Hill Country Custom Cycles
#101
10-11-2013 | 03:30 AM
Road Captain
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 631
Likes: 7
From: Sin City
Well .. I received my apes today Chrome looks great bars came wrapped in a sock type thing ? but were loose in the box ... overall they look great ill install prob this winter but they seem good ... only complaint is even after sending them 4 emails ( bec the usps says they were returned for some reason .. also their site says my order was canceled ) they havent returned any of my emails
#102
10-25-2013 | 11:11 PM
6th Gear
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
From: Winslow, AZ - NOR-AZ
I recently purchased a set of prewired 16" house brand chubby apes with cables from HCCC. Everything came in heavy duty boxes. The bars where top notch and looked good. The cables where all motion-pro and good to go. The brake line was HCCC and seems to be good quality. I purchased a cable clamp kit as well, and these where Drag Specialties. The cables and other smaller items that I purchased where in a smaller box secured in the larger box. There was a clamp missing from the kit and with 1 call(answered then and there) they shipped out the missing part and I had it within a few days. I ordered the plug and play wiring and everything looks good(better than stock) and works great. I was pleased with my transaction and would do business with HCCC again.
#103
02-06-2014 | 08:31 PM
Stage III
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: North Providence RI
Just got my Apes from HCC pre wired , they look excellent. .. The packaging was perfect, handlebars were perfect, wrapped in bubble wrap. All parts I ordered came in an HCC box.... I ordered the complete set up with connectors and pins. Braided lines too. Im Happy
#104
02-08-2014 | 02:05 PM
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 3,284
Likes: 3,397
From: PA
As soon as my tax return hits this week I'll be ordering 13 inch apes for my fat boy. Does anyone know the difference between their standard 1 1/4 inch bars and the True 1 1/4 inch bars on their site?
#105
02-08-2014 | 06:14 PM
Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 65,112
Likes: 49,220
From: Niles Canyon Ca.
Don't know about HHC's site but the true 1-1/4" bars need new risers as they don't step down to 1" at the clamps , send an email or make a phone call and ask before you spend online , simple common sense .................
#107
02-10-2014 | 05:09 PM
Road Captain
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 654
Likes: 6
From: Buna Texas
OK guys HCC is in the Texas hill country on a side road in a shop about 30x40. No way that they have those parts in stock. Notice that all of the positive post are for products that came pre wired with cables and levers. That means that they picked good parts when they saw them but if all you want is the regular part they never see it. Arlen doesn't make his own bars but he has good quality control. As in everything. Let the buyer beware.
#108
02-10-2014 | 05:18 PM
Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 65,112
Likes: 49,220
From: Niles Canyon Ca.
OK guys HCC is in the Texas hill country on a side road in a shop about 30x40. No way that they have those parts in stock. Notice that all of the positive post are for products that came pre wired with cables and levers. That means that they picked good parts when they saw them but if all you want is the regular part they never see it. Arlen doesn't make his own bars but he has good quality control. As in everything. Let the buyer beware.
Last edited by TwiZted Biker; 02-10-2014 at 08:29 PM.
#109
02-10-2014 | 07:29 PM
Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 17
From: Ontario Canada
Hello,
My name is Robert and I am the owner of Hill Country Custom Cycles. This is the first post I have ever done on the forum, so please excuse me if I make a mistake. This post is going to be long, so please make sure you have time to finish it before you start reading.
I guess I should start off by saying that I don’t even know where to begin on this one. We watch the forums for problems like this, and this forum typically does a good job of figuring out what is right and what is wrong through constant communication from members. I have read many good posts and some negative posts about us, but they always seem to solve themselves properly. In a few cases we have called the customer to try and help, or just to simply thank them for giving us a good review. As you know, there are 2 sides to every story, and in this case I think everyone should hear our side and make their own opinion of it. Here it goes.
First off, I will be the first to admit that we have been difficult to get a hold of this spring and here is why. Like most of the parts manufacturers and distributors in this industry we forecasted a lower than average Spring based on the spotty economic conditions and rising fuel prices. Well to everyone’s surprise those forecasts were blown out of the water everybody is 3 times busier than they expected to be. Great, right?? We try to take care of all of our customer’s specific needs, but sometimes it does take a little longer than normal to address these needs, due to heavy workloads and circumstances beyond our control.
As for George, My jaw hit the floor when I read his first post. I personally spoke with George about this issue, but he is not giving all the details. I am also confused as to why he is doing this, because all the conversation we had was good. I really thought he sounded like a nice person over the phone. He did explain to me the problems he had and this is how I addressed them:
1- They don't return any emails or answer the phones
Response: Yes, our response time has been slow lately, but hopefully the above paragraph explains why. We do return EVERY e-mail we get. I know this because we can do e-mails 24 hours a day without waking anyone up. We are limited to phone calls between reasonable day time hours, and of course, getting people’s voice mail when we call them back
2- Most everything i received was made in china.
Response: This is something that we are all faced with. Hardly any of the aftermarket V-Twin parts are made in the US. And we all know why. It is hard to find good parts for a reasonable price, even from Harley. If you look at their retail packaging it will identify which country that part was made in, and usually it is not the USA. A lot of the parts we sell are made by us here in the USA, and there are some parts that you just can’t get over here for a good price. We use the best parts we can from the aftermarket and still provide a reasonable price to consumers.
3- Double check all your prices off their ebay store....4 items they charged me more than what they sell it on ebay for...They didn't even know what they had on ebay or played stupid when i asked about it.
Response: This is not true. Our pricing on the phone is consistent with what is online. Every now and then we may do a promotion, or Ebay may do something with free shipping that will make things inconsistent. If you see something different than what you are quoted, just tell us and we will make it right.
4- Bought and paid for 48" wires so i can re-pin one end and have only ONE solder joint by the switches....they sent shorter wires which left me no choice but to solder TWO times unless i wanted to try to pull the solder joints all the way through the bars...basically why sell a 48" and send shorter?? They blamed it on not checking the lengths of wires before they sent them.
Repsonse: I am not sure how this happened, but the harness should have been 48”. Our fault. He did tell me it was not that big of a deal, and just wanted to make sure we knew so that this did not happen with any other customers. I have since checked all of them and did find 1 more that was shorter and we tossed it.
5- My handle bars showed up blemished and i was told by owner Robert that they don't even check the wrapped up bars before they send em out. I had rust on my welds and a mis-drill on one of the holes and STILL haven't gotten any resolution as they pawned it off on the manufacturer to contact me which never happened. I didn't buy from manufacturer i bought from HCC!!...but they refuse to do anything besides make ME pay for return shipping on them or pawn problems off on manufacturer. How can you sell items without even looking at them? And then not stand behind defective items with photographic proof sent to you in high resolution pics??
Response: I was actually surprised by this one. We have sold several sets of these bars without ANY problems at all. I offered to ship him another set with a PRE-PAID return shipping label to send the bad ones back to us, but I did want to see a picture of the problem because I had not seen this before. This would help me identify the same problem on any more that we ship and possibly identify a large mass production issue. He said that he had already installed them and HE ASKED ME to contact Santee to see if they would refund him some money on the bars. Santee is a brand of Custom Chrome that is made overseas. So I did what I said and contacted my CCI Rep to see what kind of help they could provide. After 2 days of e-mails, they decided to have customer service Contact George and issue a gift certificate. I have tried to call George 2 times to let him know this, but only get voice mail as of today. Shortly after, my CCI rep calls me with a very frustrated tone. He said they called George to offer him a solution and he was horribly abusive, and they never could find out what he actually wanted out of the deal. To this day, I still do not know either. The funny part is I am being blamed for not checking the bars for defects ( which should have been checked by Santee ) when George did not realize there was a problem with them until they were installed. Aren’t you suppose to check all the parts before you install them? I know I do.
6- My chinese risers were missing all hardware to mount them, nice touch. Stock hardware won't work.
Response: Our supplier mis boxed the risers and he did get the incorrect ones. I offerd to send him another set once we figured out the problem. He did not want them since the bars were already installed on the bike. George did forget to mention that I refunded him on the risers and I told him to keep the incorrect ones at no charge to him.
7- Items were all thrown in a large box without filler...so as UPS rotated and kicked around the box everything got throw all over inside and most china boxes broke open and spilled. All that was needed was a little filler paper or air bags to ensure safe shipping.
Response: Most of our handlebar kits are shipped in a custom box that we designed to accommodate handlebar kits specifically. All of the accessories to a handlebar kit go inside another custom box that is taped or stapled shut before it is put inside the main handlebar box. We all know how brutal shipping companies can be at times. This is why we insure all of our packages in case of damage to our products. To my knowledge, none of the parts were damaged upon arrival
I will admit this transaction is not typical of how things happen when a purchase is made with Hill Country Customs. However, if problems do occur, we are here to help and resolve it the best way possible. Yes, sometimes mistakes are made. I strongly believe it is how you handle those mistakes that make the difference.
Furthermore, George did file a dispute with his credit card provider. He told them that he returned the merchandise to us. What he did was send back a box with some junk in it so he could have a tracking # to show something was delivered back to us. That is considered internet fraud in our state. We have opened a case with the local authorities to pursue it legally and notified the credit card provider of illegal activity.
My name is Robert and I am the owner of Hill Country Custom Cycles. This is the first post I have ever done on the forum, so please excuse me if I make a mistake. This post is going to be long, so please make sure you have time to finish it before you start reading.
I guess I should start off by saying that I don’t even know where to begin on this one. We watch the forums for problems like this, and this forum typically does a good job of figuring out what is right and what is wrong through constant communication from members. I have read many good posts and some negative posts about us, but they always seem to solve themselves properly. In a few cases we have called the customer to try and help, or just to simply thank them for giving us a good review. As you know, there are 2 sides to every story, and in this case I think everyone should hear our side and make their own opinion of it. Here it goes.
First off, I will be the first to admit that we have been difficult to get a hold of this spring and here is why. Like most of the parts manufacturers and distributors in this industry we forecasted a lower than average Spring based on the spotty economic conditions and rising fuel prices. Well to everyone’s surprise those forecasts were blown out of the water everybody is 3 times busier than they expected to be. Great, right?? We try to take care of all of our customer’s specific needs, but sometimes it does take a little longer than normal to address these needs, due to heavy workloads and circumstances beyond our control.
As for George, My jaw hit the floor when I read his first post. I personally spoke with George about this issue, but he is not giving all the details. I am also confused as to why he is doing this, because all the conversation we had was good. I really thought he sounded like a nice person over the phone. He did explain to me the problems he had and this is how I addressed them:
1- They don't return any emails or answer the phones
Response: Yes, our response time has been slow lately, but hopefully the above paragraph explains why. We do return EVERY e-mail we get. I know this because we can do e-mails 24 hours a day without waking anyone up. We are limited to phone calls between reasonable day time hours, and of course, getting people’s voice mail when we call them back
2- Most everything i received was made in china.
Response: This is something that we are all faced with. Hardly any of the aftermarket V-Twin parts are made in the US. And we all know why. It is hard to find good parts for a reasonable price, even from Harley. If you look at their retail packaging it will identify which country that part was made in, and usually it is not the USA. A lot of the parts we sell are made by us here in the USA, and there are some parts that you just can’t get over here for a good price. We use the best parts we can from the aftermarket and still provide a reasonable price to consumers.
3- Double check all your prices off their ebay store....4 items they charged me more than what they sell it on ebay for...They didn't even know what they had on ebay or played stupid when i asked about it.
Response: This is not true. Our pricing on the phone is consistent with what is online. Every now and then we may do a promotion, or Ebay may do something with free shipping that will make things inconsistent. If you see something different than what you are quoted, just tell us and we will make it right.
4- Bought and paid for 48" wires so i can re-pin one end and have only ONE solder joint by the switches....they sent shorter wires which left me no choice but to solder TWO times unless i wanted to try to pull the solder joints all the way through the bars...basically why sell a 48" and send shorter?? They blamed it on not checking the lengths of wires before they sent them.
Repsonse: I am not sure how this happened, but the harness should have been 48”. Our fault. He did tell me it was not that big of a deal, and just wanted to make sure we knew so that this did not happen with any other customers. I have since checked all of them and did find 1 more that was shorter and we tossed it.
5- My handle bars showed up blemished and i was told by owner Robert that they don't even check the wrapped up bars before they send em out. I had rust on my welds and a mis-drill on one of the holes and STILL haven't gotten any resolution as they pawned it off on the manufacturer to contact me which never happened. I didn't buy from manufacturer i bought from HCC!!...but they refuse to do anything besides make ME pay for return shipping on them or pawn problems off on manufacturer. How can you sell items without even looking at them? And then not stand behind defective items with photographic proof sent to you in high resolution pics??
Response: I was actually surprised by this one. We have sold several sets of these bars without ANY problems at all. I offered to ship him another set with a PRE-PAID return shipping label to send the bad ones back to us, but I did want to see a picture of the problem because I had not seen this before. This would help me identify the same problem on any more that we ship and possibly identify a large mass production issue. He said that he had already installed them and HE ASKED ME to contact Santee to see if they would refund him some money on the bars. Santee is a brand of Custom Chrome that is made overseas. So I did what I said and contacted my CCI Rep to see what kind of help they could provide. After 2 days of e-mails, they decided to have customer service Contact George and issue a gift certificate. I have tried to call George 2 times to let him know this, but only get voice mail as of today. Shortly after, my CCI rep calls me with a very frustrated tone. He said they called George to offer him a solution and he was horribly abusive, and they never could find out what he actually wanted out of the deal. To this day, I still do not know either. The funny part is I am being blamed for not checking the bars for defects ( which should have been checked by Santee ) when George did not realize there was a problem with them until they were installed. Aren’t you suppose to check all the parts before you install them? I know I do.
6- My chinese risers were missing all hardware to mount them, nice touch. Stock hardware won't work.
Response: Our supplier mis boxed the risers and he did get the incorrect ones. I offerd to send him another set once we figured out the problem. He did not want them since the bars were already installed on the bike. George did forget to mention that I refunded him on the risers and I told him to keep the incorrect ones at no charge to him.
7- Items were all thrown in a large box without filler...so as UPS rotated and kicked around the box everything got throw all over inside and most china boxes broke open and spilled. All that was needed was a little filler paper or air bags to ensure safe shipping.
Response: Most of our handlebar kits are shipped in a custom box that we designed to accommodate handlebar kits specifically. All of the accessories to a handlebar kit go inside another custom box that is taped or stapled shut before it is put inside the main handlebar box. We all know how brutal shipping companies can be at times. This is why we insure all of our packages in case of damage to our products. To my knowledge, none of the parts were damaged upon arrival
I will admit this transaction is not typical of how things happen when a purchase is made with Hill Country Customs. However, if problems do occur, we are here to help and resolve it the best way possible. Yes, sometimes mistakes are made. I strongly believe it is how you handle those mistakes that make the difference.
Furthermore, George did file a dispute with his credit card provider. He told them that he returned the merchandise to us. What he did was send back a box with some junk in it so he could have a tracking # to show something was delivered back to us. That is considered internet fraud in our state. We have opened a case with the local authorities to pursue it legally and notified the credit card provider of illegal activity.
Interesting other side to the story. Robert is spite of the issues I hear you doing a lot of....... but it is not me..... type of response and like it or not you are accountable. Let me give you one small example.
If you can't respond to emails quickly then have an auto response that says something to the effect of >>>we will respond to your email within 48 hours....
One more thing if you ship anything from your building then it is your job to make sure it is complete and the quality it was you want to provide your customer.
No intent to insult you but things I have read and some of your responses indicate that you need to do a much better job at a "customer first" no excuses culture in your business.
Last edited by UppercaseJC; 02-10-2014 at 09:14 PM. Reason: typo