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Milner Off Road after sales service

If you had a technical problem with a Milner supplied part did you receive good after sales service?


  • Total voters
    21

Chris

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As many of you know, I have been a staunch supporter and advocate for Milners over the years as I believe they are doing a great job in bringing service items and consumables to Japanese 4x4 owners at affordable prices. In many cases supplying genuine parts at better than main dealer prices and pattern parts which give more than adequate service for a fraction of the cost. I actually still believe that. It is fair to say that some of their products are not as good as we'd like and can let you down in terms of longevity or at very least ease and accuracy when fitting. They have always made it clear to me that 'bitching about items in the background' and not coming forward means that they are blissfully ignorant of any problem and that they are deprived of the opportunity to make adjustments etc. I have had one or two minor complaints myself and after a little pushing have received a generally satisfactory outcome. The exception being a faulty alternator that boiled my batteries on the first outing. Yes I got a new one, but never even received an offer of a discount on a replacement battery that hitherto had been perfect.


However, my faith has been dented this week in terms of customer service following a complaint. I bought a rad from them that turned out to be less than satisfactory. I needed it urgently as I was two days away from going on holiday. The faults were:

The frame was too wide to fit between the chassis members
The bottom bracket bolts on the rad were opposite handed and didn't fit the OE positions
The battery box had to be cut away to accommodate the header
The distance between the top and bottom mounts was 20mm out
The auto box connections were at an incorrect angle for the hoses

So not good - but by all accounts the correct unit. I complained, naturally. All I received was sympathy from the sales counter. I complained again this week and asked for the complaint to be escalated to their service team. Be aware that MOR is not a tin pot outfit, but a substantial premises. Here is the response that I received and my original mail.
I shall leave it to you to judge whether this is a satisfactory response.

So can I ask you then just what is Milner doing about my complaint? Perhaps
you'd like the radiator back? Sorry XXX but that simply isn't good enough.
The mounting holes didn't match up, the unit was too wide to fit in the gap
between the cross member? If I hadn't been going on holiday I would most
certainly have returned it. I was pretty cross. Now, would you believe it,
my starter motor has gone. Clearly my first choice would be to come and see
you. Another £200! Now I always get fantastic service off you and you know
that I appreciate that very much, and this might be out of your hands in
terms of a complaint so I would appreciate you escalating this matter. I
praise your company continually on various Land Cruiser forums, but this
sort of advertising works both ways. Would I recommend that anyone looking
for a radiator for an 80 should come to you first? Well I shall leave that
your customer service dept to ponder. As you can probably tell, XXXX, I am
pretty cross and more than a little disappointed. That product was very
poor. I appreciate that you have sold many and had very few complaints.
Maybe the holes on my Landcruiser are simply different to every other one
made? I raise these matters with you not just because I have had problems,
but in order for your company to have the opportunity to improve its
products and services to the customers that you serve. This could have been
a new batch or different supplier possibly. Word travels fast when products
are sub standard like this. There are plenty of threads out there already in
terms of what products from Milner are though to be good and which are rated
as poor.

In the meantime I shall be sourcing a starter motor from someone else.

Response

Good Morning Chris

I do understand how you feel about this I too would be the same
I'm sorry I do not have any means off checking a rad here as we don’t have
the front panel to put it into
I can only go off sales of the parts
Regarding bringing the rad back I don’t have a problem with that at all that
is up to you (Please don’t bring it back in 6 months time)
I can not stop you writing things about us in the owners clubs that is left
with you.
I'm sorry for any problem it has caused. No doubt I we see you at some stage

Now you might be asking, "well what do you want?' Well, in terms of customer service, I always believed that asking what the customer actually wanted was a good starting point and you then work toward a mutual agreement. Just giving me my money back isn't sufficient. No, I am not after compensation I am after satisfaction. I have the original rad - did they ask to see that? No? did they want to know what adjustments I had made? No. Did they make any checks at all? No. In short I have had to get unpleasant in order for them to just simply offer a refund.

You may say 'well that's what you get if you buy a big ticket item that's not original.' I don't see that as valid. OK there may be quality issues such as product life on pattern parts - but surely they should fit! The fact that I had to mess about with it and will now have to mess about to take it out again and get one from somewhere else should, you would think, spark some sort of dialog in terms of an apology.

Moral is that Milner provide a prompt and courteous service, good prices on many vital parts, some slightly poor replacements and terrible after sales. So it's all good unless you have a complaint and want more than a straight replacement or refund for the part bought. I'd hate to think what they'd say if you put there BEBs in and had an engine failure.
Will I use them again in the future, yes but I will be very wary of anything other than simple parts. You may of course make up your own minds. I am going to pull the rad despite the time and messing around, more than anything to ram home the point that I am unhappy with the product and they are getting it back. I could trim the sides and I have altered the brackets, but as they fail to acknowledge that, they can lose the sale. I will be using Autokool in Chesterfield who even reference the Toyota OE number and are a few quid cheaper to boot.

By way of a thread, as doubtless people will contribute may I suggest that we keep it to a list of parts that are good and worth buying and those that are not. That way it will be balanced.
Clearly 80 rads, Hilux rads (previous experience) and 90 alternators would be on my list of 'avoid'. Also some exhaust sections.
Good stuff includes:
ARB bushes and drop links for 90s
Light clusters for 90s
Oil and filters - I have had NO problems with these ever.
Handbrake cables
Timing belts


Chris
 
I've been buying from Milners for 10 years and member of the Surf Forum for 5+ years, it's very well known in that circle that their radiators are crap, many falling apart before the year is up.

There is another gone now on an LC Here

I do buy some items from Milners and always will, but I'm careful about which ones.
 
Bad:
All bearings and oil seals
Stub axles for the 80

Debatable:
80 series CVs

Good
Rear bump stops for the 80
Front axle rebuild kits for the 80 (just throw the oil seals in the bin)
 
I think we will have alot of good and bad points raised on here. Milner will always make money as they are quite cheap with most parts. I agree with rob bearings are now brought in from china i think. I always buy mine from derby bearings, millner did used to supply us with theres but not anymore. I use millner when i really have no other option
karl
 
I'm not a Milner fan but the rad I got from them for my old 80 a few years ago (and is probably the last thing I bought from them) was a good fit and good quality. I'm sure 10 years ago a lot of the parts I had from them was genuine OEM and the crap stuff has crept in to the point where nearly all of it's crap now!

I don't think it's Milners fault you've now got to take your rad out again though. Easier said than done I know but you should have returned the rad once you saw it was the wrong part :)
 
Ball joints and track rod ends are bad too. :thumbdown: I went through 3 sets on my MK4 Hilux before I demanded a refund and went to roughtrax. 3 years on and not a problem. :thumbup:

I got my rad from roughtrax too. Not good quality though. :(

I also agree that seals are bad and so are bearings.

I do buy from milners occasionally but I'm always wary of what I do get.
 
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UJ spiders are not very good..as I think we all know...from milners.

The Rad that I got from them for my 95 seems to be good and solid...so far.

But as others have said, they are cheep and in my experiance with none OEM stuff you pays your money and takes your chances.

I am going to Roughtrax for some brake pads this week as they are offering 'Genuine' Toyota ones.

Steve
 
I bought a rad from milners last year and within two weeks it was weeping from a brazed joint but they did replace asap and the one that arrived was exactly the same as the original rad i took out and so far no probs. I only changed the rad for peace of mind so i have the original toyota one in the garage and when i get time i will have this reconditioned.

Joe
 
silvercruiser said:
I bought a rad from milners last year and within two weeks it was weeping from a brazed joint but they did replace asap and the one that arrived was exactly the same as the original rad i took out and so far no probs. I only changed the rad for peace of mind so i have the original toyota one in the garage and when i get time i will have this reconditioned.

Joe

Mine (from Milners) started weeping from a joint too. Had it for over a year so havent bothered contacting them about it.

Other than that I've found their delivery to be very quick and not had any other problems.
 
Rob said:
Bad:
All bearings and oil seals
Stub axles for the 80
Things have changed at Milners, they now stock genuine stub axles and seem to be stocking koyo bearings now but as always check before you buy. I would still avoid the seals though.
 
The current front inner hub seals fit ok, but when compared to OEM are only single lipped as opposed to double lipped. However, just how well do the originals actually seal against the stub axle to stop water ingress???? It's debatable. I'd say for normal driving the Milner ones are fine.

They are also stocking OEM wiper seals for only £14. The full kit they sell is not ALL genuine Mr T but the wipers are.

Wiper linkages are now OEM too

Chris
 
This is really useful! Thanks guys, I'll not make the mistake of going the Milner's route then!
 
Does anyone know how good their 80 series handbrake shoes are?

Edit: and their fitting kit?

Thanks...
 
Last edited:
90 series handbrake fitting kit is useless,

handbrake shoes have too much meat on them
 
On 'the other place' was a thread about 90 Series front discs, the Milners supplied part was thicker one side than on the other, the overall dimension was correct, Milners say that all are like that in their warehouse, but it put me off as I'm sure they should be of equal thickness.

I bought two 1175x13 belts, but their actual length was 1000x13, couldbt seem to get them to understand the issue, so gave up.

On the other side, bought genuine Toyota diff oil seal for £8.00 rather than £28 from Mr.T.

My feeling is to check with them for genuine parts, but avoid their pattern stuff.

Pete
 
I bought a bushing set from yhen they were so keen to help even after my 5th call for the same order :)
 
Bought a complete exhaust several years ago, from Milners. It did not fit - nowhere near. Phoned Milners, got the old chestnut so many trot out, "we have sold loads without complaint" and " it is a third of toyota price" To be fair though, they did offer to refund and arrange return shipping
As the exhaust was delivered direct quickly to my local repair shop for fitment and mot, I chose to keep, with two cuts and welds, an extra length of pipe and a bend altered to clear rear axle and line up with hangers. I still do not understand how it can be listed for an exact vehicle and need that much fettling to make it right. I think it was for a short w/base instead of long, but the code milners said was right!
Overall I got a cheap item that would not, could not, and did not fit.
 
This was in 2010. I think things may have moved on. Always best to check the date of last posting, especially if you are new to the forum.
 
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