etrailerReviews 18,894

In preparation for a family ski trip, after recently having changed SUVs, I ordered a Rhino-Rack bar system for our cargo/ski box. I followed the instructions on their site, entering the year make and model of the truck, and placed my order. First they screwed up the shipping (which I paid extra for – although at least they refunded that cost) so instead of receiving the equipment on a Friday - giving me the weekend for assembly and packing - it didn't arrive until Monday… the day before I was scheduled to leave.

I struggled for several hours, until nearly midnight, attempting to get the rack on correctly because the bars they sent weren't big enough to fit the roof of my truck. Only later did I find out they had sent a kit designed for an entirely different make and model of truck. Nonetheless, I found a way to make it work, because I had to get the truck packed up and ready to roll by 7am the next morning ahead of a six hour drive with my wife and kids. What a way to start a vacation!

Upon returning from my trip I explained (nicely by the way) to eTrailer.com that they had sent me the wrong equipment. Their response was that I should, at my expense and aggravation, ship them the too-short bars and they would refund me the purchase price LESS their cost of shipping the correct unit back to me. Their explanation for this outrageousness, and I quote directly here: "I am very sorry you feel that way sir. However you received the parts you ordered online and not with a customer service agent here." Yes, I ordered online, from YOUR website eTrailer.com! Using YOUR system to choose the unit!

Order from this company at your own risk! If they screw up your order, it's on you. There are more legitimate vendors out there selling the same stuff. I urge you not to support companies that act this way.

By the way, they have a "customer comments" section on their site, but it provides no apparent way to post a comment, so they get to act as the filter for what goes up there. Figures… that's very much indicative of how they operate.

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Nkeyh
etrailer.com
Rating 2/10 1/5
Modified review posted Oct-04-2013

"I was in the middle of installing a brake controller I ordered from etrailer and noticed that parts in the wiring kit were missing. Even though etrailer screwed up the kit, customer service would only mail me the missing parts snail mail. They told me it would take 3 days to get the part, but after 3 days they still hadn't arrived. Now they say it will take 7 days. It would have been nice if they overnighted the part since they screwed up. L now have the wire dangling under the bottom of my jacked up car - huge pain in the $#*!. Very disappointing product and disappointing customer service. I won't be ordering from etrailer again."

I have bought several things from etrailer.com (2 towing hitches, a roof rack, snowboard rack, bike rack, rooftop cargo box, wiring for hitch mount, etc.). The products are great (brand names like thule, yakima, and others) and are priced very well. The site has all sorts of info for figuring out which items will fit your vehicle and then provides guides for installation. The guides are not factory ones, but ones written by real people who have installed the very same thing. The site also tells you which other items you might need in tandem for proper installation.

The shipping was very quick, I even got upgraded to faster shipping for no extra cost this last order (bonus since I would have been just fine to have gotten it in 2 weeks rather than 1 at Christmas time). I got emails every step of the way: confirmation of order, shipped with tracking info, and a final email from an actual person telling me that UPS informed them that the item was delivered to my door and that they wanted to verify.

They'll e-mail you to ask you to fill out surveys, but it's not much to ask when compared to the horrendous experiences I've had with other retail sites that have asked me for comments. I'll take a minute or two to help out a company that has enabled me to haul, pull, and play by outfitting my cars for years.