Brake & Clutch Supply

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for your delayed response The automatic I traded for the manual had to be rebuilt just like the manual and clutchThis is why I had the manual rebuilt before I installed it with your defective clutchThe"rattle" I experienced was my fault, I admitted that in my last statementI'm easy to admit fault, something you ate fighting tooth and nail to denyYou did not fix my clutch for "virtually nothing"As a father of young children, the amount you charged me could have put alot of food in their stomachsI am not interested in your slandering comments about south bend buisness or websiteIf you are jealous of their staff and equipment then you should invest more in your companies training and outdated equipmentI never said you hit the pressure plate with a"sledge hammer" I said you hit it with a hammer to set the fingersThe issue at hand is the improper button and clutch hub components you used as well as not grinding the flywheele and intermediate plate to the correct specsYou told me your equipment could only balance 12" clutches not 20", so your using statementsHad nothing to do with bolt patterns, this is why I sent the unit back to south bend, for balancingOnly then did we realize the true problems with your quality of repairsI only remember you talking about "some lady" coming in, I did not remember you saying it was your spouseHow that terminology is offensive I can't understand but sorry for the offense she tooki understand having full time jobsI'm not some competitor trying to pry money from another businessI am a father of four and my wife and myself both work full time to support themI am not concerned with the "ability" of the other people you do business with and their mechanical ability, I am concerned with yoursYou are portraying yourself as never making a mistake and this is may not trueI have recently obtained another statement from a previous customer of yours that had a clutch repaired and it failed on him due to you using or improperly installing the rivets on his clutchSo obviously you make mistakes and over look things, as you did with my unitI'm not asking for an unfair amountI expect you to own up to your mistakes and refund the money for the faulty clutch you sold me as well as half the repairs on the transmission it damaged along with the brand new fluid it ruinedI do not want to take this any further but if we have to we willThis has caused my family and myself alot of money and stress for something that was totally your faultWe will both have to do what is best for our families and business so it appears court is our next stepThank you for your time and responses in this troubling matterHave a good day Regards, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for your timely responseI did not mention how abused the clutch was because you are in the business of rebuilding abused clutchesIf the task was to big for your business to accomplish, this should have been discussed before you took on the taskYour company has been in business for quite some time, this is why I chose to come to you for the repairsI also did not "pay way to much" for the clutch as it was acquired in a trade I did with a gentleman for an automatic transmission I had for a manual transmission and the clutch we are discussingI did use the wrong flywheele bolts on the initial install of the clutch and it did cause damage to the flywheele that I had to have repairedAnd yes you did repair one of the damaged clutches at a reasonable priceThis is not the topic at handI have obtained a statement from South Bend describing the faults with the clutch and the flywheele was said to be repaired and balanced just fineEverything else in the clutch is a different storyThe statement goes on to explain that your business ground the intermediate plate an improper way as well as you used two different style clutches as well as two different style and thicknesses of ceramic buttons NOT obtained from South Bend as I was initially told they would be from your businessThe statement goes on to say that you improperly set the fingers on the pressure plate causing damage to the unitIn a conversation you and myself had you admitted to me you "beat on the pressure plate with a hammer to set the fingers", which according to South Bend is not the proper techniqueAlso in one of my phone conversations with MeRobbins, he explained to me he could not balance the clutch because his business way not equipped with the right machinery to handle a clutch this sizeThat being said the clutch was not to specification from the moment it left your shopI did call you several weeks later complainingYou said "you could not remember why" and this is due to the fact that I called complaining about MrRibbons not returning any of my calls regarding the warranty on the pressure plate from South BendMeRobbins informed me that he was not adequate on keeping computer based records of any of the work his company performs and one lady comes in one a week on Fridays to update his recordsI realized after reviewing the statement I recieved from South Bend that he would not answer my questions due to the fact that his improper setting of the fingers on the pressure plate (hitting it with a hammer) in fact voided any warranty that would have been presentThis issue is not about warranties, it is about improper repair procedures and poor quality parts and craftsmanshipI understand your company has built "thousands" of clutches every year, this is why I choose you for quality repairs that I did not recieveAs far as my "mechanical abilities", I may not be as experienced as you claim you are but I have been working on diesel and gasoline engines for yearsAlso the installation of this clutch was performed by myself and my brother an ASE certified diesel mechanic with documentation and photographs of the entire procedure, step by stepI have obtained statements and photographs from South Bend Clutch, my brother (ASE certified diesel mechanic) as well as the shop that is currently having to rebuild my damaged transmissionAll statements from all professionals point to one obvious conclusion, the clutch MrRobbins sold me was not built to specification and faultyI am not asking for you to pay for the flywheele repairs, the countless hours myself and my family have spent fretting over this situation, or the new clutch I had to purchase because the one your company sold me was unusableI am asking for a refund on the faulty clutch and the damaged transmission and transmission fluidThank you very much for your time and cooperation in this troubling matterHopefully we can resolve this issue outside of civil court as that will have to be my next stepThank you, [redacted] Regards, [redacted]

What Mr [redacted] neglected to tell you was he bought a used clutch assembly that had been severely abused. He also paid way too much for it. We rebuilt the disks, center plate and flywheel the same way we have been doing them since 1962. The pressure plate was a brand new unit from Southbend. We... use exactly the same clutch buttons that Southbend does. He also forgot to mention he installed the flywheel using the wrong bolts the first time. He called complaining several times about a noise. Finally he took it apart and found flywheel holes torn up along with the center of the fw side disk. I repaired the disk for a more than reasonable charge. He had the fw holes repaired at another shop. Several weeks later he called complaining again, I honestly don't remember why. Next, I hear he sent the whole assembly to Southbend. Now he wants me to refund his money AND pay to rebuild HIS transmission. There are NO WARRANTIES whatsoever on rebuilt dodge diesel assemblies. The disclaimer on his original ticket clearly explains this. I was willing to go to bat with him against Southbend on the warranty for the new pressure plate until today, when I saw this complaint. We have rebuilt thousands of clutches every year since 1962 without a single complaint to the BBB. We will pay for absolutely nothing concerning this matter. We can not be responsible for Mr. [redacted] 's lack of mechanical ability. Thanks for you time, [redacted] President, Brake & Clutch Supply, Inc.Tell us why here...

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for your delayed response.  The automatic I traded for the manual had to be rebuilt just like the manual and clutch. This is why I had the manual rebuilt before I installed it with your defective clutch. The"rattle" I experienced was my fault, I admitted that in my last statement. I'm easy to admit fault, something you ate fighting tooth and nail to deny. You did not fix my clutch for "virtually nothing". As a father of 4 young children, the amount you charged me could have put alot of food in their stomachs. I am not interested in your slandering comments about south bend buisness or website. If you are jealous of their staff and equipment then you should invest more in your companies training and outdated equipment. I never said you hit the pressure plate with a"sledge hammer" I said you hit it with a hammer to set the fingers. The issue at hand is the improper button and clutch hub components you used as well as not grinding the flywheele and intermediate plate to the correct specs. You told me your equipment could only balance 12" clutches not 20", so your using false statements. Had nothing to do with bolt patterns, this is why I sent the unit back to south bend, for balancing. Only then did we realize the true problems with your quality of repairs. I only remember you talking about "some lady" coming in, I did not remember you saying it was your spouse. How that terminology is offensive I can't understand but sorry for the offense she took. I understand having full time jobs. I'm not some competitor trying to pry money from another business. I am a father of four and my wife and myself both work full time to support them. I am not concerned with the "ability" of the other people you do business with and their mechanical ability, I am concerned with yours. You are portraying yourself as never making a mistake and this is may not true. I have recently obtained another statement from a previous customer of yours that had a clutch repaired and it failed on him due to you using  or improperly installing the rivets on his clutch. So obviously you make mistakes and over look things, as you did with my unit. I'm not asking for an unfair amount. I expect you to own up to your mistakes and refund the money for the faulty clutch you sold me as well as half the repairs on the transmission it damaged along with the brand new fluid it ruined. I do not want to take this any further but if we have to we will. This has caused my family and myself alot of money and stress for something that was totally your fault. We will both have to do what is best for our families and business so it appears court is our next step. Thank you for your time and responses in this troubling matter. Have a good day.  
Regards,
[redacted]

I am going to respond to your rejection in the order that you did.  Rebuilding your clutch was not too big of a job for us.  We repair worse setups than this every day.  If you traded your automatic for this clutch setup and transmission you got took.  As bad as the clutch was the transmission had to be bad already.  The guy that ended up with your automatic is still laughing.  You called no less than five times and I spent at least two hours total talking to you on the phone about a rattle problem that ended up to be completely YOUR FAULT.  I felt sorry for you and fixed the clutch disk that you damaged for virtually nothing.  As far as a statement from Southbend, they are in the business of selling new clutches and they will tell you anything they need to to get you to buy a new one.  You need to go to [redacted], scroll to the bottom, click on "about us".  First picture, see the fancy building, now you know why their stuff costs so much.  Second picture down on the right, THE SAME FLYWHEEL GRINDER THAT WE GROUND YOUR FLYWHEEL & CENTER PLATE WITH.  Third picture down on the left shows a stack of disks with velvetouch buttons - THE SAME BUTTONS WE USE.  No, we don't buy them from Southbend, it would be like WalMart buying from Target.  We are competitors.  The only thing that we buy from Southbend is a pressure plate for one of their assemblies that we are rebuilding.  Fourth picture down on the right shows CK steel back facings, THE SAME ONES WE USE.  Fifth picture down on right is interesting....NEVER, EVER BOLT DOWN A PRESSURE PLATE WITH AN IMPACT, EVER.  There is no way the diaphragm will be level.  When we bolt an assembly together we check the level of the diaphragm with a dial indicator.  If it is not level then we use a couple of well placed hammer strikes to straighten it.  I learned how to do this from an engineer at LUK, the largest clutch manufacturer in the world.  I think he probably knows more about this than the people at Southbend.  We WILL NOT change the way we do things for you or them.  When something works for 53 years you don't change it.  WE DO NOT HIT THE PRESSURE PLATE WITH A SLEDGE HAMMER!!!  If you look at a pressure plate I have straightened the only way you could tell is a couple of shiny spots on the cover.  The only reason I could not balance this assembly is because when our balancing machine was made this bolt pattern wasn't being used yet.  We can balance up to 20" plates.  There was no reason to balance the flywheel or the center plate because they were ground evenly.  The pressure plate was new from Southbend and was supposed to be balanced already.  This is where you start just making stuff up.  When you said "some lady comes in once a week on Fridays", that is actually my wife, who comes in Monday & Wednesday nights AFTER her full time job to pay bills, taxes & keep the checkbook straight.  All of our other records are updated when they are entered as we go through the day.  My wife works anywhere from 2 to 3 hours (sometimes longer), and does not take kindly to you calling her "some lady".  Unfortunately for you, I know exactly what we did to your clutch.  YOUR flywheel and center plate were ground flat, one disk had EVT-8 & EVT-5 buttons, disk two had EVT-7 & EVT-8 buttons.  They are thicker to make up for what was taken off the plates.  They must be thicker to keep the hubs from hitting together in the middle.  I went back a year and we had done 7 assemblies like yours, all of them are still on the road & happy....those pesky records.  ASE certification means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to me.  We have had an ASE certified mechanic install brake pads with the metal side to the rotor and then call complaining about a screeching noise when he steps on the brake pedal.  We have at least one customer a week put a bearing on a fork wrong.  These are men who have been working on cars for 30+ years.  As far as you and your brother's mechanical ability, using the wrong flywheel bolts tells me all I need to know.  I do have one question, how does a clutch assembly that only touches the splines of the input shaft cause a need for a rebuild on a transmission?  Answer is, it doesn't.  The transmission was damaged already, like countless Dodge diesels we see every week. Again, we WILL PAY NOTHING.  We CANNOT be responsible for a customer destroying our work after it leaves our shop.  If you continue with this frivolous complaint you will lose.  I will bring all of the evidence I need.  We will counter sue for time lost and slander.Thank you,[redacted]PresidentBrake & Clutch Supply, Inc

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for your timely response. I did not mention how abused the clutch was because you are in the business of rebuilding abused clutches. If the task was to big for your business to accomplish, this should have been discussed before you took on the task. Your company has been in business for quite some time, this is why I chose to come to you for the repairs. I also did not "pay way to much" for the clutch as it was acquired in a trade I did with a gentleman for an automatic transmission I had for a manual transmission and the clutch we are discussing. I did use the wrong flywheele bolts on the initial install of the clutch and it did cause damage to the flywheele that I had to have repaired. And yes you did repair one of the damaged clutches at a reasonable price. This is not the topic at hand. I have obtained a statement from South Bend describing the faults with the clutch and the flywheele was said to be repaired and balanced just fine. Everything else in the clutch is a different story. The statement goes on to explain that your business ground the intermediate plate an improper way as well as you used two different style clutches as well as two different style and thicknesses of ceramic buttons NOT obtained from South Bend as I was initially told they would be from your business. The statement goes on to say that you improperly set the fingers on the pressure plate causing damage to the unit. In a conversation you and myself had you admitted to me you "beat on the pressure plate with a hammer to set the fingers", which according to South Bend is not the proper technique. Also in one of my phone conversations with Me. Robbins, he explained to me he could not balance the clutch because his business way not equipped with the right machinery to handle a clutch this size. That being said the clutch was not to specification from the moment it left your shop. I did call you several weeks later complaining. You said "you could not remember why" and this is due to the fact that I called complaining about Mr. Ribbons not returning any of my calls regarding the warranty on the pressure plate from South Bend. Me. Robbins informed me that he was not adequate on keeping computer based records of any of the work his company performs and one lady comes in one a week on Fridays to update his records. I realized after reviewing the statement I recieved from South Bend that he would not answer my questions due to the fact that his improper setting of the fingers on the pressure plate (hitting it with a hammer) in fact voided any warranty that would have been present. This issue is not about warranties, it is about improper repair procedures and poor quality parts and craftsmanship. I understand your company has built "thousands" of clutches every year, this is why I choose you for quality repairs that I did not recieve. As far as my "mechanical abilities", I may not be as experienced as you claim you are but I have been working on diesel and gasoline engines for 16 years. Also the installation of this clutch was performed by myself and my brother an ASE certified diesel mechanic with documentation and photographs of the entire procedure, step by step. I have obtained statements and photographs from South Bend Clutch, my brother (ASE certified diesel mechanic) as well as the shop that is currently having to rebuild my damaged transmission. All statements from all professionals point to one obvious conclusion, the clutch Mr. Robbins sold me was not built to specification and faulty. I am not asking for you to pay for the flywheele repairs, the countless hours myself and my family have spent fretting over this situation, or the new clutch I had to purchase because the one your company sold me was unusable. I am asking for a refund on the faulty clutch and the damaged transmission and transmission fluid. Thank you very much for your time and cooperation in this troubling matter. Hopefully we can resolve this issue outside of civil court as that will have to be my next step. Thank you, [redacted]  
Regards,
[redacted]

What Mr [redacted] neglected to tell you was he bought a used clutch assembly that had been severely abused. He also paid way too much for it. We rebuilt the disks, center plate and flywheel the same way we have been doing them since 1962. The pressure plate was a brand new unit from Southbend. We...

use exactly the same clutch buttons that Southbend does. He also forgot to mention he installed the flywheel using the wrong bolts the first time. He called complaining several times about a noise. Finally he took it apart and found flywheel holes torn up along with the center of the fw side disk. I repaired the disk for a more than reasonable charge. He had the fw holes repaired at another shop. Several weeks later he called complaining again, I honestly don't remember why. Next, I hear he sent the whole assembly to Southbend. Now he wants me to refund his money AND pay to rebuild HIS transmission. There are NO WARRANTIES whatsoever on rebuilt dodge diesel assemblies. The disclaimer on his original ticket clearly explains this. I was willing to go to bat with him against Southbend on the warranty for the new pressure plate until today, when I saw this complaint. We have rebuilt thousands of clutches every year since 1962 without a single complaint to the Revdex.com. We will pay for absolutely nothing concerning this matter. We can not be responsible for Mr. [redacted]'s lack of mechanical ability. Thanks for you time, [redacted] President, Brake & Clutch Supply, Inc.Tell us why here...