Don in Texas

iTrader: (-2)

Morning,

After sifting through emails, and trying to find the right paypal account, I found that the $$$ was never refunded to tclee?. It has since been refunded. I'm sure you were all glued to your seats, and now have to turn to the Florida recounts for your daily dose of BS.

Because 96% of you have no clue the depths involved in processing credit card services, accounting of 4 separate businesses, you assume I am not posting to all these BS posts because I am dishonest and trying to defraud everyone.

I get over 100 emails per day, and half are from guys who are asking me for assistance/advice with their cars, and THE SAME GUYS that are so quick to flame me.

I used to think this group was pretty tight knit, Maxima's again the rest of the world, but it appears its everyone for himself. I've been on this board since the beginning, and do not make a habit of "ripping people off", there are hundreds of people on this board that I have dealt with and have had no problems with. We see one guy who has a problem and everyone wants to jump my ***. I really don't mind. This will give me some time to re-adjust the way I do business with this group.

The Valvebody modification for the RE4F04 transmission for the 3rd, 4th and 5th generation Maxima, Altima will not be available until our website is launched sometime next year.

Sorry for any inconveniences this might have caused, but I want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable with our company procedures and policies. New policies will of course deal with payment transactions, core deposits, shipping fees and the increased costs of parts. More stringent security features will also be incorporated, with a signature being required on all credit card transactions, as normal.

Cash, Certified Funds, Billpoint or Paypal will no longer be acceptable forms of payment. This is not the ideal way for our customers to purchase, as it offers no protection for us OR our customers.

Anyone who has already had a Valvebody paid in advance or has on in their possession will of course be honored. Future orders should be put on hold indefinately. Emails for requests for this modification will be filed and responded to after the site is built and ready for service.

Have a great Holiday! See you next year.

Don Cooper
Mobiletek

Nismo87SE

Does this mean I can't bring my cash and car to your house j/k?

buss95max

OH FREAKIN GREAT!!!...does this mean the price is going up?
ive been saving my pennies for this mod. i hope the price stays the same. i dont think ur dishonest don!!

ryz

For all who have been saving for this valve body mod.Good for Don cause now his butt is covered &won't have to deal with this kind of accusation ever again .
Bad communication has just cost us some more money & maybe a great member .I hope don is just blowing off some steam & will continue to share his knowledge with us (& cheap prices )

blackY2Kmax

Just want to go on record to say that I was one (or three) of the 100 e-mails Don received per day when I was getting my vb upgraded. It EVERY SINGLE instance, he responded. And he had my money in advance. I have never messed with anything relating to my transmission, yet Don always patiently answered my question both through e-mail and on the phone. He never sounded irritated although he was extremely busy and never tried to screw me. Again, I asked a ton of questions before, dureing and after my vb. he had my money about 2 months before I actually did the mod and still answered my questions in the interim. Don is a stand-up guy who does great work that has enhanced my car. He provides great support and helped me do a mod that is basically pretty easy but scary when it involves your transmission. It's a shame that it has come to this because I have encouraged so many to get this mod. I understand as we have a wide audience and one person does have the power to start a lot of crap because of the nubmer of people who will read his/her post. I just wanted to give my testimonial as someone who has dealt with him, paid (via credit card-the way that he suggests), in advance, needed A LOT of babying through the process and am 110% satisfied. I hope that goes as long of a way as the negative comment, but unfortuantely the bandwagon always picks up the negatives.

ZuMBLe

iTrader: (1)

Oh MY GOD!! I worked my *** off these past 3 days to get the extra money for the VB!! I was gonna order it this week!! You're kidding me right!!?? OMG!!! Who do I kill!!?? Who!!?? Fooook!!! Agrrr... in 15 min I'll be going out to make the rest of the money needed for the ATF and stuff.. Crap, I don't even want to go anymore.. But I have to.. grumble..

ZuM

tclee

iTrader: (1)

biting my lower lip now...and murmuring "I told you so!" see I'm not someone who exists to post random uncalled-for s*#t about someone else...!
however, when push comes to shove...I guess sometimes it calls for some commotion to get things in motion...right? I am glad the money is on its way...to me. FINALLY!

once again...Don...thanks for resolving the matter. It saddens me that my posts has caused you to decide to give up on doing the VB for a while...but I'm glad you are looking proactively into setting up better business practices to avoid such situations in the future.

rgds
tclee

Bryan H

see, some people still have respect for people who pop in occasionally, give their knowledge, and come back 4 months later to see if it works, then i pop onto general, and find people flaming don? oh come on, he's nice enough to do these happy mods for you guys. just take a chill, he does have other buisnesses to run ya know.
damn newbies. no respect i tell ya

Don in Texas

iTrader: (-2)

I hate to dissapoint you, tclee, but it wasn't your posts that have made me re-vamp the policies.

I have always been easy on core charges (I've never charged one, $500), I've always been lenient with shipping (need a few more days?, no problem). Tech support? Email me anytime. I've always been here to help, VB mod, NOS, Supercharger, blue bulbs, etc.

The reason for the changes are simply because after the initial slanderous post you made (BTW, I haven't forgotten about that), the concensus of the board was that I was intentionally defrauding a customer.

Too many people were quick to judge me, and of course, those people have NEVER dealt with me. So its easy for someone with no knowledge about a situation to make judgements. These are also the people who hide behind keyboards and make their case as strongly as a "normal" person would do in person.

I've only used these processes because I thought I could trust the members of this board to not defraud ME.

I even tried to purchase something from a member who INSISTED on a core charge from me (even though I never charged him a core for his VB). What does that say for our members? Gimme a break.

Business is business, favors are favors. This board has used its favors for three years. Time is up.

In the best interest of my business, and your protection as a customer, policies and procedures will have to be put in place (just like all the dealers you don't like dealing with because of its policies).

Your request for the $$$ was founded, but not in the manner that you requested. You accomplished nothing.

ZuMBLe

iTrader: (1)

I can see where you're comming from.. I just wish I had jumped on the VB bandwagon earlier so I would have one now.. DAMN!!! I'm disappointed in the way people acted here. So Don, how many months??

ZuM

bullseye

Grabbing up your toys and going home, Don? Sorry to see ya go. Close the loopholes to protect yourself from those who demand perfection --or they'll flame your a$$-- and hurry back. Take care.

Whitemax

You gotta do what you gotta do....
I hope we'll still see you around the board. Look foraward to seeing your new site...

deathwish

Ya know, I don't want to take sides here, but we still don't know what happened here... So what I want to know is, how did the communication go here? Because it sounds to me like tclee emailed don and asked for a refund, don said he would give it to him, don couldn't figure out who he was, so he just forgot about it, tclee waited 3 months and posted here without trying to contact don again. if that's right, all I gotta say is... Don should have tried to contact him to get more info if he needed it, and tclee should have hounded him a bit more before flaming on this forum. So if the partial story we've got is correct, well, I'd say neither one of them handled this situation very well. But I doubt this partial story is correct, so we don't really know what happened...

bullseye

Nice sig pic. Oh, and the car looks good, too. Used to be in TBDBITL, graduated from OSU, now working in Memphis, TN. I miss Columbus bad. Go Bucks!

1997 Maxima SE

You looking for a web site designer???? I got your guy right here if you need one

e-mail me if you dont have one already

civicex2000@purehonda.com

don't diss the e-mail car is pretty slow but o well

tclee

iTrader: (1)

I have used this account for almost 2 years now...! and have always managed to send my emails out.

anyways, my side of the story is that I handled all matters with Don thru e-mail, I sent my money to him and almost within the minute or 2, he got the money...then I sent him an email couple days later indicating that the possibility of getting a shop to do the swap was not possible and I had to pull out...Don tells me to hang in there and post to see if there are any maxima owners in my area who've done the swap..SteveChicagoSC replies and says that he got it done at a shop about 2 - 3 hours drive away from me....great...I tell myself...but personally, I'd rather get it done at a shop nearer to me instead...so I send Don another e-mail to tell him about the swap being not virtually impossible...days later he replies and tells me that its cool and he'd refund the money...and that the money was in paypal limbo! I was like cool...and that was that...never heard from him again (3 months!)

2 weeks pass, I check my paypal account and still no sign of the money...I don't even receive any e-mails from paypal to tell me that the money was coming...! so I send Don an email to ask what happened...this is the start of the "never reply me back stage!" period if you may call it...!

during the next 3 months, I dropped Don couple more e-mails about the VB refund and how I haven't gotten it yet...NO reply at all...so more wait...! I leave him more e-mails and even used my paypal account (same one which I sent the money to him, paypal has a reminder feature which I used to send Don...coupled with a comment note with the reminder "just in case he forgets")...still no reply...! so I get pissed...wait is now about 1 1/2 months to 2 months now...I post here on the forum to seek assistance from members of the forum to contact Don for me to remind him of the situation....or give me his contact number...all I get are reassurances that he'd refund my money and his email addres...sure I've emailed him...but no reply...do I still use this method of trying to contact him? Amongst those who posted the reassurances...DavidL said that he had a similar problem with Don too...DavidL tells me to keep bugging Don about the situation...but cited that Don was probably busy...so I graciously give Don more time...I've seen Don post here a couple times since...sent him couple emails...guess what?...still no reply...!...so I get freaked!

its one thing to spend money on the car and another to literally give money to someone else...I'm don't run a charity here!...btw, by this time..I saw it as Don "trying to rip me off type situation". send Don more emails...still no reply...so I ask myself...what should I do? I told myself that I'd give Don the benefit...more time!!!

finally...its almost year end and the waits like almost 3 months?...still no word from Don..! my constant sending of e-mails seem to have fallen on deaf ears...or should I say...somehow end up not getting thru! granted that Don is a busy guy...and has 100+ mails to a day...but I find it an utter paradox that he can reply many of the members here so fast and efficiently...yet somehow miss my mails?! hum....wonder why?!

so finally, I decided to up the heat a little and start this series of posts to gain some attention...! call me childish if you may...but try putting yourselves in my shoes before you say something like that?

how better could someone have handled this? my post yesterday...in the midst of this verbal war...in seeking Don's contact number remains unanswered...so have my previous posts...all I have gotten are posts of reassurances...if I can't get help from here...nor any response from Don himself thru email...what else can I do? even an email to Jambo the administrator seeking help...remains unanswered..! how guys...tell me how could I have better handled this? I'm all ears...eventhough this matter got resolved in on a sour note...seriously..I'm all ears! so I'd know how to handle such situations in the future should such things happen to me and someone else!

oh well, whats done is done...!

ps, I even comtemplated getting Don's address from ppl who've gotten the VB from him not to pay him a visit...but to write him a regular snail mail type letter...but again...no such luck...seems like no-one wanted to volunteer the information.

Eric L.

Well, tclee, it sounds like you did send Don a lot of emails, but that's all you did. I bet a lot people here on the bbs who have done the vb mod have Don's phone number. I check the bbs alot, and I don't remember you nagging the people here to give you Don's number. Maybe you asked once or twice, but if you want results sometimes you gotta nag nag nag.

In your description of what you did to resolve this matter, it sounded like you didn't send emails as often as you should have. I mean, if you sent the man an email EVERYDAY, then you would have an excuse for him ignoring you. But if you sent like one email every week or two weeks, then it is possible that Don didn't think you were taking your refund seriously.

When I purchased an RSTB from Don, I called him on the phone to order it. It's not like he runs an Internet Website with secure ordering, so I would hesitate to buy something from someone I haven't actually talked with.

So, now that you have your refund, give the smacktalking a break. I can't say that Don is blameless in this situation..like Chad said...he should have tried to contact you regardingt the refund...but it is clear that BOTH parties were at fault here. Hopefully, his new online ordering will simplify matters.

Oh and I've always wondered what the VB Mod actually has 'modified' in it. From what I know, it is just a VB that Don has tweaked slightly...I wonder what he actually does with it. And I bet he uses the VB from the swap to tweak and sell it to the next customer...if you get the VB mod you will be getting an old used VB from another of his Maxima customers! Sounds kind of shady but I guess that's the only way it can be done.

vapors smx

"Oh and I've always wondered what the VB Mod actually has 'modified' in it. From what I know, it is just a VB that Don has tweaked slightly...I wonder what he actually does with it. And I bet he uses the VB from the swap to tweak and sell it to the next customer...if you get the VB mod you will be getting an old used VB from another of his Maxima customers! Sounds kind of shady but I guess that's the only way it can be done. "

It isnt shady what he is doing(Don) by using the core from another. He basically guts it and uses all new parts inside anyways to stiffen the shifting. If you are so worried about the shadiness endured during his modification, either dont get it done, or buy yourself a new core that he could modify, you will be 500 lighter in the pocket from that.

I am not flaming however we should all be a little more mannered when commenting again on things we do not know about. I just didnt think "shady" was an appropriate word to use. I guess JWT is shady, or hell IPD(Volvo tuner) is shady when they send me a computer from another car for a core swap of my own.

Max I am

When I was looking into buying my Maxima one thing I really liked was how respectful and close people seemed on the board. Since I've owned my Max more and more people come to this board and with this increase in people has come a sharp increase in BS. People flamming people and starting crap...that' not right, we come here for a common reason. It's not just this event but I am sure we can all bring up a good number of events like this where hard working people go out of there way to help fellow Maxima enthusists. I'm sorry Don had to resort to doing what he has to to protect himself. I just hope that by the time I can afford the VB upgrade, Don hasn't decided to totally abandon his work. I know I thank Don for his hard work and I am sure most on this board do as well.

Eric L.

I was not flaming Don. I've purchased car parts from Don before and his service was excellent. I was just wondering what exactly Don does to the VB when he mods it. I never heard him ever mention that he uses "all new parts". If he does, he should make it part of his advertisement. If anyone has any info on what he does to the transmission, like the parts he uses or switches out, then I would like to know. I mean, I know the VB mod is excellent, but for all we know he switches out a 50 cent part inside to do the mod.

Oh and regarding computer core swaps...computer chips don't wear out, but transmission components do. So while it may make no difference whether an ECU has 300k on it or 3k, it does make a huge difference whether a transmission part is brand new, or has 100,000 miles on it already.

vapors smx

it makes a huge difference on computer swaps. oh yeah, that used computer could never have been dropped, jostled, static shocked, **** even modified right. it is always just like brand spanking new. even the computer that the dealership gave to me that was new, just broke 2 days ago, only a month after they replaced it(circuit short, at the dealer now). Man I am not flaming but shady is just not the right word to use now. Don uses all new springs, seals, and gaskets when he is modding the vb.

I am going to drop this whole thing now. thanks for your input.

Eric L.

Ok, I never said Don was shady. I just said that by not telling us what he does to the valvebody, we are not sure what he actually does to it. I was not blasting Don, his work, or his business practices. Like I said, I've done business with him and everything went smoothly.

I will drop the topic now too.

Gotrice4

First off, i have e-mailed don in regards to the VB mod and to me he seemed very curteous and very prompt and very complete. I also think that some people just like to come to this forum just to flame. I mean i tried to sell my Intrax springs and listed a price(and stated 'or best offer') and 'someone' posted 'why would anyone buy that junk, intrax are the worst springs ever made.' I was like ok, if u don't like 'em don't buy 'em, y r u posting? I mean sometimes people have to much time on their hands...i mean if u got that much time, go wax ur max or wrench on it. And i also feel that people do 'hide' behind their s/n... cuz they don't have to deal with a person face to face. I just say if u don't like don't buy it, state your opinion, but don't force them onto another...

Chebosto

iTrader: (1)

hey DOn,
just insalled David's VB today...

you need to get your instructions in a .PDF format,
not everyone has Publisher, i have a hellva longass time openeing that .pub file you sent him #%@!$@

please, please, please make an Adobe PDF formatted file of the instructions!!!!

also, maybe a higher-res picture of the thirteen bolts included with the instructions, tho i did it before, i know how a "rookie" might biff on it..

just a suggestion..


as for the VB mod being effective, i believe it will prolong your tranny to a certain point, but if you push it hard enough, it's not going to save your tranny from being toasted (right Skimax?)

ok. .. ttyl,

Bryan H

im on dons side of this, i have done things for people and gotten po0ped on in the end. thats why people will never know what was fully done to my maxima
=oX
if you ask someone to help, and they po0p on ya. you must have done something to **** them off. if someone asks me to help them then po0ps on me. nope. no more. treat certain transactions like a business. in which it is. you don't call up nissan every 3 mins asking if your cars done do ya? nooooooo. you don't e-mail the **** out of the service manager asking if the parts in? noooooo. it gets old, and to the point where you delete the mail.

let it go. you'll get over it

Dave B

I think both sides handled the situation poorly, but I can also understand the frustation both sides experienced.

If Don is such a busy guy, then maybe he shouldn't be dealing parts on the side until he can set up a better method of communication and payment. Honestly, I've seen a lot of posts of people trying to reach Don about some aspect of his available modifications. Over my 3 years of experience in environmental consulting, I've learned one thing. You'd better be prepared to kiss your clients *** in a major way because if you screw up just once, it will come back and bit you in your ***. They can do a lot of damage in very little time.


Dave

Dave B

Hey Bryan, I was at MC Racing today watching some cars dyno (Camaros, TAs, heavily modded 300ZXTT, Probe GTs) and I saw your pick of your dead GT-S.

Did you get your Eclipse yet? I want to see it. Also, my Locos are still for sale and on a payment plan if you want them.


Dave

JJW95SC

Okay, please advertise heavily when the VB is available again.

Thanks,
Jim

Y2KevSE

iTrader: (13)

I assure you that Don uses new parts in all of his VB mods. Jane and I have personally seen Don in action when he did our VB's (4th gen and 5th gen). I remember the whole process of the mod and <b>no I'm not going to tell you how he does it</b>. He even took the time out to explain to us each process of the mod...step by step. Granted, he could have just pulled the VB out, recal it, and put it back in the car without explaining a single detail, but he didn't.

It's really sad how this whole situation turned out. We couldn't find anyone to do the VB mod either, but Jane called him up and he agreed to fly out to San Francisco from Texas to recal both of our VB's. He was very professional and very helpful regarding the VB. Jane has even called him many times seeking advice regarding the VB, supercharger, and dealing with Stillen. He has not once turned her away or ignored her calls.

Maybe things could have been handled differently and this whole situation could have been avoided. It's sad to see a fellow Maxima Enthusiast leave because of a misunderstanding.

Regards,
Jane and Kevin

Bryan H

davey. i have it, blew a headgasket in it a last weekend
=o(
get new headgasket and head work done =oX
yes more head work. the quest for more hp. yep my celica is one of the happy fwd cars that have dynoed there. did you dyno yours?

blackY2Kmax

[/I][/QUOTE]

You never said Don was shady - yeah, right - here is your quote, "Sounds kind of SHADY but I guess that's the only way it can be done." And don't play semantics here, you didn't SAY 'DON WAS SHADY', but your quote - with the word shady in it - implies that he, his business practices, or the way he does things, etc. is shady. It's the same thing.

I know you said you would drop it, but one thing hasn't been mentioned that should be to clear things up for all those who feel it necessary to judge without information. If you're so worried about getting a used core and how 'shady' that might be, you always have the option of sending in your own core to be modified. It was necessary for 5th gens as he didn't have any 'templates' to send in, but for others, if you aren't comfortable, send in your own. He makes the other way available as a CONVENIENCE for you so you don't have to have any downtime on your car. Geez - give the man a break. He goes out of his way for the people on this board and look what happens. Don't use the word 'shady' unless you know what the hell you're talking about.

I generally don't get this fired up, but I think that whole thread about how 'shady' Don was because he swaps out cores was ridiculous.

Now it can be dropped.

[Edited by blackY2Kmax on 12-03-2000 at 10:28 AM]

deathwish

So it sounds like we still don't have an explanation from Don. I don't want to be seen as "attacking" him, I've bought stuff from Don and I appreciate what he's done for us, but from what we have here, it seems like Don screwed up. If Don would like to come and give a better explanation to clear things up, I think that would help a lot. But, ignoring customer requests for a refund over many months is not a good way to do business. Now hopefully the changes Don plans on making will implement some policies and maybe some staff to help him out if he's busy so that nothing like this will happen again. But at the very least, I think we deserve Don's full side of the story, and at least an apology if what tclee says is true. We all make mistakes, I won't hold it against Don if something happened and he screwed up this once, but I'd appreciate an explanation, and I haven't heard a satisfactory one yet.

And really, if tclee emailed him many times over the months and never got a response, I can't fault him for posting here. If Don ignored all these emails, well, he deserves this. There's no personal attacks here, if your business does things like this, people will complain. Really I think so many of us have had great experiences with Don that we refuse to accept that he might have screwed up a couple of times, and that's a shame. Like I said, I don't hold it against him, but I want an explanation and an apology if one is due.

Eric L.

Please don't try to point fingers here. Haven't I already mentioned like three times that I am was not criticizing Don? Haven't I already said that in the time I bought a mod from him, that I didn't have any problems?

I said that since Don posts little info on the technical aspects of the valve body recalibration, it's almost like paying $450 for a magic cure in a bottle. There is no doubt that the mod works, but I was just wondering about the technical aspects of his calibration technique. Maybe I'm juse one of those people who wants to know exactly how things work before I toss my hard earned money into it. It's not as simple as an intake or a y-pipe, which have no moving parts. I appreciate vaporssmx and Y2kev's replies that Don uses all new parts. They have posted on the bbs for some time now and I value their technical input.

So before you pass judgement and mince words on what I said, let me just clear the air....I don't think Don runs a shady business, but rather quite the opposite. Sorry if I caused any misunderstanding.

ZuMBLe

iTrader: (1)

How many VBs has Don done? He screwed up once. Everyone is allowed to screw up. Geez.. Give it a rest.

ZuM

Dave B

Yeah everyone can screw up, but when you don't respond to a customer's request, your setting yourself up for major problems. $450 is a lot of money for many people in here. Put yourself in the same situation. You've paid $450 for a product, you withdrew from the sale, and then you don't have your money. After a while of sending e-mails on your money, you get no response. After a while you start to think "whoa, am I gonna get screwed". Think about it, gentlemen. This was an internet deal with someone who doesn't have true business base. The customer had no other real way of contacting the owner since the owner was not responding. The customer was not in the same city as the business so he couldn't go to the business. The customer felt "screwed", so the best way to get the attention of the business is to take it to internet forums. I don't blame him.

"If" this story's truth is the way it seems to be unfolding, an apology is due. I also don't understand all these people blaming the customer for Don withdrawing the VB mod until he gets a site. Sounds more like thier mad because they will have to wait till the website is available. I could care less how many VBs Don has done for people. If you want to run a business, there is NO excuse for bad business practices. Like I said, it is probably better that Don just wait until his site is ready.


Dave

Synki

God damn stop attacking each other. What's done is done. Let it be. Time will resolve this matter.

ZuMBLe

iTrader: (1)

Agreed, the belly aching will get nobody anywhere. Either way, I think the people should have known what they were getting in to when they send Don their money. You're sending your money to some regular joe in texas. Regular joes are allowed to mess up. You're not sending your money to Don's Modifications Inc. Anyways, I'm dropping the subject..

ZuM

Don in Texas

iTrader: (-2)

Man, I wish you guys could get this fired up when the guys that post about the upgrade post about their POSITIVE experiences. But its too easy to flame someone when you don't KNOW whats happened.

I am not going to elaborate on the particulars of the mis-communication, other than to say thats what it was.

If you seriously think I was intentionally trying to "steal" this guys $375, and risk the $5000 a month in sales we have now with this upgrade....you are insane.

I've never seen Stillen, NOPI, Carparts.com or a Nissan Dealership post an apology because they mis-shipped something, forgot to reply to an email, lost a refund or an order. They do it so often they would have to hire someone just to post the mistakes. If this is the only problem I have had in the last year, then I'm doing better than EVERY SINGLE PARTS SUPPLIER in the US!!

You deserve an explanation? This is between us and our customer. Its been solved. Thats all you need to know. Im sure you wouldn't want me discussing YOUR personal information with someone just because they ask.

I consider this whole issue closed. Continue with it if you wish, maybe Jamie will open up another forum just to discuss this.

I cannot remember (in 3 years) anything taking up so much of this forums resources, like this issue.

One customer, one problem, one solution, done. NOW whats the problem? Find another hobby. This one is closed.