ECU Tune gone wrong!!
Super Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 512
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles
2009 C63 AMG
Detective work? Hardly. Please call that good memory.
I read that thread and was quite impressed until you went in and started throwing words around just because someone (although he's a mod) stated a different but quite moderate opinion.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Aug 2009
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From: NY
See Sig
I remember that thread and the mod was out of line and had it coming. In my opinion.
Now enough of this bs and lets get back to the facts of the thread.
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From: Northport N.Y.
2013 f250 6.7 diesel
Good memory. Im not stating im inocent at all. Just that mr sls should maybe get some sort of slap from the mods? And thats my opinion. Agree or disagree
Last edited by dodger63; May 8, 2012 at 10:38 PM.
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,466
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2012 C63 2015 C300 sport
this is worse than a Honda forum LOL.
but personally from reading on this site and the fact that MHP had to make another site to talk back already discourages me from getting a tune by them.
Glad the OP is happy with another tune now though. sucks to see this happen
Member
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
From: Kuwait
2012 C63 Coupe
what we're dealing with is obviously much higher in cost... i had a similar experience with mhp... i read and researched on which headers i wanted and was on the fence about going with mhp, even though there was a lot of proof showing they had one of the best headers, there were also threads talking about bad business, bad reviews blah blah blah... but the idea of being able to have more horsepower with their headers kind of made the bad reviews negligible in the end and won me over... i figured, it's gotta be tough to go wrong with headers so i contacted andy...
If i can say one thing about MHP dont deal with MHP/Andy. i regretted doing business with him.
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 4,026
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From: Walnut Creek, CA
Vivid Racing '09 C63 AMG
Wow, I leave you guys alone for a coupe of hours and come back to a steaming pile of smack talk and bad spelling/grammar.
Guys, I think this is a good rule to remember to always insure packages when you're not willing to pay the full replacement cost out of pocket. Hell, I insured my SAM I sent to Whipple and I could've easily bought another one. It's just a headache if you have to.
OP, I'm sorry for your unfortunate circumstances. Clearly, something went awry in your dealings and you found out too late. I think the best thing to do is to keep pounding at them to fix the issue or reimburse (full or partial) you for the cost of a new ECU. Can you stop payment or dispute it through your bank? I'm not sure what method of payment you used. But that might be another tough lesson to learn.
Guys, I think this is a good rule to remember to always insure packages when you're not willing to pay the full replacement cost out of pocket. Hell, I insured my SAM I sent to Whipple and I could've easily bought another one. It's just a headache if you have to.
OP, I'm sorry for your unfortunate circumstances. Clearly, something went awry in your dealings and you found out too late. I think the best thing to do is to keep pounding at them to fix the issue or reimburse (full or partial) you for the cost of a new ECU. Can you stop payment or dispute it through your bank? I'm not sure what method of payment you used. But that might be another tough lesson to learn.
Super Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 632
Likes: 8
From: California ,Oregon, Idaho
AMG GTR, GTBS,944 Turbo, GT4RS,GT2RS,GT3rs,GT4,Lotus Exige S,BMW M3CS,M4CSL,Lamborghini STO, Tesla Y
I purchased a 2009 C63 a couple of months ago and have been following the mbworld forum for a little while now. This is my first post and I regret that it has to be in a negative context but I hope to save someone else from the $$ and the headaches that I have just been through. Let me also say, that I realize that there followers and fan boys of certain tuners and I will not argue back and forth over this thread with anyone. I will simply present the facts of my experience and you can decide if this information is helpful in any future decisions you make modifying your vehicle.
Based on the large power gains available, I knew that my first mod would be an ECU tune. To give you a little background, I am not new to modifying cars and/or computers for that matter. At a minimum, I have done ECU tunes to almost every car I have owned since the late 1980’s. Actually, most vehicles stored the ECU tuning on E-Proms back then. Additionally, I have 17 years experience as an Industrial automation systems engineer dealing with Controllers and Electronics very similar to automotive ECU’s. Being new to the C63, I joined this forum and did quite a bit of reading. I quickly noticed that were many tuners to choose from and based on the ¼ Mile times posted here on the forum I narrowed down my choice to Modern Horsepower (MHP). Turns out for me, MHP was the wrong choice! Read on, if your interested in my story.
After a couple of discussions with Andy of (MHP) I carefully removed and thoroughly packaged my ECU. My ECU had no less than 5 full wraps of bubble wrap around it and was securely packaged in a fairly large box. The Fedex guy watched me pack it and even made me keep adding bubble wrap. This thing was packed extremly well. Overkill, to say the least. I then shipped it off to MHP. The next Day, I received an email from MHP a.k.a Andrew Cluck stating the following “Just wanted to give you a heads up. ECU arrived, we unpacked and prepared to open and heard a rattle inside the ECU. Not sure if it was like this when you shipped or if FedEx played floor hockey with the box last night”. My first thought was how the hell was this thing damaged in shipping, it was so thoroughly wrapped that you could have literally have thrown it out of the 2nd floor window of an office building. I asked (MHP) Andy if there was any damage to the outside of the ECU case itself. He responded that there was “no” damage at all to the outside of the ecu. The damage was to something internal on the circuit board “looks like some kind of resistor” he said. Now I’m really suspicious… So, he heard a rattle and went ahead and opened it anyway? (Common sense say’s these ECU’s are capable of handling quite a bit of shock and vibration? The ECU is mounted just above and behind the front wheel. Think about that next time you hit a huge pothole or for that matter get into an accident with the vehicle… Does crap fall off the circuit Board in those situations? I don’t think so… Secondly, after having to buy a new ECU, I had a clear look a how Mercedes ships a new ECU? They sent my new ECU in a box barely bigger than the ECU itself and it had a couple of pieces of thin carboard wrapped around it. Believe me, if these things were as fragile as MHP claims, Mercedes would not be shipping them with so little protection…..) Aggrivated, and suspicious, I then asked Andy to provide both pictures of the shipping Box and the damage to the ECU which he did. After looking at the picture of the damaged component on the board I had a pretty strong feeling that this damage was done by MHP while opening the ECU. I sent the pictures to a few other tuners and some ECU repair shops and they all, without a doubt confirmed my thoughts. Most, laughed when I told them this damage was supposedly done in shipping and there was no damage to the ECU case itself. I was also told that these ECU are glued/bonded together pretty well from the factory and take a bit of caution, patience, and finesse to separate the cover from the body. More than likely, whatever MHP (Andy) was using to pry the case halves apart slipped into the inside and knocked the component off of the circuit board. After seeing the pictures, I then called MHP again and asked Andy directly if he accidentally damaged the ECU when opening it. Andy denied that he or MHP damaged the ECU. He then told me that he could not write to the ECU and that he would be sending it back to me broken….. Really?? Are you kidding me? Break a customers ECU, deny it, send it back and wash your hands of the situation.. Wow, that’s customer service!! (There were many more phone conversations and text messages over this matter. Some were heated.)
The next day, I receive an ECU back in the mail. I open the shipping box and begin to undo the screws of the cover of the ECU to inspect the damage myself. As I am undoing the screws, and before I can get the ECU open my phone rings. It’s Andy with MHP, “I sent you the wrong ECU back, it’s not yours” he states. Wow, really! How do you know that you broke mine and not someone elses then? Andy states that I need to send it back immediately because he gave me another customers ECU instead of mine. Luckily for me, I had taken a picture of my ECU when I pulled it out of the vehichle. I purposely did this to make sure that I got my ECU back and not someone else’s. I quickly confirm with the picture that this is the same ECU that I sent to MHP. I explain to Andy that the tag on this ECU matches the one in the photo that I took before sending it to MHP. He then say’s “I must have swapped the cover with someone else’s ECU”. Wow, MHP really has their shi* together. Mysteriously broken circuit board of ECU with no outer case damage, swapped ECU covers, posting under multiple user names online and a host of other shady information… Later on that evening, I tell Andy that I’m not sending this ECU back because the cover and all of the numbers on the label match the photo of the ECU I sent to MHP. After the fact, I also opened the cover and verified that the ECU I had in hand was indeed the ECU with the broken circuitry on the board. Additionally, I have since verified that this ECU was in fact my original ECU since my VIN was still in this ECU. I have no idea what Andy did with that other customers ECU, maybe he swapped covers with yet a third person.. All I know is that the ECU that came back t me was broken and had my VIN in it. Much more conversation went on with Andy and I over this matter and it has not been remedied by MHP. I have asked MHP to cover the cost of the new ECU, the TOW and charge for the local dealer to marry the new ECU that I had to purchase to my car. MHP continues to deny any wrongdoing but the evidence and shady stories from Andy speak for themselves. Hope you didn’t think I forgot you ANDY!! It’s been around a month, I gave you ample opportunity to make this right! Damaged in Shipping?????
C’mon Andy….. Really!!!!!
Buyers Beware!
Based on the large power gains available, I knew that my first mod would be an ECU tune. To give you a little background, I am not new to modifying cars and/or computers for that matter. At a minimum, I have done ECU tunes to almost every car I have owned since the late 1980’s. Actually, most vehicles stored the ECU tuning on E-Proms back then. Additionally, I have 17 years experience as an Industrial automation systems engineer dealing with Controllers and Electronics very similar to automotive ECU’s. Being new to the C63, I joined this forum and did quite a bit of reading. I quickly noticed that were many tuners to choose from and based on the ¼ Mile times posted here on the forum I narrowed down my choice to Modern Horsepower (MHP). Turns out for me, MHP was the wrong choice! Read on, if your interested in my story.
After a couple of discussions with Andy of (MHP) I carefully removed and thoroughly packaged my ECU. My ECU had no less than 5 full wraps of bubble wrap around it and was securely packaged in a fairly large box. The Fedex guy watched me pack it and even made me keep adding bubble wrap. This thing was packed extremly well. Overkill, to say the least. I then shipped it off to MHP. The next Day, I received an email from MHP a.k.a Andrew Cluck stating the following “Just wanted to give you a heads up. ECU arrived, we unpacked and prepared to open and heard a rattle inside the ECU. Not sure if it was like this when you shipped or if FedEx played floor hockey with the box last night”. My first thought was how the hell was this thing damaged in shipping, it was so thoroughly wrapped that you could have literally have thrown it out of the 2nd floor window of an office building. I asked (MHP) Andy if there was any damage to the outside of the ECU case itself. He responded that there was “no” damage at all to the outside of the ecu. The damage was to something internal on the circuit board “looks like some kind of resistor” he said. Now I’m really suspicious… So, he heard a rattle and went ahead and opened it anyway? (Common sense say’s these ECU’s are capable of handling quite a bit of shock and vibration? The ECU is mounted just above and behind the front wheel. Think about that next time you hit a huge pothole or for that matter get into an accident with the vehicle… Does crap fall off the circuit Board in those situations? I don’t think so… Secondly, after having to buy a new ECU, I had a clear look a how Mercedes ships a new ECU? They sent my new ECU in a box barely bigger than the ECU itself and it had a couple of pieces of thin carboard wrapped around it. Believe me, if these things were as fragile as MHP claims, Mercedes would not be shipping them with so little protection…..) Aggrivated, and suspicious, I then asked Andy to provide both pictures of the shipping Box and the damage to the ECU which he did. After looking at the picture of the damaged component on the board I had a pretty strong feeling that this damage was done by MHP while opening the ECU. I sent the pictures to a few other tuners and some ECU repair shops and they all, without a doubt confirmed my thoughts. Most, laughed when I told them this damage was supposedly done in shipping and there was no damage to the ECU case itself. I was also told that these ECU are glued/bonded together pretty well from the factory and take a bit of caution, patience, and finesse to separate the cover from the body. More than likely, whatever MHP (Andy) was using to pry the case halves apart slipped into the inside and knocked the component off of the circuit board. After seeing the pictures, I then called MHP again and asked Andy directly if he accidentally damaged the ECU when opening it. Andy denied that he or MHP damaged the ECU. He then told me that he could not write to the ECU and that he would be sending it back to me broken….. Really?? Are you kidding me? Break a customers ECU, deny it, send it back and wash your hands of the situation.. Wow, that’s customer service!! (There were many more phone conversations and text messages over this matter. Some were heated.)
The next day, I receive an ECU back in the mail. I open the shipping box and begin to undo the screws of the cover of the ECU to inspect the damage myself. As I am undoing the screws, and before I can get the ECU open my phone rings. It’s Andy with MHP, “I sent you the wrong ECU back, it’s not yours” he states. Wow, really! How do you know that you broke mine and not someone elses then? Andy states that I need to send it back immediately because he gave me another customers ECU instead of mine. Luckily for me, I had taken a picture of my ECU when I pulled it out of the vehichle. I purposely did this to make sure that I got my ECU back and not someone else’s. I quickly confirm with the picture that this is the same ECU that I sent to MHP. I explain to Andy that the tag on this ECU matches the one in the photo that I took before sending it to MHP. He then say’s “I must have swapped the cover with someone else’s ECU”. Wow, MHP really has their shi* together. Mysteriously broken circuit board of ECU with no outer case damage, swapped ECU covers, posting under multiple user names online and a host of other shady information… Later on that evening, I tell Andy that I’m not sending this ECU back because the cover and all of the numbers on the label match the photo of the ECU I sent to MHP. After the fact, I also opened the cover and verified that the ECU I had in hand was indeed the ECU with the broken circuitry on the board. Additionally, I have since verified that this ECU was in fact my original ECU since my VIN was still in this ECU. I have no idea what Andy did with that other customers ECU, maybe he swapped covers with yet a third person.. All I know is that the ECU that came back t me was broken and had my VIN in it. Much more conversation went on with Andy and I over this matter and it has not been remedied by MHP. I have asked MHP to cover the cost of the new ECU, the TOW and charge for the local dealer to marry the new ECU that I had to purchase to my car. MHP continues to deny any wrongdoing but the evidence and shady stories from Andy speak for themselves. Hope you didn’t think I forgot you ANDY!! It’s been around a month, I gave you ample opportunity to make this right! Damaged in Shipping?????
C’mon Andy….. Really!!!!!Buyers Beware!
This is Ramin, the guy in CA whose ECU you refused to ship back to me (you still have my property) after Andy mistakenly shipped my ECU to you with your cover. You know this because we spoke on the phone after Andy called you to tell you about emailing new shipping labels to get us both our respective ecus back asap. For the record Andy within minutes of finding out Mike wasn't going to send me my tuned ecu back, bought me another one (or instantly paid me via Paypal), within minutes!!!!!
I am quite familiar with this story due to the above reasons so let's cover some other inconsistencies in your story. First Andy does exactly what he's supposed to do, just like anyone else, when receiving something damaged by ups, fedex, post office whoever. Reports it to the customer. You purchased insurance for a claimed $1500 so use it, that's what it's for.
Why did you try and con Andy into using his commercial liability insurance to "make you whole"? That's insurance fraud but doesn't seem to bother you as long as you are taken care of. What you fail to see is you are taking your anguish out on me (hello third party customer?) and the person not responsible for damaging your ecu. Going so far as to physically threaten Andy by saying how many times you've "almost" been to jail for doing bad things in the past, grow up.
You act like fedex has never broken anything before LOL, you're kidding right?
Some additional statements Mike made on the phone that made me question his integrity (as if I needed anything more than "no I'm not shipping your ecu back to you"). I asked him what year his car was, at this point he was thinking there was a chance my ecu would work in his car (never going to happen), and received 3 different answers. New, used, then pre-owned. It started off as a 2011, then a 2009, then ended up being a 2008.
I saw the letter your atty sent Andy, I had to laugh even though I'm not an atty, talk about a shot in the dark.
FWIW I am the other person in this story so if anyone has any questions they would like to be answered legitimately feel free.
Thanks
Ramin
Last edited by Rock; May 9, 2012 at 06:40 AM.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,443
Likes: 2
From: Desert
02 CLK 55 AMG,09 C63 loaded with P30
Ohhh wow Andy at it again.
Don't worrie u not the 1st or last that had a problem.
I'll post a pic of what my Ecu looked like after opening.
If it wasent for couple baller on the forum that keep this guy going an repping his products he would be out of business longtime ago.
Don't worrie u not the 1st or last that had a problem.
I'll post a pic of what my Ecu looked like after opening.
If it wasent for couple baller on the forum that keep this guy going an repping his products he would be out of business longtime ago.
Don't worry mhps biggest fan boy dodger has all the answers.
Super Member
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 512
Likes: 1
From: Los Angeles
2009 C63 AMG
Wow, I leave you guys alone for a coupe of hours and come back to a steaming pile of smack talk and bad spelling/grammar.
Guys, I think this is a good rule to remember to always insure packages when you're not willing to pay the full replacement cost out of pocket. Hell, I insured my SAM I sent to Whipple and I could've easily bought another one. It's just a headache if you have to.
OP, I'm sorry for your unfortunate circumstances. Clearly, something went awry in your dealings and you found out too late. I think the best thing to do is to keep pounding at them to fix the issue or reimburse (full or partial) you for the cost of a new ECU. Can you stop payment or dispute it through your bank? I'm not sure what method of payment you used. But that might be another tough lesson to learn.
Guys, I think this is a good rule to remember to always insure packages when you're not willing to pay the full replacement cost out of pocket. Hell, I insured my SAM I sent to Whipple and I could've easily bought another one. It's just a headache if you have to.
OP, I'm sorry for your unfortunate circumstances. Clearly, something went awry in your dealings and you found out too late. I think the best thing to do is to keep pounding at them to fix the issue or reimburse (full or partial) you for the cost of a new ECU. Can you stop payment or dispute it through your bank? I'm not sure what method of payment you used. But that might be another tough lesson to learn.
for $1400, too much?
Super Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 632
Likes: 8
From: California ,Oregon, Idaho
AMG GTR, GTBS,944 Turbo, GT4RS,GT2RS,GT3rs,GT4,Lotus Exige S,BMW M3CS,M4CSL,Lamborghini STO, Tesla Y
I purchased a 2009 C63 a couple of months ago and have been following the mbworld forum for a little while now. This is my first post and I regret that it has to be in a negative context but I hope to save someone else from the $$ and the headaches that I have just been through. Let me also say, that I realize that there followers and fan boys of certain tuners and I will not argue back and forth over this thread with anyone. I will simply present the facts of my experience and you can decide if this information is helpful in any future decisions you make modifying your vehicle.
Based on the large power gains available, I knew that my first mod would be an ECU tune. To give you a little background, I am not new to modifying cars and/or computers for that matter. At a minimum, I have done ECU tunes to almost every car I have owned since the late 1980’s. Actually, most vehicles stored the ECU tuning on E-Proms back then. Additionally, I have 17 years experience as an Industrial automation systems engineer dealing with Controllers and Electronics very similar to automotive ECU’s. Being new to the C63, I joined this forum and did quite a bit of reading. I quickly noticed that were many tuners to choose from and based on the ¼ Mile times posted here on the forum I narrowed down my choice to Modern Horsepower (MHP). Turns out for me, MHP was the wrong choice! Read on, if your interested in my story.
After a couple of discussions with Andy of (MHP) I carefully removed and thoroughly packaged my ECU. My ECU had no less than 5 full wraps of bubble wrap around it and was securely packaged in a fairly large box. The Fedex guy watched me pack it and even made me keep adding bubble wrap. This thing was packed extremly well. Overkill, to say the least. I then shipped it off to MHP. The next Day, I received an email from MHP a.k.a Andrew Cluck stating the following “Just wanted to give you a heads up. ECU arrived, we unpacked and prepared to open and heard a rattle inside the ECU. Not sure if it was like this when you shipped or if FedEx played floor hockey with the box last night”. My first thought was how the hell was this thing damaged in shipping, it was so thoroughly wrapped that you could have literally have thrown it out of the 2nd floor window of an office building. I asked (MHP) Andy if there was any damage to the outside of the ECU case itself. He responded that there was “no” damage at all to the outside of the ecu. The damage was to something internal on the circuit board “looks like some kind of resistor” he said. Now I’m really suspicious… So, he heard a rattle and went ahead and opened it anyway? (Common sense say’s these ECU’s are capable of handling quite a bit of shock and vibration? The ECU is mounted just above and behind the front wheel. Think about that next time you hit a huge pothole or for that matter get into an accident with the vehicle… Does crap fall off the circuit Board in those situations? I don’t think so… Secondly, after having to buy a new ECU, I had a clear look a how Mercedes ships a new ECU? They sent my new ECU in a box barely bigger than the ECU itself and it had a couple of pieces of thin carboard wrapped around it. Believe me, if these things were as fragile as MHP claims, Mercedes would not be shipping them with so little protection…..) Aggrivated, and suspicious, I then asked Andy to provide both pictures of the shipping Box and the damage to the ECU which he did. After looking at the picture of the damaged component on the board I had a pretty strong feeling that this damage was done by MHP while opening the ECU. I sent the pictures to a few other tuners and some ECU repair shops and they all, without a doubt confirmed my thoughts. Most, laughed when I told them this damage was supposedly done in shipping and there was no damage to the ECU case itself. I was also told that these ECU are glued/bonded together pretty well from the factory and take a bit of caution, patience, and finesse to separate the cover from the body. More than likely, whatever MHP (Andy) was using to pry the case halves apart slipped into the inside and knocked the component off of the circuit board. After seeing the pictures, I then called MHP again and asked Andy directly if he accidentally damaged the ECU when opening it. Andy denied that he or MHP damaged the ECU. He then told me that he could not write to the ECU and that he would be sending it back to me broken….. Really?? Are you kidding me? Break a customers ECU, deny it, send it back and wash your hands of the situation.. Wow, that’s customer service!! (There were many more phone conversations and text messages over this matter. Some were heated.)
The next day, I receive an ECU back in the mail. I open the shipping box and begin to undo the screws of the cover of the ECU to inspect the damage myself. As I am undoing the screws, and before I can get the ECU open my phone rings. It’s Andy with MHP, “I sent you the wrong ECU back, it’s not yours” he states. Wow, really! How do you know that you broke mine and not someone elses then? Andy states that I need to send it back immediately because he gave me another customers ECU instead of mine. Luckily for me, I had taken a picture of my ECU when I pulled it out of the vehichle. I purposely did this to make sure that I got my ECU back and not someone else’s. I quickly confirm with the picture that this is the same ECU that I sent to MHP. I explain to Andy that the tag on this ECU matches the one in the photo that I took before sending it to MHP. He then say’s “I must have swapped the cover with someone else’s ECU”. Wow, MHP really has their shi* together. Mysteriously broken circuit board of ECU with no outer case damage, swapped ECU covers, posting under multiple user names online and a host of other shady information… Later on that evening, I tell Andy that I’m not sending this ECU back because the cover and all of the numbers on the label match the photo of the ECU I sent to MHP. After the fact, I also opened the cover and verified that the ECU I had in hand was indeed the ECU with the broken circuitry on the board. Additionally, I have since verified that this ECU was in fact my original ECU since my VIN was still in this ECU. I have no idea what Andy did with that other customers ECU, maybe he swapped covers with yet a third person.. All I know is that the ECU that came back t me was broken and had my VIN in it. Much more conversation went on with Andy and I over this matter and it has not been remedied by MHP. I have asked MHP to cover the cost of the new ECU, the TOW and charge for the local dealer to marry the new ECU that I had to purchase to my car. MHP continues to deny any wrongdoing but the evidence and shady stories from Andy speak for themselves. Hope you didn’t think I forgot you ANDY!! It’s been around a month, I gave you ample opportunity to make this right! Damaged in Shipping????? C’mon Andy….. Really!!!!!
Buyers Beware!
Based on the large power gains available, I knew that my first mod would be an ECU tune. To give you a little background, I am not new to modifying cars and/or computers for that matter. At a minimum, I have done ECU tunes to almost every car I have owned since the late 1980’s. Actually, most vehicles stored the ECU tuning on E-Proms back then. Additionally, I have 17 years experience as an Industrial automation systems engineer dealing with Controllers and Electronics very similar to automotive ECU’s. Being new to the C63, I joined this forum and did quite a bit of reading. I quickly noticed that were many tuners to choose from and based on the ¼ Mile times posted here on the forum I narrowed down my choice to Modern Horsepower (MHP). Turns out for me, MHP was the wrong choice! Read on, if your interested in my story.
After a couple of discussions with Andy of (MHP) I carefully removed and thoroughly packaged my ECU. My ECU had no less than 5 full wraps of bubble wrap around it and was securely packaged in a fairly large box. The Fedex guy watched me pack it and even made me keep adding bubble wrap. This thing was packed extremly well. Overkill, to say the least. I then shipped it off to MHP. The next Day, I received an email from MHP a.k.a Andrew Cluck stating the following “Just wanted to give you a heads up. ECU arrived, we unpacked and prepared to open and heard a rattle inside the ECU. Not sure if it was like this when you shipped or if FedEx played floor hockey with the box last night”. My first thought was how the hell was this thing damaged in shipping, it was so thoroughly wrapped that you could have literally have thrown it out of the 2nd floor window of an office building. I asked (MHP) Andy if there was any damage to the outside of the ECU case itself. He responded that there was “no” damage at all to the outside of the ecu. The damage was to something internal on the circuit board “looks like some kind of resistor” he said. Now I’m really suspicious… So, he heard a rattle and went ahead and opened it anyway? (Common sense say’s these ECU’s are capable of handling quite a bit of shock and vibration? The ECU is mounted just above and behind the front wheel. Think about that next time you hit a huge pothole or for that matter get into an accident with the vehicle… Does crap fall off the circuit Board in those situations? I don’t think so… Secondly, after having to buy a new ECU, I had a clear look a how Mercedes ships a new ECU? They sent my new ECU in a box barely bigger than the ECU itself and it had a couple of pieces of thin carboard wrapped around it. Believe me, if these things were as fragile as MHP claims, Mercedes would not be shipping them with so little protection…..) Aggrivated, and suspicious, I then asked Andy to provide both pictures of the shipping Box and the damage to the ECU which he did. After looking at the picture of the damaged component on the board I had a pretty strong feeling that this damage was done by MHP while opening the ECU. I sent the pictures to a few other tuners and some ECU repair shops and they all, without a doubt confirmed my thoughts. Most, laughed when I told them this damage was supposedly done in shipping and there was no damage to the ECU case itself. I was also told that these ECU are glued/bonded together pretty well from the factory and take a bit of caution, patience, and finesse to separate the cover from the body. More than likely, whatever MHP (Andy) was using to pry the case halves apart slipped into the inside and knocked the component off of the circuit board. After seeing the pictures, I then called MHP again and asked Andy directly if he accidentally damaged the ECU when opening it. Andy denied that he or MHP damaged the ECU. He then told me that he could not write to the ECU and that he would be sending it back to me broken….. Really?? Are you kidding me? Break a customers ECU, deny it, send it back and wash your hands of the situation.. Wow, that’s customer service!! (There were many more phone conversations and text messages over this matter. Some were heated.)
The next day, I receive an ECU back in the mail. I open the shipping box and begin to undo the screws of the cover of the ECU to inspect the damage myself. As I am undoing the screws, and before I can get the ECU open my phone rings. It’s Andy with MHP, “I sent you the wrong ECU back, it’s not yours” he states. Wow, really! How do you know that you broke mine and not someone elses then? Andy states that I need to send it back immediately because he gave me another customers ECU instead of mine. Luckily for me, I had taken a picture of my ECU when I pulled it out of the vehichle. I purposely did this to make sure that I got my ECU back and not someone else’s. I quickly confirm with the picture that this is the same ECU that I sent to MHP. I explain to Andy that the tag on this ECU matches the one in the photo that I took before sending it to MHP. He then say’s “I must have swapped the cover with someone else’s ECU”. Wow, MHP really has their shi* together. Mysteriously broken circuit board of ECU with no outer case damage, swapped ECU covers, posting under multiple user names online and a host of other shady information… Later on that evening, I tell Andy that I’m not sending this ECU back because the cover and all of the numbers on the label match the photo of the ECU I sent to MHP. After the fact, I also opened the cover and verified that the ECU I had in hand was indeed the ECU with the broken circuitry on the board. Additionally, I have since verified that this ECU was in fact my original ECU since my VIN was still in this ECU. I have no idea what Andy did with that other customers ECU, maybe he swapped covers with yet a third person.. All I know is that the ECU that came back t me was broken and had my VIN in it. Much more conversation went on with Andy and I over this matter and it has not been remedied by MHP. I have asked MHP to cover the cost of the new ECU, the TOW and charge for the local dealer to marry the new ECU that I had to purchase to my car. MHP continues to deny any wrongdoing but the evidence and shady stories from Andy speak for themselves. Hope you didn’t think I forgot you ANDY!! It’s been around a month, I gave you ample opportunity to make this right! Damaged in Shipping?????
C’mon Andy….. Really!!!!!Buyers Beware!
This is Ramin, the guy in CA whose ECU you refused to ship back to me (you still have my property) after Andy mistakenly shipped my ECU to you with your cover. You know this because we spoke on the phone after Andy called you to tell you about emailing new shipping labels to get us both our respective ecus back asap. For the record Andy within minutes of finding out Mike wasn't going to send me my tuned ecu back, bought me another one (or instantly paid me via Paypal), within minutes!!!!!
I am quite familiar with this story due to the above reasons so let's cover some other inconsistencies in your story. First Andy does exactly what he's supposed to do, just like anyone else, when receiving something damaged by ups, fedex, post office whoever. Reports it to the customer. You purchased insurance for a claimed $1500 so use it, that's what it's for.
Why did you try and con Andy into using his commercial liability insurance to "make you whole"? That's insurance fraud but doesn't seem to bother you as long as you are taken care of. What you fail to see is you are taking your anguish out on me (hello third party customer?) and the person not responsible for damaging your ecu. Going so far as to physically threaten Andy by saying how many times you've "almost" been to jail for doing bad things in the past, grow up.
You act like fedex has never broken anything before LOL, you're kidding right?
Some additional statements Mike made on the phone that made me question his integrity (as if I needed anything more than "no I'm not shipping your ecu back to you"). I asked him what year his car was, at this point he was thinking there was a chance my ecu would work in his car (never going to happen), and received 3 different answers. New, used, then pre-owned. It started off as a 2011, then a 2009, then ended up being a 2008.
I saw the letter your atty sent Andy, I had to laugh even though I'm not an atty, talk about a shot in the dark.
FWIW I am the other person in this story so if anyone has any questions they would like to be answered legitimately feel free.
Thanks
Ramin
Last edited by Rock; May 11, 2012 at 05:14 AM.
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PetroC63, 4ramin, alrasheed1991, BAD430BENZ, bluejae, CoolBDPhenom03, DD GT3 RD, derspi, dodger63, DrMB, dtohio, ecampbell, immelman, Jim Brady, jsc1234, linjy2, malahhaor, melmanc55, Merc63, morganb, nkc, noodleman, PaulWdz, propain, Roswell, SF_C63, SheryarYO, themailman34, theturkster
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Vivid Racing '09 C63 AMG
Seriously, I think a new one goes for $300-400.
