Ctsc D.o.a.

[BioBanker]

I dont believe that youre being impatient either. Afterall, the unit appears to have been defective right out of the box. It is not like you drove it and then a problem showed up.

I would ask CT when their next order of chargers is coming in. It would be frustrating the see a few posts show up on PRIME as new units are being delivered while yours is in Sweden being used as a foot rest for some supermodel. CT's hands seem bound by a lack of inventory right now, but that could change.

 

[Mingus]

while yours is in Sweden being used as a foot rest for some supermodel.

Supermodels? Definitely call Sweden!:biggrin:

 

[CL65 Captain]

You know what we call a business that sells 10 of something and only has 8 in inventory... an airline. :biggrin:

 

[Zennsx]

Any updates???

 

[TURBO2GO]

Yes, as of yesterday, Comptech finaly got a new supercharger and are shipping it out to me. The warranty on the unit was denied by autorotor as they claim a "foreign" object (plastic) entered the unit and ruined it. Being that the unit never spun and siezed IMMEDIATELY, it makes no sense to me nor to Mitch, who has done at least a dozen installs with these and is an authorized and very much liked dealer of Comptech. We are still waiting for this plastic "sample" and a report from autorotor who just is taking their sweet time in getting this to us (guy that was doing it went on vacation, then it was forgotten about completely).

Nate at Comptech really stepped up and told me that he and Mechanic's Direct would cover the cost of the new supercharger for me as I am obviously not at fault. He has been very helpful and trying very hard to get this issue resolved for me. So has Mitch at Mechanic's Direct, keeping my car in his shop for 3 months now, and making regular phone calls to help me get the issue resolved.

I am hoping to receive this SC soon and be on the road. I am not happy at all about the fact that Comptech did not have a single backup SC in stock for an event like this, and that I have been without my car for close to 3 months now (it will be by the time I get it back). This was a big slip on their part.

Having said this, I will say that I never received any grief or finger pointing from Comptech. I was talking to Nate there almost on a daily basis and although he had no answer for me on many occasions, he was trying his best and was fully appreciative of my situation. Now they did finaly cover the item for me even if autorotor did not. I am not sure if many other companies would have done this. Furthermore I think between he and mitch they are covering the extra cost of removal and re-installation and they took care of all the shipping charges.

So its a situation that truly sucks, and there were mistakes that were made. But overall, it seems so far to be handled. I am awaiting the arrival of the new SC so I can put on all these other aftermarket parts I have been buying while I have been surfing here without my car! lol...

 

[BioBanker]

Well, good to hear that the end is probably near.

It does sound messy though.

Lets home the lone standing charger doesnt get lost.

 

[nsxinkl]

Turbo, I share your pain and misery in waiting for your supercharger to be replaced and installed on your car. I have just bought a CTSC and am waiting impatiently for it to be delivered to me in good condition so that i may join the brotherhood of FI.

 

[Viper Driver]

I'm planning on going the FI route sometime in the next year or so, and it really scares me to hear stories like this. I'm nowhere near as patient as you are, and I would've bought a plane ticket to Sweden long ago if this had happened to me.

I know the Autorotor unit is supposed to be better than the Whipple, but this is now two stories in a row here on Prime where dealing with Autorotor for warranty issues has been a major issue and created a substantial delay. In your case Comptech seemed to know before they even shipped it out to Autorotor than they were going to replace your supercharger. So why did they have to wait until they heard back from Autorotor in the first place before they sent you a new one? That confuses me. In any case, I might now be more inclined to go with a used Whipple unit just to avoid the headache with Autorotor if I were to have an issue with my CTSC. IMHO Comptech should address this issue, because it's happened at least twice now. While I'm happy that Comptech is willing to stand behind their products, it's not unfair to ask them to be a little more expedient about it especially when they already know that they are going to honor the warranty on your CTSC. I know how upsetting it is to have a motor torn apart (and an undrivable car) out in the garage for a long time.

I understand that Comptech is dealing with a rather small market with the NSX, so it might not be feasible to keep a bunch of superchargers in stock to handle any warranty issues. However, for as much as this supercharger costs, surely the premium we're paying for these would allow for there to be at least a couple of extras sitting around in case someone has a problem with one. I'd hate to have to wait as long as you have if I were to have an issue with mine.

Anyways, hope that everything goes flawlessly from here on out! :smile:

 

[SaberX]

Glad to hear that this is being resolved in a positive way. Despite time delays, in the end Comptech has done the right thing and taken care of their customers. That makes them a very valuable vendor for the NSX community.

 

[TURBO2GO]

ViperDriver, like I said the reason I did not get an SC sooner is because Comptech had none in stock. So even after they examined it, and had they decided to send a replacement sooner, they had none. This was my only gripe with Comptech.

Certainly this has been inconvenient for the lack of a better word, but I would bet that many other companies would have come back and said its somehow my fault... that I got some piece of trash in there. They could have just blamed the shop, the shop could have blamed the vendor, I could have been in limbo forever.

Right now, I feel this was simply a defective Autorotor unit. I am fairly confident of that with what I know.

 

[Matt_337]

Dave

Just face it. The "foreign" material that caused the refusal by Autorotor was the painting of the unit you did to it :biggrin:

I'm glad to see CT step up and send you out another unit.

 

[TURBO2GO]

Dave

Just face it. The "foreign" material that caused the refusal by Autorotor was the painting of the unit you did to it :biggrin:

I'm glad to see CT step up and send you out another unit.

LOL... I think you are right.

 

[queenlives]

kudo's to ct & crew on the final resolution.

 

[Da Hapa]

Yes, as of yesterday, Comptech finaly got a new supercharger and are shipping it out to me. The warranty on the unit was denied by autorotor as they claim a "foreign" object (plastic) entered the unit and ruined it. Being that the unit never spun and siezed IMMEDIATELY, it makes no sense to me nor to Mitch, who has done at least a dozen installs with these and is an authorized and very much liked dealer of Comptech. We are still waiting for this plastic "sample" and a report from autorotor who just is taking their sweet time in getting this to us (guy that was doing it went on vacation, then it was forgotten about completely).

Nate at Comptech really stepped up and told me that he and Mechanic's Direct would cover the cost of the new supercharger for me as I am obviously not at fault. He has been very helpful and trying very hard to get this issue resolved for me. So has Mitch at Mechanic's Direct, keeping my car in his shop for 3 months now, and making regular phone calls to help me get the issue resolved.

I am hoping to receive this SC soon and be on the road. I am not happy at all about the fact that Comptech did not have a single backup SC in stock for an event like this, and that I have been without my car for close to 3 months now (it will be by the time I get it back). This was a big slip on their part.

Having said this, I will say that I never received any grief or finger pointing from Comptech. I was talking to Nate there almost on a daily basis and although he had no answer for me on many occasions, he was trying his best and was fully appreciative of my situation. Now they did finaly cover the item for me even if autorotor did not. I am not sure if many other companies would have done this. Furthermore I think between he and mitch they are covering the extra cost of removal and re-installation and they took care of all the shipping charges.

So its a situation that truly sucks, and there were mistakes that were made. But overall, it seems so far to be handled. I am awaiting the arrival of the new SC so I can put on all these other aftermarket parts I have been buying while I have been surfing here without my car! lol...

1) As I've said before, you're a much more patient man than I am. Good on you for that.
2) I'm very glad that it looks like the end might finally be getting near for you and you're going to get your car back on the road.
3) I'm impressed with Mechanics Direct, no doubt. Great service and I admit that seeing their ad in NSX Driver going forward will make me think about how great they've been to you.
4) What does worry me is what would have happened if you put 10, 100 or even 1,000 miles on your car before it crapped out. In this instance, you were almost lucky that the autorotor failed so quickly. There's not much wiggle room for Comptech or Autorotor to argue about fault. Put a few miles on the unit and the nonsense would/could ensue.

If Comptech reads these boards, and I hope they do, this is really making me think long and hard about going FI on my car.

 

[jimmycinla]

Dave

Just face it. The "foreign" material that caused the refusal by Autorotor was the painting of the unit you did to it....

.
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"foreign" object (plastic) revealed! ...
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.
.

j

 

[TURBO2GO]

.
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"foreign" object (plastic) revealed! ...
.
.
.

j

LOL... I was wondering where that little thing went!

 

[Da Hapa]

It is easy to find excuse. If I remember correctly it was virually impossible to get you to buy the Cantrell AIS, took over 1 year. You are not the type of guy who mod cars. Even if there were no known problems, you are highly unlike to go this extent, you see, I am usually pretty good at mind reading:smile: :wink: .

Let be realistic and give credit where it is due. Comptech is about as reliable and as good of vendor as it gets. There are perhaps over 100+ Autorotor units on the road. 2 known problems caused by foreign object, zero motor problems. Can't say the same for other FI options. There are always 2 sides of story. The important part is that in both occassions it ended with happy ending. No other vendor would go this far for their customers.

I know your comments were tongue in cheek but they're actually not true. I've modded the crap out of some cars, and I've left others bone stock. But what I've learned is to be very careful with the changes that you make because sometimes the outcome can be disasterous. Besides, I'm a banker... I'm supposed to be conservative.:tongue:

Comptech has worked hard to gain a good reputation. I don't doubt that. What I was hoping they'd see from this is that Turbo is one heck of a patient guy... most folks wouldn't be so understanding. And while they're doing the right thing in the end, I hope they appreciate how their actions and decisions can affect the attitudes of current and potential customers (like myself).

 

[Da Hapa]

...The questions let me to believe that you are someone who is very very very very very and very concerned with every every every and every little detail...

Well, you know what they say about assumptions...:tongue:

All kidding asside, you're right about one thing, I am quite concerned about every little detail. I make my living by being good at due diligence and because of that, I rarely (and I mean rarely) do anything unless I've researched the crap out of it and analyzed every little detail.

And to be clear, my point was not to throw mud at Comptech. Instead it was to encourage/remind them (and all other vendors) that there are a lot of us on this board who watch threads. Those vendors that stand behind quality products (which I believe Comptech has a strong record of doing) will earn my business and I suspect the business of others like me when we decide to mod or change our cars. Those that don't, won't.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I don't know if I am that patient, but what choice have I had really? if there is no supercharger, there is no supercharger. My choice (and I did actually think about this) was to put the car back to stock, be out all the labor costs, and then try to have it out with nopi or comptech about getting a refund on a product that was D.O.A. That could have been very messy anyway, although I am fairly sure that if things went to court, I would prevail.

This is a very tricky area where 5 parties are involved. Me, Nopi, the installing shop, Comptech, and Autorotor. We all have had this defective supercharger in our posession at some point. Now you have to figure out and prove whose fault it was that the unit was dead.

Lucky for me, Comptech and Mechanics Direct stepped up, worked hand in hand, and took me out of this loop. They are essentialy giving me a new supercharger at their own expense (I can't even say enough about Mechanics Direct for doing this) and then taking their case to autorotor.

The only thing I can fault Comptech for is not having units in stock for a backup. Other than that, I don't think any other manufacturer would have handled it this well.

So I have been without a car for three months.... it sucks... but what can I do. No amount of me being upset and making nasty phone calls or accusations would change a thing. This is part of modding a car. It has its drawbacks. If one can't handle slight setbacks then they should stick to keeping things stock.

I am just glad that I took my car to Mitch's shop and not an Acura dealership. I don't even want to think what would have happened then. Choose your installing shop carefuly exactly for when things like this happen.

 

[goldNSX]

I'm just wondering why people defend CT in the cases we observed here. The CT is BIG-$$$ and there are problems observed in several cases. There's no excuse that they're 'handbuilt' (or whatever) like we've read a little bit more up. These could all have been installment faults but these could have also been inherent fault of the unit. Ask Honda if they would accept a supplier with a fault rate like we see with the new CT. You'll get a short answer consisting of 2 letters.

 

[BioBanker]

How many issues are you aware of? I know of fewer than 5, probably only 2.

That's a very low and acceptable rate compared to the 100+ autorotor units I bet they've sold. And in THIS case, CT ate the cost of the unit - they didnt get reimbursed by Autorotor but provided a new unit anyways. At least how I read it.

To me, while this took a long time for poor Dave and CT definately should have inventory, they should be PRAISED for giving him a new unit.

 

[goldNSX]

How many issues are you aware of? I know of fewer than 5, probably only 2.

That's a very low and acceptable rate compared to the 100+ autorotor units I bet they've sold. And in THIS case, CT ate the cost of the unit - they didnt get reimbursed by Autorotor but provided a new unit anyways. At least how I read it.

To me, while this took a long time for poor Dave and CT definately should have inventory, they should be PRAISED for giving him a new unit.

This is actually the statistical illusion I was talking about: '100+ autorotor units they've sold'. You can't compute a failure rate if you don't know all 100+ Autorotors, only CT does. If you only know of 5 and 2 go wrong that's maybe a very bad sample orelse it should let you think about it.
The sample is also 'biased' in perspective because people who had problems with it will open a thread, people with no problems at all won't. Calling on a one-digit numbers of no problems is statistically nonsense or even bader: 'My buddy has no problems with it, so it's a good unit.' is completely nonsense.

I look it from the other point of view and would say they should be bashed more FOR NOT SENDING HIM A NEW UNIT for so long. I just can't understand some people pampering CT even if something goes wrong. But that's maybe a cultural difference.

 

[nsxsupra]

I don't believe in cheering a fight. Do you?

Ask Honda if they would accept a supplier with a fault rate like we see with the new CT. You'll get a short answer consisting of 2 letters.

Actually 3 letters and with a huge smile:smile:

Our late model Honda Accord had inigition switch recall. Check Honda recall data. You can do a search on line. While Honda is reliable, they are by no mean perfect and problem free.

NSX had snap ring issue that effect good portion of the cars. There are still many snap rings cars that are not fixed by Honda. Window regulator, climate control issues.

02+ NSXes have issues with oem clutch that went bad prematurely. I know of 3 locally, 1 of which Jon Martin went out of his way and got it replaced under warranty for the customer, even though customer bought the car at another dealership. Honda would be delighted to accept 2% failure rate on parts. Do Honda always have parts in stock?

There are definitely at least 30 CTSC equipped NSXes in Southern Cal alone. Zero failure yet that I am aware of, the word gets around, if 1 fails, everyone know.

 

[ryan1926]

I just wanted to chime in and also say that for every bad experience, there are a ton of good experiences that go unreported...kind of the like the daily news! :smile: It is really unfortunate that this has happened to "TURBO2GO," but it appears that Comptech has resolved this issue to the best of their ability. Like NSXSUPRA's comment, I can think of at least 6-8 NSX's in my immediate area running the Autorotor unit with no problems. It's just unfortunate that a few bad experiences (which seem to have been resolved in a rather fair manner) cloud all of the good experiences. I guess all of the other happy CTSC customers just have to speak up! :biggrin:

 

[goldNSX]

I don't believe in cheering a fight. Do you?

No, I don't either but there should be no pampering on the other side.

I never said Hondas are free of 'problems'. I would not call them problems either. Have a look at the other brands and then we're talking about real problems.

Have a look at the Taguchi method (google) and you'll know how the Japanese reached their quality. It's not that there are more engineers it was more the fact that the Taguchi method was widely accepted and used in Japanese industries by these engineers. It was the use of this method and the use of automatisation (roboters) to lower the tolerances (and variances) of a part produced.