Have the same problem. Magnet fell off after a month, paint started chipping and falling off after 3. Door still stays close after a year but it doesnt look the best. I bought from an authorize dealer but im not gonna replace it. Not worth replacing a cheapo with a cheapo.

The only thing I have that is RR are the taillight guards. They've been on there for six years now and I'm very pleased with them. At half the cost of the only other option at the time (Mopar), I've certainly gotten my value from them.

As for my question, it was mostly just to highlight that if you get the same quality again and have them rust again, what have you gained besides 30 rust free days? I don't think they're going to give anyone their money back, and you've lost the time spent replacing the assembly for another bad one (and possibly the money if you paid someone to do it for you). Of course, if there is something that you believe will give better performance out of a replacement set (maybe you read that they changed the finish to address corrosion issues), that makes complete sense that you'd want them to honor their warranty with the better quality product.

As for "contact the vendor" that everyone is mentioning: I expect this could be for any of several reasons. First off, suppliers like to maintain good relations with their vendors. This is why many don't sell direct--they don't want to be seen as competing with their vendors. If they do sell direct, they usually don't undercut the price their vendors sell for. On top of that, some suppliers don't want to be in the direct end-customer contact business. Microsoft is like this with retail customers. Unless you buy direct from them, they don't want to pay support to answer your Windows questions. "Contact the computer manufacturer."

Finally, there has been for the last couple decades a very serious problem with the counterfeiting of goods for import to the U.S. Auto parts in particular were being found in leading retail chains that looked exactly like the genuine part, right down to the boxes and written inserts, but were in fact illegal imports manufactured at third party plants, or sometimes during off-shift hours at the actual plants used by the genuine parts manufacturer (but off-the record so the workers reaped 100% of the sale). Obviously this is illegal, but it does happen. A proper box and even a written warranty don't mean a hill of beans. Manufacturers of course want U.S. Customs to prevent this, but stuff still filters through.

Today, with the advent of sites like eBay, it is much easier for these illegal imports to be sold. Once these goods get through, a manufacturer's best defense against supporting an item that they were never paid for is to refer all support to the vendor. If it's a bona fide vendor, then the customer shouldn't have any problem. If it's an illegal import, then the customer is probably going to be left without recourse. He will blame the manufacturer, who really isn't the manufacturer. And the real manufacturer will take a hit because of that. But, perhaps at some point, the manufacturer hopes that people will get the point: Buy from our vendors. Support us and our vendors, and we will provide you support per the terms of our warranty.

This is soo true.. I never buy from ebay. I have alot of Rugged Ridge parts all of wich has held up for the past 2 years. I get all my stuff from cseoffroad.com.. I had bought a snorkle from rugged ridge when I opend the box the aluminum tube looked like it had been hit by a hammer so I called them explained what happened they where unsure what I was talking about but they wanted to send me a replacement. I told them no as I did not think a little ding would impact airflow as it turns out when installing it the little din was in the exact place needed to keep it from rubbing the exaust pipe. so it was designed that way. But rugged ridge was willing to send me one at there cost anyway.