Hello,

As many of you know I am currently building up my 2.5L motor. The turbo that I chose for this was the APS SR40. Here is a chronological account of my trek to acquire the turbo

October 22: I placed my order with cobb tuning, who took the order and stated that a 30% deposit needed to be placed on the order and that the shipping time would be as then stated on the website as 4-6 weeks. (Called at 1315est (1.4min) 1317est (.7min) and 1703est (6.5min at which order for sr40 was accepted by cobb.

November 1: Called about status of order of Cams and Springs @ 1601est for 3.7mins.

November 1: Called about status of order of turbo 1822est for 2.2mins, was told that the turbo should be there as expected and another week after for shipping to me from utah.

November 12: Getting closer to thanks giving, I gave them another call at 1130est for 2.2 minutes, to again check the status of the order. I was told everything is one schedule and should be expecting it shortly after thankgiving.

(I am awaiting the arrival of the November 15-Dec14 bill, I called the phone company, and they are sending it to me, so i will not have exact dates from this point on, Also the December to January Billing Cycle ends today, so I won't have that for a few days, will update when they arrive)

Week after Thanksgiving: Called Cobb tuning yet again for the status of the order, was told that I should receive the turbo in time for christmas, great it'd be a wonderful gift to myself.

Week after Christmas: Still no turbo, so I called Cobb yet again, was told that APS takes an extended Christmas Holiday and that they wont return until the third week of the year, Was told to expect the turbo by the end of January early february at the latest.

January 13 ~2230est: Called APS in Australia about my situation. Talked with Dave who is the sales manager. Was told by Dave that Cobb Tuning had relinquished all rights to sell APS products a week before SEMA. Was told that Dave had met with Trey at SEMA shortly to settle final business and that the two had parted ways. Dave informed me that Cobb had decided in early october to no longer deal with APS. Was also informed that Cobb has not placed or received an order from APS since August of last year, and that no future business transactions will be made between the two companies.

January 14 1134est: Called Cobb, and asked about the status of the order. Was put on hold for a little over a minute and then was asked for a number at which I could be reached this afternoon. I was told they will find out the status and get back to me.

Stay tuned this evening (est) for the exciting results of the afternoon call

paulnose

(thoroughly pissed)

 

Screw Cobb Tuning! They made me wait over 6 months for one of their COld Air Intakes....and then they also gave me a FAKE tracking number once too! FAKE...not just one number off, but like compltely worng! SCREW COBB! Also i bought Cusco Exhaust hangers.....he TOLD me that they were Cusco, but they are really just replicas. i know it makes no difference in performance, but the Cusco ones are $.30 less than the CObb knock offs! THEY ARE LIARS to get business!
adamsrs

 

The saga continues....

I called Cobb today January 14 at 1557est, I spoke with Trey directly, he informed me that the turbo should be in by the end of the week. I inquired to how this would be possible with APS no longer distributing through them. He came clean and told me that yes they had broken ties with APS, and that he is using one of APS's new US distributors to provide the turbos to fufill the orders placed on or about the breakup.

January 14, 1605est: called Southern Mountain Regional distribution company for APS products, Forced Induction Systems. (hey, after getting jerked around for a couple of months it's in my best interest to check) Spoke with Jason there explained my situation to him. He informed me that he had in fact just received a shipment from APS today, and that he had previously spoken to Trey about fufilling the orders that cobb had outstanding. He asked which turbo i had ordered, and told me that he would contact trey and send the turbo out to cobb today.

So hopefully the turbo will get to cobb by the end of the week, and then into my hands by the end of next.

We'll see, I'm not holding my breath, that's for sure

-Paul

 

Damn, I would be soooo mad, thats rediculous, thanks for the info guys, I wont deal with Cobb.

 

Actually now that i think about it, anyone remember the group by on the SS brake lines from years ago?

Also, while I'm on the subject, took 6 months to get an ACT street clutch from them, and they charged me for a clutch bearing kit that I never received. I never opened the clutch when I got it, since in the 6 month wait I had already gotten and installed a clutchmaster (they sucked, but that's a different story) so I finally opened the clutch this past september, and i got it last april, and much to my surprise their was no bearing kit. When I ordered the cams and valvesprings I asked about the bearing kit, they said they would through one in the box, needless to say it wasn't there.

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering the valves cobb uses can be made by ferrea by calling them directly, and you will save about 300$ in doing so, just need to send them a sample valve, (which can be done by going to the local subie dealer, a new subie valve sells for about $21)

-Paul

PS. If you are looking for some nice cams try giving webcams a call, they are the ones that make the cams for Cobb, and you can have the cams made specific to how you want them. Oh, and some valve springs and retainers, try ferrea on that too, they should be able to get you what you need. (In previous posts I have tried to protect Cobb, but I pissed that he can string me along for so long, cause the dumb f**k, could have gotten the APS SR40 turbo from any of the australian distributors for 1425US+shipping of maybe 30$ (All of the australian dealers had them in stock) and could have still made over 100$ on it at his 1650$ price. (I didn't get it from australia due to discover not being an international card) (And I didn't have the hard cash at the time)

AND IF HE WANTS TO CANCEL MY ORDER BECAUSE I AM TRYING TO SCREW HIM OVER I HOPE HE DOES!!!

 

I just bought a ca that is fixed up and the unichip is tuned by cobb. i hope this is not a problem in the future. the car tuned by cobb and the dynos are lost in utah.

 

TURBO XS FOR ME

 

Well I feel that a little explanation is in order on a few subjects.

paulnose – Your turbo WAS ordered from APS when you ordered it from us. We just never received it due to us discontinuing the APS line up. It was ordered, just never shipped to us. Therefore we ordered it from FIS at a higher price to us to take care of you. I feel we did the best we could in that situation considering the lack of information we received. It is hard to pass on no information. I do not believe we could have gotten it from any Australian distributors, thus why we ordered if from FIS. We do not harbor contempt if people bash us or give constructive criticism. Your turbo was sent out the day we received it.

I still have your cam here and as instructed by you I have not shipped it out with out having springs. I will still send the bearing kit with the springs and cams if that is how you want to work it. Here is the timeline of events it relation to springs:

1 – Get many springs that work wonderfully for a couple of years. Every few springs are checked for proper specs.

2 – Send springs to a customer. He has them checked (it means he has a good person assembling his heads) and they are vastly out of spec and he sends them back.

3 – We check them. They are vastly out of spec.

4 – We contact the manufacturer. They have made a substation without letting us know, and this is the first batch we have received that way. They no longer have what we need.

5 – We find another source for them. We have tried several times to order them and have them shipped expedited ASAP. Each time we call they do not show having an order for us in their system.

Don’t even bring up the brake line situation. That was one of my first tasks at COBB and was a nightmare. Our supplier at the time really did a number on us. I was without my car for over a week as my brake lines were shipped to a new supplier. I eventually found and installed a set of bad fitting lines with poor brackets. They are still on my car, zip ties and all. Our new supplier has been one of the best we have. They are quick to send them and the quality is top notch. We ended up loosing a lot of $$$ on that deal taking care of people as the brake lines were sold at a much lower price than we pay for the lines.

I believe the valves we use are not off the shelf valves. you will not be able to get the springs through Ferrea. If it was that easy we would have them.

Web cam does do our cams for us, but we charge the same amount that they do. You just get the benefit of knowledge and dyno testing to get the right cam vs. guessing. We have never really cared if anyone knows that Web does our cams, in fact I do not mind being associated with them since they have been a very good vendor to us and make quality equipment.

adamsrs – I remember the situation from way back. I do not remember the particulars of it but there were mistakes made on our part in relation to some of the intake situation. I do not remember the tracking # situation, but to my knowledge I have not given out fake tracking numbers, I stick to my guns on that one. Incidentally I have been given fake tracking numbers before from past suppliers, so I know how that feels. That is why they are past suppliers. Regarding the hangers, since we have made the substation they have not been listed on our site as Cusco hangers. If it was that big of a deal I would gladly have taken them back and even paid for the shipping back, out of my own pocket if I have to. I have done it several times, especially if the mistake was my own.

brucelee – Brake pads have been a saga as well. Thus our change in manufacturer of brake pads as well. We started getting pads that did not fit, and very delayed shipping. No problems with supply or quality with the new ones thus far.

Cheers,
Josh
COBB Tuning

Edit: I may have mistaken the identity of the person who checked their valve springs. The edit is in italics. I also forgot to say who I was. :P Bad Josh

 

I would like to say that, Trey has made good on the turbo, and I am expecting it in today. I'm sorry for all the bad mouthing, but after three months one gets very frustrated.

Anyways, cobb has renewed some faith, I just should have talked directly to Trey the first few times, then I might have gotten the full explaination, instead of the constant stringing along that makes consumers weary.

But I'd have to say a good part of my car parts came from Cobb, and the brake lines were well worth the wait

-Paul

 

No problem, we do not mind people venting frustrations, as it helps things get done. If we do not know there is a problem, it is hard for us to fix it.

I would be frustrated in your position as well. I once ordered a shirt and hat from SWRT.com. After 6 months, repeated attempts to get any info, and on top of it being charged immediately, I began to give up. Then one day it just showed up. Nobody at SWRT ever gave me any updates. I will not forget that experience. The shirt and hat were nice though.

In your case talking to Trey directly would not have had much of an impact on the situation, as he was trying the entire time.

 

well now that i finally have the turbo I can't start troubleshooting all the fitment problems with the fuel piping, and block clearance issues, (just wish I was at this point months ago)

-Paul

I know it wouldn't have sped anything up, but at least I might have been told what exactly was happening instead of the constant, 1-2weeks it's on the way