings falling out of my trunk lid from the lid being drilled. You can hear them in the lid if you open it. It is getting quieter now since most of the shavings have worked their way back out.
Currently I'm driving around a 2003 I35 loaner and this thing sucks. It only has 20,000 miles on it , the inside and outside definately looks beat. The headlight lens have a hazing or film over them and the stupid rear window screen malfunctions.
Let me tell you what, I'm not impressed with their service. To top it off while I was waiting for my loaner, which took twenty minutes to get, I over heard one of the service reps giving some guy a hard time on the phone because he wanted Infiniti to look some rust on his car and the Service Rep was feeding the guy a load of crap. So the rep tells the guy he has to find out the schedule to get him in, put the guy on hold, slams the phone down, runs over to the receptionist and chews her a$$ off for the call and then goes back and tells the guy to bring the car in at 10 on Saturday, all without every looking at a schedule or checking with anybody. If I wasn't there I wouldn't believe it.
To top this all off, my sales man calls a half hour ago and asks me if I like the car but is more interested if I got the damn survey and if I filled it out yet. "Remember all excellents..." Yeah, I'll remember - I was purposely holding off on ever filling this out until they finished the transaction.
But back to your situation, yeah it sucks. If you paid for something then damn it you better get what you paid for. That was basically the whole jist of my story above. I paid for a car with certain options then don't be jamming something else down my throat and selling it for like.
I would definately bitch about it. Hell that is three hundred that you can buy something else with. If I were you I would run this up the line as far as you can go. Take it to the top level of Infiniti Corporate if you have to.
Well I just looked through my files and I found my copy of the Grubbs Infiniti Special Order/Reservation Form. I signed this document as the Purchaser and The Salesman Signed as an agent for Grubbs Infinniti, LTD on July 1st, 2004. The box next to the Aero Package on the form is marked indicating the vehicle I inteded to buy would have the Aero Package. I am sure it will do nicely in court.
That's what you need, Robb. As we mentioned on the phone, I think any proper documentation that shows your intent to buy something you did not receive will provide the basis for getting what you requested.
Without such documentation, the "legal" point of view will definately differ from the "right" point of view. We know that dealerships, regardless of whether they are Infiniti, Ford or used, work to make money and are happy to take yours any way possible. We just *hope* that companies like Grubbs will do better, but obviously that's not (always) the case.
I think Grubbs should do this right, but I also think without proper documentation they won't do it - sounds like you're moving the right direction, so with any luck you'll get this righted.
...I'm not sure that replacing the spoiler is a good idea, however, since they apparently use different screw-down points you will likely end up with more holes in the trunklid and more chance of leaks/damage.
Kal.
'04 G35 Coupe 6MT, Black/Black, Premium Package, Aero Package w/Spoiler, Infinity Basslink, Clear Bra
I also bought my G35C from Grubbs. I am going to give a semi-detailed summary of the situation here.
The original vehicle I wanted was Grubbs stock # 14469 (VIN# JNKCV54EX4M813053 which was a diamond graphite / graphite 6MT coupe with the trunk mat, 4-piece body color splash guards, premium package, and aero package R01. I emailed Ralph Kinchen to purchase the vehicle and when he called me back I was told that the vehicle was available but has been a driven demo, which was currently being used by their finance manager, and had about 1800 miles on it. I was not thrilled about the idea of buying a car that was driven by people who knew didn’t own it and might not care for it as if they did so I asked if they had any other cars configured the same way. They didn’t but had Grubbs stock # 14674 (VIN# JNKCV54E84M817876), which was the same but didn’t have the factory aero. I told Ralph that having the factory rear spoiler was important to me and was told that they could install it before delivering the car for $699 ($549 for the spoiler and $150 for labor).
I was buying the car under the 6mt.net discounted VPP deal so there would have been no "better deal" should I have gone with the used demo coupe versus a new one so I decided to pay what in the end was more money to have the new coupe with the dealer installed aero - inventory # 14674. There was never any discussion of aftermarket spoilers as I had been very clear that I wanted the OEM rear spoiler but didn’t care about the underbody diffusers, as my interest was purely aesthetic. I had looked at the Grubbs website and knew they sold the OEM Infiniti spoiler for $499 and the aftermarket unit for $229 so I figured they just charged a little more for the OEM unit when it wasn’t purchased via the web site. I as ok with this as I was getting the car equipped exactly the way I wanted it which I couldn’t find locally.
When Ralph FedEx’ed all the paperwork there was no detailed breakdown on the bill of sale to explain the $529 spoiler, $150 labor, $700 autowrap and trucking fee – there was simple one line item that said PRICE - $34500.
When the coupe arrived I had a slew of problems with water getting into the rear spoiler which you can read about on the following threads:
Well, since then I have found a few things out. I definitely have a non-OEM aftermarket spoiler while I paid for a OEM unit. There is a hole drilled in the vertical surface behind the LED assembly (there is no separate lens/led – its all one sealed piece on this unit) and a hole drilled on the horizontal bottom of the spoiler for the power wires to enter the trunk. There is no sealant, gasketing, etc applied to these holes whatsoever so if you are able to put enough water on the trunk deck, the water will begin to flow under the spoiler and try and drain through the two breaks in the spoiler gasket but ends up taking the path of least resistance which ends up being the horizontal hole in bottom of the spoiler. It really surprises me that the installers at Grubbs and the installer that my local dealer subcontracted the spoiler replacement to didn’t think that any type of sealant or gasketinig was necessary to seal the hole in the base of the spoiler.
Others may not have experienced this problem as I wash the car on a driveway that is on an incline using a nozzle that is made for watering plants. Its all volume and no pressure so basically its able to put a heck of a lot of water down at once without splashing all over the place. The combination of the incline and water volume was able to make the water pool up on the trunk lid.
To finally be rid of this problem I removed the spoiler once again as it still leaked after my repair in topic 7002, and injected expanding foam insulation into the core of the spoiler to seal it for good. This seems to have worked as I water tested it yesterday during a rainstorm with the same hose and nozzle in the same driveway. Its worth noting that the foam sealant, although shaved where it came out of the hole, didn’t allow the spoiler to sit as flush on the trunk lid as it did previously so although there is nothing cosmetic you can see the water is able to take a more direct path under the spoiler and out the back. I am sure this accelerated drainage would have helped even if the spoiler still had the open hole.
The bottom line is had Grubbs installed the OEM spoiler I paid for I am confident that I would not have had this problem. Furthermore, if the LED ever goes out in the spoiler I must now purchase a new spoiler as the wiring is now sealed in there forever. Unlike Robb411’s spoiler, the paint on my unit seems to be nice and matches the paint well but that doesn’t discount the fact that it seems Grubbs has been pulling a fast one on its customers that didn’t know better until it was too late.
Thoughts?
2004.5 G35 Coupe / 6MT / Diamond Graphite / Graphite / Premium / Rear Aero / 4PC Splash Guards
STOCK - AND STAYING THAT WAY!
I just don't know how they can even claim that they are only buying it from the same manufacturer that makes them for Infiniti (at a cheaper price) and yet from the two pictures above they look totally different. Wouldn't one figure that they would at least look identical. That is also pretty shady of them to selling it at the higher price as well. I was thinking of buying the XM receiver off of them but now I'm having second doubts. Maybe it is made by someone else cheaper with an Inifiniti sticker on it. Grubbs is stupid. They advertise here and on, I think g35driver, don't they think that if they piss off someone on either of those two forums that they will get huge negative feed back. By the way the 5% discount is really nothing to be all that excited over. If I did get the XM through them it only amounts to like $16 saved which is about the cost of shipping. Whoo Hoo!
I posted a link to this thread on freshalloy.com in the G35 coupe / sedan forum and its been deleted. I know Danny Mayer, the GM of Grubbs Infiniti, is very active over there under the name dfw_infiniti and I hoped he would have had something to say regarding this matter but I guess the powers that be felt the best way to resolve this problem was to simply delete my post.
How nice.
2004.5 G35 Coupe / 6MT / Diamond Graphite / Graphite / Premium / Rear Aero / 4PC Splash Guards
STOCK - AND STAYING THAT WAY!
The facts as represented are misleading or untrue. I normally will not get into this type of discussion on the web but in this case I will make an exception.
First of all this was not an order car but rather a replacemnt car for one that was wrecked. He selected the car out of inventory and asked us to add a rear spoiler and a lip spoiler which is what the original car had on it. We did this prior to his arrival for delivery, per his request.
If you go to our parts website you will see that we sell 2 different spoilers, an aftermarket one and an OEM one. The poster has made the ASSUMPTION that since he paid $500 (approx) for the spoiler it must then be OEM. What he has failed a to accept or understand is that the price on the website is for an in the box spoiler and does not include installation.
At no time was he ever told or did we represent that we had installed an OEM spoiler.
He complained that I have not returned his call and I need to address this. As most of you know I am Johnny on the spot in answering questions and providing info when asked. This man's first contact trying to reach me was yesterday. I had previous committments that filled my almost entire day yesterday with out of town visitors. I asked our receptionist to have him leave a number but that was not satisfactory. I finally had one of our managers speak with him.
In the end this is what it boils down to:
1. We will warranty the spoiler this on the car
2. We will replace the spoiler with an OEM spoiler and he pays the cost difference ($270)
As I understand it neither of these is acceptable to the gentleman.
This will be my only post on this matter and I will not return to the thread.
It would have much easier to wait until today and talk about this matter in a professional manner.
Located 3 Miles West of DFW Airport on Airport Freeway. Tollfree 888-4GRUBBS ext 4050
URGENT: Grubbs Infiniti Rear Spoiler
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