powerhaus experience...MUST READ

ericwitte · 08-21-2007, 07:36 PM

while i was in the midst of building my rs clone, decided to have my trans rebuilt with closer ratios...called powerhaus for gear ratio advice, spoke with someone who shall remain anonymous, who gave me a recommendation for top 3 gears for my 3.2/915 with 6500 rpm limit, for 145 mph top end. I proceeded to buy 2 from powerhaus, as my rebuilder had the top ratio available. Fast forward a year later, driving my completed 911 for the first time, speedo not yet hooked up, when I notice that the rpm drops are a little close and I'm hitting redline in 4th while driving in parkway traffic...search gear charts online, and discover that the recommended gearing gives me a top end of 107 mph! Heartbroken, I call Powerhaus. Eric informs me that the person I spoke with no longer works there, but assures me that he will figure a way to work it out. Takes him a couple of weeks, but comes back with a truly incredible response: They will have a local (to me) shop pull the tranny, pallet it, ship to them. Powerhaus will rebuild, replace top 3 gears, and ship back (2 -day fedex both ways). The local shop will reinstall for a total cost of $600, and powerhaus will charge me $700. The tranny is being shipped back today. Eric has been incredibly professional and responsive. They could have made any number of excuses, instead went above and beyond, taking back 2 gears and selling me the third at cost, while rebuilding and shipping for next to nothing. Clearly, this is a shop that cares about customer satisfaction and doing the right thing.

They have a customer for life.

Neilk · 08-21-2007, 07:41 PM

Hmm, you're happy that their mistake is costing you $1300? I must be missing something...

ericwitte · 08-21-2007, 07:41 PM

to avoid confusion, this is powerhaus in colorado Erik Johnson is the guy who rectified the situation

bell · bell's Garage

so one of their reps give you the wrong info and you're going to be stuck with an additional $1,300 in labor bills ?

it's good to get the problem sorted out but man that sucks

good luck

ericwitte · 08-21-2007, 07:44 PM

I only bought the 2 gears from them...they could have blamed the former employee, etc. They did not build the tranny, nor did I buy all three gears from them..I think the response was fair...could have been much worse...would have cost me a lot more for labor alone here

ericwitte · 08-21-2007, 07:46 PM

the point is, they took responsibility for a former employee, without questioning anything...I know many shops that would tell you to take a walk under these circumstances

gsmith660 · 08-21-2007, 07:56 PM

But they charged you labor to correct (their mistake) something you already paid for it should have been free gratis

ericwitte · 08-21-2007, 07:59 PM

Actually, they charged me cost for the one gear I did not buy from them, and for shipping. They had to replace 3 gears, rebuild and ship both ways. The local shop was not going to work for free, but still gave a cut rate

gsmith660 · 08-21-2007, 08:10 PM

You already paid for the work, the correction should have came out of powerhaus's pocket not yours. If they truely had taken responsibility for the mistake their fomer employee had made instead they just made an additional 700 from you for a gear you bought from the other shop and they should have picked up the tab for the local work also. Bottom line is they gave you a bum deal and profited from it.

f3nr15 · 08-21-2007, 08:43 PM

Ouch, tough crowd!

Considering what it just cost me to have 1 gear and 2 shift sleeves rebuilt with my Sporto trannie (by a well respected P-car workshop), US$700 for 3 gears and a transmission rebuild is an absolute steal!

In a recent thread in the Aust forums we had been discussing the cost of having 915 trannies rebuilt professionally; the general consensus was ~ US$1600 to $2800 for the basic gearbox pulldown/refit + 1 gear rebuilt, and then an additonal US$800 per additional gear rebuilt!

yelcab1 · 08-21-2007, 09:03 PM

I thought that was a good deal. Professional, and responsible, cannot ask for more from a shop.

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

"they could have blamed the former employee, etc."

- No. The former employee is their agent & they are absolutely responsible for all his acts. The people who are telling you that you are not getting any sort of great deal are correct.

Facey · Facey's Garage

i'm not really sure where i stand
you got 3 new gears and a newly sorted tranny for 1300, which is amazing!!!
but, before that if they had given you the right advice you would have had the right gears and a functional tranny...

i'm in a similar situation, my rennline monoball has failed, leaving me vehicles for the last 15 or so days... talked with rennline, and they're sending me the new bearing and retainer clip... however for 15 days i've been w/o and car.... and there is still the small matter of taking it apart and putting it back together... i could do it if i had any tools and a garage... (not while at school anyways)...

i was happy when they said they were sending the new pieces, until i realised that was only the tip of the problem...its not a bad situation, but not a good one either.

seems like your in the same boat, but them taking some responsibilty helps, especially when compared to those companies that take none, give bs etc...

Mr9146 · 08-22-2007, 01:13 AM

I'm glad everything worked out.

It sounds like you got a fair deal to me ... better than being told to go "pound sand".

burgermeister · burgermeister's Garage

Annoying, but seems pretty great to me - I would do business with them based on this post.

ericwitte acted as "chief engineer", coordinating parts procurement, selection, assembly, and installation from multiple vendors. As such, it is his responsibility to make sure the advice he collects makes sense - not too difficult to multiply a bunch of ratios and come up with top speed for a given set of gears. So a screwup happened - surely not the first for all the project cars built. The vendor took more than their share of responsibility IMHO. If the vendor had been a one-stop-shop handling the entire tranny modification including gear selection, I would expect them to cover the whole cost.

gsmith660 · 08-22-2007, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burgermeister

Annoying, but seems pretty great to me - I would do business with them based on this post.

ericwitte acted as "chief engineer", coordinating parts procurement, selection, assembly, and installation from multiple vendors. As such, it is his responsibility to make sure the advice he collects makes sense - not too difficult to multiply a bunch of ratios and come up with top speed for a given set of gears. So a screwup happened - surely not the first for all the project cars built. The vendor took more than their share of responsibility IMHO. If the vendor had been a one-stop-shop handling the entire tranny modification including gear selection, I would expect them to cover the whole cost.

Lets not forget he already bought 3 gears and paid to have the service done before this 1300 dollar expense he doesn't tell us how much he spent on that part this is over and above that expense. I would definately not do business with these people based on this info.

chris_seven · 08-22-2007, 04:24 AM

All a bit confusing really.

If top gear only gave 107mph thern surely fourth must have been higher then fifth or whole thing must have been completey screwed.

If fourth and third were geared down from an incorrect fifth then surely third would have ovelapped with second.

I would be really interested in knowing the ratios, the diff, which I assume is an 8:31 and the wheel/tyre size.

I have bought gears for phii several times and found the gear charts supplied were always right and I am sure that I always dealt with the ex-empoyee and always found him knowledgable, helpful and accurate in his calculations.

I haven't dealt with them since he left as we know make our own gears but I never had any problems.

930LDR · 08-22-2007, 05:40 AM

You paid $1300 more than you should have for your rebuild. Plain and simple. I would be pissed if it was me. That is not an insignificant amount of money.

BTW I wonder what Powerhaus thinks about this recent publicity. What originally started as an attempt to give them some credit has turned into a public stoning.

Wavey · 08-22-2007, 05:47 AM

Bingo! I was just wondering the same thing, Noah. Beyond that I think the tranny builder had at least some responsibility to review the ratios and comment to the owner if they seemed wrong. If the owner then insists that's what he wants, so be it. I also wonder how much documentation exists regarding the owner's contact with the former Powerhaus employee. Anything in writing? I think Powerhaus acted pretty well here; they could have responded with a "tough luck, sue me". Instead they were willing to participate in a solution to a "he said, she said" situation.

gsmith660 · 08-22-2007, 06:00 AM

Sure he participated he managed to stage this so he looks like a knight in shining armor coming to the rescue and makes 700 dollars in the process and from the comments I have read here his scam is complete because way too many of you guys dont see the problem here. I have had my 911 for 25 years and dealt with many of these guys and as with any business do your research and buyer beware the guy involved here got double charged for services rendered and thinks he got a good deal!