I, unfortunately, did not have the same positive experience as everyone else. While mistakes happen in the ordering process wherever you may buy from, I sensed some deceit that I only thought was fair to share with everyone.
On 1/7/2021 I ordered Fox Racing Commercial Grade Rear 2.5" shocks for my Sprinter 3500 Melbourne 24k Class C RV. After tons of research, I thought these would be the best bet.
I searched online and almost everywhere, these were backordered, but low and behold, thevanmart.com had these for a reasonable price and showed they were in stock, so I ordered them.
With other distributor delays in mind, I decided to follow up in a few days and I was told that even though they showed in stock online, they were also backordered.
Not a problem, I was happy to wait, and Duran informed me that they were looking into replacing the product due to COVID and the supply chain drying up and the 2.5s being back ordered and Fox, in general, delayed on many of their orders. Duran said I can go with a replacement now or there was about a 3 week wait for the 2.5" Fox, so I opted to hold out for them.
Over a month passes, again, no big deal on my end as I am happy to accommodate with everyone getting back into the swing of things since COVID.
On February 17th, I received an email that my order was ready for pickup. Super stoked, as anyone would be, I carved out the time on February 18th to drive up to orange country, pay my $15 in tolls, just so I could get there in time at 5:55pm before they closed at 6. The shocks were boxed up, ready to go. I picked them up and off I went back south to San Diego.
Riding passenger, I decided to open up my new present and found that the shocks were silver and I remember these upgraded shocks were supposed to be gold.
I then pulled the boot to find the model number and did a quick lookup. These shocks, were in fact, 2.0s NOT 2.5s. I called Duran at TheVanMart.com and informed him of the incorrect order.
Duran informed me that I ordered the replacement equivalent 2.0s and that these were customized to the GVWR of my vehicle. I did receive an email asking for what weight I wanted, but any replacement part we spoke about was politely declined as I was happy to wait for the 2.5" shocks. I was thinking, well, maybe these will be fine, since they're adjusted to my GVWR, then I did a little more search on what I received.
I had just paid $527 for two rear 2.5" shocks and they were bait and switched for 2.0" shocks. When I looked up the price for these, they were $120-$140 each. Duran and TheVanMart.com could have easily said they were 2.0's lets adjust the price if you want to keep them, instead their tactic was to sell me an inferior product at the inflated price of the 2.5" Shock. That is where I have an ethical issue with the company.
More so, I'm concerned about all of you that may have purchased the shocks and had them professionally installed. You may have jumped in your vehicle and said that's a great improvement without looking at the shocks. So, you may very well have 2.0 shocks that should be 2.5". I would highly suggest you look under your Vans and confirm they are gold and 2.5" diameter. I hope this helps at least one person.
I opted to return the product and Duran was nice enough to send a shipping label so I didn't have to make the drive again, however, the deception is now engrained forever. Best of luck to thevanmart.com, I am very disappointed, especially in such a niche market like Sprinter Vans, I can never buy from them again. read more