Bilstein’s Naughty List

Make sure you’re buying Bilstien shocks from an authorized reseller if you want warranty coverage. I laugh about who’s on the top of the list.

 

Sad in a way. I used to work in retail sales, photographic supplies and hardware (back before digital cameras killed film). Some company came up with MAP (minimum advertised price), basically saying they would cover part of the advertising if you would use their graphics and logo/pitch and NOT advertise below the MAP price, and you were then a whitelisted (authorized) dealer. Mess with the graphics/sales pitch, run the ad with the wrong type face/size, OR run below the MAP price which they set, and you risk loosing your 'authorized' status. They may stop stocking you, you may lose your various discounts (example:bulk discount or freebies with bulk, 2% 30 day or whatever payment option discount you have with the distributor/company), you may lose your advertising co-payment and with enough violations, you may lose your dealership in the product. So in a way, the dealers on the list you posted here, may have attempted to run a sale below the MAP price (which is a good thing for those who wish to get a good price on a product), but it angers the manufacturer/distributor as you violated your dealer agreement. It could be that they advertised in a way that violated the agreement without messing with the MAP price, but it's usually the price or deal they were selling that ruffled feathers. Frankly, I hate MAP. Yes, the product company wishes to stabilize price and not beat it up as eventually the seller has to switch the customer to something else to make a profit. I get it. But MAP is price fixing IMO.
Some of the dealers may have simply tried to make a better price and violated their agreement too often. They may not be 'BAD' dealers, except in the eyes of the distributor/manufacturer.

 

Good points, and I mainly posted it so members don't unknowingly buy from a vendor that can't warranty the product should the need arise.

At least one of those companies had it coming to them though. 4 Wheel online is the company that this bu11$1t came from:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/all-four-bilstein-5100s-for-117.41314

 

^^ and with name like that too! Thanks for posting. Glad I did see no names by me??!!

 

#1 had me rolling around laughing. Surprised #1 didn't drag Amazon into the #2 spot. Did you see that Home Depot is on this list?? Wtf

Good list to share with us. Thank you!

 

LOL WTF home depot, when the heck did we start selling bisteins….oh now I have to check something

Yup they are there, none for the tundra tho.

 

Rock Auto??!! I was planning to buy a rear set of 5100s from them...

 

Home Depot? Is this real?

 

I’m in construction supply sales. I had a customer call me about Office Depot having a certain non shrink grout for sale online for slightly less than me. I was caught off guard and thought he was joking till I looked and yes Office Depot’s online website had concrete and grout for sale.

 

I have 4 5100's going into my truck on Wednesday that I bought from Amazon...guess i'll just hope nothing goes wrong with them.

 

Yup there are 6112s for the 4runner but not tundras.

 

I bought mine from RockAuto last year. Lowest price around, even after shipping from the US.

 

Companies like Home Depot, Office Depot, Walmart all sell items on their websites that have nothing to do with their company. They are the "host" because they have such a large presence on the internet. All about the $$$.

 

I buy a lot of parts from Rock Auto. Not only do they have low prices, but they also have a larger selection than any other parts house I know of. I guess you have to decide if the price difference is enough to risk not having a factory warranty.

 

I doubt Amazon actually sold you the shocks. Probably fulfilled by another on-line retailer.

If you look at the very bottom of this list, there is a seller listed that sells through the amazon marketplace. So it looks like they call out the actually retailer that ships/fulfills the order.

 

Where does it say Bilstein won’t provide warranty coverage and if that’s true how is it that they can deny warranty coverage to the customer based on where the product was purchased?

 

After the $117 fiasco Amazon actually sold me a pair of 5100s. It was sold and fulfilled by amazon services inc.

 

Bilstein, like many companies, will only provide warranty coverage on hardware that they sold to a stocking dealer. They know the history of the item, that it was sold to the dealer as NEW by them. If someone is not a stocking official dealer, where are they getting their product from, if not Bilstein? That chain of custody is broken and they can't know if the product was new, or even if it is really Bilstein or a knock-off from who knows where. Sometimes a dealer will do a large order for the best price and move some sideways to someone else. This is often what is referred to as 'the grey market'. But Bilstein can't be expected to provide warranty service to a product that was in and out of multiple hands once it left a stocking dealer (if it ever even reached one). Remember, most products don't have transferable warranties. If I buy the shocks from a stocking dealer, then sell them, then that person sells them, no warranty usually unless the product has a transferable warranty and all parties followed what is required to transfer the warranty after it was sold through the stocking dealer.

 

Didn’t know Home Depot and Camping World even sold shocks, much less Bilsteins.

As for Amazon, I once got a Casio G-shock watch through them. Mine crapped out on me after the first 6 months. Casio refused to warranty it claiming Amazon was not an authorized dealer. I contacted Amazon, and they had me send it to them. I got it back all fixed within a month.

 

Maps are a pain to deal with and they arent allowed to post a price that a contract says to.

If they dont sell a computer tells the stock person to mark them down. That price is listed.

That is why some places wont show yoruba price unless you add it to your cart.

Or you hear "these prices are so low we cant advertise the price"

 

Thanks for the explanation - that all makes sense. However, how is the the end purchaser supposed to know who is and isn't a "stocking dealer"? Do I need to scour the internet for a (hopefully) advertised list of authorized distributors before making ANY purchase?

 

I recently shopped "smart" battery chargers on Amazon. Noted in the reviews that CTEK refused to warranty a charger bought on Amazon since they weren't an authorized seller (wth?). The review was a couple of years old, and there was probably more to that story, but I went to CTEK online site to find an obviously abbreviated "authorized seller" list. Finally, I had to just email them, and they responded that Amazon WAS an authorized seller. So, not only is it hard to know who's "bonified", but there is also the chance their status, as in this case, has changed in the interim. Much better to NOT NEED any warranty.

 

I haven't called Rock Auto but they say nothing about Bilstein warranty limitations on their website. They do have a couple general CYA statements that release them of any responsibility if you don't check the manufacturer's website.


https://www.rockauto.com/docs/warranty

 

Yes this is where the whole authorized/not authorized mumbo jumbo hurts the consumer. On the one hand, I understand if a manufacturer/distributor can't tell if the product has been stored correctly or installed correctly or if was installed, removed and installed again somewhere else because they don't know the dealer or where they got the product from. But as a consumer, I don't have the lists of who is golden and who is not, for all the stuff that has a warranty. Internet sales can sure muddy the water because now you don't even go to the shop, which may end up just being someone's garage. Retailers like Amazon muddy things further as there are now many dealers under the Amazon name and not all are authorized sellers of the products. Some manufacturers have a lookup on their website to check if a seller is authorized. It's up to us to sort it all out. These days, it's caveat emptor.