Elite Diesel Engineering - Turbo Kit Order - Only the Facts

[Joe@Ideal]

On Friday September 13th I phoned Elite Diesel Engineering inquiring about the replacement 6.7 turbo kit advertised on their website. I spoke with Bryan Garey in sales. It was explained that it would take two weeks to ship the kit out due to the fact that the turbos themselves were too expensive to keep on the shelf for customer orders and that there were many turbo options to choose from. He explained the way it worked was the customer places the order by putting $2000 down. They then order the turbo and put together the rest of the components in house and the kit will be ready in two weeks. I asked many questions and explained my truck was down, I use it for my business, and if it would only take a few weeks I would rather wait for a top notch kit than to put another factory turbo in. The deal was made, the order was placed and Bryan said he would get back to me on Monday with an update on the delivery of the kit along with emailing me his contact info. (It was stated that email was the best method of communication for both of us.)

September 23rd - A week passes. No emails, no updates. I phone Bryan to find out what is going on. I am told he will go talk with Levi and get right back to me. In the first few weeks there were some phone conversations all ending in he will check the status and get back to me. Further communications are via email:

September 23rd
Hi Joe. Bryan from Elite here. Here is my contact info. I am waiting for an update as well. Been very busy here on phone lines today. As soon as I know more I will email you.

September 26th
Hi Bryan, Would you be able to send me some sort of receipt, invoice or confirmation showing what I have on order and what the $2000 deposit went towards?

(Invoice returned the same day, no updates).

October 3rd
Bryan, We are now about three weeks in to my turbo kit order and I still have not had any sort of update. Do you have anything for me?

Hi Joe. I will get an update in the morning and reply to you. It's been very busy here this week.

October 7th
Bryan, This is starting to leave a very bad taste in my mouth. It’s been over three weeks since you told me you could supply my turbo kit in two weeks. I have not been pushing you to deliver the kit as stated. I have only been asking for an update on when I could expect it. With the lack of follow through on your part I’m beginning to think I’m being blown off. I have a broke down truck that my business needs. You need to tell me the status of my turbo kit or refund my money.

Hi Joe. Please believe me that I am not blowing you off. The biggest part of the kit not being ready yet is our wait time for the brackets. The shop that helped with them ran over 3 weeks longer than anticipated. We have received those parts and are making progress every day again. We have more pieces for the tubing coming in and are fabricating the first kit right now. If you have any more concerns or questions please let me know.

Bryan, Thanks for the explanation. Bad news is much better than no news. You mentioned you are fabricating the “first kit” right now. Have you not made any previous kits? Is the kit I ordered somewhat experimental then?

(From Bryan) I apologize for my poor wording. What you purchased isn't experimental. You are receiving the first production kit. We have already tested this kit on a truck here. It was just difficult getting everybody to complete our production parts when we required them.

October 17th
Bryan, Can you please give me another update on the progress of my kit? An estimated completion date would be greatly appreciated.

October 22nd
Hi Joe. I am waiting to hear back from Levi this morning. I will get you another update today for sure.
Hi Joe. That was faster than I thought. I was just notified that the turbine flanges will be here tomorrow. That is the last part we need for assembly of the kits. I will get an update from Levi as to when he expects shipping.

November 4th
Hi Joe. Just wanted to get you some pics of the piping. We are still waiting on the mounting bracket for the fuel filter relocation kits. But I just wanted to show you the quality of these pipes. They look great.

November 12th
Bryan, You guys certainly do high quality work and this is why I chose to contact you over my broken truck. The fact is though, you told me 2 weeks delivery on the turbo kit. We are now 8-1/2 weeks along, still with no delivery expectation. I was forced to replace my factory turbo with another one. At this point I would like my money refunded and forget this ever took place. Please advise if you will be able to refund to my credit card.

Since the 12th I have attempted calling several times with all calls going to voice mail. I see no need in leaving voice messages since my emails are getting where they are supposed to go.

 

[Crack85]

Dayum.....

 

[O2ShootTheJ]

Just contact your credit card company or a lawyer. It took me 3 months to get the core charge back for my transmission.

Your experience is pretty standard for Elite, and is why I won't run their stuff on my vehicles anymore. If you absolutely have to have something from elite my recommendation is to buy it from someone like Rudy's or RCD who has it sitting on their shelf.

 

[Powerstroked162]

Sounds like communication was above board but the time line is what you have a issue with. Which I understand. 2 weeks is 2 weeks, BUT stuff does happen that is out of the control of a lot of us. Not making any excuses, just offering a glimpse into the other side of things. Honestly if we could, I guarantee several of us would have CNC machines of our own lol. Sure would eliminate a lot of the trickle down nightmare delays machine shops can cause. Regardless, I hope it gets worked out for both parties.

 

[Matt]

Yeah I'd say they probably just shouldn't have taken your money in the first place.

 

[bigrpowr]

Yeah I'd say they probably just shouldn't have taken your money in the first place.

Bingo. What a shame.

 

[bricewise]

Joe your not the first and I doubt your the last. In May-June of this year I contacted Wayne to get an estimate on a turbo for my 6.7. Wayne ended up moving on to a new opportunity and I started working with Levi. Both whom said the kit wasn't in production yet but would about 6-8 weeks.

On July 13th, I paid $2850 for a down payment with the guarantee that the kit would be ready in 4-6 weeks.

Seeing Elite's previously history, I didn't bother them for about 2 months and from then until now I was told excuse after excuse. I'll admit I changed the size of the turbo 3 times from then until now however this was after being told other pieces of the kit were not ready.

Whats interesting is during the wait, Caleb, 4EverBoosted, got the Elite pedestal and a few other goodies from them...that got me excited in hopes I'd receive my kit. I was wrong.

Last Friday, I told them I needed the kit by the end of this week. They said they would make it happen, yesterday, Friday, November 15, Brian called me and said they were ready for me to pay the remaining balance. I did. Somewhat regretting it since I have yet to get a tracking number and reading this.

We will see if Monday comes around I get a tracking number. If not, American Express will get a call and they've always had my back.

Its really too bad because their damn work is so good and I really wanted to get an engine built by them....but I'm just struggling to justify sending them that much money.

 

[bft blue oval boys]

Wow, hate to see this sort of thing :/

My question is, with Elite making so many custom parts for our trucks why don't they invest in a few CNC machines themselves? Hell, Haas is right down the road pretty much and they make awesome machines that are decently priced IMO....

Sent from a Cummins plant, driving a TDI, wishing it was a Powerstroke

 

[NathannialD]

I will say that a major issue we have with delivery dates is our vendors not meeting our deadlines, this of course sets us back on every project depending on those parts. Bryan is just the go between in this, he is just relaying the messages between us and the shop and you the customers. He only knows what he is told. We are working toward lowering lead times on these custom turbo kits as well as the other kits we mfg in house. The major issue lies in I am pulling double duty, I handle all the fabrication as well as the large builds. Trying to balance this and meeting deadlines is very difficult, only so many hours in the day and 7 days a week is all i can do. I am sorry our delivery dates have been missed by a long shot....

 

[NathannialD]

Wow, hate to see this sort of thing :/

My question is, with Elite making so many custom parts for our trucks why don't they invest in a few CNC machines themselves? Hell, Haas is right down the road pretty much and they make awesome machines that are decently priced IMO....

Sent from a Cummins plant, driving a TDI, wishing it was a Powerstroke

The issues lie in the purchase of the equipment and either training one of us to use it or highering a person.

 

[bft blue oval boys]

The issues lie in the purchase of the equipment and either training one of us to use it or highering a person.

Yea, I understand that but can you imagine how much more product y'all would sell if people knew they wouldn't have these outrageous wait times? I'm sure y'all could recoup the price tags fairly quickly.

But I know these aren't the best economical times to be buying expensive equipment. Guess there is no happy medium.

Sent from a Cummins plant, driving a TDI, wishing it was a Powerstroke

 

[WHY NOT]

I would say the best thing is to be straight with customers when they first call. Say something like, "we are expecting to have all of the parts with in 6-8 weeks but the machine shops that make the parts tend to get held up so the wait could be up to 4 months." That way the customer knows upfront that this is may take a while.

 

[Coxey Diesel]

Yeah I'd say they probably just shouldn't have taken your money in the first place.

X1000

 

[Dustball8504]

Instead of saying "place a deposit and we'll have it in 2 weeks" why don't they invest in their business and stock their shelves before they sell parts?

 

[bricewise]

I will say that a major issue we have with delivery dates is our vendors not meeting our deadlines, this of course sets us back on every project depending on those parts. Bryan is just the go between in this, he is just relaying the messages between us and the shop and you the customers. He only knows what he is told. We are working toward lowering lead times on these custom turbo kits as well as the other kits we mfg in house. The major issue lies in I am pulling double duty, I handle all the fabrication as well as the large builds. Trying to balance this and meeting deadlines is very difficult, only so many hours in the day and 7 days a week is all i can do. I am sorry our delivery dates have been missed by a long shot....

Can't speak for Joe but a turbo kit in the mail will make up for a lot of wrongs lol.

But in all seriousness, I think my frustration stems from it being months longer....not weeks.

 

[Joe@Ideal]

I will say that a major issue we have with delivery dates is our vendors not meeting our deadlines, this of course sets us back on every project depending on those parts. Bryan is just the go between in this, he is just relaying the messages between us and the shop and you the customers. He only knows what he is told. We are working toward lowering lead times on these custom turbo kits as well as the other kits we mfg in house. The major issue lies in I am pulling double duty, I handle all the fabrication as well as the large builds. Trying to balance this and meeting deadlines is very difficult, only so many hours in the day and 7 days a week is all i can do. I am sorry our delivery dates have been missed by a long shot....

How can you be working on lowering your lead times when you haven't even established a lead time? You are working 7 days a week because you keep taking orders and hoping for the best. You are very talented and people greatly desire your products. You can still work 7 days a week if you want without stringing people along. I told Bryan up front I own a very high precision machine shop and could provide top quality complex parts rather quickly so the supply of these kind of parts on my kit at least shouldn't have been a problem.

For what it's worth, my business early on was very much what yours appears like. Extreme high end products everyone wanted and I was working 12 hour days 7 days a week until I burned out. I found myself sitting in front of a jury facing a number of allegations because I kept stringing a customer along and not delivering the product as advertised. In my mind it was all justified by a number of excuses. Bottom line is they were excuses and it was my job to deliver or make it right with the customer. Take my advice and get a grip on things before you have to take days out of those 7 days a week to meet with attorneys. That's strictly advice and not a threat. You won't have any problems with me.

 

[Joe@Ideal]

Sounds like communication was above board but the time line is what you have a issue with. Which I understand. 2 weeks is 2 weeks, BUT stuff does happen that is out of the control of a lot of us. Not making any excuses, just offering a glimpse into the other side of things. Honestly if we could, I guarantee several of us would have CNC machines of our own lol. Sure would eliminate a lot of the trickle down nightmare delays machine shops can cause. Regardless, I hope it gets worked out for both parties.

Are you serious with this statement? For real?? Is this how you communicate with your customers? Super responsive on the order taking and nothing worth a damn whenever they get to it after that? Well that's good to know.

PS: I'm sure there are reliable diesel performance shops out there and I know there are reliable machine shops out there. Continuing to use unreliable businesses is ones own fault.

 

[Wayne]

Joe: sorry I didn't realise you were the OP in the other thread I commented in. I sure feel for you, and others who have had similar experiences from any company. I think it was very good of you to present this thread in the manner you did. You definitely have my respect. This is especially true because you have been in a situation Elite appears to be in, and have learned from it. It's really too bad time frames, communication, and deadlines have been struggles for Elite because, as you have seen, the product is top shelf.

 

[Monster12valve]

Wow, I saw this thread and did a google search, seems like Elite is well known for this, and poor customer service all around. I am very surprised by this, Elite has a huge name in diesel performance, hate to see it washed away because of poor customer service.

 

[08BIGRIG]

Imagine the money that Elite would make if they could keep the shelves stocked with the parts that they sell. It would be totally insaine because everyone knows that they make good stuff, it is just not easy dealing with them sometimes. I feel for both parties here and Joe I hope that you do get your refund because you know that there is probably someone else that would scoop that up if you did not take it.

Also on a side note...the communication lines were always A+ when dealing with JD and Anthony while they worked there. They may not tell you what you wanted to hear, but at least they would call you back and keep you up to date. That ALONE is HUGE