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My Pedders Experience

24K views 105 replies 29 participants last post by  metgo 
#1 · (Edited)
I hate to post bad reviews especially in situations like this where a supporting vendor is evolved but I have to be honest. I think my Pedder's setup is great and the car handles amazing but I had so many issues a long the way that it almost doesn't seem worth it to me now. First off let me say that Pedders and Mid Coast Performance (my local Pedder dealer) have the worst customer service I have ever delt with. It is so bad that it is laughable. Here is how it all went down.

Back on 5-15-08 I found out about a shop in the St. Louis area called Mid Coast Performance from this thread http://www.lxforums.com/board/showthread.php?t=114235 , turns out they were having some event called “Pedders Day”. The day after I found out about this shop I called them up to see if they would install a torque converter for me and setup an appointment for Friday 5-30-08.

The next week I ended up going to their Pedders Day on 5-24-08. I had a great time. I got some free food, a 28 point inspection and best of all I got to ride in shop Owner Gene’s Pedderized Charger R/T. I was very impressed with his car and told him I plan on doing some suspension work in the very near future. A few days after on 5-28-08 I called Gene and let him know I wanted to do the Full Track 2 setup. We agreed to have it started on 5-30-08 when I drop my car off for the torque converter install. The next day I found out that I wasn’t going to have my torque converter in time for the install so we agreed to push the appoint back to Monday June 2nd. Gene told me they could get started on the car Monday morning and it was a 2-3 day install with about 14-16 hours of labor. I told him I’d bring the converter up as soon as I got it so they could complete the install and he said that was fine.

On Monday June 2nd I drop my car off with Mid Coast Performance at 7:30 AM. The guy that was working when I dropped it off told me “We'll start working on it right away”. Two days later I finally get my torque converter, I rush it up to MCP and when I got there I noticed my car was parked in their lot in the exact same place I left it on Monday morning. I talk to the owner’s son Kurt who was working at the time. He told me they were waiting on parts and would have them in that afternoon and would start first thing Thursday morning and could possibly have the car done Friday evening or Saturday afternoon at the latest. I received no phone call from them telling me that they were even waiting on parts. I assumed since they were a Pedder’s dealer they should have had the parts especially since I made an appointment almost a week in advance. So I left the torque converter with them and waited.

On Friday June 6th I call them up in the afternoon wanting to know the current status of my car. Once again they tell me they are still waiting on parts and would have them Monday morning and that they would start on the car right away. At this point I got pretty angry. This is when I first contacted Pedders about this matter. I PMed Paul (Hemi4me) with all the details. He apologized for my inconvenience and he even agreed with me that it was totally unacceptable that they had my car with no parts and he told me he called the shop and forwarded my complaint to the shop owner. In a later PM he even told me that MCP mention nothing about having to wait on parts.

On Monday June 9th I received my first phone call from MCP. I was told they finally got the parts and would start working on my car right away.

Tuesday evening I call them up, not expecting my car to be done but just wanting to know how it was going. They said things were going great and the car would be done Wednesday afternoon. Great, I’m finally going to be getting my car back, WRONG!

June 11th, Wednesday afternoon I call them up to see if my car is done yet. They said they were still working on it and would be done by the end of the day and I could pick up the car on Thursday morning.

Thursday June 12th at 12:00 in the afternoon I get a phone call from MCP. They tell me my car still isn’t done and would be done no later than 3:00 PM. 3:00 PM rolls around and I heard nothing from them. I call their shop, no one answer. I tried a few more times with no luck. I then decided to take a ride up there. I get there and no one is even there. Now I was fuming. I went back home and PMed Paul and let him know what was going on. Later that day at 5:30 I call MCP and someone finally answers. I asked the guy if my car was done and he said he wasn’t sure and he would call me right back. A half hour goes by and no call. I then called him back. He tells me that the suspension is done and they will finish the torque converter by the end of the day. I asked him if they ran into any problems and why it took so long. He told me they didn’t run into any problems and with a smart a$$ tone to his voice told me “We just go the parts on Monday”. After this little talk I was wondering why they didn't have the converter done yet. They had the car for a week waiting on suspension parts, they couldn't have done the converter sometime that week? This lead me to believe that they were lying about not having the parts. They just didn't have time for me.

Finally it is Friday. MCP at this point has had my car for 11 days and I should finally be getting it back. I was really hoping that they would get my car done because I would be making a trip to Columbus that weekend. I call them up in the afternoon and they tell me they are still working on the torque converter and tranny cooler and it would be done by 5:00 PM. 5:00 PM rolls around and I call them and OMG it is actually done. I hurry up there. I write them a check for the job and prepare to leave. Before I left they told me that when they took the car for a test drive they could hear the exhaust clanking up against the car when they went over bumps because they couldn’t get the exhaust lined back up properly.

I drive the car home. The whole way home I hear the clank that they were telling me about. I would have made them fix the exhaust but I didn't have another 11 days for them to fix it so I decided to do it my self. I pull my car up on ramps when I got home. The first thing I noticed was all the clamps on the exhaust were loose. I re-aligned the exhaust and tightened everything down. I go to take the car for a test drive. I get about half way down my street and start hearing the clanking sound again coming from the rear of the car. I turn around and get my car back on ramps for further inspection. While checking the exhaust again I notice this,







A bolt without a nut on it. And Pedders is always saying how dangerous the OEM bushings are on these cars. Now this is dangerous. First I tried to call MCP but they were already gone. I then called Paul at Pedders. He told me he was sorry for all the trouble and told me I'd be better off talking to Pete. I let him know I'd PM Pete and try to talk to him in person if I was able to make the trip to Columbus. I then had to drive up to the hardware store to buy a washer and a nut. I get home and put the new nut on. While I was under the car I decided to check all the other bolts because I was preparing for a long trip to Columbus and I want to make sure my car was safe before I drove it that far. To my surprise, I ended up finding 2 more loose bolts that I had to tighten down. Words couldn't even describe how angry I was at this point.

In the end, I was able to make my trip to Columbus. When I first saw Pete, I went over to him and told him about what happened. He apologized a few times but would always change the subject and start telling me about how great the guys are over at MCP. IMO he didn't seem to think my issue was a big deal at all. Even after Columbus we went back and forth on some PMs and I still got the sense from him that he didn't really care.

While in Columbus I asked Pete if he'd inspect my car to make sure I wasn't having any other issues. He had his guys get under my car and check everything out. They found yet another loose bolt and even worse they notice I'm leaking tranny fluid. We traced the source of the leak and it was coming from the tranny cooler. They didn't tighten the clamps on the hoses that go into the tranny cooler. We tighten the clamps up as much as we could. The next day Eric (hemi31) was nice enough to check my tranny fluid for me. He said I was probably at least a quart low. So I ended up having to add another quart. Later when I got home I actually found out that I was still a 1.5 quarts low.

I thought all my troubles were finally fixed, wrong again. About 2 weeks ago I started hearing another clanking sound, this time from the front. I couldn't figure out what it was so I decided to let MCP take a look at it. I call them up on a Wednesday afternoon and tell about my issues. Once again they still didn't seem that concerned and acted like this is all normal. I told them I need them to look at my car ASAP. I told them I'd be available on Friday or Saturday. They told me I could drop my car off early Friday morning and they'd have it fixed by Saturday. I'm like wait just a minute, you don't even know what is wrong with my car and you are already telling me you'll need it for 2 days? This to me sounded like they don't care about me and they just want me to drop it off so they can work on it when it is convenient for them. I told them how about I bring the car in and look at it with you and if it is an easy fix we'll fix it right away. If it is something worse, I'll leave the car with them. They agreed to this. I brought the car up there first thing Friday morning. We get it up on the left and they re-tighten every bolt on the car. We saw the front sway bar move a little when we tightened up one of the bolts, so we suspect that was the culprit. Now the car is acting fine...... for now. Lets hope it stays that way.

In conclusion to my big review I must say that even to this day I am still extremely angry with both Pedder's and MCP. Because of them, I feel I risked my life driving my car with faulty suspension and because of them I almost destroyed my tranny and my car. They cost me a ton of time, money and head aches. They can try and sugar coat this all they want but what I have said actually happened to me and is 100% true. Although I mostly blame MCP for all of this, I think Pedders deserves a little credit too because their lack of efforts to resolve my issues and the fact that they brag so much about their highly trained Pedder's dealers. It's not even like I'm the first LX they have worked on, they've done about 3 or 4 LXs and at least 1 Track 2 before mine. Till this day, I still have yet to get an apology from MCP, they seem to care less about my issues than Pedders does. Pedders and MCP both make out like this isn't a big deal well IMO this is a huge deal. I don't care how complex the Pedders system is, when I am paying someone $5k+ for a job I want it done right. MCP knew there was clanking coming from the car when they gave it back to me because they told me about it. This is totally unacceptable.
 
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#2 ·
Bl00dy h3ll - what a nightmare. Although Pedders don't appear to have been directly responsible (one of their components didn't implode) they most certainly should have taken your complaint more seriously. Now - it may be that they have and there has been confusion. Mebbe you were so uptight, that it made everything seem worse. I don't know. However, you had an agreement for the shop to do the work - not Pedders as such (I may have read this wrong) - so the main problem is the totally shocking workmanship and customer service of this MCP place, with an aggrovating factor of Pedders disinterest in the problem.

Yes - nuts missing off of bolts on the suspension is extremely dangerous. I suspect that most, having their new set-up would have started throwing the car around straight away........ I don't think there is any way that anybody could mitigate the risk, to you and your car, that was there due to the job not being completed (forget about not being done properly - the job was not completed at all). Loose bolts/nuts, although not nearly as dangerous as missing components, will also lead to noise, frustration (clearly!) increased component wear and potential damage. Performance gains would also be midly affected.

If this account of the story is accurate and nobody is able to give viable reasons for the whole affair (although there is no excuse for missing securing parts!) then Pedders should seriously consider binning MCP as an outlet (or whatever). This kind of shoddy behaviour should not be tolerated. Guess you'd have to wait and see if Pedders reply to this complaint now and maybe take it a little more seriously than they have so far (in your mind). Certainly, if I were Pedders, I would be absolutely pi$$ed and MCP for creating this situation.....

Good luck sorting it out.....
 
#4 ·
Pretty much the main reason I hold Pedders accountable is because they are constantly bragging about their "Highly Trained Dealers" and how they are personally trained by Pedders and can do a better job than non-Pedders dealers and do it in half the time.
 
#3 ·
This is ridiculous. If the forum sponsor is the main guy handling/organizing the installations (Pete), he should have made sure you had absolutely no more problems after your first complaint.

Did you ever ask for some compensation for you time/money, because it is certainly warranted.

I'll wait to hear from the other side, but if what you say is true, there is no way to "sugar coat" their version.
 
#5 ·
I told both Pedders and MCP that I feel I deserve some compensation for all the time, money and head aches they caused me.
 
#6 · (Edited)
What in THEE BLUE HELL? :jawdrop:

honestly, i thought this was a rib. a legit rib.

i'm all for paying for quality.... i dont like to be overcharged anymore than anyone else would, but whats the deal with that? 5 grand for the kit....and the kits like, what? 3700$ leaving about 1300-1500$ in installation? and needing the car for 2 days? dilligently working, i dont see how that kit would take 2 days to install... this makes me go back to initial thoughs of questioning if i went the full kit route, what exactly are we paying for with the kit and labor? 2000$ alone for JUST bushings is still like whoa to a degree. just the "critical kit" with 8 bushings in it...radius rod, steering rack and control arms are 907$.... do those parts legitamently cost 900$ to produce? kit 6570 are adjustable control arm bushings.... just adjustable camber bushings for 275$.... or you can buy Complete new Control Arms, adjustable camber and caster, replaceable ball joint for 400$ (125 more)... its things like that, which make me question pricing. granted they can sell at whatever price since they currently have the market cornered here in the bushing category, but c'mon...

never heard of MCP, cant really say anything good or bad about em....you sure you aint ribbin us? cause if you are, its a damn good one;)

but wow, after all the posts about "bushes" being dangerous, and bolts with loose nuts and one rear bolt with NO nut... and a trip from MO to OH??? i've had an rksport tubular a-arm snap on me during a road trip before... i know similar to the feeling you had to have had...empty gut, then anger.... granted i only paid 500 and i installed em myself, the a-arm broke and rksport eventually discontinued em due to a design flaw, the bolts were tight. and lucky i was parked when i heard the "snap!".... but the idea of a RWD car being on the road and that bolt holding in the shock comming out....not to mention the various other loose nuts on bolts...

MCP isnt every other pedders dealer, so i hope its just an isolated, like solitary confinement-isolated incident...

still sucks though you are getting pushed to the wayside, of sorts, when talkin to both parties...

hopefully some compensation or explanation can come out of this.... well look at the bright side....you like the performance of it, right?:D


p.s.,,,,,, you honestly sure this isnt a rib? you're not being a sneaky one, right?
 
#7 · (Edited)
What in THEE BLUE HELL? :jawdrop:

honestly, i thought this was a rib. a legit rib.

i'm all for paying for quality.... i dont like to be overcharged anymore than anyone else would, but whats the deal with that? 5 grand for the kit....and the kits like, what? 3700$ leaving about 1300-1500$ in installation? and needing the car for 2 days? dilligently working, i dont see how that kit would take 2 days to install... this makes me go back to initial thoughs of questioning if i went the full kit route, what exactly are we paying for with the kit and labor? 2000$ alone for JUST bushings is still like whoa to a degree.

never heard of MCP, cant really say anything good or bad about em....you sure you aint ribbin us? cause if you are, its a damn good one;)

but wow, after all the posts about "bushes" being dangerous, and bolts with loose nuts and one rear bolt with NO nut... and a trip from MO to OH??? i've had an rksport tubular a-arm snap on me during a road trip before... i know similar to the feeling you had to have had...empty gut, then anger.... granted i only paid 500 and i installed em myself, the a-arm broke, the bolts were tight.

MCP isnt every other pedders dealer, so i hope its just an isolated, like solitary confinement-isolated incident...

still sucks though you are getting pushed to the wayside, of sorts, when talkin to both parties...

hopefully some compensation or explanation can come out of this.... well look at the bright side....you like the performance of it, right?:D


p.s.,,,,,, you honestly sure this isnt a rib? you're not being a sneaky one, right?
I'm telling the 100% truth, this actually happened to me. Even though Pedders was very expensive I decided to go with them because they are supposed to be a premium product with good service. How many people do they actually get to order the Full Track 2? With as expensive as it is, it isn't exactly their money maker. Because of that I expected to be treated like a V.I.P. when I took my car in. Instead I was treated like crap and they caused me a lot of problems.
 
#12 ·
Hey metgo,

that really sucks to hear dude ..... I can only imagine how I'd have felt after shelling out over $5k to somebody just to find out they did such shoddy work and have such crappy customer service ....




How's she handle though ?

;)
 
#14 ·
I can't say enough about how well the car handles now. Their product is just as advertised. The car has absolutely no body roll and feels very solid even at high speeds. The feel of the car is so much better now. When you turn the wheel, the car goes. If you want to turn the wheel even more, it will keep going. It is just so easy now to drive. What used to feel like a big heavy car now feels like a nimble little roadster. I do have to give Pedders that much, they do make a good product.
 
#15 ·
thats effed up. major.
im a huge fan of pedders, as most of you probably know, and was told by Mike (DMS) himself that they could do the whole track 2 install in 1 day if i got it in early, and they would get it done, and id drive it off the lot after however long it took.
not being in my budget, i went with the "touring kit" which i think i was actually the FIRST person to use this setup, and they made it into a kit :).
anyway, i had this done at one of the busiest speed shops in houston, and yet they made time for me to come in the very next day, with no appointment.

granted, the pedders guys themselves were there and helped with the entire install. they had parts for me that were not there the day before on hand and ready to go when i rolled up.

their dealers are supposed to be top notch, and i know mine is.

it sickens me to hear about the service at your speed shop, but honestly, i think they are the ones accountable, not Pedders. Except for the fact taht they trusted a disgrace of a shop to do the work.

Not trying to knock you or what happened to you, but my experience has been a V.I.P. experience from the pedders guys, and its a pretty big shock to me to think that it was their fault. I think this shop needs to be removed from their list because it clearly was not the pedders guys doing the install, or the guys that did your install were clearly very poorly trained.
 
#16 ·
That's just inexcusable. I'd be punching holes in walls if all that had happened to me.

My experience tells me that your problem is more with the installer than Pedder's, like you've said. My install took 2.5 days with Brandon (Pedder's East Coast Tech/VP of something) there helping to train the shop. When I did have problems (bushings that were not greased) the shop paid for my rental and fixed it, no questions asked. Every problem I've had, even if it really wasn't a problem and in some case's wasn't a result of Pedder's (bad tire mounting), has been addressed and Rob went over it all with me in the shop on my car.

I actually trust Rob enough now that if I were to buy a new car, I would just have the dealer put it on a rig Massachusetts bound and call Rob so he know's its coming. OK, that's a slight exaggeration. . . but still he'd be one of my first calls to see what could be done.
 
#17 ·
I can't believe that, metgo. What a nightmare.

Makes no sense to my why they would let you drop off your car if they didn't even have the parts. Why not call you when they got the parts in, so you weren't without your car for no reason?

Sheesh! :jeez:

-=FLEX=-
 
#26 · (Edited)
x2. Dang. When they said they didnt have parts, you should've taken your car and told them to give you a call when the parts get in...you must be "BALLIN." But anyway, sorry that you went through all of this..live and learn I guess. Hope it rides sweet. After installing the bolt, was the clanking gone, and how is the ride now? Hope its GREAT!!
 
#18 ·
Metgo, Again as I've said, I'm sorry for your experience with MCP, while i do not know them personally, i haven't heard any bad things about them over the past year.

Best I can do is apologize and assure you that your issues are important to us, and your experience is not the normal Pedders Experience. We do make mistakes as we're not perfect, but we (Pedders Dealers as a whole) go out of our way to make sure that every customer is taken care of in a respectable, and prompt manner.

Again, I'm sorry, and I'm happy that in the end you have a Pedderized car that you can be proud of and enjoy, regardless of troubles that you have already been through.

As I stated in the PM's we had, you can contact me any time if you have questions about anything.
 
#19 ·
Metgo, Again as I've said, I'm sorry for your experience with MCP, while i do not know them personally, i haven't heard any bad things about them over the past year.

Best I can do is apologize and assure you that your issues are important to us, and your experience is not the normal Pedders Experience. We do make mistakes as we're not perfect, but we (Pedders Dealers as a whole) go out of our way to make sure that every customer is taken care of in a respectable, and prompt manner.

Again, I'm sorry, and I'm happy that in the end you have a Pedderized car that you can be proud of and enjoy, regardless of troubles that you have already been through.

As I stated in the PM's we had, you can contact me any time if you have questions about anything.
Guess this is 'Strike One' then....?
 
#20 ·
What's that saying "Pride commeth before the downfall"? I'd expect hardcore, almost teutonic perfection with all the smart-arse comments Pedders has made on the two forums I frequent. Usually comments along the lines of "You're wrong, we're right, we know all, you know little, all or nothing (component-wise), etc..." In a way I'm surprised, but also not. Not much humility with that outfit, that's for sure. I'm sure it will end up being "an isolated incident involving one shop" and in no way accountable to Pedders, though I'd hope that I'm wrong.
 
#24 ·
Sad.

Are you sure it wasn't a Chrysler/Dodge Dealership you went to? :biggrinjester:


Seriously though. Pete is correct in the three forms of truth. This is in no way implying that anyone is a liar. It is just facts as the observer percieves them.

Bottom line seems that Metgo did not get the service that he expected nor the service that Pete expected him to get.

Hopefully it will be adressed internally and privatly between Metgo, MCP and Pedders so that this does not happen again and so that all parties have a chance to prevent unfair public hazing.

On a side note: This is the exact reason why I want to buy the Track II parts and the proper tools and do the install myself. I have 100% confidence that Pedders has engineered a great product, the more I can remove human error and ignorance between the engineers and my car the better IMO.
 
#28 ·
As was mentioned on another forum, what other possible side of the story is there Pete? That metgo put down $5k and days of down time, so he could unscrew some bolts, just to f**k with you? I think you overestimate your importance. I too had planned on making the several hour trek to St. Charles, MO for a several thousand dollar Touring Suspension once my Sidewinder was tuned. That's toast now.
 
#30 ·
As was mentioned on another forum, what other possible side of the story is there Pete? That metgo put down $5k and days of down time, so he could unscrew some bolts, just to f**k with you? I think you overestimate your importance. I too had planned on making the several hour trek to St. Charles, MO for a several thousand dollar Touring Suspension once my Sidewinder was tuned. That's toast now.
Whoah - that caught my eye. What the heck has been said about unscrewing bolts....?
 
#34 ·
that worries me, I was considering having a pedders kit installed. if they're not climbing down the throat of a shop doing lousy work, then their reputation is on the line.
 
#36 ·
His life was never in danger. A lower rear shock but was left off or not tightened properly. The lower rear shock bolt is under load even when the car in on a lift with the wheels at full droop. In a worst case scenario the bolt falls out and the shock is trapped in the lower control arm pocket. It makes noise and does little else. That is the fact of the matter. It is also a fact that the mistake was made. The shop apologised. MCP apologised. The car was fixed. That should have been the end of the story. It wasn't. Being Pedders when the car showed up at the LX Nationals were inspected it. Eric from Backstreet performance crawled around in the dirt on the ramps to the dyno and checked every bolt in the suspension. Eric is built like a fireplug and found a nut he could tighten a bit more. To be very clear, there was no customer issue with the suspension at this point, we were just making sure. That turns into my car is falling apart and MCP sucks. We continue to provide free dyno and A/F pulls. That turns into FREE dyno services aren't good enough because the graph isn't large enough and why don;t you reprint it foir me. By the time he left the display he wasn't happy nor were any of the Dealers, nor was I. Then we end up with a noise weeks later that may have been the front sway bar bracket, but no one is certain there wasn't really anything wrong on the last shop inspection. Keep in mind, there are numerous posts on this forum and other LX forums of 100% box stock LXs various noises. When you touch a suspension, you have to be prepared to own every noise it makes after that. Pedders and our Dealer assume that role and risk. So now the customer leaves the shop after everything has been rechecked for the I don't know how many times and appears to be happy until the post we see here.

Enough is enough. The customer NEVER asked for or discussed any form of 'compensation' for his headaches and time with Pedders until he posted in multiple forums. It was never even hinted at. He could not and should not have been expecting a phone call from Pedders for two weeks, because there was no conversation, PM, email or any other type of exchange regarding compensation. Everything the customer asked for we gave him. Everything. Are we giving him something after this flaming thread -- other than his warranty for his bits and installation at any of the Pedders Dealers nationwide that he already had -- no.

Btw, the last conversation I had with this customer he told me he loved his Pedderised LX. That was after the Pedders track-side service at the Nationals when he was in line to make one last pass down the drag strip. He knows this is accurate. He knows exactly what I think of this post. He has never called to discuss anything in the last two weeks or made any attempt at any communication with Pedders in this time.

So what have we learned? We know that Pedders will be on this forum and in this community in good times and in bad. We know that mistakes happen and that Pedders sees to it they are corrected. Pedders honors our warranty and is committed to customer service. That doesn't mean it makes everyone happy. There are five in four years that are not. Would I like it to have been four -- absolutely.

If you choose to Pedderise your LX, know that you will recieve the best possible service from our Dealer Network with the support of Pedders corporate. Will you be satisfied with your Pedders bits and installation -- statistically the answer is yes. We are viturally perfect achieving 99.999%. The shame of it is we have failled at all in being perfect in this area. As I have done on this forum and others here is my mobile phone number 616.834.8100. Here is my office number 248.522.8021. Here is my email PGB@PeddersUSA.com If you have any issue wioth Pedders that cannot be resolved at the Dealer level feel free to call me.
 
#44 ·
His life was never in danger. A lower rear shock but was left off or not tightened properly. The lower rear shock bolt is under load even when the car in on a lift with the wheels at full droop.

Note to DCX: You are wasting money on nuts for your lower damper bolts because the bolts clearly stay in all by themselves........

In a worst case scenario the bolt falls out and the shock is trapped in the lower control arm pocket. It makes noise and does little else. That is the fact of the matter.

Note to DCX: You are wasting money on nuts for your lower damper bolts because should the worst happen and they fall it - it only makes a noise.....
Just what would have been your stance 'had' this bolt popped out whilst metgo was accelerating down an on-ramp (using the full potential of the system - of course) and the suspension had suddenly dropped, or popped out (dependent on the dynamics). Think it would still have been fine? What about if he'd gone to a track day?

You/your outlet/workshop were lucky - plain and simple. You got away with a potentially far worse situation purely because somebody checked the work that had been done so poorly. The fact you are defending this workshop beggars belief.......

Whatever your excuses and mitigation leaving a nut off of a suspension system is dumb azz - plain and simple. That nut was there for a VERY GOOD REASON! If it were not necessary, don't you think that DCX would have omitted it?

Yesterday, I hoped upon hope that a Pedders rep wouldn't come onto the forum and start trying to claim that missing securing parts on a suspension system aren't that bigger deal if they are missing from certain places... Oh well - that's that down the drain.....

No true engineer would ever see something like that as trivial - or try and excuse it away as being 'not so bad'. It was a major c0ck-up and any intelligent person will know that......

And if I'd paid 5 grand for this poor standard of service, I'd certainly be expecting to be getting some of that back......
 
#37 · (Edited)
damn reading all of this makes me thank god for the experience that im going through now. i dropped my srt 8 off at a place called vengeance racing in cumming ga and so far so good. as some of you said i have been treated like a king so far. granted it has only been a day for them on my track 2 but like i have said earlier so far so good. we will see this thursday.
 
#38 ·
damn reading all of this makes me thank god for the experience that im going through now. i dropped my srt 8 off at a place called vendeance racing in cumming ga and so far so good. as some of you said i have been treated like a king so far. granted it has only been a day for them on my track 2 but like i have said earlier so far so good. we will see this thursday.
You sure your car is there. I thought I saw it in Knoxville today.:confused:
 
#42 ·
yeah i know its not there. me and ryan know each other so he gives me sh!t about wanting to drive my car after the track 2 is in. well the bee is mine after that. no vengeance has done some work for a few others that i know and they do a top notch job.
 
#48 ·
One other thing Pete forgot to mention was that I was nice enough to put my car on display at the Pedder's booth in Columbus. I had my car over there almost all day and actually stood over there and talked to a lot of people about how much I liked my Pedders and not mentioning anything about my issues with them. Did he ever once thank me for this? No. He almost acts like I owe him because his guys took 10 minutes out of their day to check the nuts on a car that their dealer screwed up that is covered under their warranty. How I see it, I actually did him a favor by letting him use my car for people to see and me actually recommending Pedders to people there.

To all those people at LX and Beyond that I recommend Pedders to, I am truly sorry that I recommend them.
 
#49 ·
One other thing Pete forgot to mention was that I was nice enough to put my car on display at the Pedder's booth in Columbus. I had my car over there almost all day and actually stood over there and talked to a lot of people about how much I liked my Pedders and not mentioning anything about my issues with them. Did he ever once thank me for this? No. He almost acts like I owe him because his guys took 10 minutes out of their day to check the nuts on a car that their dealer screwed up that is covered under their warranty. How I see it, I actually did him a favor by letting him use my car for people to see and me actually recommending Pedders to people there.

To all those people at LX and Beyond that I recommend Pedders to, I am truly sorry that I recommend them.
Dude - I now believe you are telling a much 'more honest' side to this story now, as I have just read this comment on the LX thread...:

"Even bad pub is good for business. Direct inquiries and sales placed through our website have gone up today. I do watch the webstats constantly. Web hits are essentially dollars in the bank. Email from the website and orders are pretty obvious in the office. Not hiding probably helps but the sad fact of the internet is that any pub is good pub."

This guy is so far up his own hoop, the sun definitely don't shine (IMHO)!!!

Having just read your comment in this post above, that it almost seemed as if 'he was doing you a favour' by showing your car, added to the fact that one of his first responses to this problem (publically) was...:

"In my years of business I have found that there are three truths: the customer's truth, the busness owner's truth and the truth that lies some where in the middle. No additional commentary is required nor would it would serve no purpose."

I can honestly say that people should stay away from this particularly poorly informed person. For a start, and as far as I am aware, the 'three thruths' cr@p was not anything to do with business per se, but is a general comment on just about any situation. It has just been regurgitated here as a dig at you - saying (basically) that you are not telling the whole truth. Following that argument, it therefore insinuates that Pedders is also full of cr@p!

Now - having read the responses from Pedders (or its reps) I can safely say that I think the greater amount of cr@p is spewing from Pedders (especially the claim that a missing nut in that area was really no big deal....!). Are people sure they can trust a system designed (I am assuming - I asked if it were designed in-house, or whether the parts were outsourced and never got a reply) by a person who thinks that missing and/or loose suspension components are 'no big deal'...as long as they are in certain areas of non-importance...?

I think that the comment regarding bad publicity being good for business shows the contempt of the man for you and the situation. I am sorry that you have had to go through this, but I really hope others take a long hard look at what has happened here before they take the plunge. If it were me and I had read this attrocious display of poor customer relations, pig headedness, arrogance, poor workmanship and denial, I would most certainly be taking my hard earned cash elsewhere. At least Pete is pleased that your misfortune is ringing his cash register.... Totally disgusting - I'm half thinking that CF should chuck this company off of the sponsorship for the site and tell them to come back when they actually give a carp about their product/customers.......

At the end of the day, the shop was certified by Pedder. Pedder items were installed. The install was a complete and utter disaster, with only good fortune preventing what 'could' have been a particularly nasty incident. Dude - you were lucky - somebody is watching over you. This could have ended in a real tragedy (although therre are some that will believe that there was not a problem....).

I have never seen such a brazen, arrogant stance by a vendor......

Oh - and for the record - when the suspension travels through compression and extension, the force on the bolt in the lower part of the damper bush fluctuates - it is not a constant force. There will be times when the bolt is in shear from the top (the suspension compressing due to a dynamic input - with the damper trying to slow the compression rate) and in shear from below (when the spring quickly changes the direction of motion of the wheel/suspension against the damping effect of the damper). This means there will be periods of dynamic operation where the shear forces on the bolt (or the pressure that was holding it in) will be zero, as the shear forces change from above, to below, or vice versa...... So unless the bolt was an interference fit (which I don't believe it is), the bolt very well could have worked loose..... Hence DCX having a nut on the end of it! For experts in suspension and I assume suspension theory, their lack of basic comprehension on the dynamics of the system is a little scary....
 
#50 ·
Thanks for the support arfur and to everyone else who has been supportive through all of this. I think most people on all the forums I've posted this on are on the same page as afur here and for some strange reason Pedders thinks it isn't a bad thing.
 
#52 · (Edited)
Thanks for the support arfur and to everyone else who has been supportive through all of this. I think most people on all the forums I've posted this on are on the same page as afur here and for some strange reason Pedders thinks it isn't a bad thing.
What surprised me is the lashback on the LX forums. They are normally (for all the right reasons) the first to try and defend a vendor. However, I think Pete has made any kind of defense very difficult. Rob's trying, but to be honest, Pete has yanked the mat from under his feet.

And Rob really should understand that there is a VERY REAL chance that bolt could have fallen out. Not a slim one. In fact, dependent on use of the vehicle (for the time period) it jolly well would have fallen out.

Nuts aren't just for Christmas, you know!

And I'm showing support because you had a bad time and you seem to have been pretty cool about it - up to a point. I think you did the right thing by waiting and I honestly think that you did only post this because of the brush-off you were getting from Pedders.

If it had been me, I'd have probably got Pedders to take the whole lot off, put the old stuff back on and then asked for a full refund. Not that I'd have been in that position in the first place, for my own reasons....

Anyway - good luck and as for the lifetime replacement offer - make sure you fully understand what needs to be wrong with the system for this warranty to be in effect. Does a shock have to leak? Does a spring have to break? Does a bush have to wear? Does the car have to bounce too much?

It's all very easy to be offered things like this, only to find that it takes moving a mountain to get anything replaced under that agreement. I suspect that it will be for material failure only (broken spring/damper etc) - I haven't seen the details - but would hope that it covers any failure (even perceived performance).
 
#51 ·
Down playing a missing nuts is crazy!! You could have wiggled out of this one saying "I'm sorry, I'll talk to the shop. I mis-understood your request for 'compensation'", but no, missing parts are totally A.OK!

Even the real problem starts where it takes them 10-11 days to even start installing the hardware, where each day is "you'll have it tonight", "it will be done by 3" "by 5" "tomorrow" "tomorrow.. again" "everything is fine.. tonight.. I swear" *crickets*

If it takes that long to install hardware, then maybe the shop rushing the job and not fully making sure everything is tight and squared down is not that far fetched to comprehend.
 
#53 ·
wow, ....seriously.....wow...

i just read ALL 8 pages of the lxforums, and i have my view on the issue, but somehow....i'm still speechless on petes actions....

as some of the posts on here, i feel his replies are vague at best and dont really answer what one asks....

but the claims, or actually being NON-CHALANT....

that truly turned my view towards the customer service side as what i refer to as a "sh*t-show"...




in other news http://www.lxforums.com/board/showpost.php?p=1657365&postcount=64

i hope that this is true....:) i still have prothane on my autoX cars control arms and energy suspension on the front swaybar...
 
#54 ·
I've been saving my dog cookies for this mod and planning to get it done later this year. Now? Not gonna happen! I wouldn't give either Pedders or MCP the time of day or a dime of my hard-earned cash. As the airlines seem to like saying: "We know you have a choice and appreciate you choosing us" ... there are always alternatives to shoddy work and irresponsible manufacturers.

I certainly hope that Pedders comes to their senses, gets off their high horse and agrees to step up and make you whole METGO. As for me, let them know that I'm a potential customer who will never go beyond being "potential" and, I suspect that I'm not the only one.

What's truly sad is that it takes publicly demonstrated distaste like this for some companies to budge and, by that time its too little, too late. A manufacturer can get snookered by a shoddy distributer ... happens all the time. But a manufacturer that truly cares about its reputation would never allow the problem to get to this point. They would step up IMMEDIATELY and make the customer whole.

For those reasons and for what I've read here ... count me as being a "would'a ... but won't!"
 
#55 ·
First - there are 3 sides to every story. Only one of them is what REALLY happened, the other 2 are biased points of view. I do however find it funny how many jump on a band wagon without facts or research.

Mike has left out a WHOLE lot out of facts out of this story. But I guess when you are trying to get some of your money back, you do that. With that said, if you can NOT afford to do a MOD – please don’t do it. If you have to borrow money for a MOD – is it really worth it unless you are a professional racer? How you spend your money is totally up to you, I’m not judging, but damn at least be able to afford it.


As we all know, the world is not a perfect place. I know that -IF- MCP makes a mistake they stand behind their work. This is not a new company. This is not a company that does not know what they are doing. This is a company that has built RACE CARS – fabricated race cars – for other people and themselves and raced them for over 30 years while using the BEST of the BEST products.


They have built for the best in the industry. StL IS a racing town…. Some of the BEST racers have come out of St. Louis… Wallace, Schroeder, Trickle...


MCP is a Pedders certified dealer, DiabloSport Certified Tuner, Kooks, Corsa, ProCharger, Brakeman, on and on and on have their own Dyno. They only install the BEST of the BEST - HIGH END top of the line products. They have a LARGE professional shop. Dodge Dealers in St. Louis refer their performance customers to MCP. This is not a shop that said OHHH I think I'll sell Pedders today. MCP also RUNS everything they carry -- first. They test it on their own cars. Then this was a 2 year process to become a certified authorized dealer!



11 days - but Mike caused many of those by not having his parts there on time. 4 of those days were racing days and he was aware of those.


Time frame:
May 24th - Pedders Day in StL – Mike was advised at this time his car was NOT safe to drive. He drove it anyway. His comment was “I’ll have to check on the forum first”.

June 2 – car was dropped off (According to Mike) – not sure how they were expected to start without the PARTS which you were to bring.

June 3 - The work order was signed.

June 4
– Mike delivered his own parts for the car -- late afternoon. This delayed his car getting into the shop until late on Friday, June 5th. No car is put on a lift until all parts are physically in the shop (basically he missed 2 appointments that put him in the back of the line for service in the shop) MCP was waiting for him to deliver his parts – a torque converter and an oil cooler. You left this part out.

While he waited on his parts to arrive other cars were put ahead of him - including mine. Did you really think they would do nothing else while waiting on you to get the parts to them? They are a busy shop, well respected and work on many cars.

June 5-9 - The weekend was an out of town race weekend and no work is done in the shop on those weekends since racing requires a large part of the shop staff. No work began on his car until late Monday June 9th due to a late arrival back to the shop of the race crew. This was made known to everyone that had a car at MCP. MCP was going to MI!

June 9th – install started - Everything under the car required penetrate to loosen the bolts as a result of poor maintenance and abuse, the normal install took much longer than estimated.

June 13 - 2 AM – Finished another customer’s car at 2 AM. This one was MINE.

June 13 - Work was completed on his car on Friday and the car was aligned by the contract alignment shop and test driven.
He was advised to return to the shop after his out of town trip planned for June 14th so that a follow up check to make sure that nothing had occurred on his road trip. He was told to drive it 50 miles and return, he insisted on driving it to Columbus.

Mike was also advised that his exhaust had been removed in one piece, set aside and that upon reinstallation noted where it had been rubbing since it had been originally installed. It was suggested that he return to his original installer to have this adjusted since the exhaust system would have to be disassembled to correct old installation issues. He was also advised that the factory tunnel brace was missing when he took car to MCP. This was also pointed out on Pedders Day. So there was no “I’ll have them fix the exhaust” you were already told to return to whoever installed it incorrectly.


June 14th - Pedders checked out his car in OH and found a minor loose bolts and a loose hose clamp (about a ¼ turn loose) on the transmission cooler. These cooler kits are not sold by MCP they are notorious for leaking because all that holds the rubber hose tight is a small worm gear clamp. This is NOT a product that MCP would carry. It is a quality issue. When I was in OH Mike acted as if Pete was his best friend and went on and on about Pedders to others.

June 15th – Mike returned to St. Louis from Columbus

June 18th – MCP left messages and emailed for Mike to bring the car in

June 24th – Mike finally called MCP back.

June 27th – finally took the car to MCP for the original follow up appointment.

July 02 - MCP was at Gateway International Raceway - last Tuesday. Mike was in the pits with the MCP car & crew and was all about MCP. Telling folks that were looking at the car how great the shop is. MCP ran 12.4 @ 111.

Now I am sure I could go search and find that you were racing this car every weekend and every Tuesday during all this. But I do have other things to do.

If you look at YOUR pic – that you just happen to have a camera to take a pic of a missing nut - there is rust and road wear on the end, but you can see where there WAS a nut. Am I saying you took it off --- HELL NO!!! I am saying there WAS a nut there. Did it work itself off? Maybe. But it WAS there. Maybe you should have taken it BACK after 50 miles as instructed.

As a note: The bolts that are included in the photos are lower shock bolts. Although these bolts have nuts on them, they pose no safety hazard since the strut and shock have tension and compression holding the unit tight.

There WAS a real danger to metgo at Pedders Day and he chose to ignore it until he could "talk to the people on the forum". His words to ME.

MCP has a quality control program to eliminate these issues. A mechanic does the work. Another mechanic checks the work. They send the car to the contract alignment shop for alignment. Then test drive the car and place the car back on the lift to check all work.

You go on and on about the tranny fluid. But if I am not mistaken the ONLY way to check the true level on our cars is at a dealer with a $5k specialized code reading machine. We don’t have a “dip stick”. I know there was no machine at OH. Even MCP takes their Charger to a Dodge dealer to get it checked.


2 weeks ago – Hmmm they told you to bring it back so they could torque everything. Did you? No. But did you run it at the track --- YEP!

You didn’t put yourself at risk with this… but you did before and were ok with it. NOW you are suddenly concerned with safety??? You have made some poor choices when it comes to the maintenance on your car. In your words, “Only my 0-60 time matters”. That has been your focus, not a safe or maintained car.


Do any of you REALLY think I would take my car to somewhere that is not THE BEST? That I would put their NAME on my signature or on my car??? Come on now.


I’m sorry Mike is not happy. I hate to say it, but I believe he has other motives. Those have become apparent. I’m also not going to get into a pissing contest. But praising MCP in person and at the track while playing with the big boys then doing this……… what the hell? This is a real racing team – one of their cars runs 8’s – for FUN.


I’m thrilled with both Pedders AND MCP.

Let me say it again…

I’m thrilled with both Pedders AND MCP.


My car not only LOOKS amazing but RIDES and drives amazing. Pedders is soooo worth it. MCP did a fantastic job on my Pedders install, my Corsa/Kooks/CAI install and will do so again on my ProCharger install as well as Pedders front end bushings.


I’m sorry Mike has issues here, these should have been handled in a professional manner not by trying to get some attention on line. IMHO. You should have picked up the phone as I told you many times during your install week. More than once I said, “call them and ask them”. It's less than 5 miles from where we live - you could have just gone to the shop.


It amazes me that beer drinkers get “beer muscles” it must be that people on line get IP muscles. Because outside of the keyboard --- it is a MUCH different story on this one. But it has sure gotten you a lot of attention. Next time, please, present ALL the facts. You have slammed a HIGH END, top of the line vendor that really didn't deserve it. All this drama....
 
#68 ·
First - there are 3 sides to every story. Only one of them is what REALLY happened, the other 2 are biased points of view. I do however find it funny how many jump on a band wagon without facts or research.

OK - we've been down the 'knowledgeable sayings' route. As for jumping on the bandwagon without facts or research - all the facts and the reserach are in this thread and the one on LXF. A nut was clearly left off of a bolt (very naughty and VERY unprofessional....). Pedders Pete has shot his mouth off in at least two posts that clearly show him as arrogant and confused as to what is actually dangerous and what is not, as well as cast doubts on his customer facing skills.........

Mike has left out a WHOLE lot out of facts out of this story. But I guess when you are trying to get some of your money back, you do that. With that said, if you can NOT afford to do a MOD – please don’t do it. If you have to borrow money for a MOD – is it really worth it unless you are a professional racer? How you spend your money is totally up to you, I’m not judging, but damn at least be able to afford it.

That's as maybe - but as I said - there is a picture of a nut missing off of the suspension and two posts clearly showing Pete's attitude to the incident. What else is now needed? Not sure where the 'if you need money back' stuff has come from. He should be given most, if not all the installation cost back as this appears to have been carried out my a troop of chimps. Hey - that's what is looks like from the piccy. Why, after seeing that complete catastrophy waiting to happen, would I then not believe that there were other components that were not secured properly? What has borrowing money for a mod got to do with this? I have said before that these kits are really only of use to those who race - but I got a slap for that. Now you're saying it!


As we all know, the world is not a perfect place. I know that -IF- MCP makes a mistake they stand behind their work. This is not a new company. This is not a company that does not know what they are doing. This is a company that has built RACE CARS – fabricated race cars – for other people and themselves and raced them for over 30 years while using the BEST of the BEST products.

"If MCP make a mistake they stand behind their work..." What - they stand behind the fact that they make mistakes - I'm sure that's not what you meant - but it reads that way! There is nothing stopping an 'old company' from completely c0cking-up - what's your point? In fact, it is probably more likely that a company that has been around a bit will be more likely to be complacent... Wow - NASA has been around for years and has built Space Shuttles, but things still go pear shaped - what's your point? Oh - and NASA would have had BEST of the BEST of the BEST of the BEST products - so there! :werd:


They have built for the best in the industry. StL IS a racing town…. Some of the BEST racers have come out of St. Louis… Wallace, Schroeder, Trickle...

Sounds like a quotefest from Top Gun in here.......:info-smilie:


MCP is a Pedders certified dealer, DiabloSport Certified Tuner, Kooks, Corsa, ProCharger, Brakeman, on and on and on have their own Dyno. They only install the BEST of the BEST - HIGH END top of the line products. They have a LARGE professional shop. Dodge Dealers in St. Louis refer their performance customers to MCP. This is not a shop that said OHHH I think I'll sell Pedders today. MCP also RUNS everything they carry -- first. They test it on their own cars. Then this was a 2 year process to become a certified authorized dealer!

Really! Then I guess a whole lot of vendors need to be contacting them and making sure that they are still on the ball with their mods! Yes we know - BEST of the BEST yadda, yadda, yadda.... I can still make a fantastically spectacular c0ck-up with the biggest of workshops - I don't get you point. Yeah - and Dodge dealers are all totally reliable as well - they are the BEST of the BEST of auto dealers, aren't they?




Time frame:
May 24th - Pedders Day in StL – Mike was advised at this time his car was NOT safe to drive. He drove it anyway. His comment was “I’ll have to check on the forum first”.

How was it unsafe? What was the problem?


June 9th – install started - Everything under the car required penetrate to loosen the bolts as a result of poor maintenance and abuse, the normal install took much longer than estimated.

B0ll0cks - what a complete crock of chit. Nearly all suspension/underbody nuts and bolts become seized to one degree or another very quickly. Have you seen the environment that they have to work in!!! Can you please (with the aid of pictures if necessary) inform me of exactly WHAT metgo did that was of poor maintenance (or lack of maintenance) which caused you to have to use penetrating oil? And what abuse was it that required the use of penetrating oil????

If you look at YOUR pic – that you just happen to have a camera to take a pic of a missing nut - there is rust and road wear on the end, but you can see where there WAS a nut. Am I saying you took it off --- HELL NO!!! I am saying there WAS a nut there. Did it work itself off? Maybe. But it WAS there. Maybe you should have taken it BACK after 50 miles as instructed.

Whether it was missing when he took the car, or fell off due to not being tightened properly is neither here, nor there. I would say that not even bothering to put it on would be a tad worse on the 'chimp' scale, but the end result was the same - an unsecured bolt on the bottom of the damper. And - if that was the original bolt, that was re-used for the install, there WOULD be a witness mark where the nut had previously been fitted.......:notallthere::notallthere::notallthere: Jeezzzz.

As a note: The bolts that are included in the photos are lower shock bolts. Although these bolts have nuts on them, they pose no safety hazard since the strut and shock have tension and compression holding the unit tight.

Yep - another person who doesn't know what he's talking about WRT the dynamics of the suspension system....:SM030:.

There WAS a real danger to metgo at Pedders Day and he chose to ignore it until he could "talk to the people on the forum". His words to ME.

Ignore what? What had he been told?

MCP has a quality control program to eliminate these issues. A mechanic does the work. Another mechanic checks the work. They send the car to the contract alignment shop for alignment. Then test drive the car and place the car back on the lift to check all work.

Well - obviously their QA control programme isn't worth the toilet paper it's written on! In fact, if this is the case, then not only did one person not put the nut on, the person who was supposed to check the 'quality' missed it! Seriously - you are not helping MCP's cause by showing what a great QA process they have (in this case)....


You didn’t put yourself at risk with this… but you did before and were ok with it. NOW you are suddenly concerned with safety??? You have made some poor choices when it comes to the maintenance on your car. In your words, “Only my 0-60 time matters”. That has been your focus, not a safe or maintained car.

Oh dear God - too depressing to even comment on.....


Do any of you REALLY think I would take my car to somewhere that is not THE BEST? That I would put their NAME on my signature or on my car??? Come on now.

I don't even know what this means....^^^^^^


I’m sorry Mike is not happy. I hate to say it, but I believe he has other motives. Those have become apparent. I’m also not going to get into a pissing contest. But praising MCP in person and at the track while playing with the big boys then doing this……… what the hell? This is a real racing team – one of their cars runs 8’s – for FUN.

OK - they have not become apparent to me - care to elaborate? Was he praising them before he found the issues, or after?


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