| I usually don't get on here much and up talk or down talk vendors and believe me I could ~ I know enough good and bad on them all ... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Short story - I trust Ash and I am not a trusting person. If you paid for the intercooler piping and / or massives - you will not be screwed. If you need the items like yesterday - you probably didn't make a wise choice up front on a pre-production item. If you can wait for the product and you have high expectations - they will be met and if not, Ash historically has found a way to make the situation right.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been speaking to ASH about this intercooler piping product as my Demon Z build is dependant on the availability of this product. I want to share a few little known facts. History 1) The set used for the original patterns were physically taken off of my Demon Z (which is delayed by this). Ash talked to me about this ahead of time as he wanted to deliver this product ASAP. To my personal detriment I agreed. As my inbox kept getting flooded on when they are available, I could only imagine how bad his inbox was. 2) Learning from past experiences, he chose to use an outside source (USA based) to mass produce instead of building them himself (which he learned impacted intercooler availability in the pass). Ash shopped around with several fabricators (sending his designs out and discussing turn around time frames and cost. This in itself took time (reviewing samples, getting quotes, discussing other misc information, etc). 3) Ash developed a relationship with a manufacturer that in hindsight over promised and under delivered. If you are in the manufacturing world, you understand that Nov / Dec are not good months to expect high productivity due to year end demands and PTO / vacation timeframes of one's senior staff. So news flash, they missed their production date. At this point, to pull out would delay production even longer. He did start to develop a backup plan and one of our vendors stepped up to assist if needed. Ash has never claimed to be a business man and he has never screwed anyone over and he is loyal to standing by his word. Ash is a fabricator and is meticulous to his detriment at times ~ agreed there - no argument. Let’s be clear - he can improve on the customer service end. No argument there either.
Over the years he has taken steps: initially he had his wife helping out, he recently took on an employee and opened a phone line. Cost Technically he increased his operating expenses and still did not increase his product’s prices. Most companies also increase pricing with the change of the year to alleviate inflation. Ash has not done that (to my knowledge). There also is the initial cost (that I paid some of) for R+D and testing of the product to quantify the benefits in addition to his personal time (time is money). All this is considered when determining the final sales price (and no, I do not get a % of any of the sales). The price is not bone cheap but it is fair. If you do not have these expenses, of course you can offer the product at a cheaper price. Nothing but the facts When Ash presents facts, I have never seen such a pack of jackals question his results as compared to facts that are presented by other vendors (that are later recanted / proven wrong by said vendor own mouths ~ I go back to 1999, I can show a bunch of links to prove this [BOV, turbo efficiencies / flow maps, 3 inch exhaust, EBC, ECU upgrades, just to name a few). Ash going out of business ? Ash is trustworthy (not going out of business like GMS, GINN, Boost Solutions), not a charlatan (Steamy Z, classified posters that rip people off), and doesn't tweak the findings to support his needs (I am not going here today). Ash currently has about 30k of my property in his possession. I can personally tell you that all my items are safe and still in the packing that I provided (meaning they have not mysterious disappeared on another customer's car). Look at SZ, COZ, Z1, IPP. They all got to be where they are at through previous failure and or experience. I would argue that the most “successful” person as defined by longevity / contribution / and no backlash on tt.net is YugoBernie to be honest (thanks maybe to Harry Y. / Spddemon13 and Got rice from back in the day). Outside of Bernie (lol), one needs to use their god given right and chose who to spend their money with and what to spend their money on and hope that you have a favorable experience. All these companies for the most part are out of state. What are you going to do, drive out of state and start a legal war? I can tell you from personal experience, you will have better things to do with your time and money. Learn and move on. SZ failed on their first business attempt. COZ and IPP learned from seeing the failures of previous Z shops in their foray. Z1 learned from their mistakes without folding (golf clap). Ash is not perfect and neither are we all. The most important thing is what he has and other vendors done for the Z community over the years and the question does he strive (we can debate successfully or not in another thread) to have improvements year over year? Why can’t we all just get along and let competition equalize everything This "bitchin" crap needs to stop. The only losers are Z owners. We need diversity. We are a very small group and are from a revenue point of view are a pretty small / insignificant bunch (as compared to EVO, STI, Vettes, Mustangs, Supras, etc). I learned this painfully after a couple of come to Jesus meetings with Greg (SZ) and Russell (Z1). What is the end game? Give a few vendors the monopoly of Z items and / or be forced to use JWT / Stillen again? We need to embrace new innovation and let the products speak for themselves. We don’t need to attack anyone unless malicious intent is proven. Competition will eliminate inferiority on its own …
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