So I had an issue with my Stage 4 clutch 3 weeks ago after about 1k miles, whether it’s mechanical or an installation error is still in the air. Had the parts delivered there on April 20th. Before I shipped I was told it could be resent out the same day. So I called on the 20th and found out they can only do the visual there and would need to send it to the machine shop so would probably take until Tuesday or so. I called about 5 times between the 23rd-26th since they refused to return my calls. (I did finally find out that they didn’t call me back bc they had no update and calling me with no news wasn’t a good use of their time since they’re so busy.) On the 27th I did get a call saying still no news from the machine shop. Today is the 2nd and I haven’t heard anything from them all week. Are they covering my $500+ in rental expenses, of course not. So what should really be expected from JHM in this situation. Am I out of line for thinking that 2 weeks, and counting, to bench test my setup is ridiculous?! I know this is a heavy JHM forum so maybe you all can shed light on the situation. Maybe this is just typical and I should have been aware before buying their products.
i would be livid as well if i were in your shoes… i wont lie.
But with a 3rd party shop looking into it at this time, its kind of out of their hands at this point i guess.
Please keep us informed with any updates though!
welcome Gibsonl to the forum.
Why are you renting cars? I thought you had ordered another type of clutch and moved on? Now you’re waiting for JHM to look at the parts and see what was wrong with it?
Anyway, your situation isn’t really normal. You aren’t really looking to find out, ‘what is good service from JHM’…you’re asking ‘what is the normal turnaround for an incredibly abnormal process’ (sending a fucked up part back to a company so they can figure out what went wrong). Nobody here has likely done this before…thus can’t comment.
As for what is normal good service from JHM, I will say that I’ve had both experiences.
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tried to buy $3000 in parts from them and fought like hell to give them my money and get a confirmation that the deal was done and the parts were being shipped. Eventually after like 3 days of this I sent an email that said ‘FUCK IT…FORGET IT!’ and got a response. They’re just a busy company unfortunately so when we expect lickity split service from a good shop, it rarely happens. Just the nature of this beast for whatever reason. I’d rather have slow responses from a shop with good stuff than the opposite.
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tried to buy another bunch of exhaust parts…emailed them…got a quote back in the mail in under half an hour…paid them…and got a tracking number before the end of the day. This order was MUCH smaller than the other one…so it’s not like they sit around going ‘hey, bug bucks, lets take this call’.
Hello saki … I get that part, but they could have just sent me a new flywheel from day 1 at cost and I woulda been glad to pay that instead of their offer of buying a whole new setup at $100 off. GTFOH!.. Pretty soon rental car expenses would exceed the cost of the flywheel. And Clutchmasters didn’t have the lw setup in stock which I guess they didn’t bother telling me, hence the rental car expenses.
are you referring to 034? or JHM?
034 makes the flywheel and sells it to JHM
JHM then marks it up (VERY modestly) and sells it to the public
JHM flywheel RETAIL = $1000
JHM offered you 10% off…which probably puts it not far from their cost. Did you ever think about that? They’ve said a number of times that they barely mark up the flywheel in order to keep the kit price down. So they offer you a big chunk of whatever their meagre markup is (if they were marking shit up 50% they’d have loads of cash and would have 2 hot girls answering the fucking phone when you call lol) when they know that the install was fucked up.
Why don’t you go start another call out thread, but this time callout 034 on audizine. They made the part you’re complaining about. Better yet, why not go call out the Audi dealership that apparently didn’t properly walk your parts down and rushed the job. This is (I’m not kidding) the 4th thread you’ve started on this issue, blaming JHM for everything. It’s really odd.
p.s. sounds like clutchmasters is doing a bang up job for you. I’m not sure why your initial post claimed JHM was costing you rental car money with the delay…but now you admit that whoever ordered you an out of stock clutchmasters kit is in fact the one responsible. Was that RAI? Now do you see why you get NO sympathy from anyone who looks at this objectively??? Telling lies to make JHM look bad and then tripping yourself up in the process. Fucking ridiculous.
Anyway, how much was the kit and what’s it capable of holding? Did it include a 13 lb lightweight flywheel like the JHM kit? Nope. How about a billet steel flywheel that weighs 20 lbs? Yup. What do they charge? Oh…$1600? Interesting. You’d think it’d be much cheaper without a LWFW.
http://www.ringer-racing.com/product.sc?productId=127
Why not try Loba? They make nice stuff. Lightweight flywheel even. How much? Oh about $3000 for something like your JHM stage IV.
http://www.audiaddict.net/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1399
Still think JHM should get the fuck out of here?
[quote=daytonaRS4 a.k.a. gibsonl]Today is the 2nd and I haven’t heard anything from them all week. Are they covering my $500+ in rental expenses, of course not. So what should really be expected from JHM in this situation.
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[quote=sakimano]Why are you renting cars? I thought you had ordered another type of clutch and moved on? Now you’re waiting for JHM to look at the parts and see what was wrong with it?
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[quote=daytonaRS4 a.k.a. gibsonl] Clutchmasters didn’t have the lw setup in stock which I guess they didn’t bother telling me, hence the rental car expenses.
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It’s sucks that this happened to you. Some questions/suggestions:
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What’s the situation on your car now? Are you driving it? Or is it on the lift at the local Audi dealership? I’m assuming it’s down because you have a rental
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If it’s still at the Audi dealership, why are they not giving you a courtesy car? Granted, I have only ever dealt with two dealerships, 1 in the UK and 1 in Canada, but both gave me cars to if my car was down. Same with our local VW dealer. I always thought that was one of the perks of paying the higher labour rate at the dealer vs an indy. (Having said that the indy I use offers the use of a beater for $10/day all in. Sure, it’s a shitbox but it gets me around.)
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Can you have the stock clutch put in for now while you get this sorted? So you can drive your car.
You’re in a tight spot here but I don’t think you can blame JHM. Your dealer should really be doing more to help you like a car or putting the stock clutch in for you.
he went to the dealer and paid double what a local tuner shop was going to charge because he thought he could get it done on warranty. He was advised ‘GET YOUR CAR OUT OF THERE’ but he didn’t bother and trusted the dealer.
The install appears to have been fucked up.
RAI a local tuner, has the car and from the looks of it, ordered him a new clutch kit.
gibsonl rented a car thinking he’d have his car back in a couple of days.
RAI (or whoever) fucked up and the part he needs is not in stock.
gibsonl is mad, and decided to blame JHM for this
Funny thread is funny.
then he attempts to come over here and start another bashing campaign expecting ignorant people to side with him!! FAIL buddy
I know production errors happen, but seriously how many JHM LWFW have been found to actually be at fault. I’ve ever heard, or read crazy ass threads of guys complaining because the FW didn’t fit right, and taking it to a machine shop to get machined down. Why in the fuck would you ever do that?
Anyways, sorry your clutch didn’t work out, but you can’t expect JHM to buy you a new fuckin car, I’m sure they were more than willing to resolve the issue, especially considering they don’t manufacture the LWFW themselves, but that doesn’t seem to be good enough for you. Blame the fucking installers, that is 95% of the problem when people have JHM clutch issues.
For starters, I’m not blaming JHM for the fw failing bc as I have already stated, I currently do not know whether the flywheel is the cause of the failure or the installation. You guys are great at assuming no fault for JHM when you are just as clueless as me as to what the real cause is. Audi did not build the fw and would have no way to determine if it’s the part that failed. They aren’t a fabrication shop. All of you claim that JHM provides great service, so I was looking to see if you all consider them promising a 1 day turn around and then taking 2 weeks and counting was good service. CLEARLY YOU DO!! And Audi insists they did the install correctly and followed the directions to a T which is why they aren’t taking responsibility. The mechanic who did the install is an Audi enthusiast doing a complete S4 build so it’s not some jo blow. 034 does not assume responsibility for the Flywheel. They don’t sell, market, or put their name on it. As a matter of fact, something that I guess even Saki doesn’t know, I’ve learned that their shop apparently doesn’t even machine it. How is it a bashing campaign if I am clearly stating the facts of my situation, nothing more and nothing less. Don’t get your panties in such a bunch. Hey euroswagr, who would machine down a part to make it fit. Are you an idiot?! And who asked JHM to buy me a new car? If you sell a product with your name on it as though you make it, it’s your responsibility to have a process for issues that arise considering that people use their cars are daily drivers.
Saki, what does me getting a clutch from another company have anything to do with how long it’s taking JHM to turn this around? It’s irrelevant, I shouldn’t have to even look at another setup. And your excuse about the cost of the parts being an out for the sh*tty service is lame. I have about $50k into my car. Whether I drop $1600 or 3k on the clutch is pretty irrelevant. I wasn’t shopping around for the cheapest thing I could find. As a matter of fact, price is the last thing on my mind when I am considering options for my car. I just refused to pay $1,500 to JHM for another setup considering that lack of response I have received from the 1 issue I have had. I would think that if you drop over $10k with a company over 10 months you’d get a little respect.
BTW I do have a local machine shop who builds race motors so had I been told up front that it wouldn’t be the 1 day I was promised, I would have paid them the $100-200 or whatever they’d want to test it. Not really sure what basis you all are using to claim it’s acceptable for a shop to promise 1 thing and then not deliver while refusing to return phone calls. How can anyone justify that behavior?! Too bad no one told me that apparently this was so acceptable prior to me choosing to do business with them.
if money is of no concern, go buy something else and stfu
You on JHM’s payroll tyler? Ur comment was useless and irrelevant. Other people have a right to know what to expect from different shops when you buy their parts. The whole point of forums is so that enthusiasts can be aware of each others experiences. As such, people can decide for their own what is acceptable to them or not. For some people who have multiple cars, maybe this doesn’t matter. For people who have only 1 vehicle this may be something they’d like to know.
Last I checked, that’s the ONE thing people have complained about. Their lack of communication. They have great products at great rates. Sometimes, they’re super quick, other times, they’re too slow (depending on the week and what they have on their agenda).
Exactly!! JHM =great parts!! not many people claim the most outstanding service in the business. I have personally had communication issues with them, it even took more than 2 weeks to refund my IM deposit. I called and the inspection was done on it, but a manager still needed to sign it off. It took another whole week for that to happen, then a week for the refund invoice to show up. I still think they are a great company, but every company has its downfalls. They are selling amazing parts for minimal profit, when in reality they could monopolize the B6/B7 S4 market. Hope this is the answer your fishing for.
I can certainly agree with that. But this approach of you guys choosing to bash me and ignore the truth of the situation was quite curious to me. But I’m all fine with cutting through the BS to get to the heart of the exact point you just made.
dude you came in here and fucking LIED about JHM costing you rental car money when in fact it was fucking RAI tuning who fucked up your new clutch order. THAT’S why you’re getting bashed. You have also started threads bitching about JHM on every Audi site out there…when you have openly ADMITTED that your problem was a bad install. You wonder why people slam you? Go back to quattroworld where everyone hates JHM. You and badblue and swesna will love it there.
You and badblueRS4 must be best buddies.
So please explain o wise one … My car is in pieces bc JHM didn’t inspect the car in 1 day as was promised. What does RAI or clutchmasters have to do with that? Are you saying that if someone has a JHM part issue they should just be prepared to go out and buy another one from somewhere else. Are you kidding me clown?! The whole point here is that I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER CLUTCH AND FW TO BUY!!!
Hey dummy, I don’t know if it was a bad install or not. If I was sure it was a bad install I woulda just had RAI put the same parts back in. THAT’S THE POINT OF SENDING THE PARTS TO JHM. TO FIND OUT!!! Man ur slow.
I’m sure if your FW is actually found to be faulty, JHM will come through and make everything right, but you can’t blame everything else on them. JHM didn’t force you to modify your car or purchase their products, they also didn’t pick your install shop. You should assume the responsibility if your car goes down, or the shop that installed it should, not the parts supplier. If you wanted everything to be covered you should have just dropped your car off and told a shop to replace the clutch and FW, they would have ordered the parts and installed it and would’ve had all the burden.
Seriously I hope things work out.