I’m disappointed to report that I tried to resolve a defective product issue with Ridies but with no avail. I was repeatedly ignored and hung up on. Fellow corvette owners, please beware of
this vendor. Thank you for your time.

 

Man hate it for you if you paid with a card get your money back thur the card co. Robert

 

I tried to resolve this issue amicably by way of several means. I’m still working on it. But I’m disappointed to report that when I try abs contact Ridies directly and identify myself they repeatedly hang up on me and even say vulgar language. There’s obviously a lot more to this story but I want to stay within the forum rules. My warning is to stay away from this vendor.

 

With the express permission of the forum, below please find the full factual account regarding my transaction with Ridies for C5 seat covers.

My Purchase:
Recently, I purchased napa leather seat covers from Ridies based upon my reading of several positive reviews on the Corvette Forum. The total purchase price was approximately $700. The covers were shipped via DHL from overseas, Pakistan.

Shortly thereafter, I had them professionally installed together with new Corvette America seat foam. Based upon my review of previous posts on the Corvette Forum, there were several factual complaints regarding the fitment of Ridies manufactured seat foam. Thus, I did not purchase the same from Ridies. I am thankful to the members of the forum for publishing their issues with Ridies seat foam and saving me the hassle of trying to install those items that do not fit our cars.

Total cost of installation was $900 (yes, this is at the high end), seat foam $300, miscellaneous parts (seat levers, etc) $200. Total investment coming to approximately $2,000+.

In light of this significant investment, I had a “soft cloth” temporary cover put over the leather on the drivers seat when I drive the car to protect against wear and dirt. The car is rarely driven because of its sentimental value, my late father was the original owner. I drive the car approximately 750 miles per year. I own several other Corvettes that are my daily drivers.

Immediate Manufacturing Defects After Installation:

After only driving less than 100 miles, issues started occurring with the leather, namely, the dye started coming off and the stitching started coming undone and fraying. Please see attached photograph.

As stated above, I took every precaution to avoid wear on the seats. I even wore sweat pants when driving the car so as to not scratch the leather (even over the cover). Again, I spent over $2,000 on these seats and my intention was to protect this large investment and sentimental value.

Despite the foregoing, the defects still occurred and regardless of my best efforts. No other reasonable conclusion here is appropriate other than a manufacturing defect in that particular area. Seat stitching and seat leather should NOT exhibit any defects whatsoever in such a short time and with the above-mentioned protections being taken. Moreover, no chemicals, cleaning, rags, or leather products were used on the seats (despite Ridies assertions to the contrary). There was a manufacturing defect in the nature and type of stitching that was used.

Ridies Express Warranty:

At the time of my purchase, Ridies’ website made express warranties and express representations to its customers (which I relied upon during my purchase) that Ridies product comes with a three year/24k mile warranty and that they 100% stand behind their products. In light of this express warranty, I attempted to contact Ridies to correct the deficient product.

My Attempts to Contact Ridies Customer Support to Make a Warranty Claim:

After the obvious manufacturing defect occurred, I made the following attempts to contact Ridies regarding the same:

Emails: Initially, I emailed Ridies explaining the issue with photographic evidence. Not surprisingly, I didn’t receive a response. I followed up with several emails over the course of several months, namely, almost every single day for several days and then periodically over the course of several months. I probably sent somewhere between 40-75 emails to Ridies regarding this issue with no response from Ridies. I also tried to contact them by phone during these email periods but with no success.

However, interestingly, Ridies responded promptly to emails I sent from a family member’s email address inquiring about making a purchase of their seat covers. Thus, their dispensing with any claim that they had problems with their email. Clearly, they were avoiding my emails about a defective product and only interested in making a sale.

In light of this blatant ignoring a legitimate customer concern, I moved onto calling them on the phone regularly rather than just on occasion.

Phone calls: I made several phone calls to Ridies and left messages over the course of several months identifying myself, my name, and the issue at hand. I estimate that I left Ridies approximately 50-75 voicemail messages in this regard. This was obviously a mistake on my part as I didn’t receive a call back since they knew my name and complaint from the emails.

However, similarly to the emails, Ridies responded promptly to phone calls I made from a family member’s phone number inquiring about making a purchase. Ridies answered the phone promptly as long as I didn’t call from my phone number that came up on their caller ID. Clearly, they were avoiding my phone calls regarding a defective product. One can start to see a trend here. Ridies ignores customer complaints and warranty claims but promptly responds to other calls in order to make a sale and make money.

Ridies Said Its “Too Expensive” to Warranty; and The Mystery of “John Smith”:

Finally, after eight months of phone calls, emails, etc., from several different phone numbers and email addresses, I finally received a call back from Ridies. I explained the situation to someone who said his name was “Adam.” Apparently, Ridies just though I would give up and go away if they ignored me long enough. The contrary is true.

In response, Adam specifically told me on the phone that this was a “tricky situation” and that warranty claims are “very expensive” for Ridies because the products “are made and have to be shipped from overseas.” Adam stated that their products come from Pakistan and that it costs them money to fix issues such as this. (A reasonable conclusion here is that Ridies employees are trained to avoid warranty claims. The admissions “Adam” made here are highly unusual for a business to make over the phone. Adam admitted he avoids claims such as mine because, and in his specific words, "it is just too expensive.")

Despite the foregoing, and after my repeated persistence, Adam told me that a manager would call me back. I asked for the manager’s name to which Adam responded with a surprise voice and said “John.” I asked for John’s last name and Adam responded, “Smith.” You can imagine my surprise when someone was not expecting a particular question and responds with the name JOHN SMITH as the manager of the company. This is absolutely laughable. Adam was blatantly lying and trying to protect his boss and/or manager of Ridies. This is a blatant lie from an employee of Ridies. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to a call from “John Smith.” Unfortunately, Mr. Smith never called me.

I called again a few days later and the same voice of “Adam” answered the phone. When I said “Hi is this Adam”? he said “wrong number” and immediately hung up on me. Again, we have a similar custom and practice with this vendor. Ridies avoided my calls and emails, lied to me about the identity of John Smith, lied to me that Mr. Smith would be calling me back, and then lied to me that I had the wrong number when Adam answered the phone. Again, this is all to avoid a customer complaint about the product that they 100% stand by.

Ridies Blocked All My Numbers:

After these phone calls, Ridies blocked my phone numbers. My office phone comes up as an “unknown” number on caller ID. While I was able to get through to Ridies for several months from my office phone, just recently they blocked my office phone number. It now says “we do not accept calls from unknown numbers.”

Next, I attempted to call Ridies from my cell phone number but they also blocked that number as it was the number that I routinely left for them to call me back in my voice mail message.

However, if I call from any other phone number the call goes through perfectly and I get the Ridies voicemail with “Adam’s” voice. Not surprisingly, they don’t return my phone calls.

Ridies has blocked all of my personal phone numbers.

The Ghost Calls:

On several occasions, and before my cell number was blocked, when I call Ridies someone will answer (presumably “Adam”) but not say anything. Adam would just sit on the phone for up to 10 minutes without saying a word. Adam knew it was me and so he tried to just annoy me by eating directly into the phone. I can hear what sounds like someone eating directly into the phone but he wouldn’t say anything in response to my questions. This has happened several times over the course of several weeks. As soon as Adam knows its me calling, he eats into the phone without saying a word.

Is Mr. John Smith actually Adnan Masood:

Luckily, the ghost calls have stopped. Now, however, when I call Ridies from any number but my cell or office phone it is no longer blocked but rather sent directly to the voicemail message box of one “Adnan Masood.” Specifically, if I call from another number it goes to Adam directly, but if I cal from my cell phone it goes directly to Mr. Masood. My cell phone number has been “forwarded” obviously.

A simple search of the business license for Ridies reveals that Adnan Masood is the owner and the agent for service of process or Ridies. This is obviously “John Smith.” In fact, Mr. Masood runs Ridies business out of his home in Indiana according to public record. Ridies has no actual place of business, no showroom, no actual business,no in-person employees. Ridies is basically just Adam on the phone eating and taking your orders which are shipped from Pakistan. The business is un out of Mr. Masood’s home in Indiana.

On one occasion, I was able to get Mr. Masood on the telephone and when I identified myself he immediately hung up and told me to "seek help."

The Forum’s Attempts to Contact Rides:

The Corvette Forum has reached out to Ridies to attempt to resolve my customer complaint as Ridies is a supporting vendor. Ridies did not respond to the Forum's direct/private messages.

Conclusion:

As one can imagine, I have several other facts that are relevant to this discussion but these are the main points listed above in the efforts of brevity and to stay within the forum rules.



In light of the foregoing, I would recommend that no one buy anything from Ridies.

 

If either party has an update on this dispute, please let me know so the thread can be updated.

 

Adding this reponse on behalf of the vendor:

Although the customer reports he has communicated with the vendor through a number of means, perhaps he will follow up now and provide the vendor with the details the vendor says he needs to identify him and his order.

 

Customer STRMLNE reports he has resent his personal information, including his credit card information to Ridies to confirm his purchase and identify who he is.