cwmateiuc

So I purchased this ASP idler kit for my car, and eventually i notice it wobbling. I speak the the dealer of the product, they tell me it's the bearing and ship me a new one, no big deal.

I find out it's not the bearing and the actual pulley is shot.

I call the dealer, and I'm told I have to send mine back... from my daily driver.

So he tells me i can send $100 deposit in order for them to send me a new one, then I can send mine back once I get the new one.

Had some things to pay for, couldn't afford to shell out the money at that exact point and time, so I waited.

Then, when I go to order the new one, i get refunded saying they're out of stock. So, I speak to this dealer and tell him the pulley looks like it is about to fall off, i was going to not drive the car until I got a new pulley.

I'm ASSURED that this pulley will not fall off.

Well, what do you know, about 6 or so hours later on the highway the pulley comes off, takes the belt with it and also slices through a coolant hose to the supercharger. COOLANT everywhere. Luckily this didn't happen at a high speed or there would of been a chance of losing control of the vehicle.

So, not only did I have to pay for a tow, and a new belt. When I spoke to the dealer about the new pulleys and a hose.. I was supposed to pay for this hose.

AFTER I ALREADY COVERED HALF OF OVERNIGHT SHIPPING.

After 20 minutes or so of "debating" i finally got a new hose at no charge.

So, i paid for a new belt, an expensive tow home and not to mention there are gouges in the motor where the pulley decided to take flight.

just my two cents on why I will never put anything ASP on my car by choice again.

Should of called 1800MBUSA, right Shardul?

cwmateiuc

Here are a few photos

HeissRod

If it was wobbling, you should never have continued driving it, IMO.

cwmateiuc

Yes i understand but the fact that it's my only car makes that tough. When I saw it got worse I was not going to drive the car at all until I got a new pulley, until I was assured it would not fall off... by the person that sells them and has experience with them.

chiromikey

Gotta agree here. Common sense must prevail.

cwmateiuc

Well then the person dealing the product should have more "common sense" on the product they sell than the person buying it in that case.


He stressed that it WILL NOT fall off, MORE than once.

Plus common sense does not matter, you're a dealer of the product and you tell me one thing, you're the "expert." You should stand behind what you say and be held responsible of such things.

And not only that. Clearly the pulley did fail, with a dramatic ending. And I know I'm not the first person dealing with ****ty products from ASP.

That's why I will never deal with them by choice. Unprofessional dealers who curse on the telephone and a crappy product IMO.

bnzuovr

Do you not have your original pulleys to install back on? I got 60k on my car and the original pulleys are still in place no issues knock on wood. All though the ASP pulleys were on my list you can't bet O.E.M. Best of luck to you bro sorry that happened to you.

chiromikey

There's rarely a person on the other end if the phone selling products that I would consider an expert. You're the one who was an eye witnes to the problem, not him. Be upset that you happened to get a bearing or even a bad pulley but don't be upset with them for the consequences of your mistake.

cwmateiuc

Clearly I don't think you read my original post.

Plus a video was sent to the person on the other end selling the item.

Regardless of who's mistake it was, the pulley failed and and cost me more than they are worth.

So if a "regular" person bought this and didn't notice the wobble and it caused the damage it did, then it would be okay, correct?

If you take your vehicle to Mercedes and they tell you your tire is fine and it blows out on your way home... who's at fault? You consulted the "expert". There was a transaction done, with a warranty on the product. Therefore the person selling it is responsible for questions, if unsure they should have redirected me directly to ASP.

Plain and simple. Don't try and run a "business" if you don't know what you're doing. Don't tell people things you're unsure of. As a dealer of a product it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to know the product, not the buyer.

And we all clearly know the vendors on this forum are rarely huge companies with complete noobs answering the phones, 9/10 times its the owner of the company you're dealing with.

SilverStrk

Sorry for "your pain".. I have the complete set and no problems.. This is the first failure I personally have heard of.. Are you sure it was installed correctly? When I did my BWK it did not align properly and my shop had to put a shim in to assure proper allignment...

cwmateiuc

My originals broke right around 75k so I got the ASP's.

cwmateiuc

Thanks. Yes, it was installed straight and spun evenly when first installed.

The pulley wore out around the bearing and began to wobble, wobbled to the point that the inside separated from the rest of the pulley.

chiromikey

I'm sure there's another side of the story besides yours!

ASP is probably the most reliable aftermarket pulley manufacturer this platform has. Is there a reason you're blaming ASP instead of yourself or the person that performed the install?

An argument with some hypothetical regular person or some hypothetical tire blow out means nothing. The plain truth is that YOU noticed the problem and YOU chose to ignore the fact that common sense dictated you shouldn't drive the car until the problem is resolved.

chiromikey

And to re-read your original post, it appears that ASP was willing to work with you right away but you chose to "wait" and keep driving the car. Whose fault is this really?

cwmateiuc

Think you're missing the part where it says I wasn't going to drive the car until I was assured more than once that the car would be fine to drive and that the pulley will not fall off.

Plus, when I sent the money the part was out of stock.

And the scenario I posted makes plenty of sense, it puts things into perspective. Just answer the questions I asked after the scenarios.

The plain truth is still that a business dealing the product gave me a verbal guarantee that the product will not fail and that the car is SAFE to drive until the new one comes in, after seeing a video of the issue.

That is why I will not deal with someone that does not know about what they sell.

My opinion is still that it's a crappy product, and the dealer I dealt with was unprofessional.

We can agree to disagree

chiromikey

Yes, we can agree to disagree

HeissRod

I get that the person on the phone told you they didn't believe it would fall off, but did they agree to cover any damages if it did? Is that horrible customer service? Most definitely. Is that person an idiot for diagnosing over the phone? Yes. Do I care about ASP's reputation? No; to clear that up in advance.

Last week, I had a tire perform a spectacular blowout. If I had called Tire Rack about the tire looking dangerously low, but they told me it should still be ok to drive on, do you think I should blame them when the tire blew and possibly took out my rear fender? No, I would have know previously that the tire was low, but did nothing to fix it or avoid the potentially hazardous situation. I would have been mad at them for giving me bad information, but at the end of the day, you are dealing with a person hundreds of miles away who is not looking at the car.

You knew the pulley was wobbling, but chose to ignore the fact that something out of round will not fix itself. YOU are the one that continued to drive the car. YOU are the one that continued to put your personal property in danger. You are responsible for every except the busted pulley. If they help you with any of that, it is out of good will.

Just because someone tells something will be fine does not absolve you for looking out for yourself. That's how this country has ended up with ridiculous amounts of frivolous lawsuits. Common sense trumps all.

---

As a side note, I feel horrible for your situation. I'm glad it wasn't worse and nothing catastrophic happened to your motor.

cwmateiuc

Thank you!

But we both know Tire Rack is smarter and more professional, and they would refer you to a shop or say they can't answer that.

I actually didn't even call and ask the dealer of the ASP product if it's okay or not. I told him I need one quick since they were out of stock because I wasn't going to drive the car and it's my only car. He couldn't get one and that is when you kept assuring me it is fine and would not fall off.

It is my dumbass fault for listening to him, you're right about that. But his dumbass should think before he speaks, as a vendor on this forum and as a dealer of a product.

And that is my rant on why I will not use their products, because it really didn't last long and they have dealers that are unprofessional.

Not to mention being cursed at on the phone by this dealer

HeissRod

Replace Tire Rack with SuperBuyTires.com then.

He should never have assured you over the phone like that. I guarantee you he was only trying to keep his customer from going elsewhere, which blew up in his face.

Cursing at you is inexcusable, though. "Bad customer service rep! No commission for you!"

blackbenzz

Man that's horrible! Sorry to hear.

viren.89

Sorry to hear that.

djrabbi

Sucks to hear but if you noticed something wrong, I would have taken them off for the time being or paid the $100.

1970gsx

From your "original post" it seems the dealer was doing everything right about replacing the defective part. It is not their fault it's your daily driver or you didn't have $100 deposit to get part sent sooner. You saw it wobbling and should have known better than to drive it even after being "assured". Also, if your original pulley's failed at 75k maybe you have something else going on.

RAWE55

The belt wrap kit actually provides more support to the idler pulleys. In terms of the cross brace bracket. I have seen stock idler pulleys blow out and rip belts and cause all sorts of mess. This is the first ive seen of an ASP. Id check the allignment of your idlers, make sure it was installed correctly and get a belt wrap kit.

biggking

Dude I don't know what you guys see but you can tell that the center piece of the ASP pulley MELTED away. The rear mount that the pulley bolts onto is an AMG tensioner for 55k. Bearings on the ASP pulley got stuck and then melted away?!?!