On March 30, 2008 I purchased a radiator from Dewitts and had it shipped to The Vette Doctors in Amityville, NY. A friend placed the order for me using his credit card and I, in turn, gave him cash. The radiator was a large capacity unit with a built in engine oil cooler and transmission oil cooler. At the beginning of May 2008 the unit was installed. The vehicle immediately began showing signs of “higher than normal” operating temperatures (in excess of 220 while driving at highway speeds). As such, the vehicle was returned to The Vette Doctors approximately one week later to diagnose the problem. I had suggested that perhaps the new radiator might be to blame. The shop checked the vehicle and, over the course of the next three weeks, replaced the air conditioning condenser, installed a larger higher capacity water pump, a new thermostat and programmed the cooling fans to remain on at all temperatures.

As the vehicle was still running extremely high temperatures, I looked into additional external coolers to “assist” the new radiator, which should not have been necessary. I then took the vehicle to Kaztech in Hackensack, NJ and had them install a separate engine oil cooler, eliminating the engine oil from being run through the radiator (albeit as the radiator was designed to do) and also had them install a transmission cooler. The transmission cooler was run through the radiator (as this was how both the radiator AND cooler were designed to work). While the vehicle was in their possession, they looked over all the work performed by The Vette Doctors and found no installation issues with the radiator or the other parts installed by them.

The vehicle was returned to me the first week of June 2008. On June 14, 2008 I drove to Delaware. Just prior to arrival at my destination, the vehicle began to exhibit signs of severe overheating. Within minutes, the coolant boiled over causing the hoses to both the radiator and the transmission cooler to burst. Both the transmission fluid and coolant were completely purged from the system while running at temperatures in excess of 260 degrees. With no transmission fluid, the vehicle was completely inoperable. As such, I allowed it to coast approximately 500ft into a parking lot, where it was shut down and a tow truck was called.

The vehicle was then towed to Goodyear Auto Service Center in Georgetown, DE. The mechanics there reconnected the lines to the radiator and the transmission and refilled all fluids. They did, however, note that the vehicle was running at abnormally high temperatures and suggested that I carry several gallons of water in jugs to keep refilling the radiator so that I could “limp” the vehicle home. They also noted that there were “fine” metal shavings found in the transmission fluid caused by the grinding gears as the fluid was purging. Luckily there was no permanent damage to the transmission.

The vehicle was, again, returned to The Vette Doctors on June 16, 2008, at which point I INSISTED that the radiator be taken out as it was the only other logical cause for the overheating. This was the last part to be checked before completely tearing down the engine. Although it was very unlikely that a radiator could be the cause, the shop agreed to remove it. A smaller capacity, factory GM OEM radiator was put back into the vehicle. Once the Dewitts unit was removed, the temperatures on the vehicle dropped to normal levels. It was determined that the radiator had to have had some internal defect that caused the overheating and subsequent breakdown of the vehicle.

The unit was then repackaged with the original materials and shipped back to the “merchant” with a request for an EXCHANGE at the end of June 2008. I personally inspected the unit prior to the package being sealed and there was no damage.

I contacted the “merchant” about a week later and there was some disagreement as to what temperatures were proper “operating” temperatures, and I was advised that the unit had some bent fins and some of the end tabs were bent. However, Tom Dewitt admitted that there was no way that bent fins or broken tabs could have caused such severe overheating and agreed that it was obvious that the radiator was the cause, though he denied that there was anything defective about the unit. Regardless, I advised him that the unit DID NOT WORK in my vehicle and proper customer service dictated that a replacement unit be sent. Tom then agreed to take some photographs of the unit and e-mail them to me as well as to straighten out the bent fins, as this is not unusual with aluminum and all fins are bent from time to time, they are simply “combed” out. He did express his dissatisfaction that he would be unable to resell the unit, but felt it would be acceptable to return the unit to me, while acknowledging that it would not function in my vehicle. In my opinion this unit should not be resold to anyone.

By the third week in July 2008 I had not heard from the “merchant” regarding the photographs he was to send Both myself and my auto shop called the “merchant” numerous times to request the photographs and to discuss restitution. The “merchant” failed to return any phone calls, did not send photographs as promised and did not send a replacement unit OR the original unit. They have been in full possession of both the full payment AND the merchandise since July 2008.

As such, in August of 2008, my friend disputed the charge on his credit card as I no longer had the unit or my refund. Several months went by before the “merchant” finally got around to acknowledging the dispute with Chase and sent, what can only be described as less than acceptable photographic proof of “alleged” severe damage (photos attached)

The photographs sent were nearly impossible to view as they were extremely dark. Additionally, the photographs were not taken until October of 2008.

In any event, the radiator was in the possession of the “merchant” for nearly three months before any photographs were taken. During this time period the unit was in all likelihood moved around the warehouse and was most definitely handled when the company moved in September. At this point I think it is safe to say that damage could have been caused during this move also. They have an obligation to provide acceptable proof in a timely fashion, which they did not do. It is my opinion that the “merchant” allowed a completely unreasonable amount of time to pass before attempting to resolve this matter and it can no longer be proved to any extent where this damage might have occurred. If it was incurred during the shipment, the “merchant” had a duty to provide me with those photographs immediately so that I could take it up with the shipping company as I had the unit FULLY INSURED upon shipping. The time frame for any claim with them has long since passed.

However, and because the “merchant” is now disputing my friends dispute, and on the advice of Chase, I ONCE AGAIN, attempted to contact the “merchant” in an effort to resolve this matter amicably. Two messages were left with Christyn at Dewitts as we were advised that we would have to speak directly with Tom Dewitt. Messages were left December 18 and 19, 2008. When no return call was received, I contacted a THIRD independent auto shop. They began placing calls to Mr. Dewitt, which also went unreturned. The shop had an opportunity to review the photographs provided by the “merchant” and stated that the very few bent fins and broken tabs absolutely could not have caused any overheating to my vehicle. As for the “alleged” bent cooling tube, I can assure you that this was not bent during installation or when it was taken out. Again, perhaps it was caused by the unit being moved around his own warehouse and in the course of moving the entire company.

Today is February1, 2009 and NO CALLS HAVE BEEN RETURNED BY THE MERCHANT. I feel that I have been more than patient and willing to attempt to settle this however it is obvious that the “merchant” has no desire to rectify this situation. At this point, I am no longer willing to accept a merchandise exchange.......nothing short of a full refund is acceptable.

Pics that were sent to credit card company THREE months after the fact.......and yes, this IS the quality of the photo - this one shows bent tabs (these units are known to not fit perfectly in a C5)




This is the one small area where fins were bent - again, no question, they were bent, but in an area THIS small and with NO PROOF that it was done during installation.

 

Thank you Deb for getting that posted!

 

I purchased a radiator and Spal dual fan setup from Dewitts.
It arrived very fast, I then removed the stock radiator and installed the Dewitts with no issues. It seriously reduced my operating temperatures.
I installed it by myself and had no issues with bending any mounting slots or scraping the fins. Some of those tubes in the picture look like they took a serious shot.
How did the installer damage it? At first you say that you inspected it and it had no damage, then it has bent fins and tabs when it reaches him, and then 2 months later clamped and bent tubes.
Was it damaged in shipping? Did you have insurance on it?
Anyway.. It sounds like from the start you had a serious flow problem. I dont see how a few clamped tubes could cause that. It sounds to me like multiple blocked passageways.
It also seems very strange that Dewitts did not work out the situation out with you and instead ignored it. I would like to hear his reason for refusing to work with you to resolve the issue.
Sorry to hear about all the problems.

 

Yes I had insurance on it, however, Dewitt failed to provide any photos until three months after the fact - if I was to put a claim in with the shipper, it had to be done within 30 days. To address your second question, when the unit left the shop, I observed no bent fins and certainly no crushed cooling tube - I knew that a few of the tabs were bent........however, that had NOTHING to do with the overheating of the car. I absolutely suggested to Tom that it may have been damaged in shipping, but in no way was done by the installer. Why would the installer do such a sloppy job installing a radiator, yet put in H/C, headers with no problem. Then take the time to try and trouble shoot the overheating issue, replacing condenser unit and water pump all at NO CHARGE to me? My installer stated several times that it couldn't be the radiator....saying it was the LEAST likely problem. And when he installed the stock unit.....there was no problem.

As for why Tom refused to return calls after my initial call to him - your guess is as good as mine......I went with this radiator because it came highly recommended. But the fact remains that myself and three different shops attempted to contact him after our initial conversation and there was no response NOR did he "fix" this unit as he said he would and ship it back. So he's had both the unit and full payment all this time.

 

Wow! I know the economy is bad, but the question is it really going to break the company's back to give a refund or just send another radiator? That's definitely straight They call that a picture or etcha-sketch? I feel bad for you, hopefully something gets resolved. If not then Karma is real.

On a positive note, your car is running cooler! What's your mileage btw?

 

I hope Tom pipes in here. There are always two sides to every story.

 

Good luck on your dispute and hope you get everything worked out.

 

My thoughts exactly. For what it costs them to make one of these, I really would have expected better customer service. I couldn't even put a claim in with the shipping company as I had nothing to show them - the photos that were promised to me were never sent.

Also, at no point did he ever mention bent cooling tubes to me - he said that he would be willing to fix the bent fins and I was willing to give the unit another shot - but it was months before anything was heard again. Keep in mind also, that his company moved in September and photos weren't taken until October - how do I know the cooling tube wasn't bent when they moved.

And yes, I'm thrilled that the car runs great now! I just turned 80k miles and it runs fantastic!!!

I hope so also - unfortunately the time for him to resolve this was MONTHS ago......simply no excuse for not handling this in a timely fashion - he didn't step up until the credit card company informed him of the dispute.

I'm very disappointed as this unit came very highly recommended.

 

I think it's VERY safe to say the radiator from Dewitts was a faulty unit, but the transaction, the unreturned calls and why Tom didn't just send out a new unit is odd. I cannot believe that a few bent tabs or fins caused the massive overheating you car displayed. But I have to say, All Of This, does not sound like the Tom Dewitt I know and have done business with in the past. I have always found him to be a stand up gentleman and businessmen. I'm glad you've solved your problem and if what you say is ture, you should get back you investment, but I'd like to hear tom's side of the story first. perhaps the fact that you used someones else's credit card to buy the unit might have caused the problem, why didn't you just use your own credit card? at any rate, This is just not the man I know !

 

Any chance of taking him to small Claims Court?

 

how does someone else using their credit card cause my radiator to overheat? Why a friend did me a favor is no ones business except ours. But to satisfy the statement, it did not cause any confusion, I assure you of that.

I agree this doesn't sound like the company that was spoken so highly of to me either......this was absolutely the LAST way in which I wanted to handle this.

 

I'm already out $720 that I didn't just have lying around, nor do I have a radiator. I'm afraid I just don't have the money to spend on something like that.....the dispute with the credit card company is not over - they recommended that we, again, try to contact the vendor, which we did - as did a third independent shop on my behalf - still no returned calls. Additional documentation by me has been sent to the credit card company.

 

Think about finding his home phone or even address. A knock on his door will leave him without a way to not answer your call.

Then again, judging by the information you've provided, he's probably too cowardly/lazy to answer the door...

 

 

Good luck with getting this resolved and those pictures were taken with a 1950s camera

 

This story is way too long and one sided that I'm not going to bother doing the "you said/I said" thing. The much shorter version of this story goes like this:

I got a radiator back for credit (not exchange) that was so damaged that I could not resell it to anyone. We spoke on the phone and I explained to the customer that while I could not explain the problem she was having, the fact was the radiator was badly damaged and someone was going to have to pay for that. She told me she was NOT involved in the return or see the radiator before it came back but now she claims she inspected the radiator first. She also says it had no damage and then said it had minor damage. This is not minor damage



In addition to the fins being crushed and a tube badly damaged, the mounting tabs on both sides of the radiator were either bent or broken off completely.
These photos were taken last summer and the tabs didn't get bent or broken by moving the radiator around the shop.

In the photo below you can see much more general fin damage covering almost the whole face of the core



Everyone on the forum knows our products and support is 2nd to none. I have paid refunds and replaced radiators many times when it was clearly the customers fault. We repair radiators for free, even when they are past warranty. We sell over 2000 corvette radiators a year and have been making them for over ten years and you can count the number of disputes we have had on one hand.

But the one thing that trips my buttons is when someone thinks they have the ulmightly trump card and just reverses the credit card charge on me without working something out first, and that's what she did here.

After we spoke on the phone, I told her I would repair all the broken tabs (no charge) and send the radiator back (no shipping cost) and she could take the radiator back to the installer. When my office called for an address to ship it, she said "never mind I reversed the charge".
That's when my good customer service fuse blows because I have to spend time writing letters and bs with the credit card company to get this resolved. The time line stated to handle that was inncorrect also because they only give to about two weeks to respond or your out. So, the money went back and forth until the credit card made a decision and they sided with me, because we were right. If you want to return an item for credit, it has to be resellable, period.

The overheating problem was simply not the radiator and it could have never caused the hoses to blow off. Many of you know A & A Corvette and they used our radiators all the time. I called Andy when this happened and talked about it with them. He said "I don't know what that could be, it's never happened to us". You can also dig through my old posts because I asked the forum members what they thought could have gone wrong and nobody knew. You see, when you make 2000 radiators and you have 1999 happy customers the problem isn't with the product.

The radiator is still sitting here and I did repair the tabs and I will leak test it. I will still ship it (for free) to where ever you want it to go.
Just let us know where, and if you have any trouble getting through, you can call me on my cell phone.

 

Wow. I hope you guys can work it out. There could have been a third party that is responsible(Shipper/receiver, etc)that caused the said damage. Those pics sure do show it.

Good luck guys.

 

Way to step up Tom. I hope all parties involved get this worked out.

 

The time for you to repair and send back the radiator was six months ago - that time has come and gone. Your customer service at that point was non-existent - you're very quick to say that you have always replaced units when damage occurred even by the customer, yet you stated that out of 2000 customers, 1999 of them are happy - so which is it? And if you do practice that, why was a replacement unit not sent to me when I requested it on the phone with you? I'm sorry Tom, but by you allowing nearly two months to go by before doing ANYTHING, you took away ANY opportunity I had to put a claim in with the shipping company - and yes I did see the unit prior to it being boxed up and YES I took it to Fed Ex MYSELF. There now remains a question of where the damage occurred, in shipping or during the move of your company in September. If the photos were taken last summer, why did you not e-mail to me AS PROMISED within the week?

 

I totally agree that the unit is NOW damaged.......but why did it take him from July until October to send the proof that was promised to me the week it was received by him in July of 08? I also agree that the shipper could have been held responsible, but not without those photographs, which were NEVER SENT.

Sorry but he dropped the ball on this one