Visconti Tuning - Flex Fuel Kit

[enouf]

Just wanted to post some feedback on how my Visconti FF kit experience has been so far.

TL : DR - see links for my heated arguments, avoid Visconti, check out @FA20Club.com

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...=35787&page=11

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...t=40404&page=5

The above links cover the troubles others and myself have had with the fuel line & gauge/sensor mounting in the kit. Having paid 2.1k USD for the kit + all necessary tuning (or lack of), I damn well (and rightly so) expected quite a bit from it.

In summary, Visconti is charging people extra $$$ for what FA20Club's kit provides straight off the bat, not to mention the big discount you get with FA20Club's. The "upgrades" they are advertising is a coupler to offset the absolute f**kup they had with the incorrectly sized fuel hose and a new sensor so that we can actually bolt it down instead of ghetto DIY with 3m tape and cable ties.

As for the tune, I can't quite fault it as it runs smooth but not the amount of power I expected from the advertised extra 20-30whp. BUT it does bother me quite a bit when he basically sends out a base tune, looks at my logs and just says "Yep, looks completely fine to me". WHERE IS THE TUNING? Or maybe because my car is stock, I didn't quite warrant the attention?

Oh right I forgot - did I mention there is no official instructions with the kit? It's absolutely disgusting and pitiful when two guys (shout out to @post_break & @cobrabyte) can come up with a awesome DIY within 24hrs of receiving the kit and yet no official instructions from John/Rich. Yet they had the temerity to tell us the fuel leak is due to user install error. I just can't believe it!

The biggest regret I have right now is going with someone that lashes out at customers (just see past reviews and unsatisfied customers) for even speaking up. I knew what I was in for but still stupidedly went with them - at the time as far as I knew, Visconti's FF kit was the only one. FA20Club didn't advertise their kit quite so heavily so I completely missed it, which is fine because they don't live on this forum after all. When you pay for something and is in constant fear of pissing off the tuner, that is the absolute pits. Just take a look at the links - NOBODY spoke up except for myself and just paid for the new "upgrades" to avoid the hassle of even bothering to argue. THAT. IS. NOT. ACCEPTABLE.

While John is obviously a great tuner, his lack of customer service, overpriced goods and $$$ mentality completely ruins his reputation. While he obviously has a substantial fanbase, I implore you, DON'T make the same mistake as I did and go with a tuner that actually cares, either a local or somebody else from here (FA20Club looks like they're building a healthy reputation). As of now, I am resigned to any backlash I may receive for posting this honest review, but somebody's got to do it. It may be time for me to look to FA20Club for my future tuning needs.

[lexusb3]

Originally Posted by enouf

Just wanted to post some feedback on how my Visconti FF kit experience has been so far.

TL : DR - see links for my heated arguments, avoid Visconti, check out @FA20Club.com

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...=35787&page=11

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...t=40404&page=5

The above links cover the troubles others and myself have had with the fuel line & gauge/sensor mounting in the kit. Having paid 2.1k USD for the kit + all necessary tuning (or lack of), I damn well (and rightly so) expected quite a bit from it.

In summary, Visconti is charging people extra $$$ for what FA20Club's kit provides straight off the bat, not to mention the big discount you get with FA20Club's. The "upgrades" they are advertising is a coupler to offset the absolute f**kup they had with the incorrectly sized fuel hose and a new sensor so that we can actually bolt it down instead of ghetto DIY with 3m tape and cable ties.

As for the tune, I can't quite fault it as it runs smooth but not the amount of power I expected from the advertised extra 20-30whp. BUT it does bother me quite a bit when he basically sends out a base tune, looks at my logs and just says "Yep, looks completely fine to me". WHERE IS THE TUNING? Or maybe because my car is stock, I didn't quite warrant the attention?

Oh right I forgot - did I mention there is no official instructions with the kit? It's absolutely disgusting and pitiful when two guys (shout out to @post_break & @cobrabyte) can come up with a awesome DIY within 24hrs of receiving the kit and yet no official instructions from John/Rich. Yet they had the temerity to tell us the fuel leak is due to user install error. I just can't believe it!

The biggest regret I have right now is going with someone that lashes out at customers (just see past reviews and unsatisfied customers) for even speaking up. I knew what I was in for but still stupidedly went with them - at the time as far as I knew, Visconti's FF kit was the only one. FA20Club didn't advertise their kit quite so heavily so I completely missed it, which is fine because they don't live on this forum after all. When you pay for something and is in constant fear of pissing off the tuner, that is the absolute pits. Just take a look at the links - NOBODY spoke up except for myself and just paid for the new "upgrades" to avoid the hassle of even bothering to argue. THAT. IS. NOT. ACCEPTABLE.

While John is obviously a great tuner, his lack of customer service, overpriced goods and $$$ mentality completely ruins his reputation. While he obviously has a substantial fanbase, I implore you, DON'T make the same mistake as I did and go with a tuner that actually cares, either a local or somebody else from here (FA20Club looks like they're building a healthy reputation). As of now, I am resigned to any backlash I may receive for posting this honest review, but somebody's got to do it. It may be time for me to look to FA20Club for my future tuning needs.

I have fa20 everything . And I can't tell you enough how happy I am with the products and when we talk we talk about how the car runs and I say its perfect lol no problems since I was stock with his tune to being one of the fastest it's amazing sorry about your experience, but fa20club is a good company hope you can enjoy the products they have like I have

[clayrush]

I have known about the fa20club one for a bit now and was on the fence about who to go with. But someone saying pretty much we dont have a problem but I am selling ....... I mean charging for shipping on better parts does not sit well with me.
Hell I even stood up for agency powers muffler quality, even though their P R sucked and the power they claimed was bs.

I can go in to a longer rant about their responses to this, but I dont really feel I should since I am not someone that blew over 2k on flex fuel.

Hell considering the cost of flex fuel. I think ill stick to the method I use for my celica. When in doubt I just pack a couple of 5gal cans of e85 for long trip. :p

[enouf]

My reasoning for going with a FF kit was it'd be the same cost as a catback exhaust (installed) + CAI over here in Aus (would be more for tuning required to maximise gains) yet there's relatively more power gained from E85 than exhaust+CAI with less wrench work involved.

It seems John & Rich are happy to brush off my complaints and the kit's issues. They have my money and having the last laugh. Whenever I bring up the incorrect hose size & lack of thought for non US customers, they completely ignore what I've written and keep repeating "Because you haven't paid for and installed as per "Visconti" spec, don't come to us complaining about quality issues". I understand there could be legal issues & costs if they openly admit their failings or do a recall but sometimes thats what you have to do when you pull a sizeable clusterfuck.

I've left negative feedback on their profiles (looks like I'm the first). That and spread my review here and on Aussie forums are the only ways I can let people know their money is better spent elsewhere.

But I'm only one guy against tens if not hundreds of "satisfied" customers who are willing to turn a blind eye to what he's doing and pay up for canned tunes and dodgy kits.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by enouf

My reasoning for going with a FF kit was it'd be the same cost as a catback exhaust (installed) + CAI over here in Aus (would be more for tuning required to maximise gains) yet there's relatively more power gained from E85 than exhaust+CAI with less wrench work involved.

It seems John & Rich are happy to brush off my complaints and the kit's issues. They have my money and having the last laugh. Whenever I bring up the incorrect hose size & lack of thought for non US customers, they completely ignore what I've written and keep repeating "Because you haven't paid for and installed as per "Visconti" spec, don't come to us complaining about quality issues". I understand there could be legal issues & costs if they openly admit their failings or do a recall but sometimes thats what you have to do when you pull a sizeable clusterfuck.

I've left negative feedback on their profiles (looks like I'm the first). That and spread my review here and on Aussie forums are the only ways I can let people know their money is better spent elsewhere.

But I'm only one guy against tens if not hundreds of "satisfied" customers who are willing to turn a blind eye to what he's doing and pay up for canned tunes and dodgy kits.

Have you asked for a refund? I would not be happy with a kit sold and a fuel leak unable to be fixed unless buy more parts $$.

What about a chargeback with the credit card company or Paypal?

[pheoxs]

My experience mirrors this even though I'm not a flex fuel user. I bought my vortech kit through him and had no communication while waiting almost two months for delivery without any tracking numbers. Not to mention being told it shipped when it hadn't.

On the tuning note I had the same experience. Received a base tune, submitted logs, and got yeah looks good. Power was underwhelming to say the least.

I bought a fa20 tune because of that and then dynod both and got 214whp with visconti and 245whp with fa20club. For reference I submitted dunno logs to both tuners Saturday evening. Toni had a new tune to me within the hour. Visconti still hasn't responded or looked at my logs and it's coming up on two weeks.

After I posted dynos I had many private messages from users echoing similar experiences. It's sad that this level of customer service exists and that people keep going back to it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[Sensisnow]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

Have you asked for a refund? I would not be happy with a kit sold and a fuel leak unable to be fixed unless buy more parts $$.

What about a chargeback with the credit card company or Paypal?

All orders were placed through Paypal, which requires that you file a dispute within 45 days of payment. If anyone purchased this kit when it was first announced they're well outside of that time frame. I'm not sure how things work if you purchased it through Paypal using a credit card though.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by Sensisnow

All orders were placed through Paypal, which requires that you file a dispute within 45 days of payment. If anyone purchased this kit when it was first announced they're well outside of that time frame. I'm not sure how things work if you purchased it through Paypal using a credit card though.

Good points. Credit card would be the ultimate recourse, some of them offer 90 days for disputes.

[Sensisnow]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

Good points. Credit card would be the ultimate recourse, some of them offer 90 days for disputes.

I have no intention of returning my kit or requesting a refund, but even 90 days would be pushing the limit at this point since I purchased my kit on 5/8.

[enouf]

I have thought about chargeback/asking for a refund but since the kit has been installed and tucked away neatly and is currently working without leaks (soon to be fixed permanently), I'll just put it down as a life lesson. Plus I'm a decent guy so I'll give them the benefit of doubt and see if they can actually clean this mess up.

In return I'll try and make their lives hell on these forums any way I can until they man up to their problems and get this kit sorted. It's nice seeing everyone digging into them over in the FF thread so hopefully it'll change their minds about screwing over their customers.

[Sensisnow]

The terrible packing job on my kit was the last straw for me. I've been nothing but polite to them in the past, but they charge me $25 to ship something that should cost less than $10, then don't even bother to pad the most crucial component, and don't even have the decency to address the issue whatsoever, let alone apologize. Wtf?!?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[JPxM0Dz]

Originally Posted by Sensisnow

The terrible packing job on my kit was the last straw for me. I've been nothing but polite to them in the past, but they charge me $25 to ship something that should cost less than $10, then don't even bother to pad the most crucial component, and don't even have the decency to address the issue whatsoever, let alone apologize. Wtf?!?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

I pack all my stuff to military standards regardless of what I'm shipping. You just never know what kind of abuse it's going to take during shipment.

All it takes is some common sense and consideration, something these guys obviously lack

[UncleFester]

This is what I think of mail services to date.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOJiEgxt7RY&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]Ace Ventura Pet Detective - Package Delivery Scene - YouTube[/ame]

[mikalem]

Yeah, I'm with @Sensisnow on this entire debacle, I was just lucky in some regards, having to pay extra to others to help resolve what should have been better engineered in the first place. Rich insinuating that it was user error is ridiculous - and it is actually evidenced in @cobrabyte and @post_break's install video - to get the old line off you had to cut it - the new one was easy to slip on, creating no seal at all. I didn't know that until after the fact, had to educate myself on the types of automotive seals to learn that - in doing all of this I realize you would have been better off buying the parts yourself and just engineering it completely on your own. The only really difficult parts are the ECU, and the tuning. I paid WAY too much money to Visconti for this level of treatment. If you decide to install his line coupler, #1 it's over kill, and #2, it's not reversible. The kit is no longer plug and play at all at this point, which if I had known that, I would have skipped it all together - I didn't know I'd be part engineer/part guniea pig for his company. Money gone, and a lesson learned I guess. Let this be a warning to others, I hope John realizes it's not good to try and milk a little more profit out of something that was designed badly in the first place.

Compare this to Whiteline's com-c problem, they have had no issues with sending me replacements to resolve what is essentially an engineering problem. No shipping, just proof of purchase. This is how a business should behave.