Kennys Viper progress?

[2MANYTOYS]

I would never let that dude touch my car! I dont care what anyone says...I saw the car run when he got it back. The thing ran like [*****] and had serious problems. If I payed 28k for that, someone would have a lump on their head! Anyone on this board would of been P#$@%# off!

Your 100% right Darrick! Better watch it the Kool-aid poka dot ***** wearing crowd will start demonizing your character.

 

[mad0953]

I've dealt with Jon and he is a stand up guy. I'll take your word on the others. I'll have to admit I haven't dealt with anyone connected to the VCA that hasn't been 100% honest. I bought some wheels from a VCA member in Florida and they were perfect and the transacation went off without a hitch. Anyway I apologize if my previous post offended you. I should have asked who have been the people who have helped you through your ordeal. I know how I would feel if it happened to me. Peace

 

[2002_Viper_GTS_ACR]

Good Luck with this SRK, it ***** to have something as wonderful as a viper be a pain point for you.

I met you at my first track event at mid ohio a few years ago, you seemed to be a nice guy. Little big for a Viper ;-) but a nice guy.

Good luck to you !!

Jon

 

[Simms]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Macedo Motorsports has NUMEROUS happy customers and he is respected by others in the industry as well.

 

[Warfang]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Macedo Motorsports has NUMEROUS happy customers and he is respected by others in the industry as well.

This just seemed like the "perfect storm" of bad luck and timing all around. I really can't put blame anywhere... even the best tuners will have their nightmare projects. I think nobody wants all this to end happily more than the parties involved.

 

[Marc Lublin]

From the outside looking in, it doesn't look like Macedo handled this well at all. I do all my own work and know how long things take and I just can't see any reason why this took so long to be resolved. I understand that Kenny's car wasn't the only car in his ship, but Larry's actions showed that he really just didn't give a sh*t. I would have thought that he would have put this car in front of others, figured out the problems and returned it right away to satisfy his unhappy customer. JD, you work on these cars too, what do you think, a day or a week fix it? 5 months? What Larry did was give Kenny the middle finger!

 

[Joseph Dell]

From the outside looking in, it doesn't look like Macedo handled this well at all. I do all my own work and know how long things take and I just can't see any reason why this took so long to be resolved. I understand that Kenny's car wasn't the only car in his ship, but Larry's actions showed that he really just didn't give a sh*t. I would have thought that he would have put this car in front of others, figured out the problems and returned it right away to satisfy his unhappy customer. JD, you work on these cars too, what do you think, a day or a week fix it? 5 months? What Larry did was give Kenny the middle finger!

Marc - Doesn't look like either party handled this well at all. Taking to a forum to voice one's concerns before adequate resolution time has been granted AND adequate opportunity for both parties to resolve an issue is a recipe for disaster.

Motor gremlins can take some dedicated time to track down. I've spent weeks on simple electrical problems. Let's play the perception game for a second, however: car left FL and the tuner thought it was running great! in OH, customer said it wasn't. so there are three possibilities:

- tuner was mistaken
- customer is mistaken
- both are correct

If both are correct (which, for the sake of argument, let's say they are), then tracking that down is a major PITA.

But one thing that none of us will ever know is the real truth. It has become clear from 3 forums and over 2000 posts that the truth is lost. very lost. Since you singled me out for comment, i'll just say that i spent some personal time trying to help solve the problem w/ SRK's car. But cooperation wasn't something that was particularly forthcoming. Put another way, lots of advice was thrown [from many people... not just me], but little was taken.

Let's oversimplify a general business problem ever-so-slightly: what motivation does a business have to make a customer happy IF (and this is a big IF) the business feels that the customer can NEVER be happy? Abstractly speaking, the business will either spend 90%+ of their resources to fix a problem OR if pushed too far, they will do the bare minimum to make the customer go away. As a wise man once said: you gotta' know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. The time spent by ALL parties involved is well more than the 28k the SRK project cost.

But I'm not trying to poke at anyone in particular. it's easy to monday-morning quarterback.

my .02... just b/c you asked for it.

JD

 

[Marc Lublin]

Well said. Now lets close this down and everyone can get back to their regularly scheduled lives.

 

[PDCjonny]

What motivation does a business have to make a customer happy IF (and this is a big IF) the business feels that the customer can NEVER be happy? Abstractly speaking, the business will either spend 90%+ of their resources to fix a problem OR if pushed too far, they will do the bare minimum to make the customer go away.

If much of your business relies on a very small community of car owners, and your name is being (rightly or wrongly) dragged through the mud for all to see time and again here there and everywhere, I'd say you put in that 90% effort. Sometimes the customer is wrong, but you still try very hard to get the problem solved to the satisfaction of all. Especially when you have BEEN PAID IN FULL UPFRONT AND BEFORE DELIVERY. This was clearly not done. You have everything to lose and nothing to gain by letting this problem simmer for months.

 

[dyeguy]

I might have given Macedo the benefit of the doubt not knowing much about his side of the story but when he came on here and basically threatened someone about "not taking him on" he lost all credibility.

 

[SUN RA KAT]

Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:03:46 -0500

Wendy & Larry Macedo ,

I expect this to be my last Email on this subject. This is to advise that until Ken has the Viper inspected by an "independent" Viper tech* (see below) he will be unable to articulate all remaining issues with the vehicle.

Nonetheless, Ken does have the following issues now:

1) The check for $500 as per Larry's 8/10/06 Email was never sent,

8-10-06

That is very odd, Kenny. If I look back to earlier this week you stated the car is much improved since the card changes were made. I discounted the price on the AEM components and you stabbed me in the back. Hell, you only gave me one chance to rectify any problems and told me the car was much better. Now this? I will send you a check for $500, Kenny. Thank you!

Best regards,

Larry Macedo


2) Ken is uncertain as to the status of the 2 PCMs and it appears that you remain in possession of at least one $420 PCM,

3) The heater does not work, the car may be running hot,

4) Ken and I have several times requested a summary of work performed and parts changed and no such summary has been received,

5) Ken needs instruction service manuals/warranty cards for the AEM-EMS system and for the Jeff Morys striker heads,

6) Padding for the roll bar was never installed (Larry said my roll bar would be like the one used in the SRT which is padded, but it ended up being a different but good design except the bar would hit by anyone's head if the car acellerated rapidly or was in an accident - it's bare painted metal now and the manufacturer of the custom roll bar would be liable for any cracked skulls), and last but not least,

7) Several operational issues remain that will be clarified upon the Viper tech inspection, but relate to the fact that Ken's Viper stalled twice in traffic and has major starting issues.

In any event, some of the matters discussed herein are easily resolved and I would suggest you at the very least take care of these. Please direct all further communications directly to Ken and if something urgent should arise you and you would need to speak with me you have my telephone number.

Sincerely,
Bill James

============================================================

I have recieved a small package today from Larry, but it was not anything that was requested above. The package contained something from Snow Performance - probably something to do with my water/methanol injection system - but no explaination for what I need to do with it was included with it.

Larry and Wendy Macedo are still contacting my lawyer (Bill James) rather than myself.

============================================================

*My Viper Tech also works for Larry, which is why an "independent" Viper Tech or Tuner would do the inspection. It's only a 2 mile drive from where my Viper was dropped off to my house.

 

[Joseph Dell]

Let's see... did you replace the battery yet? There are no manuals with the AEM even though I pointed you to the correct web-site to download them. There are no instructions or manuals with Stryker heads. Nor any paperwork.

I for one am tired of hearing about it. Can we start a poll on the subject?

We all hope it ends well and we all hope you get to do whatever you wanted to do with the car...

blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah blah blah blah blah whine blah

 

[SUN RA KAT]

I for one am tired of hearing about it. Can we start a poll on the subject?

Me too, Joseph.

1) The check for $500 as per Larry's 8/10/06 Email was never sent,

2) I am uncertain as to the status of the 2 PCMs and it appears that you remain in possession of at least one $420 PCM,

3) The heater does not work, the car may be running hot,

4) My lawyer and I have several times requested a summary of work performed and parts changed and no such summary has been received,

5) Ken needs instruction service manuals/warranty cards for the AEM-EMS system and for the Jeff Morys striker heads,

6) Padding for the roll bar was never installed (Larry said my roll bar would be like the one used in the SRT which is padded, but it ended up being a different but good design except the bar would hit by anyone's head if the car acellerated rapidly or was in an accident - it's bare painted metal now and the manufacturer of the custom roll bar would be liable for any cracked skulls), and last but not least,

7) Several operational issues remain that will be clarified upon the Viper tech inspection, but relate to the fact that Ken's Viper stalled twice in traffic and has major starting issues.

Larry was Paid In Full a total of $28,000 in June 2006 and it is now February 2007 and the car he delivered to me was delivered in very poor condition. The car appears to not have been completed even after Larry had my car for a second chance at making it right from September 8, 2006 to February 1, 2007. He has not returned the take off parts as requested. Etc. etc. etc.

How many people would want to lose their Viper for 15 months and pay $28,000 and still not have their Viper run right when it was returned and not have the take off parts returned as well? Maybe you should post a poll, Joseph.

 

[grcforce327]

I would never let that dude touch my car! I dont care what anyone says...I saw the car run when he got it back. The thing ran like [*****] and had serious problems. If I payed 28k for that, someone would have a lump on their head! Anyone on this board would of been P#$@%# off!

You've got my vote!!! 28K is unbelievable!I would love to see the cost breakdown to get a better idea of what was actually done, since the blower was already on the car.I talked to UR about a TT setup with fuel sys and computer,and it was less than the figure above!Maybe I'm missing something here,but "I DO NOT" have a lump on my head!

 

[Mr Hemi Head]

I'm no lawyer but I think this would be self incrimnation:

4) Ken and I have several times requested a summary of work performed and parts changed and no such summary has been received,

That ain't gonna happen.

Kenny rather than pay a lawyer I would use the funds for a new battery and whatever else may be needed.

 

[plumcrazy]

please start by changing outthat damn battery. first things first. then lets hear how its starting up and running.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Does anyone know how a stock Viper runs in sub freezing weather?

Knowing that it has been quite cold the past week how would anyone know if the car runs well or not. I for one will never know how well mine runs in this weather. Nor do I care. Take it to a warm area or wait for a warm period. Just do not state that it runs poorly now when there is no way you could give it a real try.

Maybe some time off the internet would help too. I cannot conceive of the situation that would cause me to use the internet as the method to resolve such a dispute.

 

[Kevin ACR]

I for one am tired of hearing about it. Can we start a poll on the subject?

I second the motion, getting silly with no end in site.

Sorry Sun, you remind me of one of my customers where with every request you just know there will be an issue or misunderstanding. I'm sure you have every word documented. From your posts I would never want to work on anything you own if I was in the business, which I'm not.

I may be wrong but I thought you requested Larry was to "Go through my lawyer", then I thought I read a very recent note that "he only goes through my lawyer"? Which is it?

What I don't understand is what do you think you will accomplish by trying to shame someone publicly? Doesn't seem to be a very productive way to resolve an issue.

Why don't you just do some work on it yourself. Put the battery in it, it really did make a difference for me.

Good luck,

 

[DrDJ]

Does anyone know how a stock Viper runs in sub freezing weather?

Knowing that it has been quite cold the past week how would anyone know if the car runs well or not. I for one will never know how well mine runs in this weather. Nor do I care. Take it to a warm area or wait for a warm period. Just do not state that it runs poorly now when there is no way you could give it a real try.

I don't understand why a viper shouldn't run in lower temps. We have had subfreezing temps here in VA for the past week, but no precipitation and no salt on the roads.

My viper has been damn near undriveable the past week. It starts up immediately with no problems, never, ever stalls, and blows plenty of heat when asked. I can get a bit of bucking under the right conditions if I really try hard. The driveability ***** because all it does is spin the rear tires in the first three gears with any aggressive use of the gas pedal.

DrDJ

 

[Bugeater]

Jesus this is a nightmare that just wont end. Please make it stop Kenny. Lie. Tell everyone your car is OK. Brush it under the public's kitchen stove, then take care of the final chapter behind closed doors. I'm not a psychologist, but I actually think you like the attention and drama. I know I dont have to look at the thread, but its like a train wreck, or someone on a respirator, or some sad news bit or whatever where you get interested/sucked in early on and hope to see a conclusion good or bad.

...But now the only value I can find in this thread is that you could teach the very definition of irony by reading pages 1 thru 5, and then go back and re-read the title.

Put a new battery in. Put the damn padding on the rollbar and whatever else that is itemized as not perfect. Work a little to solve your problem, even if you dont think you should have to. Bend a little. Thats life. I assume your goal is to enjoy driving the car again - this will get you there faster! Deal with it, but please make the this train disappear Kenny!

 

[Marc Lublin]

My experience with stock and heavily modded Vipers is that they run fine in cold weather. Sure when the car is ice cold it bucks a bit, but once they are up to operating temp you wouldn't know the temp outside. My blown Viper obviously picks up a bunch of horses in the cold, but that does me no good because the tires don't hold.

 

[mad0953]

I am never going to look at this thread again.....even if it's the last thread ever to be posted here....I have a lot of tolerance and patience but this is IT!!!!

 

[wastntim]

The answer to this mess is simple. Take the car to another tuner. Pay to get it fixed correctly, if it is not correct now, and then litigate the matter. I think everyone on this site and the other site is fully apprised of the matter by this point and everyone's opinions have been shared. The amount of money that was involved is enought to make it worthwhile to have a judge decide if faulty workmanship or negligence was present. Furthermore, prior to using a tuner, ensure that he would be willing to testify at trial regarding his inspection and the corrective measures he applied, besides a determination by your attorney if he is qualified to tesify as an expert. Finally, your best not to continue posting on this matter, as you may state something that could hurt you in the litigation. These are all things that should have been explained to you by your attorney early on.

Actions outside of these will only draw critisizm of you and lessen your credibility on the board. I am not making any judgments on this matter, but if I paid the amount of money you paid and was bereft of my vehicle for that period of time, I would feel pretty confident about my court case, especially if my car still failed to run properly.

 

[newredrt10]

Wastntim--- Your right. Kennny was told about this board being a record and hurting Kennys chances of ever getting it fixed. Your other suggestion about an other tunner fixing it may not happen. Most are aware of how things were handled and maynot want to risk it.

 

[VPRVENM97]

Just when we thought this thread had flatlined......

Quote by SRK on the battery thread:

Put on Interstate Megatron battery 2 days ago. Hardest part about changing your own battery is laying down on ice cold concrete. Put everything back & torqued the wheel lugnuts to 90 pound/feet and it started right up.

But it died in traffic again in less than a block. Suspect after 15 months, my tuner still may have not got it tuned right. Everything is closed here because of the snow and ice storm, so going anywhere anyway.

 

[Joseph Dell]

Just when we thought this thread had flatlined......

Quote by SRK on the battery thread:

Put on Interstate Megatron battery 2 days ago. Hardest part about changing your own battery is laying down on ice cold concrete. Put everything back & torqued the wheel lugnuts to 90 pound/feet and it started right up.

But it died in traffic again in less than a block. Suspect after 15 months, my tuner still may have not got it tuned right. Everything is closed here because of the snow and ice storm, so going anywhere anyway.

Of course, driving a new battery and expecting the car not to die is problematic to begin with. the reason being that the system needs to re-learn adaptives...

but I don't know what i'm talking about...

 

[SUN RA KAT]

Just when we thought this thread had flatlined......

Quote by SRK on the battery thread:

Put on Interstate Megatron battery 2 days ago. Hardest part about changing your own battery is laying down on ice cold concrete. Put everything back & torqued the wheel lugnuts to 90 pound/feet and it started right up.

But it died in traffic again in less than a block. Suspect after 15 months, my tuner still may have not got it tuned right. Everything is closed here because of the snow and ice storm, so going anywhere anyway.

Of course, driving a new battery and expecting the car not to die is problematic to begin with. the reason being that the system needs to re-learn adaptives...

but I don't know what i'm talking about...

You do know what you're talking about Joseph...with a VEC2.

Does the AEM-EMS also do adaptives or is the programming set as programmed?

If anyone is an expert with the AEM, can you please tell me about it so I will know what to expect since Larry has not?

 

[Joseph Dell]

I know both.

But for you, call AEM support at 310-484-2322 . they are in CA so when you press option 3 for tech support, they are 3 hrs earlier.

All cars have adaptives!

 

[SUN RA KAT]

I know both.

But for you, call AEM support at 310-484-2322 . they are in CA so when you press option 3 for tech support, they are 3 hrs earlier.

All cars have adaptives!

Thanks, Joseph!

Question - My car has a 180 degree thermostat and the temperatures when I drove it were in the mid to high 20's. The temperature guage goes to 185 degrees and then goes up to 195 degrees and down again with the fan not coming on. I have intermittent heat/no heat while this is going on. Some times I get no heat at all, sometimes I get 15 seconds of heat followed by 15 minutes of no heat, and the last time I drove it I had 15 minutes of heat with 15 seconds of no heat. I have checked all the control wires and vaccuum lines and they look good. What would be a good guess for the cause of my intermittent heat/no heat problems?

 

[my viper]

I know both.

But for you, call AEM support at 310-484-2322 . they are in CA so when you press option 3 for tech support, they are 3 hrs earlier.

All cars have adaptives!

Thanks, Joseph!

Question - My car has a 180 degree thermostat and the temperatures when I drove it were in the mid to high 20's. The temperature guage goes to 185 degrees and then goes up to 195 degrees and down again with the fan not coming on. I have intermittent heat/no heat while this is going on. Some times I get no heat at all, sometimes I get 15 seconds of heat followed by 15 minutes of no heat, and the last time I drove it I had 15 minutes of heat with 15 seconds of no heat. I have checked all the control wires and vaccuum lines and they look good. What would be a good guess for the cause of my intermittent heat/no heat problems?

A better stop watch to capture the accurate time in seconds of having and not having heat?