Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 07:28:25 EST
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: [vanagon] Re: Fix for Stebro Muffler Bracket breaking?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 30/12/2006 3:18:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
maxjoyce@ipa.net writes:
Frank/Dan/Other Listees:
I guess lifetime guarantee means different things to different people. I
have no idea how long my passenger side bracket has been totally separated from
the muffler, but it was just last week that my son discovered it while
crawling under the van for some unrelated reason.
In addition to the broken bracket, the bottom of the "stainless steel"
muffler is rusting and maybe that is normal as well.
I will, for the time being, ignore the negative private emails sent to me
concerning Frank personally.
If,indeed, only 100 of these mufflers have been made over the past 8
years(and assuming 100 SS j pipes too) and 10% have failed, I'm not sure if that's
statistically significant or not. If the modification of the brackets was
only made a year or so ago, it must not have been an instant failure issue. I
have always had positive vibes on Stebro exhaust products, although this was
the first time I had bought one. It was hard to shell out $400 for the J
pipe and Muffler back then(don't know what they sell for now) but figured the
lifetime warranty had something to do with the price. I tend to "buy the best
and only cry once".
Perhaps a mis-calculation was made as to the anticipated lifetime of the
muffler or the original owner keeping said vehicle longer than the manufacturer
anticipated(certainly the case with cheap ass water pumps at the big FLAPS).
The fact that another $5 worth of stainless steel might've made the brackets
bullet proof to begin with is immaterial now, but I'm still not sure what to
do.
1. The offer has been made to ship me the better brackets and Stebro pay
for the local shop to weld them on. What if that shop charges me $100 to do
so? I think I'd rather have the redesigned muffler sent to my residence and
THEN I return the old one thereby keeping my vehicle on the road like it needs
to be.
I am reminded of the legendary Paul W Klipsch, originator of the Klipschorn
loudspeaker back in the 40's. He and his Klipsch speaker company in Hope,
Arkansas(Bill Clinton's birthplace, no less) never had a warranty. He said he
didn't need a warranty on his speakers. He said if there were problems,
they'd fix it no charge. A company's reputation used to be good enough in this
case and likely since Mr. Klipsch has passed on, the current company has
other ideas.
I have a feeling that the other person making the Vanagon mufflers out of
stainless steel and using the factory clamps will be seeing an increase in
business here in the near future.
My two cents FWIW,
DM&FS
"I hear banjos....KEEP PADDLING!!"
Dan, are you gonna reply to Max ? OR, are we gonna have to call in the
calvary. He has a broken muffler that he bought in good faith that your company
STEBRO PSD LTD. built and offered a _Lifetime Warranty_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebrogt.htm) on, maybe YOU should click the link and read your
warranty statement, YOU WROTE IT ! Now it's your turn to do what's right ! We
are all waiting with bated breath !
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007
