FS: New Aluminum Cam Pulleys - $40, $80 Adjustable

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They asked for it back?

Hmmm. I haven't heard of this until your post, Rob.

I will call Vick's tomorrow morning to ask about mine. The last thing I need (or any of us need) is to have a non-spec part installed, especially when a lot of work has gone into refreshing the rest of the engine.

I bought an adjustable pulley (blue), what pulley did you have?

Was there any explanation about what was out of spec?
 
Mine was silver

I received an email with a return shipping voucher. I emailed them asking if it was a mistake and was told that they needed it back because of an error in manufacture. I didn't ask what it was (figured at least they caught it so didn't really matter to me what it was) and they didn't offer. I was offered a refund but I declined since it was going to be replaced soon. I've since received a refund with no explanation.

I simply need to know if there will be a fresh batch or not and as I've said I've had no replies to the emails I've sent in the last 3 weeks. If there won't be a replacement, I need to buy another from somewhere else and I hoped maybe someone here might know.

I applaud efforts to provide parts like this and it was rolled out with a reasonable fanfare so perhaps it would be polite to be updated on what is going on?
 
Gentlemen,
Sorry I hadn't checked in to see this thread popping up. I'm also sorry to see that a couple of folks are trying to email and not getting any response! As always, we welcome phone calls, as often it is a much faster way to get an answer than email, despite Matt being pretty dedicated to our email contacts. :) Normally, it takes a day or so to get a reply; if it takes longer, there is a problem in cyberspace and you need to call us instead of doing anything else.

Yes, we had a hiccup with the production run of adjustable cam pulleys and had to bring them back. That said, the fixed pulleys are fine, and those of you who got them can keep them! We can also swap you to a fixed pulley right now, if you want one of those instead of your adjustable.

The day we discovered that there was a problem, we went down the list of folks who had purchased them and called. So, if this is news to you, double check with us to verify that we have a correct phone number, that it doesn't belong to your grandma, and that your voicemail actually works. :nana:

Yes, this is still on. We are committed to getting you the best upgrades at the best price, and this commitment is the reason that we proffered refunds without your consent. :) We undertook this project, and we will see it through, without asking you to fund it, or acting in any way less than above reproach.

That said, once the replacement gears come in, we will be in touch with you. If you still need a pulley, you can pay for one then. We just don't want you to have to pay for it now. We decided a long time ago that we would avoid charging for stuff we didn't have, when possible! That's why backorders are free with us, and we normally only charge up front for super-special special-orders.

By way of an update, the machine shop is way behind on these. Not many people are more chafed about it than I am right now. But, if you've ever dealt with machinists, you know that they have their own time frames, and I guess it's their prerogative, at least the GOOD machinists. I can grant them a little room to work, since they're cutting us X owners such a good deal.

And I completely understand where the error occurred with cutting the production run of gears: he meant to swap the way the gear bolted together, and neglected to adjust the mounting plane to accommodate the change. So what we have is an error in the backspacing of the pulley. Bottom line: the belt doesn't line up.

We couldn't get right back in at the front of the line to have the corrections produced, so our original timetables were way off. That said, anyone I talked to when this went down was made aware of the possibility that our timetable could be way off... Please accept our sincerest apologies, while we try to deal with circumstances which are (at this moment) beyond our control. We are hurrying things along with some ferocity.

We WILL get our pulleys. :)

Thanks for all your patience, and thanks for the support and the kind words on these gears. I really appreciate the feedback, and I've been happy to hear how many people were thrilled with the quality of the gears, even initially. I'm really proud to be a part of this project, and to be a part of keeping one of the best cars ever -- on the road. I guess that's why I'm on XWeb at 10 o'clock at night, haha...

Have a good one,
 
Thanks Aaron

Perfect response.

I agree the pulleys were very well made (which is why I'm asking the difficult question) apart from the not so obvious offset issue. I hadn't tried to fit mine yet.

Cheers,

Rob
 
Wow, I can't believe my experience just now.

I called Vick Autosport at 6:45am PDT (8:45am CDT) to get information on the pulley recall as I had the pulley in my possession but had never gotten a call from Vick's notifying me of a recall.

When I told the man who answered the phone why I was calling ("I have a pulley and read on the Xweb forum about a possible recall."), his (jovial) response was "Well, don't believe everything you read on the web!".

Silence.

"Really?" I thought. Let's try a different, fact based approach. "Can you look up Order Number 7347?" I asked.

"No sir, that's an internet order and I don't have access to them right now."

Silence again. Hmmm, OK. Let's try a third approach to engage this person and get to the bottom of the pulley question.

"<Name>, Vick's advertised on the Xweb a new adjustable pulley earlier this year, I ordered one on 24 April, it was delivered on 9 June, and is now at the machine shop waiting to be installed. I need to know if mine is one of the ones being recalled. I never received a phone call."

"Oh, yes sir. We called everybody who ordered one." was the reply, followed by more silence.

My assessment at this point in the conversation - this person is polite (he really was very polite), enthusiastic, and he is not able to ask questions to understand why the customer is calling.

"<Name>, is there someone else there that I can talk to about this?"

"No sir. They will be here in about half an hour."

"Thank you, I'll call back later."

How incredibly frustrating. I'll post how the second phone call goes, I'm sure it will be better than this first one.

For the record, I like Vick's. I've done business with Vick's before and think they are a quality, responsive business. I like Aaron's response (at 10pm, no less) and suspect that a conversation with him would have a far different tone than the one above. I'm sure we'll get this pulley thing understood and straightened out.
 
Update on my Vick experience

I just spoke with Matt (8:15am PDT) at Vick's and all is good.

He explained the manufacturing situation and the return process and was quite helpful.

I took a moment to explain my phone experience earlier today (not to toss anyone under the bus but to explain how my experience reflected on Vick's as a business) and he was open and receptive.

So, I'm where everyone else is - I have to retrieve the pulley from the machine shop, ship it back to Vick's, and wait for the new version to come out.

Thanks, Rob, for posting your question. Without it, I might have built an engine that didn't line up.
 
Rob,
Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. The need to know is completely understandable, I'm the same way.

Mid79,
To clarify, your first call was actually outside of business hours. Sometimes, Jerry comes in to do administrative stuff while it's quiet, and you happened to get him then. I'm sure he was nicely trying to communicate that he couldn't help much until we actually opened, but it's hard to understand that somebody's closed when it's a human being telling you, and not a robot. :) "But how can you be closed, you're there!" Haha. Or maybe it was a simple miscommunication. He's very helpful and knowledgable, and will bend over backwards for you, but the gears aren't really his project, especially when he's had his head in the accounting for a while... :wall:

Thanks very much for posting your follow up. Glad we could get everything straightened out for you. :)
 
By the way, I completely forgot to mention that, with the delays and extra demand, we've decided to add a BLACK anodized option to all of our pulleys! Woohoo!

If you want to change to black, let us know when we contact you to send out the replacement. Also, look for black in our upcoming crank pulleys! :headbang:
 
Not a complaint thread..

But I must have talked to the same person when I had a problem.

Bottom line - I don't have to return an adjustable pulley, or anything else for that matter.
 
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