BobbyRitz

iTrader: (7)

Well, since STREETTRENZ MAG or Ray@Altered or Ray123 wanted the thread ended and not a moderator, I thought we should still create a thread to allow members of this community to express their thoughts regarding their experiences with AAM.

Good or bad.

I'm preparing my story regarding my extremely brief purchase of a GReddy kit from Mike at AAM.

widebody350

iTrader: (1)

lol man you have a real hatred for AAM. I'm curious to see what they did or didn't do that got you going. I have AAM's plenum spacer, reflash, spec intake, and 3" Ti Trual Dual. Granted all the driving has been from shop to shop (although one was in NJ) there have been no issues and the exhaust sounds good/gets complements as well as the Polished intake manifold. I will say the quality of their parts is very good. I did deal with Noah, who as we all know was real good with customer service so I can't comment on that side of things. BTW Noah glad to hear your car is up and running.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Great 350Z meets. Great food. Exciting cruises to Sugarloaf. For promotions and support of the 350Z community, Altered gets a thumbs-up in my book. For those not familiar with Altered Atmosphere, here are a few photos from my collection.

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

I have some good and bad experiences with AAM. I had a UTEC installed there and a tune. I also had a custom dump pipe made to my TN kit to mount a custom wg to and cure the TN overboost problem. The welding on the custom wg tubing looked like it had been done by someone who learned to weld the previous weekend on a crash course. UGLY! It had looked like the WG pipe was going to hit my frame and I had asked Dave S. to make sure the pipe wasn’t hitting the frame. Sure as sh*t it was and caused a terrible vibration inside the car. But no one cared. I had requested that the turbo oil return line be rerouted in a way that was more efficient for the oil to return to the pan. The line was never rerouted and caused my turbo seals to fail. The car was smoking on the dyno like crazy. When I had inquired about the smoke I was told it was fuel and that it would be tuned out. Well it was the turbo oil seal and they just kept tuning like nothing was wrong.

The tune was worthless. I had requested a safe tune to 80% duty cycle on the injectors. What I got back was a car tuned between 98-101% duty cycle! The UTEC was cutting timing on the drive home and the car would fall on it’s *** at WOT. I had to have Sharif replace the turbo and retune the car for me. When he retuned the car he said that AAM had raised my rev limiter to 7200 rpm which I had never requested to have done. Also something I didn’t like and maybe someone like Noah can explain. I don’t have my receipt with me but I remember there being a labor charge, a shop charge and then a 7% charge that was never really explained to me in any way I could understand. I thought the 7% was a bullsh*t charge that made no sense.

I had also complained about something wrong with my transmission. They tuned my car anyway before addressing the transmission problem. It turned out that the clutch had a cracked carbon disc that wasn’t allowing the clutch to completely disengage to change gears.

I have an AAM oil pan spacer and I can’t complain about that. I have heard of vendors having quality issues lately with one of their products, and said vendor will not deal with AAM anymore.

On the good side… They were supposed to be closed Fri Dec23rd before Christmas but they came in to finish my car up and get me out of there by Christmas. Mike is a nice guy. My experience with the oil pan spacer and the plenum spacer are good. The fuel return system issues concerning fuel vapor permeating the fuel lines I think have been addressed and improved in the 2nd version of the kit. We will see about that. And the Stage 2 fuel system is looking good. I have heard about some issues with the AAM true dual exhaust but no one has complained about them on the message board.

When Mike heard I was unhappy he had refunded me $300 and offered me his cost on parts if I needed them. That was a nice gesture. But all we really want is quality work done in the first place. I had driven up from FL to AAM. 1000mi !!!

Lets hope that AAM sees this as constructive criticism and makes some changes.

JET

Nic@CiNcity

iTrader: (93)

Just got the AAM oil spacer, feed lines, and angled plen spacer. All look amazing, all came quickly. A+ from me

Nic@CiNcity

iTrader: (93)

Damn.. I'd expect a red carpet from a shop owner if i drove 1k miles JUST to visit them. I'm guessing that they just consider all of us "just another customer"?

BobbyRitz

iTrader: (7)

So David, you're telling us that AAM is good for food and cruises.

BobbyRitz

iTrader: (7)

Jet, thanks for the post. I encourage everyone to explain their experience(s) with AAM.

BobbyRitz

iTrader: (7)

So you ordered from AAM and had a positive experience. That's great. No sarcasm should be taken from my previous sentence.

BobbyRitz

iTrader: (7)

Well, now to my GReddy experience.

I ordered a GReddy twin turbo kit. Here are a few emails back and forth:

Me: OK…let’s scrap the Defi BF gauges. I’d like to go with the Defi D series gauges. They are much cheaper than, but equally as precise as, the BF gauges. I’m looking to reduce overall cost. How do we get the final cost of the GReddy Kit to $10,000? Is it possible?


Mike: Hrm.. I’ll think about how to get the cost of the GReddy TT Kit setup down a little more. With the fuel system, GReddy Kit, and gauges I think its going to be closer to $11,000 when all is said and done.


After a few emails to better define the cost. I'd be interested to know what other shops charge for the GReddy setup, as follows:

Mike: Okay here let me do a total breakdown on everything we'll need to do this at the 420-440hp level (we've had so many e-mails I am loosing my mind...lol:

$8,500 Turbo Kit & Lines, etc.
$1,500 Fuel System
$685 Tuning
GR Gauges $480 Labor $316 - 474 depending on where you want them installed
Boost Controller for UTEC & Labor $350
NGK Spark Plugs & Labor $175
Walboro Fuel Pump & Labor $200

I am sorry I was getting everything confused there. But this is a comprehensive list.

I find it interesting that despite the labor charge for installation of the GReddy kit (30 or 40 hours, I cannot recall) that he still wanted to charge me $175 for spark plugs...by the way part of that cost included labor. Not to mention the tuning charge. I would LOVE for other shops to mention their cost, although I doubt they will.

Me: Total quoted price below for GReddy TT kit, oil return lines and AAM oil pan spacer kit was $8,450 (includes labor). (maybe the oil pan spacer kit includes the return lines, not sure).

Not to nickel and dime, but the GReddy gauges in silver are available from Intense Motorsports for $192.50 for the EGT and $185.20 for the boost gauge.

http://store.yahoo.com/ntnsracing/gred60egtwar.html

http://store.yahoo.com/ntnsracing/gred60boosga.html

I’ll buy the gauges from them if you can’t match. Assuming you can match:

GReddy silver 60mm EGT warning and boost gauges for $378 and $400 for install labor (A pillar)

Mike: Robert,

Probably will be cheaper still through us because the labor rate is more for parts not purchased here.

So if you buy through them labor is cheaper. This might be consistent with other tuners/shops, but I'd like to know if that's their policy.

Me, discussing the spark plug cost: Mike—

Thanks for dealing with my many questions and concerns.

We’ll finalize everything in the near future.

I assume that the spark plugs that you plan to use are the NGK Iridium IX plugs. Please confirm this.

Also, $175 for plugs and labor? Is this right?

Mike: Robert,

We use the NGK plugs LFR6A11 if I remember correctly. They hold up great and we’ve used them in every 400+hp 350Z we’ve ever built, including my own car. That price is for both the plugs and labor (the book rate for 350Z plug change is 1.8hr, but we gave you a little discount).

Then I have the family of a very close friend who is suffering from drug addiction contact me. I decide to not follow through as I wanted to pay for a 28 day program for him. I had paid Mike $5,000 towards the kit at this point and talked with him to discuss this and wanted a refund.

Mike through email: Rob,

I just got off the phone with GReddy and its on the way (they received a shipment of 5 350Z Units earlier this week). If we send the kit back to them they are going to want a 25% re-stocking fee.

Is this possible:

We can refund your card $2,500 this week. So we’ll be up fronting the bulk of the cost for the turbo kit. We’ll do our best to sell your turbo kit asap and when we do refund the remaining $2,215.00 to your credit card?

Let me know if this is okay. I am terribly sorry that you have to put off your 350Z’s upgrades and hopefully everything works out for you guys.

Through another shop, who had called the GReddy distributor, I learned that none of of their current stock or shipped stock was going to AAM. In addition, I love the use of "your" turbo kit.

Me: Mike, I’m not trying to be difficult. I just want to be treated fairly and I would prefer to have all of the money refunded at once.

I talked to Greddy and was told that AAM has no open direct orders. I happen to know the owners of other shops and one spoke with a Greddy representative and was told that those 5 units are still available out in CA. No mention was made of AAM. In addition, no one could speak to a Greddy imposed 25% restocking fee. If it makes sense, we could have a conference call with Greddy, at my expense, to discuss this restocking fee.

Mike: I am not sure; it is in transit to us (according to our sales rep) along with another kit for another customer. Maybe he was misspoken and meant they had five left, not sure?

We will stock the kit until it is sold. It is extremely difficult for us to do this because we are a small shop, and a kit which costs us almost $5,500 is VERY hard to pallet! That is why we have a no return and/or refund policy on special order products, which you have signed several times, in which we are waiving for you.

Disputing the charge won’t help because they will then charge, at minimum, another $40! The credit card companies seem to make money on everything and anything…

Basically we are charged 2.85% (not including monthly fee and per transaction fee) each time we make a charge. We are incurred the same charge each time we issue a refund.

$5,000 * 0.0285 = $142.50 x 2 - $285.00

There are many costs that contribute into why restocking fee’s are necessary for many smaller places.

I’ll go ahead and get the credit card transaction rolling. I have to shift some things around so I can cover the cost of the kit when it arrives next week. If you know anyone in the market for a GReddy kit let Dave or I know. The refund should be processed and show up on your account by the end of the week.

Last time I checked, returns are a part of doing business. But, I agreed to cover the $285 and had the difference refunded after days of discussion with Mike. I'd also like to know if the GReddy kit has a dealer cost of $5,500. Something I'll probably never find out.

Me: Mike-

I didn't hear from you regarding my last 2 emails.

Let me know if your plan is to refund $4,715 or issue me a check for $4,857.50.

I assume that we can take care of this tomorrow.

Let me know.

After some debate, Mike ultimately refunded the difference to my check card.

captj3

iTrader: (1)

Retail on the greddy kit is $5500 or very close. Just check some of the vendors. It smells like someone didn't want to lose a sale and got paid for a few emails.

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

Overall-AAM does make decent products. But we are not discussing the products, the main concern for BobyRitz and many others on the forum is their customer service/quality of work performed. Like JET said-we want AAM to get things done correctly the first time. A shop cant expect people to go back to them after a problem even with a hookup. Obviously many guys do, but in the end I doubt they will be happy.

blazefast

iTrader: (1)

...guess im driving my 07 all the way to GA when it gets TT

NoahzBurnt

iTrader: (10)

Couldn't have said it better myself......also the only other thing that gets me was the time I agreed to a price and had to come up with extra $$$ after all was said and done to get my car back!!!! (and we're not talking about pennies either)

NoahzBurnt

iTrader: (10)

Yeah dude i'll be happy......I mean the 7% is the shop charge.....although there were times during my employment there I fought to have it removed I realized later why these things exist. In all honestly a shop like AAM does cover seats with plastic, the floor mats, tape, solder etc.....these things cost money....instead of doing what I have seen other shops charge in the past, itemized lists of tape and wire used, AAM averaged these charges to simplfy things. Although with $20K tickets these charges add up and become excessive, they (and every other shop) are in business for one reason only, to make money!!!

dutchboy350Z

iTrader: (5)

With more shops opening up in the Mid-A I guess we'll see who's up for giving the customer what they want/deserve and who's going out of business. And No I don't mean the "customer is always right" b.s. ... I mean when you're giving $10k+ worth of business to a shop you should expect to get it done right (for the most part, we don't expect everything to be perfect) the first time around. Is that too much to ask?

BobbyRitz

iTrader: (7)

I've be notified that I'm rehashing a thread and that is a violation of TOU.

This thread will be closed.

captj3

iTrader: (1)

AAM must be complaining about the thread. They protect the sponsers.

STREETTRENZ MAG

Well bobby your thoughts are indeed interesting. As far as clearing up things. I am not an employee of AAM. I did how ever help mike for a short while to get things caught up. So as far as Ray@altered it was a name i used while helping mike. i didnt change it must have been the mods..

to clear up on a few posts. I am sorry that any of you have had problems with your cars and shops. I am willing to help any one try to get their problem worked out. This means from AAM, Forged Internals,Performance....ect. i am not here to boost anyones rep. i am here to help people to get what they need. mike needed help i helped. a few members of this forum know what i have done for them to get their cars done too.

For AAM i will say this. Do they have bad things that have happened????
of course they do! Who of us all has never had something happen. but from what i have seen and i could be wrong. Mike has done the right thing and taken care of the customer. Now that is the right thing to do.

please pm me if i am wrong on any of this!

Thank you.

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

Um, no.