I would prefer to deal with Steven (aka cky89) on a personal level, but he hasn’t responded to of my correspondence since August 11. I am not fond of revisiting this issue via an internet forum, but I am out $1300 and feel that everyone should be aware of my recent experience with Mr. Steven Hewitt.
I’m a stranger to this forum but have been in the car scene since 1996, been on vwvortex.com since 2001 and have been operating a car club since 2002.
This is where it all started:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3895772
The entire process was fairly smooth up until I received the wheels. I sent Steven a cashier’s check for $1300 on July 5th. Wheels were delivered on August 5th. Yes, he lagged on shipping. He admitted to it and apologized. I’m a reasonable guy, so apology accepted.
The wheels arrived via UPS in undamaged, well-packaged cardboard boxes. The centers were in near perfect condition as described. However, all 4 barrels had damage: 2 were bent and all 4 had chipped powdercoat. The chipped powdercoat had been touched up with black paint on all 4 barrels (this was confirmed by the repair shop – read below).
I took pictures of the wheel damage and emailed Steven on 8/5, 8/6 and 8/7 and asked for a refund or to cover the cost of the repairs. No response. So our situation was posted here by a vortex member on 8/8 and I finally get Steven’s cell number. We discussed the issue over the phone the same day and he agreed to pay for the repairs since he “didn’t notice” the damage prior to packaging them.
The next day (8/9) I had the wheels assessed by U.S. Wheel Repair, a well-known and reputable shop in San Diego, CA. Coincidentally, the shop specializes in customizing BMW Style 5 wheels. The owner said the bend in the first barrel may not be able to be straigtened 100% because of the length and shape of the deformation. Also, each barrel’s threads/splines for the bolts (34 per wheel) were not plugged before sandblasting during the powdercoating process, so the threads are completely or partially sandblasted, making it a difficult task to insert 100+ bolts without threads. The owner of the shop advised I get a full refund since his shop could not insure the wheels after being repaired due to the type/extent of the damage.
I called Steven on 8/11 to report the shop’s assessment. He didn’t answer, so I left him a VM. I’ve sent him several text messages and a second VM since then. No response.
Something also worth noting, yet insignficant at this point, he was supposed to include 5 mm spacers and they were not included
I suppose my years of hassle-free transactions made me a little complacent and I didn’t take enough caution with this transaction.
Steven, please call me. I have your wheels waiting to be shipped.