Johnex refund. help?

[Rodney]

I have been trying to contact Johnex for a refund on parts that did not fit or were of substandard quality. I returned items last year and have yet to receive moneys owed to me. I have phoned and left messages and emailed numerous times, still no response from John! I feel frustrated and even stupid at times to have allowed this to have happened. All I would like is my money back. only 1200 dollars? Can anybody suggest what to do next? Thank you.

[Johnex]

Rod;

We do not enter into dialogue over the internet. If you wish to give us a phone number or a fax number I would be happy to respond to your concerns.

I would like to point out one thing when we closed our doors to the public you were aware of our policy of visits by appointment only. I personally am available most evenings and weekends to accomodate my customers whether you live in town or come from out of town for a visit. Don't expect Johnex to drop what it's doing just because you walk in the door. ie. Your comments made by you to someone else.

As for substandard product all the products you were provided with were standard products used by Johnex for their kits. If you choose to use an open forum to make accusations whether positive or negative make sure your statements are correct.

As far as a refund goes, example custom powder coated panels for you that you chose not to use in the end can not be refunded. The wiring harness was checked out by the gentleman that bought your car and he commented he would rather have that harness than the one he purchased from the US. When I sell the harness to a builder I will gladly forward you the money like we had discussed.

One final note of mention. Most of the parts you refered to being unusable were componets that you chose to substitute with custom made components.

You purchased your kit approx. 6 years ago and you brought some parts back we no longer use 4-5 years later and expected a refund. I informed you at that time the best we could do was to try sell it to another customer of that kit era if they were looking for these parts.

If this is not exceptable your parts are still here for you to pick up.

John
Johnex

[gary_bowers]

This attitude toward pleasing the customer is one of the reasons that I bought a Superformance instead of a Johnex. ... Gary

[wicked fast]

Rodney,
Did you really wait 4-5 years to return parts????
Just curious.

[Jim Downard]

I had a somewhat similar experience with Classic Roadsters (era 1992) back when they were merging with the other company that bled them dry. While you are supposed to inventory the parts you recieve and make notes of shortages to have the shorted items shipped (this did happen and they were quick to ship these items) I am human and somehow missed count on a few small parts. When trying to contact them a few years later, (yes, if you build the complete car by yourself it can take a few years, especially if the body shop has it for 5 months, and in my opinion these manufacturers should be privy to this) they were rather rude and said I had to buy the items. I would have been somewhat happy to at least recieved a little compassion, but no such luck. They were cold as ice, but at least I had a little leverage. They had also made the mistake of shipping me a complete 2nd wiring harness. This was also a few years later that I brought this up. They said they needed it back but didn't offer to pay shipping or exchange it with the door latch and few nuts and bolts that I needed. Oh well, looks like I have a spare for the future. I believe there is no room in this or any industry for a pissy attitude, but we all have to remember, no matter what you read, there is always two sides to every story, and seldom is each or either 100% accuarate. As for the current Classic Roadsters, I understand that they are doing quite well, and the very little that I have delt with them has been positive. These days, you can just never tell.

P.S. I mostly deal with Double Venom now who is very helpful, and if you ever get the chance, go to his shop and hang our for a few hours. It's a pretty cool visit.

Jim Downard

[Rodney]

AS far as dialoge over our internet forum goes, you gave me little choice, I have tried to contact you several times quietly over the phone etc.
As far a visiting without a appointment, I can't beleive you even practice this. You have folks that might be potential customers, and you turn them away and or pay no attention to them at all, hoping that they just go away!
Sudstandard quality, where do I start. Front spindle would not bolt up, you sent it out to be repaired, but made me feel like I did not know what I was doing. Holes in fiberglass were very rough and not in correct place, ie. around windsheild, roll bar, inner fender openings. Furthermore where there were no holes, the marks to be drilled out were in the wrong spot. The side vents were cut on various angles and looked very sloppy.
My concern is with money spent on the following parts: 1. the chorming of the rad top plate - $55.00, the holes in the plate were in the wrong position consequently i had to relocate the bolts coming off the rad to fit the off center hole in the already chromed rad plate. In the car everything was off centered; not satisfied. 2. Powder coated sheetmetal - $250.00, the floor did not fit the frame rails and seal out the cockpit from fumes ect. as a saftey concern. I ended up having to build my own floors out of aluminum. The cost of the first to items is for the chorming and powder coating applications. Had I know they were not going to fit I never would have ordered these parts from you.

3. Billet Throttle Cable Bracket - $125.00, This piece may have fit certain manifolds but not my weiand intake. This piece was not even a bittet it was two thick pieces of aluminum bolted together. 4. The chassis wiring harness - $805.00, upon installation the few labels that are on it fell off and some connectors were very easily pulled off. The gauge wiring needed to be reworked to fit my autometer gauges. Upon disassembly of that section I was disappointed with the quality of workmanship and decided not to use the harness as a preventive measure incase of fire.

In response to you comment regarding my choice to not use the parts included in the kit I had invested a large amount of money for this project and excepted top quality. In addition I had no other options but to customize some of the parts as Johnex parts did not fit. I believe you are incorrect with the time line of my retuning these parts to you. I have however been waiting approximately one or two years for you to acknowledge and provide me with some sort of solution or customer service.

You have asked me to provide you with my telephone number or fax number, I have done so several time but will oblige you once again.

Phone 780.980-0698
E-Mail rodscobra@shaw.ca

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Rod

[Roscoe]

Dale Goldhawk is Canada's national TV ombudsman and consumer crusader, with a special focus on motorcar-related scams and consumer abuses. The above graphic is hotlinked to Goldhawk's website.

If you've had a bad experience with a Canadian kit car or street rod manufacturer or parts supplier (no matter whether you live in Canada, the U.S. or overseas), then dash off a brief email or telephone message to Dale Goldhawk or staffer Marlene McArdle, and let them know your story.

Goldhawk email: goldhawk@ctv.ca

Goldhawk toll-free: (800) 387-4499 (toll-free inside Canada only)

Goldhawk phone: (416) 313-2479 (U.S. and overseas residents)

And email us (kitcar.com & CobraCountry) a copy of your experience as well!

[Dave Cleveland]

Gary,
ditto. Tha't's why I went with Midstates. Bob Kallio probably still has that useless CMC frame I traded for credit on his car. (Whole nuther story

Dave

[Wayne Maybury]

As someone said above there are two sides to every story. I purchased a kit from Johnex and there were a couple of problems but everything was worked out to my satisfaction in a short amount of time.

There was a problem with the windshield frame that I only noticed several months after buying it as I was beginning to fit it to the car. I advised John of my problem and I returned it to Johnex and it was promptly replaced with another, all freight charges were paid by Johnex. The windshield wiper motor was not to my liking and it was also replaced without discussion.

At the time that I purchased my kit, Johnex was in the midst of changing their exhaust system and I decided to go with the newer design even though John had told me that there would be a delay. While the delay was longer than expected, I feel that John was doing everything possible to get the exhaust system for me and he was probably more upset with the delays than I was since he also required some exhaust systems himself.

Because I had to put up with some problems, John gave me some other parts free of charge to make up for the inconvenience. Any problems I had were relatively minor and all were corrected to my satisfaction.

Wayne

[427sharpe]

Hmmmmm...
Let me see if I have this right...I make a car, that I sell to you. Some of the parts that I make for my car that I sold you are not acceptable. You send my parts back to me, but I will not credit you until I find another customer who will accept parts that are poor quality....Sounds like the customer is being told to drop dead, yes?? Oh, and I complain like a girl when you warn others in the hobby that you have screwed me. Owning a local chain of automotive centers (9 total), I can tell you for sure, THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO TREAT CUSTOMERS IF YOU WANT TO BUILD A GOOD REPUTATION! Fix the problems, satisfy the customer and move on! I deal with my share of problematic customers...like the guy who SWORE that his muffler fell off because of the tune up we did 3 months before. I listened, made a deal we could both live with and the guy has been sending me business ever since. JOHNEX--My .02--stand up and take care of the problem and you wont have to worry about what people say about your service! Keep your head in the sand, and how many customers do you lose? Is it worth $1200? Call the guy IN PERSON and make a deal--it'll be better in the long run!

[Rodney]

I have yet to here from John? And I believe its been a few weeks now! I had hoped to come to an agreement, but he has yet to call me? Very puzzling? Maybe he sold the parts?

[doccobra]

Note to anyone who is looking at Johnnex products.

Buyer be ware!!

I have known John L for over 10 years, had numerous business dealings with him over that time Know John all to well.

John is a OUTSTANDING salesman, he could sell a fridge to a polar bear in the middle of an artic winter. But
once he has you money John is a pain in the back side and an arrogant SOB. But I have never know him to outright ripp off a customer. John is tough to do business with and EVERY car I have seen him build is CRAP!

John is NOT interested in building a quality product he is interested in getter you money!

John has never been terribly interested in selling kits, John won’t the guys with the big bucks and lack of knowledge about cars who are infested in paying his shop rate to build there cars.

As far as buying parts form John again buyer beware, I know that John has purchased parts for various of his "pet projects", used the parts found that they are not what he wants then sells them off to customers as new. They are normally in good working order but defiantly not new.

If you know exactly what you wont, and that he has it, and you are willing to pay his price, buy it from him. If you wont his help or advise once he has you cash FORGET IT!

John is not a car builder, he has NEVER of his own accord worked to improve his product over the years. Yes his product has changed, due to pressure from what used to be house of cobras, but in the end John is not a Quality Cobra builder and does not build high quality cars.

If you wont Quality support and service Go to someone else.

Signed Doc Cobra. Ex owner of a johnnex..

[Rodney]

Doc Cobra, I wish I had spoke to you 5 years ago! Still waiting for John to contact me? Thanks for telling your side of the story, so others don't make my same mistake!

[L.H.]

Rodney I give you credit all your whinning has got some response's not all in your favour.However I give Johnex credit to have the stones to tell you like it is,he is being far more polite than I would be after 6 years.Second as for Doc Cobra,are you real ?? and some advice First:learn to spell/Second:speak to lawyer regarding slander posted on a public forum.dumb real dumb.Up until this personal vendetta you have with Johnex they were alway's in the top group of kits on this and any other forum's or publication's.I hope people see this for what it is an unhappy customer that probally is never satisfied trying to stir up crap because Johnex is not giving in to your requests which after the length of time you had your kit I don't blame them at all.I've been in the
high end automotive business for 30 years and customer's like you I've run across too many time's. By the way as I stated before under your posting in cobra's for sale 'A Johnex put together by a "COMPETENT"assembler will stand head to head with all but probally a Kirkham.

[Rodney]

LH, Thanx for you reply.

[doccobra]

L.H. Don’t suppose for a second you could offer any advise to anyone!
Clearly you are one of Johnex’s cronies, Which one are you? You as an “expert with over 30 years experience in high end cars” are not well suited to be in the industry sir and I would suggest you find another career.

Your bitterness for the industry shows through and you have yet to get a basic understanding of client relations or customer service.

I have been in this industry I love for may years, dealing with many clients. Yes I have had clients that are tough to deal with, but I have care enough to have listened and have done my best to resolve the issues they have even if it cost me a little money.

That Sir is customer service!!!!!

What the hell relevance does high end cars have to do with anything? What you think you can treat people who can’t afford these cars with disrespect. That people who don't meet your imaginary level of wealth are not good customers?

You Tick me off,

News flash for you ignorant SOB”s these high end cars are peoples dreams!
They work for years and struggle to purchase what is the second largest purchase of their life. They do this for there LOVE of cars.

You sir are trying to steal there dreams for what MONEY, how arrogant are you!

Maybe you need to learn some respect for all people in all walks of life not just to kiss the back slide of those who you feel have money the you can Get!

Here is a simple thought for you, A quality car is a quality car and people like you who sell sub standard products are the only ones who have these types of experiences. Guess what? If you sold good quality cars, if you provided reasonable support, if you acted professionally, you would not be dealing with a client base that harbor these opinions of your company and products. In case you havened guessed, I am not the only customer who knows what Johnexx is really like.

IF you sell a quality product and set the expectations of the customer appropriately you have a satisfied customer.

Johnexx is not one of these companies...

You Sir have know idea what you are talking about.

By the way slander if you happen to have a dictionary is " a malicious, false and injurious statement spoken about a person" Since the statements are true, it does not constitute slander.

[Jim Colman]

Doccobra,
While your input and opinion regarding your experience with Johnex is important, you need to back up your rather inflamatory statements with some facts. Give us some concrete information otherwise you're simply someone with a grudge. Let's be fair to all parties involved.

Cheers
Jim

[Seymore Butts]

They say that first impressions are what counts and this is mine about Johnexx.

John from my experience with him from a customer standpoint is a ballbreaker.

When dealing with him on his "bad days" Ive termed them as Customer service with profanity at no extra cost.

Having a limited budget to construct the car - there was always a feeling of: OK what now ? hurry up Im busy and since your not my "A" list cu$tomer stop wasting my time.

Needless to say its a little dishearting and frustraiting when its a persons first kit.

Please keep in mind here I was not asking for handouts - just proper guidence since things for myself anyways didnt seem to fit all the time due to the fact that everyones car is a little different.

As I lament about my sobering experiences - I recall the pisspoor quality "custom headers" for my Windsor Jr. heads. craputaited directly from the Johnex garage.

The quality was like out of Grade 9 shop project. Tig ? Mig ? Is there a difference ?

First off the base plate thats to be bolted to the heads were warped (twisted ) - ( I suppose thats what a real thick gasket is for right?)

Inside the base plate the pipes conecting to them had weld blobs like there was a barnacle colony breeding at the entrances ( I guess I shouldve asked if grinding those blobs down was extra $$ )

Since not having a proper pipe bending machine was not an option @ Johnex - all the pipes had to be welded at the raduis. What I discoverd later with a bore scope INSIDE the pipes were yet more weld blobs along with unmelted wire as long as 3/4"from the Mig at all the joints ! ( I guess they never heard of a clean flow in a pipe before?)

Now is that impressive or what ?

Go on Take the Money and Run ! - as the song goes...

Buyer Beware.

[L.H.]

This is supposed to be a forum for adult opinion on cobra related discussion unfortunately ill mannered "children"such as " doccobra' and seymor butts how original and who are surely the same person judging from the grammer have taken this forum to a new low,they are probably the same type who will waste everyone's time with the real csx car at their "uncle's"chicken farm.As for being a cronnie of Johnex,never met the man.Let's remember something these are kit cars and being a kit car quality of the finished product is up to the person putting it together,if you don't like some of the supplied part's for
appearance reasons you can always upgrade or modify.I still stand by my earlier statement ,Look at a johnex chassis not much else come's close in term's of strength or stiffness or potential for track use tuning,The bodies are very well made with hand lay up and fit ,it all boils down to a competent assembler. regards L.H.

[Wayne Maybury]

doccobra

You state that Johnex sells "sub standard products". I hope that you are coming to the DVSF II this June since I would like you to inspect my Johnex 427 S/C and give me your expert opinion on exactly why it is is sub standard. I am very proud of my car and the work I put into it and I take your comments personally. You may have had a disagreement with Johnex but that does not give you the right to attack their product with unfounded claims.

I am a Johnex customer, not a Johnex "cronie" and I have stated as clearly and accurately as possible the minor problems I had with Johnex and what John did to correct those problems. I find it very discouraging that you drop in here and make some very strong statements but you don't give us any indication who you are or where you come from. Everyone has the right to their opinion but please be straight with us.

I have nothing to say to someone that logs on to this site with the handle of "Seamore Butts" except, give me a break and take your childish act somewhere else.

Wayne