Why buy from Steiger Performance? (Beware of counterfeit repair kits!)

Why buy from Steiger Performance?
(Beware of counterfeit repair kits!)

Origins - Innovation vs Imitation

The kits you are looking at on this web site are the originals. My name is Jon Steiger, and I am the owner of Steiger Performance. I invented this repair kit and procedure in early 2009, building upon more than two years of experience with a similar repair kit that I invented for the Jeep Cherokee. Since that time, I have spent a lot of time and effort perfecting this product. (Not to mention expense - the amount of money I have invested in R&D, tooling and machinery costs to develop, test and improve these kits could purchase three or four brand new Jeep Libertys!)

The "other" repair kit is a blatant rip-off of my design, made in China using visibly inferior parts. Neither the "manufacturer" nor the sellers of the copycat kit have any experience with this product or window system, someone simply copied my kits and dumped them on the market. They have no R&D expense, they just saw a solution that worked and started cranking out cheap knock-offs.

Experience and Customer Support

I have a great deal of experience with the Liberty's window system and am happy to provide you with any tips, advice or help you may require. I pride myself on my customer support and have assisted a great number of people with their Jeep Liberty window regulator problems. Please feel free to check out my eBay feedback and read the hundreds of customer testimonials regarding my kits and service. All of the remarks on my testimonials page are completely unsolicited comments from actual customers who have purchased my kits.

If you purchase the "other" kit and run into a problem, what sort of support can you expect from someone who simply copied an existing design and has no time invested or experience dealing with the many related problems that can occur when dealing with the Liberty's power window regulator system?

On more occasions than I can recall, I have been contacted by someone interested in purchasing a window repair kit to fix their broken window, however based on their description, I knew that their problem lay elsewhere, so rather than sell them a kit, I provided them with the information they needed to get their window operational again. Sometimes this requires biting the bullet and purchasing a new window regulator, but in most cases, the regulator can be repaired using one of several inexpensive tips and tricks that I have developed to address the various types of Liberty window regulator problems and failures. I am certain that you will not receive this same level of service or support from a distributor selling hundreds or thousands of different products and who has no specific knowledge of the Liberty's window system.

Quality and Attention to Detail

My repair kit undergoes a series of quality checks before it can be sold, one of which is to physically mount each and every repair bracket on an OEM guide rail to check for proper fit. All of this takes extra time and effort, but I feel that I have an obligation to provide a quality product that will work the first time and continue to provide you with dependable service down the road.

Another example of my commitment to you is the small machine screw which is included in the kit, used to replace a rivet during the repair procedure. I realized that because the machine screw and its washers, lock washer and nut are so small, it would be pretty easy to drop and lose some of these parts. Right from the beginning, every kit I have sold has included two complete assemblies of this small machine screw. That way, if you accidentally lose some of these small parts, you've got spares. This may not seem like a big deal to you now, but it might after you spent half an hour crawling around on your hands and knees trying to find a tiny nut or washer before driving to the hardware store for a replacement. These are just a couple examples of the thought and care I put into the design and manufacture of this kit.

The "other" kit includes a rivet instead of a machine screw. Based on material costs alone, a rivet is approximately 7 times cheaper than the machine screw hardware included in my kit and it also does not require any labor cost to sort and package (as the machine screw hardware does), so this saves them time and money, but it requires the customer to use specialized tools (a rivet gun) which the average person probably does not own. In addition, using a rivet does not allow the regulator to be easily disassembled - if you wanted to get back inside the regulator, you would need to drill out that rivet and then search for something to replace it with upon reassembly instead of simply using a common screwdriver to assemble and disasemble it as many times as you wish. Also, even if you do have a rivet gun, what if the cheap made-in-China rivet is damaged or fails during the installation? They don't care because they already have your money and they saved some cash by tossing a rivet in there instead of proper hardware. I include machine screw hardware because it is better for this repair and easier for my customers to use. I do my best to save money and keep my costs down, but never at your expense - my kit's quality and ease of installation is paramount, and I will not compromise on that, even though it costs me more.

Installation Guide

The step-by-step installation guide included in my kit is 4 pages long, packed with information, fully illustrated, and professionally printed in full color. It is also available on-line in PDF format, so that you can see exactly what you will be receiving and what is involved with the repair before you spend a single cent. I frequently receive compliments on the quality of my installation guides, and they have allowed people with absolutely no automotive repair or mechanical experience to successfully complete this repair. (Of course, I am also always available via e-mail to answer questions and provide expert advice and support if you get stuck.)

As of the time of this writing, the "other" kit claims to include an installation guide, however they admit that it is not detailed or step-by-step and warn that you "will need prior window regulator experience to install this part".

Presentation, Diligence and pre-Sale Information

Compare the listings themselves. I am an experienced seller with a stellar record, whose number one priority is to ensure that you are absolutely satisfied with your purchase experience. I have put a great deal of time and effort into my product listings to provide you with as much information as possible about this kit and the repair to make sure that you are fully informed and able to make an educated decision, as well as to select the proper kit. It was for this reason that I took the time and effort to develop additional resources such as my Repair Kit Wizard and Spotter's Guide for these regulators.

Compare this to other listings selling the copycat product - did they take as much care with their listing or is it just a blurry picture and a paragraph? In my opinion, the time and effort taken to educate a potential buyer prior to their purchase is a pretty good indication of the level of service you can expect to receive after the sale. After all, "making the sale" is where most sellers focus the majority of their effort. If someone seems to be putting forth a halfhearted effort prior to the sale, how motivated are they going to be with support and service after they've already got your money? Heck, as of the time of this writing, most of the listings selling the "other" kit actually include incorrect information about what model years the kits will fit! You can't really blame them I guess - after all, they are just a reseller of a look-alike product and rely on the (incorrect) information provided to them by the "manufacturer"; they have no firsthand experience with this window system so they can't be expected to know all of the small but important details. Unfortunately for you, this will cause additional delay and expense when you receive a kit that was advertised as fitting your vehicle but in fact, does not.

The Extra Mile

Every repair kit that I build is labeled with its its own unique serial number and also has a part number and some notation to help you to easily identify which door it is for. I also maintain careful sales records which allows me to provide you with better service should you come back to me with a question or problem in the future, and these records would facilitate a recall, safety advisory or something along those lines should anything like that ever be necessary.

These extra steps recently paid off big time for my customers when Jeep extended warranty coverage on certain 2006 and 2007 window regulators in December 2010. Because I was able to provide receipt re-prints and the sales data that Jeep needed, these folks received complete reimbursement from Jeep for the repair kits that they had purchased.

Warranty

Some of the "other" repair kits state that their kit is "guaranteed", whatever that means. They never actually say what is guaranteed! (Is it guaranteed to be a repair kit, perhaps?)

Some of the other sellers of the knock-off kits appear to be offering a 1 year warranty.

Because I have the utmost confidence in the engineering and quality of my repair kits, I stand behind them with a lifetime warranty. Each kit is warranted to the original purchaser to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for as long as you own it.

Price vs Value

The pricing on the made-in-China look-alike kits varies - I have actually seen some sellers charging more than for my genuine kits, but most are asking less. I have no doubt that you can purchase one of the look-alike kits for less money than my kit, but consider what you are getting for your money. Does that lower price really represent a better value? Consider how long you plan to keep your vehicle. What value do you place on the peace of mind of knowing you'll never have to purchase another repair kit for that window? Think about the advantages provided by my kit such as the attention to detail, quality, expert customer support, lifetime warranty and all the other benefits I've just listed above... compare that to the relatively small price difference amortized over the life of your vehicle, or the value of your time when you run into a problem during the install and require technical support. You really do get what you pay for, and in this case, the extra value and peace of mind you receive when you purchase the genuine item is well worth the small incremental expense over the unknown, risky counterfeit.

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