BMI Karts & Hobby Shop OH 45380

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oldvedub1

Not the best experience for my first purchase from BMI. I decided I would build my grandson a go-kart. Pressed for time, I ordered a frame from one company. That company said BMI had a parts kits with all the parts I would need for that frame. I went to BMI's website and saw the kit had a few items I already had, like a seat and harness. I called them and spoke to a woman there that said she could not remove the seat and harness from the kit and that the price was the same because everything would be shipped if I bought the kit. So after the call, I went down the parts list online and added all the items listed to my cart, except the seat and harness. The price was just shy of $700 for the parts and they arrived about a week later. I wanted to get the wheels and tires on the frame first so I'd have a rolling chassis. The rear axle was supposed to be 1" in diameter. It was not uniform in diameter all the way down the axle and thus, the bearings and wheels would not slide on. I contacted BMI via their contact form and about a week later, I received a response to sand the new axle with emory cloth or a belt sander and if that didn't work, I would need to get another axle. This axle was brand new and not as it should be, but was told to sand it or get myself another axle. Moving to the front. I installed the spindles, wheels/tires and then went to install the tie rods and ends. One side went together with no issues. I started on the other side. One tie rod end screwed on as expected but the other wouldn't thread on. I tried several times and it seemed the threads down inside the tie rod end were not threaded properly. I called BMI and a woman answered, asking for my order number how she could help. I explained the issues and she told me to hold on. About 5 minutes later, she came back on and told me to send them the bad tie rod end, they would look at it and then decide if they'd replace it. It's a $6 part and that was their best solution? I told her I would just have to find a new one somewhere. She went silent, stopped talking altogether. I said thank you and bye and still no response. Why would I spend postage to send that to them, a $6 part, so "they could make decision"? Ridiculous, I could've sent them photos or they could've believed me and replaced the tie rod end. I'm not the old guy trying to get a free $6 tie rod end from kart parts suppliers. Anyhow, just another sad chapter of today's business models. The experience with BMI over their poor quality parts and bad customer service help has taken all the fun out of this project for me. I have a new rear axle I have to correct or find a replacement for and have to get another tie rod end somewhere. I'm retired and thought I'd have this ready for my grandson by the weekend, but it will not happen. What started as a fun (and expensive) project, has ended with a small pile of defective parts I'm stuck with and no way to move forward without spending more money elsewhere. Sad.

J

Joshua Lucas

Shop and staff were amazing. Had alot of parts and many motorist hobbies included under one roof. Will decently be spending more time and money out here in the future.

d

doug wise

Never buy anything online from them. They say it will be easy to assemble.... no instructions, how do you expect to put somthing together with no instructions. In store is great, clean and nice. Just but it through them and not online.