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Hey Rx7 club. Late 2018 I had been doing research into making or buying a turbo exhaust manifold to replace my FC's stock one. At the end of 2018 I ended up buying one, a long runner for the FC I saw in a thread on here by Turblown. The original thread is pretty old so I sent a message to Turblown to see if they were still available. I'm making this thread to share my experience in purchasing this manifold.
I messaged Turblown on 12-10-18 and this was the reply that I got.
Originally Posted by Turblown
Originally Posted by Mlammert
I see the newer cast FD exhaust manifold has the front wastegate port angled so it would hit the FC motor mount and the FC version has it angled the opposite direction so it wouldn't work for me. You wouldn't still be offering the FC long runner high mount one would you?
Hello,
We still offer it in welded form its $950 plus freight. Takes 2 weeks to make usually.
We continued talks(I can post these if requested) and I asked if I could send up my Elite Rotary Shop Billet turbo collector I purchased. I was originally going to make a manifold with some friends but if I could send the billet collector to be used in the construction of this manifold it could save me the trouble of reselling this piece. If for whatever reason the fabricator or anyone didn't think it was good to use I requested it be returned with the completed manifold. This is what I was last told on 12-20-18.
Originally Posted by Turblown
Matt,
We got the collector, and its for bigger size pipe than we normally use, but I am still going to see what I can do with it. it is a nice piece.
I was told in the first message the manifold "usually" takes 2 weeks to make, it's near christmas and I wasn't aiming to dig into the project till summer so I let them know there's no rush because I'm sure everyone wants to spend the holidays with friends and/or family.
4 months then go by and I haven't heard a word from Turblown so I contact him assuming he's busy with people like Rob Dahm name dropping him he must be getting lots of buisness. I get told they are waiting for more engine flanges to be cut.
Originally Posted by Turblown
Matt,
We are able to use the collector, just have to move up one size in tubing. We are currently waiting on more 13B engine flanges to finish being cut, then we will knock it out.
I've been doing all communication via PMs on this site but now start calling Turblown once a month and speak with Elliot, I'm told they are moving shop and this is causing a delay. Every month I do call I'm told "it should be ready in two weeks" with each deadline being missed.
3 more months go by and on August a shipping label is created and the order status from Turbosource.com marked as "fulfilled"
2 more months go by, The manifold is delivered to me on 09-04-2019 about 9 months after ordering it.
After opening the box and pulling the manifold out I see my billet collector was not used in it's construction. I dig around through the box, pull out the packing paper, turn the box over and the collector wasn't returned like requested. I contact Turblown and am told this on 09-04-19.
Originally Posted by Turblown
Matt,
Unfortunately I am still trying to get this returned to us, I fired one of our fabricators, and I am in the middle of having the Sherriff return some items, including that piece. I did thermal coat the manifold free of charge for the delay as pictured. I will get that collector returned as soon as we have it.
So somewhere in the 8-9 month period it was stolen and I'm only learning this now after receiving the manifold and having to contact Turblown about it. This brings up so many questions I don't even know where to start.
2 more months go by, I've heard nothing from Turblown. I send him my purchase invoice from elite rotary shop for the collector and ask that it be replaced or reimbursed. No response.
1 more month goes by, on 12-04-19 I call up Elliot and tell him over the phone. I let him know I'll be messaging him and I would like a response, I don't think he missed my last message but just incase I did this to verbally notify him. I ask that he please respond that week. No response. Copy this message is below
Originally Posted by Mlammert
Hello, Elliot. I placed order #1825 for a long runner FC manifold. I had an elite rotary billet collector sent up shortly after asking if it was okay for me to send it to you for use in the construction of the manifold. My only stipulation was if it could not be used for it to returned. Ten months later the manifold was delivered but the collector was neither used or returned. It was only then that you told me it had been stolen by one of your fabricators.
It's been three months since and I think it's safe to say my collector has been out of your possession longer three months since it was never brought to my attention when exactly it had been stolen from your business. While it's saddening there are people out there that will break your trust like this I also had trust in you as a business and a person, I have always had great dealings in the classified listings on here and community in general so thought nothing of purchasing from a vendor that offered support on this site and seemed to really care about the customers and the community.
I think the best way to go about settling this given the time that has already passed and specific situation is for you to reimburse me for the collector's invoice price and then if you are able to retrieve it I would be more than willing to purchase it back for the same price. I think this is the fair way to handle the matter since as a customer I cannot be held to account for what happens in your business and that's what is currently happening, I trusted you and am currently at a loss for it just like you are with the fabricator. There's no time frame you can honestly give me for it's return so you could try and drag this out indefinitely if you really want to and I'm asking you not to do this because it would only act to build resentment.
Please send me the invoice price of $202.18, copy of invoice has been provided below via paypal, you can use my email listed on order #1825 which is [My Email] to find me and if you are able to recover the collector I will happily pay you this amount back for it. It's been over one year and our agreement still hasn't been met, it would be a disservice to drag this out any longer for the Turblown business name and myself. I no longer believe this is a matter of patience or legality and more a matter of ethical business practice.
Thank you for your time and understanding. Sincerely Matthew Lammert
No response as of posting this thread. He's gone dark on me.
And so here we are. To his credit I had shown the manifold to some friends that had done manifold fabrication before and none of them saw any major problems with it(granted they weren't bowing before its craftsmanship either) and like Turblown said it was heat coated at no charge.
It's now been over a year. Personally I don't have any hope left for getting my property back, I've done business in the classified with other members on this site both buying and selling. It's always a little unnerving buying and selling online with other individual people but I had 0 problems before so this has really taken me by surprise being its coming from what seems to be a long standing vendor in the community. I've given a priority to accurately and honestly posting all relevant information so you can draw your own conclusions. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thank you for your time in hearing my story. If anything changes I'll update the thread.
Turblown seems to be a decent company making decent products. I've ordered from them with no issues. Legally, they are responsible for safeguarding your items until they are returned to you. It seems 200.00 is a very small amount to pay you for their losing your item. If they want to remain a good a company, I'm sure they will send you the two hundred bucks and write it off on taxes as a legit loss. Keep us posted on their response.
Hey guys sorry I missed this, we have been pretty buried after moving into our new shop, and letting people go etc. Not to mention we had about 200k in merchandised purchased for black friday alone. You wouldn't believe the number of emails we get either, usually if we are buried I try and knock out all the orders, before even entertaining new ones. I will try and look this email up and settle this up before after all the express shipments leave today.
Hey guys sorry I missed this, we have been pretty buried after moving into our new shop, and letting people go etc. Not to mention we had about 200k in merchandised purchased for black friday alone. You wouldn't believe the number of emails we get either, usually if we are buried I try and knock out all the orders, before even entertaining new ones. I will try and look this email up and settle this up before after all the express shipments leave today.
Thanks for the reply, Turblown. Really looking forward to hopefully moving past the state of limbo I've been in and reaching a conclusion to our transaction.
Still no refund on my Paypal activity I've gone ahead and checked with multiple browsers. Double checked the information I gave to make sure it was correct by copying it from my message.
If the information entered was incorrect (I've done this before) Paypal cannot complete the transfer and it can be canceled. If this is so I can send a request if that would be easier?
If you're sure the information entered was correct can I get the information or a screen shot like this picture so I can contact Paypal, regarding this Elliot?
It seem they are having some growing pains.
I placed a order with them back in the middle of June. I took them 4 months to complete my order for my turbo kit and ecu. My issue was they kept sending small shipments of the turbo kit and ecu parts. That caused them to lose track of what had and had not been shipped. case in point. My wide band sensor and module was never shipped and once they got a new batch in they sent mine to someone else. that then delayed me getting mine for another month or so.
I will say they did fix everything and go all my parts to me. But 4 months was a little excessive in my opinion.
as stated above they seem to be having some growing pains
Thread update, I just got off the phone with Elliot about not receiving the refund. We both checked our emails and Paypal and it seems there was an issue with using Paypal's actual refunding system. After seeing the problem Elliot manually sent me reimbursement right then and there. I consider this transaction complete and issue resolved.
Originally Posted by Brianawd
It seem they are having some growing pains.
I placed a order with them back in the middle of June. I took them 4 months to complete my order for my turbo kit and ecu. My issue was they kept sending small shipments of the turbo kit and ecu parts. That caused them to lose track of what had and had not been shipped. case in point. My wide band sensor and module was never shipped and once they got a new batch in they sent mine to someone else. that then delayed me getting mine for another month or so.
I will say they did fix everything and go all my parts to me. But 4 months was a little excessive in my opinion.
as stated above they seem to be having some growing pains
Good to hear you eventually got everything, Brianawd.
12-21-19, 11:01 PM
