[HWYSTR455]

Ok, I'm a strong supporter of US companies, and WILL pay more (to a degree) just to express that support. But, when a company has poor service, poor customer relations, disrespectful, and can't deliver within a reasonable time, then I have to complain.

5 weeks ago, I tapped a curb in the LeMans, and bent one of the Centerline wheels, enough to where it won't hold air. This was a Friday night, and Tuesday I called Centerline to order a replacement. I've always had real good dealings with Centerline in the past, excellent service, polite, helpful, courteous sales people, good pricing, and great turn around. Over the last 8 or so years, in combination with friends and myself, have purchased more than 20 sets of Centerline wheels. Because of my past experiences, and others, I have recommended Centerline to litterally hundreds of people. Point is, I have a general baseline.

Week 1:

When I called to place the order for my replacement wheel, I was told that there was a slight backorder on the inner rim halfs, that they purchase from a supplier. A delay of 2 - 3 weeks is possible, though they expect a shipment in 3 days. Ok, I can live with that. The sales person suggested I call back at the end of the week, and see if the wheel half came in. Which I did, and the sales person, Louis, or "louie", said that they didn't make it on that truck, giving me some explination as to why. They expected another shipment the following Tuesday, and suggested I call back then to check on the status.

Week 2:

I chose to call Wednesday, and got 'Carlos' on the phone in sales, and I politely asked to check on my order status. He immediately, upon pulling the order up, snapped that this order wasn't 'late', and that they still had 2 weeks before it would be. I shrugged this off as maybe Carlos was having a bad day, and chose to call back at the following Monday.

Week 3:

Tuesday I called to check the status, and got "louie" on the phone again, and he said that some came in, he believes he has one for my order, though he needed to check "With the boss-man, who is on the production floor right now". Louie stated that since it was close to lunch, that he feels the 'boss-man' would go to lunch, and would not be able to talk to him until then, and that he (Louie) would call me back in the afternoon with the status of my order. No call-back that afternoon, blew it off as maybe it got busy, or just slipped his mind.
Wednesday I called towards the end of the day, and Louie said that my wheel-half didn't come in, and gave me the repetitive story of problems with the supplier. This time though he said it was the outter half they were waiting on. Ok, maybe he made a mistake. He further told me that they were expecting a shipment in tomorrow, and that he would call me back late in the day. No call back...
I chose to call Friday, mid-day, and got a completely different story from 'Louie', that they were waiting for the centers, which mid-way during the story, he changed to the inner wheel halfs.

Week 4:

I chose to call on Monday towards the end of the day, and I think 'Louis' must not have gotten laid over the weekend or something, and was taking it out on me. Now, I have to say, all but the first, these conversations were not 'customer-oriented' conversations, and there was certainly an attitude which made me feel that 'Louie' felt he was doing me a big favor making a wheel for me. This conversation was just plain rude, and he even chuckled, finding humor in how he was handling the situation. So, after that conversation, I called back, and was talking to the receptionist, and I asked if there was someone else I could talk to. Her reply was "No, Louis is the guy, and you need to talk to him". Ok, what came to mind is the comment before about him having to go ask the "Boss-man". So, I asked who his manager was. With a snap, and as-crappy attitude, she replied "Listen 'SIR', Louis is the only person you're gonna get, and you're just going to have to deal with him with any issues you might have", and slammed the phone in my mid-sentence 'thank you'. I've been promised numerous call backs from 'Louie', and never once has he called back, even after I had him verify my phone number, deal with his attitude, and there's no one else to talk to...

Ok, so, Monday makes week 5, and this past week, I've been shopping for wheels. I LIKE the wheels on my car, I have the optimum backspacing, and would prefer to buy the replacement and not spend 2k+ for a new set. But I'm about there, because I'm at a point where I have NO IDEA WHEN I WILL GET MY WHEEL FROM CENTERLINE! I have NEVER GOTTEN A CALLBACK WHEN PROMISED by CUSTOMER SUPPORT, and I don't believe for one min that there is some 'backlog' anymore of wheel inners, outters, or whatever, especially after the dealings with 'Louie'.

In summary, I will say, and sad to, that CENTERLINE WHEELS WILL NO LONGER GET MY BUSINESS!! These recent experiences with them has proven to me that their' CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS WORSE THAN POOR, and is more along the lines of REPULSIVE. I also will NO LONGER RECCOMMEND CENTERLINE WHEELS to any of my friends or people who ask.

HAS ANYONE ELSE recently or in the past had any SIMILAR EXPERIENCES with them? I've notice that a number of places are not carrying many of their wheels anymore, most show like only 2 or so styles. Summit shows a 2 week wait time on them, why 5 or more for me? Maybe if I ordered a whole set? Are they sucking under? Am I some kind of exception to the way they treat customers? Maybe because my name or something resembles someone 'Louie' may have had an issue with in the past?