Carbotech

[Brent]

This is my experience so far with Carbotech.

On Monday July 9/01 I ordered a set of brake pads from Carbotech. They told me they were in stock, I said I would like to have them for the weekend to use at Mosport and they said they would ship them 2 day Fedex at a cost of $40 U.S. .

On Friday July 13/01, as I was leaving my house to go to Mosport with no new brake pads, I found a notice from Fedex in my door stating that they had tried to deliver my brake pads but I was not home. The only problem is that there were four people in my house, including me, that whole morning. I will have to guess that the Fedex driver was not properly trained in the use of door bells. I went back into my house and called Carbotech and received the " it sucks to be you attitude", I informed him that the responsibility of delivery falls upon their shoulders and not those of the customer and that things like this will cause them to lose customers. I then left for Mosport but only got around the block before realizing I had forgot something and returned home. When I entered my house my wife informed me that Carbotech had called and said that it took them 2 days to make the pads and the delivery had been on time. Then a call came from Fedex saying they would deliver them again that afternoon, to which I replied that I was leaving and so was everyone else, so nobody would be home and there was no sense in trying to deliver the brake pads then.

When I returned home from Mosport, I found another notice from Fedex on my porch stating that they tried to deliver them again Friday afternoon.

Today Aug 16/01, I received my Visa statement and found I have been charged $266.86 to be teased with brake pads. I can't wait till I get the bill for delivering these Phantom brake pads.

So buyer beware, by the way I ordered Hawk blues the following Monday from Howell Automotive and received them on the Wednesday ( 1 day early) and they were $100 less. The blues worked great for me at Shannonville on the Nelson track.

[DECH_92]

Hi Brent, sorryi missed you at Mosport was realy hoping to come, help out and take pics, but nikon was sitting for the last 10 years or so in its box and did not want to work for me anymore
and the wife had the video up north with her.
It sure can be a pain getting parts in Canada hey.
I am affraid to order from the states or by mail, want to find local
and pick them up myself, but there is not many options here to buy from.
I am looking for a Morso battery box for the trunk right now and I don`t no for sure where to get it in upper toronto.

Hope i can afford to hit at least 8 events next year and give Dave
in ass\2 a good run, he has helped me out and want to show him what i learned, but this time on r tires, hoosier hopfully.
and that fast Jody a run to I Hope .


:rolleyes:

[turboawd]

Brent, it seems your beef should be with FedEx. I don't see what Carbotech did wrong, for that matter, I don't see what FedEx did wrong. If they left you the notice, then they obviously tried to deliver them. Perhaps the driver did not make a very good effort. The only thing lesson here that buyer should be aware of is don't expect parts from the US overnight.

[Brent]

turboawd,

Carbotech has choosen to be a mail order or internet order business. This is a business decision that they have made. The responsibility for delivery rests entirely with them and not the customer. They choose to subcontract the delivery of their product, they are responsible for Fedex, the same as they are responsible for any of their employees. Fedex failed in their delivery twice, the first time by not ringing the door bell, which I have because my house is large and you cannot hear a knock on the door from everywhere in the house and the second time for delivering at a time when they had been told , with no uncertainty, that nobody would be home to receive it.

I have since learned that the pads have been returned to Carbotech by Fedex. I was told that a refund for the price of the pads minus shipping should have credited to my Visa card. Which I find kind of interesting that the customer is again responsible for shipping. This I am told is to be straightened out this Wed. As it stands now I have a bill for $266.00 for front brake pads for a Neon, no brake pads and a promise.

[Director]

Brent,
I don't know what your beef is. TThe excellent staff at Carbotech did what you asked of them, and then no one was there to receive the package from Fedex. How is that a Carbotech problem? Just two weeks ago I ordered a set of pads for my Camaro on Tuesday afternoon from Larry, and low and behold they were delivered the next day as promised, by 10:00am. Unbelievable service. I can't praise Larry and the staff enough.
I guess the important thing here is, that if you give someone a delivery address, someone better be there to sign for it, or the baby goes back.
The rest of the competitors can make there own determination whether or not the service from Carbotech is up to snuff. To bad you had a bad experience with FEDEX.

later,
Perry

[Bruce Murphy]

Called them yesterday as my pads hadn't arrived as promised. They apologized profusely and told me that Canadian orders often get buggered in customs. According to the guy on the phone, "As soon as FedEx gets to a border, it might as well be the moon". As many of my dental supplies come Fedex from the US, I believe him.

Nonetheless, after several panicked emails to Chris Sorensen about picking up pads at Raven for me, the package plopped into my lap at 5pm. Pheww!

Pad prongs had to be bent to fit the piston, and pad size is slightly smaller than factory. (Yes they are the right pads) Proof will be how well they work tomorrow.

Reserving judgement,
Bruce

P.S. Jay's Motel sounds mighty scary! See you all there.

[Brent]

I received a call Sat. from Carbotech, everything has been straightened out.
I appologize to everyone at Carbotech for dragging them into the Fedex Fiasco, which was not their fault and they did go out of their way to help me.
I am going to be pissed again though if Bruce reports that they are great pads and now I don't have them. Maybe I can get someone else to order them for me, ha ha.

[Bruce Murphy]

Well, seeing as you asked....

I ran the Carbotech panthers on the M3 with new rotors on the weekend and here's my opinion, keeping in mind that I didn't have time to bed them in properly.

1. Pad surface size is slightly smaller than stock, maybe 5%.

2. They're pretty quiet on the street, and they don't dust badly at all.

3. Like the Hawk Blues they compete with they take a bit to heat up.

4. I found them somewhat unpredictable; I'd get 2 or 3 good corners, then the feel would be off (less grippy) for a bit, then they'd come back again.

5. They got a bit more even on Sunday.

6. I had to bend the metal "springs" to get them into the pistons.

Would I buy them again? Probably not. I thought my Hawk HP street pads were slightly better.

Regards,
Bruce