Well, I usually take the type of experience I just had with Year One and basically try and put it behind me and just move on......but......this time I thought it would be my duty to share.
I have been restoring my 78 Trans Am for the past 3 years. It is the first car I ever purchased on my own back in 1981. Nearing the home stretch of my restoration I made the call to go with the Year One 17" Snowflake Wheels and the Year One Stainless Center Caps. Figured the lower profile tires would work well with the Pro-Touring F-body Suspension System I had installed.
Last October 2017 was the time to get them put on the car. Which, I think everyone can relate, is one of the more fun parts of a restoration! Wheels went on with no issues, SS Center caps not so much. I am not exaggerating when I say I spent 4 hours trying to get the caps to fit into the ID of the wheel. Bending all of the tabs on the caps, greasing everything, using rubber mallet, etc. Nothing would allow these things to fit. The caps had too big of an O.D. where they go into the wheels. Plus, the repeated attempts at getting them into the wheels was really marring up the I.D. of the Aluminum wheel.
OK, here is where it gets interesting. The first call to Year One resulted in a tech or sales guy Marty telling me that he went and pulled a center cap out of stock and was able to put it in with no problems on a wheel they had in stock. That was it. OK, now what? So I make several other attempts at contacting them and after a week goes by I finally get an RA# to return the original non-fitting caps. I returned them at the end of October 2107. After a couple weeks go by without any word at all I make contact again. I am told that something happened that they didn't have the correct address to send them. Guess they would just wait for me to call. Got them the correct address.
Another couple weeks go by. It is the beginning of December and I still don't have center caps for my wheels. Not a great look seeing the brake drums and wheel bearing caps in the middle of the wheels. Finally get word that they are waiting on new tooling to make the SS Caps and they are backordered. January 8th I got the backordered Center Caps. Couldn't get them out of the box fast enough! Went to install them and they go right in with barely a "snap" and wobble around about an 1/8"! They would have fallen out before I left the driveway! This is not happening! Next day I call Year One and am told that they got a new vendor for these parts. The Sales guy tells me he got a cap and wheel and that he could confirm it was loose and told me to start bending the tabs outward to make it fit correctly. What?!! You are telling me you get a new vendor on a part and you don't check to see if it is manufactured to the correct spec? Big Red Flag my friends on the Quality Control going on over there!
So, after spending another hour bending the cap tabs and only getting one of them to fit properly I gave up and called the contact at Year One, Doug Ferguson. Two emails and two voice mail messages sent the week after I got the caps with no reply at all. I finally called the main number again at Year One and...what luck...Mr. Ferguson answered the phone! Aha. Finally I will get somewhere now......NOT! He proceeded to tell me that....and this is a direct quote..."We already gave you a FREE set of caps and that is all we are going to do". Wait, I buy a set of caps that don't fit, I send them back, get another set that don't fit and that is "all we are going to do"? Where did the FREE caps come in when I paid $44 each for them originally? Never got my money back or anything. So when I tell him that they are YEAR ONE wheels and YEAR ONE center caps that don't fit each other and how can you sell parts like that, his response was.....and I quote again....."I am ending this conversation brother". If I could have jumped through the phone I would be in jail right now.
So that is it. My conclusion is that the only thing that rivals the poor quality control at Year One is the poor customer service.
Just thought I would vent to help myself and share this story with the fellow TA brethren out there. It was an unfortunate and frustrating detour I had to take during my restoration.
Thanks for listening!
