Well this made it really easy to decide who iam gonna have rebuild my tranny... SHEP it is!!! I mean i just cant deal with someone who doesnt have the time to deal with me. I think if u have a buisness there is no excuse for no being in contact or helping our the person whos keeping your buisness going.. Just my opinion!

 

My recent experience with TRE turned out to be very pleasant. Speaking as a person who gets extraordinairly busy, please consider this advice:

Do not try to contact by telephone if at all possible. I conducted everything successfully without speaking to Jon once.

I bought a tranny off of Ebay and had it sent to him. I sent him ONE detailed email that informed him of:

- My tranny's impending arrival, as well as WHO was the shipping party.

- Explicitly what I intended to put through the tranny, and asked him to use his judgment in providing the best option.

- My complete contact and shipping info.

When he received my tranny, he informed me by email. He inspected it, told me what needed attention, and presented my options via email. I selected one and sent payment. He notified me when it was shipped and I received it in good condition.


So please consider my experience, and make it as EASY as possible for a busy person to take care of you. Send them ONE email with ALL the info they need, and let them ask YOU if they have any questions. Try to avoid peppering them with phone calls and emails if at all possible, and tell them what you intend to do with it in advance. If you adhere to this, I can assure you that in all probability, your experience will be a positive one.

 

Good advice Ted. I spoke to jon already on the phone weeks ago before I sent the tranny, got the box sent to me no problem and shipped it off. It's just been this week that has been impossible to get ahold of him and he hasn't returned my emails either. Like I said though, he could be very busy. I will try emailing him a email with my questions , etc and see what happens.

 

13 weeks is more than 4 months people. How can an owner who races afford to take more than 4 months off for a repair?

I told shep to take his time on my transmission and 2 weeks later it was done. I gave him a 200K plus mile DSM transmission that had a broken shift fork, ruined 1,2,3 and 4th gears, all kinds of bent up shift rails and he gladly accepted it. I was a number of about 30 transmission at the time probably and I got something back that is so amazing I allmost hate to beat on it (but I do).

 

Sorry, but they have been around for years doing DSM trans. Jon is a great guy but he's busy trying to do the work that he has taken in. If he took every phone call and rub everyones back that sent him a trans when would you expect that he would get any work done? The only way that he keeps his prices reasonable is by limiting overhead.

Just chill out and let things work there course. Anyone that has had an trans rebuilt by TRE has gone through pretty much the same process and in the end been completely satisfied.

 

nono. i havent had my car for 13 weeks. he's only had the tranny for just under 6.

 

13 weeks is roughly 3 months and a week. this saturday it will be 13 weeks on the dot

 

thats easier said than done to most though. my evo is my daily driver. i've had to hitch rides to work and back and all over the place for 3 months now. dsm's are generally project cars and its generally down.

when i first talked to him he told me that it would be 2 weeks. a month later he filled me in that parts were on national back order till an indefinite time.

3 more weeks later he told me they were coming in some time after august 15th and they did shortly after.

now he's told me it would be ready last tuesday and ready to ship out. he recieved my payment wed and told me it would be in the mail.

so what is that exactly? wed, thurs, fri, sat, mon, tues, weds, thurs, fri

so 9 working days that the transmission hasn't come back

something is definitely not right. anyone would worry, especially after being ignored.

i just sent the guy 2200 bucks. you'd think he'd be a tad more attentive

as well i also got him on the phone himself, and he left me on hold for 25 minutes till i gave up and hung up to get back to work.

 

WOW, this is the third 6 speed tranny that I know that has been broken. What did you do to your tranny to break it?

 

In all probability Jon is preping a $hit load of DSM transmissions for poeple who did NOT think ahead about their preperations for the DSM/EVO shootout next weekend. When "seasonal" work like this comes in, you get the job done, or the customers go elswhere. I would not expect Jon to be answering any phone calls, or e-mails until after Aug 14th or 15th.... then he will get swamped again with all the broken transmissions that result from the shootout

Keith

 

If he doesn't answer emails or the phone for the next 10 days I will be a very pissed off customer.

 

Well he's had mine for just about 6 weeks. I think in all fairness I should get some priority.

And taking a single*** minute out of his day to give out a tracking number wouldnt hinder him from getting a ton of dsm/evo trannys for the shoot out.

 

it is in the middle of RACING season, your story is unfortunate, but it could be "somewhere" on the shippers dock, and "issues" there. I got my TC done thru them, NO SWEAT!! It is one tough ****! I would in a second, get my tranny done there, his quality of work is A1. Don't assume its Jon at TRE's fault, I am sure he has a good logical explanation. I stand behind JON 100%, this is just too bad that you didn't get your tranny back yet, but you will Love it once it does show up.

Jon has always answered the phone for me, I called a few times, and I know he works late into the night, so that is when I call him. Good luck, and hang in there!! I have been without my car for 2 months also, and I was going NUTS also! (spun rod bearing)

 

I've had at least 5 rebuilds done by Jon. All perfect, and driven hard.

TRE has always been a top quality shop with just a few employees. Jon is a master rebuilder, and pioneered many of the super duty fixes on DSM and now on EVO transmissions. It is WELL known that he does not answer the phone when he has his hands in (YOUR) transmission. He states that prominently on his web page! You read that, didn't you? If he talked to people with questions all day, you'd never get a transmission rebuilt. It does not do much good to hire someone who does not know as much as Jon, because people call for transmission information, not to have someone say "I'll have him call you back." I've gotten e-mails from him with times like 3 a.m. -- he's still working and replying to e-mails, like he asked people to send him.

I've had a 6 speed there for some time as well. Mitsubishi US is (or was for a number of weeks) backordered on all 6 speed clusters, because of the failure rate of the stock transmissions. It's not Jon's fault that you or I bought a 6 speed, or that parts are not available from Mitsu. Nobody is going to fix it any faster without parts...

If you want touchy feely customer attention, go to your dealer.... er, local transmission shop. If you want a transmission that shifts perfect and takes mucho more abuse than stock, then STFU and wait for the delivery truck.

 

Read up on the DSM boards, and you will find that communication and customer service are not things generally associated with TRE. Earlier this year when I needed a tranny rebuild i tried to contact Jon several times (by phone and email) and all i got was a email saying to call him for more info. However Shep was much easier to get ahold of and returned my call the same day.

You will have a hard time finding someone who isn't happy with their tranny after a TRE build. But You can find many stories of several month turn aroud times. I'm sure your tranny will show up at some point, and most likely work awsome.