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      09-13-2009, 07:19 PM   #1
italy430
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I will NEVER... EVER... buy from Umnitza again

***Class-action lawsuit information included below in thread***

Just like the title says, I will never buy from them again. They seem to run a shady, scam type of business with very poor business practices and HORRIBLE customer service, yet they say they have "devilishly good" service.

I will tell you about my situation with Umnitza and will include photos, videos and a complete email transcript of my conversation with Umnitza. The email attached is a 30 page long Word document which includes the dates and times of emails and is only there to back up my statements in this post. It doesn't include every single email conversation that I have had with Umnitza but the "Gmail conversation" attached is whole and complete in its entirety, I have only removed my last name, email address and mailing address for privacy concerns. I haven't modified Umnitza's emails at all since all their contact information is public. I am not trying to hide anything and will be fully honest about everything. I'm just telling the facts about what happened.

I bought the headlights December 24th, 2008. When I first received them I noticed that there were a number of things wrong with them. I should first say that one of the problems I say in the email is that they shipped both female ends but I found out that they had shipped the proper ends, I just didn’t put them together properly at first. I first noticed that the ballasts were damage with huge dents all over on both sides of both ballasts. These ballasts are made of very strong aluminum it looks like and you would have to smash them with a hammer or screwdriver to make these kind of dents. Pictures included. There were also other parts on it that were broken and the light bulb had fallen out because it was not proper secured and had been scratched from rolling around in the shipping box. I had these replaced and eventually got them in my hands. Umnitza also claims that one package kept getting bounced by USPS because of an “invalid” address, yet previous parts from Umnitza, as well as every other USPS, UPS, FedEx package I’ve had shipped to the address worked perfectly. It’s Ship Happens in Sumas, WA which is a mail handler and since I live in Canada it’s easier to have it shipped to Sumas and go across the border and pick it up. I eventually paid to have it shipped to Canada but I do find it quite strange that all of a sudden it just didn’t work. I still don’t know what happened and in no way was I trying to “blame” Umnitza for USPS bouncing it, which I stated to them many times throughout the email, but Umnitza instead refused to reply to my other concerns and only focuses on the fact that they believe it wasn’t their fault for the shipping. Unprofessional, poor service.

If you start reading on page 21 with the email on Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 3:22 PM you will get to the meat of the email. You will be able to tell that I had gotten very frustrated with the horrible service and the very unprofessional attitude that Umnitza was using to deal with the situation. They had tried to blame the damage to the lights on shipping and that it wasn’t their fault when the lights were wrapped extremely well with bubble wrap and thick foam pieces surrounding it and with zero damage to even the fragile cardboard box that it was packed in. Being very firm I laid out what exactly was false advertising with the help of a friend who is a legal assistant and requested that I have these returned with a full refund. I was then accused of blackmail by Umnitza because I stated in the email that I would also be posting on the forums about my experience, which by the way I didn’t, this will be my first post regarding this. I then corrected him in the next email with the proper legal definition of blackmail as well as extortion to make sure I covered everything. As you might be able to tell, this is a very unprofessional manner to deal with customers, especially of accusing a customer of blackmail, a serious criminal offence. After my email on Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 4:47 PM I was then told that Matt, the owner of Umnitza, would contact me Friday to discuss this.

On the phone I discussed with Matt that I was very unhappy with the service and that I wanted a refund. Matt remarked that I seemed a lot nicer on the phone than the emails that he must have read before calling me. I told Matt that yes I am, and I’m a reasonable guy but I don’t like to be screwed around with and if I need to I would take legal action. So we talked and we worked out a deal that Umnitza would give me a new headlight assembly, a mistake on my part. So eventually I got the headlight and started putting them in. I’ve run into nothing but problems (what’s new?!) while trying to install them and even took it to my indy shop and my main mechanic I always go to for everything said he wouldn’t touch it and to take it back to where I got it from. Then I noticed that the right xenon light stopped working completely. I was absolutely infuriated. I just sent Matt at Umnitza an email requesting that I have them refunded and that I will be contacting a consumer agency if I don’t have a reply within 2 weeks from September 13, 2009.

I understand that I have made a few mistakes with dealing with a company like this and being able to look over the whole situation there are many things I would change, like I would have demanded a refund from the start. However, I’m sure you will be able to see why I am very frustrated with this and hopefully I’ll be able to resolve this soon without having to deal with lawyers, as it is just more of a headache for me as well as for Umnitza.

I also understand that Umnitza seems to be very well regarded. In fact, one of my friends bought Angel eyes from Umnitza and is very pleased with them. However, I have been able to find more than a few people on the internet, like myself, that have had some bad experiences with Umnitza. I have since ordered OEM xenon replacement headlights from Tischer BMW, which are listed at $1855.86, which is more than THREE times the list price of $609.98 from Umnitza for the headlights I ordered. I have no problem spending the money to buy something good and I will continue to buy OEM as I have had pretty much nothing but problems with the majority of my aftermarket purchases. Nothing beats OEM fit and quality!!

The reason for this post is to gain some support and to inform the public of a problem with Umnitza, similar to filing a complaint with the California Department of Consumer Affairs or BBB.org.

Media, 30 page Gmail conversion in Word format and website receipt for Umnitza purchase:

http://picasaweb.google.com/leslie.j...eat=directlink





http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=d...5965eaa7bc68bc

Last edited by italy430; 09-16-2009 at 02:11 PM..
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      09-16-2009, 02:11 PM   #2
italy430
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I'm considering a class-action lawsuit against Umnitza seeing as there are many people short money or product from Umnitza and I continue to find even more stories of it. It'd be more beneficial for everyone doing a class-action rather than trying to have all individual settlements.

If you have been or do know of anyone who has been screwed over by Umnitza, send them this info and get in contact with me, PM me. I'll be meeting with a lawyer in Seattle, WA on Monday to discuss the idea of a class-action lawsuit as well as an individual settlement.

As of now, Umnitza has told me they refuse to continue talking over email and I told Umnitza that I'd be willing to discuss things over the phone only if I recorded the calls. They rejected that. Funny how they don't want to discuss anything where it can be kept on record! Also, people that have contacted Umnitza, have you noticed their little speech at the end of all emails? It says everything in the email is protected under a US law. Interesting that, with all the companies I've dealt with before, I can't remember any one of them stating that in their emails. And especially from a company that deals with selling lights for cars! I could maybe see it from a lawyer or some sort of high class legal company but not Umnitza. Just little signs to watch out for.
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      10-03-2009, 10:53 AM   #3
IHateUmnitza
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Hey, man...I feel your pain. I just spent all f*ckin day installing the new crappy Predators and WOW, what sh*t they are. Lemme know if I can help support your cause, check out our woes on Maxima.org...

Predator V2 Review
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      10-03-2009, 04:07 PM   #4
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I am pretty pissed off as well. Ordered a set of HIDs from them, and they didn't work properly, so I had to pay shipping to send them back. The second set of HIDs was even worse and I was told to send them back at my cost again. Screw that crap, I could have spent all the money on returns on a real HID kit

pics...





these are not even close to the same color, nor are they even close to the output of a PIAA plasma Ion bulb
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      10-04-2009, 12:29 AM   #5
italy430
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keep spreading the word guys! the best way to shut these guys down is to get them at the source, which are these forum sites. the majority of ppl that buy from them are enthusiasts on sites like these and if we get the word out, it'll definitely help to eliminate bad companies such as Umnitza.

Cheers!
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