lsxcamaroz

iTrader: (1)

Honestly, the op and people that have had problems seem to have valid points.
I think the "hopeless clueless punks" are the ones who come in here and attack people as if they were in these peoples shoes. If your so much more mature than these so called "hopeless clueless punks" just let them have their say and let it fade...

PREDATOR-Z

Yeah and look where that attitude gets us. Thank you for your advice, it is noted and utterly dismissed.

tweakgames

Thank you for confirming he has looked at his e-mail and not responded to my refund request, on email, phone, or here.

I'm not sure how he plans to refund me because I spoke with Intuit:

"Hello Michael! If you would like a refund from a merchant you paid through Intuit PaymetnNetwork you would have to request that directly from the merchant. PaymentNetwork does not have a way to process a refund so they would normally refund you with check or cash"

Not sure what button he hovered over before. Still don't have confirmation he is refunding me.


Not sure why PREDATOR-Z is so mad, not really sure who he is, or what I did to him.

Orange Juice

iTrader: (3)

Probably most dont' remember Absolute Speed, great company but just kept tripping up on their delivery times and customer service. I was one of the lucky ones that got a H/C package from them.

1999BlueTA

iTrader: (34)

Imo, the OP does have valid points & its his money being spent, there's a difference in top notch work & Good Customer service. Harsh uncalled for words indeed Predator-Z imo!!!

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

In all my dealings with Phil @ AI the communication and products have been nothing short of phenomenal. I too had a whole setup including a custom cam spec'ed from him which took some time but it was well worth it. I was patient and did not bug him about it. People make mistakes i.e Phil forgetting to tell Ron about your cam deal. Get over it. You must pay to play in this game. I think you taking a full refund over the best stock ported casting heads on the market is idiotic at this point. Like Predator Z said earlier.. too bad your loss..

SnIpEz

iTrader: (4)

I don't really have much to say in this specific case, honestly seems AI is in the right for the most part, OP's being impatient, don't know why you'd do the refund now when you already have the heads ready and the cam is almost done.

I do remember Senical getting screwed by them though, I remember that thread very well. Senical actually wasn't the one who was getting seriously screwed though, it was that other guy Jorge (whose username escapes me)

PREDATOR-Z what the hell is your point of even being in this thread exactly? At first you just wanted it locked, when you saw that wasn't going to happen you started acted like some little annoying fly, buzzing around and pissing people off with no real point. Do you have relations with AI? Are you all over their ******* for any particular reason?

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

Glad you remember. It was the principle of the matter. I had to do what was right. Jorge paypaled me a SEPARATE time AFTER refunding my money for the heads. That was for shipping that I paid to AI to have the heads shipped back to Jorge. Well, as everyone can see, they did not use that money to ship the heads back. So, I could not leave Jorge hanging after he made it right with me. So I paypaled Jorges shipping money back to him just like any decent person would do. I saw the emails that Jorge talks of. They tried to get money out of him after I already paid for the shipping which they really had no business doing.

People are just going to be bias until something happens to them. The sponsor boot lickers that is. Its just the way it is.


Alright take care guys

JakeFusion

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, I'm not sure what Pred's deal is on this.

I also don't understand why the whole order was cancelled if the heads were done. If the heads weren't done (even though it seemed like they were), I could see the OP losing his patience with this process.

It's something you have to deal with in getting custom parts. Delays. However, if you aren't getting any kind of status updates or the process drags out for an unreasonable amount of time, then I could see someone worrying. What's unreasonable? Well I guess that depends on how patient you are, especially considering the news you see around the forums often. A lot of businesses seem fine and then go under of the sudden, taking folks money with them.

SteelCityYaga

I agree - I also had them do an entire setup. We had several different e-mail chains and Phil answered everything in all the e-mail chains.

When I was putting my motor back together my buddy and I found out that the pushrods they supplied were too long. I e-mailed Phil and he sent out a new set as soon as they arrived in the shop (they even checked QC'ed the pushrods), no extra charge either.

I have actually visited their shop, I live in NC and took the time to drop off my heads to the shop one Saturday over this past summer. I sent them a couple of texts to let them know when I was stopping by and they were more than happy to accommodate my visit.

They gave me a small tour of the shop and we BS'ed a little bit, both Phil and Ron were great to talk to and answered all my questions.

tweakgames

Got a response from Phil via e-mail:

"Will be submitted today. BTW, your cam did show up Friday & your complete order was packaged yesterday. Thank God you let us know prior to UPS pick-up that you had changed you mind."

Looks like this is almost over.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

That's ridiculous man, I'm sorry. All your **** is there ready to go and now you want to pull the plug? Sure, it took a little longer than usual, and maybe communication wasn't johhny-on-the-spot, but cancelling your order once it's all done and ready to go seems a bit childish to me. Sorry.

Camaro981289 is also "Jorge" he replied in this thread already. That was his and Senical's deal that was discussed earlier.

What was the entire point of this thread, honestly? You can use Google and the search button just like the rest of us and plainly see that AI has never "screwed" anyone over, ever. Seems like you were just hoping they'd see the thread and hurry up, as in trying to their feet to the fire.

God forbid you ever needed to order a Beck or Marcella intake.

muttstang

iTrader: (1)

Ouch...sucks it's all there and you're getting a refhnd.

tweakgames

Yeah, and gullible isn't in the dictionary.

He sent me a payment in Intuit to approve. Full refund minus the credit card fee from when I paid him.

dannyz

Glad your getting you money back.
Unfortunately, there are not enough companys turning out quality heads to where customer service is considered all that important. As there are folks lined up and waiting for their product, it is little, if any loss, that you take your money elsewhere.
They simply don't seem to care that much about it, as there is another paying customer ready to take your place.
Pred Z for the most part seems ok. But a lot of times members with high post
counts tend to think of themselves as on another level.
At any rate, good luck to you on your build.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

Here's my .02 on the thread.......AI may be falling victim to a flood of business they aren't built for. I've seen it personally in many different shops and it's how they deal with the expansion that will show how good the shop and its management are.

AI does incredible work and rushing things just to make a customer happy isn't going to end well for either person. I have confidence that Phil will make the adjustments to get back on track.

OP seems to have been pretty impatient but I can certainly see the frustration because $3200 is a lot of money to most people including myself and it sucks not being able to walk into a shop, give them the money and walk out with a product.

I went through this sort of ordeal with Geoff at EPS when I ordered a cam a while ago. Upon ordering i was told 3-4 weeks........which then turned into 5-6.......which eventually turned into 8 full weeks before I saw the cam package. He offered to refund some of the money at the end but I respectfully declined because I knew the product was worth it and he was overwhelmed with business for his small operation.

Good luck to the OP, and I hope people don't use this against AI in the future because they are one of the best quality LSX head porters in the country.

SWEET98SS

iTrader: (8)

When I ordered my heads and cam, I read all the reviews on here, which were good. But I wasnt expecting to only be able to contact them thru email. It definetely took longer that way but luckily for me, my motor was out of the car and didnt need the stuff right away as the engine builder took over 8 weeks to redo my shortblock.

I actually just emailed them about my setup that has 8000 miles on it and they answered my email within a day.

TransAmBlue

After reading through this thread 2 things become obvious.

AI doesn't consider customer comunications and delivery time a priority.

Tweak is the kind of person that NEEDS it.




Doesn't make AI a bad company UNLESS you are like Tweak....then it turns your world upside down.

I've had similar experiences and I can say without a doubt I don't like it myself.

At the same time I personally would rather wait longer for a good product.

I think AI should have realized Teak was getting antsy and worried, then emailed him explaining the FACTS....nothing more nothing less.

The truth is ALWAYS better than giving excuses or BS or not responding at all.


I recently had dealings with a shop I trusted and caught him in a few little bs excuses that are so far from the truth its redicules. I no longer trust him now and will be using someone else.

Think about this,if someone is willing to lie about small details....what about when something big comes up?

I think everyone would rather be told the truth no matter how wrong it is than to be lied to about anything!

AI might want to consider something like this posted up on their site, We take the time to make a FAST product.

garcr4

iTrader: (1)

I have had a couple sets of heads done by AI in the past year or so. The quality was excellent. The customer service was as well. I had plenty of questions and Phil always answered within a day or two.

I will use them again.

Just my experience and .02

BattleSausage

iTrader: (3)

A fair statement in a sense. I DO think they consider communications and delivery time a priority, however not at the expense of sending out an inferior product or to pacify an impatient customer such as the OP. They were honest in acknowledging a mistake was made in communication between Phil and Ron, as well as the method in which they approach filling orders between customers who have paid in full, and those that have made a deposit. In dealing with vendors, time quotes are rarely accurate and AI's response was reflecting what they normally see as the case but in no way should have been taken as a set deadline that would be met. Should any part not have met QC, this likely could have drug out even longer and lord knows where the direction of the OP's thread have gone.

In the age of so many people being taken for their money, I can understand to an extent the frustration expressed in this thread. However, when one goes into purchasing a custom one-off of anything, some forethought has to be put into the fact that likely there will be some hang up somewhere along the way and should be an accepted fact as was the case here. With the responses that the OP received, and in my own personal dealings with builds, not one response would have led me to the conclusion (or to even post an assumption as such) that he was possibly involved in a scam by a reputable company. With others chiming in expressing they are receiving communication as well, it would have led me to believe that they were behind due the the aforementioned reasons and to give it a few more days at least.

As was posted by the OP, we saw that once the cam arrived the order was QC'd and ready to ship within the updated time frame quoted and yet he still chose to cancel the order. With AI offering to refund his funds in full (minus fees for payment) due to his impatience shows me they have more class and good business ethics than many are giving them credit for. Threads such as this one give honest businesses bad names with nothing more than a hard to please customer being the culprit, regardless of how much the company tries to appease the customer in the end. Just my .02