My Experience With Umnitza

[JKO_ZHP]

I recently reached out to Umnitza via email for the first time ever regarding my Orion V2 angel eyes. I bought them about a year and a half ago, and just last month, one of the four rings was half-mooning. (As in, half of the ring does not light up.)

In their response, they:
Included multiple links to posts on various forums where I had admittedly bad-mouthed their service only not products. This was because I had paid for a night controller back then, but they never notified me of the lack of supply. So I received my V2's only without the other product that I had already paid for. Only after I emailed them about this did they offer a refund or suggest that I wait. My point being, they did not tell me about the shortage, and made me reach out to them to get my money back, whereas other, BIGGER businesses such as Amazon would've told the consumer immediately before waiting for the customer to find out AFTER the fact.

They went on a long tirade about how my reviews hurts their business. I apologized for the heated remarks I made in the past based on my experiences with them, but given their arrogant/condescending wording and unwillingness to admit that the night controller debacle was their fault even almost two years later, I reaffirmed that there were COUNTLESS other negative reviews on literally every BMW forum. From E46Fanatics to Bimmerfest, M3Post, etc. Plus Yelp. I basically said, disregard my opinion - there are many others who have had problems with Umnitza and it's not just me.

Their response? Yelp and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) are fake review websites with no credibility, because the companies have to pay to keep the good reviews on it. And that they have so much business, they're bound to have a few people with negative experiences who will in turn, spread the word. They noted that there were many positive reviews about them that were hidden on Yelp.

By the time I got to the bottom of their essay of a response, I didn't even want to have them do anything for me anymore. This was the first time I ever contacted them directly about an issue, and only after lecturing me did they address the issue.

I will never do business with Umnitza again.

All in all, I have spent over $1,000 on my angel eyes, Morimoto Mini H1 projectors, and other overhead costs related to installation plus traveling from L.A. to Concord up in NorCal to buy directly from them. As of now, my Orion V2's are still bugged, and the projectors' cutoff is misaligned. Installer blamed Umnitza, Umnitza blames the installer. I'm done spending time on this tug of war.

P.S.
-The positive reviews for Umnitza that were censored by Yelp? The majority of those accounts only have ONE review and ZERO friends. Suspicious much?
-80% of the complaints filed against Umnitza on BBB are for their product/service.
-All of the negative reviews combined from ModBargains, Khoalty, and TMS still amount to less than Umnitza's.

[Avetiso]

I'd say that between Khoalty and Umnitza, it's just the lesser of two evils. Both of these companies sell the same Chinese/Taiwanese parts and accessories and bicker back and forth like schoolgirls about whose are better. And both of their customer service sections are lacking.

Dennis and I had a good laugh at the SF meet. He has Orion V2, I have Khoalty Helios. Both of these companies hate each other and argue that "My product is best and their products sucks." It was funny because the angel eyes look exactly the same. EXACTLY the same. No difference at all.

I've met the owner of Umnitza, and he seemed like a really nice guy. I've also had no issues with Khoalty. But there will be a time when your luck runs out. Such is the deal.

Thanks for the info.

[Smolck]

Funny, I got similar response. In fact, Umnitza went to the moderator of the E46 forum on Bimmerfest and demanded they force me to stop posting my negatives about Umnitza (service, NOT PRODUCT, I actually like the Orion V2s) in their threads. Claiming I was hurting their business. I informed them that that was sort of the point. Instead of fixing the issue (crap service) they whine and complain that it is unfair to expect EVERYONE to be happy. Nonsense. I expect more when dropping over $200 for angel eyes. I have since boycotted them (this was from years ago) and do not recommend them to anyone coming to me for angel eyes.

I have installed a few sets for people who bought them anyway, but I just tell people that angel eyes are so "2000's" they should be different and NOT have them.

[johnrando]

Sounds like I got lucky with my experience, so knock on wood. For them to not own up to an issue speaks a lot about them though. It's not if you have an issue, it's how you deal with it... looks like they've fallen short. It seems both them and Khoalty are hit or miss from what I've read. Thanks for sharing the info.

[Vas]

Thanks for sharing.

[QC_ZHP]

This thread would come up when I have angel eyes in the mail from Umnitza and Xenon bulbs on the way from Khoalty. Just hoping everything comes in correct

[JKO_ZHP]

I guess I got lucky with Khoalty. I got my LED interior, DEPO headlights, roundels, Hamann fog duct covers, CF splitters, bulbs, etc. etc. etc. from them with no problems.

I received my roundels just a couple days ago and the package was labeled 2-day ship. The two who have taken care of me these couple years were Dean and Kevin.

As for Umnitza, one person on Yelp said they dealt with the owner who was helpful and told him that most of the staff is new.

[baz11]

Just ordered product from Umnitza. Good phone support and extremely fast shipping. Sorry to hear you have had a poor experience

[iZHP]

Have had issues with them in the past as well. Never an issue with Khoalty.


-Sent via iPhone 5S

[ELCID86]

Just ordered product from Umnitza. Good phone support and extremely fast shipping. Sorry to hear you have had a poor experience

Ditto. Have not installed them yet.