New Self Adjusting Brakes from eTrailer.com

[Paul & Deb]

I posted my dissatisfaction with the shipment of my new brakes from eTrailer.com on another thread but I didn't want to continue to pollute that thread and wanted to start this new thread.

Anyway, I ordered 4 new self adjusting Dexter brake sets for $54 apiece and no shipping, great price. I received them within a week, great shipping time. I received them in TERRIBLE condition. They were not individually wrapped or boxed. They were haphazardly dropped into a huge (way too large for the product allowing them to jostle around without containment), very thin cardboard box with a small amount of brown paper packing material. No paperwork or anything else in the box.

I wrote an email to eTrailer telling them how disappointed I was in the quality of the shipping and told them I certainly hoped the assemblies were not damaged, yadda, yadda.

Well, this morning I started the install and the first plate went on without issue (BTW, such an incredibly easy job for those of you who may want to do this). I went to get the second assembly and I won't go into to detail of what expletives came out of my mouth! Exactly what I feared .... a huge chunk of the pad material was missing. I found it in small pieces in the bottom of the box. I was fit to be tied and Deb had to really work to keep me from blowing a gasket







Needless to say I immediately called eTrailer, they are open for ordering on Sundays, and voiced my displeasure. They apologized and promised to send out a replacement tomorrow and said it should be here by Thursday. Well, I wasn't happy with that. My trailer is sitting on jack stands waiting and I can't even jump to the other side without a bunch of extra work. I told her that wasn't acceptable and she said she would see what she can do. I will report back on that.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I have had good success ordering from eTrailer in the past and am very disappointed that they have lost my trust at this point.

[TucsonJim]

We ordered our FW hitch from them Paul. The packaging was the same as for your brakes. It kind of kept everything together, but the paint on the hitch was dinged from parts shifting around. Your post will make me think twice about ordering from them again unless they overnight the new brake assembly to you. I assume you thoroughly checked the remaining two to make sure they were pristine?

Jim

[Paul & Deb]

Jim, best I can tell the other 3 are all okay but it is rather absurd that they get by with this! From any other vendor it appears each brake assembly is in it's own box. Maybe they get them from Dexter in bulk but man, they've got to do a better job than this. I guess when added to your hitch shipping experience it's not a good sign. I bought my seals from them and, again, great price and quick shipping but the packaging for 8 little seals was no big deal. This is another whole story,

[J&G garage]

Man that sucks! As I mentioned in the other thread I bought my hitch from them. It was in the original B&W packaging, which was very good, so it arrived without a scratch. The other stuff I ordered was just little things that probably would have survived shipping in an envelope. I was going to get those brakes. Maybe from someone else now. Hope they jet you a new assembly pronto.

[minnow101]

Guess now we know why it's free shipping. Imagine actually paying for this unacceptable shoddy packing.

[Brent M]

Mine have shipped. I'll report what I find.

Brent

[JCR GD]

Got my 6 brake assemblies the other day from E-Trailer... same thing all thrown in two boxes (one with 4 and one with 2) not even any brown paper. Two of the assemblies were banged around enough that the shoes, adjusting cable and the star wheel where all dislodged and loose from correct assembly.

I sent them an E-Mail and got a canned response thanking me for my input.

I think I'm going to have them send me two replacements rather than try to put them back together myself.

Thanks for the heads up Poppy ... gunna check the brake surfaces very closely.

[gr8daggett]

I got my self-adjusting Lippert Brakes from Eastern Marine/Trailer Parts Superstore.
Each was in their own box with new nuts and wire connectors.

Still, two out of four were tweaked out of shape and had to be forced back into their normal configuration.
I think it is a general industry mass produced I don't care thing.......

[gr8daggett]

Is there a torque spec for mounting the new brake assemblies??

[JCR GD]

Well, I checked mine over carefully and found 4 damaged beyond acceptable. They are sending me 4 new ones ("packaged better") the rep seemed exasperated... probably because the shipping people are idiots and he's getting lots of calls! We'll see...

FYI my boxes say "Quality checked by Donnie T" on the shipping label