Hey everyone, I happen to have a free moment here. I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Podgorica, Montenegro and thought I'd check in with the CEG.
While out here I received the following email from Falcon:
"Josh,
This is in reply to your concern about the carpet color of your SVT Contour floor mats. We checked our production records and can confirm that the carpet used for this order is from the same carpet roll and dye lot as the previous SVT order placed by Bill Jenkins at Sentry South Lincoln Mercury.
The reason some owners are questioning the floor mat carpet color can be answered by the following situations.
1. Our experience in matching carpet colors has revealed quite noticeable inconsistencies in OEM carpet color shades from one vehicle to the next. For various programs we receive master OEM carpet samples from the car manufacturers (Ford, GM, etc.) and match our carpet to their master. When we go to the real world of actual carpet installed in the vehicles we find that very seldom does the OEM carpet match the vehicles carpet exactly. We find the greatest variances occurring in Ford Motor Company vehicles. For example, I recently went to a local Lincoln dealer to check the color and pattern for a Lincoln LS program we are working on. There were three LS vehicles in a row, all with the same color interior. Each vehicle had a different shade of carpet and none of them exactly matched the OEM master sample we were given.
2. The carpet color in any vehicle will change as the vehicle ages. Sunlight, cleaning, even just normal exposure to air will alter the shade of any carpet. Since Ford Contours are a minimum of three years old these natural shading changes are sure to have taken place.
Our 22oz. carpet, full binding, direct embroidery and aggressive nibbed backing combine to produce what we believe is the highest quality floor mat available. The carpet used for your order had been matched to a master sample but with the combination of factors noted above (varying original carpet shading and the age of the vehicles), we would be unable to guarantee an exact floor mat color match to any particular vehicles carpet.
Regards,
Grant McCormick
Falcon Enterprises" I have to say, as the days passed and right before I left for my trip the mats they shipped seemed to change color slightly and look more and more like the color sample. As you can see from the email from Falcon, it doesn't look like we can get a refund or have them remanufactured because they used the correct pre-approved carpet color based on the sample they sent.
Now you can all blame me for this, but in my own defense I have to say that at the time the sample (which was a 6"x4" piece of carpet)looked like a very good, though not perfect, match to the carpet in my car. On top of that, the comments from the previous purchasers of these mats all stated that they were very satisfied with their purchase and this led me to believe that these were indeed a good match.
I am bummed that this is the way this all fell out- it makes me look like an a-hole who screwed up, but there isn't much I can do and I don't know what I could have done differently. (And to boot, my mats don't match closely either and like some of you I spent the money for 2 sets.)
Despite the difficulty in getting a close match in the color for these mats, Falcon and their rep, Grant McCormick, have been very professional and understanding throughout the process. I would still recommend doing business with them.
I know you are all probably some where between bummed and pissed about this so feel free to vent your frustrations with me over PM or the thread.
