Vendor Accountability Thread

Bad Guru

Hello everyone . As far as Defamation of Character . For him to be able file a suit on me it has to be a lie ! This is not a lie . If this man wants file go ahead I have my ducks in a row.
His screen name is Richard55 if you want to know more.
Email me.
He is a parts changer and not a good one at that. If he were it would be right.
He never goes on facts he just Assumes.
He will always will think of me when something goes wrong because that what he did to me was wrong.

Thanks for the heads up Cokecan42. Since I don't have the $$$ to do repairs to my Jetta in question I wanted to first establish conversation with mech in question here. At this point, if there are questionable practices, i will avoid until resolved, if ever. In a situation like this I'm thankful for you guys for taking time to let us know what's gong on. I understand its your word against his and we'll let his actions play out. In the meantime, Jetta will sit anyway. Last time I had an issue - I trailered it all the way to St Louis from Atlanta to get oilhammer to work on a major repair - and I'm forever thankful for his quality work but that was a huge expense but gave me peace of mind knowing his honesty and capabiliities.

Cokecan42 said:

Bad Guru
Back several months ago I paid a man $3500.00 to rebuild my Golf tdi bew.
This person totally messed up my motor. There is oil that literally runs out of my exhaust after about 40 miles.
I carried the car back to him and it sat in his garage for over 2 months . This person was telling me he had taken the motor out and carried it to a machine shop and got it magna fluxed . He told me the man at the machine shop found a crack in the block. He was relaying all this information to me. I was telling him to tell the man at the machine shop to call me. This man that was doing the rebuild had already started looking for a block. I even went as far as to ask for the machine shop's name and ph number so I could ask about this cracked block myself, again no response back.
I started getting suspicious when he would not answer my phone calls, would not answer my text messages, so my son and I went and rented a car trailer form U-haul. Oh by the way, I have a total of $1500.00 in fuel and rentals on U-haul going back and forth to this person to get my car fixed, and still it's not fixed!
My son and I went down and I called him about 50 yards from his house, no answer. Then the phone rang, it was him! I told him I was there to get my car. He said I couldn't, I said bull****.
He said he could not help me get it out of his garage, I told him my son was there to help with that.
We went down and he opened the door, I walked over raised the hood on my car and the engine was sitting right in place, I said imagine that. I looked over and said don't stand there and tell me you pulled the engine, had them magna flux the engine and put it back, he said I did and I told him I didn't believe him. Five minutes later he had admitted he didn't touch the engine for 2 months. Lied to me the whole time.
So thats the story. Paid the man and he didn't do the job he was suppose to have.
I am giving him a chance to do the right thing and give me my money back.....OR I'm going to create a link on Google and post all my evidence. This will show what he was suppose to do, but didn't, an itemized list of everything. I will also post pictures where you can see the oil dripping out of my exhaust.
Then the last action I will take, pending the outcome of the post from the link, will be file a law suit against him.
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

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I would like to provide a more linear timeline to these events as they occurred.
10/18/2014 Replaced Cam lifters and Timing belt on Tim's 2005 Golf as seen in his post here:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4642677&postcount=163
A Year Goes By...
09/27/2015:Tim contacted me about a auto to manual swap and I referred him to another vendor in the Carolinas to do the swap. Its outcome is seen here:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4915837&postcount=28
11/08/2015: Post for mentioned work the two vendors informed Tim that his Golf most likely had been Hydro locked. Tim called me brought his car back to diagnose the issue. Note upon arrival the Car was running very poorly. Based on the information Tim provided at this time, I advised him that the head would need to be pulled. After head was removed number 4 cylinder deck height was less than the rest of the cylinders, removed all pistons and rods and were sent in to machine shop with head for spec. Found exhaust valve in Cylinder 4 to be bent and discovered number 2 and number 4 connecting rods were bent as well. Called Tim to inform him, he ask me to find a set of used rods to conserve cost as he had already invested so much into the car. Sourced and specked a set of 4 used connecting rods. Head rebuilt including new guides, Valves, and Seals and all seats reground. Checked Block for taper and roundness, all within specs.
Reassembled with new Rings, bearing, and all new bolts. Break-in procedure and following second oil change I advised Tim to tow the Golf home and complete break in procedure varying RPM as per suggested break in procedure. Tim arrived with out tow trailer and decided to drive the Golf back to North Carolina against my advisement. .
11/24/2015 Tim informs me that the car is smoking.
On 11/27/2015 Tim informs me that he believes he has blown the motor in the golf.
"Sounded like a cannon went off" "I think I blew my motor Richard"
I asked him to bring the car back down for further inspection. When the golf was delivered Tim drove the car off of the trailer with excessive oil leaking from tail pipe. Note that there was less than a quart of oil in pan when car was driven on/off the tow trailer when it arrived.
12/06/2015 Turbo was removed and found to be completely blown apart. Exhaust turbine missing in exhaust system and cold side in pieces, and blown thru the intake system. Contacted Tim with pictures and suggested removing the charge system and replace intercooler. I advised Tim on two separate occasions that there was over a quart of oil in the IC and metal from the turbo through out the induction system, also that with out tearing the motor down there was no way of determining if there was further damage to the motor. His input "I figure it's ok cause idling it runs pretty smooth" Tim declined the replacement or further tear down and asked me to clean the intercooler as best that I could and replace the turbo. Compression test showed a compression range of 480lbs-510lbs across 4 cylinders. Tim informed me he would have his local muffler shop remove the exhaust system to find and remove the remaining metal parts and pieces and oil from the exhaust system.
12/10/2015 I advised Tim in text message to tow the car home as the exhaust turbine wheel was still in the exhaust system and over a 1 and 1/2 quarts of oil in the exhaust as well, that the car should not be driven or ran until the metal parts were found. Tim drove the car back to North Carolina.
Tim calls a few days later to inform me that the car is still smoking badly. I asked him to bring the car back down to determine the cause. It was Tim's impression that I carry the burden of cost on parts and labor to repair his car. I refused. Due to the turbo blowing up post repair. I would donate my time to diagnose the problem. Gratis. As soon as possible as there were customers cars waiting in my shop. I was unable to get the car into my shop due to the bad weather at the end of December and early January.
1/11/2016 I had Major Ankle Replacement Surgery from which I am still recovering as Tim and other Members are aware of.
Thinking I could work on the car any day as I recovered, I advised him that work was being done by another member SilverDieselDemon, who also offered to donate time, This was my mistake as I was not able to work on the car due to recovery and the work schedule of the other member.
In summation; What happed to the car between 2014 when he was totally satisfied with all repairs and when I saw the car again in 2015? (Hydro-Locked)
Second question, How do I have any reasonability when Tim totally blew the turbo up in the car post engine rebuild? The major fact that the OP conveniently left out.

vwjettadsl said:

MAXRPM, I understand your reason for posting in this thread. I genuinely hope that you and Whitbread can resolve things. But posting things like the above post is going beyond trying to have matters resolved, you are just bashing him now. No place for that, this is a vendor accountability thread, not a bashing thread.
Personally I have never dealt with Whitbread, so I'm saying this without bias toward either one of you.
Best wishes to both of you, and I hope things can be resolved soon.

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I stayed quiet no more posting after you posted this, I did make like 5 calls and several texts to Matt W after your above comment, so I was basically trying to resolve our issues,, but guess what no response from him whatsoever,,, so I do not believe it is bashing him, going forward with this matter pls advice me how would I phrase what is going now with him?? so I do not bash him,,, your best wishes were great and I thank you for that, but there is no intention from him to even try to resolve it,,, that shows you and the rest how unprofessional he is,,, he owes me money and a few parts,,,

Any suggestions from any members would be appreciated,,,, maybe Ryan P would help me again to get him here on the forum>>

Matt just texted me that it would be 4 weeks until he starts working on my project, let see how truthful he is this time??

"Joint Base San Antonio updates U.S. military off-limits list ... adds MJM Autohaus"

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...ntonio-could-get-in-6976487.php#photo-9423051

"Image 5 of 23 MJM Autohaus: 10740 Hillpoint

Type of establishment: Auto parts distributor
Ban effective date: Jan. 7, 2015"

Ha ha

ehanc69 said:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...ntonio-could-get-in-6976487.php#photo-9423051

"Image 5 of 23 MJM Autohaus: 10740 Hillpoint

Type of establishment: Auto parts distributor
Ban effective date: Jan. 7, 2015"

Click to expand...

Wow..... That says a LOT.

MJM BBB alert. F ranking.

http://www.bbb.org/central-texas/bu...s/mjm-autohaus-inc-in-san-antonio-tx-90020349

IDParts Comes Through

I wanted to post this and I hope Kudos are allowed.

I ordered a bunch of parts for a suspension refresh. Had to travel a long way and take a day off to get to the "guru" who was to install the parts and do a lift of my 04 Golf.

About 2 hours into the job, I received a call from the mechanic who informed me that the Koni FSD kit sent by IDParts was the wrong setup.

Needless to say, this was a major inconvenience in that I lost a day of my life and I had to reschedule.

I outlined this situation with the good folks at IDParts with whom I've dealt with many times before. They were totally stand-up and acknowledged the mistake and most importantly, made it right.

I won't get into details about the terms of that resolution but suffice it to say that my relationship with IDParts will continue unabated and that I really feel that they do everything they can to correct mistakes that sometimes occur.

I am satisfied with the resolution and want to give them a shout out as a result.

Cheers -- Eric

Kerma experience

I just had an interesting experience with Kerma. I won't go into the details at this time, but it was basically a "he said" (one of their salesman) vs "he said" (me).
In a nut shell, I called them over the holidays about a turbo deal a competitor was running, and because they are my tuner I wanted to know if they would match the price and protect my tune upgrade. The answer was no, but it didn't matter they would still send me a re-tune for free if I bought the 3bar map sensor from them because you can't use the sensor without a tune.
Fast-forward to yesterday when I asked for my tune, based on what their salesman told me at the time. Well, I basically had to defend the choice I made based on the advice of that salesman, thru a series of emails. Finally, after half a dozen emails we (I'm assuming Charlie because there is never a signature on their emails) worked it out and were "best buds".
Then a short time later there was an email sent to Charlie (again I presume) and I was cc'd, as were others. This letter was from someone named Chris Blitch, basically calling me a lier and insinuating that I might not have even called them (initially).
Other than the last email from Charlie, the whole exchange was unprofessional on their part, with the ringer being the last email. Since they claim that many people are in the loop for these emails, I expected to hear from someone else by now (24hrs). I was ready to call them and pay for my re-tune until I got that last email. Now that I'm sufficiently ticked off, I'll need to think on it over the weekend.
Just to be clear, this isn't a vendor vs vendor issue. This is all about how I was handled as a returning customer.
I am very disappointed.

swetbak said:

I just had an interesting experience with Kerma. I won't go into the details at this time, but it was basically a "he said" (one of their salesman) vs "he said" (me).
In a nut shell, I called them over the holidays about a turbo deal a competitor was running, and because they are my tuner I wanted to know if they would match the price and protect my tune upgrade. The answer was no, but it didn't matter they would still send me a re-tune for free if I bought the 3bar map sensor from them because you can't use the sensor without a tune.
Fast-forward to yesterday when I asked for my tune, based on what their salesman told me at the time. Well, I basically had to defend the choice I made based on the advice of that salesman, thru a series of emails. Finally, after half a dozen emails we (I'm assuming Charlie because there is never a signature on their emails) worked it out and were "best buds".
Then a short time later there was an email sent to Charlie (again I presume) and I was cc'd, as were others. This letter was from someone names Chris Blitch, basically calling me a lier and insinuating that I might not have even called them (initially).
Other than the last email from Charlie, the whole exchange was unprofessional on their part, with the ringer being the last email. Since they claim that many people are in the loop for these emails, I expected to hear from someone else by now (24hrs). I was ready to call them and pay for my re-tune until I got that last email. Now that I'm sufficiently ticked off, I'll need to think on it over the weekend.
Just to be clear, this isn't a vendor vs vendor issue. This is all about how I was handled as a returning customer.
I am very disappointed.

Click to expand...

Wow, that sucks. I've dealt with Kerma before and no complaints here. Hopefully they get it all ironed out and all parties involved are happy.

I thought posting here was supposed to be only as a last resort? We are still intending to work with swetbak on this. Or at least that is my intention. It was like, a day ago. My intention was to let it cool down a little over the weekend before responding, But I guess a forum post kinda forces the issue.

In Chris's defense, he didn't call you a liar - but he did express skepticism. (read what he wrote again) Keep in mind, this was not intended for your consumption, and wasn't worded as such. But it goes without saying that it was pretty careless on his part that you were included in the CC.

IMO posting here was a bit premature, it only makes everything more difficult. We could resolve this outside the forums.

His complaint was about the lack of professionalism, which you've now just proven further by stamping your foot here. I agree he didn't necessarily use the thread as intended, but you letting "it cool down a little over the weekend before responding" makes me shake my head as to why you even chose to share that information.

You scoop enough business through these forums (as do other vendors), so you need to deal with you dirty laundry being aired. Unlike on Facebook.

KERMA said:

I thought posting here was supposed to be only as a last resort? We are still intending to work with swetbak on this. Or at least that is my intention. It was like, a day ago. My intention was to let it cool down a little over the weekend before responding, But I guess a forum post kinda forces the issue.

In Chris's defense, he didn't call you a liar - but he did express skepticism. (read what he wrote again) Keep in mind, this was not intended for your consumption, and wasn't worded as such. But it goes without saying that it was pretty careless on his part that you were included in the CC.

IMO posting here was a bit premature, it only makes everything more difficult. We could resolve this outside the forums.

Click to expand...

In my defense about being premature, yeah maybe from most points of view, but you've posted on this forum that you try to respond quickly, sometimes within minutes. Even on weekends. After waiting 1,440 minutes I felt like it was last resort. I was pretty ticked.

I could respond to a few other things, but lets take this off the forum. I'll l PM you and you can have the last word here if you like.

Well, I tried but your PM box is full.
You can call me after 8am on Monday.
239-822-1980
Paul

Who's MJM Autohaus?

Kerma comes through!

Several months ago I bought a very clean 2003 Jetta TDI with near 300K miles on it which has a Kerma 150 HP Kit and tune installed. The upgrade was done a few years ago and included a VNT 17 turbo, Bosio 1019 nozzles, stronger clutch, 3 bar map, and the ECU mapping.

When I got the car, it was not running exactly right and smoking (black) like a freight train. Working with Charlie and Anuthee at Kerma, they helped me in evaluating the issues and providing technical solutions. Over the course of a couple of months, we got the car running very well and I am pretty impressed with the tune performance.

All this was done at no cost to me. They reviewed VCDS logs I ran and spent considerable time over e-mail, even on weekends when I had a question. All in all, I am impressed with the quality of support I received, even in light of the fact that I was not the original purchaser of the equipment and tune.

On March 9th post #365 I posted Matt says will get a hold of me within 4 weeks for sure, which would have been middle of April 2016, guess what up until now I have sent him texts, made phone calls and still no Matt within sight, still needing my turbo, my new .0658 gear, tranny and he is just so irresponsible, any advice

MAXRPM said:

On March 9th post #365 I posted Matt says will get a hold of me within 4 weeks for sure, which would have been middle of April 2016, guess what up until now I have sent him texts, made phone calls and still no Matt within sight, still needing my turbo, my new .0658 gear, tranny and he is just so irresponsible, any advice

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Get an attorney.

What else can you do?

I'm not bashing just stating the obvious.

jasonTDI said:

Get an attorney.
What else can you do?
I'm not bashing just stating the obvious.

Click to expand...

Jason i am trying to figure out and wondering when do you consider bashing someone (like I've been told here?? ) I hope now he does NOT come up about the shop he is still building the framing around ? Otherwise it would be an eternity like the Romans, ??

GTiTDi/Schnell Vendor: How Not To Speak to People

I recently had the unfortunate displeasure of corresponding with GTiTDi regarding the purchase of a GTB2260VKLR for sale in the private items for sale subforum.

First, this is about as petty as it gets. Name calling, profanity?, general rudeness, zero courtesy. Basically the worst parts of craigslist. This comment is not a vendetta. It's simply me exercising my freedom to speak about the displeasure of communicating with people on the internet, a risk we all take when we login. I do not consider myself an angel, not even close, but I'm far from the "condescending pr**k" that GTiTDi labeled me as. I'm not a victim. My background is that I am a United States Marine Corps officer with 16 years of service, veteran of OIF and OEF. Please read the email correspondence below to decide for yourself whether or not you should be conducting business with the individual by the screen name of GTiTDi.

My recommendation is shaped by sending pictures to over 20 members who do not reply back. Most have seemingly no idea of what a GTB2260VKLR is, and most do not even reply once they receive pictures, but all that aside, this particular correspondence won the internets for today. A masterpiece of how people conduct themselves from a far.

GTiTDi sent a PM as follows:

"Interested in your 2260? any pics? text to xxx-three one three xxxx" [changed for privacy]

To which I responded with:
"I don't have the pictures on a device that I can text you with, their on my desktop computer. It would be much easier to email them to you. Do you have an email I send email them to? Thanks, Josh"

I received a PM response with just the email in response:
dx.xxb@xxxxx.com [changed for privacy]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emails: The first is below wherein I sent 18MB of high res pictures attached to the message.

-------- Original message --------
From: Joshua
Date: 6/14/2016 1:56 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: GTiTDi
Subject: FS GTB2260VKLR Turbo



Hello ,

Here are the pictures of the turbo. It's such a godsend of a turbo for our TDIs, big flow, ball-bearing VNT, and water cooled!

Please let me know if you are interested or just window shopping.

Thanks,
Josh

Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:26:56 -0400
Subject: RE: FS GTB2260VKLR Turbo
From: GTiTDi
To: Josh

it will definitely need the turbine inlet cut and welded to make it even remotely useable on a vw engine...

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S®6 active, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: Josh
Date: 6/14/2016 2:34 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: GTiTDi
Subject: RE: FS GTB2260VKLR Turbo



You were under the impression a turbo for a Mercedes-Benz turbo would simply bolt onto a TDI without modification? You might be better off going with another turbo.

Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2016 16:45:58 -0400
Subject: RE: FS GTB2260VKLR Turbo
From: GTiTDi
To: Josh

wow you're a condescending prick. there are multiple configurations of 2260, buddy






Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S®6 active, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

From: Josh
To: GTiTDi
Subject: RE: FS GTB2260VKLR Turbo
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2016 16:12:01 -0500

I plan to share this correspondence in its entirety on tdiclub, in case someone has the displeasure of interacting with you in the future.

You're welcome for the pictures Mr.____? I love going out of my way for people who resort to bad name calling.

Cheers,
Josh

Well, maybe you shouldn't have been so condescending to him, then he might not have reacted the way he did. What does this have to do with him as a vendor? Did you order something from him? Did he do work on your car?

I see this as nothing more than a retaliatory post because he reacted to something condescending you said in a way you didn't like and you thought you could use this forum to teach him a lesson. I'm sorry, but this isn't Facebook.

Besides, you obviously haven't met more of the VW mechanics crowd, some make him look like Santa Claus.

Abacus said:

Well, maybe you shouldn't have been so condescending to him, then he might not have reacted the way he did. What does this have to do with him as a vendor? Did you order something from him? Did he do work on your car?

I see this as nothing more than a retaliatory post because he reacted to something condescending you said in a way you didn't like and you thought you could use this forum to teach him a lesson. I'm sorry, but this isn't Facebook.

Click to expand...

I agree.

"You were under the impression a turbo for a Mercedes-Benz turbo would simply bolt onto a TDI without modification? You might be better off going with another turbo."

Could have been, "Since a turbo for a M-B would need modification to bolt onto a TDI, you might be better off going with another turbo. Let me know if you need any other help."

Bobby,

I would not have reacted to the comment you reacted to. No need for it. It was not constructive. Maybe the guy was just telling you about the work he need to do. Maybe it was just a comment as part of a possible price negotiation.

You had more than 20 people not get back to you and you don't like the conversation you had with the ONE person who got back to you?

Marine - YOU need to look in the mirror!

Need for extra vigilance to our own 'tone'

I wouldn't normally pile another comment on, as I think Marine Bobby probably got the point by now, but this story serves as a good reminder that when we are typing responses, we should always read them out loud to ourselves if there's any possibility of being perceived as 'passive aggressive' tone.

You wouldn't want to be addressed in that way, so be careful not to accidentally be perceived as doing it to another.

MAXRPM said:

Jason i am trying to figure out and wondering when do you consider bashing someone (like I've been told here?? ) I hope now he does NOT come up about the shop he is still building the framing around ? Otherwise it would be an eternity like the Romans, ??

Click to expand...

No ill meant towards you whatsoever. I get it. I'd be beyond mad. I hope you get it sorted.

This is more a gripe than a real problem, since I'll eventually have everything resolved without issue doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Large company customer service, actually helping people doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Fedex lost an alternator that I bought from Rock Auto. Of course its not R fault but their response is just customer service friendly. they basically said that theycant do anything until FEDEX completes the investigation. This wont be until Monday at the earliest. At that point, they will either refund me or send a new alternator, which I possibly would not get until July 5. Meanwhile, my car sits up on ramps.

What really pissed me off though is that the CS rep said we can ship you one in 3-4 days, next Monday, which is not true. Its 4 days to ship from their Colorado warehouse and it took an extra day to get it out of the warehouse the first time.

Further, I asked them to cancel the order and call fedex to have the alternator returned to them. they said this was not possible, even though its very easy for them to do.

I'm giving fedex til tomorrow to find and deliver it, and them I'll have Fedex return it to the sender (if found)and go through my CC company. I really should have just gone up the street and bought it from my local TDI parts guy.

It seems like its all about holding my money as long as they can.

UPDATE: The good news is that FEDEX found my alternator in their CT warehouse and I got it today. Of course this still does not excuse the lack of helpful options offered by RockAuto.

*******BUYER BEWARE******

My first ever post in this thread.

With risk of getting banned of this site for anyone who wants to falsely accuse me or treat me as this SPV (which is stupid), my warning to others...be very careful dealing with dark-side development. I recently bought a 2012 JSW and discovered my inter cooler hoses are leaking at the clip connectors, I had the bright idea...upgrade my inter-cooler.

The backdrop here is I had waded through dark-side developments website looking for an inter-cooler upgrade. Upon shifting through the options I realized my install was contingent on whether hoses are available or not, in other words I cannot hook up the inter-cooler unless the hoses work out. I settled on a flea bay inter-cooler copy with is basically the same one listed on dark-sides website as the S3 upgraded inter-cooler. I ordered said inter-cooler and at the same time, with much difficulty I ordered the TDI specific pre-molded hose kit advertised by dark-side to fit this inter-cooler. The only way this would work is because of the TDi specific pre-molded hoses and only dark-side makes and sells them. Here are the hoses, the one on the right I never received.


instead I received this:




Unfortunately I had the misfortune of dealing from someone named Danny at dark-side. Talking to him via email was a complete nightmare.

First off he had no clue about the product and could not help me make sure I was in fact selecting the right hoses from their website as where three options. At one point he actually tried to convince me none of their hoses would fit my car and instead tried to up-sell me a complete metal and silicone hose replacement kit because as he stated nothing would fit. He then later just relented and said if it looks like it will fit then try it out.

I kept sending him links to the product I was trying to order and he still couldn't figure it out, but he told me to select one of the options. Finally, unconvinced they would get the order correct I had to take a screen shot of the picture on their website and send it as an attached file so he could visually see it, and it is a good thing I did that because he said he still had it wrong as he still had no idea what part I actually ordered, I do not think he ever even bothered to open the links and he didn't seem to care but he looked at the pic he claims.

After reassuring me he had it sorted out and the correct parts where on the way I felt extremely frustrated but relieved at least I could move forward with the repairs and get the job done. Well 2 days passed and the parts arrived, excited I opened the box and low and behold one part was correct and the other one was wrong!!! I got one pre-molded hose and the second one was just a generic 90 degree hose.

Angry now and feeling very much betrayed and deceived I email back and took another pic of the box and its contents. Danny gave me this bizarre story of how that part was out of stock and the warehouse packers just stuck a generic hose in the box to try and get me to make it fit and if it did not then oh well. Danny told me how the workers did not have access to our email conversations and it was their fault and now they say the part was on back order. In the same sentence he tells me its on back order until 7/20/2017!!! and in he same sentence he tells me it will ship out probably by Friday of this next week and then tells me there was a notation on the website that states this, but, if you actually read it, it does not say for which kit is the expected dispatch date since there are no less than three kits. This guy can't even get his own stories straight. To add insult to injury he wants me to do his work for him by measuring and then weighing the box and the hose. I suggested he needed to send a return shipping label inside the new box with the correct part and i will then slap it on the old back and have DHL send it back. He then proceed to tell me because I had laid out a good strategy to return the part that I had a bad attitude and he asked me if I can change my attitude! He wanted to get me to jump through hoops to measure and weigh the box and parts! He told me he would not send a return shipping label unless I measured and weighed the box!

Whats funny is Danny already knew exactly what box the part was shipped in and the exact shipping weight of the product, like I said...insult to injury. So being the nice guy that I am I went out and borrowed a scale and told him, again, its a DHL #3 box, so I even jumped through his hoops to take away any excuses from this guy...

Well don't I feel like a fool. Now i get another email with another excuse, can you believe he now tells me the "warehouse" packers tell him the one hose (of the two part companion hoses) is no longer in production because "they changed the silicone" (whatever that means) and I should try and make the one I have somehow work.

So after I called Danny out on what I feel is merchandise bullying or possible fraud, he tells me to send the part back and he offers to refund me my money, what a joke.

First of all I am aware of no other manufacture outside of possibly APR (and I doubt there hose is compatible), who sells this pre-molded hose. These hoses are part of a kit, a set to include two TDI specific special shaped pre-molded hoses to connect the factory plastic boost pipes to this particular inter-cooler. Danny insists the one hose I received I can just "make it fit"

I believe Danny knows dark-side is the only manufacture of these TDI specific pre-molded hoses and he tried to convince me the parts I viewed on the website would not fit so he could up-sell me into a full metal/silicone pipe kit so he could profit. I believe when I didn't bite on that, Danny got frustrated and further attempted to twist my arm by purposefully shipping me only one of the two part TDI specific hose kit with the wrong hose (again after he saw the picture and told me it was all sorted and assured me I was getting both hoses in the picture) and in doing so actually stole money from me by shipping a cheaper, easier to manufacture hose, instead of the more expensive pre-molded TDI specific hose. I believe Danny knows that if dark-side stopped manufacturing one of the hoses they would also have to stop manufacturing the other hose as they are a matched set with specific shape and fitment and only work with one inter-cooler and no others. By that logic, Without the proper hoses, it would render the entire S3 upgraded inter-cooler useless for all TDI owners. Yes there are hoses for other engines such as the gas motors, but not for the TDI. I believe Danny is trying to profit by extortion and now he tells me I have to pay to ship the wrong hose back and if I do so i will get a refund even though my entire project will have to be scrapped.

This issue is unresolved. I contacted RYANP on here as I do not trust who this Danny person is and his status or relationship to RYANP. They may be the exact same person for all I know. I just want the correct hose so I can move forward with my repairs, nothing more. With that being being said, I do firmly believe there was an attempt by Danny to financially manipulate and extort me for more money by attempting to sell me parts I did not need or ask for and when I did not bite, he now does not want to sell or ship me the correct part even if it was out of stock or on back order. Now he wants me to pay to return the one hose that is wrong in another effort to steal from me by making me pay for their errors or fraud. Now I wait and see if this post will get me banned from tdi club and hopefully I will see what kind of man this RYANP vendor is and what he will do to correct this situation. I just want my hose.



****update****

Danny claims he is RYANP.

Now I get a new story he says the design has been updated but wont tell me anything more. This just goes from bad to worse. I suspect Danny is not RYANP but has access to his emails.

How could the owner of dark-developments not know their own products? How could that person, tell me they personally made sure all parts advertised were in the box when shipped but knowingly and willfully lie about it. How could that person, the owner of dark-side developments, tell me they had to find out from the warehouse packers as to the status of their own manufacturing and production? How could this man, the alleged owner tell me that first he had the right parts shipped, then tell me they are on back order, then tell me the parts cancelled and will no longer be manufactured, and then tell me there is a design update and now they simply wont ship me the product because I called Danny out of all of this? Yeah if this Danny guy is RYANP the owner then ****BUYER BEWARE****