I had a good experience with the son over the phone (eric). However, once I got to the shop the attitude of the owner , mark, was not a positive one. See erik had given my a lot of good advice on what to do with the car, but since the shop was over 60 miles away it just was not practical for me to drive down there for the work. short story long, i went there to reprogram the ecu in order to complete the mods that i had done. they are the closest Revo dealer in my are.. mark could see that i spent thousands elsewhere. i over heard eric and mark talking mark saying " we are making no $$ on the re-flash.. mark was not only rude with his body language, as i was talking to him he would sigh and asked " what's going on with this car, it's out of wack". there were a few things that needed to be done to the car and i knew this, like readjust the waste-gates.. when i got the call the next morning for the things that were needed to be done they wanted to charge me fifteen hours of labor to do what??? not only did they say that my turbos that had 2k miles on them we not acceptable for the car, the silicone hoses were bad for the car, stock were better, and the evo waste-gates would blow up my engine. they told me that the hoses i had bought for the car had been cut.. WTF? they insisted that i use stock parts on the car because thats best for the car?? I had the car towed to BBI where I have had nothing but good experience with. BBI had refereed me to Hergesheimer saying "they been in the game a long time, they know their stuff". but when i was asked where i got the used turbos, hergesheimer responded with," BBI,who knows what they did with these turbo's in a very negative way.. to conclude this when i paid them to reattach the boost hoes that was NEVER cut, they did not clamp it down knowing that it would blow off again, and never reset the codes. i paid BBI 3 hours for work to get may car running like the rocket it is now. and for that 3 hours BBI reattach the hose that was new, not cut, data logged the car to make sure the car was running safe, adjust the waste-gates to the proper level, and reset the codes. Hergesheimer charged me 2 hours for work that I had to do again. What a bad experience I had that day. If I didn't know better I would have got ripped off for about $2000. That $2000 is now going to BBI for my new clutch that needs to be put in.. REALLY 2k for 3 hours of work... in conclusion, they claim to only use stock parts, but when i was there i overheard someone on the phone making an order for after market gaskets because the dealer was always out of them. and only stock means no revo flash!!! i have to say, the reason they were trying to rip me off is because i over heard mark say, " we are making no $$ on this re-flash". I'm not stupid!!!! Eric, mom are really nice, mark needs to retire, he has such negative energy!!!!

 

Did you write this when you were angry? I can understand you're being upset but I found your post difficult to follow. I don't mean to sound like a school teacher but using normal punctuation would go a long way toward making your point coherent.

 

Vision Motorsports is just down the street from Hergesheimer, I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

Never been to Hergesheimer, my experience with BBI was fine, there was some mis-communication, but not really their fault as they were not familiar with my car. I would use them again, probably more for the performance goodies. Nice people over there.

So many options. Good luck.

 

Some shops are not very mod friendly IMO. Plus it kinda sounds like you sucked their time and advice then took the car somewhere else for the profitable work. In my biz, time is money and I would be ticked if you called me and pumped me for knowledge and then took your biz elsewhere...

Just my opinion from what you have posted...

 

i told Eric what i was doing; i made it clear that i didn't want to upset anyone. i know time

is $$$$.. it just wasn't practical for my to go down there every time i need to add

something. they are only 60 miles away, but in Los Angeles traffic thats 2-3 hours!!!

sorry, i should have double spaced it in 12 font for an english paper.. i know how to

write, just was writing fast....

 

Paragraphs are you friend, not enemy.

 

we don't have paragraphs here in cal , they cause smog !!

 

What he said - shops are typically NOT crazy about putting the final touches on someone else's work. I recall a sign in a shop I used to go to outlining hourly labor rate:

Standard labor rate - $70
If you (another shop) worked on it first - $100
If you want to help - $140

There is a reason for it.

I might have missed it, but if it was so inconvenient to take the car there for all the other work, why did you go out of your way instead of your regular shop finishing the work up?

I just had an exhaust built for my car by a shop that's a 100 miles away, becuase that is the only shop I will let touch my car if I'm not working on it myself.

Sorry about your experience, but based on what you posted, I could see why they could have handled the situation the way they did.

 

Michael,

I'm sorry to see your chose this route to air your feelings. A simple phone call to us would have gone a long way. I already got the canceled credit card payment request from American Express of the $224 you paid for us to work on your car. I would expect you to be up front with me about any problems, instead of going to your CC company.

To start, I've sent back and forth over 26 emails with you, the last time I counted, some of which I provided to the CC company for proof that you followed NONE of my recommendations about tuning your Turbo. You came to me asking for a reliable turbo package that would increase boost. I suggested a basic X50 upgrade using stock turbos, some upgraded DV's, a better flowing exhaust, and a tune. If you wanted to go further, then add the IPD plenum and larger throttle. Most of the emails sent ended with this recommendation.

Many times, you sent me emails about picking up used hybrids, used exhaust, cheap used hoses, and so on. I repeated to you my request, and said, If this is how you want to build your Turbo, I would rather not work on the car. We choose to build reliable, factory style cars. I don't need the headaches of extensive mods for my customers street cars, especially one that will never be tracked, raced, or really even driven hard. For the style of driving you described to me, I made the best recommendation I could based on my experiences with these cars. Again, a proven X50 package with upgraded DV's.

Instead of coming to me for parts or work that I spent countless hours describing, giving you estimates for, and providing part numbers and so on...you shopped around the parts lists to the lowest bidder and gathered used. Then went to BBI for your plenum and TB install, and also going to another shop for some used turbos and used Agency Power hoses.

Then, 3 months or so after I first started sending emails with you, you make the trip to my shop to complete the package by installing the Revo flash for the K24 file. I knew you were in a hurry, and had come a long way, so in my error, I did not test drive your car before beginning the tune on your computer. Your turbo had K16 Revo software installed by the previous owner over 8 years or so ago, and you were taking advantage of the Revo "upgrade" by going from K16 to K24 for only $200. So, after all the time and effort I spent with you, I was looking at $200, most of which goes to Revo for their software. I do take customer service very seriously, so I was happy to have you in for the job and never complained.

Well, I get to flashing the "upgrade" and find that because the existing Revo software is so old, I cannot simply "upgrade" via flash. I (the shop) must purchase an entirely new file via credit card from revo's online tune store. So to upgrade your file for $200, I need to send Revo $2400, then apply for a refund that will take a week for them to return to me. This is what upset Mark at the time, and when you heard us discussing having to put out this money to update your file. We were making effectively zero money when you look at the $40 profit margin, and hours we spent that day.

All said and done, WE DID put out the $2400 so you could get your flash. I think we stepped up and did the right thing. So, we installed the flash, and I took the car on a test drive. The car wasn't running right. I quickly returned to the shop and let the owner, Mark, drive the car. He experienced the same symptoms and returned. We then asked you if the car was running poorly previously, and you admitted yes, that you hadn't been in boost since installing the turbos. My BIG mistake for not taking a test drive before I started.

So we then racked the car to take a look underneath. We found an aftermarket Agency Power boost hose dislodged. A hose that appeared to be trimmed to fit. We recommended installing the factory hose as there is really nothing wrong with them for the driving you described you would be doing. We wanted you to leave the car for the proper repairs and you REFUSED to let us try and fix the car. We also found out that you provided us false information about the actual turboes on the car, because we found modified waste gates. So you had no idea what was on the car, how was I supposed to know what the turboes were, or what condition they were in? I quoted a removal and inspection, along with installing stock wastegates, adjusting them, a possible rebuild and so on, which was the 15 hours. I wanted to be given time to figure out what used pile of parts you had brought me and make sure I could make them all work as designed, without my issues in the future. I would rather quote high, than come back to you for more money when I'm done. Anyway, you REFUSED to let me complete any of the work.

The same boost hose blew off again, like I said it would. You REALLY think I would not put the clamp back on on purpose? After I had gone so far to help you?

You left without any real complaints, and I never heard from you again. Until I got the canceled charges for our time and reattaching you hose, which I fought and won, and now this...

I really think you handled your complaint the wrong way. I spent a lot of time trying to help you, and put out quite a bit of money just to offer good customer service for products that you never really bought from me.

-Eric

 

and bringing your own parts is like, going to Denny's and handing them your own bacon and eggs to cook.

 

...while trying to use your dads senior citizen discount for the cooking portion of the charges. Then complaining the quality of bacon was poor. Then stand out in the parking lot and tell everyone about how you were overcharged and you shouldn't go inside.

 

Got to say, the OP's sails lost their wind with that response.

 

op...everybody likes saving a buck or 2..but this case sounds like u are wrong

 

and there is the 2nd side to the story.....there always is one

 

Let me summarize.

You milked Eric for information for months.
You had someone else do the work on the cheap.
You asked them to do considerable work, for essentially no money.
You lied to them about what you had done.
When they made what sound like good, safe recommendations, you blew them off.
Then to top it all off, you reneged on the credit card payment.
Oh, and then you posted a misinformation filled rant on a public forum, trashing them.

Do me a favor, if I ever start a new business, don't be my customer.