Kelvin07

This is a recollection of my experiences dealing with Bruce Bejsovec owner of Tuning Technology Motorsports, http://www.ttmotorsports.com/, from here on out referred to as BRUCE@TTM.
This is meant to be an informative thread, so you don't make mistakes like I did, so you don't drink "TTM's Kool-aid" like I did and overpay for TTM products and TTM's labor because "Bruce is a stand up guy and will take care of you", this is a statement that perhaps you will see here, from other members, and that is their experience, but also, other members will be encouraged to share their TTM sob/horror stories here (I know there are plenty of us), don't be shy, let everybody know, help the community, because my TTM experience was the COMPLETE OPPOSITE, his service has been self-serving, and the only thing Bruce will take care of is Bruce, that much I have learned.

Please read on.

My name is Kelvin, I live in Costa Rica (Central America), and I am a proud owner Mercedes Benz CLS55 (sold) and an ML63 2009 and fellow AMG enthusiast. Around March last year I got the mod bug for my CLS55, so I did like anyone here would, I searched the forums, read vendor reviews and asked for advise from fellow members as to which tuner I should choose.
Two tuner names were very popular, one of them was Bruce@TTM.
I called them both, hit it off with both, but ultimately, I decided on Bruce. I have to admit that one of the main reasons I decided to give Bruce a chance was his reputation as a customer oriented, no-nonsense, HONEST GUY with great customer service, so I was sold, he is very good at selling himself and his company over the phone, I was hooked, I was excited. The budget was going to be around $20 to $25,000 for an engine build plus labor (which I later found out it was an obscene amount), while we planned the project, originally I wanted to ship my CLS to his shop for him to do the build, but I was first going to start making $2000 payments toward that $20k balance until I reached a significant amount, then I will ship the car from Costa Rica.

So on April 28th, 2012 I made my first $2000 payment through Paypal, I repeated this process through paypal 7 times total until September 27th, 2012, those were seven payments of $2000, totaling, $14,000.



Then on December 14th 2012, I made my last payment, this one was for $4,000, cash, as per his request (and my naiveté), I put it all in an envelope and sent through UPS, on december 19th, I received an email from Bruce that the package arrived safe and sound. So finally I reached a decent amount, now I could certainly decide what to do...


Bruce's email confirmation on the package. December 19th, 2012.


I never received any parts or service from Bruce, I wanted to put the money together first, then I would firmly decide what to do, either way most of the stuff I was quoting WAS TTM kits, nothing else, you guys know how this goes, Tuners try to sell you their in-house stuff, otherwise, what's the point?, but hey, it is what it is and we accept it.

Given that my CLS55 had given me too many mechanical problems since I bought it one year before, I decided against shipping it to New York and making the build on it and selling it instead, so I informed Bruce about my decision of selling it, that left me with my ML63 as my other option.

I decided to do a Weistec SC stage 2 and put Kleemann headers on it and call it a day, so I emailed Bruce about this on April 8, 2013, I reiterated my intention in another email on April 11th.


I called his cell, his shop and no call back, finally I get an email from him on April 16th, he told me his father was very ill and that the past few weeks had been very hectic, my response, NO PROBLEM, sorry to hear about your dad, call me anytime.


I email him again on April 18, two more times after that, called him probably once a week leaving a message, asking him for a call back or to simply take my calls, and got response until April 29th, eleven days later, his email simply said "Hey brother Kelvin. I'll be back in my office tomorrow afternoon so we'll catch up then."



(You can see how many times I emailed him after that… *sigh*, no response)
I did call him, about 5 times the next day, all answering machine and no call back. So I emailed him the next day, on April 30th… then no reply for almost 40 days….

Within these 40 days, the CLS new owner asked me to replace the SC pulley because mine was faulty, dealer quote him over $2,000, tried contacting Bruce to get some parts for my money, nothing, finally I had to spend another $1350 to buy a few parts from member Exotic-metal55, thankfully, he did go the extra mile because I was in a bind, so did Jerry@eurocharged with the tune for the new pulley set up.

June 4th I sent him this email (the forward you see below is to my lawyer)


His reply came, 4 days later (WOW…), asking for an opportunity to correct this. To give 2-3 months to make this right.


That was two weeks ago, and I have emailed him to get some sort of deadline on my parts, he doesn't reply to my emails and he doesn't take my calls, and I know his shop is open and packed… how do I know this?, because 3 weeks ago I was in New Jersey visiting a close friend and I called him and drove by his shop and it was PACKED!!. Did Bruce immediately called me back after I left him a message saying I was nearby if I could stop by?, of course not.

So, this is that hour, when I'm left with no options, tired of chasing an "HONEST AND STAND UP GUY", who just so happens to have $18,000 of mine, and he shows no sympathy and doesn't care for my situation, why should I treat him any different?, I know he will read this, I know his friends will read this, he owes me $18,000, I have been patient almost to a fault, he has repeatedly ignored my attempts to work with him, he has never given me any service or sold me any parts, these are the facts, and they are undisputable.

If he doesn't respond soon, I will begin the process for legal action against BRUCE BEJSOVEC and Tuning Technology Motorsports within the state of New York if this is not resolved in a timely manner.

I will continue to update this thread with new information if;

A- Bruce resolves this by refunding my money.

B-Bruce resolves this by sending me the Weistec Stage 2 SC Kit and the Kleeman headers for my ML63

C-If I sue him in the state of New York.

I hope my horror story serves people around here to be more careful, and if you (yes, you!), are thinking of dealing with Bruce, just, beware of the dog.

forcefed4door

Wow, that is being super greedy over money that is not his. His shop is busy enough where he should be able to return your deposit no problem with all the money he is Prolly making. O wait "he's a stand up guy though"... very sorry to hear about this. Some tuners are just asking for a bad rep. With nonsense like this.

Hulk

Well many of us know him and that is not like him at all
So before anyone joins in on burying the guy maybe give him a chance to respond
And yes he is a stand up guy!

berti_00

sorry to hear this man, that's def not cool

novae500

Wow. That's not cool to get paid and not deliver service or goods to customer. I would have paid via credit card so a dispute could be made and get money back.

jcjmw

To OP, thanks for posting the info. Yes, I hope TTM and you get this worked out and worked out ASAP. That is a lot $$$ at risk. As an owner of a business, I tell my staff that there is NO excuse to not status a paid/paying client, respond to paid/paying client or respond to a potential within 24 hours.

Worth the wait

Thanks for posting.

I know there are two side to every story and hopefully the response is as equally thought out, detailed and honest as the op's post.

Good luck. I am sure you get either a or b without having to resort to c.

urbamworm

Wow, just wow. That is pretty much all I have to say. I would say he already did "respond" by trying to drag on another "2-3 months" with this guys cash. Those email responses are pretty telling if you ask me. Sounds like the money has been spent and he was scrambling to figure out what to do needing another 2-3 months to come up with a way to get this money back or a product since his original plan was to just offer very little product (money out of his pocket) and a metric *** ton of "service cost."

I could write a whole story about my opinion but I will leave it at this.

I really hope you get your money back in the end OP and move on.

badm

WOW , I agree with everyone I hope this works out for the better for you , You paid and you are entitled to either your money back or parts.. PERIOD. Those emails are very revealing and I've dealt with Bruce TTM and he served me well with parts and knowledge so I can only speak from my experience.. no issues and the car is a MONSTER and I'm Happy .

mipis

Kelvin,,, I admire you ,,you're very patience person.... The same thing happened to me when i was in PR, so hire good international lawyer(my lawyer in PR worked in combination with a lawyer Firm located in the same state of the store) and within 1 1/2 months , I got all my money back plus lawyer fees, and do not forget to leave a BBB bad report to that business (doesn't matter what, if you have business you 'll have customers and never will be so busy to return a phone call , if you can't , close the shop) My 2 Cents

Hulk

To the OP, if I paid someone as you say I most certainly would have gone to his shop if I passed by it close enough to know that it was packed

Whether it was 1000$ or 18000$ I would have gone in and spoken to the person face to face

On another note if people chime in here without having dealt with Bruce you have no idea what he's done for many guys on this forum

Give him a chance to respond

sloanbj

I'm not clear on why you would start sending a stranger money like this. Mechanics always have the car/lien option so there is no need to prepay. You may have to sue to get your cash back.

novae500

Even if you win in court,. Getting the $$ is the hard part when it may already been spent long ago. All you have is a piece of paper saying you won and owed x amount of $$.

Karlson

My thoughts exactly, 14k transferred just for nothing, there are no invoices, just sending money to some guy in NY. Why didn't you send him 25k? There is gotta be something else.

Kelvin07

Thanks for the support guys!. I wanted this resolved privately, you all can see how long I waited and how many emails I've sent, this thread was written weeks ago, the proof is in the pudding.

I do not wish to engage other members in a sparring session regarding, who is right or wrong here, I am defending my case, trying to resolve MY unfortunate situation, please respect me as a fellow member, please have some regard for my predicament, you are me and I am you, when in doubt, revert to all the proof I have provided. If you wish to profess your undying loyalty for Bruce@TTM, I respect that, you can certainly do that face to face, but don't do it irresponsibly, child-like, berating other members or myself, it is unbecoming.

If you read my post, this is a recollection of my frustrating and fruitless attempt to get something done with Bruce@TTM.

You will notice that I have not included any other members nor other Tuners names that have had problems with Bruce@TTM. I will not out anybody that wants to keep their experiences private. But there are many of us.

Hulk

But still unclear why you would not walk in to his shop when you were right there??
Why wouldn't you go right in and confront the guy face to face

There is something missing to this story

berti_00

walk or not walk into the shop the dude payed 18k and has gotten nothing yet so i dont see whats missing here... hope he gets his money back or something

Hulk

I give a guy 18k and he's not returning emails or calls and then I find myself in front of his shop I'm going in and getting my money

Tech-Tune

Sorry to hear of your dilemma, but I'm really not surprised.
I have two good friends that have been treated similarly by Bruce. I'm sure they'll be more threads in the near future.
I do commend you though for sharing your experience.

Good luck bro. Hope it works out better for you than it did for my friends.

Kelvin07

K.

sloanbj

Pick up the phone and call him!

moosejaw

Hulk while we're good friends.
I strongly disagree with you on this topic.
Not everyone is in a position to do this

And the OP is not alone in giving performance shops thousands of dollars in good hard earned money. Are these people stupid for doing it...yes, but the OP is not alone.
Hundreds of people on every car forum do this, and ive seen hundreds of thousands of dollars go to waste on a project car...on cars you woudn;t believe. Whether it be Hennessy, Peter Farrell, Hinson......whatever. Ive had two freinds with RX7s dump at least $100k each in their cars with various household name brand performance shops across the country and had their money taken from them.

This is prob the first negative story i've read about TTM. Every shop has their bad stories.
Id say the next step is for the OP to go to court to resolve this. It'sa steep sum and any lawyer is probably going to look for 3-4 times the damages plus his billable hours.

If I know Hulk, he's probably texting Bruce right now fast and furiously...like the movie i watched last night.

Kelvin07

Thanks for the support, I know more people will come out voicing their experiences.

I just want Bruce@TTM to make good on his part of the deal and either give me the parts I want or my money back.

AKnight55

That's what you might have done. Everyone is different and handle situations differently. Maybe the OP is non-confrontational, ever think of that?

So because the OP handles the situation differently than you, hes now a liar and isn't tell the whole story? Please

Good luck OP, hope you are able to resolve this mess. Crazy to think you can give someone that much money and they don't have the decency to return a simple phone call.

Hulk

Na, Bruce is a big boy and will see this himself I'm sure
But you gotta admit that being in front of his shop whether it be Bruce, Hennessy or whatever , you go in and see what's going on especially when 18k is on the line

If this is the whole story I do feel for the OP