I have been in the process of purchasing a Stage Two Transfercase from TRE these past few weeks, and I have to say I am not happy, or impressed.

I purchased my Evo8 with 28,000 miles Feb 1 of 2009 from a mitsu dealer. The car was in good shape, but had a slight tcase whine, and an exedy stage 2 clutch ( which was terrible with the stock power levels). Any who I got an OEM clutch and drove the car with the whine.

Fast forward to December of 09. Tcase decides it was time to die. By this point I have all the mods you see in my sig.

I had been doing reasearch for quite a while, as I knew that it was only a matter of time before I needed a Tcase. As opposed to going with a rebuilt unit, I decided to purchase a new one. After talking with both Jon at TRE and John Sheppard of ShepTrans I decided to go with TRE, not because I didn't trust Shep, but because I felt Jon was a very honest down to earth guy, who does this for fun, and if I had had a good experience promote his services.

I placed the order for my Tcase on Jan 6 2010. I have yet to receive the case and have a lot of hassle over the item. I have called him NUMEROUS times, and emailed him. He rarely answer the phone, and is not very prompt in email. I do know he is attending college again, but it is quite frustrating. I have also been lied to numerous times over the date of shipping of the Tcase itself. I was originally told it would ship the 6th of January! Then the 13th, then the 19th...and was provided with a tracking number, that was incorrect.

I today, January 20th, revived from FEDEX a tracking number.

If I get enough response I will post the emails from TRE stating it would be shipped on "x" day and what not. I am not pleased with my experience and will not be doing business with Jon again, and I am wondering if my Tcase is the one i ordered ( the tracking info says it is a stage three...not that I mind the upgrade for the price I payed, but it also makes me wonder if he did upgrade the tcase at all.)

EDIT 1/26/10

The transfer case finally arrived last Friday. It was shipped nicely, but no paperwork was included. The box said Stage Three so I will assume it is. Unit did not whine and performed great. Unfortunately later that night, my friend decided to break the fist and second shift fork dowel pin and put my car out of commission for a little longer....



Overall I am not please with the customer service at all, but the product seems to be decent. Only time will really tell.

 

Reserved for emails ect...

 

Sorry to hear, why not cancel the order?

 

While I will not make excuses for Jon, he needs to make some changes.

His work on the other hand is top notch, and he is always happy to expalin EVERYTHING to you.


Getting a hold of him is a whole other story.

I have his Maxx Lock rear diff and a built tcase from him. I have had no issues with his work. Even took back my rear diff to inspect it for free after I put the worng fluid in it.


Good luck.

 

Hope you asked a Mod 1st before posting this, even so, it's in the wrong section. Otherwise this thread is just going to be deleted

 

He loves what he does and his work is simply the best hands down but his customer communication is not all that great.

I will still do business with him even though he is slow as them man is a wealth of knowledge and everytime I talk to him I learn a ton of useful info!

 

You should have just went with a Shep Unit.

 

I went with Shep for my DSM a while back, not disappointed one bit and still running strong till this day, I had it shipped to him and back within 2 weeks, and it looks awesome

 

He finally returned one of my calls one day when I was asking about a trans rebuild thru email...in 10 minutes he told me every single thing from A to Z ever about these transmissions. I was flabbergasted, hes an absolute wizard. But, impossible to get a hold of. Awesome guy though definitely.

 

Frustrating situation.

 

from what it sounds like your expecting large company customer service from a one man operation.. its hard to run the show do all the work and keep everyone satisfied.. what should really count is the quality work.. NOT if he shipped a few days late..
This is pretty petty IMO and companys are doing much worse..

 

This is nothing new when dealing with Jon @ TRE. He is a flat out liar when it comes to dealing with his customers. He is great to deal with until you send payment at which point he pretty much starts ignoring you. I know this both from personal experience and reading everyone elses' horror stories. There is always an excuse with him too...moving shops, his assistant quit, going to school, etc. I'll never recommend him or any of his services to anyone.

 

Sadly, that is my experience, too.
I saw a lot of good press, even like what is in this thread: "Quality is great." I have no issues with the quality. Yep.

What I don't like is the payment in advance. Reputable firms don't charge until shipping. Okay, even that I was willing to overlook because he is a small operation, cut him some slack.

But, when the time came to ship, according to his schedule and promises, he said he had, but didn't. Then he said it would go out the next day, but didn't. Then he actually said it was packed and ready, but when pressed, it wasn't. Then there was excuses about the shipping company, then the driver, then ... and so forth.
Finally, after more than a week after saying it had already shipped, he provided a tracking number. But the number wasn't available before because he had just shipped. But the number wasn't accurate. Upon pressing, "Ooops! Didn't give you the whole number." Then the link showed it had not even that day been picked up.

After repeatedly saying it was shipped, then would be, then was; more than a week went by and documented proof it never was. Yes, eventually it was shipped, and yes, the quality is good. I would ask the OP, did you ever get the item? Was it good shape and was the quality as expected? At least that would be worth posting an update when you get it.

But I really don't understand why some one has to lie about delivery. If he just could manage expectations I would not have been concerned and the reputation would still be intact (but he still shouldn't ask for payment weeks before shipping).

 

Well the transfercase has arrived and been installed. First post updated.

 

jeez