August 2011... There I am, deciding if I should take my first steps into the modding world. Having never done it before, it took a while to convince myself. In the end, I pulled the trigger as a birthday present to myself.
I saw a sweet deal on the sponsor's forum and I sent a private message to DREV LSX (D Revolution Motorsports) asking if he shipped to PR. It was quickly answered with a yes, so I took out the CC and called him on the phone and I ended up ordering an ATI Procharger Complete Kit, Pedders Xa CoilOvers, Pedders Front & Rear Swaybars /w endlinks and Pedders stainless steel brake lines. Asked for a tracking number and told that as soon as they shipped it would be sent. I was so happy, I cried! I was going to be the dad of a Procharger Pedderized Camaro
Sept 2011... My birthday came and went, still no parts and no tracking number :( . So I kept calling every week to get ahold of Johnny. Never got ahold of him directly, always had to leave 3-5 voicemails and then he returned my calls. The order of the day was always a version of "we are missing a few parts, they should ship soon and you should have them in the next 2 weeks." I asked which parts were missing but always a "just a few parts" variety of answers. Two weeks later... No parts and no tracking number. Called again and left 3-5 voicemails along the course of 3-4 days. The call eventually got returned and.... "We are missing a few parts, they should ship soon, should have them in the next few weeks."
October 2011 (toward the end)... Still no parts and no tracking numbers after being in "contact" with Johnny every ~2 weeks through the previous mentioned “protocol”. This time I was told it was some Pedders parts that were missing, so I sent a message to Justice Pete about my situation and viola! Next week the CoilOver arrive (I don’t know if it was pure coincidence or not but I was glad). I kept calling DREV LSX and kept hearing the "we are missing a few parts, they should ship soon, should have them in the next few weeks" variety every 1 to 2 weeks until March 2012!!! Needless to say, multiple appointments were made with the installing shops for the different parts, and all had to be cancelled
February 2012 (late)... I got ahold of a tracking number! Aleluya!
March 2012 (early)... Finally! The supercharger kit arrives. I'm so happy! “It is all over” I think to myself. But nope, that was short lived. There was no sight of the brake lines, endlinks or sway bars. No worries! I'm a happy boy! Let’s go mount this baby up. Called again the shop and set the appointment for 2 weeks to install the supercharger. The day before the appointment day I look excitedly all over the kit... and what is this? No handheld tuner in sight... No injectors in sight... SIGHS! Another cancelled appointment. Needless to say I won’t ever dare show my face in the shop after so many cancellations; they probably think I was playing them.
Called DREV LSX again, as usual, about 3-5 voicemails until he answered. Explained the situation. I pay for a Complete System and got sent a Tuner System. I was told there was nothing that could be done, that Procharger would not sent the tuner or the injectors that he would give his word to send the injectors and pay a local shop for a tune. Fine I guess, nothing that can be done at this time.
April 2012... After the usual call to check in every 1-2 weeks, and the usual process of getting ahold. The injectors arrived (DEKA 107962) as well as the brake lines. No swaybars/endlinks in sight. But what's this? I ordered some Pedders brake lines (colored) and got sent some Russell brake lines. Called DREV LSX again (same procedure) and he offered to receive back my wrongly sent brake lines and send the correct ones; but after all this agony, I decided not to deal with this anymore and just accept the fact that I at least had some brake lines in my hands.
July 2012. It only took about 2 months of weekly calls to get sent the number of the tuning shop that supposedly Procharger recommended. Plus I got an update on the swaybars and endlinks. Apparently DHL lost the box with the swaybars and endlinks. I was never sent a tracking number so I can’t confirm or deny this.
September 2012... More than a year after ordering and paying. Still no sway bars nor endlinks. And no updates since June 2012. Needless to say I gave up on ever seeing those. We mounted the supercharger kit and got ahold of a different tuner because they never answered the phone at the phone number I was recommended by D Revolution Motorsports. Extremely easy I might add, we installed it up between 2 persons, took about 15 hours combined between two days (and about 5-6 of those hours were figuring how to get the crank pulley out without the correct tool, at the end we found one!).
Today after almost completing everything, and talking yesterday with the new tuner to have the car seen tomorrow... The only thing left was to install the injectors. Well, what do you know? The fuel injectors mounted well, but the wire harness has a different socket!! Apparently our cars are USCAR/EV6, and the fuel injectors sent are EV1! No adapter was sent. Can't seem to get ahold of Johnny, as usual, neither through phone or text msg. I'm left without a car until Friday (with some luck!) until Summit can ship me some EV6 to EV1 adapters. I am hoping it is the "Caspers Electronics 109076" I ordered
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CEI-109076/ or I am going to be S.O.L without a car for a longer time then!
I decided to post this as a way to vent, and for people out there that have not gone through this, can learn from my mistakes, as I can’t do anything else. I should have posted this sooner, but I didn't want to before making sure I was going to get my parts in my hands first. Right now, I gave up on that idea. It has been a horrible experience for someone new to get into the modding scene for the first time. I had to involve the CC company halfway along the way as there was a point I actually thought I was never going to see anything. And thank god I payed with the CC, because he wanted it to be a direct bank to bank transfer. Looking back, it all looks so surreal, a kind of movie horror/comedy style that I still can’t believe I waited patiently for more than 1 year. I will seriously consider it before even thinking about modding a next car. I am also sure nobody would wait this long as I have, but he is a very “friendly” person to talk on the phone and nods you into giving him the chance to wait, since it’s only “2 more weeks.”