Warning: Speedtuning USA Bad Experience Not Resolved
09-04-2011, 08:36 PM
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98 E300 OM606.962
Warning: Speedtuning USA Bad Experience Not Resolved
I'm a bit of a diesel fan and recently crossed over from the VW TDi world and purchased a 98 E300 Turbodiesel. Bought it from the original owner in excellent condition.
I had good luck with chip and flash tunes on my VW's, so I jumped right into a chip tune for my E300 through Speedtuning USA.
Once I installed my ECU returned from Oliver at Speedtune, I experienced a rough idle anytime in N or Drive and a stutter upon rev-down from about 1200 RPM back down to idle under all conditions.
It turns out that MBZ had a factory countermeasure to this complaint years ago, and it included an ECU swap. Oliver had noticed that I had a 99 model year ECU in my 98, and now after speaking to a service writer at Caliber Motors and after reading the following link, I knew the reason why. The ECU I had sent to Oliver had the updated part number to correct the rough idle customer complaints. Follow the link to see a short article in STAR magazine by Stu Ritter:
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/645/shake8xb.jpg
Suspecting that the new tune from Speedtune did not incorporate this update, I wrote to Oliver about this software updating and my cars history of having it done. His response was that he could tune out the rough idle by increasing fuel quantity settings, but that he would have to charge for a "custom" tune, an additional $200 on top of the $325 I had already paid.
My response to this was to request my ECU be returned to the previous, stock program. I didn't feel that the additional fee to have my car run satisfactorily was fair and I was much more interested in having my E300 run as nicely as it looked rather than having the extra 30HP or so at this point.
So with his verbal agreement to return the ECU to me by the time I returned from a two week trip, I shipped the it back off to Speedtuning. Days later I received a full refund through Paypal. So what is my complaint, right?
Well, now they are holding my ECU until I send them (like AMGAlex's experience with them) a payment of $375 in cash, money order or Western Union. Craigslist and Ebay have warnings not to do business with companies seeking payment like this. This request came from Jennifer (the owner) after they had tendered a refund through Paypal.
One more bit of context: Oliver relayed a story to me that he had a customer with a 99 E300 experiencing the exact same idle issue. The customer had the direction of a MBZ dealer that he would need the updated ECU (the one I have) to solve his problem. For whatever reason, probably cost (Caliber Motors in Anaheim wants $2300 for one and won't sell it over-the-counter) this customer of Oliver's tried the same Stage 2 tune I purchased from Speedtuning and it did not resolve his idle issue, according to Oliver.
Even having had that experience and mine, Oliver and Jennifer, AFTER having refunded the full amount told me their tune IS based on the updated software to address the idle and now I would have to pay them $375 for them to release my ECU that is now put back to the way it was before.
This is not acceptable to me, to have to pay more than originally, or frankly to have to pay at all, for services that I have rejected for good reason.
My E300 has been immobile in my garage for nearly a month now, and I have the counsel of an attorney who suggested I tell my story on internet forums. Everything I've stated here is in print on emails between Speedtuning USA and I.
I will continue to update the forum on my progress, if any, from Speedtuning USA.
I had good luck with chip and flash tunes on my VW's, so I jumped right into a chip tune for my E300 through Speedtuning USA.
Once I installed my ECU returned from Oliver at Speedtune, I experienced a rough idle anytime in N or Drive and a stutter upon rev-down from about 1200 RPM back down to idle under all conditions.
It turns out that MBZ had a factory countermeasure to this complaint years ago, and it included an ECU swap. Oliver had noticed that I had a 99 model year ECU in my 98, and now after speaking to a service writer at Caliber Motors and after reading the following link, I knew the reason why. The ECU I had sent to Oliver had the updated part number to correct the rough idle customer complaints. Follow the link to see a short article in STAR magazine by Stu Ritter:
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/645/shake8xb.jpg
Suspecting that the new tune from Speedtune did not incorporate this update, I wrote to Oliver about this software updating and my cars history of having it done. His response was that he could tune out the rough idle by increasing fuel quantity settings, but that he would have to charge for a "custom" tune, an additional $200 on top of the $325 I had already paid.
My response to this was to request my ECU be returned to the previous, stock program. I didn't feel that the additional fee to have my car run satisfactorily was fair and I was much more interested in having my E300 run as nicely as it looked rather than having the extra 30HP or so at this point.
So with his verbal agreement to return the ECU to me by the time I returned from a two week trip, I shipped the it back off to Speedtuning. Days later I received a full refund through Paypal. So what is my complaint, right?
Well, now they are holding my ECU until I send them (like AMGAlex's experience with them) a payment of $375 in cash, money order or Western Union. Craigslist and Ebay have warnings not to do business with companies seeking payment like this. This request came from Jennifer (the owner) after they had tendered a refund through Paypal.
One more bit of context: Oliver relayed a story to me that he had a customer with a 99 E300 experiencing the exact same idle issue. The customer had the direction of a MBZ dealer that he would need the updated ECU (the one I have) to solve his problem. For whatever reason, probably cost (Caliber Motors in Anaheim wants $2300 for one and won't sell it over-the-counter) this customer of Oliver's tried the same Stage 2 tune I purchased from Speedtuning and it did not resolve his idle issue, according to Oliver.
Even having had that experience and mine, Oliver and Jennifer, AFTER having refunded the full amount told me their tune IS based on the updated software to address the idle and now I would have to pay them $375 for them to release my ECU that is now put back to the way it was before.
This is not acceptable to me, to have to pay more than originally, or frankly to have to pay at all, for services that I have rejected for good reason.
My E300 has been immobile in my garage for nearly a month now, and I have the counsel of an attorney who suggested I tell my story on internet forums. Everything I've stated here is in print on emails between Speedtuning USA and I.
I will continue to update the forum on my progress, if any, from Speedtuning USA.
12-03-2011, 02:50 AM
#2
I'm a bit of a diesel fan and recently crossed over from the VW TDi world and purchased a 98 E300 Turbodiesel. Bought it from the original owner in excellent condition.
I had good luck with chip and flash tunes on my VW's, so I jumped right into a chip tune for my E300 through Speedtuning USA.
Once I installed my ECU returned from Oliver at Speedtune, I experienced a rough idle anytime in N or Drive and a stutter upon rev-down from about 1200 RPM back down to idle under all conditions.
It turns out that MBZ had a factory countermeasure to this complaint years ago, and it included an ECU swap. Oliver had noticed that I had a 99 model year ECU in my 98, and now after speaking to a service writer at Caliber Motors and after reading the following link, I knew the reason why. The ECU I had sent to Oliver had the updated part number to correct the rough idle customer complaints. Follow the link to see a short article in STAR magazine by Stu Ritter:
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/645/shake8xb.jpg
Suspecting that the new tune from Speedtune did not incorporate this update, I wrote to Oliver about this software updating and my cars history of having it done. His response was that he could tune out the rough idle by increasing fuel quantity settings, but that he would have to charge for a "custom" tune, an additional $200 on top of the $325 I had already paid.
My response to this was to request my ECU be returned to the previous, stock program. I didn't feel that the additional fee to have my car run satisfactorily was fair and I was much more interested in having my E300 run as nicely as it looked rather than having the extra 30HP or so at this point.
So with his verbal agreement to return the ECU to me by the time I returned from a two week trip, I shipped the it back off to Speedtuning. Days later I received a full refund through Paypal. So what is my complaint, right?
Well, now they are holding my ECU until I send them (like AMGAlex's experience with them) a payment of $375 in cash, money order or Western Union. Craigslist and Ebay have warnings not to do business with companies seeking payment like this. This request came from Jennifer (the owner) after they had tendered a refund through Paypal.
One more bit of context: Oliver relayed a story to me that he had a customer with a 99 E300 experiencing the exact same idle issue. The customer had the direction of a MBZ dealer that he would need the updated ECU (the one I have) to solve his problem. For whatever reason, probably cost (Caliber Motors in Anaheim wants $2300 for one and won't sell it over-the-counter) this customer of Oliver's tried the same Stage 2 tune I purchased from Speedtuning and it did not resolve his idle issue, according to Oliver.
Even having had that experience and mine, Oliver and Jennifer, AFTER having refunded the full amount told me their tune IS based on the updated software to address the idle and now I would have to pay them $375 for them to release my ECU that is now put back to the way it was before.
This is not acceptable to me, to have to pay more than originally, or frankly to have to pay at all, for services that I have rejected for good reason.
My E300 has been immobile in my garage for nearly a month now, and I have the counsel of an attorney who suggested I tell my story on internet forums. Everything I've stated here is in print on emails between Speedtuning USA and I.
I will continue to update the forum on my progress, if any, from Speedtuning USA.
I had good luck with chip and flash tunes on my VW's, so I jumped right into a chip tune for my E300 through Speedtuning USA.
Once I installed my ECU returned from Oliver at Speedtune, I experienced a rough idle anytime in N or Drive and a stutter upon rev-down from about 1200 RPM back down to idle under all conditions.
It turns out that MBZ had a factory countermeasure to this complaint years ago, and it included an ECU swap. Oliver had noticed that I had a 99 model year ECU in my 98, and now after speaking to a service writer at Caliber Motors and after reading the following link, I knew the reason why. The ECU I had sent to Oliver had the updated part number to correct the rough idle customer complaints. Follow the link to see a short article in STAR magazine by Stu Ritter:
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/645/shake8xb.jpg
Suspecting that the new tune from Speedtune did not incorporate this update, I wrote to Oliver about this software updating and my cars history of having it done. His response was that he could tune out the rough idle by increasing fuel quantity settings, but that he would have to charge for a "custom" tune, an additional $200 on top of the $325 I had already paid.
My response to this was to request my ECU be returned to the previous, stock program. I didn't feel that the additional fee to have my car run satisfactorily was fair and I was much more interested in having my E300 run as nicely as it looked rather than having the extra 30HP or so at this point.
So with his verbal agreement to return the ECU to me by the time I returned from a two week trip, I shipped the it back off to Speedtuning. Days later I received a full refund through Paypal. So what is my complaint, right?
Well, now they are holding my ECU until I send them (like AMGAlex's experience with them) a payment of $375 in cash, money order or Western Union. Craigslist and Ebay have warnings not to do business with companies seeking payment like this. This request came from Jennifer (the owner) after they had tendered a refund through Paypal.
One more bit of context: Oliver relayed a story to me that he had a customer with a 99 E300 experiencing the exact same idle issue. The customer had the direction of a MBZ dealer that he would need the updated ECU (the one I have) to solve his problem. For whatever reason, probably cost (Caliber Motors in Anaheim wants $2300 for one and won't sell it over-the-counter) this customer of Oliver's tried the same Stage 2 tune I purchased from Speedtuning and it did not resolve his idle issue, according to Oliver.
Even having had that experience and mine, Oliver and Jennifer, AFTER having refunded the full amount told me their tune IS based on the updated software to address the idle and now I would have to pay them $375 for them to release my ECU that is now put back to the way it was before.
This is not acceptable to me, to have to pay more than originally, or frankly to have to pay at all, for services that I have rejected for good reason.
My E300 has been immobile in my garage for nearly a month now, and I have the counsel of an attorney who suggested I tell my story on internet forums. Everything I've stated here is in print on emails between Speedtuning USA and I.
I will continue to update the forum on my progress, if any, from Speedtuning USA.
02-24-2012, 03:08 PM
#3
www.speedtuningusa.com ARE COMPLETE SCUM BAGS
sorry to hear your having these guys extort money form you just like they did to me
www.speedtuningusa.com ARE COMPLETE SCUM BAGS
Oliver seems like he is the only guy working there and his so called Manager Jenifer
AVOID THEM LIKE A PlAGUE
lets spread the word out for these scum bags
here is my thread about them https://mbworld.org/forums/performan...ngusa-com.html
here is another thread about them form Volvo forums http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/topic...-speed-tuning/
and another thread http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...highlight=true
and another https://mbworld.org/forums/sl55-amg-...mages-ecu.html
www.speedtuningusa.com ARE COMPLETE SCUM BAGS
Oliver seems like he is the only guy working there and his so called Manager Jenifer
AVOID THEM LIKE A PlAGUE
lets spread the word out for these scum bags
here is my thread about them https://mbworld.org/forums/performan...ngusa-com.html
here is another thread about them form Volvo forums http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/topic...-speed-tuning/
and another thread http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...highlight=true
and another https://mbworld.org/forums/sl55-amg-...mages-ecu.html
Last edited by amgalex; 02-24-2012 at 07:47 PM.
02-24-2012, 03:46 PM
#5
MBWorld Fanatic!
just another proof, you get what you pay for. This is just horible.
Lucky for me i know a guy who is a benz tech and i would have just asked him to reset the ecu after i got the money back from speed tuning.
I though of using them a coule years ago. good thing i desided on eurocharged.
Good luck. post where ever you can. Euro teknik is also a good place to post these things
Lucky for me i know a guy who is a benz tech and i would have just asked him to reset the ecu after i got the money back from speed tuning.
I though of using them a coule years ago. good thing i desided on eurocharged.
Good luck. post where ever you can. Euro teknik is also a good place to post these things
02-24-2012, 04:08 PM
#6
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Eurocharged Performance ML63 and TT lambo
just another proof, you get what you pay for. This is just horible.
Lucky for me i know a guy who is a benz tech and i would have just asked him to reset the ecu after i got the money back from speed tuning.
I though of using them a coule years ago. good thing i desided on eurocharged.
Good luck. post where ever you can. Euro teknik is also a good place to post these things
Lucky for me i know a guy who is a benz tech and i would have just asked him to reset the ecu after i got the money back from speed tuning.
I though of using them a coule years ago. good thing i desided on eurocharged.
Good luck. post where ever you can. Euro teknik is also a good place to post these things
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10-17-2014, 12:13 PM
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99 E300
Add me to this list.....
Kind of in a bit of an interesting bind here: Pulled my DME out on Tues to send off to Oliver at SpeedTuningUSA for their Stage 2 flash with EGR kill. They got my DME the next day, flashed it, and sent it back. I got it back today, and popped it back into the car.
Immediately, I had CHECK ENGINE and ASR/ BAS lights illuminated. I called Oliver up, and he said that I probably had a bad connection on one of the ASR/ ABS module plugs, so I checked those 2 or 3 times, and still had the issue.
I then ran down to my friend's shop in town, and had them hook up the STAR computer and figure out what was really going on. They pulled a "CAN communication with the engine system is faulty. The coding of the series or engine type is incorrect" error.
I got Oliver on the phone with the tech there, and those two had a chat, and then I had a little chat with Oliver. Apparently, when he flashed my DME, he wiped all the coding data from it. There's no way for the tech to re-code the module to the car.
Oliver is out until next Tuesday apparently, so he said just get him the DME back to him on Tuesday and he will re-flash it back to stock, and hopefully that puts all the coding back in, and then we'd see where we were at.
Nevermind the headache and downtime with the car, but now I'm going to be out an additional $150 in FedEx charges for this thing to make another round trip to SpeedTuning, and I'm also out the minimal (they spent way more than 30 min on this) $75 that I got charged to diagnose this today.
As I understand it, if the worst outcome possible here plays out, I'll need a new DME, at around $1000, and to have it coded to the car.
Do I have any options at this point other than a new DME, or hoping that Oliver doesn't hold my DME hostage if I send it back to him?
Kind of in a bit of an interesting bind here: Pulled my DME out on Tues to send off to Oliver at SpeedTuningUSA for their Stage 2 flash with EGR kill. They got my DME the next day, flashed it, and sent it back. I got it back today, and popped it back into the car.
Immediately, I had CHECK ENGINE and ASR/ BAS lights illuminated. I called Oliver up, and he said that I probably had a bad connection on one of the ASR/ ABS module plugs, so I checked those 2 or 3 times, and still had the issue.
I then ran down to my friend's shop in town, and had them hook up the STAR computer and figure out what was really going on. They pulled a "CAN communication with the engine system is faulty. The coding of the series or engine type is incorrect" error.
I got Oliver on the phone with the tech there, and those two had a chat, and then I had a little chat with Oliver. Apparently, when he flashed my DME, he wiped all the coding data from it. There's no way for the tech to re-code the module to the car.
Oliver is out until next Tuesday apparently, so he said just get him the DME back to him on Tuesday and he will re-flash it back to stock, and hopefully that puts all the coding back in, and then we'd see where we were at.
Nevermind the headache and downtime with the car, but now I'm going to be out an additional $150 in FedEx charges for this thing to make another round trip to SpeedTuning, and I'm also out the minimal (they spent way more than 30 min on this) $75 that I got charged to diagnose this today.
As I understand it, if the worst outcome possible here plays out, I'll need a new DME, at around $1000, and to have it coded to the car.
Do I have any options at this point other than a new DME, or hoping that Oliver doesn't hold my DME hostage if I send it back to him?
