[tinnsoldaten]

I have had stage 3 cylinder head project going on for ever with them , have had the head sent to them ages ago , I did pay them close to 50% to get started on the head.

During all this I had need for the following :

Final invoice , I only have been given some invoice that was way off.
I so far made my own invoice based upon what we have agreed upon during dialog.

My cylinder head came with worn ledges and I had to get some new ones , I asked if they could look into what caused this , so far no answer yet.

I asked for head gasket requirements , if I needed stock standard gasket or if I would need the .3 thicker one. I had ongoing order with ECS and needed answer before they shipped out. Never got any answer before ECS had shipped out , luckily the one standard one I had gambled on would do according to them.

I asked for some pictures to go along with my build thread in Norway , never seen one photo yet , reminded them over and over and still nothing.
This seems like utter BS , they post pictures on VAC page on facebook all the time.

And now they have been working on my head for a long time , its their standard stage 3 job based on product on VAC page , no upgraded springs , valves or retainers.

I am no expert with head work , porting and polishing but the time it takes makes me wonder.

I have asked if this work can be finished by the 15th of June , that is when I plan to have paid in full. And I also need this shipped a long way and plan install of this.

So far I have informed them that Im not happy with progress and how they deal with this matter.

Still havent heard a peep from them. Have they grown too big and become arrogant towards their customers or is it me who have unrealistic demands?

[deadmn1337]

that really sux man, they should definitely be communicating with you on your product. How long has it been? When did you send the unit into them?

[tinnsoldaten]

They have had the head for ages , that is not what is important , I paid 50% on 15th of April.

In my case I think its a matter of poor communication and follow up , but Mike is trying and doing his best so I hang in there and wait and see.

Just had a long informative mail from Mike , now I have something to relate to , makes everything a lot more easy.

[Brian_VACsales]

I sent you an email yesterday addressing everything and you make this thread? Cmon man. There were dozens of notes between you and Mourad and even some PMs with me. There is a LOT more to this story you left out.

With that said, your email reply to me seemed quite positive. Has something changed?

[tinnsoldaten]

This came up before your mail , where finally some matters where addressed properly.

This is nothing but constructive criticism , I dont believe VAC is bad , but it has been proven there is room for improvements.

Im not saying that there has not been dialog , Im saying I have been asking for invoice for final price , something I would assume is normal before one decide to invest.

In short is has been a little messy and far from all the questions have been answered .

I must say , much our dialog is good , by all means . But I still need to have the critical questions answered or else the whole deal is only half good ...


Situation so far :

Final invoice , I only have been given some invoice that was way off.
I so far made my own invoice based upon what we have agreed upon during dialog. Still there is no final invoice presented , I still assume that price will be based upon price stated on VAC page and that I can count on seeing some discount like I was promised.

My cylinder head came with worn ledges and I had to get some new ones , I asked if they could look into what caused this , so far no answer yet.

I asked for head gasket requirements , if I needed stock standard gasket or if I would need the .3 thicker one. I had ongoing order with ECS and needed answer before they shipped out. Never got any answer before ECS had shipped out , luckily the one standard one I had gambled on would do according to them.

I asked for some pictures to go along with my build thread in Norway , never seen one photo yet , reminded them over and over and still nothing.
This seems like utter BS , they post pictures on VAC page on facebook all the time. Here I got answer that they dont really have anything worth taking pictures of yet , fair enough , but they could have told me that in the beginning.

And now they have been working on my head for a long time , its their standard stage 3 job based on product on VAC page , no upgraded springs , valves or retainers.

I am no expert with head work , porting and polishing but the time it takes makes me wonder.

I have asked if this work can be finished by the 15th of June , that is when I plan to have paid in full. And I also need this shipped a long way and plan install of this.
I dont recall having been given a proper timeframe on this job , could be but I dont know when this will be ready so I ask , and never get answer. I got a decent answer from Mike yesterday regarding this and with that answer I have oppertunety to plan ahead.


So far I have informed them that Im not happy with progress and how they deal with this matter.

Still havent heard a peep from them. Have they grown too big and become arrogant towards their customers or is it me who have unrealistic demands?

I wont say anyone at VAC is arrogant , but I started to wonder and that is just as bad ...


This thread is NOT a negative feedback about VAC or my dialog with them. Its just an honest feedback , this is how it is , people are smart enough to see things as they are. Again this is just constructive criticism.

[Brian_VACsales]

Originally Posted by tinnsoldaten

This came up before your mail , where finally some matters where addressed properly.

There were 8 PM exchanges between you and I between 5/19/13 and yesterday 5/31/13. I thought I answered all questions that were presented to me. I replied same day or within 24 hrs. Now, I am your second contact at VAC - you have been working with Mourad who sent you at least 13 emails from mid March. Not sure how many before b/c we lost a lot of old email with an epic IT fail

Yesterday, 5/31/13 6:24AM my time you sent me a long PM voicing some concerns, which I addressed by 1:13PM my time via an email, where I CC'd Mourad. Looks like you posted this thread after I sent the email - perhaps it was delayed in the internets or you didn't read it before posting this thread?

I am guilty of not sending pics till yesterday, b/c as I told you the pics I took Monday (or last week?) sucked and they were not worth sending. Also, the subject matter is pics of cylinder head ports that are not 100% completely developed - something I typically would never send anyway. I did sent them yesterday as I felt it would put you at ease.

Situation so far :Final invoice , I only have been given some invoice that was way off. I so far made my own invoice based upon what we have agreed upon during dialog. - Still there is no final invoice presented , I still assume that price will be based upon price stated on VAC page and that I can count on seeing some discount like I was promised.

Your invoice was sent 1/30/2013. Your deposit payment against that invoice was sent 4/15/2013. Nothing has changed or was added to the invoice so that is the final invoice from what I see at this point If Mourad promised you something special and did not follow through, please let me know offline and I will address it. I do see an email where you told Mourad you would give yourself a 15% discount and sent your partial payment reflecting that discount? Lets discuss that offline as well.

My cylinder head came with worn ledges and I had to get some new ones , I asked if they could look into what caused this , [B][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]so far no answer yet.

This is certainly a question we can not answer accurately as it's not our engine and we never touched it. We just observed the wear when it arrived at VAC.

I asked for head gasket requirements , if I needed stock standard gasket or if I would need the .3 thicker one. I had ongoing order with ECS and needed answer before they shipped out. Never got any answer before ECS had shipped out , luckily the one standard one I had gambled on would do according to them.

If Mo didn't tell you this, sorry. Stock is fine.

I asked for some pictures to go along with my build thread in Norway , never seen one photo yet , reminded them over and over and still nothing.
This seems like utter BS , they post pictures on VAC page on facebook all the time. - Here I got answer that they dont really have anything worth taking pictures of yet , fair enough , but they could have told me that in the beginning.

I addressed this up thread. Additionally, we do a lot of cylinder heads, how many make it to FB? How many are super detailed? Very few....

And now they have been working on my head for a long time , its their standard stage 3 job based on product on VAC page , no upgraded springs , valves or retainers. I am no expert with head work , porting and polishing but the time it takes makes me wonder.

We got really busy from the date of your initial invoice till your partial payment 3 months later (when we would start the job). Typically we only start working when payment in full is received, so we made an exception for you. If you were the only job we had, we could have possibly turned it around in 2-3 weeks from receipt of payment. This type of work is VERY labor intensive, esp when we want to make sure you get the best product possible. We are not throwing a part in a box and shipping like most vendors, we have a dedicated cylinder head technician who manually grinds, massages, smooths, take it to flow bench, notes results and grinds again.

Still havent heard a peep from them. Have they grown too big and become arrogant towards their customers or is it me who have unrealistic demands?

You heard many peeps ;-)

This thread is NOT a negative feedback about VAC or my dialog with them. Its just an honest feedback , this is how it is , people are smart enough to see things as they are. Again this is just constructive criticism.

I'm all about feedback - we all need it. I've stated elsewhere on E90 Post that we are not perfect and all and we work every day to improve. That said, we work hard 6-7 days a week to provide the best machine shop, hard parts, driveline, suspension and all out performance parts and service. Very few vendors do what we do, so it's hard to compare a world? exclusive all new port featured N54 head to buying angel eyes from Bimmian.

I will promise you that this head will kick ass and you will love it. No hard feelings of course! (though, I need to investigate this self appointed 15% discount ;-)

[tinnsoldaten]

Great reply Mike Will write you a mail with more details ...