This will be long.

Here is the story and I would appreciate your feedback.

Sent my car to PES to have the Stage 5 upgrade Summer of 2003. Spent $40,000 on the upgrade, including upgraded clutch, brakes, etc... Went to pick up the car and drive it back to Michigan it was suppose to have 700 hp but it was only making 600. Tony (owner of PES) said he wanted to send it to GIAC in California to have them finish up the software and it would make 700 hp. Car went to GIAC.

Now Todd Z from EVO and Tony from PES are losely affliated in that they developed the stage 5 kit together and are friends. Sometime while the car was in Cali we decided to do the shootout. Todd was at GIAC and the car still wasn't making the right power so he took it back to his shop in AZ and did some tweaks.

I fly out to Cali for the shootout. We have all kinds of problems with the hoses to the intake blowing off and the car doesn't do as well as it should have in the shootout. Todd worked hard during the shootout to help me out as well as others.

I then drive 2500 miles home with nary a problem with the car. I then decide to send the car to EVO to have him replace the rubber hoses with something that will stay on and also decide to take the hp up a notch.

In Feb of 2004 I entered rehab and decide to sell the car. So Todd is asked to get the car together and send it back. He said he just replaced the hoses put the engine back in and it was running fine and he ships it back to me. When the car comes of the trailer it is smoking like a locomotive. Long story short the turbo's are shot! Put new turbo's on and it is still smoking, something is wrong with the internals.

Todd at Evo doesn't know why this is happening it was running fine when it left his shop, I don't know why this is happening it ran fine 2500 miles back from California. Anyhow I decide to send it back to PES to fix it. I send the car to them in Sept of 2004 I call repeatedly over the last 6 months to find out what is going on with my car and never get called back. Finally last Friday I get to talk with some guy named Winslow who is their new GM and he faxes me a work order.

They will not take care of any of the problems with the motor and want to charge me to fix the car, this is my first word from them after they have had the car for 6 months!

I am very frustrated and angry. I don't know who is to blame but I know when I had the car it was fine and now it is not. I think that PES should honor the work they have done to the car and fix it seeing as I paid them $40,000.00. I don't know what to do.

I can get lawyers involved but how much will that cost and how soon will my car get fixed. I obviously can't sell the car until the motor is fixed and apparently the motor is out of the car at PES.

So what are my options? I can send a truck to pick up the car and motor and bring it to Michigan to find someone to fix it. Get a lawyer involved to force PES to fix it, or pay PES to fix what they did in the first place.

HELP

 

Oh Boy! As if you don't have enough problems.

I really think PES should stand behind their work. I'm sure Todd will. It would be nice to hear from PES. Not calling over 6 months is just plain brutal and doesn't bode well.

 

yea i would expect them to step up..if they don't it will be a huge dissapointment...keep us posted and good luck!

 

ah, i think you described very well the time (months and months without the car), expense ($40K + multiple shipping) and hassle (all the shipping, driving, and phone calls) involved in modding cars. then the really great thing is after spending all the money and time, your car is worth $0 more to a little less if modded upon resale. sorry it's gotten to this point for you. this is probably why people pay so much more to work with RUF.

 

Hope someone steps up to resolve the issue rather than passing the buck...

 

I had some problems with Hennessey a few years back and decided to take my case to the internet. I posted my situation on a few forums and it took off like wild fire. People were linking it and reposting it on all kinds of different forums.

I know this put a ton of pressure on Hennessey. He eventually closed his shop, (later to re-open under a different name), and I continued my campaign. We have now settled and I did not use an attorney ... the internet is a powerful tool.

I say stay on these guys. The internet is a two edged sword. Many tuners make a killing based on the relatively cheap exposure of the internet and the testimonials given by satisfied owners. This will work against the tuners as well. If enough, proven, data is released one bad deal can erase years of great service.

If PES is reading this post, I suggest you get this thing fixed or explained quickly. You will definitely lose customers as a result of this ... I know I would never deal with you unless this thing is explained/resolved. I would also go out of my way to steer people away from you. There are two sides to every story and we would like to hear why a car would sit for 6 months and have nothing done.

The same thing happened to me with Hennessey ... ask him if he enjoyed what has happened to him since.

 

Don't let it get you down. Most of these catalog tuners don't stand by their work when they get a customer that ACTUALLY RUNS THEIR CAR HARD THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE! You have to remember that 9 out of ten guy's that buy these big horse power packages buy them for bragging rights and the odd blast down the street with a buddy(pardon the pun) in the passenger seat. they should fix your car. You were a Ginny pig for their product at your own expense and have been put to the side when you were no longer a cash cow for them. I've been there before and know what your going through.I hope thing work out for you

 

Sorry to here about your problems.I hope you get it resolved quickly.

Neil

 

I went through a similar story with probably even worse circumstances when I tuned my Skyline GTRs. In summary in the 22months I owned the two cars involved (R33GTR and R34 GTR), they spent 17months in tuners worshops. I went through 5 engine rebuilds in total and a total expense of in excess of $150,000 on parts and labour. Thats why I left Jap cars behind and returned to Porsche.

All I can say is that from this experience I decided to only have my car operated on by the finest, most reputable firm I could find in the world and to stick to one fim so there could be no arguments in the event of problems. Thats why my car was Ruf'd.

I wish you the best of luck, but when several different tuners have worked on a car in my experience the customer always ending up with no recourse.

That said there is always 2 sides to every story.

Guy

 

Well I really can´t understand how PES have kept the car for 6 months and didn´t say a word I´m not doubting your word but I find this kind of behavior uncompreesible.

Anyway their work was made back in 2003, after that date, Todd was the one who kept tuning your car, you even drop some more power on it at EVO, so i think they should be the ones to be responsable on giving you some answears.

There are some questions that might help to clarify this situation.
1 - Who was the company that put the new turbos after the smoking engine? didn´t they check the turbos before dropping a new pair of those? If the engine was smoking they should have determinate what were the cause for it.

2 - Why did you put the car at PES if EVO was the last tuner to work on your car?

3 - Did you have any warranty on the work done at your car given by PES or EVO?

From what I´ve heard, Todd is always behind his clients, so I´m sure you should get in touch with him to clarify what really happened to your car.

J.Seven

 

I hope your problem gets resolved soon. It sucks to be in a situation like this.

 

<<<There are some questions that might help to clarify this situation.
1 - Who was the company that put the new turbos after the smoking engine? didn´t they check the turbos before dropping a new pair of those? If the engine was smoking they should have determinate what were the cause for it.

2 - Why did you put the car at PES if EVO was the last tuner to work on your car?

3 - Did you have any warranty on the work done at your car given by PES or EVO?

From what I´ve heard, Todd is always behind his clients, so I´m sure you should get in touch with him to clarify what really happened to your car.>>>>

When the car was shipped back to Michigan it was sent to Alan Christian Motors because they were going to sell it for me. Then we got it and it was smoking so we Alan Christian removed the turbo's and sent them back to Todd and he sent new turbo's still didn't fix all of the problem.

According to Todd EVO really didn't do much to the car so he feels it is not his problem. Tony at PES feels since other people had been involved it's not his problem. So guess who gets screwed ME!.

PES faxed me a warranty along with the work order recently, I had never seen this warranty before. Bottom line is between Todd at EVO and Tony at PES they should figure out how to make this right.

 

And still no response from PES? Obviously, being a Porsche tuner, they read this forum. Their reputaton is dropping by the second....

 

they should take full respon... after all you paid alot of money and didnt get your money's worth

 

Called PES today as usual Tony is not in, Winslow their new GM is on vacation for 1 week. So the guy says do you want to leave a message and I said sure even though Tony won't return my call. Left me name and cell phone number. Guy says what is this regarding and I say the red Porsche turbo that has been sitting at your place for the last 6 months with nothing done to it. He says I will give Tony the message and have him call you and I am thinking YEAH RIGHT! Sure he will.

This really sucks!