adjustments
Now it's just a waiting game to see what response we as a team/forum brothers and sisters get.. But I need a hood and this thread was started for me to find another company that I can purchase a hood from.. As far as vfn, i love this hood, I love the wsq hood, I would be greatful if they just replace a hood I own that is yet to be modified with the exact hood that I have. Till then I'm not gonna get my hopes up. What other company makes a good quality hood for my car! Joe van o from what I am hearing sold his molds..
One thing not mentioned here is that hood was bought USED from another customer about 4 years ago. You did not purchase this item directly from us.
Keep in mind this is a pin-on and not a bolt on so it does not have an inner structure frame like a bolt on that will help hold its shape. And it was never installed on a car, we don't know how it sat for these past 4 years, or how the prior customer had it stored during the time that he owned the hood.
That being said, our goal is to get that hood working for the customer, and we explained this when he emailed us.
When there are fitment problems, we do need to have a complete picture to help troubleshoot the fitment and get it right.
Because of this, what we ask for is a complete view showing the entire hood so we can have an overall vision and advise the customer accordingly, these are the images we received:
As you can see is that the nose is off the car in this first set of pictures.
It is very difficult to fit the hood correctly - or even troubleshoot the problem - when the nose is off the car.
Explained this to the customer, and recommended he install the nose which would help set the hood in the correct location.
Once the nose was installed, he sent us more pictures of how the hood was not fitting correctly and what we will do for him.
We explained that we would need another visual of the hood as it sits on the car - a birds eye/over all shot - which will give us the best visual.
We got these instead:
As we explained to him, it is very difficult to troubleshoot something without having an overall view of the entire hood - which I explained that we needed in the first email I sent to him.
At this point, the most we can do is tell him to close his headlights?! Very hard to determine what is going on with the hood if you don't have that entire view.
Explaining this to him - again - I get this response:
"I went to the shop to take a picture of the hood he has the front end off it again and got upset when I told him I needed it back on.. I honestly don't think he is gonna do it as he is prepping the car for paint on Saturday.. I don't know what else to do at this present time.. Also if this is a mfg flaw what is it that can be done? No disrespect but if nothing will get done I am not going to waste his time taking the front end on and off numerous times. He will end up charging me and at that point I may as well buy another hood... Thanks again and I apologize if I am coming off rude but I am frustrated with this. "
I explained this:
"I understand.
And I apologize for wanting the other picture.
It's just hard to determine what exactly is going on with the hood without getting that overall visual. Which is why I asked for one initially in the first email I sent ~ Like to get that out of the way up front so we're not going back and forth on this."
We never received any additional photos, and aside from a few other emails, this is where we are at with this.
Can't do anything more until we receive photos, and even then as we explained we can only troubleshoot the item because it is a 2nd hand 4 year old item.
Did notice that you posted in the thread about the Q hood fitment. We emailed back and forth a few times with Trey in regards to his hood, notice how well it fits now at this point? It is because he sent us over the visual we requested and we were able to get him squared away.
Instead of focusing on what I need to be doing here, I spent most of the morning responding back to your post - between helping customers and other things that needed attention.
It really irritates me because, although I never mind helping a customer when they need something - it's what I am here to do, and do it gladly
- I do have a problem having to explain ourselves when we've done nothing but try to help you out. Thank you for the "nice" feedback you left us.
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
as far as the hood and how it sat, it was on a shelf, with no lamps or heat near it at a shop, in a heated and cooled enviorment where the complete structure center and all were completley supported, it is not about the hood being disformed its about the gap on one side.. yet when i set a factory hood that was stored standing up on end for years it lines up perfectly. i guess hoods shirnk in time also???
as far as the pictures u posted, i cannot see them on this thread, and i have sent more than 6 pictures to you, not including the pictures of the car painted, nor including the trailblazer ss picture with an aftermarket hood that lines up nearly perfect, just as proof that where my car is at has done many of these so this is not there first rodeo, also i will gladly give any member on here my email address and password for them to see how many shots i have sent over.. headlights opened,closed,nose on (even though its was white and dirty), i am very miticulous with my toys, and take better care of them and there parts than most people do, my wife even thinks i love them more than her! its not like this is a $5000 car i have nearly $65000 wrapped up in this as u see it. and yes as far as i know that was the email sent to u, understand that i run a company, its at a shop that has other customers so when i send pictures and it take 2-3 days to get an answer most likely the car is on to the next phase, i am not blaming you for taking days to answer me as i undersrtand its not only me you are dealing with, and that this is not a personal email, i am stating facts that people move forward on jobs at hand.
This thread wasnt to bash or give u negative feedback as im sure the 5 people it may effect isnt going to bankrupt your buisness, its was to find a different company to purchase a quality hood from, unfortunately with people asking questions this is what it ended up being.. also its not like i dropped the hood, or decided i dont like it and want a different style, and/or i wasnt going to return this hood to you. i would gladly send it back so u as a company could figure out what and why and hopefully fix the problem for other potential customers. i purchased this hood because i liked the look and style and was told vfn had one of the best fit and finishes.. i apoligize for buying it 1 week old to save a few bucks but i thought i was fortunate to have found the hood i wanted brand new untouched for over a hundred dollars less than i was originally gonna purchase it for.
With that being said i appreciate that u took time out of your day to read this thread and respond to it and all my emails which u may or may not have got them all..
Last edited by flewbyyou04r1; Apr 2, 2012 at 03:40 PM.
You say that we're not going to loose much business over 5 upset customers...but here's the thing, we take EVERY complaint seriously. Even yours when you contacted us about the hood that you purchased 4 YEARS AGO USED.
Would have been a much better situation if you had test fitted the hood right after you purchased it from the previous customer, we could have probably covered it under warranty for the original customer if it was a problem at that time But its been 4 years.
About the trailblazer picture - I NEVER saw it. Aside from that, the body man's ability to install a hood was never in question. YOUR hood is the one we're looking for pictures of,
Another thing you don't mention is that the body guy was getting upset with you for having to put the nose on and take pictures - and that you weren't going to have him shoot the picture that we requested to begin with!
How is that us not helping you out?!
As I explained to you, we have no idea on how the hood was stored, and yes, the hood will actually "pull in" towards the sides if it is stored on it's side for a period of time.
We've been pretty responsive back to your emails and questions and we can still help you with troubleshooting with that picture we asked you for initially.
Last edited by vfntech; Apr 2, 2012 at 05:33 PM.
This seems like it turning into an argumentative competition and that is not what I want it to be.. Regardless of the fact I really do not believe the fact that a hood will shrink that much after its been through its heat cycles from your factory, if that was the case these hoods would have to be made for garage queens only as it it subject to all types of different weather conditions.. Especially on a car making 2000 hp with twin turbos underneath that hood would be way hotter than any weather condition it will be in!
Last edited by flewbyyou04r1; Apr 3, 2012 at 08:52 AM.
One of the reasons we build our hoods as ordered, so that we can keep an eye on what is going out of our shop.
Z28/2008 - not sure what your situation is, but can always pm me if you'd like to go over the fitment. Will have you send an overall birdseye view of the hood and I'll need your order info so that I can pull it as well ~
Flyby - it's one thing to say you're unhappy with your product and try to look for a resolution and another thing to call us out and talk smack. Sponsor or Not - you would not appreciate it if someone started a thread bashing you AND posting on several threads as well.
Customer or not, it sure doesn't want us to help you out any further.
I received your emails - all of them - and have them saved as well. Anything you sent me I have - we have gmail, which allows for minimum spam control so I don't see a problem there.
What you keep failing to mention is this - and I quote in your own words:
"i purchased a hood (never mounted or used by him)approx 4 years ago off a gentelman (james kersay) to use on my 1998 firebird, it was a 5.5 extended pin on"
NOT A WEEK AFTER IT WAS PURCHASED DIRECTLY FROM US.
Again, as I had mentioned, IF you did purchase it at that point, and wanted to keep the warranty, it should have been test fitted and we could have better helped you with the hood.
At this point, it's a little hard to help a "customer" who has had something for several years with a product - who won't even send the original picture that we requested UP FRONT. Only wants to question if we're going to do something about the warranty, then complain when we don't.
Purchase from another company and see if they even respond back to you after several years of having a product - I'm sure they will, to help walk you through a purchase of a new hood.
You keep questioning our reasoning behind the storage issue and how a hood would change shape. We have been doing this for over 40 years. I think what you don't realize is that not only do we make our parts here, but we also install them. Because of this we are extremely familiar with how our parts fit.
Have run into other situations where a hood was improperly stored - even here at the shop before we realized that hey! storing a hood with a large scoop on it's side (during it's curing time) will cause the hood to start sinking down into the scoop after a while.
And even then, the hood is completely fixable - which we could walk you through.
Kind of get the feeling we're just beating a dead horse here anyways. You're not going to send the picture and keep posting on how unhappy you were about your experience.
Me personally, if I had purchased something years ago - used or not - and you had a company willing to work with you on how to correct your problem, I'd be really happy. It's not often you see that out here - most wish to line their own pockets - easier to have a customer make another purchase then to go back and forth with an issue.
And on the body guy, being upset - I believe this is what was said:
"I went to the shop to take a picture of the hood he has the front end off it again and got upset when I told him I needed it back on."
With this being said, PLEASE stop saying you didn't say things. Just be honest. You were pretty polite in the emails we sent back and forth, never bashed you on that. Actually, I expected to see a picture within a week or two so that we can get to the bottom of this and move on. Instead, I get a keyboard warrior.
You can go on with this...but I am done. If you wish to send me that picture we requested - then please, by all means do. As I mentioned in the emails, I cannot tell you if it's a warranty issue or troubleshooting at this point - hands are tied - until I see it.
But can no longer go back and forth on a dead subject.
Thanks.
~ On another note ~ Thanks guys

Funny thing about the line of not being a douche - haven't heard that in YEARS!! Then over the weekend while out with some buddies, one who wanted to bring a huge bottle of jamison into the cab with us. One of us asked if the cabbie minded, who responded "I'm not a douche!" unexpected, funny and I think that line is making a comeback!! ~
Jeanie

