A few months back, I bought a front and rear seat distinctive Industries upholstery kit. I finally got around to having it installed, which cost just about as much as the kit itself.
Anyway, I went to pick them up today and noticed several problems.
The first is that the stitching from the seat back does not line up with the bottom. There is no way to fix this. One row lines up,. The others get progressively worse.
The next, which is visible if you look closely, the pattern on the decor stripe is crooked. If you look at the top edge, the rows of dots are canted over and do not fit square in the rectangular shape of the stripe. The stripe is also stitched crooked at the top.
Third is that there is not enough material in the back to tuck under the rear cover.
I can live with the second two, but stitching looks terrible and my eye goes straight towards it. There was really no way to tell it was defective until being installed and assembled.
I called Distinctive Industries, and they basically said to contact the retailer. Understandable. But then they also said they would not cover any loss I’m taking with labor. They said I or my installer should have inspected before installing. Problem is some of these problems aren’t evident until after installation. It is looking like Distinctive Industries does not stand behind their work and is hanging me out to dry.
Am I wrong to be pissed that I have to foot the bill to install something twice, due to the fact that I got a faulty product?
They should make you a new set of seat covers without the defects.
The installer should of noticed it was off and contacted you and said “hey these are defective do you want to continue installing them or not”. At the very least they should cut you a break about 50 percent to reinstall new covers. They should not have finished the job looking like that.
In his defense, you can’t tell the stitching is going to be off until the seats are fully assembled.
As for the decor stripe, that’s a little more obvious, but still, it’s only really obvious after being put on.
Distinctive Industries did not offer me any help, nor did they seem to care.
The manager made the comment, “when your car messes up, you don’t complain to Honda, you take it to the dealer where you bought it.”
I agree, my installer does carry some of the blame, albeit a small amount compared to that of the manufacturer, but he is trying to work with me while I sort stuff out.
Can your installer shift the seat bottom cover to the left a wee bit so that at least the center stripe lines up? That would spread the misalignment out symmetrically and maybe it wouldn’t be so noticeable.
Don’t be too hard on the installer, I for one when I open a new part or product assume it is going to be spot on. If the installer had lots of experience with Distinctive products he would intuitively inspect the products first. For the most part DI will right their mistakes if the retailer shows good pics. Very frustrating I know, we are putting consistent pressure on TMI to do Cougar interior.
I’m not being hard on the installer at all. I don’t feel he is at fault. My main issue which is the stitching, would not be caught with a pre install inspection, unless a tape measure was pulled out.
You can not blame installer for the first 2, maybe the 3rd, but you could have inspected it first. As a former shop owner, when people bring in parts to have installed, we would never give any warranty, no exceptions.
Again, not blaming the installer. Im pissed at Distinctive Industries for not standing behind their product. Im pissed that my main issue, which is the stitching being offset, would really only be noticeable after being installed.
Just curious, did you do both seats? I don’t know how the covers are manufactured but are the seat backs and bottom matched individually?
Maybe the installer switched the sets up. I can’t remember positively but when I ordered mine I think they came in individual boxes per seat.
It took me three sets until I could piece together a set that was acceptable for my installer. Don Rush was very helpful in helping to correct the situation. I understand that DI moved production to Mexico and the quality immediately dropped off. It’s a shame that the materials are not just generally available for a local upholsterer to get. DI did say that they would sell me the materials for my leather interior. That would have been the next step if my upholster wasn’t satisfied. I also paid for labor twice. I wish TMI made Cougar stuff. I have used them for some Mustang and I was always satisfied. Don, if your listening, have you asked them to supply you?
I think what’s being said is, the covers are for a cougar but the alignment of the seams sometimes don’t match, if you order the covers , take them out and see if the back rest and cushions seams are the same width and line up before install. The basket weave inserts are a little off, but not real noticeable.
Edit, if something is not to your liking, it’s easier to send back before install.
So just an update, the rears are completely off too. The piping on the edges line up fine with the rear quarters, but every stitch down the middle is missaligned. You can plainly see the bottom is way off.
Looking at the bottom cushion your upholstery guy is not doing this right. The first thing you do when you fit a seat cover it to find the center of the cover (mark it with chalk) and the center of the base ( also mark it with chalk) and then you line the two up. The cover on the bottom cushion is clearly not centered. Look at the location of the center hump. The back looks a little closer, bit also seems to be shifted a bit towards the drivers side.
