I have to say that Jan has done good by me. I dont have my cat code I had before his tune, I am a Dymsport buyer, and he has sent me well over 10 tunes to get it right, my car was one of his problem 08 cars.

Now he has been hard to get a hold of lately, but whenever I really need him he is there. I am not a fan boy, but since we are all telling our stories I thought I would tell mine also. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[QUOTE=orangecrush;3323437]Guys, look... I didn't make this thread to bash Jan. I made this thread to tell others (which apparently I'm not alone) of the crappy customer service I have (or in this case, haven't) received.

I'm not going to go back and forth about what tunes I received, what we did, blah, blah, blah...

The bottom line is I've paid (and offered for the time like in Moorsville) for my tunes. I haven't been one of those PIA customers that makes changes every month, etc, etc...

It's simple, Jan made a tune to correct the modified software the dealer reflashed into my computer... it worked.

He forgot to change my 6500-7000 rpm redline.

I asked him to change it and he did.

Then I had a CEL.

All I did was ask him for an add'l 4 months to remove the CEL.

THere's no secret conversation, no bashing, nothing wierd, it's just that I've been blown off for so long I got pissed and said something online.

So we can go back and forth and discuss this and that but the bottom line is Jan could have taken a small amount of his time to remove the CEL but couldn't have been bothered.

Mark[/QUOTE

Not bashing jan/rmw. Really? You could of fooled me Mark I have sceen you bash him and rmw all over nam. Secondly giving a map to a vendor is just wrong however you choose to justify it to your self. It was not yours to give and be a man about it. Morris Conhen!

 

Is it possible that you just need a new aft 02 censor? I had to replace mine last fall w/less than 35k miles.

 

Yes, I suppose anything is possible but the light was off until Jan changed the rpm rev limit from 6500-7000.

I figured he must have accidentally reset something because it came on as soon as I installed the new tune for the redline.

Also, when I removed the tune and installed the Alta tune, the light didn’t come on.

Like I said, anything is possible, I just don’t think so...

Mark

 

Just wanted to say that I totally understand how you feel about RMW's service. I've been there done that and now I just simply look elseware. I was all about running RMW parts in the begining, but after I saw first hand how he treets the little guy (BEING ME) I just wont do it. I have one RMW part on my car, and feel it's a well thought out POS that shuld of been $950.00 somewhere else.

As for people sharing tune files, guess what it happens. It dosn't mean that the other tuner is even going to care. There are so many ways to tune a car to get the same result, the other tuner is going to (A) look at it and say "Wow your dumb" or (B) "Hey thats a good idea" and work on a version of there own to incorporate into their own tune. In the end sharing a tune file wont cost a company anything if they where worth a **** to start with. They will keep the return business they already have, and that is where the $$$ is.

 

Good to see someone tell the truth and say it how it is ..... there are a few guys who have bought parts/tunes off him from Oz and his customer service is non existant to all but his hard core "fan boys".

 

Considering the map that Jan flashed with his Dimsport software had a Cobb signature, Cobb just got something back that was 'stolen' from them originally
And that's why RMW is no longer an authorized AP Dealer

 

D-MAN you know how I feel about this whole situation, it's not our fight yet. Just stick to the facts and other experiances for now. $100k PLUS in the hole would keep me away too, especially if all I could offer was an airbox that just a normal guy thinking **** up while I was stuck in the sandbox designed the SOB was all I could offer, I wouldnt draw attention to myself either. Too bad I didnt disclose the rest of my plan, it would be a shame for someone to copy me entirely.

D-MAN, you have my email? PM if necissary I will give details, I'm building, well sourcing the parts for the real deal now.

Just keep OC's thread on topic, if you really want to know its RSTRZEBALA@YAHOO.COM

 

From a small MINI tuner to anyone intrested: There are over 40 maps that need adjusted almost precicely in order to NOT trigger a CEL over a few DAYS time! If us as tuners have no current data logs or, just dont know the way the ECU thinks as well as we do, the customers car WILL have a CEL. Without knowing EXACTLY what the computer is seing / doing it does take time to figgure out.
Sometimes people in general are just too picky about the little things IMHO.

 

Some of that is pretty funny. If it was an original COBB file why could they NOT open it and fix the OP CEL???

Also what part do you have still on your car D*&^ GARAGE that is a POS but yet you choose to keep it on your car?? Could it be that it is actually a GOOD part, maybe the best out there, and you hate having to admit you have a RMW part on your car?? just asking...

 

Tuners have the ability to lock the files so no one else can open or edit them. They don’t have to but this was one of those times he did... that’s why.

Look, I understand you guys that are loyal to him why you keep defending him, if he’s never done wrong by you, then you have no reason to suspect otherwise.

I’ve been building engines since I was 17, at 48, I’ve been around the blocks enough times to know better. I’m not one of those annoying customers that keep bugging Jan for every little thing, keep making stupid annoying little changes, etc, etc... I’ll bet over a 2 year period I’ve asked Jan to make less than half a dozen changes for changes I’ve made. I have NEVER asked for anything for free, I am more than willing to pay my way. (I offered profusely to pay Jan when he was fixing a map late at night in Mooresville)

I’ll say that Jan has made over an additional dozen changes or files for me but only because HE kept sending maps for me to try and I would give him feedback so he would keep tweaking them.

I’ve learned this. I think the “crappy customer service” I refer to is because Jan is too busy. I received at least another 4 PM’s just last night from people telling me the exact same thing. It seems if you are in front of him at a dyno, he’ll do everything in his power to help you but once you are away, he’s too busy to do anything. (and it was for that reason why I allowed it to drag out so long)

I’ve ALWAYS tried to tell the truth, I kept my mouth shut because I too was always afraid if I complained to Jan, I would be kicked to the curb. I completely understand he’s busy as crap.... he flies all over the country, he tunes for teams, I get it but I asked him to fix a simple CEL.

Having said all this, I’m asking the mods to lock this thread. I had a problem with a vendor and brought it to the forum. Because of the loyalists, instead of understanding that it is quite possible that someone could possibly have a problem with a vendor that they haven’t had a problem with, it turns into a he said/she said and split our forum into a pro-anti Jan camp.

For those of you that have never had a problem getting anything done, more power to you, I just hope it stays that way for you.

I have to tell you, I was a little disappointed in how many members turned on me. I understand your loyalty to Jan but many of you know me (though you have never met me, you know me on here) and know that I’m a straight shooter, I always try to tell it like it is, right, wrong or indifferent. I just expected more understanding... oh well.

If the tables were turned and I was completely satisfied and a member came on here complaining about the same problem, I would have chimed in saying “sorry you’re having problems, I haven’t had any, hope you get it resolved” NOT, well, what did you do wrong, you got this for free, you did this wrong, you did that wrong... I guess until it happens to you, you don’t know any different.



Mark

 

My posts were not trying to bash you for bashing Jan, ( which is what you seemed to be doing ) just questioning a couple of things and then my posts turned to questioning what other people were saying.. Seemed to be getting far fetched...people saying it's all cut and paste, anybody can do it, stolen this, I have his parts on my car but they are a POS, etc etc...
I do have a tune by Jan on my just-a-cooper, and I have sold him some stickers. That is my link to him. I too have had my share of problems with other vendors, just getting simple questions answered either by phone or e mail.. I won't call any of them out here but everybody on here has heard or delt with them at some point..

 

Well Mark, too bad you are looking to have this closed. The fact that you spoke up was excellent. It's not like RMW is the only vendor to get questioned on their service here on NAM. Though it's the only vendor that hides behind his other customers as they post here, questioning your person, and doubting your reasons for starting this thread, as he sits back and seemingly tells some of them what to hit you with. Really, I think every other vendor, SINCE I have been here has at least come to threads like these to show that they care about their customers. For some reason RMW feels he is too above this.
I say leave this thread open as it just may give the others, some of who you refer to that have contacted you, a PLACE to express their concerns about how they are treated after giving RMW hundreds of dollars and then just getting cut off, .. because there is no more money to make on them perhaps? Fact is that this was about nothing more then the fact that you paid money and did not receive the service promised (having a CELL on should not be accepted part of a tune) and were blown off. At least it should have been fixed and then RMW could have told you he was done, or at least he could tell you to go away and send your money back. But, what he does is keep all of your money (hard earned I am sure) and thinks nothing of turning his back on issues caused by his product.

You, for posting this have just joined the ranks of others who dared do so. You, are a victim to which I described in my first two post here. Sorry you are feeling slammed by those that you thought had a mind of their own, but don't forget. It's a LARGE community, this Mini community, and many just don't spend time posting here.

 

I understand and respect your thoughts on this. If the mods want to keep it open, they can do what they want, I said what I had to say and at this point, I don’t see anything productive from what is here now.



The problem with that is the other people would have to come forward but they won’t. I received a PM from a member that said I can quote what his experiences were as long as I edited his name and location so Jan wouldn’t know. (As much as I’d like to do that for all the PM’s I received, I just don’t see how that helps.... everyone here, even the fan boys knows Jan’s customer service after the sale is in general... questionable for the most part)

This seems to be the pattern because unlike a customer buying a cold air intake and not liking it, they can sell it and move on. Many people on here who spent 600-800 on a tune and tuner, well, if they upset Jan, they have no recourse. (and obviously proof is my case... I tolerated as much as I could knowing that if I finally said something, I may as well take the tuner and use it as a door stop)


Anyway, I’m done with this, if the mods want to keep it open, I’ll leave that up to them.


Anyone want to buy a door stop?


Mark

 

I agree Mark, nothing much more for you to say. It's just an open thread for a certain topic that is available for others.
I can only assume that if RMW came here to take care of your issues then it would send a message to the others with issues, who have been waiting (as posted here) that he is available to take care of them also. Hmmm.... Maybe It might just be better for him to do nothing as it shows others that if they do in fact speak out that they are cut off and it's over, and they have to 'eat it' as you did. I have written about this exact topic before, maybe a year + ago. It's an interesting way to keep your customers 'in line'.
One thing about Jan. He ain't dumb. ;-)

Hey, I'll but that door stop! ;-)

Good luck Mark. Great looking Mini by the way, for an automatic.... ;-)

 

Well I look at it this way, regardless of if you gave out a tune or not(this is not what a care about it)I think that to keep getting business he needs to have competition for customers. There are only so many ways you are going to be able to tune a MINI or any car period. Tuners in general might feel threatened by people handing out tunes because they know once they get out the tuner is going to have to lower their price to attract customers. Maybe they want to live the high life off their $300+ tunes and tuning tools. Maybe this whole thread might wake them up and realize that to keep people interest in tuning that the price might be a little high. Hell it will only be matter of time before people start posting their tunes on the internet and others start copying them and start tuning their MINIs. It is already happening in other communities. I want a good tune from a reputable person, this thread has swayed me for sure but, really their are only about 5-10 people/companies that are tuning MINIs right now. So lets hope that this will add some competion amongst them to offer great customer service and products. BTW all vendors have their idosycarcies and none of them are perfect or even close. Though some stand behind their product more then others.

 

Jan/rmw is a busy man...
None of this stuff if unfortunately new....
He even mentioned that while I was getting tuned something to the effect time is money, and sometimes after a tune, folks do chase him down and demand/request adjustments and or extra work for no extra $$.....sure anybody has a limited amount of time to invest helping any one person....
sometimes a person is willing to help another, out of desire to get pr,just work ethic, etc, but the free gravey train must end at some point for anybody...

How far should a person work to fix an issue before saying they did their job, and the issue is beyond their control because some issue caused by mods or mechanical issues....who knows......I guess it comes down to gut feelings...
Let's face it...how many OCD mini owners are around....and how many "shoppers"are around....that talk....talk....and how many folks don't understand that tuning a motor can have some serios implications, and when/if things go bad, will go after the tuner...rated than admit when you push parts harder than the oem intented, things break and crap happens sometimes.

Fan boy, I am not, but I can say I got what I paid for.

 

But did Mark? You seem to think he caused this issue and is asking RMW to fix it for free? I see nothing in any of Mark's post asking for a "FREE" fix. He just want's it to be what he paid for, so he can also state what you did, ... "I got what I paid for".

So much I could get into with your post, but it is beating a dead horse I suppose.
Fair that you can come here and state that all went good for you. Not so fair that you are implying that Mark may have not deserved the same result.

 

I just was thinking.

If the last map change only raised the RPM limit, how can that generate a CEL? What I am thinking is that your engine running at the higher RPMs brings out an issue that isn't there in the lower RPMs.
How funny would it be if you changed out the O2 sensor and the code went away?

Just thinking out loud here. My car has exhaust codes pop up. It used to be all the time, but replaceing the sensor BEFORE the cat stopped the codes generated by the sensor AFTER the cat...not what was expected. It still tosses a code once a month or so, but I just clear it. My codes started before Jans tune (it was GIAC then) and continued after. The stock tune never tossed a code, but both tunes did. Now it is something I can repeat, always it seems at a restart after the car was hot. If it sits long enough, no code, but if I restart it before it cools, I get the code. Did you do anything to rule out hardware? (we all have seen issue pop up....you know, you work on a front brake and the guy says the AC doesn't work now and you busted it...lol)

Did you do anything to try and fix the code? Isn't there a chance that the most aggressive tune brings out a flaw in a sensor that isn't seen otherwise?

Also, it seems like you imagine it really easy to stop a code. I don't know for sure, but I don't personally imagine it being easy to track down the issue. You might be right, but I just don't picture turning off a CEL is simple.

I don't want you to feel you are being ganged up on, but the thread is filled with folks who obviously just don't like Jan and very general slurs were common in the thread for a long time. It just needed to be rounded out a bit. Some posters seem to think no one should have a different point of view, but on the interwebs, there are lots of different ideas. A couple things you have said sort of didn't sit well with me. Repeating that you dont' want to bash Jan in this thread is one of them. I sort of know where you are coming from, that you just want to lay the facts down and let them tell the tale, but you can't really not bash Jan in this thread buy definition. The other thing is just how simple you make it sound "just clear the code" and I don't know but in my mind fixing a CEL isn't easy..

I think the thread is good, it show different points of view and experiences. Just because people have different views, doesn't mean they are ganging up.

 

Geesh, I think he already answered this?

 

This is starting to become sad. People really need to read what has been said before making their comment. Most of what Mark has said has been questioned over and over.

 

No, not reallyl...

Just because the alta tune doesn't toss the code does not mean the O2 sensor is working perfectly. My stock tune does not toss the code I have, never did, but both the GIAC tune and Jans tune do. So, it seems that changing a tune doesn't rule anything out a hardware issue, at least on my car. Replacing the front O2 sensor stopped the codes 95% for both custom tunes...stock still no codes.

I am sure the first thing Mark did when after installing the new tune was to make sure the revs went to 7K, so he did more than just install the tune, he warmed it up, and brought the redline up to 7K. At that extra volume of exhaust certainly I would expect it to tax the system more than before.

A more aggressive tune will push hardware harder and certainly can bring out flaws other tunes don't. I have experienced it, maybe you never have.

Mark says "he figured Jan accidentally changed something"...boy is that a can of worms....what if he just changed the rev limit? How can that toss a code by itself if it isn't hardware. I don't know the answers, but I am asking questions and working with the facts as they are described in this thread. I am not bringing any baggage to the thread as others obviously are. Just trying to think this through. I am sure Mark would be happy to make the code go away, no matter how it does. He does not have an agenda as far as I can tell and I am trying to help.

EDIT: one more thought...it seems Mark has a good tune that works, just the rev limit is lower. After looking at my dyno chart, I personally have not been bringing the car to the limit any more. The dyno shows my power and torque drop off just about a 6500rpm coincidentally. My car should be faster shifting there...I'm just saying. It could be the tune that works fine for him is actually the fastest. That isn't to say he shouldn't want the limit raised, but it might not actually make the car better...I don't know that answer either.

 

Well, respectfully you are not the tuner. You are bringing up questions that I am SURE would have been answered IF his tuner, RMW, would have gotten back to him during all those months of him requesting so. That IS the point of this thread. That Mark was blown off for months and was supposedly at his wits end, so he had it taken care of by Alta (who has never been afraid to respond to such threads) and now has a very expensive RMW tune that throws codes being used as a doorstop. Now he has to listen to all you guys coming up with not so educated guesses as to why Jan gave up on him? He shouldn't have had to go this far, which again is the topic at hand.

 

All parties involved have seen the thread, if they need to sort something out they can contact each other, but this one is starting to run in circles now, so it is closed at request of the OP.

At some point or another just about every Vendor on NAM has had someone resort to the forums to solve a customer service issue, sometimes it solves things sometimes it doesn't; it's a fact of life with the MINI community being as large as it is. This thread shows as long as the discussion is kept civil and respectful the thread can stay; with hopes of there being a resolution being brought about. While this may or may not change things for Orangecrush, this thread does provide one more review for members to read and weigh in their modding decisions.

Everyone, have a nice weekend enjoying your MINIs.