on3 performance: buyer beware
01-01-2015, 10:18 PM
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on3 performance: buyer beware Hey fellas, I'm a mustang guy, but have a lot of buddies with LS powered cars. I've just been thru some real BS and thought maybe my story could save some people some heartache, since ON3 is making LS kits now, so please indulge me!
Posted this over in fox talk, but showing it around to warn the innocents, please indulge me.
So, I've been slowly building my car.. Bought this turbo kit over a year ago, did HCI, and slowly as time allowed, between my wife and four kids (football practice, games and dance class/recitals), have been getting it together.
Finally, got it tuned, and on the road, and immediately had problems. I'm not talking about the 1000 dollars worth of upgrade parts not fitting, The pounding with a sledgehammer on my floorboard to get the downpipe to fit, the complete relocation of my a/c drier, or chopping up my catback to get the " bolt in" Y pipe to bolt in.. No, I'm talking about the wastegate failing inside of 25 miles of driving. I got boost spikes from my 10 psi setting- all the way to 15 psi. I'm REALLY lucky I didn't hurt anything- at least I don't think I did.. But yes. 25 MILES OF DRIVING and the wastegate failed.
It gets better.
So I coughed up $360 bucks for a precision wastegate, wait a week for it to arrive.. (all the while waiting to hear back from on3 about sending it in..)
Finally, the new name brand WG comes in. I install it and go thrash. The car runs great. GREAT power, I'm thinking what a great deal this kit is, even if I had to replace the wastegate.. Sounds good, huh? So I continue my drive, a 25 mile round trip I had planned, and the car starts to run like crap, dies at stop signs, etc. I hear a noise that sounds like a fried roller bearing, so I stop to inspect it. Pop the hood, SMOKE ROLLS OUT!
I'm looking at the turbo, My brand new K&N filter on the turbo inlet HAS MELTED OFF. It's fallen down and resting on the piping looking like melted cheese. The heat from the bearings failing was impressive to say the least, it didn't take long. It actually got some of my wiring harness, too that was about 6 inches away from the turbo. I'm hoping the trash from the turbo hasn't ruined my engine bearings. At this point, I've lost my warm and fuzzy with on3.. but it gets better.
I go home and fire an email at Chad telling him I got tired of waiting to hear from him about a return number for the waste gate.. replaced it, and now his piece of crap turbo (didn't say that to him) has failed.. What the heck, it didn't make it 50 miles! NOW, he decides to reply...Then the accusations start flying. I screwed up the waste gate, I left the fire ring out, I screwed up the oil supply for the turbo, I screwed up the drain for the turbo.. He's never heard of heat like that in all his years of working around turbos, blah, blah, blah. Of course, none of this was true, I documented everything with photos. Nothing he claimed was wrong, even the fire ring in the waste gate.
I tried to be as polite as possible- I wanted help, I knew if I made him mad there would be no chance in it. He tells me to call the shop after Christmas when they get back and make plans for sending the turbo in, which I did. Got a hold of a guy named Danny who was very polite, and told me to send the turbo to the shop with the same return number for the wastegate. I thought, ok. They're going to help. Good. Packed it all up, fedexed it to them, Three days later I get a snotty email from Chad saying " I gave you a return number for a wastegate, not a turbo, why did you send me the turbo, it's not supposed to come here?" Like I'm an idiot..
Good grief. I explained to him what HIS EMPLOYEE TOLD ME.. and you know what this tool says? "THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DEAL WITH MORE THAN ONE PERSON ON A SITIUATION LIKE THIS." Wow. Just wow.
I've explained to this guy the whole story about how long ago I bought the kit, how long it's been in service, how it failed- before I shipped it.... and AFTER I SHIP IT TO HIM---(THEY TOLD ME TO).. HE TELLS ME: THIS TURBO IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY, WE WON'T FIX IT. He then asks If I want him to send it to his rebuilder which will cost me, or just ship it back to me...
I said, Ship it back to me. All of it. I need a tracking number.
Still haven't heard back from them, probably never will, which is why I'm writing this. ON3 will never get another cent of my money as long as I live. What amazes me ( aside from how poor the equipment is,) Is just how nice and polite Chad was on the phone BEFORE he got my money, and afterwards, what an (insert expletive here) he was afterwards.
Yes, I knew the reputation going in, Yes, I took the risk knowingly, but strangely doesn't make me feel any less ripped off.. Even if in this instance Chad broke no laws.(He has in other cases though, google it!) Figuring it up, with the cost of a name brand turbonetics turbo and the precision wastegate I'm buying to replace the fine China, and the upgrades I paid for to on3 that 3/4 of didn't work, I could have bought a Hellion kit and been done.
What's bad is for every person out there like me who got screwed by this character there are two singing his praises because they are the 2 out of 3 that haven't had a failure. YET!
Posted this over in fox talk, but showing it around to warn the innocents, please indulge me.
So, I've been slowly building my car.. Bought this turbo kit over a year ago, did HCI, and slowly as time allowed, between my wife and four kids (football practice, games and dance class/recitals), have been getting it together.
Finally, got it tuned, and on the road, and immediately had problems. I'm not talking about the 1000 dollars worth of upgrade parts not fitting, The pounding with a sledgehammer on my floorboard to get the downpipe to fit, the complete relocation of my a/c drier, or chopping up my catback to get the " bolt in" Y pipe to bolt in.. No, I'm talking about the wastegate failing inside of 25 miles of driving. I got boost spikes from my 10 psi setting- all the way to 15 psi. I'm REALLY lucky I didn't hurt anything- at least I don't think I did.. But yes. 25 MILES OF DRIVING and the wastegate failed.
It gets better.
So I coughed up $360 bucks for a precision wastegate, wait a week for it to arrive.. (all the while waiting to hear back from on3 about sending it in..)
Finally, the new name brand WG comes in. I install it and go thrash. The car runs great. GREAT power, I'm thinking what a great deal this kit is, even if I had to replace the wastegate.. Sounds good, huh? So I continue my drive, a 25 mile round trip I had planned, and the car starts to run like crap, dies at stop signs, etc. I hear a noise that sounds like a fried roller bearing, so I stop to inspect it. Pop the hood, SMOKE ROLLS OUT!
I'm looking at the turbo, My brand new K&N filter on the turbo inlet HAS MELTED OFF. It's fallen down and resting on the piping looking like melted cheese. The heat from the bearings failing was impressive to say the least, it didn't take long. It actually got some of my wiring harness, too that was about 6 inches away from the turbo. I'm hoping the trash from the turbo hasn't ruined my engine bearings. At this point, I've lost my warm and fuzzy with on3.. but it gets better.
I go home and fire an email at Chad telling him I got tired of waiting to hear from him about a return number for the waste gate.. replaced it, and now his piece of crap turbo (didn't say that to him) has failed.. What the heck, it didn't make it 50 miles! NOW, he decides to reply...Then the accusations start flying. I screwed up the waste gate, I left the fire ring out, I screwed up the oil supply for the turbo, I screwed up the drain for the turbo.. He's never heard of heat like that in all his years of working around turbos, blah, blah, blah. Of course, none of this was true, I documented everything with photos. Nothing he claimed was wrong, even the fire ring in the waste gate.
I tried to be as polite as possible- I wanted help, I knew if I made him mad there would be no chance in it. He tells me to call the shop after Christmas when they get back and make plans for sending the turbo in, which I did. Got a hold of a guy named Danny who was very polite, and told me to send the turbo to the shop with the same return number for the wastegate. I thought, ok. They're going to help. Good. Packed it all up, fedexed it to them, Three days later I get a snotty email from Chad saying " I gave you a return number for a wastegate, not a turbo, why did you send me the turbo, it's not supposed to come here?" Like I'm an idiot..
Good grief. I explained to him what HIS EMPLOYEE TOLD ME.. and you know what this tool says? "THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DEAL WITH MORE THAN ONE PERSON ON A SITIUATION LIKE THIS." Wow. Just wow.
I've explained to this guy the whole story about how long ago I bought the kit, how long it's been in service, how it failed- before I shipped it.... and AFTER I SHIP IT TO HIM---(THEY TOLD ME TO).. HE TELLS ME: THIS TURBO IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY, WE WON'T FIX IT. He then asks If I want him to send it to his rebuilder which will cost me, or just ship it back to me...
I said, Ship it back to me. All of it. I need a tracking number.
Still haven't heard back from them, probably never will, which is why I'm writing this. ON3 will never get another cent of my money as long as I live. What amazes me ( aside from how poor the equipment is,) Is just how nice and polite Chad was on the phone BEFORE he got my money, and afterwards, what an (insert expletive here) he was afterwards.
Yes, I knew the reputation going in, Yes, I took the risk knowingly, but strangely doesn't make me feel any less ripped off.. Even if in this instance Chad broke no laws.(He has in other cases though, google it!) Figuring it up, with the cost of a name brand turbonetics turbo and the precision wastegate I'm buying to replace the fine China, and the upgrades I paid for to on3 that 3/4 of didn't work, I could have bought a Hellion kit and been done.
What's bad is for every person out there like me who got screwed by this character there are two singing his praises because they are the 2 out of 3 that haven't had a failure. YET!
01-01-2015, 11:31 PM
#2
WOW what a first post!
I have bought 2 Turbo kits from Chad and both have work great. I was missing a part on one kit and On3 Performance / Chad had it to me in a few days! I had questions about a few things and On3 Performance responded right away. I've met Chads Dad at SEMA and was very impressed with what he told me about Chad & On3 and how they operate.
One kit I put on a 1999 Z71 5.3 in two days tuned it the next day and on the fourth day drove it from Las Vegas Nevada to Fort Lauderdale Florida strait thru 39 hrs only stopping for gas and food and never had a lick of problems.
but hey what do I know! ive never had a turbo car before.
Stacy Moore
I have bought 2 Turbo kits from Chad and both have work great. I was missing a part on one kit and On3 Performance / Chad had it to me in a few days! I had questions about a few things and On3 Performance responded right away. I've met Chads Dad at SEMA and was very impressed with what he told me about Chad & On3 and how they operate.
One kit I put on a 1999 Z71 5.3 in two days tuned it the next day and on the fourth day drove it from Las Vegas Nevada to Fort Lauderdale Florida strait thru 39 hrs only stopping for gas and food and never had a lick of problems.
but hey what do I know! ive never had a turbo car before.
Stacy Moore
01-02-2015, 08:06 AM
#6
Can't say much for their turbo but I have been using their WG and BOV with my Fbody A/C kit and have no complaints. Easily put ~5000 miles on it this summer with zero issues. Being my first turbo car I spent some more dough on a Turbonetics just because of their warranty in case it came down to user error really. Curious to see what it all looks like also, was the piping wrapped?
FWIW, read some of the precision turbo stories out there, and those aren't the cheapo turbo's either.
FWIW, read some of the precision turbo stories out there, and those aren't the cheapo turbo's either.
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01-03-2015, 10:38 PM
#8
Staging Lane
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This is like a broken record with these guys. I'm not sure how they stay in business, but companies like this usually don't last that long. I guess us people who use the new companies by trial and error keep them in business until the word finally gets around.