ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

I ordered a Bride Vios III seat and rail for my car (1999 Miata) in March. At the time, my Miata had the stock seats which were fine for driving around town but since it was a track car with a roll bar and harness, I needed a fixed back seat for track events. I chose CVR as they had a good rating on Evom and NASIOC and offered a very good price given that I live in Canada and thus shipping prices are usually higher. After paying for my order using Paypal, I received this PM on March 9th.

This was great news as racing season didn’t begin until May anyways. When April came and went (nearly), I inquired about my order and was sent this on April 20th.

Once May rolled around, and my order was 2 months old, I again asked for an update on May 8th.

Based on that information, I figured I’d get the seat in June. This was further supported by a PM I received on May 29th.

By June 8th however, my optimism was shot down.

This was rather odd given that for 3 months they had been telling me that everything was fine and my order was progressing as normal. At this point I agreed to switch to Hyper Black if it speeded the order. Hyper Black also costs less than Gradiation, I was due a refund as well. This was confirmed by CVR.

On June 29th, I received exciting news.

Once again, after getting my hopes up, CVR pulled the rug out with this message, that I received on July 14th.

August rolls around and I get more potentially good news on August 11th.

As has become the pattern, the news comes with a great twist.

So while my seat has arrived, apparently the rail, arguably the most important part, did not. If I wanted it in time for racing season, I’d have to pay another 275$. CVR was not willing to do anything to help other than take more money and order it, assuming the same mistake did not happen again. When I expressed my frustration, this is what I was told.

Apparently Bride, an internationally recognized and respected company, was having issues fulfilling its orders to the tune of months of delays. If I had ordered custom or otherwise rare seats, I would understand but I ordered a run of the mill Bride Vios and the rail is hardly a complex piece of technology. I remained patient however and kept my order.
On September 24th, I received this PM.

This was rather interesting since they had previously claimed that the seat was in their possession. Could it mean that my seat was on its way to me? If that was the case, why didn’t I receive a tracking number?
After October rolled around, I got impatient. On October 22nd, I tried to call CVR. In fact, I tried 12 times. For the first 4 or so tries, I went to their answering machine. For the last 8 or so, it was if the number was no longer in service. Strange considering I spaced my calls out over a 4 hour period. I also PMed them twice. I only received a response after I posted this in their review thread on NASIOC.

The entire thread is here http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...732241&page=15.

This was CVR’s response.

Apparently my comment was spiteful, when in reality, it was the truth. It was now 7 months since I ordered my seat.
At this point, I began inquiring about a refund. I was reluctant to trust CVR any further and felt they plain and simply did not deserve my business nor any kind of profit given the level of service they had provided. Magically, I while “processing” my refund, my seat and rail appeared, perhaps overnighted from Japan. When I asked how quickly they could get it shipped to me, this was their response on October 28th.

It would appear that preparing for SEMA, a yearly trade show that doesn’t exactly happen spontaneously, was more important than fulfilling a 7 month old outstanding order. I was pretty pissed at this and replied as follows.

Nevertheless, I received a tracking number on November 1st. What I found interesting is that CVR Motorsports is an east-coast company, according to their 347 area code, New York City, yet the package was coming out of LAX.
I received the seat today and was a bit surprised by what I saw. Despite changing my order to speed things along, I still received a gradiation seat. I do not know if the rail is correct as my Miata is currently in storage for the winter.

To summarize everything, I can’t help but get the impression that throughout my order time line, I was being blatantly lied to or misinformed. Shipment dates were constantly moved, orders were changed and than reversed (without any customer knowledge), seats that were in their possession were somehow still in transit, refunds were suggested but never followed through with and glaring oversights were made in that key components of the order were forgotten. CVR continuously blamed someone else, namely Bride. While I was pursuing a refund, I emailed Bride to inquire about these apparent production delays and their inability to stick to deadlines.

The order only appeared to resolve itself after I began pursuing a refund, which may be a happy coincidence but I find that unlikely. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend CVR Motorsports. While I now have my seat, it took 8 months to get to me. By contrast, during my waiting, I ordered a seat from a small, independent shop in the US to hold me over. It took him under a week to get my seat to me. I gave him a clear deadline and he was honest and worked within those terms. CVR promised a deadline and then shot past it by 7 months.
I fully expect CVR to either PM me or a moderator or to post here to complain about how my review is unreasonable and with more excuses as to how a 7 month delay was not their fault but as this point, I don't care. Short of the Bride factory exploding, I do not see anything that can honestly explain how a simple order, that was initially supposed to take 1 month, can go so badly.

EvoPooPoo

iTrader: (11)

Wow...
7 months. for a seat that is commonly ordered...?
I have ordered two Bride Vios III in the past with Bride rails, and even though they weren't in stock, at my local shop or at Bride USA, they got it for me in 1.5 months.

At least you got your seat....

Boltz.

iTrader: (42)

That sounds like an awful experience.

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

That is a long time just for some seats. Do they require that brand of seat rails only?

ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

To use the Low Max system, yes.

cij911

iTrader: (14)

Awful ordeal...I would have canceled the order after the first batch of bs ...

DrivelineSales

iTrader: (181)

Ouch! That's a long wait for Bride's. CVR usually does a good job helping their customers, same with Bride USA to their dealers. The longest we've ever waited for any special order seat was around 2-3 months. Strange how it took as long as 7+ months.

evolution2186

iTrader: (5)

Wow, I wouldn't give them another shot.

deebo3726

iTrader: (-1)

wow talk about beating around the bush......when you intially ordered did you know that they werent instock??

EvoX-11

iTrader: (7)

CVR has been great to me but my last order...

My situation is not as bad as yours but I am not getting response at all.

I ordered my cb and testpipe on 11/10 as of today i neither have the items nor tracking.

I dont know whats going on with them

mx4life85

iTrader: (38)

Epic fail...

ambystom01

iTrader: (7)

Yes, I was told it would take a month to be in stock and on its way.

EvoX-11

iTrader: (7)

well atleast you had gotten response to your emails/pms.

It has been a month I neither have product nor any response from them...

I filed a dispute from my credit card.

project_skyline

iTrader: (30)

CVR has had problems in the past with listing parts in stock that were not and then taking overly long periods of time to get the parts out or even know whats going on.

While many have great luck there have been enough experiences posted like this that would make me never want to deal with them.

NJ_EveOhVIII

iTrader: (21)

lol this reminds me that they owe me a seibon carbon fiber trunk. they are good at diverting stories.