IR Performance use CAUTION
 

I know, I know IRP this and IRP that. They are the best and blah, blah. Well, they are screwing me. Are they going out of business and trying to get what they can why they can? Do they just not like me? Do they have so many things going on they just can't keep up? I am not sure and truely at this stage I don't care. NOTHING gives anyone the right to screw someone else. This is a small community and everyone should be upfront.

I will do my best to keep this short. I won't get into to much detail, but I am willing to answer any questions one may have.
I ordered their "upgraded" alternator awhile back. They recieved my core and told me it was unusable and I needed to pay full amount. Like $441.00. They DID NOT return my core. Once again. They DID NOT return my core.
As a few on here may know I chased a voltage issue for a long time. Oh its your grounding, oh it's this, or that. It was the alternator. It would randomly go off line period, just as my logs show. Once again. I have logs showing this.
I called IRP and they told me I had it for months and is kind of BS that I would call them now. I told them I can agree to a point, but I spent a long time chasing this, a lot of wear and tear, a lot of money, and a lot of heartache. It is this alternator causing the problem period.
Simply put I switched alternators and the problem went away immediately. I called IRP and they told me send it back and we will reimburse you. I did and recieved nothing. I called them and they told me "it tests ok on our bench". Fair enough and I am sure it does, but it WILL randomly go offline creating massive voltage dips. I have logs to show this. We all know what happens with that at high power. IRP agreed to send me a full refund. I agreed to accept it.

I can show voltage logs, I can show dates, I can talk about how many grounds my car has, and all the tests I have done. I can show emails and Twitter messages. The simple fact of the matter is IRP HAS MY CORE, IRP HAS THEIR ALTERNATOR BACK, AND IRP HAS MY $441 plus dollars. How does that happen and be just?

Please let me hear someone stick up for these guys and explain to me how it is ok for them to have my CORE, have THEIR alternator back, and MY MONEY? Wow!!!!! They made out good. I can't wait to hear some justification.
Before anyone responds remember that ultimately the situation of before is irrelevant. What is relevant is IRP said send it back and we will refund you 100%. Yet I have gotten refunded 0%, they have my core that supposedly is unusable, and they recieved their alternator back.

I wrote this to warn people. Sometimes people's lovely "social media" rep isn't reality. I will be pursuing this further. I don't mind the occasional screwing, but this is pretty bad. Again, I don't know their situation, but I know this is 100% wrong with absolutely nothing that can be said to justify their actions. I literally just lost my core alternator and $441.
.

The gang from IRP is very active here. I'm sure they will respond soon.
I have had good experiences with them when it came to their set of mounts that I needed replacements for. Even though I had ordered them quite awhile before I contacted them with the issue, they still replaced the set at no charge. I would hope to hear some equitable resolution on this. IRP is one of the few good places that support us.

Sorry to hear that man, as someone who is very understanding and very empathetic to tough situations, I can honestly say 99.999% of businesses and shops are not really in the interest of their customers. They can and will take advantage of you if they can which is why I guess this forum usually echoes the thought that you should really do all the work you can by yourself.

Banzai-Racing legit is the only shop I can think of right now that I have never heard anything negative about. Have had great experiences with them.

I ordered a SS oil filler neck from them back in May. Did not hear from them and sent an email in June, phone call a couple weeks ago in early July. Have not heard a word. I too am wondering if they are going out of business and have continued to take orders with no intention of filling them. Like OP has stated, it really does not take long to reply to an email or phone call. They literally cannot be getting so much correspondence that they cant keep up replying to those who reach out. I understand it is difficult times in the world in terms of supply chain, but that does not in one bit effect your ability to respond to your customers. If they are unable to satisfy orders, they need to shut their website down and stop taking orders until they are able to get back on track. I build multi million dollar homes and fully understand the current market, but that does not keep me from returning over 100 calls and emails per week. This is unacceptable business practice, regardless of what line of work they are in.

I am going to give them a bit more time to come through. I will continue to reach out to them for an update, but that will only last so long and I will be forced to submit a fraud order to my credit card.

Edit: I just looked up the member IRPerformance on this forum and discovered that they were active on the forum YESTERDAY! This is very frustrating. How do you have time to log onto an internet forum, but do not have time to tend to your business?

I've had a similar experience cgotto6. I ordered parts from them in early May, and after the order languished for a month I emailed them and I got a single short rely - "it's backordered, should be there in two weeks". I thought, sure, totally makes sense....

But May turned to June turned to July. I emailed them probably a dozen times, and finally resorted to calling and leaving messages every few days. I completely understand that things might be backordered, but I do think that being communicative when you are weeks and months beyond what you last communicated is a reasonable expectation - particularly since they were already paid for the order.

I finally got confirmation of the shipment just in the last few days - looks like I will get it the end of this month - three months. Overall, I'll be reticent to purchase there again, the communication was just too lacking.

Well overall that is good news that they appear to have shipped your gear. I am hoping they will come through for me as well. Their reputation for producing great parts exists for a reason. Hopefully they can get back to full steam again and continue to provide a valued service to a specialty market.

It also seems they have zero issues flexing on their social media about how good business is.

I see daily updates on their fb page, it seems. More time to make cute little tik-tok style adverts about all their amazing work, but zero ability to answer a phone call? The simplest form of customer service. I hate how this has become the norm. We have to push back on these businesses for treating us this way.

yes... this sums up the entire situation. Demand more.

Last time I got through to someone I expressed this exact thing. Saying everyone is frustrated about the "way of the world" but what would ease the frustration a little is a bit of communication. I received a long winded response that can be summarized as...... no we're not going to do that because it would take too much time.

Seems this method is preferable to them. Maybe once people catch on and realize they won't be the lucky one and not be treated this way, they'll have the time to respond to the few customers they have left. Seems like a good way to catch up on emails and phone calls. High level business strategy i suppose 😅😅

I'm a long term fan of IRP. Unfortunately will tag on here as I can't seem to get an email response on my order. I knew the coil kit would take a while. But we are months in and can't even get an email response.

I wouldn't even be frustrated at all, but I see their instagram clips constantly, they definitely have time to reply to me, and all of you.

Call them out on facebook. I bet they will respond.

I ordered a Xcessive LIM 6 months ago which I have yet to receive. I got a few responses few months ago but can't get anyone to to communicate now. I honestly just want my money back at this point.

This is nuts... If others are willing to add themselves, I'm curious if we could put a running list together of what's owed to them by IRP.

I apologize if anyone feels I took a liberty starting this list. Tell me and I will edit or mods are of course welcome to edit/delete.

1. Testrun - $441 refund /
2. Cloud9 - IGN1A Kit / 8 months
3. Cgotto6 - SS Oil Fill Neck /
4. ArmenMaxx - Excessive LIM / 6 months
5.

This sucks. I had a similar thing happen with a different shop that was a vendor here and everyone couldn't say enough good things about them. "Best builders around!". I figured I had the money to do it right, so contacted them and we made a plan for my car.

Then I sent them my money, waited for months and months, mentioned it here on the forum, turned it into a flame war, and ended up waiting 2 years and paying nearly $20K to get my car back on the road. Now the shop has been gone for three years.

I swear, if ONE shop was willing to build the engines right, they advertised on this site, and were HONEST and COSISTENT with us, they'd have so much business. As it is, rotary mechanics are playing Monopoly with our money, almost like they know we have no option but to bend over.


Hope it all works out!

I don't have a dog in this fight per say but I have a buddy that had irp build a street ported 13b, can't remember exactly how long it took to finally receive it, well over a year, maybe 2 years, so unfortunately this has been going on for a while in some situations. What is most concerning is the fact they continue to light up social media and can't respond to customer service issues. Hopefully they can get back on track and rectify these situations before their name is completely trashed. If they're not careful they'll end up lumped in with the likes of angel motorsports, ie big social media footprint, but a garbage shop.

I was planning on buying one of their alternators, but it looks like that won't be the case at the moment.

I will be hitting them up on FB also. I can't let this one go. This is blatant theft if I really think about it. Again, how do they end up with their part, my part, and my money. I end up with nothing?
I am sorry, but I do not consider Covid a valid excuse anymore. Everyone in the world is dealing with it. I understand the back orders and ordering in general. This is not the case with me. They simply have both alternators and my $. There is no excuse. If you can't handle the business don't take it. This is called GREED. If your understaffed your not having to fork out $ for employees. Quit being greedy and taking on work you can't handle. Quit using people's money for other work. My money should be for my alternator. That is what I paid for. These shops think they are privileged in the sense they can just snag people's money and get around to the work when they are ready. If your a lucky fan boy you may get noticed a bit sooner.
I will take this beyond forums and Facebook (all legal of course). I have supported people in the community even when I don't really need it as I like to fuel common interests and help keep things moving. I will pay extra for a rotary professional even when it is not needed just because he is a rotary pro and I want to support the business. I just bought and igniter from Xavier who made FC Tweak just because I think he is a cool guy and he really takes the initiative to help the whole community. Thing was like 700-800 bucks. I can not allow myself to get taken advantage of though.

You would be smart to look elsewhere. ARD make the best alternator I know of. Get it through RHD japan. They will ship it 100× faster than IRP and they are in Japan lol.

It is pretty frustrating. It is also a very good chance they are going out of business and snagging what they can. For what other reason would one be handing customers like this?

How long has it been since they agreed to refund you? I'd be annoyed if its been more than a week or two... it's not particularly difficult to process. It is not hard to imagine that being called out on a forum for the one car they make parts for would end up costing their business more than $441 anyway.

Hopefully you get some sort of resolution soon and IRP is able to work through whatever issues they're currently having.

Meanwhile, they have time to post this this morning. Taking time to post on instagram instead of taking time to reply to paying customers…. Which is happening daily.


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I would get your alternator from DC Power Engineering. I just ordered one June 10th and it arrived July 2nd. They had to build it for me and it took less than 1 month. I have not ran the car with it yet, but it seems to be built very well and installed like a stock unit.

I have no idea if it was this thread or the email I sent yesterday after seeing this thread, but IRP finally did respond via e mail. I was told the filler neck is back ordered...Not exactly the going the distance for your customers response but it was something. I followed up by asking if they have any idea on timeline, which I have not heard back yet. My job would be so much easier if I could just tell clients that their XYZ is back ordered...Till when? I don't know, I don't care.

They are using my $441 for the frigin gas probably.....

Mardanov it's been months. Long enough to realize that they are not going to reimburse me because
A. They are theives and are blatantly stealing from me?
B. They have no money?
C.? This is where the fanboys come in and tell me what another reason would be.

I will probably hear some bs excuse of how I had the alternator for months and it tested good and we shouldn't reimburse you....

Again. then why did you accept the alternator back? Why did you keep my core if it was unusable, and why do you have all my money? Why am I the one sitting less money in my account and paying for the gas on that dyno or tow truck and recieving nothing in return?

I am waiting for the properly prepared response. Can't wait.

We have all seen this exact thing happen many times when a rotary shop is swirling the drain. Whatever reason they are having it's definitely unacceptable for any business to operate like this. As the definitive rotary community here at the rx7club we all have a "dog in the fight" when a shop rips our brothers off.
What I find interesting is that they are a forum sponsor and allowed to do business as usual.
The business of taking payments for items that are not in stock or made to order is shady and ridiculous.
If it's made to order then payment due only when shipping label is produced ready to go out the door. If you are doing it any other way it's a failed business model running on borrowed time.

See this is what's frigin aggravating. You could get that many other places. Why did you decide on IRP? Loyalty? You like how they sell themselves? They are your "buddy" or have an "badass" social rep? No matter what the deal is, you decided to support them. Now they are not returning the favor.

Much of this could be avoided if payment was not collected until the part ships. Customers wouldn't feel shorted,and the business would not have to deal with (or ignore) the complaints. Such a horrible business model used throughout the online sales community.

to be fair, payment should only be collected when the part is in hand READY to ship. this rules out the risk for both parties. if they hold an inventory then they should only sell what they have. if they dont hold an inventory then they can only sell what they know is ACTUALLY available. keep in mind if someone says they want to buy something, the business has to float that money until the customer pays for it should they have to acquire it themselves first. if the customer changes their mind between the request and acquisition then youre just left with this part.

to avoid the hassle all together, only sell what you have on hand or what you know is actually available. none of that "well the system is showing i have 4 in stock" crap. if a part if backordered with no eta then no payment should not be accepted. then youre just holding peoples money for an indefinite amount of time and thats dumb. from what i can see on their website, they have a banner that says no refunds once orders are placed. there does seem to be a problem with their model here.

really looking forward to them addressing the concerns here. hopefully its not like what they said last time where people can just call or email the shop if they want an update on their order because clearly we see where that gets people.

Addicted (may as well name them) made it sound like if I paid up front, they'd be able to get the build done more quickly. A deposit was never even an option, they wanted the engine and the money to get started. As it was, they apparently took my money and paid off the last guy they ripped off, then they took someone else's money and built my engine, and so on and so on, until the pyramid collapsed.

Thank God SakeBomb was there to help me get the car on the road. +1 for those guys.

I have always wonder what happened to Addicted...

I have had my ARD alternator for several years here in Houston with excellent results.
The voltage stays in the low 14+ DCV even in summer when it is HOT. Same for cold.

Only one NOTICE: It has an under-drive pulley on it. Thus if your engine also has an under-drive pulley, use the stock alternator pulley!
If you don't, and the revs drop when engaging the clutch, the voltage will spike to 15+VDC!
With the stock pulley, no problem.

https://www.rhdjapan.com/ard-low-res...blue-fd3s.html

Not trying to defend IRP but I have a little context about the xcessive LIM. I ordered one direct from Xcessive at the beginning of the year and got one of the last in stock. At that time they were switching foundries and mentioned that the next batch would take months before before they were ready.

If IRP said they were in stock, that is one thing but I know xcessive was delayed months in getting more produced. I would hope that IRP would have communicated this to you before ordering.

Rotary engines, accessories, and build services are quite the niche for the automotive community. Because if the small market, we seem to be stuck with whoever is able to even remotely produce results, and that is aggravating- especially when the older established shops are becoming sketchy.

What we really need is a direct link to the NZ markets. Rotary is alive and well out there, and they seem to have a more reliable link to Japan. If there was a vendor that can establish some good links with parts suppliers and shops, as well as reliable logistics, rotary owners here in the 'States would be the better for it.

I agree, but I also know that a lot more private guys are doing more mechanical work themselves. It is nice having someone who knows these cars, but the reality is they are still just a cars. There is more than enough info on this forum alone to figure out just about anything (if you have the time). There are forum members here that take a lot of time to help just about anyone out. When it comes to rebuilds that is something different, but even tuning can be pretty easy these days. Programs are available that anyone with basic knowledge can tune their car as good or better than a lot of the shops. FC Tweak for example for the PFC is phenomenal.
As for parts there are plenty of companies out there. One just needs to take the time to look.
I am not saying there aren't good shops out there, but I know a lot of them are going by the wayside and relying on there media or past accomplishments to stay in business. Eventually they will fail and take a lot of people's money with them.

Funny how they keep signing on here, but will not respond.

This already exists to some extent. Race Only is an awesome AUS shop, making lots of nice parts, and is actually responsive.

The issue is they charged him in full, likely knowing knowing that. Even if they didn’t know it then, the obviousness at this stage six months later should be clear to anyone with an IQ greater than 80. 🤔

then again, it is in NJ soooooo … :suspect:
.

@IRPerformance, that is?

I was considering ordering one of the IRP alternators last year, but I wanted to know about turn around time and they never responded to my email or phone message. I only sent one email and left one message though, but that was enough to put me off from moving forward. this situation is really a shame and a rotten mess for the persons affected now, I had great customer service from Ihor in my previous dealings but that was several years ago.


On the general alternator topic, what are the thoughts about the ADVANCE upgraded alternator? It seems to have a larger than stock pulley, so it will turn slower yet output more than the OEM part. A little more expensive than ARD, but more stock looking: ADVANCE

Agree 100%, I recently was looking for a stock size black replacement power steering pulley and found a NZ company Franklin Performance that had exactly what I was looking for: Franklin Performance . Before I ordered I reached out via their contact us link just to confirm that it was stock diameter, the owner responded back in less than 2 hours via email, and they processed the shipping via DHL the same day I placed the order. I had the part in hand about 4 days later, from NZ, and it was exactly correct. Now that is some good customer service.

It is a shame because unfortunately his money for the Xcessive part is probably being used for something else... maybe some of the Instagram cars lol just like my $440+. If it is at a 6 mo ths time and the customer says ok that's long enough I need my money back to go a different route the shop should understand. Or take 1/2 payment until the order is fulfilled and allow the customer to know what the wait will be. Not BSing them I to the order to they can rob Peter to pay Paul (whatever that old saying is lol).
I am sure everyone here is ok with waiting. We all are knowledgeable about "covid" times now. The problem is when companies start taking advantage of the "covid" time. "We don't have employees"..... well, don't take the extra work. "Our bills are too high to not accept full work". Well, time to down size or make some deals with the landlord. This does not give anyone the right to rip someone off. This is exactly what has happend in my situation.
Does anyone on here actually think it isn't possible for them (IRP) to get to a point where they close shop and not fulfill the 10s of thousands of orders or money they owe? I would bet it is a good possibility. I have no reason to think not. My $447 bucks is not that much. If they can't take care of that how am I to think anything different. Or someone else that sees this situation.

ARD is the only alternator I would go with at this stage. Worth the couple extra bucks. Flawless. Like with logs that I didn't believe are possible.

Yeah. Doesn't suprise me. I respect enough people on here that I had to let the situation out in the open. Again. This is like blatant theft. I think fellow rotary guys should know about situations like this and just be aware and cautious.

They did however, post on instagram this morning...

The ADVANCE puts out 130 amps while the ARD does 150 amps.

Maybe ask in the Japanese forum.

There really is no reason to buy the advance alternator. Go to DC Power.

The amount of F-you this place gives off is insane. The reason they dont communicate is because there is nothing to say when you deliberately rip people off.
Oh wait Covid, backorder, short staff blah blah blah but I'll take your money while I can.
Probably sitting on a fat ass PPP loan so they could really care less.

apparently they have some pull still since my post from earlier today seems to have been “bumped off Nooz Joisey style” :suspect:

Respectfully, there are 2 sides to every story. Testrun is upset because he tried to return an alternator nearly a year after purchase, claiming it was defective. Our refund and warranty policies are very clear on our website. This is after we were sent a smashed core that was unusable. We sent a label to ship it back on our dime. It tested satisfactory. Offered to ship it back, he declined. I don't waste my time on nonsense. Everyone will get their parts. Xcessive had their foundry shut down for months. Greddy is constantly backorderd on vmounts. Our welder bailed so we are backed up on coil brackets, oil necks, and some other parts while the replacement retools for the next production. Unfortunately this is the state of the world right now with supply chain and labor shortages. We simply do not have the man power to immediately answer every phone call, email, or message, let alone track down people when they message from various media outlets with different names and can't follow directions like leaving your full name, contact info, and order number. The shop is fine and not going anywhere. If certain people aren't happy they are more than welcome to go elsewhere and get in line there. Chances are anyone with half a reputation is also backed up. This going on with the entire motorsports industry across the board. Heck, we waited 6 months for a company vehicle to be delivered by a major manufacturer after paying. Regardless, we will continue to provide the best products and services we can to the community. Have a great night.

Ah the other side. Regardless of your side of the story you have your alternator, my core alternator, and my money. How is that "another side of a story"? You accepted the alternator back for a full refund. I don't care if it was 5 years or what your warranty says. Send it back and you will get a refund.
I sent it back.
Got no refund
And you still have my core.
Can you please explain to me how that is fair? If you told me to F off that would be better. Instead you have 2 alternators and $447 of mine. Sorry I do not understand your side of the story.
I did not share any of the emails or other communication or comments as I am not like that. I told you I would be happy to share my logs and show you where the alternator kicks off line randomly. Swapped alternators and no further issues.

I would like you to tell me why I never got anything back and why it is fair you have 2 alternators plus $447 bucks of mine.

BTW smashed core? It worked and was not smashed before it was shipped. I have pics if you would like to see....hell, we could look at pics in the build thread on here. If it was smashed we need to take that up with UPS.
Again, you have my core, your's back and my money. I guess I will waste my time and pursue this in other legal ways. All this for $447. Wow. If you told me you will not give me the money and only ship an alternator back then you should have shipped the alternator back.
Your response is exactly how I imagined. Pretty much shows you are ok keeping my core, keeping what I paid for and stealing $447.00.



Tell ya what. Tomorrow when I get time I will throw some pics up of logs with the IRP alternator that checks out ok by IRP and compare it to my other alternator. You will clearly see it going off line in dangerous rows on the logs. The new alternator 0 issues. I will find the oldest log I can. I will throw up some emails also.
I don't have time for this either, but I don't have time to let someone screw me for $400 plus. Not happening.