etrailerReviews 18,888

I had asked about a trailer hitch for a bike rack to fit on a 2013 Ford C-Max. Employee, Michael H. Created a specific website for me to view answers to my questions. The website included links to products that I'd asked about and some extras that could be helpful.

My big concern was about the performance of my vehicle after installation. The sensors, back-up camera, & lift gate still works great. When the hitch has the bike rack in it, one of the sensors goes crazy while trying to back up. Understandable.

My son installed the hitch in a few minutes. He had also installed a different model on an older Ford a few weeks before, so the learning curve for installation was shortened by experience. Overall, I would give these suppliers/manufacturers AAA+ for their support and follow-up.

Etrailer is good at: pick, pack, and ship. Their ability to respond to Service issues is unacceptable. For example: I ordered a $300+ trailer brake controller and it was received with the manufacturer seals cut; item was opened, parts were missing, and the instructions had a sneaker foot print on them. Upon calling etrailer 3 times they gave 3 different answers. They advised that the product was fine and that if it was not wanted, it could be returned; a restock fee would be charged and I would have to pay for shipping. I followed up with an email stating my disappointment, no response to date. 11.23.2015

It is sad, I have used etrailer as my go to supplier for years. Never again at this point.

I need a 5th wheel adapter for my new truck that I bought on Friday a week before we were to leave for a trip. Not wanting to drill and mount things in brand new truck I ordered a gooseneck adapter. Not only were they the cheapest but they shipped out free and it probably a couple hundred pounds. Plus I called and explained my situation and they over night it at no extra cost so I would be sure to have it on time. I have read other reviews that were negative but I honestly will order all my trailer stuff from them.

I ordered a weight distribution hitch from Etailer. I was defective when it arrived. First of all they call their employees experts, there are NO EXPERTS! You call and get a secretary instead of an expert, then they will put you in touch with someone that will try and convince you that you damaged the product or that you do not know how to install it! I hav forgotten more about hitches than these people will ever know. You will be better off going elsewhere and save yourself alot of trouble!

I haven't received my products yet because I JUST ordered them (so I may be updating this post), but I've been shopping around quite a bit and found Nicole to be a terrific resource. I like that she let me know that for just a few dollars more I could order a Made in the USA product... and I did. She knew a lot about everything I wanted to do and helped me get in my price range and talked me through all the details I was concerned about. If everything else goes as I hope... I'll be ordering from them again for sure!

Was sent a order that I had canceled because they were out of stock (even though) their website indicated in was in stock.
Sent the order anyway, had use my own money to ship it back (1st red flag)
It took two weeks for their receiving department to check it in (2nd red flag) Summit racing does it with 48 hours and everyone know how big they are.
Now their excuse is they have been trying to refund the money and they can't (same exact account they took it from, absolutely no changes on my side). This has been going on for over a week now (3rd and final red flag, can't put it back in the account you took it from, really).

Overall process from when I shipped it back until now (which I jjust checked to see if they had deposited the money back is over 5 weeks now, live in Ohio. (Shouldn't take that long)
Tired of dealing with them (decided to dispute the orginal charge and let the bank PNC go after them).

Speak with the same exact guy every time I call in, starting to get the impression this is a business ran out of a house.

Highly recommend not buying from them. I know I never will again.

Bill

Product never delivered, and awful customer service. I ordered oil bath hub covers and was given a link to THEIR tracking page for delivery. When the delivery date had come and gone I contacted etrailer customer service. They then gave me an actual USPS tracking number and said the package could be picked up at my local post office. The problem is the USPS tracking site says the package is in Denver CO, not Kansas City (where I am). Etrailer customer service has stopped responding, won't credit the charge or re-ship, and the charge is now in dispute.

Anyone looking to buy this hitch from e-trailer; Buyer-beware! When I received the product I was not pleased. First, the box it came in was all torn up and you could literally see inside, this could have easily caused parts to be lost. Thankfully everything was still in the box. Second, the Hitch itself was all scratched up, banged up, and it looked like I bought a used product rather than a brand new one.

I contacted e-trailer about this situation, providing them pictures of the damage and the state in which I received the Hitch. Guess what they told me? They offered me touch up paint! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Touch up paint? Not only is the product damaged, but now e-trailer is telling me to go fix it myself. What a good company does is either A) offer to replace the product or B) offer a substantial discount/money back. I was not offered any of those. In the end they didn't even credit me the $20 for the touch up paint.

A horrible experience, horrible customer service, and I Warn everyone considering to buy from here to be prepared for this. I would not recommend buying this product from e-trailer.

Do NOT BUY FROM THEM. I placed an order over a week ago. I called them to find out that my order wasn't shipped because they didn't have the part in stock. They said their order won't be shipped to them for another 3 weeks, but if I wanted it shipped direct from TITAN tomorrow that it would cost me 14.00 and some change. My order was 584.00 I told them they should pay for it. They refused to do it. So much for customer service. "

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.