sprins

A warning in case anyone here is thinking of doing business with German tuner Kicherer. Although they send out press releases for every other Mercedes AMG, they don't deliver.

I ordered the CLK Black Series starless CF grille 5 months ago (sept 1 2011) from Kicherer with chief Florian Herre. Production and delivery was supposed to be 3 weeks max. Payment of €1,500 in advance was required, so I did.

I spent a lot of phone calls and mails from my side asking what was delaying the delivery (every single inquiry was answered with a "Don't worry, it's almost ready, we'll send it out next week"). After 3 and a half months of feeding me this crap Florian Herre decided to send me a credit note because "production problems" prevented the delivery of the grille. The money would be transferred back to me ASAP.

What a sorry excuse for a tuner sends out press releases of SLS supersport tuning programs and can't even deliver a simple grille?

Anyway, the money didn't come ASAP. Phone calls and e-mails from my side inquiring what's keeping the money resulted in feeding me the same bullsh*t: "Don't worry, I'll make the transfer tomorrow".

As of today I'm still waiting for my money. Emails and phone calls to Florian Herre of Kicherer WTF is going on aren't being answered anymore.

I'm basically conned out of €1500 by Kicherer. If anyone were thinking of doing business with Kicherer I'd strongly suggest you don't.

MACHC5

Thanks for the "Heads-Up"

jrcart

Thanks for the info, I will spread the word

Maverick1975

I had a negative experience with Kicherer as well. i bought carbon fibre sideskirts for my C63 and they took forever to get here and when they did they did nto fit properly. They are sidskirts for a regular C class and not the C63 as advertised. They did not have the small bend outwards at the front where they met with the flared front wheel wells. Unfortuantely the retards doing the install didnt even notice and i was the one who noticed after i spent even more money having them painted only to go and pick the car up and looked at it and went what the fark?? Was going to cost me more in terms of shipping them back and was no guarantee that i would get the part i paid for because Florian said "sorry there are many more c classes out there than c63 so we didnt do a c63 part" even though the part is advertised as being for their C63 Supersports. I took the parst to guys at Ramspeed who worked wonders at making them fit properly...more money spent though.

I subsequently read about tKicherer's alleged passion for "customer service" in a spread on their C63 supersport in Mercedes Enthusiast magazine and had to laugh out loud. I think many vendors see buyers from distant overseas locations as ripe targets... mutherfarkers

EVOII_Racer

damn that sucks...they offered cool back seats for the clk63 b.s

sprins

If you look at the bright side at least you got some parts even though it didn't fit, and wasn't the part you actually ordered

Although I live on the same part of the ocean as they do, it's still a 7 hour drive to them, and 7 again back, not something I look forward to.

A lot of lessons learnt here...

OZ_C63

Unfortunately it looks like they have gone bankrupt so doubt you will be seeing the parts or cash

http://www.autoblog.nl/tuner-kicherer-failliet

SMP

Not surprising ... what do you expect from a company that makes rear seats for a CLK Black ... and badges it RACER

elijah

Sorry to hear, it really sucks!
What's your next move? Lawyer?
Tell the guys @ Kicherer you are getting a lawyer involved, that might motivate them to transfer that paper back to you.

Eitan1

dont waste your money on an attorney if they have already filed for bankruptcy. Its a muite point and you will have to pay attorney fees to collect nothing. Sorry to hear the bad news.

ecampbell

Sorry to hear you lost money. Don't worry about an attorney as Germany does not operate like America and you will be an unsecured creditor....last on the list to recover.

Maverick1975

THey had some product looking product, sometimes that is just not enough to overcome rat**** customer service...

sprins

Meh, that's actually my rant about this issue on my weblog. I state they're either bankrupt or con artists in a not so nuanced way. I really see no other explanation.

I might file a report of consumer fraud at their local police station. I have to look into that. Since it's another country I don't know exactly how that works over there. But Google is your international friend nowadays. I already found their obligatory 2010 financial statement for the chamber of commerce. Doesn't look too shabby... But, a lot can happen in a year apparently

Maverick1975

Wow, look out for a lawsuit filed by kicherer headed your way!

SLS Qatar

Sorry to hear about that, although that is a little bit strange to me , but things happen.

I hope you get things sorted out for you.

sprins

Well, I don't really think they'd have a case considering the content of the article. Although it would be convenient for me if their lawyer contacted me, then I'd least have somebody to ask for my money back

Thanks, and I agree, it's really very strange how this went. Never ever did they give the impression of being short on grille suppliers or finances or anything. All communication was like

for 5 months straight.

sprins

Well, I wanted to place a follow-up in this matter.

Since I sought publicity with my problem with Kicherer (here on the forum mainly) it didn't take long for Siegbert Janz, CEO of Kicherer, to contact me. Once I got around to explaining what happened and why I resorted to seek publicity he assured me that all what (didn't) happen the last 5 months must have been a misunderstanding.

He assured me I'd get my money back immediately (the transfer is apparently made, I'm waiting a few business days for arrival).

He also assured me that Kicherer is financially sound. And finally he assured me that they operate in good faith.

Eventhough I still haven't received the money since the transfer can take some time, I decided to post this (hopefully final) update in this matter.

EVOII_Racer

ok thats good news i hope! I just red yesterday that they are moving to a new headquarter and they sell a lot of complete cars in switzerland. I guess they might not go bankrupt at the end!

jrcart

An overseas transfer from Switzerland can take a few days (3 at the most) depending on what type of account it's being drawn from and what clearing house it gets routed through. If it's a SWIFT account it should only a day, possibly less. If you don't see funds by the end of business Wednesday I would start making some calls.

ecampbell

My suggestion is that you ask Kicherer for the SWIFT transfer number from the bank as it will show proof the funds were sent and the exact details of where they were sent to. EVERY international bank transfer uses the swift system and when a transfer is made, the SWIFT message (think of it as the bank produced serial number for your wire) is produced.

I am very well versed in this system and in international bank transfers...PM me if you need help.

sprins

The money is in. This issue is resolved. Thanks for your support. Over and out, lets hope everybody involved lives long and prospers

ari1856

Sorry to hear your troubles. Scammers are all the same, some are just lined in carbon fiber veneer. Always use a CC, preferably amex for any questionable transactions. Yes they charge the vendor 4% (highway robbery) but they give you mileage and protection. I use cards for everything.

Marcochen

I was conned by this ****** ****er florian herre too. I owned a tuning company in malaysia and I pay 4500 euro to buy the sl rear bonnet with lift up spoiler system. Almost a year now and I still cant get my money back. I think I have made almost 200 calls and everytime he told me no problem, we already transfer back the money and bla bla bla. Last week my partner went to german for kw factory visit. He travel to kicherer showroom and look for florian. My god, his showroom has nothing and just a small tiney rented office. He confronted him abt the money and he said he has no money to pay us back.

He issue a company letter and promise will pay us back in 3 days time. Until now it is almost a week and still he never transfer the money back to us. We are so far away and what can we do to get our money back?

sprins

Try to contact Siegbert Janz who is Florians senior. When I got into contact with him things were solved immediately for me.

Marcochen

Will do so by this week. I thought florian was the owner of kicherer. Don't really know there is a guy who is much senior than him.