warranty

Hamilton Cams

Hamilton Cams

ignorant
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
2,639
I have had a few people call wanting warranty lately that I don't feel is my responsibility. I work very hard to make sure our parts are the best that they can be. In spite of this, the customer has the most to do with the parts longevity. It gets expensive covering other peoples mistakes and although I have been very understanding to date, it is getting a little excessive recently.

I get things like, this oil worked great in my small block. I have been building them for 20 years. In the words of Timbeaux, "THis ain't that". Run quality diesel oils!!!!!!

I also have cams that have been through 4 different engines in the last 3 years with three different owners and sold and swapped. There is no way in an instance like this to know what the cam went through. If the cam is broken by dropping it on the shop floor accidentally, I am sorry but I cannot cover that, and I can tell whether it whas broken in the engine or out. Be a big boy, take one on the chin and tell the truth. I might work with you based on your honesty.

I had a customer a few months back that broke his camshaft. After I inspected the camshaft I noticed galling on all of the journals. It was then that his buddy told me that he lost a few injectors and filled his engine up with diesel and lost oil pressure. After I confronted him he finally told the truth.

I also sell the same cores as Geoff at Colt cams, so I have customers from time to time that try to play buy from him and deal with warranty from me. I need to see an original reciept to prove where the cam came from.

After thinking about this for a while, I think the most fair thing to do is to give a 1 year warranty on our camshafts.

-Must have original reciept
-Must use zinc at break-in
-Must use new tappets
-Must only be used with Hamilton springs and pushrods.
-Does not cover any related damage
-For the original purchaser only
- It is the customers responsability to prove the above mentioned


My goal in this is to be fair to the customer and weed out some of the people who lie about things to get things covered. THis will not stop all of the lying but it will definitely cut back on the bull.

We will cover things like lobe wear and broken camshafts after we inspect the damaged parts. If a customer wants a replacement prior to us inspecting a part. The will need to purchase a cam until we decide if the part is warrrantied.


Zach
 
-Must only be used with Hamilton springs and pushrods.

Sounds a bit like profiteering.
 
-Must use zinc at break-in
Would have to supply it to ensure its use.
-Must use new tappets
-Must only be used with Hamilton springs and pushrods.
Would have to be sold as a complete kit to even hope accomplish.
 
Tough to warranty a cam Zach. I lost a cam from another supplier recently and just sent it back. No warranty expected, it's a performance part. I've seen how you handle problems and I respect and admire you for standing behind your products, but you're going to have to stay on your toe's to keep people from taking advantage of you. I don't envy that part of your job.

RonA
 
Seems fair to me also.

Zinc additive DOES come with your new Hamilton cam...you just gotta buy it. $12 a bottle, I'll pay that if it saves me issues down the line.

Hell I didn't even think about new tappets with the new cam. I was just gonna run my old ones-they're pretty flat from what I remember. May have to rethink that
 
SHughes said:
-Must only be used with Hamilton springs and pushrods.

Sounds a bit like profiteering.
Click to expand...

Nice! If you only knew. I am open to your suggestions then.

I am trying to be fair and honest to customers. I also have to be fair to myself. If you recieved any of the phone calls I have recieved in the last few months you would pull your hair out. It is either this or I stop making camshafts simple as that. I have had customers not prelube a cam to shavings in the block on rebuilds to using non-detergent oil for breakin "cause it works on dem ole small blocks damnit". THey all want me to pay for a new engine. People mix and match the craziest things you could imagine and it is not my responsibility to cover ignorance.

I thought about giving the normal race part warranty which is none but I am just trying to be fair. This puts the bulk of the responsibility on the customer to change their oil, run zinc and generally not be a dumbass. Not only do you need to run our parts but you need to run the mandated springs for the cam you are running.

Do you really have to run our springs and rods....hell no. I mix and match everything under the sun while I am testing things. I also cover my own @SS while doing so.

I know this is not a perfect solution but it is the best I can come up with to be fair to customers and not have to pay for dummies mistakes. If you have a better solution, I am open to your suggestions.

Zach
 
Zach, this is an industry problem, for some reason the consumer almost always thinks its the manufacturers fault, no matter what he did, or did not do, in their mind that stuff shouldnt' matter. We as manufacturers should be able to cover everyones mistakes? right,.... I don't think so.
 
You are right Dan. In spite of my best efforts to inform our consumers on how to set up their cams we still get people that will not change from small block chevy mentality. I warrantied a 2 year old narrow lobed cam today that somebody ran gsser oil on. Not my baby but people will bash you on the forums if you don't give them freebies. I don't know how to say this any other way but from now on I will expect people to follow instructions if they want any kind of help.

Dan how many clutches have you had sent back that the people said burned up on their way to church only to find out from their friends that it was a 5,000rpm 5th gear whiskey launch?

I think the main issue here is a lack of character. People race, people break stuff, we push the envelope, that is the nature of this business. Be a big boy and be honest with the suppliers and you will be suprised how understanding we can be. I almost need to give a polygraph to even consider exchange any more. I am going to have to either give no warranty or get a little cooperation from you Gearheads. That being said, a lot of you are some of the best guys I have ever met and I count a lot of you as friends.

Rant over.


Zach
 
i am very impressed that you will stick behind a warranty like that.
but i agree, you need to make rules and enforse them, it cant be cheap doing what your doing
 
Just playing devils advocate...I say offer no warranty. You won't please anybody, much less everybody.

Performance parts need no warranty.
 
I agree with the above post.. How can you warranty a performance part?
 
With the advent of the forums, it is really a two edged sword. I want to warranty the parts for a reasonable amount of time but I can't afford to cover people that really have no business building engines mistakes. Ignorant people will ignorantly talk about your product and say it is no good when you don't cover their mistake. Diesel engines are very expensive so if there is a mistake it is usually more than most people have budgets for. To be honest with you if there is a defect with a product it will show it's head in the first thousand miles. What do you think about a 6month warranty to make sure people have some time to install the cam or springs and make sure they work?

Is this fair in your minds?

Also If your main concern is putting 300,000 miles on your performance engine be sure to tell us so we can go with lighter springs, and a lower lift cam. Some people have very crazy ideas as to what is streetable for a daily driver. If you are wanting to put a cam that has .700" valve lift in your daily driver you really can't gripe when things have issues. As crazy as this sounds I talk to people like this all the time.

Zach
 
I think 6 months is more than fair. I'd do a three month warranty if it were my company. I wouldn't like getting burned by someone that isn't up front and honest about what happened.
 
A lot of people are honest about what they did with their cam or truck. I actually had a guy call and tell me that he dropped his cam off of the bench a few months back. That is rare in this business to find somebody with that kind of character! Truth is the younger set (and a few older guys) don't have the money to support their habit or the brains to make it live. These people cry on the forums to get their way. That is the reason for this thread.

The ideal situation is honesty about what happened. If it is my fault I give you a full refund or new part for free. If it is your fault and you are honest I give you a steep discount. Although the warranty period is over if you are honest I would be more than happy to give a discount to keep someone using my parts.


So six months seems like a nice compromise. any more opinions?

Zach
 
six months sounds fair....... but i just hit 6 months 1 day.........


lol....... just busting balls Zach
 
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