FCP Euro Lifetime Replacement Guarantee Update

[Tbonem3]

I'm neither surprised nor bothered by this change that they made for business reasons, except for the implications this has for previously purchased items (under the former "rules").

[Tbonem3]

okay, you are a d***, jesus christ man. Wake up on the wrong side of the sofa today?

It was so predictable. Partly, I was mad at myself for not leaving in a blurb I had written aimed at stopping you from bothering with that non-sense. Doubt it would have had the intended effect anyway.

[Maxima SE]

Well they have enough people buying from them now so they need to rewrite the rules. These updates are enough for me to not buy anything from them anymore. It is no longer a "lifetime replacement" when you have to pay more money to exchange an item under warranty just because the item costs more now than it did when you bought it. Think about it, if you go to any local auto parts store you will never have to pay more money to exchange a starter, alternator etc under a lifetime warranty. It is an even exchange with nothing out of your pocket.

Between paying more for an item up front, paying more again when you exchange it and paying for return shipping as well, its not even worth shopping from them anymore in many instances. For example, the Valeo starter goes for $160 at rock auto and $216 at FCP. That is a whopping $56 difference up front to spend just in case it goes bad, if it ever does in the next decade? and if it does then pay $40 more and $30 in return shipping? Might as well buy two starters now and sell one in a decade if you dont end up using it.

and the stuff that you can only get from BMW will go NLA sooner or later anyways so who cares about lifetime warranty on floor mats or window trim? might as well start hoarding them.

Btw hundreds to thousands of dollars in store credit? at this rate all your money is going to FCP in hopes of a lifetime warranty in god knows how long from now.

[PetrolM3]

Sure, I acknowledge some of the arguments made here but whether we admit it or not, it was too good to be true and it still is. People get spoiled and then they have high expectations. I doubt anyone here would have been better off buying elsewhere all these years. Anyone who kept buying from them clearly enjoyed the benefits enough to justify continuing to buy from them. You can’t seriously tell me you expected this to work forever? The first thing I thought is.. it’s too good to be true but enjoy it while it lasts. Let’s give fcp some credit for trying out the model and following through as much as they could. And I’ll say it again - most people will still buy from them, guaranteed…

[dukeofchen]

I for one am just glad that the program exists even in revised form. With 180k miles and no plans to ever sell, there will always be things to use store credit on. And money saved on wear items and fluids means more money for my poor ass to refresh / replace other things.

I imagine the effects of inflation played no small part in the policy change, with them replacing more and more items that now cost significantly more than the original sale.

FCP customer service has always been fantastic, so unless the price differences are drastic I never hesitate to buy from them. Plus shipping times to CA are pretty good these days now that they have fulfillment centers online closer to the west coast.

For those bummed about paypal killing the return shipping perk look at sites like pirateship for discounted rates.

[George Hill]

I thought it was clear earlier, but I'll rephrase:

If you bought a part in the past, with the promise that you'd be able to replace it for free (basically free/less shipping), then you should always be able to.

My understanding is that what you are stating IS STILL IN PLAY for purchases prior to 11/1/22.

[Maxima SE]

My understanding is that what you are stating IS STILL IN PLAY for purchases prior to 11/1/22.

For now... I think they are going to test waters and see how people adapt to the new changes. Maybe one day they will have another update that applies the same policy to grandfathered purchases. But that can easily lead itself to a big lawsuit because they have to honor whatever policy was in effect at the time the item was purchased. That is where the fine prints come into play.

[Tbonem3]

If you bought a part in 2020, replaced it in 12/2022, and then want to replace it again in 2024, I think that 3rd purchase would not get refunded, despite you originally buying the part before this policy change. Hopefully, their current policy covers your 12/2022 purchase because it's referring to the original purchase in 2020 as being "grandfathered in."

My gripe is that original purchases prior to 11/1/22 should always be refunded as that was the rule then, and my reason for buying, from FCPeuro, paying extra esp back then.

Mike, you make a great point about NLA parts.

[George Hill]

If you bought a part in 2020, replaced it in 12/2022, and then want to replace it again in 2024, I think that 3rd purchase would not get refunded, despite you originally buying the part before this policy change. Hopefully, their current policy covers your 12/2022 purchase because it's referring to the original purchase in 2020 as being "grandfathered in."

My gripe is that original purchases prior to 11/1/22 should always be refunded as that was the rule then, and my reason for buying, from FCPeuro, paying extra esp back then.

Hmm, that is a solid point, I looked at it like you were warrantying the part from 2020 even if in 2024. IF they go about it the same way you stated above then yes I agree with you.

[Maxima SE]

If you bought a part in 2020, replaced it in 12/2022, and then want to replace it again in 2024, I think that 3rd purchase would not get refunded, despite you originally buying the part before this policy change. Hopefully, their current policy covers your 12/2022 purchase because it's referring to the original purchase in 2020 as being "grandfathered in."

My gripe is that original purchases prior to 11/1/22 should always be refunded as that was the rule then, and my reason for buying, from FCPeuro, paying extra esp back then.

Mike, you make a great point about NLA parts.

It should get refunded because you will provide them the order number for the original purchase made in 2020. That will always be the order that gets you the lifetime warranty. Everything else will be “replacements”. I think legally it will be hard for them to change the policy for purchases before October 2022.

And yeah the NLA is inevitable. I got a lot of trim pieces through FCP but I know many of them will be NLA before I will ever need to replace them. Gave them more money up front for no reason but I don’t regret it. I certainly won’t buy interior pieces from them anymore since they will charge you the difference. The euro trey for example used to be like $30. Now it is $130. In two years it will probably be $250. Warranty or not I’m just not gonna spend that kinda money on these items.

[thegenius46m]

That's how I understand it. My stance is that it should be indefinite. I spent extra with FCPeuro (since 2014) purely so that I could replace these parts in the future for no (or little) money spent (after refund).

The gap between FCPeuro now and ECS and other sellers is smaller, but it was a pretty big premium that I was spending back in 2014-2019. There were plenty of times where the price difference was sop great, I really had to contemplate the odds of needing a replacement sometime in the future.

This exactly. I've also spent 10s of thousands on BMW parts over the last decade and a lot through FCP (not solely but a good amount) that now the whole "lifetime replacement" program should be considered false advertising.

I don't really want store credit and I get the stance here from a business perspective, but the fact I have to leave a revolving lump sum in their system to take advantage of a program I overpaid for items to not have to pay for the replacements later is kinda bs.

[Maxima SE]

This exactly. I've also spent 10s of thousands on BMW parts over the last decade and a lot through FCP (not solely but a good amount) that now the whole "lifetime replacement" program should be considered false advertising.

I don't really want store credit and I get the stance here from a business perspective, but the fact I have to leave a revolving lump sum in their system to take advantage of a program I overpaid for items to not have to pay for the replacements later is kinda bs.

Yeah I agree. I regret buying my Z4M front rotors from them last week @ $255 a piece when I could have gotten them cheaper for $190. That is $130 more up front. I sure do not want $500 in store credit if I ever end up using lifetime warranty on them.

I think they are going to lose a lot of business.

[ChapterM3]

I've read this whole thread, read the FCP statement and the conclusion I've come to is this:

FCP as a business has decided that instead of taking the bullet of inflation and honor their lifetime warranty, they've put it on the consumer to take the hit. They've also totally changed their lifetime warranty and I have no idea what will happen when I go to replace my alternator for a third time in 2026 (speculation for the argument) - will I get credit? will I have to pay double what I paid for it in 2019? I have no idea because now the lifetime warranty seems to not be so lifetime-y. Please someone correct me here if I have understood all of this wrong, I'm happy to be wrong and understand this differently.

This is what I understood and the story that played out in my head when I read Scott Drozd's post on FCP's site: This to me sounds like an uncle making a deal with his nephew, and teaching him about the value of a dollar and shady business deals "if it's too good to be true, it probably is." I don't know why I thought of it this way but just go with it -

Uncle FCP is pissed he made the lifetime warranty, got taken advantage of by some, and most importantly did not anticipate so many people using the warranty - so now he has to do something or his financial projections for the future years are not good.

So years ago, Uncle FCP comes to us and says "hey, kid, I know you love your car, so I got a deal for you: why not buy from me, Uncle FCP, and no matter what I'll honor the money that you spent with me so that for the LIFETIME of the part, I'll honor that money and replace the part you bought from me no matter what. You'll never have to spend a dime again on that part. Guaranteed for LIFE. The only thing is, you'll have to spend a bit more with me for that same part, but it will be guaranteed for life. How about that for competitive pricing? Who has a lifetime warranty?"

So we go figure out the math at home with our excel sheets and notepads debating between him, and the other uncle, uncle ECS, and where we should put our money. Would we be buying parts that would wear out and then we would need to spend more cash to replace them? or would we send them back to Uncle FCP and get the part again, for free, because we initially spent more money for the part with him knowing that he would honor the LIFETIME warranty? Hmmmm. Tough debate. In the end, we all end up going with uncle FCP because he said LIFETIME and we understood lifetime as in, LIFE---TIME. We all love our cars and figured, shit, well if I'll buy a starter, alternator, control arms and bushings, and all these other really expensive parts from him, then I'll be actually doing myself a service - I spend this money ONCE and then I have that part for, that's right, the LIFETIME of the car. So we buy parts, we tell EVERYONE about how great our uncle FCP is because who wouldn't, and we never talk to uncle ECS again. That's what uncle FCP wanted anyway as he always wanted to be the favorite uncle.

Now years later, our favorite uncle is pissed because we actually are coming back with parts to be replaced - we're utilizing the agreement and now uncle is starting to feel the heat: he never anticipated this many of us coming back to get the parts replaced. Now he's also in deep water as the world changed: a pandemic, inflation: the economy changed massively since he first told us about this LIFETIME offer. So here he comes with a nice statement for us to eat - "Ok so I know what I said years ago, that was my test to you. You passed, but you also must learn a lesson. As they say in business, if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. That's why some of my nephews will claim they were so smart and knew this all along, so they will still continue to buy from me! I predicted this before in case this happened, it's called the worst case scenario that I have to change the warranty, all of you have told everyone you know about me so by the time you realize it, I'll have a multimillion-dollar parts business. It was genius actually. So all of this is ultimately the lesson I was trying to teach you, and what to avoid when the deal is too good, but you fell for it so now you have to learn your lesson. I'm changing the rules and adjusting the contract that we had so instead of cash, you credit, with me! But you love me so it's ok. And if there is a change in the price of the part you bought, you pay the difference! I must say that if the part does go down in price, which it never will, you'll get that money back, in credit! But don't worry I'm here for your questions, just email this support person I set up. Thanks for telling everyone you know though, now I'm a multimillionaire with a race team, no one talks about uncle ECS anymore and I am the king of the castle. Thank you for learning your lesson. Go uncle FCP."

So now uncle implements what he says from November 22' onwards, and we have to pay the difference now on the economy and ALSO he can't give us cash anymore. We now get CREDIT for our CASH to spend with HIM, further pushing the narrative that he still wants and will be the favorite uncle because we spent our cash with him, and he'll give us credit to spend with him and no one else. Pretty good lock-in tactic if you ask me. Who knows when he'll change the agreement again.

Maybe I'm WAY off here but this is how it just played out in my mind - this seems shady ASF and I'm seriously going back to my excel sheets and notepads to debate about where the hell I'm going to buy my rear brake kit and oil sensor now. The questions start all over again now as they did years ago, "Ok, so if I spend $37 more for the sensor, I get the sensor and then when it goes out again in, I don't know maybe 3 years worst case, I can get credit with uncle FCP, but then, what if the part is 4x more expensive? Maybe I should go back to uncle ECS and see what his prices are, oh but then I don't get the semi-credit warranty, wait, what if I buy from this retailer that has it for $189 instead of $276 like uncle FCP? I wonder if that would make sense"

Honestly I'm so sick of this narrative in my head as I knew this was too good to be true from the get-go, it had to be, there's no way a company has found a magic business model to LIFETIME everything from oil to control arms to cupholders. Just can't be.

Ok I'm done. If this post sucks, ignore it, but I felt the need to get this out as I'm frustrated and don't know where to buy parts for fear of, well, feeling somehow taken advantage of.

[Maxima SE]

lol uncle ECS and his bastard child turner can go to hell too. Honestly there are plenty of other sites that sell OE stuff for cheap, like eeuroparts and plenty of online vendors that sell genuine BMW stuff for way cheaper. Bottom line here is that anything purchased before 11/1/2022 should be grandfathered in and replaced under warranty without store credits or having to pay the difference when being replaced. That was the store policy AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE when you bought the item THEN. If you knew what you know NOW, you may not have bought the item THEN. If they want to play dirty they're going to get sued big time in my opinion. I'm sure a lot of their customers are lawyers

[heinzboehmer]

Shops get a different wholesale price, but there is NO warranty on maintenance items and everything else is 2yrs. I have not had to warranty anything I purchased on my wholesale acct.

I do have a personal account that I buy consumables on like track brake pads and window regulators (lol).

I would bet its individuals abusing more than shops, but I also think part of this problem is self inflicted. When I inquired about the minimum thickness of the brake pads to return them they said there wasn't a "spec" and that I could warranty them at anytime for any reason. I run them until I don't think I can get another weekend out of them and then return, but I can absolutely see how people would junk them with plenty of life left.

Goes to show how much I know about how shops work lol. Makes sense that they would have wholesale accounts without the warranty.

You're probably right. I bet there's a good chunk of people who have thrown thousands of dollars in parts at their car in hopes of fixing a problem, just because FCP makes it free.