I was thinking about this for the last couple of hours and wished there was really something I could do.

BUT THERE'S THIS:

After the SEMA show in 2004, SEMA invited Vortech, and many others, to meet with the media. It may have been open to others as well, I wasn't there. The meetings were some months after the show itself. Art Singer, SZM associate publisher represented our magazine. The event was two days long and all participants allowed each of us one hour.

Art was amazingly impressed with the process and signed two new advertisers. One company said to Art as he entered their room, let's get right to it and get this going NOW. He meant the next issue and we had to do some quick redesign.

Vortech was an advertiser at the time and Art entered their room with great expectations. His exuberance ended immediately when he heard this: (I may be paraphrasing a bit here, but this was their point). We won't be continuing our advertising with Sport Z for one reason/one word. MUSTANG. They stated tersely that they are going to concentrate their efforts on Mustang's and that's it. "350Z's have little interest to us at this time." They were rude and dismissive and Art was insulted (Jamie, I think) and promptly exited the room.

It's very hard to get under Art's skin, but this really pissed him off. He was going to write the company president and ask him if this is the way they normally treat people. He decided not to waste his valuable time on people like them.

TREAT PEOPLE. Now you know what we know.

BTW, this is the first time I've talked of this. Kinda cathartic!

Vortech's president may be hearing of this for the first time and if he wants to debate the issue, he has my phone number. Mr President, this kind of BS within Vortech should be a big issue to you. From what I've experienced in my dealings with Z lovers; they have a long memory and they're not afraid to talk it up. Govern yourself accordingly. Do the right thing, sir.

Bob

 

Sorry Gator to hear all the problems you are having. I've been following all your posts, and man I feel for you. You have alot of patience, if it was me I would fly across country and pay them a personal visit and make them pay for the round trip ticket to boot! I just had my Vortech supercharger installed last week by Performance Nissan in SoCal and I am very happy with them and the install, Andy in parts and Tim in service. IMO the kit is very well put together although the fit is very very tight fit but I am happy with the supercharger and I find myself intentionally downshifting to get that blow off value to go off. Currently, my intake pipe looks like it may be very slightly rubbing against the back belt, I may have to bolt up the pipe to get is push down and back about 1/8 of an inch, no biggie.

I also had some coffee can rattling but I adjusted the belt tension myself today and no more rattling. I'm sure you tried everything and heard every advise under the sun but I am with you on that the way the company is handling your situation is not really any company, should treat customers. I don't care if it's a $1 toothbrush or a $5k supercharger, it's just not plain right. Just how much is this going to cost Vortech in the long run? If i was the owner of Vortech, I would have arranged and paid the nearest Vortech authorized installer to come look at your problem in person and take care of business right there. I think you went above and beyond to reason with Vortech including sending video, so you at least deserve to be treated right, I mean when you decided to buy the kit, you also expected to purchase some kind of support that goes along with the money you spent. As for only now concentrating on Mustangs, if you sell a kit for the 350Z, support it. If you sold a kit for a Kia, support it! Otherwise stop selling 350Z kits and sell only Mustang superchargers. That is just plain unexcusable.

The Vortech kit is a really good kit compared to other superchargers IMO which is why I decided to go with them. As for Vortech, if you are reading this post, do the right thing. Okay it's unfortunate that maybe you, Vortech, handled Gator's situation very poorly but you have a situation to make a unhappy customer turn around and sing praises about your company. You wouldn't be in business without happy and content customers, I sure hope your business model includes that.

Fight the good fight Gator and since I live only 40 minutes from their office, let me know what I could do and I will try within my powers to help you. It's a shame that a good supercharger kit be overshadowed by very poor customer support and followup. Look what happen to OS/2 when crappy Windows came along, damnit now I'm mad at Microsoft now too!

Would it be too much to suggest that not only Vortech fix your problem, Gator, but I also offer to refund a third of the cost of the kit? If I were Vortech, I would would make it a goal to have you change your current signature on your posts to their company logo and banner with the statement "You're not only buying a great product, but we stand by the products we sell 100%". I know wishful thinking but it could still happen.

 

WOW

That type of attitude will spill over to the other boards(Mustang), with links to these threads, if they're not careful.

 

im going to sign onto stangnet.com and let them know about this also check out what i have on all post that i post. DONT BUY VORTECH!!!!!!!

 

Wow....I cant thank you guys enough for your support. I will do my best to let the President know on how Vortech has really dropped the ball in the import world (Z/G). Its not right. Kr8z was right...if you make a product...support it. I have done everything asked of me.

Anyways....Bob. I thank you for posting what you did. You have no doubt kept that under wraps for a while to not look like the soured publisher, but these are things that us consumers need to know. There are many great kits out there for our cars and maybe our money should go to those who care about us and our cars.

 

Thanks for the sig support. Its nice to have my thoughts heard...even though Vortech refuses to listen to them.

 

I will now certainly hold-off on my Vortech SC purchase and consider other options. I will gladly include myself in a email campaign directed at getting some answers from Vortech. Just let me know when and where.

 

g8tor20,
you seem to be a nice person and I haven't seen you get real nasty with them. when you write you're letter please try to show your emotion on the letter that you are really upset, if that was me I would probably send a voice tape so that they can hear me screaming I guess anger will not solve the problem but make it worst but you must let them know that you're serious.

 

ok Jason,

This is it now that I'm home and not at work im going to say this im my own words not Vortechs. You make this out to be something its not, you rile up all these people on a false story. I have offered to replace everthing in your blower and your mounting bracket. If as you say "for the past 4 months" you have had a problem why is it that this is only the second time I have heard from you?? You have my name you, have my number, my email address yet you have not called or emailed me. The only reason I knew you were calling was because one of the service guys decided to ask if anyone had heard of your problem. You did send your unit in back in January and you stated that "nothing was done" but something was done I replaced the bearings and seals and sent it back to you over night on the same day it arrived. So that your down time was as minimal as possible. All this is beside the point anyhow, you say that you still have a noise problem and you are on here tring to make me look as if I don't care to all these people and thats fine that is your opinion, but as I have told you before I would be more then happy to replace all the parts in your unit and all the parts on your bracket. But they will need to be sent back to be done. It has always been that same offer from the very beginning and all you could do was complain about down time. So whats the excuse now? I dont ever post on these boards because I would rather deal with customers individualy. But since you choose to drag me thru the mud without telling anyone the whole story, I just got tired of seeing my name on here without backing it up. I appologize if I seem rude or upset toward you but I have been more then helpful with you. Yet you make it look as if you call and im telling you to blow.. To diagnose a problem thats 3000 miles away is not exactly the easiest thing to accomplish over teh phone and we have asked for the parts to be sent in several times and you still refuse to do it. So there is'nt much I can do if your not willing to send it. Just sending you brand new stuff is not an option, you seem to think that companys have procedures for no reason, I dont know maybe you think that don't apply to you. If you feel you have a warranty issue then it needs to be handled the way the warranty works. Plain and simple. As we have done before I have no problem attempting to make it as fast as I can so that your down time is minimal, but if your not willing and would rather drag it out then that is your choice and always has been. This will be the only time that I will be posting on here. I will continue to read on and listen to any suggestions anyone has for our kits regardless of what car they are for and submit those ideas to our engineering dept when ever they are sent. But keep in mind I can only submit them, the ultimate decision to change things is not mine. Believe me I'm with you all I'd rather have you all happy with the purchase you made then to have to be doing this silly stuff with people. As far as your suggestions you can send them to me directly at jrabago@vortechsuperchargers.com or you can send them to our info@vortechsuperchargers.com they do get read by the people that do need to see them.

Sincerely,

Jamie Rabago

 

thanks Jamie for your post

I've read on other forums about individual customer stories that vortech has pretty good customer service but I don't know since I've never called about anything. People upgrading their blowers or buying smaller pullies or belts etc - the techs have helped people out and gave them the info they needed.

 

I don't know Jason personally, but I know him from this forum and g35driver. He is also a Florida G35 Club member as I am. I can't see why Jason would lie. If nothing was wrong with the blower the first time he sent it in why did you replace the bearing and the seals? Why would Jason lie and say that, "Vortech said nothing was wrong with it" if you told him that you changed the bearing and the seals?

What you say doesn't make sense. Jason would have posted that Vortech got the blower and they are replacing this and this. Then after recieving the blower and reintalling it he would have posted, "well Vortech did this and this to my blower but it still rattles." What does Jason have to benefit from lying about this. He just wants his blower not to sound like a sack of chit!

I feel for him cause I owned a Vortech for 3 weeks before I pulled that clanking POS of my car. I'd rather blow my motor with the Greddy kit than drive around a brand new $40K car that sounds like 1969 Pontiac.

SEE MY NEW SIG

 

Jamie...Glad to see that you have stepped up to the plate to defend your position as well as Vortech's. You indicated during our conversation yesterday that you were preparing an e-mail for "g8tor20, which he noted receiving in a previous post. However you were considering, with reluctance, becoming a member of my350Z and responding to this thread and it's many posts.

I for one have gotten OUTSTANDING support for Vortech Technical Support and Sales Departments. I thank you!

Additionally, I think it is imperitive that individuals become familiar with the Vortech SC system and other after market systems added so that they can perform minimal routine maintenance (i.e. Blower Filter cleaning/changing, cleaning oil inlet fitting every 3000 miles, checking/adjusting belts). Unfortunately, not everyone is capable of performing maintenance or making minor adjustments and must rely on a shops, charging big bucks to perform these kind of services or they are ignored leading to bigger problems.

Some Nissan Dealers, mine is an exception, see the Vortech and want nothing more to do with you. While some, certainly not all, are capable of undertaking removing the Vortech SC system or other aftermarket parts. Thus speed/performance shops exist, charging those big bucks and increasing ones downtime.

Good luck g8tor20 in resolving your problem!

 

Jamie, I received your PM this morning and I thank you for taking the time to do so. I really have no reason to call you about the SEMA Media event, it's water over the damn and I had NEARLY FORGOTTEN IT until yesterday.

Your post of yesterday addressed the current problem---possibly. I certainly recognize some of your responses to be as g8tor20 posted. I really don't see much of anything you spoke of to be a Vortech hidden revelation. You and g8tor20 have reached an apparent impasse, an impasse it'll stay until one of you capitulates and makes this situation acient history.

Jamie, regarding the Vortech issue with Sport Z Magazine, you may want to address this directly with associate publisher Art Singer. Art's email address is associatepublisher@sportzmagazine.com.

In closing, with this situation spreading fast, maybe Vortech should be the one to yield and put an end to all of this. As we all know, good press spreads slower than bad press and the faster the good news gets out there, the quicker it'll spread.

Bob

 

Having managed golf courses for better than 14 years, I must agree with Bob! You make a customer mad and he spread his disappointment to 20 of his friends! Make a customer happy and your lucky if it gets passed 2 or 3.

Nice to see Bob here on my350Z.com! He spends the majority of his time satisfying the chickz and some of us guyz (aka: TamaHills) over on ZChickz.com

Living here in Albuquerque, I know Art Singer very well. A great guy who loves cars and participates, time permitting, in all our "Z" events. Highly suggest, as Bob suggested, sending Art an e-mail.

 

Well Gman, that is the big question.. you tell me.. I have always been willing to fix what ever it was causing the problem. Jason seems to be the one holding up the process because he does not want to send it in.. When it was in we could not find anything causing noise. The bearings were in good condition the seals were not leaking. For the benefit of the doubt we put in new ones at our cost just to be on the safe side.

publisher,

I will attempt to talk to Art, though I do not know him and have never met him I think it may be an issue between the marketing manager and Art as I do not attend those events.

Jamie

 

i dont know all the detail but if there was nothing wrong with his system why not give him a refurbished system and keep his for testing? Im sure we have all seen the vid by now that make that terrible noise so something got to be wrong?

 

I can back Jamie on this one. I had issues with my car. It took some time to trouble shoot but Jamie took the unit back and replaced the seals/bearings. It is standard for warranty evaluation.

The problem ended up being something that was not linked to the charger.

 

Thanks for responding Jaime but dont call me out...i have done everything asked of me. This isnt the second time you have heard from me. We have at leats 20 emails throughout November, December and January. You were my contact person throughout all this. (it was jdiaz@bmaklaw.com) Mariano became my contact person after I got the blower back from you guys. And while I was on the phone with him, he was supposedly talking with you throughout the conversation. What a bunch of BS.


I first noted this problem in october/november....i sent you videos, etc. I understood the difficulty in diagnosiing this 3000 miles away. You told me that I should send in whatever I thought was wrong. So...I took my car over an hour away to a Vortech shop in Orlando who daignosed it as bearings in the blower. I then took it to another shop in Tampa, another hour away, who said the same thing. I then informed you of what they said and asked for your opinions. You even said that if its not making noise if I take the cog belt off, its probably the blower. (Did you expect me to send in every damn part of your product so you can check them for defects?? Thats a lot of labor time I have to pay). So...I decided to go ahead and send the blower back to you guys. You opened it up and said..."nothing was wrong"...I believe you used the words "perfect". You did tell me that...while you had it opened...you replaces the seals just in case. Either way, the unit still sounded like crap when I got it back from you guys and had it put back in. Even the shop was like..."the chit sounds the same."

While I was tinkering around with it in my garage...I noted the cog gearing making a rattle noise and simply posted it here to see if that was normal or not. The majority said it was not. I then called and spoke with Mariano again who listed to it and said something was wrong..."you should send the blower back". After I informed him that I just sent the damn thing back last month....I get...well...its normal but you can send it back for reinspection if you wish. Thats BS. This was somehtng that should have been looked at the first time. And I didnt send the bracket back b/c that would have been another $300 in labor charges. Seeing as two Vortech shops said it was the blower...I went that route. Don't throw it back in my face that I didnt send every damn part back to you guys.

And dont you dare call me a liar. I have been straight up with my posts and our conversations since day 1. You told me to keep some things off the boards and now you use that against me.

I understand how the warranty works. I sent in the blower the first time. What pisses me off is the lack of attention given to me. Out of the 50 emails I have had with Vortech...the words "its normal" appears in almost all of them. I cannot stress it enough that this isnt normal. Even Mariano, said it didnt sound normal. I have asked you guys for guidance and you have continually send it was normal but send what you think is bad. You cannot possibly expect me to pay the labor and deinstall the whole kit so you can find the defectivness of your product do you? It was diagnosed as the blower by 2 shops and i sent that in. Now you want me to send it back? Bull****. That should have been fixed the first time around. I shouldnt get stuck with the same labor charges twice.

I just want my blower fixed. I am in a position where I can't stand driving it and I can't sell it.

 

I offered to send him a unit that was on a test vehicle we had that had just had a fresh rebuild. He decided that it was not worth it because of labor cost. so instead we opted to have the unit done the same day it got here so that it would get back the next day, and that is exactly what happend. Until a day or two ago I didnt even know that he still had the problem. From day one all jason has insisted on is that i send him a new head unit. so say i do, and the noise is still there? then what? Because i did not have him send the unit and the bracket assy in, we still dont know what the cause is. right? look all i ask is for the bracket assy and the blower to get sent in. i have no problem replacing everything inside the unit gears and all to make him happy with the sound. i have no problem replacing the bearings in the bracket to make sure that the noise is not coming from them. but i cant do that if its not going to come back.

 

jason ... dude just send it to me so we can be done with this.. ill even pay the freight back and forth over night.... this is getting to be ridiculous....