Unplugged Performance Front Fascia Nightmare

[KyleM3]

Alright, I need my Tesla family to steer me in the right direction here. Buckle up, it’s a long one too.

Some time back in May I saw a used front fascia on the sale sub. It was so cheap and the seller was super cool, so it was a no brainer that I’d give a try. Unfortunately, it came and warped and unsalvageable. Seller was great and gave me my money back.

Upon inspecting the warping, I gave UP a call and they were super helpful. I told them my heart got so set on this project happening that I’d likely buy directly from them and just suck up the additional cost (vs used). For 3 weeks I had gotten phone calls checking in with me until I was ready to purchase. Again, helpful and appreciated.

Then I bought the bumper on 7/13 having already explained my paint date was 7/26. I was assured that was no issue. Well, long story short, after getting the run around, the bumper didn’t arrive until 7/29 (I’m on East Coast). Leading up to delivery, the customer service fell off a freaking cliff. There’s a ton of detail I’ll spare you. Naturally, I was pissed because it wasn’t just messing with my paint date, but also my other shop doing the wrap. I expressed my displeasure after getting 0 phone calls and having to chase down people, but it got me nowhere. I would’ve gotten over it, but the bumper came destroyed. It was literally hanging out of the box and was cracked. They ship these 2K+ bumpers in a cardboard box. That’s it. Incredible.

So, I flipped because their salesman was awful and a bullshitter. They offered nothing for the damage outside of sending another and I wasn’t accepting that. After badmouthing them on IG, I got a message from the co-owner. Super nice guy, literally salvaged the relationship and offered to cover the shipping cost. I felt that was fair, so we did it again. 6 days later and blown by deadlines, the 2nd bumper arrives. Guess what? Hulk Hogan got ahold of this one, damaged and cracked in multiple places.

You can imagine how that went.

Now I’m at a stalemate. I love the look of these things, but this experience has robbed me of the joy that was this project. I’m debating giving them a third and final try because they’re taking the extra steps to over communicate. But, I can’t help but feel it’s going to come damaged again. Today they went as far to test fit to their shop car, but I think the fitment is whack (specifically the hood). I expressed my concern on how large the gap appears and they said they’d try another. But, even if it arrives in one piece, I have to pray it aligns better on MY car? I’m about ready to just flush the entire project down the toilet. What would you guys do? Has anyone had an experience anything like this with UP?

 

[eesmjus]

man the postal service/carrier gotta do a better job delivering that package to you to safely but clearly they are just tossing that around.

 

[KyleM3]

man the postal service/carrier gotta do a better job delivering that package to you to safely but clearly they are just tossing that around.

Lol, tell me about it! SAIA Freight is the one who did both. If I agree to do a third, it’ll be a different company.

 

[ochompsky]

man the postal service/carrier gotta do a better job delivering that package to you to safely but clearly they are just tossing that around.

i can't even blame them that much. they ship that thing into a flimsy cardboard box with no support material? of course at that size, the box will be even weaker.

 

[KyleM3]

i can't even blame them that much. they ship that thing into a flimsy cardboard box with no support material? of course at that size, the box will be even weaker.

Yeah, I’ve asked them numerous times why they don’t just give it some damn padding and I get “we’ve shipped thousands of these without issue.” I’m all for lowering waste, but not at the cost of not getting the product in one piece.

 

[eglove]

When mine arrived it was pristine - no problems getting to Canada. Minimal padding in the box as well, just wrapped nicely. Sounds like the carrier is a bit of a muppet.

 

[101dals]

I see the hood gap that you are talking about. If it were me, I would bail. Even though they are good to you now, a third round of shipping might not be a charm. Also, if you get a third one and it is not damaged, but the fitment is bad, I would not be surprised if you get a lot of push back from them about returning.

 

[puffdaddy]

Sounds like you are stressing over it.. It's just a car part, and not worth the grief. Cut and RUN

 

[TwoK4drSi]

Sounds like you are stressing over it.. It's just a car part, and not worth the grief. Cut and RUN

Mine came via SAIA and the box was still square. Looks like a shipment issue if it was crushed. I personally woulda rejected it.

In terms of fitment it looks like you can adjust the right side a little left….I see there’s a slight overlap. You can actually adjust the driver fender if need be.

No aftermarket bumper or aero part will ever be 100%. Mine isn’t 100% either but I already knew what to expect. I mean hell…oem tesla parts aren’t even straight either

 

[KyleM3]

I see the hood gap that you are talking about. If it were me, I would bail. Even though they are good to you now, a third round of shipping might not be a charm. Also, if you get a third one and it is not damaged, but the fitment is bad, I would not be surprised if you get a lot of push back from them about returning.

Mine came via SAIA and the box was still square. Looks like a shipment issue if it was crushed. I personally woulda rejected it.

In terms of fitment it looks like you can adjust the right side a little left….I see there’s a slight overlap. You can actually adjust the driver fender if need be.

No aftermarket bumper or aero part will ever be 100%. Mine isn’t 100% either but I already knew what to expect. I mean hell…oem tesla parts aren’t even straight either
View attachment 840062

They test fit another car and it looked much better the 2nd go round. Enough to send a third and final, at least.

My hope is it gets here in one piece and my experience with UP will be remembered from the conversation from IG & Jeff moving forward. But, until then I wait. I’ll find out in a week or so. I’ll update my experience if it goes smoothly.

 

[UnpluggedP]

Hi all,

Jeff from the UP support team here. I urge anyone with any questions or concerns to always reach out to me and the UP support department anytime! [email protected].

I've had the pleasure of working with Kyle since Aug 1st and we've replaced the first damaged fascia within a week. Unfortunately, another incorrectly handled shipment resulted in a second damage claim. We've moved to a new carrier and are sending a 3rd replacement fascia at no cost. The benefit of buying from a small USA based company is the support team that comes along with each purchase to support in instances like these.

It's tough to see that after 1000’s of these fascia’s successfully shipped around the globe that two shipping damages have occurred to the same customer. We’re here to make right on the shipping companies mistakes. We take a lot of pride in our USA made products and we never want to see that destroyed by a 3rd parties improper handling.

Although we can't completely control how shipping companies handle their shipments, in this case likely heavy pallets were stacked on top of it cross-country, we can control the customer experience and how we handle damage claims for the end user.

We're excited to see photos of Kyle’s Model 3 fitted with this fascia.

 

[KyleM3]

Positive update: the third bumper has finally arrived in one piece. Thanks to Jeff, and the updated packaging method, I can finally set forth on this project that I started in May/June. I am finally excited again and will post photos when it’s actually painted/wrapped/installed.

Appreciate the extra efforts this time around @UnpluggedP!

 

[Cypcode]

Glad to hear the third attempt worked out, otherwise I’d say to “unplug” from the project..lol