KermaTDI Charlie Customer Service?

Fair enough.

KERMA said:

We are (suing and other legal things). Believe me there's a lot more going on along those lines behind the scenes than ever gets let out in public.
Suffice it to say, if the real story ever gets out, many people will be absolutely astonished. I can't say much because of the ongoing litigation. This means we have to take it in the shorts in the court of public opinion, short term. The real facts are overwhelmingly in our favor, to the extent that our opponents only hope of winning is by wearing us down with lies and using our own resources (stolen from us) against us, as everything moves through the glacially slow legal system.
For example: Some of our customers were gracious enough to offer to wait a few months for certain items while we sorted things out, then suddenly changed their mind based on lies from anonymous postings that were eagerly pointed out to them by certain competitors and or their mouthpieces.
Even "real men" have a limit to their resources and stamina. There's only so many times you can be stolen from lied to and and lied about before real harm is done, regardless of how much of a "real man" you are.
At more than one point I ended up broken, plain and simple. And I offered my apologies as appropriate. But how does the saying go: whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

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Yes I agree that many people will be astonished! (copied and forwarded)

Have a wonderful day

jasonTDI said:

I've had about enough of you guys pussy footing around this whole fiasco. Get on with the suing and sort it out. Trying to get public opinion to figure it out in the forums is a load of BS. Let the court of law decide.

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Thank you Jason for making the understatement of the year.

I get PMs, emails, and phone calls from people complaining about TDIClub or my moderating concerning vendors. I will take this time to explain some things, again.

TDIClub does not resolve disputes. TDIClub's forums is not the 'People's Court.' The mods here are not 'Judge Judy.' If one wants drama? Then go somewhere else. If one wants results, then they have to help themselves, literally.

For vendors Vs vendors issues: One thing I have noticed (long before Kerma was a vendor, think 1999 with Upsolute) is that when someone comes up with 'the next big deal' for TDIs, and spritzes the air with the money pheromone, a lot of people lose all their business acumen and jump into bed with each other. Almost no (if any) vetting, due-diligence, or research of any kind takes place. People enter into verbal agreements or poorly written contacts. Why take some time to have your attorney review a contract to what you could be liable for when one is drunk on the money pheromone? So no vendor Vs vendor issues allowed. It's not TDIClub's fault vendors were careless entering into business agreements. For vendors who now know they made bad deals, you made your bed, now lay in it. Learn and move on. If you have a case, sue dammit!

For members: Probably 99% of the TDIClub vendor purchases are online with credit cards. I'll repeat myself, "TDIClub does not resolve disputes." Use the protection services your credit card provides. People have recourse, but only if they choose to use it. If that fails, then use small claims court.

Here is a typical small claims court form available at your county court house:



These forms are usually free. One doesn't pay any court fees until they file a claim. I've been through enough in life that I keep these around the house. If I have an issues that cannot be resolved, I type one of these up, make a copy, and send the copy to the other party saying they have 10 business days to make it right or this complaint gets filed. But the key is you have to make the mental commitment to follow through. If one bluffs, they lose. I don't bluff and pick my fights carefully. Sometimes one has to cut their losses and move on, even when they are in the right. That's life, get over it, live & learn, move on.

So here is the one huge problem members have when dealing with vendors. It's too easy to whine on the Internet than do something for themselves. Everyone is a helpless victim. No one is a victim unless they want to be.

So man-up people. If you have issues that cannot be resolved, take some responsibility for yourself. Oh yeah, it will take time, it will take effort, one might lose if they don't construct their argument properly. Why do that when one can whine on an Internet forum. It's easy, it's free, and even fun! Just don't expect respect from the mods at TDIClub.

The bottom line.

TDIClub does not resolve disputes.

No one is a victim unless they want to be. The worst of the worst are the SPVs. Want to earn immediate disrespect, become a SPV. SPV pity-party threads/posts get every single bit of the respect they deserve. Hey, mods deleted my thread/post! ***? Because that is what it deserved.

What's a SPV?

http://www.epinions.com/content_3317407876


The SPVs have become so pathetic they are now bashing TDIClub over on Vortex. I wonder if they will move the pity party on to another forum now as Vortex censored some of their posts. Damn, no respect again. The best has already been edited but to give some hints.

Krout suggested that I do not 'where' the pants at my house. He is 100% correct. Sir, I 'wear' them. I lifted your ban several days ago so you could post YOUR issues and you have not done so. That tells me you are not interested in seeking resolution to your problems. I guess you wish to remain a victim, so be it.

Here is another post:

Either way BK better watch his car if he is showing up to Fest as he has pissed off so many people that his car might get keyed. I have to stay in Calgary, so it won't be me, but with all the people he has pissed off I wouldn't be surprised.

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The person is a known troll here. That mindset speaks for itself.

Now everyone understands the source of my disgust today. The Internet is full of cowards and self-inflicted victims, I do not respect either.

KERMA said:

Also, FWIW, Gmail is a wonderful thing. Don't know how I'd live without it.

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Hey Charlie,

Can you ship me my 17/22 soon? Paul quoted me two more weeks as of last week. Thanks!

rez311 said:

Hey Charlie,

Can you ship me my 17/22 soon? Paul quoted me two more weeks as of last week. Thanks!

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you will have it end of next week, latest

ive been waiting on a 18/56 turbo for over 4 weeks, Kerma do you have any idea when it will ship to steve a tdi, my wife wants her car back. TIA

To Steve's customer- they are slow coming, but well worth the wait. The biggest holdup we have right now is waiting for the parts to arrive from the manufacturer, so unfortunately the customers have had to wait longer than usual lately. I know you are in somewhat of a hurry, so yours is next to be assembled and I hope we can get it to you by late next week. (Along with rez311)

thanks you very much. and Steve also said it was worth the wait.

I have an order with Kerma for about $1000. Injectors, a fifth gear and some other stuff. I have waited a month. They have been vague about the delivery dates. I paid with paypal via a credit card. I feel protected in my purchase but don't want to wait forever for the parts and have given them till tuesday to either ship, partial ship and refund the balance. I trust they will keep their end of the bargain, and if they don't my method of payment protects me from loss. Like College, the School of Hard Knocks is not cheap, but the lessons learned can be Priceless.

Street toys/ Kerma

I am a buyer of a turbo and a tubular exhaust manifold from Kerma. These products were purchased 11/13/07 and 12/14/07. The project I was working on was not running until 10/08. It is a 02 TDI installed in a Vanagon Syncro. It idled a few times that year but I had some electrical things and a few others that were not right. I am not a mechanic but new there was a loud squeal in the exhaust. I only had about 30" of straight pipe on it. It didn't sound anything like my 02 Jetta.
Ski season came and I was discouraged and the project sat until April 09. I maybe also needed some mental help for doing something like this.
Got a few more things done and started some test drives around town. Smoked, didn't rev well,cut out at above 2500rpm. I got the injection pump rebuilt because it may have been the culprit. Installed it and exactly the same thing happened. On the way home I stopped at the hardware store and bought stuff to test the pressure in the post turbo intake. I had checked and tightened these before but I determined it had to be a air issue. There was a leak. I fixed that and things still didn't work right.
The exhaust manifold had several flaws. A hole where the EGT bung was placed and another because the flange that the turbo bolts to was not flat.
The turbo, which I just sent back because I finally knew that it was not performing correctly, was completely wrong in the way it was set up and parts were wore out. It needed new compressor and turbine wheels, case machined, bearings. It quite screaming as much from being driven and I finished the exhaust system so I didn't notice it as much.
Those parts were made by StreetToys. I'm sure you all can figure that out by the dates I bought them.
The vehicle was drive about 2500 miles on a trip in july because my wife had it planed for 6 months or more. The turbo was removed after we got home and returned to Kema.
Apparently things have gone down hill since I first bought these parts. After a couple weeks Charlie says he needs a deposit for the repair. I had expected from earlier communication that it would be covered. The amount of time that had gone by says Kema is not liable for these parts. I can accept that. It may even be reasonable. So I pay to get my turbo back.

I think Street toys owes me. What do you think?

This has been a real burden for a lot of people. It wasn't just my turbo that was bad. How much has been spent on this junk. These were the cool upgrades I splurged on and they were nothing but trouble. Especially for a rookie like me that thought I was buying an upgrade.

I hope we all learn something from this. Do what you say and back it up.

I never learned anything from people that agreed with everything I said. Sometimes it can be difficult to hear a different POV when you are personally invested in your POV. In the end you may agree or disagree, but you will always come away with a deeper understanding of your side of the discussion ( either it reinforces your POV or your POV is undermined and called into question )

Too often these kinds of discussions get nasty. That is too bad. While I know there is a time to stop talking and do something - that does not mean there is no time to talk and figure things out. We are blessed to be living at the start of the information age - what use will all that information be to us if we cannot talk to each other? The spare time the industrial age gave us should mean more (not less) civil discourse, instead we get a non-stop parade of people on TV yelling at each other and being derisive under the guise of debate. I do not believe this is healthy for us as individuals or collectively as a group (big or small).

Order partially shipped today, balance to be refunded. I wish these guys the best and will do business with them again, but in the future I will call to make sure they have the part before I place my order.

ChippedNotBroken said:

I have an order with Kerma for about $1000. Injectors, a fifth gear and some other stuff. I have waited a month. They have been vague about the delivery dates. I paid with paypal via a credit card. I feel protected in my purchase but don't want to wait forever for the parts and have given them till tuesday to either ship, partial ship and refund the balance. I trust they will keep their end of the bargain, and if they don't my method of payment protects me from loss. Like College, the School of Hard Knocks is not cheap, but the lessons learned can be Priceless.

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I removed (from public view, its all still here) about 50 posts. Lets keep this thread on track.

Paul has been in the ICU since early last week due to complications from his cancer treatment. I hope we can all get past the childishness and understand what's really important here.

charlie: Still waiting for you to reply my emails.. Group buy from Norway, 10 set of nozzles.. But you stoped anwear me.

why?

KERMA said:

Paul has been in the ICU since early last week due to complications from his cancer treatment. I hope we can all get past the childishness and understand what's really important here.

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ICU is definetly not good.

Antsrcool said:

God i wish you guys were closer i would volunteer all free time to help you guys out.....

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Thank you Kerma TDI for all the years of wonderful service.
I have had MANY business dealings with Kerma TDI, and I have the utmost respect and admiration for Paul, Charlie and the Kerma TDI staff.

I would love to volunteer my time at Kerma TDI, and help out in any way possible, regardless of how far, or how inconvenient it may seem.

Please contact me at: jargon underscore at hotmail dot com if Kerma TDI is accepting any volunteers.
I am financially secure, married with 2 lovely boys, adult male, and would be honored to make the pilgramage to Kerma TDI, and get to meet the Kerma staff in person.



THANK YOU.

I was happy to get the partial shipment, but the promised refund never came. I had to upgrade my paypal complaint to a claim today for the remaining balance that has not been refunded. Didn't want to do it, but needed to protect myself.

ChippedNotBroken said:

Order partially shipped today, balance to be refunded. I wish these guys the best and will do business with them again, but in the future I will call to make sure they have the part before I place my order.

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Why are you (kerma) incapable to respond messages/e-mails, Processing a refund as promised, calling your customer back? These are all simple rudementary skills a company must have in order to say in business! Your costumer service skills leave a lot to be desired!

lanciaf1 said:

Your costumer service skills leave a lot to be desired!

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It is Halloween coming up...

Jeff (RC) takes a while to respond.....so does Charlie (Kerma).

Remember those ketchup ads a long time ago....?

"Good things come to those who wait"

Even people in a hurry wait on good Heinz ketchup

Shortly after posting the following post I received This email:

I'm not fighting your claim

Paypal would only allow a full refund with the charge. Something over $1000 you are owed a refund over $400 since you received some of the order

We have to wait this out with Paypal since it was doine as a chargeback..... otherwise I could have sent a check. But I was in the hospital with cancer when the chargback came in .

The radiation and cancer has been very disruptive....and I apologize. I am only 2 weeks from he last radiation treatment and I am still very sick and still fighting. I've lost over 100lbs so I'm skeketal.

Paypal only allows full refund or proof of shipping.

I'm sorry its as frustrating for me as for you with their system.

You will get you refund. Let them know that you received partial delivery so we can refund the correct amount

Paul

--
Paul Maloney

*********** original post **************

Received partial shipment.

Promised refund of balance.

Rather than refund the balance, they are fighting my paypal claim. A claim I would never have made if they had kept their word. A claim that would be dropped the instant they refunded the balance they owe me.

Here is the entire email chain with the most recent first. Draw your own conclusions. If anyone wants the stickers, let me know

Ron,
Your incomplete order went out today including 5th gear, gasket, suspension installation kit, Dawes device, and I threw in some stickers. I will have Paul refund the $492 for the installed and balanced PP520s.I put you on my list to contact when the nozzles arrive. Again sorry about all the inconvenience. There are some good sites on the internet for installing the 5th Gear. Enjoy!!

Jason
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On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 11:12 AM, ronday <ronday@optonline.net> wrote:

Whatever you can get to me by Friday afternoon would be acceptable, refund the balance.
Thanks,
Ron
ChippedNotBroken on tdiclub
===========

On Sep 8, 2009, at 12:54 PM, KERMA-TDI Shipping <kerma.shipping@gmail.com> wrote:

Ron,
I recieved word that the 5th gears will be here on Wednesday or Thursday?
"This order has finally been completed! Once again, I am sorry for the wait, but with these special order parts it is sometimes unpredictable.
= I will be able to provide a tracking number for you on Monday, therefore you can expect to receive the order on Wednesday or Thursday of next week."
Would you be willing to wait for it. I can upgrade the shipping and make sure you have all your order minus the balanced injectors (Still haven't heard any word on them) by this weekend or would you like me to just send the Dawes Device and Suspension installation kit today and refund you for both the 5th Gear and nozzzles. Again thanks for your patience. This has been frustrating for me as well.
Jason
============

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:15 PM, ronday
Ron Day wrote:
Jason,
I want you to ship whatever you have next Tuesday (Sept. 8), and refund the balance.
If there is ANY reason why this cannot happen, please advise.
Thanks,
Ron Day
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KERMA-TDI Shipping wrote:

Ron, I just shot off an e-mail about the 5th gear conversion to our vendor in Europe. I had expected them last week. When I find out I will e-mail you back. I still don't know about the ETA of the nozzles, anxiously awaiting them for you and plenty of other customers. I have the suspension installation kits and Dawes Device here. Again sorry about the delay. Tell me what you'd like to do

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On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:23 PM, ronday <ronday@optonline.net> wrote:
Jason,

If my order cannot be filled this week I may cancel my order through paypal and order the parts from another vendor.
Not my first choice, so please respond with shipping information or firm dates that I can hold you to.
Thanks,

Ron Day

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KERMA-TDI Shipping wrote:

considering your patience, there is no extra charge for the suspension installation kit. I will be doing some work on the website to make it more clear about its application.

===================

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 7:15 PM, ronday <ronday@optonline.net> wrote:

Jason,

I double checked, your website suggests that the 80% kit works with the 99.5 Jetta, but since it does not, I would like to replace it with the following:

A4 Suspension Install Kit
Every bolt, mount, bushing and bump stop necessary for installing a set of new front and rear dampers on your car. This is the most complete kit around, as it contains every wearable part, in addition to all 'always replace' fasteners.

This costs $30 more, so let me know how to make up the difference.

As for the nozzles, they were the last thing I was going to get done after making sure everything else on the car was in top shape, I will let you know later in the week which way I want to go with them.

Thanks,

Ron Day

=======================

KERMA-TDI Shipping wrote:

I understand your frustration. I've been trying to get everything together for your from different vendors. As far as money is concerned, we have had to get money up front as we have seen problems with credit card fraud and this is more of an issue with Paul paul@kermatdi.com .

1., The 80%kit will not work for your application
2. Nozzles should be arriving this week. When I recieve them I will send them to our nozzle balancer. I can either have him place them in used injector bodies or have you send yours in. He is usually pretty quick 2-3 days turnaround. His address is
Pete Baranko
Dbw, Inc.
7544 W Middle Fork St
Boise ID 83709
US
208 863-7496
3. The 5th gear conversions were ordered last week and should be on their way to the US. Hopefully late this week or early next
4. Dawes Device- I have in stock ready to ship


On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 3:01 PM, ronday <ronday@optonline.net> wrote:

Communication is key. I have some timelines that I would have liked to keep, but it does not appear that they will be possible based on the schedule you provided. A refund is not required, but it is customary to require a deposit for "special" orders and withhold other charges until products are available. Since this was not the case, notification before billing would have been nice.

How many days will it take to turn around the injectors after you receive them?

Ron Day

=================

KERMA-TDI Shipping wrote:

Im still waiting on a response on whether the 80%kit will work for your application
I expect the 5th gear conversions by the middle of next week and the nozzles about the same time. I have the Dawes Devices here and was waiting for the 5th gears to send it out. When the PP520 nozzles arrive you can send your injectors to our injector department and they can be balanced. I understand your frustration but my hands are tied on this. Im sorry you weren't notified immediately about the status of your order. If you'd like a refund I can make that happen.
Jason


On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 5:48 PM, ronday <ronday@optonline.net> wrote:

I replied to this email last week stating that I had a 1999.5 A4 jetta TDI. I was not told if the 80% kit is a problem for my car, or whether there will be a partial shipment, or if I am expected to wait until you have the entire order before you are going to ship and if that is true when I can expect delivery. Is this what I can expect if I ever order from you again or I need support for a product I purchase from you?

=====================

KERMA-TDI Shipping wrote:

Ron,
Firstly I apologize for not getting back to you earlier. Your order got lost in the mix. I thought one of the other guys was going to get back with you.

1. What year is your automobile? The reason being if you have a cable shifter, the 80 percent kit will not work for your application.

2. The .658 gears are on their way from Europe as we speak

3. Dawes Devices are in stock

4. PP520 nozzles were ordered from Italy and they are finishing production on them now They should ship this Friday and arrive the middle of next week.

Again I apologize for the delay in getting back to you.
Jason

Sometimes simple solutions are overlooked? If i was billed for the $500 or so dollars of merchandise that was shipped a refund of the original order would work. The amount due from Kerma ($492) is stated in the above post as well as my confirmation of receipt of the partial shipment.

There are many things that make me sick when thinking about Kerma.com. I used to do a lot of business with them but stopped for many reasons. However, I can truly say that they always did me right on the $$$ end.

Took a leap of faith today, and canceled my Paypal claim on the promise of some intercooler parts. I really didn't want to throw stones into a sinking ship, so hopefully I will get my parts and this will work itself out.

CarlUman,

Is the 1852 the same as a super18? I have a "super 18" on my toolbox with a broken shaft. Probably toast, but I'd like to have it looked at. Who did you use?

Got my 17/22 hybrid from Kerma, with gaskets, exhaust nuts and misc oil line gaskets. Everything looks good. I'll try to install it all this weekend. Thanks Charlie and Paul. Hope Paul is doing better with his treatments.

Just a note, I ordered PP764's and thruogh some understandable confusion the last set were sold already, got an email saying they would either fulfill the order when new stock arrives in what could be longer than 2 weeks or would refund by paypal. I asked for a refund and would order again later, got a refund right away. I have no problem with that kind of service.
Thanks Paul, when you get the PP 764's in stock please contact me.

i have had nothing but great service and help from these guys . Charlie has answered my emails ( many ) as late as 11 o'clock at night mtn time. I've orderd a vnt-17 with a drilled and tapped egt port in the manifold and a 3-bar map sensor and oil line . i have shipped my ecu from canada to them for re-tuneing . thier shipping agent ( sorry man i forgot your name , jason i think ) sent me a message re: dificultys shipping big heavy s#!t to canada , we worked it out straight away and things are very acceptable . I only just stumbled uppon this thread and feel like the largest tool for hasseling them as much as i have with questions and whatnot over the last few days . To sum up , so far , fast , clear , and knolegeable people who seem to be kicking a$$ at all hours . Thank you gus for helping this canadian tune . If you have a moment could we have an update on Paul? many thanks .norm.