socalmr

iTrader: (11)

***********************extremely long!!!!!!!!********************************

the reason for this post is not to get anything or want something extra done for me but rather to inform the evo community about my experience so that when somebody is doing some research regarding a shop in socal they will know what to expect. This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me and it is the first time I have actually written a complaint, hopefully the last, so if this is to long and has no type of format, I apologize.

About 8 weeks ago I had an appointment with tuning tech to bring my car in for some work that I had set an appointment for about a month prior and this was the second time that we had to reschedule an appointment because the 1st one got canceled.
A few days before the appointment, I called to make sure that everything was still a go and they said yes. So for obvious reasons I called the day before to say that everything is good and I will be there tomorrow morning. Jen, the wife of the owner Alfred than tells me to hold up and she will call me later in the day to make sure that everything is still on schedule. I called thru out the whole day and Jen kept telling me she's not sure yet. So of course I don't want to waste my time driving 80 miles, I kept calling till they closed and guess what? They closed and no answer and no phone call as promised. well lucky me, I had Alfred/Jen's cell phone number, so I called but they refused to pick up or even check their messages and than finally the phone got turned off.
So like any human, I am pissed as all hell.
next day in the morning, I call tuning tech and asked why no one cared to call me back and Jen says they were so busy that they were not able to and than told me that I shouldn't bring in my car because they were behind. oh yea, I was really **** now, I own a few automotive retail shops and work 7 days a week-so arranging to drop my car off 80 miles is not exactly a drop in the bucket to get a ride back that I had already arranged a few days prior. And tuning tech is very aware of what I do for a living and how busy my schedule is and still did this to me, especially since they claim to be so busy all the time you would assume that they would understand. I than asked for a refund because I had left a 2000.00 deposit 4 months prior. At this point in the conversation Jen acted like it was no big deal and ask what the card number I want the refund to go back to. as I am digging the card out of my wallet, Jen than starts asking isn't there anything she can do to keep my business, I said "no" and than she asked why I didn't call their cell phone after hours to find out if I could bring my car before I arrange for a ride, I than said why don't you check your voicemail. some more words are exchange and than she starts literally crying and begging to keep my business, I kept saying "no" because please keep in mind I have a 2.2l Cosworth stroker motor on a stock ecu and I needed to break it in before doing any tune so I had already broke in the motor and need to get this car to the shop ASAP because I am obviously running super lean and they knew about this and still didn't obviously care. (Just to let you guys know, I did call up RRE the same day to tell them my situation with my dangerous lean and they told me to just bring in the car.) So than she offered to get my car towed out there at their expense, I thought wow, what great service to make it better right now-I accepted. (By this time my dumbass should already have known the way they do business).
This was weds. (January 24) when all this happened and they had a tow truck come pick up my car. so Jen tells me that they are busy, so my car will not go on the lift till Friday(January 26) morning and will start getting worked on. They also told me that my car would be done within 5-6 days. Which is right because I did some research and found out that all competent shops would take around the same time?
Monday comes around and I decide I needed to come by to drop off some 104unleaded gas and pick up my intake manifold and throttle body to get ported because they said that they would have it off by Monday (January 29). Guess what? You got it; my car had not even been touched. "cool" I was thinking they did me a big favor by towing my car all the way out here so I should be a little more patient and they just gave me a spare intake mani and I just told them to order the works aperture 2 shipped 2 day select because it is the same as getting it ported from wot just a lot more expensive but I believed more convenient for tuning tech, since they seem to have no time to remove my intake manifold. I than asked when my car would go on the lift to start the process. Jen than opens up the schedule (like it does any good anyways) and tells me the next opening is Thursday. So my car will go up on the lift on Thurs. (Feb 1)-so basically she completely ignored the fact that she told me that it was scheduled for the Friday (January 26) that just past, but I played it off because I was just trying to be cool at this point. At this point Alfred tells me that the Tilton clutch that I brought did not come with a clutch stop and I needed one, so I told them to go ahead and get one. on that Monday(Jan 29) as well, I told Jen that I had a ticket for no frt. license and I had to take care of it before march 2, she told me that no worries my car would be done way before than(1st promise), and than she offered me that she would get it signed off by one of their highway patrol friends- so I thought cool, this should be no issue(boy was I wrong! keep reading and you guys will find out what happened with this)
Now it is Tuesday (Jan 30), and I decided I wanted to get the AMS vsr and told them to order one for me. everything is still cool and I am thinking that my car will go on the lift by Thurs so it shouldn't delay things since there is more than enough products to get started with-
Here are the products they had in hand at this time to install:
-AEM ems with all sensors (I supplied it)
-motor mounts (I supplied it)
-Zeitronix (they supplied it)
-5 speed Shep tranny (they had this for a few months before I came in)
-Tilton clutch (I supplied it)
-injectors w/all necessary parts (I supplied it)
-fuel pump (I supplied it)

Here are the products we are waiting for at this time (which according to Jen, everything showed up by the week and a half timeframe):
-AMS vsr
-works aperture ii
-works shift know
-b & m short shifter (I forgot this at my shop and got it to them by Friday because Jen said that she did not want anything to get delayed.)

So now I wait till Friday (Feb 2) comes around so I can call to see how everything is going and to see if there has been any complications. Guess what my car still did not go on the lift to get worked on yet. But Jen told me they started working on it already and start wiring up the ems and Zeitronix. And they had installed the fuel pump. So I thought that was fair.
Now Jen tells me that the car will go on the lift tomorrow (Saturday, Feb 3) to start the hard work. I was still patient.

So now come around Monday (Feb 5), I decide to call for obvious reasons to see how everything is going. Jen tells me they have been working on my car- so I asked if the clutch was in (knowing that if the clutch is in than the tranny and short shifter would be in) she said no. I than asked if the motor mounts were in she checked and said no than I asked if the AMS vsr was in and she said no. so I thought to myself " what the hell got done than?" So I was agitated and wanted to talk to Alfred to see what's up. She said that he would call me back later. Well, believe or not Alfred did call me back. of course I asked him when the car would be done- he said that I could come pick up the car Saturday(Feb 10) night(2nd promise).(I was not sure but I was almost positive that Alfred would be going to the redline time attack which was on the 10th and 11th, but I played it off like I didn't know anything about the time attack) I told Alfred that I would not be able to pick it up till the next weds(Feb 14), so that gave him a little more time and I did not want to be let down again knowing that the redline was on the weekend. he than told me that the extra time I am giving him he would do some extra tuning and some extra road tune to make sure everything is perfect.(yea right!!!!) well by weds(Feb 7) early afternoon, I get a phone call from tuning tech and they say they think something is wrong with my AEM ems because it keeps draining my battery and when they put the stock ecu back in it doesn't drain my battery. In a way I was happy to get this phone call because it meant that they were actually working on my car. So Alfred told me that he will be doing some testing tomorrow to find out what exactly is happening. I thought to myself "who the hell does that, they find out something is wrong and just push it till the next day to even try to find out what is wrong? I sure has hell do not do that in my business!" and than common sense hit me and I knew that they would lag *** because of this and it would be a perfect excuse why they could delay everything-so I called my friend up over at AEM and told him what's happening so he referred me to Henry, one of the ems techs over there. Henry than tells me to give him tuning tech's number so he could call Alfred himself and find out what is up. Sure enough he calls Alfred within 10 minutes and calls me back to tell me what he told Alfred to do. By the end of the day, I call tuning tech again to confirm they understood what Henry had said and to make sure they were going to do it the next day (Feb 8). Of course he says yes.

So to cut some of this BS short, Alfred does not do what he said till Tuesday (Feb 13). 5 days later than when he told me!!!!. sure enough the ems was defective, so I immediately called Henry over at AEM to tell him that the test he told Alfred to do has come up as defective unit, so if he could call tuning tech to tell them what they need to do. I did not need them to lag this and give me some excuse why it is taking 2 months to take out the ems out of the car to ship it to AEM- that is why I got Henry involved, so they could not try to play me as stupid and tell me they need to do this and that just to take the unit out. So tuning tech got the AEM ems out the same day (thank you!). Henry calls me on Thursday (Feb 15) and tells me they have the unit in hand and it will ship out the next day (Feb 16) and tuning tech will have it by Saturday (Feb 17). (what Henry did I am sure is pretty normal but at the time it felt like he gave me the best service ever!!! by him just calling me and being so prompt seem like something so far from what I have been dealing with). I don't even want to think how long it would have taken tuning technologies to take care of this problem if I did not stay on top off it? This is only the first problem that I have to take care for them, so keep reading!!!

Now it is Monday (Feb 19), I call up Jen to see if the ems came back already and she said it came on Saturday!!!! Wow, AEM kept their word!!! I ask if my car was being worked at the moment and she said no. And than again I get pretty pissed off and try to stay calm ask Jen tells me that they will start working on my car tomorrow again. At this point I am obviously mad, so at the end of the day I called tuning tech and ask "all lies aside and no BS, when is my car going to be done? This is getting ridiculous." They again told me that my car would be done on Saturday night (Feb 24) (3rd promise). So I said cool than it will be Saturday! I was not happy but had to accept obviously.

Fast forward to Thurs. (Feb 22), I get another amazing phone call from tuning tech; Jen tells me that they are going to have a problem with my AMS vsr because they are going to have to find a mandrel bender to make me a new uicp. I was like holy sh*t!! This can not be happening, another wonderful excuse to something they should have figure out when I order the AMS vsr. I can guarantee you that any shop that is familiar with evo's would know this from day one. it is common sense for them to know that my uicp will not fit the vsr without modifications and it is not necessary to have a mandrel bender do this work, because it could of been done a different ways with just cutting up the current pipe to make it work!. But that is okay! I than call up my good friend Kevin from Nisei (who by the way, knew what was going on because I was letting him know every step of the way) so Kevin and I drove out that day to tuning tech to fix the problem, so they could not use it as an excuse as to why they could not finish my car by Saturday (Feb 24). So Kevin took a look at the intake mani and the position and than we went to his warehouse and he made the uicp that day, all by visual. Than I had to go back to my store to close up and than drive all the way back out to tuning tech again to drop off the pipes. My day did not end till 12:30 that night- I was determined to not let tuning tech use the pipe excuse. I don't even want to think how long it would have taken tuning tech to take care of the pipe issue if I did not do it for them? So basically at this point I have taken care of all the problems that they have thrown at me- and very quickly for that matter!

Here is where it gets interesting. So when Kevin and I paid the visit to tuning tech, Alfred was very cold to me. He made it seem like I did something very wrong. Than later, I find out that he tells Kevin in so many words - that I am impatient and that I don't understand how much time it takes to build a race car correctly. I questioned his reasons behind this; he said that he feels like I have been rushing him. I than told him: "you told me that this was only going to take 4-5 days, we are going to be going into the 6th week here pretty soon." Than I asked how I ever implied that I rushed you, all I wanted was an honest answer when my car was going to be done and if it was not going to be done than at least call me and tell me. (Pretty easy business concept) but not once did anybody from tuning tech call to tell me that my car will not be done on the day they appointed for me. and not once does he agree that he has taken to long, but instead tell me that I am wrong for rushing him and to think that my car should be done already and I should understand how he runs his business- which is if my car is scheduled to be worked on, on a certain time/day than it will get worked on only between the scheduled time. So if it is not finished by the scheduled time, than to bad, they have to jump on the new car and try to squeeze me in when they can or reschedule me. pretty crazy way of doing business, but the funny thing is-if that was his concept than why the hell didn't my car get touched until like the third time it was reschedule to go on the lift. but anyways, I than contact AMS and Buschur to see how they do their business, which I believe they are a lot more busy and successful than tuning tech will ever be and I also posted a "how long should it take to install these?" thread on evom. The pm's and the thread is listed below. But anyways Alfred than goes and tells me that this is the way he does business and this is how he has got his "great reputation".

Here is the link to the thread:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=252274

Here is what Buschur had to say:
here is AMS:
I pm'ed them first and than decided to call them. I asked the same question as I asked Buschur.

and than I asked:
I want to show everyone this so you guys can see that tuning tech having my car for 8 weeks is completely ridiculous.

so Alfred basically said that I have been pressuring him and he doesn't work well that way. So basically he is implying to give him more time.

socalmr

iTrader: (11)

I am writing this complaint on a day to day basis at this point- today is actually 3/8/2007 and my car is still not back. but I will say that this time it is for a legitimate reason. tuning tech can not seem to get the ems to idle correctly, so Henry at AEM want Alfred to send it to them so they can check it. it should not take 7 weeks before I know that either they can not tune the ems or something is really wrong with my ems. if I would of found out that something was wrong with it during the first couple weeks and it is taking 5 weeks to repair it than I would say that it is out of Alfred’s hands but that obviously is not the case. it is actually taking tuning tech 7 weeks to even get to the point where they can start tuning the ems.
I go on the forums a lot and I read that a lot of people are happy with tuning tech- and 99% of the reason is because they make you feel like family or they are super nice- but as for tuning or workmanship it is not quite as praised- I wonder why? and recently I have noticed some complaints about their lagginess, hmmmm, that's news to me................... come on guys if you guys are looking for family or friends, don't do it with the shop you are doing business with. I don't ever read that Buschur or martin(AMS) are the sweetest people and they make us feel like family, all I ever read is about their accomplishments and contribution to our community.
after I posted "how long should it take to install these" on evom- I got a few emails asking me who it was that I took my car to and I told them who it was. out of the 6 pm's that I replied to 3 of them responded back saying either they got the worst experience at tuning tech or their friend got f**ked over at tuning tech. I than replied to them why they did not post anything or why their friends didn't post anything- they just said they did not want to start sh*t on the forums. well like I promised those guys, I will be having a nice thread to start it off for those guys so please let our community know your experience- don't let somebody else get tossed around by tuning tech and than invite them into the family after. if I would of read a few threads stating how tuning tech lagged as much as they do and the lack of experience, believe me, I would of either gone to RRE or just shipped my car to AMS.
above I wrote that I would talk about what happened with my ticket, well this is a whole different story and tuning tech lagged to the last minute to try and mend up what they have done to me. but just for the record they did do me a favor and got it signed off by a chp, 1 day before it was due.(mar 1) and to let you guys know I was calling them about this ticket for almost 2 weeks in advance and I did tell them about the ticket during the first week of my car being at tuning tech. they said that my car would be done way before the ticket due date.

today is 3/13/2007(Tues)- I decided to just pull the plug and get my car towed to a different place. so I called tuning tech to see if it was okay and they said it was okay. but today was very interesting, Jen found out about the thread "how long should it take to install these" thread, even though I did not state a shops name she knew that it was me and that it was referring to them. Jen called me up screaming about that and how I could do this to them and just completely vented on me. just for the record I fired back and got really upset as well. she asked me how I could call up their driver(Paul Gerrard) and tell him what's happening. I told her that I just did not just go and tell Paul out of the clear blue sky about what is happening with my car, but rather it was part of a conversation with him because Paul, martin(AMS) and I are working together on my car to get it ready for the time attack and some serious coaching. so obviously Paul wants to know when will I be getting started with him and I told him what's up-so I guess Paul either talked to them or got a mutual friend to do it . and I am spending over 30k between Paul and AMS for coaching and race prep, so you better believe that things like this I will consult them. I also questioned her again about why Alfred said the crap about me to Kevin because it seemed like they feel they have made no mistakes and my expectations which they imbedded in me that my car would take 5-6 days and all the times they promised me my car would be done and didn't come thru, and she completely lied and said that Alfred called me to apologized about that. they really believe that they are a bunch of angels at tuning tech. well anyways, today got very ugly and personal and absolutely very unprofessional. there was a lot more that was talked about that I won't get into but at this point I really knew that I better get my car out of there.

today is 3/14/2007(weds)- when I went to pick up my car everything seem to be going so well until Jen approached me. she knew that I was going to post about my experience with them and she was trying so many ways to stop me. she threaten me and told me that her story is much longer than mine and she said she could call up martin(AMS) and tell him what kind of person I am, I told her to go ahead and call martin and see what happens and than I told her that I will take what she has said to me as a threat. I am the customer and I do not see how the owner of the shop could be talking to me like this, very unprofessional and immature. how did I become the bad guy because I believe that 8 weeks is way to long. what trips me out on this whole thing is that tuning tech is not apologetic about how long it took for a second. even though they broke so many promises. so by the end of the day when I got a chance to really look over the car I noticed the box that I shipped my short shifter in. the box was completely unopened exactly as I shipped it to them, the short shifter was never installed. today was a continuation of what was talked about yesterday, Jen cried again in front of me and begged me that I post something about them, to just imply that it was specifically her and not tuning tech as a company. and like I told her, I will tell the story like it is.

today is 3/15/2007(Thurs)-I called Jen in the morning because I text her last night when I found out about my short shifter and she responded this morning to please call her. I will say that her tone has changed completely and was much more pleasant- she said that she was sorry and she would have one of her installers come out there to install it. I said it was okay because I already installed it last night. but she had to add some crap to it and said another reason why they took so long was because they had to stop all business and focus on Smogrunner's car to get it ready for the time attack and that was an extra 1 1/2 weeks on down time. that was never told to me until today-but I kind of already knew it as you read in the above statements. today I also read on socalevo.net that they have another unhappy customer- wow! how surprising.

there are positive things that happened as well, I won't lie. but honestly, it pretty much all gets washed out by so many more negatives. like when they got my ticket signed off, I appreciate it but I was on there *** for 2 weeks to do something about this because I warned them about it, either finish my car or get the ticket signed off as promised-and sure enough it gets signed off 1 day before the due date while they had my car for over a month at this point. also the way they accepted my final payment, in my mind I thought I was doing them a favor but I guess they thought that they were doing me a favor, which is fine but I came thru with my side of the payment but they did not come thru on there side which I did not get my short shifter installed and I did not get the 1000.00 dyno tune for my ems as agreed for the deal. but yet I did not take anything away from them and gave them what I promised, which honestly I feel really stupid doing because I should of short changed them like they did me. and I do appreciate all the times that they spent on the phone dealing with me but that is all a part of making the money, more money comes more problems! and than lastly I wish I would have been more thankful of them towing my car over there but because of my experience I can honestly say I wish Jen would have just let me go to road race engineering.

I think this basically sums everything up, I own a few automotive businesses and I know that we can not please everyone but I believe this situation went way beyond that "from 5-6 days to 8 weeks unfinished". and like I said I do not expect anything from them and nothing is fixable at this point. I am writing this for the evo community and hopefully it will help the next guy who decides to do major work at tuning tech. I know that there are a lot of happy tuning tech customers out there but most of them are not major work, which nothing is wrong with that but I don't believe that tuning tech is as capable of a shop as I believed being that they charge more for labor than Buschur and AMS(I have this info documented in a pm if necessary). how experienced is tuning tech? I don't know but somebody else is going to have to be their learning curve and it obviously won't be me because they did not finish my car.

MONSTARR

iTrader: (6)

Did you post this on SocalEvo?

lightspeed1

iTrader: (7)

WOW!! My heart goes out to you!! What I find interesting is something in regards to Mike, and RRE...... They blow for blow, do less advertising than say Buschur, TT, AMS, etc....(respectfully), BUT, thay are just as acclaimed...if not more! Good luck on everything,,,

chaotichoax

iTrader: (149)

should be in the service, parts, and tuning section but I hear you man

a lot of shops are a joke...I just watched Sharkbite2000's video of his car at Pruven

it's very difficult to trust people these days

where are you having the car finished at?

best of luck to you

1NastyEvo

iTrader: (10)

I posted over at Socalevo David, best of luck.


-Arbi

Evo8

iTrader: (24)

Wow dude, long, but sucks........ I kinda feel you on that one.

It took 3 different shops 2 years to replace an engine in my Z32. Last shop took less than 3 weeks though. But I was completely discouraged.

BTW, you might want to "release" a shorter version of you thread. It took me well over 20 min. to read it.

As far as Jan goes and her crying, screw that. You can't trust any shop these days

Best of luck to you man

tony_b

iTrader: (31)

Forget about the Evo, get your shift key fixed!
Being long isn't bad but no capitalization made it a pita to read...

riceball777

iTrader: (33)

sigh

thats just bull crap
so much for tt being one of the best shops and best places to dyno evos
i'll take my business to harmen instead of tt after hearing this

Evo8

iTrader: (24)

^^^ That's the intention of the thread, to warn people...

I feel like we need a comment from the shop here too, just to see what they have for an excuse. No flamming though on one another.

I assume there are shop employees here, right?

Aby@MIL.SPEC

iTrader: (161)

I am sorry ot hear about yor experience. It's flat out wrong.

Shop's need to be honest & upfront. "we are busy, so expect delays" it's really simple, if a customer is looking to do business with you in the first place, they will be willing to wait to have it done right, as long as your upfront about it.

This isnt the 1st time that people have commented about TT doing them wrong....I hope TT steps up & makes things right & starts doing business right.

Where is RNR now......

Since moving to a new facilty & having to deal with all new vendors, we have been getting screwed over ( false / unfulfilled promises).

So now, we request that new vendors sign performance aggreements/contracts:

so if you finish early & everything is done correctly +5% bonus, if its on-time - 1 week late, aggreed on fee. Now, if it's late due to poor planning, cant do the job correctly, problems on their side, etc., then the cost amount is reduced x% over time.

btw, who built your 2.2L stroker?

Smogrunner

iTrader: (5)

I'm off to work, but I know that Alfred will post up today to explain what happened. I want eveyone to know that there is definitely two sides to this story. No doubt there were a some delays that were Tuning Technologies fault, but folks would be wise to withhold judgement until both sides of the story are known.

mchuang

iTrader: (11)

If you own automotive shops, why did you go to them in the first place. I would have just had my mechanics put on everything possible and then just got it tuned. I pretty sure you could have had the parts that you ordered shipped to you personally and it also seems like you have a lot of connections in the industry.

JambaJuice

iTrader: (6)

...hopefully Alfred can take care of you or you both can work something out...

...personally TT has treated me well and my experience was perfect

...good luck to you both...

lexat20

iTrader: (24)

I read almost the entire post, skimmed a little. That really sucks. I dont think you mentioned what happened to your license plate ticket?