jangy

Seems like of late many people are owed something from a vendor or tuner and nothing is happenning. Mine has been about a year now and still no movement. As I talk to people at the meets, it turns out that I'm not alone. Is the aftermarkets industry for E55s drying up?

My thought was no. I assume that these cars will become the new M3s as they cars drop in value. Also, with higher miles, there more of a tendency to need replacement parts and less of a concern with warrantys so I thought we'd see more and more good shops step up.

Thoughts? Is it just time to move on and grab a 997? I know that market is just beginning and GMG and Vadim have good reps.

mbamg06e55

Oh by the way what ever happened with you and renntech by the way?

I agree with you Jangy. I see our cars as becoming the next M3. I have noticed that more and more people ARE buying the older E55 and dumping 10-15G's into them to make them the hottest thing out there that NO ONE can touch. I also see the tuning business evolving from the Big two tuner to smaller tuners that will be actually be able to serve the customers better. The likes of Kleeman and RENNTech got to big for their britches. They know that they are the only two on the block and as such believe that we HAVE to come to them for whatever we need. Not the other way around.

They have lost site that WE are the customer and as such demand that we are treated as such. I would say(just my opinion) that renntech is by far the worst. Kleeman is not as bad.

I agree with you on GMG, but they have their own nitch. There has to be one that caters to all.

Email me Jangy. I have some Ideas.

jangy

I can't say much about my direct dealings with RennTech, since they have been minimal. I haven't interacted with Kleeman at all, so I won't judge on them.

By now, everyone knows about my situation. It has taken this long because all we've had is talk and that is now cheap.

For me, it all boils down to wanting the mess finished. In short, I paid $4K and have nothing but a devalued car to show for it. No refund. No restitution. NOTHING. There has been loads of discussion. Verbal agreements are made and then NOTHING. I have no clue if all the "talk" is coming from Creative or RennTech, and I really don't care. That is for them to work out.

I just think we are at a point where non-binding mediation will no longer help. At the least, I want my damaged pulley back. After all, I paid for it.
As everyone knows, I went with RennTech, simply due to their reputation with the hopes of going all out. Stage 1 was just the beginning and then all hell broke loose.

It is an odd situation, because really the only times I've seen such horrible customer service has been when a company is growing too fast. That is why I wondered if it is just that business is bad and so they do not care of their reputation. Who knows?

Months ago, when I had posted my concerns, Creative did contact me and I thought we came up with a good game plan (again verbal). I even went as far as to believe that it was simply miscommunication. See, I believed that they should have initiated some contact. When they did not, I got upset and hired lawyers. That is when Creative contacted me. Since then, I have followed up numerous times but to date, none of the proposed actions have even been initiated. I either get an excuse or now no reply at all.

I guess it all comes down to due process. Nobody is going to "give" anything away, so I have to go through the hoops to get my resolution. And that is fine by me. We have some exciting things going on and I will obviously not be a client of Creative's, regardless of any outcome due to their lack of customer service and follow through. I will also be insulted if any of the SDCrew go to them. Now, will I ever go with RennTech again? Well, that depends on what happens when the truth be told. At this point, I'm not sure how involved they even are.

Honestly, I hope this is an isolated incidence, but I have seen more and more people being left to hang and was just wondering if this is a trend we are in. I was simply looking to vent and have some moral support. I'm a big boy and can deal with my baby being down for a while longer. I'm lucky to have the resources and support (my brother has a law firm) to have documented everything properly. Let's just see what happens.

As far as the future, I don't know that the big boys will fall, but I think they may want to take a second look at who is carrying their name. I know I've learned a few lessons from this that will help me in my future ventures. I can promise one thing. Customer service and integrity will be the mantre and it will be emphasized on a daily basis.

AKxSpyO

just move on and get the 997!!!
997TT FTW

mbamg06e55

Hey Bro,

Believe me I feel for you and wish you the best, on you legal action. Things have a way of working out for the best. I know alot of us on this forum respect your opinion on things and hate that this situation still hasn't been resolved to your satisfaction. It truely is a shame on the parties involved for dragging it out this long.

Good luck my friend. If you need anything let me know

AdamG@NorCal

Honestly Jangy, i feel your pain. I hope everything works out for you in the near future.

SleeperX

Jangy, sorry to hear that your situation still hasn't been resolved. FWIW, I believe most (large) tuners have abandoned R&D for the E55s, since they are no longer in production. Their focus has shifted to the 63s. I am not exactly sure why they would do this as I would think that the market for upgrading/tuning the E55 would grow as they come off warranty and drop in value (as if this isnt happening quick enough).

jangy

That's a good thing as I see it. It leaves a market for the smaller guys.

jangy

Haha!! Actually, just moving on means keeping ownership of BOTH. It just means that I can't do any mods to the E55 for a good year or two until all gets calm and by then I may not even want it anymore. Good thing is that it will have low miles and will have sat in a garage the whole time. As much of a P car fan as I am, I really love the E55. That's why I made sure to swap out the '05 for as late of production '06 as I could find.

jangy

Very true. Actually, a good part of why it has gone this long is my own desires to have a happy ending. I really wanted RennTech to be my tuner and kept hoping that this is just a glitch. Now, I see that nothing will happen without some authorities involved and by posting here I understand that I am burning whatever hopes of reconciliation I had with RennTech.

I will be in touch. Thanks for the well wishes. Let's just let the dice roll. Maybe I am an idiot, maybe not.

jangy

Thanks for the moral support. I think I just expected that extra attention you give your clients and was surprised when it never came. I don't see any resolution in the near future, but I guess near becomes a relevent term after a year.

jangy

Thanks to all for the PMs and emails. It is good to know that I am not alone (well, I am not happy that you are also in my type of boat, but you see what I mean). I'm also glad to see that not all the issues are with Renntech and or Creative. I guess my situation is more of an anomaly than the norm, so at least there is hope. I'll get my situation closed out and be back to loving the tuning world.
Just as a reply to questions that I get regarding the legal status, please understand that I can not speak to that right now so I did not reply. I appreciate the offers to help, but I feel it is all covered for now. I am calm and happy, so let's just let life take its course.

mkeeton

Jangy, really sorry to read about your experience. Sucks to have a great car and then not get the support and performance you have paid for. That is a sweet looking car.

Bought an 03 and now have about 3000 miles and 1 month of ownership. The car was a K2 car and when I got it home it wouldn't get thru emissions. I contacted Kleemann and they were stellar.Talked me thru the issues involved in making the car work without cats and generally spent a lot of time and trouble helping me out. In the end there were some hardware issues (header leak, gasket leak, O2 sensor bung leak, boost leak, O2 sensor harness mix up) that I couldn't get resolved.

"Jakpro" said "take the car to Kleemann". Best advice and I had the greatest time. Got all the emissions issues fixed, installed high flow pump, went thru the intake side of the motor and fixed the boost leak and had pre and post dynos along the way.

Things they did included new intake gaskets, installed new air filters, new race cats, relocated O2 sensors back to the front of the car, fixed the header leak, installed the high flow pump with separation of the cooling circuits, multiple dyno runs and software tuning. I spent 2 days in Colorado Springs and during the dyno runs and the work they showed me all the results and were happy to show me key points on the installation... very helpful in case I ever need to do the 80mm throttle body! So I had to pay for the trip and spent 3 days getting this all done but it was well worth it. I will have no hesitation going back to them for future upgrades.

In the end all the problems were from a bad install of the Kleemann products and they worked really hard to stand behind their products.

Just one perspective from an E55 newbie. Cheers, Mark.

jangy

Hmmm, Kleeman should consider having more of their products represented in SoCal. I'm in the same boat, where some may think it was a faulty install. That is how the ping pong has gone. Its nice to see that K stepped up for you, even as the second owner.

mkeeton

Yes, it was great. I called them and for no cost sent me O2 sensor spacers fedex overnight to see if they could get things resolved.

The other thing to me that I thought was quite professional was they pointed out all the errors of the install so that I could understand what needed to be fixed and yet they never directly ever said anything bad or derogatory about the other installer. I really think if the shop doing the work in the first place had called them for advice they would have been well served and maybe everyone would have been happy in the first place.

In the end, E55s are awesome cars and Kleemann gave as good service as I have ever had in the auto industry. Hope your car gets sorted out. Real pity to have it parked instead of being driven... life is too short to miss out on that driving pleasure.

Jrocket

Is that not what happened? From what read,it seems it was the installers fault,correct me if Im wrong here.

jangy

To be honest, I do not know for a fact and would prefer not to speculate. Not everything that happenned has been posted. Not everything that all parties have done or said has either. Was it a bad install or a defective pulley? Dunno, and don't care. But, that is part of why I want my pulley back. Like I've always said, they (Creative and RennTech) are all the same to me. I paid my money and expected a service. To date, nothing but BLAH BLAH BLAH. It will come down to who was negligent and not necessarily who's mistake it was. The fact that it happenned isn't the issue, but it taking this long to fix and on my dime is the issue.

It will all come out in the wash. I am actually quite interested to see how it plays out.

Jrocket

Understood.From what I have read,it looks like the install was the problem and not only on your car but others as well.Im betting Renntech is not up to par on whats going on nor do they have any idea of what you have been so called promised for your troubles.I have a hard time believing it was a bad pulley from Renntech that caused all of this,again due to others having close calls as well.2 cars had pulley problems and 1 has an ecu problem.I dont see you ever getting compensated for your problems.You might get a new pulley out of it but thats about it.If it was a cut and dry case where Renn was at fault,I truly think they would have taken care of you by now.

Of course this is all my opinion and I do hope you atleast get your money back,but if anything was to ever happen...it would have by now.

jangy

Well, time will tell. Like I say, who knew what and who did what hasn't been discussed fully here and I'm at no liberty to explain. Part of why it has taken this long is my fault. I continued to try to work out an amicable solution and so I have been quite patient with the lawyers. I was hoping to avoid a long and drawn out ordeal, but hey, we are already there. I expect this to take an additional year or two and I am ready for that. One thing I can say is that it is now a matter of principle. I do not know how it will turn out, but I'm ponied up and ready to go. I'm sure RennTech and Creative are as well.

Jrocket

Yup,looks like you will have to fight it out just to get whats owed to you in the first place.Creative really dropped the ball on this one,no doubt!

Like I said,hopefully you atleast get your original funds back.

ROCKETW19

yes jangy you are smart dont point fingers let the laywers figure out whos at fault. that being said im an 100% sure its creatives fault but im not a laywer so i dont count.
quick question after you own creative are you gonna change the name? lol. good luck bro.

jangy

Yup, it ain't my concern. All I know is I got the shaft and it has been mighty convenient for them to ping pong me around. It's all a game. I'd been advised that trying to be nice would only cost me and it has. My brother wanted to take a different route from the get go and he never understood why I kept telling him to wait. I really do feel like that girlfriend that caught my man cheating. I kept hoping that it was an isolated incident and that we would end up back together. Now, I see how I've been the fool. Once a cheat, always a cheat.

AdamG@NorCal

It's a pity that they decided to ping pong you around jangy. You would have been the best spokesman for both of them.

03c4s

Bro, I believe it's time to kick it up to legal actions.

jangy

That is what kind of blind sided me. I was so genuine in my loyalty to both Creative and RennTech. It ends up being a shame for everyone involved, including myself.