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Do not do busines with this company ***(UPDATE)***

1-ton

1-ton

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Radiator Barn. Also known as Radiator Hotline, Radiator.com, Radiator Zone, Lake Shore radiator, and a whole bunch of other names. This company tried to pas off to me a rebuilt radiator as a new one. Other people have had the same experiance. Stay away from these people.

If you look at the pictures I posted carefully, you can see it is clearly obvious that there is a corrosion ring around both the upper and lower radiator hose necks, which takes years of use to develop. If they tried this on me, then there is a good chance they have tried it on others. I just want to warn people to be careful dealing with this company.

***(UPDATE)*** On June 15, 2005 at 9:59 A.M. UPS delivered the radiator back to these people. On June 16 their sales rep told me that my credit card account had been credited the $173.97 they charged me for this junk radiator. As of today June 27, the $173.97 has still not been credited to my credit card. Now this company has both the radiator and my money. I am currently getting the paperwork together to dispute the charge to my credit card account. These people are are scam artists...STAY AWAY FROM THEM!


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I used these people http://www.radiatorbarn.com/. They say the radiator is new, but I say they are full of sh!t. You can see the raditor upper and lower necks have a ring of old corrosion built up around them from having a radiator hose connected to them for years. Even the fins have pieces of bugs between them from it going down the road. There is green scale in the tubs from having been hot tanked. I think the core is new, but the tub ends are used.
 
Tell them you have a spoon ready for them to eat your ass when they tell you that you have to pay for shipping... tell them the box was undamaged, and that it looks like it was damaged during original packing... it's their fault and they will pay for shipping and replacement or you will tell 1000 odd Chevy owners that their service sucks... when they call bull****, just give them the link to this post....

I hate ass-hat companies who will sell you something with a warranty, then make you pay to ship it back as soon as you get it because THEY broke it... I'd send it back to them Postage Unpaid (COD) and tell them to eat me...
 
If I had a lifetime warranty on it (I'd hope so in that condition lol) I'd run it until it failed. It doesn't appear that anything you described will affect it's operation, so I personally wouldn't worry about that.

Last radiator I bought (local parts place) was obviously just used parts and a new core. The paint certainly wasn't durable like the originals either.

Are the bugs painted in place, as in it was a slightly used piece that was returned and painted to "clean up" and re-sell?
 
Are the bugs painted in place
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Why yes they are :D. This radiator was returned, and then resold to me.

was obviously just used parts and a new core
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That is what this is (old side tubs and new core), but they absolutly refuse to admit it. I think the tubs came out of a truck that was in an accident because both the upper neck and pet cock are bent at an exact same angle. I do not want to install this radiator because it was returned by another person for a reason, and I do not want to be the 3rd,4th,5th, or however many people have had this piece of cr@p, to find out why.
 
The people at Radiator Barn just called me back, after looking at the pictures I e-mailed them, and said they would pay for the shipping to return it. They e-mailed me an electronic UPS return label to print out. I just hope they are not going to try and charge me for a restocking fee. After I told them it had bugs in the radiator, the smart a$$ customer service rep said, "What are you now...an Entomologist?"
 
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I think radiator(s?).com was or is an advertiser here, and might still give 10% discounts to people from CK5.

Friend bought one for his Astro from them, was really happy with the price compared to local, plus he got it very quickly.

For the kind of service/treatment you got, and apparently are still getting, I'd find the "contact us" email address on radiatorbarn.com, send them a *polite* but definitely dissatisfied customer email, citing everything you have here, and see if they work to rectify the situation from the top down. If you don't get the respect a customer that has done nothing wrong deserves, take your business elsewhere. But give them a chance to be made aware of the problem at a higher level of management, and make amends, before discounting the entire business. At least that's my opinion. If your issue never gets past the phone reps, the people that pay them will never know there is a problem. They should know that as a business, one dissatisified customer can cost a company a lot of future business. I know if they don't make you happy, all anyone on this board would have to do is search for the company name here, and easily decide what kind of company this is.

To keep a customer, or make one happy, you'd be surprised what kind of little perks companies will come up with.
 
Radiator Barn, Radiator.com, and Radiator Hotline are all the same company. I work for a local shop and we USED to use Radiator Hotline until they sent me an A/C condensor for a 2000 Chevy Venture van that would not fit at all. I called them back and they said "yeah, there's a note here in the computer that said that they won't fit and you must use O.E.M." So, I asked them if that freakin' note was in the computer when I called to price the damn thing. Then they sent me a radiator for a Crown Vic that had "hooks" that weren't molded correctly for the condensor to hang on. I called them and they told me that it had to be modified to fit properly. I told them to come get that piece of crap!!! I threw all of the note pads that they gave us in the box with the radiator.
 
I bought a radiator from them about 2 years ago and it seems fine. I had to buy a new radiator today for my DD and ended up getting the best price for a new one here in town.
 
I bought a radiator from them about 2 years ago and it seems fine. I had to buy a new radiator today for my DD and ended up getting the best price for a new one here in town.
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If you look at the pictures I posted carefully, you can see that these people try to sell me a rebuilt radiator as a new one, and absolutely refuse to admit it. I e-mailed them these pictures, and they still refuse to admit it. It is clearly obvious that there is a corrosion ring around both the upper and lower radiator hose necks, which takes years of use to develop. If they tried this on me, then there is a good chance they have tried it on others. I just want to warn people to be careful dealing with this company.
 
dyeager535 said:
If I had a lifetime warranty on it (I'd hope so in that condition lol) I'd run it until it failed. It doesn't appear that anything you described will affect it's operation, so I personally wouldn't worry about that.

Last radiator I bought (local parts place) was obviously just used parts and a new core. The paint certainly wasn't durable like the originals either.

Are the bugs painted in place, as in it was a slightly used piece that was returned and painted to "clean up" and re-sell?
Click to expand...


would you pay a full brand new price for a used one with new paint?

i wouldend regardless of warinty, sure i am running a used one bought off a member but i didentpay a brand new price, yet it looks better than his hummm:thinking::thinking:
 
If they are willing to sell it with a warranty, it works as new, and they honor the warranty, I could care less. Not trying to win a beauty contest with my truck, I have plenty of previously owned parts on my truck, doesn't bug me bit. I might not be happy about it's looks if I paid for something that should at least appear new, but if it performs I'd live with it.

However, it should be up to the *consumer* to make that decision, in this case the company at least needs to make him satisfied.

Poor business practice thats for sure.
 
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