ESS - The Big Rip Off

[kaninja]

Gents,

Be careful when dealing with ESS. Just look at the nightmare I have had with them for the past few months. They have really made me start to dislike my car. To make matters worse, they refuse to refund me for the tune which they sold me in pre-production form and caused my car to go nuts with all types of CELs and power cuts (which I have now reflashed back to stock tune) and they also sold me their ESS HFC Downpipes to resolve the problem and it never did. They have promised to refund me for the DPs in their email which is attached but they refuse to refund me nor answer my emails! This despite me being a loyal customer for the past 7 years and having ordered at least 6 products from them.

Guys, if you have any doubts about any part of my story, reply with your questions and I will post the relevant email thread to prove it. I have nothing to hide. ESS is the one screwing me over.

This message to ESS:::::

Shame on you ESS for treating me like this! Shame on you for not honoring your own word - I mean the bloody email is attached for everyone to see in which you promise to refund me if the problem doesn't go away and I proved that to you. I even offered to provide you with a dealer print out to prove that the car has been reflashed!

Roman, just man up and take care of business and stop the BS!!!!!!! This is the last thing I expected from you guys.

More details can be found in this thread in M5board:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/f10...g-rip-off.html

[q8kamikaze]

Heeeey bro , long time no see man ?
This is a bad news ! You always been i loyal Customer for ESS since your E60 M5 ! How could they treat you like this ? Promiss is a promiss if things doesn't goes well they should settele the issue not run away ! Roman should chime in and face it.

[variable229]

I was responding to your m5board thread, it's not right what ESS is doing. All these aftermarket tuners are BMW firmware hacks. I completely feel horrible for your situation as I am sure you paid good money for a tune to work.

ESS is treating customers as liars/criminals before putting any faith or trust that there was a software problem with their 1.0 product.

[stealth.pilot]

Quite frankly all these tuner shops are scrappy penny pinching operations. I avoid them as much as possible.

But to use a tuning shop in a different country is simply idiotic!

Yes they owe you your money back. But you also somewhat deserve this for pissing around with an overseas vendor trying to improve a car that was already made perfect by some of the best engineers in the world.

[sales@ESSTuning]

Pretty simple. You purchased the first tune file we made for the M5 before it was officially released to the public. You had been asking me about the tune for months before it was released and you wanted to be one of the first to run it. After you ran the tune for awhile you reported that you threw a MAF error code that we had not seen in our test car or any other customers car that was running the same file. You were instructed to send your ECU in "at our expense" so we could update your file to the newer version and adjust your MAF calibrations so your car would not throw the error. You refused. Weeks later you claimed you flashed the car back to stock and you wanted a full refund. You were instructed to send the ECU in so we could check it out and confirm it was flashed back to stock. You once again refused. I'm sorry but if you do not want to work with us and follow our policy for support then there is nothing we can do for you.

As far as headers when you first claimed you were having issues we told you to troubleshoot the issue you would need to remove your homemade headers and install your stock ones or a quality header from a reputable vendor. You made the decision to purchase ours. No one told you you had to purchase our headers you could have put your stock headers in for testing or purchased another vendors. That was your decision. In your email it clearly states that if you install your stock headers and the problem goes away and comes back with our headers installed we would give you a refund for your header purchase. Your car was never tested with stock headers and our tune to my knowledge and you never requested a refund for our headers based on any testing results supplied to us. When you called me saying you had no interest in sending in the ECU for a free update or to verify it had actually been flashed back to stock you made 0 mention of headers or any reference to a refund for them. If you want to return our headers you are more than welcome to send them in and we will issue you a refund if they are in good condition.

The fact that you keep posting only parts of your story and making up the rest in an attempt to slander our company and you have your friends making accounts on different forums posting as "regular forum members" to support you makes me believe that you are not a very honest or ethical person. Despite this we have continued to offer you support.

[MCarsFan]

Good to hear the other side.

[M5Rlz]

I read through some pages on the m5board thread my thoughts are:

If ESS is offering:
-rental
-repair
-overnight ship

That to me more than meets customer service offerings... I get its a massive nightmare downtime wise, but again we all kinda know the situation with the m5 and not being able to remotely flash tune and all that.


I get why you'd love to just cut your losses but honestly you've gotta give them a chance to correct the issue first... If after it gets sent back you're still dealing with this than I honestly would expect ESS to give you a full refund.

I don't know what was said in the original dispute but if only now you're being offered these solutions after its come to light then I will agree thats bad customer service, but if right off the bat they offered all that to you to help correct the problem downtime aside, then I can't fault them.

[MCarsFan]

Originally Posted by 335iRlz

I read through some pages on the m5board thread my thoughts are:

If ESS is offering:
-rental
-repair
-overnight ship

That to me more than meets customer service offerings... I get its a massive nightmare downtime wise, but again we all kinda know the situation with the m5 and not being able to remotely flash tune and all that.


I get why you'd love to just cut your losses but honestly you've gotta give them a chance to correct the issue first... If after it gets sent back you're still dealing with this than I honestly would expect ESS to give you a full refund.

I don't know what was said in the original dispute but if only now you're being offered these solutions after its come to light then I will agree thats bad customer service, but if right off the bat they offered all that to you to help correct the problem downtime aside, then I can't fault them.

+1

[iamvietness]

+2

Originally Posted by MCarsFan

+1

[patwusmc]

[AstonMartian777]

They didn't refund money ? Shame on them I heard guys like AMS and other reputable companies refunded the money, because they are aware the tune is not working right, I'm sure ESS is aware as well but they're just putting this dude through hell. I will never deal with ESS.

[Hammer91]

These type of threads make me even more happy with my Dinan unit. I do not know all the circumstances in this case, but having a dealer require me to pull the ECU's out of my car and mail them in to him just to "prove" I am being truthful about stock reflashing by itself would preclude me getting involved with ESS.

[DrKevM5]

Originally Posted by iamvietness

+2

+3

[kaninja]

Guys, ESS has stepped up to the plate. They are gonna send me a piggy back in place of the tune and give me a full refund on the downpipes.
Thanks for all your support.

[ARC550]

Nice!! +1

[M-bitious]

Then it is time to change the title of your posting.

[MCarsFan]

Originally Posted by M-bitious

Then it is time to change the title of your posting.

+1

[bm5bullit]

Originally Posted by MCarsFan

+1

+2

I have never had anything but good products, product support, tech advice, etc., from Roman and the guys at ESS. I really knew there was something quite right when I first read this but I knew it would be resolved. I met the guys also at Bimmerfest a couple of years ago and I know they are 100% committed to the BMW cause.

[momos750]

Originally Posted by bm5bullit

+2

I have never had anything but good products, product support, tech advice, etc., from Roman and the guys at ESS. I really knew there was something quite right when I first read this but I knew it would be resolved. I met the guys also at Bimmerfest a couple of years ago and I know they are 100% committed to the BMW cause.

+3

If issues are being resolved and you are satisfied with the outcome, I would recommend changing the Title of this thread.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Glad to hear issue was resolved

[desertfox73]

Originally Posted by M-bitious

Then it is time to change the title of your posting.

Or mods delete the thread...it served its purpose.

[FenixMike]

Originally Posted by AstonMartian777

They didn't refund money ? Shame on them I heard guys like AMS and other reputable companies refunded the money, because they are aware the tune is not working right, I'm sure ESS is aware as well but they're just putting this dude through hell. I will never deal with ESS.

Im not aware of any company in the world that will just send you a refund after you installed their product, then insisted it didnt work with your own custom components they didnt supply, and didnt at least want to do some sort of research on why it failed and if it was even their fault. That goes for any aftermarket component whether car related or not.