So much for a confidence booster.

[Rags722]

Some of you may recall I dropped the bike 2 years ago and got my first ever trip to the ER that was motorcycle related.  In any case, my mind will not let me trust myself in turns, and I'm not enjoying riding as much as a result.  So, I finally bit the bullet and ordered 2 brand new Avon Cobra's, Progressive Suspension front cartridges and bit the bullet for a pair of the new Progressive 444 HD rear shocks.  They arrived yesterday and as I was about to toss them on this morning, I noticed this.  Is it too much to expect the rubber bumpers be at least close to the same color?  I have a call in to progressive to see if something ugly slipped past QC.  So much for my confidence booster.








edit........ Just got off the phone with PS ( long distance call).  They wanted a photo first because they didn't think that could happen. I e-mailed a photo and a request to call me back since I gave them my number.  After a 10 minute wait, I had to call them back.  Now they say it is normal and happens all the time.  I'm just at the extreme ends of the bumpers absorbing the dye.  While it may be (I doubt it, look at the PS website and different shocks have either a white/yellow bumper or a red bumper - not one of each) just a dye issue, for a product that costs in excess of $600 list price, one would think this would not happen.  A shade or two off, maybe, but red to white???  BUY American only works when they care about the product they ship! On the positive side, I guess once I hit a few good bumps and drive the bumpers all the way to the bottom of the shock, and consider it's on a bagger,  who cares..... other than the back of my mind that I just spent big bucks with PS to fix.

[attachment removed after 60 days by system]

[04 SE Deuce]

One looks like a red rubber baby buggy bumper,  the other one is...ah...yellow.  I was waiting to hear the scientific tech on some new fangled bottoming stops that are progressive due to the different rubber color/density.  With the somewhat limited travel on baggers the bumpers do get used a lot.    Rick

[q1svt]

I have a call in to progressive to see if something ugly slipped past QC. 

....... Just got off the phone with PS .  They wanted a photo first because they didn't think that could happen.  I had to call them back.  Now they say it is normal and happens all the time. 

"Happens all the time"... not much for customer service or QC.  With that much difference most likely from different suppliers and who knows if the composites are the same densities.  I don't think they state/show it in their brochures.  Thanks for the heads up, I was considering a set, but not now ...

[Rags722]

Well, my wife tells me I'm too fussy about stuff like this. I all honesty, on a bagger I guess it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference as long as they both perform the same.  However, if I had a FXD with a really nice paint job and everything was done to the Nth degree detail wise, I would be less willing to accept the product since it would show.  Still at $600 + per pair, one would think inspector #51 could have been just a tad more fussy.

[Dennis The Menace]

The color wouldnt bother me...but my immediate thought is that the density of those bumpers are likely different.  I wouldnt feel right, like you, but based on the assumption that the bumpers are two different densities, and may or may not perform well when needed.  I would feel better if they matched, but would just install and ride. 

EXCEPT, regarding the answer you got on the phone, they were nicely telling you to f off.  No way is the mold of a synthetic rubber piece like that varied in the mold.  Sorry, I dont buy it.  Unless it came from China, then all bets are off.  But molded rubber pieces I have seen coming out of machines in SoCal many years ago were very consistent.  The liquid is color mixed before it ever gets injected into the mold.  Hence, IMO they are FOS.

I would take my business elsewhere.

[Nebraskarider1]

Everytime you wash the bike and take the bags off you will notice them and remember how you settled for them. Or perhaps you take it to a shop for a tire change and someone else notices and asks if you had to replace one shock and asks why you didn't replace them in a set...... For the price they get for them I'd send them back, don't sound like being too picky to me, just ask them if it would be acceptable on their bike or a product display at a trade show.

[Scooterfish]

Red goes on the left, yellow on the right. no wait maybe it`s the other way,  

[texaskatfish]

Rags you aint askin much for 6 'Franklins'!!

make em make it right or tellem to F off and give yer $$$$$ back

just my 1.25 (de-valued) 2 centavos

[FSG]

I posted that pic on their Facebook saying "Poor form on PS" , they removed my post and on another of my posts asked me to email them.  I've done and await their reply.

[NCTURBOS]

Send 'em back and get a set of Ohlins!!


K.

[04 SE Deuce]

Send 'em back and get a set of Ohlins!!


K.

  Worth the money spent...unlike some others.    Rick

[88b]

Rags you aint askin much for 6 'Franklins'!!

make em make it right or tellem to F off and give yer $$$$$ back

just my 1.25 (de-valued) 2 centavos

for $600 they should send you another pair FOC

[Jeffd]

if they are like my 940's you will never see them once you hit the first dip in the road.  Looking at the photo tho it looks like the bottom cup is much shallower on the 444's so they may still show.  I have found progressive suspension has good customer service so I would be suprised if they did not take care of you.

[garyajaz]

if that much different on outside what did they mess up on the inside?
yeah, hey guys i taking it to a show.  nice color matching.  but i WILL
tell every one thats how my NEW shocks came for your company.

kinda like when i bought a "matching" set of metzlers.
]one from brazil and one from germany.  different color rubber, different coumpound and hardness.  oh and the brazil one busted a cord in about 500 miles.
tough luck was mentoned.  havent run any since.

[CndUltra88]

Well, my wife tells me I'm too fussy about stuff like this. I all honesty, on a bagger I guess it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference as long as they both perform the same.  However, if I had a FXD with a really nice paint job and everything was done to the Nth degree detail wise, I would be less willing to accept the product since it would show.  Still at $600 + per pair, one would think inspector #51 could have been just a tad more fussy.

Its your money and your bike and putting these on your bike would not make you happy.
I agree the excuse they gave you is dam lame and begs the question '' What else did they not catch on the QC line?''
Rob

[Panzer]

    Send them back, ask for an RA and a UPS label, ship them back at their expense.

[Rags722]

Well, on the positive side, they are on the bike ( I couldn't sit there and not put them on), fit good, and after the first few bounces to set the sag I was able to push them all the way down.  I did go to the Progressive FB site but could not post a photo  I did notice the Sportster and Honda on the main page has the red bumpers and the 944's at the top of the page has the whites, so I'm guessing they are not defective, just different.  Time will tell.  Now on to getting the Avon Cobras mounted and the Monotubes put in the front to see if it has a noticeable difference in handling.  Just ticks me off because in the past all my experiences with Progressive had been quality product and great customer service when ( if ever) needed.  I've been playing this game too long to be grin F***ed when you call with a question.

[NETacomaFatboy]

Dispute with CC company ....

[Tsani]

I would return them and when they ask why I would just say "happens all the time".

Too fussy? No. You paid good money for them. Do they state color may vary? No. And you might want to run without bags. Never know.

[Rags722]

Dispute with CC company ....

Actually, I ordered them not direct from Progressive but via a Motorcycle Parts store on the internet.  Sure, I could still do the CC thing, but then I'm stiffing a guy that paid for a product and sent it to me at a fair price.  Right now, I have a set of working shocks, mounted and on the bike.  I might contact them to see if they can help me, but I've already sent a quick note to Progressive to see if I can start some kind of dialog at a level above the help desk.  If they respond, and can assure me the properties of the rubber bumpers are identical, I'll ask for some cash back rather than a replacement.

At least I'm glad to see the group as a whole agrees I'm not being real petty about this. 

[Dennis The Menace]

Nope, we all know you arent petty, Rags.   Time to ride now!

[koko3052]

I'd send them back. They're obviously not the same & won't perform the same.
As for your worrying about "stiffing" the middle guy... he was there to make a profit (or loss ) with your money. That was the chance he takes for being in the middle. Maybe he should watch his "quality control" & check things before passing them on??JMO

[CraigArizona85248]

It's funny how companies can lose sight of what good customer service means.  It's very possible that the difference in color will make no difference at all to the performance of the shock.  Could be the exact same rubber compound but simply a difference in the color.  BUT... the customer doesn't always look at things while wearing an engineers hat.

Case in point...

Back in 1994 Intel was selling every Pentium CPU (the heart and sole of the PC) the company could get out the door.  Demand was so high that not a single chip sat on the shelf for more than a day or two.  Along came a math professor named Thomas Nicely who noted that there was a floating point divide bug.  When you divided two rather obscure numbers together, you got the wong answer:

The correct value is
 

However, the value returned by the flawed Pentium is incorrect beyond four digits:
 

Now... Intel engineers looked at this and confirmed this was an error and wrote it up in the "Errata" sheet (every chip ever made has bugs in it and they are logged in an "Errata" sheet).  When the news media caught wind of the situation they wanted to know Intel's plans for fixing the bug.  Intel responded to the media as if they were engineers and told them, no plans to recall any chips, it will be fixed in the next revision of the product.  Well, this was and still is the common practice in the industry on how to address these types of problems.  But the public got scared by this one simple division bug (look at those numbers, have you ever had to divide those numbers before?).  Intel had forgotten how important customer service is, especially to a company that trades so heavily on it's name and reputation.  Their response gave the impression that they didn't give a "Potty mouth" about the customer and resulted in a PR nightmare!  They quickly realized the snafu and backtracked on their position.  They offered to replace any of the flawed chips and took a $475 million dollar write off against pre-tax earnings.  Worse than that was the black eye caused by the first response to the problem.  Intel depends heavily on it's name and reputation to maintain it's market share.  That incident occurred the week I started working at Intel.  The company has not forgotten what happened and to this day handles these types of problems very differently.  The chances of anyone having a problem with one of those flawed chips was pretty small, but the perception of a real problem was huge.

Progressive Suspension should take a lesson from Intel's snafu and change the way they address these types of situations.

-Craig

[Jeffd]

I'd send them back. They're obviously not the same & won't perform the same.
As for your worrying about "stiffing" the middle guy... he was there to make a profit (or loss ) with your money. That was the chance he takes for being in the middle. Maybe he should watch his "quality control" & check things before passing them on??JMO

for all you know the middle man never even saw the package.  Some of these outfits drop ship.  I would contact the vendor and explain what happened to see how they respond chances are they would take care of you without dispute the cc.  My guess is progressive will have you ship them back on thier dime and swap out the bumpers.  I doubt the bumpers have little if any effect on performance of a shock and are a replaceable item.  I had to replace bumpers on my KLR shock more then once no big deal.  Unless Progressive has dropped the ball since August (last time I dealt with them) they have pretty good cs. 
I pmed you the person you want to talk to about this.

[Jeffd]

well I tried but your inbox is full.