Texas
06-15-2014, 12:24 AM
So I wanted a short windshield for my 2014 Spyder RT-S to aid in providing my air to myself due to summertime temperatures and to see if I could achieve better mileage. I considered the CalSci Tinted Shorty Windshield, but the height of the windshield is 19", and that was still taller than what I was looking for. Since there aren't a lot of windshield choices for the RT, I thought I would email CalSci and ask them if it was possible to get a shorter windshield (I wanted 17"). Mark from CalSci replied "You can order one of our tinted shorties and in the comments section ask we cut it down. No charge."
This was the answer I was hoping for. I immediately ordered the Tinted Shorty and in the "How did you hear about us?" section (there is no comments section) I said said “Please take 2" off the top of this shield (making it 17" at the center instead of 19"). Thank you.”. Just to be safe, I also replied to Mark, letting him know that I just ordered the shield, and I reiterated my request to make the shield 17".
I didn't get a reply from Mark, or anyone else at CalSci, but about a week later, I received the shield. One major issue noted as soon as I received it was that the shield was 18" instead of 17" I immediately emailed Mark about it, but did not get a reply. I waited over two weeks with no reply from CalSci, so I decided to send them another email to see if they would respond. This time I get a response, only this time their email isn't quite as friendly. I was not addressed, and whoever wrote it did not leave their name. Their response was simply "Send it back, we'll cut another inch off."
Knowing this is a larger item to ship, I figured I better confirm that they were going to pick up all of the shipping cost (since this was their fault). This time Mark responds with:
"No. I'll pay to ship it back to you, that's it.
Break it in half, send me a picture, and I'll refund your money.
We are not a custom windshield shop. We do cut downs at no charge as a service for our customers. I don't know how you're measuring it. I don't know anymore what I measured when I cut it. I don't believe 1 inch makes a noticeable difference in performance or looks. You do, that's fine, but you got a free service, you did not get a guarantee of high precision.
Mark"
I emailed him back, confirming that I measured straight down the center to get the 18" measurement (which is exactly where the measurement was taken in my request). I told him I'm not a fan of wasting product, and wanted to know if he wanted to reconsider picking up the shipping cost for his mistake. I received no response from him, or anyone else at CalSci. As a consumer, it's also upsetting that his response above (I don't believe 1 inch makes a noticeable difference in performance or looks) makes light of my request. As a seller, if you tell someone that they can request a certain measurement, but nothing is guaranteed; you aren't going to sell many units. At the same time, the seller does need to inform the consumer of this important information before the sale is made.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
So this leaves me with either destroying the shield, or paying out more money to hopefully fix a mistake that was made by CalSci as my only two options (as specified by Mark). Neither are good options, but Mark's last response made it very clear to me that CalSci is not concerned about customer satisfaction, so this leaves me with a shield that isn't as short as the one I purchased.
QUALITY:
I haven't even gotten into the review of the shield itself. CalSci describes their shields as being laser cut. While the holes do line up, the entire edge around the shield and around the vent are rough, which perplexes me. I have purchased other laser cut shields in the past, and none of them had any rough edges. Because of this, I find CalSci's description to be misleading.
The thickness of the shield (though not confirmed) is listed on their website as 1/8". I'm not disputing this, but the issue with this is that the original shield is much thicker, thus the built in spacers on the RT's mounting bracket is thicker than the shield. This causes the outside windshield covers to fit loosely. In my opinion, CalSci should include a custom cut gasket for the windshield cover so that the cover fits snug against the windshield.
SIDE NOTE:
CalSci includes a microfiber cleaning towel and a small spray bottle of windshield cleaner with the windshield. While this is nice (the microfiber towel is a nice size towel), it isn't near as important as the issues listed above. Something like this is only looked as going above and beyond, when the basic requirements are met.
CONCLUSION:
When I placed my order, I prematurely thought that I was going to leaving a great review on this shield. I really wanted to. However, based on just the above experience, I can not recommend the CalSci Tinted Shorty Windshield. It shocks me that a company would give such poor options to resolve a mistake that they made. Mark also stated that they do not guarantee high precision. I ordered a 17" instead of the regular 19". They gave it to me as a 18" (exactly 18" by the way). They were 1" off. A complaint of high precision would have been if I were upset about getting a shield cut to 17.08". CalSci missed the mark by 50%.
This reminds me of the movie "Six Days Seven Nights" where upon being paid $700 to fly Robin to Tahiti but crashing on an remote island in between, Quinn gives her back $350 (three one hundred dollar bills, plus one he tore in half) saying "I figure I got you halfway". The point to this is, he failed to deliver upon what he was paid to do, and it is his responsibility as the business owner to correct mistakes, bad judgement, etc...
This was the answer I was hoping for. I immediately ordered the Tinted Shorty and in the "How did you hear about us?" section (there is no comments section) I said said “Please take 2" off the top of this shield (making it 17" at the center instead of 19"). Thank you.”. Just to be safe, I also replied to Mark, letting him know that I just ordered the shield, and I reiterated my request to make the shield 17".
I didn't get a reply from Mark, or anyone else at CalSci, but about a week later, I received the shield. One major issue noted as soon as I received it was that the shield was 18" instead of 17" I immediately emailed Mark about it, but did not get a reply. I waited over two weeks with no reply from CalSci, so I decided to send them another email to see if they would respond. This time I get a response, only this time their email isn't quite as friendly. I was not addressed, and whoever wrote it did not leave their name. Their response was simply "Send it back, we'll cut another inch off."
Knowing this is a larger item to ship, I figured I better confirm that they were going to pick up all of the shipping cost (since this was their fault). This time Mark responds with:
"No. I'll pay to ship it back to you, that's it.
Break it in half, send me a picture, and I'll refund your money.
We are not a custom windshield shop. We do cut downs at no charge as a service for our customers. I don't know how you're measuring it. I don't know anymore what I measured when I cut it. I don't believe 1 inch makes a noticeable difference in performance or looks. You do, that's fine, but you got a free service, you did not get a guarantee of high precision.
Mark"
I emailed him back, confirming that I measured straight down the center to get the 18" measurement (which is exactly where the measurement was taken in my request). I told him I'm not a fan of wasting product, and wanted to know if he wanted to reconsider picking up the shipping cost for his mistake. I received no response from him, or anyone else at CalSci. As a consumer, it's also upsetting that his response above (I don't believe 1 inch makes a noticeable difference in performance or looks) makes light of my request. As a seller, if you tell someone that they can request a certain measurement, but nothing is guaranteed; you aren't going to sell many units. At the same time, the seller does need to inform the consumer of this important information before the sale is made.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
So this leaves me with either destroying the shield, or paying out more money to hopefully fix a mistake that was made by CalSci as my only two options (as specified by Mark). Neither are good options, but Mark's last response made it very clear to me that CalSci is not concerned about customer satisfaction, so this leaves me with a shield that isn't as short as the one I purchased.
QUALITY:
I haven't even gotten into the review of the shield itself. CalSci describes their shields as being laser cut. While the holes do line up, the entire edge around the shield and around the vent are rough, which perplexes me. I have purchased other laser cut shields in the past, and none of them had any rough edges. Because of this, I find CalSci's description to be misleading.
The thickness of the shield (though not confirmed) is listed on their website as 1/8". I'm not disputing this, but the issue with this is that the original shield is much thicker, thus the built in spacers on the RT's mounting bracket is thicker than the shield. This causes the outside windshield covers to fit loosely. In my opinion, CalSci should include a custom cut gasket for the windshield cover so that the cover fits snug against the windshield.
SIDE NOTE:
CalSci includes a microfiber cleaning towel and a small spray bottle of windshield cleaner with the windshield. While this is nice (the microfiber towel is a nice size towel), it isn't near as important as the issues listed above. Something like this is only looked as going above and beyond, when the basic requirements are met.
CONCLUSION:
When I placed my order, I prematurely thought that I was going to leaving a great review on this shield. I really wanted to. However, based on just the above experience, I can not recommend the CalSci Tinted Shorty Windshield. It shocks me that a company would give such poor options to resolve a mistake that they made. Mark also stated that they do not guarantee high precision. I ordered a 17" instead of the regular 19". They gave it to me as a 18" (exactly 18" by the way). They were 1" off. A complaint of high precision would have been if I were upset about getting a shield cut to 17.08". CalSci missed the mark by 50%.
This reminds me of the movie "Six Days Seven Nights" where upon being paid $700 to fly Robin to Tahiti but crashing on an remote island in between, Quinn gives her back $350 (three one hundred dollar bills, plus one he tore in half) saying "I figure I got you halfway". The point to this is, he failed to deliver upon what he was paid to do, and it is his responsibility as the business owner to correct mistakes, bad judgement, etc...