JDL Auto Design
 

I'm just documenting my experience with JDL - I fully expect an army of fanboys to mindlessly defend them. Knock yourself out.

I was going to do a detailed log of what happened and when but I don't think there's much point, so the summary is :-

- Paid for the JDL UEL manifold group buy at the start of May.
- Various emails early on about customisations
- JDL website states 4-6 weeks delivery for manifolds
- Various emails (no more than one per week) chasing up status, some replied to, some not
- Mid-June JDL confirm delays due to no flanges (6 weeks after payment!)
- No ETA available from JDL, I ask to cancel order & receive refund
- JDL do not provide refund, yet come back to me promising shipping within 2-3 weeks (deadline Monday July 8th) - I allow the delay
- Deadline missed, JDL blame delays on ceramic coating company
- I ask for photo of my manifold or refund, no reply

I've had to place a chargeback with my card company to get my money back.

Some people may be happy with this level of service but I obviously am not. I know there are others not happy too, but that's just hearsay as far as this thread is concerned.

Poor show. :sigh:


Advice to JDL: Don't bite off more than you can chew. You took 100% payments in advance (probably $15k+ total) for this group buy without even having the materials in your hands to assemble the manifolds.

I'll take your spot. I'm sorry things didn't work out for you with this, especially when there are delays. I understand what you mean though.

understand the frustration @ft_sjo.

You should have really waited until next week though, as they have made it clear that the first batch would be done and shipping out. I was frustrated as well but I am holding off until next week to see if my header ships out. IF not I might follow the same route as you.

GL I know FR-S Matt will most likely pick up your spot.

A company should offer a refund when a customer asks for one. Especially when the customer never received a service / product.

Sorry you are not happy

First off he was on the tail end of the group buy. He was unhappy with the wait and asked for "compensation" What we did was stayed later at work and bumped him up on the order list. We then sent the header to the coaters last week. He wanted a photo or else I should refund him. Ive been awaiting a photo from my coater. I wake up to an email this morning saying he has filed a charge back. Since its in motion nothing I can do now

Everything we make is built upon order. All materials were bought in bulk with the payments. That is how we were able to offer the cheaper price of the group buy. Sorry if you didnt like the wait time. Hand made quality that surpasses whats out takes time.

Guess this bumps everyone on the list up one ;)

Yes sir


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The end product is worth the wait!

He emailed and said send me a pic of give me a refund. Like I posted above ive been waiting for a pic from our coater. If we didnt get anything today I was going to drive down and take a pic myself

As for the site stating 4-6 weeks thats for a single manifold that we have fixtures to build it out of. This group buy has taken some time and we are stream lining the process so this isnt an issue further down the road.

Since these are new, people need to consider these as one offs since the jig needed to be made and material acquired. I know people are anxious, but if you can't wait you should never have joined a groupbuy like this. They never run on time. I know because I helped get a rare product for a unique and small car community and it took time.

Gave money to JDL full knowing that it was going to take a while. Seeing their quality in this header and past products, I knew I had nothing to worry about.

Original poster needs to take this as a life lesson. If you know you don't have the patience then buy something that is readily on the shelves from a vendor. Communication with a small operation may sometimes be tough.

Most people don't know the difficulties of a smaller shop, but they need to be cut some slack sometimes. Not everything runs as smoothly as a large company.

And word of advice to the boys at JDL. Consistent communication goes a long way, even if it ain't positive. People appreciate it and it shows you value your customers. I personally don't care as much since whatever had been posted is fine for me.

Appreciate the constructive criticism @chutrain

Thanks for your response. It would have been nice if it had some kind of apology and was less arrogant, but I guess that's the theme throughout the whole process to date.

Anyway, I just wanted to put my experience across. Like I said, some people will relate, some won't. I'll leave it at that.

I don't post much on here as i'm usually in the shop on the welder 12+ hours a day, but i will comment on this. First off i will apologize, regardless of what was out of our hands or not the end responsibility is ultimately mine. I try to do my best to please everyone.

I appreciate the advice...in a perfect world i would love to have 2-3 more welders here. I look everyday, its hard to find people that care about quality and are good fabricators. We did bring on 2 other guys to help in the shop however. As for taking money where do you think it went? It was spent on materials asap. To get the pricing where we needed to be at we had to do a lot more quantity than the 20 for the groupbuy...hell one of the the things we were waiting on the longest (other than the flanges) was the flex bellows. I cringe at the thought of not using them in a thin wall subaru header and would rather refund someone than build without as IMO i'll be replacing that header under warranty soon anyways. We also allowed quite a few people custom options on their header. I'm not making that mistake again, we had to source quite a few bspt bungs from various suppliers before we found something low profile enough that would suit the header you had on order. Now i'll be sitting on a header i'll probably never sell once its back from coating monday/tuesday...Not you're fault...i understand the frustration of waiting.

Anyways lunch is over and i'm back on the welder...These are in full production mode and will be going out the door everyday starting next week as Ronnie stated. Once again i apologize and completely understand you're dissatisfaction. We have learned a lot from this groupbuy and i will make sure everything is taking into account moving forward.

Sincerely,

Jesse Brozyna

Owner JDL Auto Design

My 2 cents,

Also remember that they dont JUST DO our headers. They have one welder working on all of the orders that come through. I honestly don't know how they are doing it. Not to mention in our heat (brave souls, whats the deal with this humidity right now as well). Again I know this isnt the OP's fault but like Chutrain said, when you jump into a groupbuy like this, you have to understand that these are just sitting on the shelf. Trust me, I am probably more impatient than anyone, I have been waiting for my wheels since beginning of May and I still don't know if they will be done this month. At least Jesse and the JDL guys give more updates than I get on my wheels. I will definitely be purchasing from JDL cause I really do think they have top quality on their parts.

I will say tho, I agree with Chutrain, updates are always helpful to the buyer especially when you front up the monies.

Meh people need to stop feeling so entitled to their parts right away when the car is this new and there is this much demand.

I waited over 3 months for a 5acis spoiler that was in stock due to paint issues and 5axis is a huge company compared to JDL. Waited 4 month for my SRT exhaust and hell I waited 8 months for my FRS 3 weeks longer than I was told and deadline was missed 3 times as well and this is Toyota and the largest dealership we have in BC.

Cliffnotes if you are buying something sooo damn new its not out yet you should expect to wait

I'm not a fanboy. This is my first purchase from them. I chose them because of their outstanding rep and the quality of workmanship is very obvious in their pictures. I remember when they first posted a picture of a collector they made. I was sold.

@JDLAutoDesign has kept us updated in a timely manner since the group buy started.

Very unfair of you to do just because you want special treatment over everyone else that also participated. You are not superior to anyone and usually I would argue never inferior to anyone too but I'm witholding that because this is just nonsense. :mad0260:

I think some of you chaps are confused. This isn't a case of I want it sooner than anyone else, or I have unrealistic expectations on when to receive stuff. It's a case of deadlines being promised (away from the forum) and not met.

Jesse,

I appreciate the time taken to respond to my feedback. It may be a good idea for you to get directly involved earlier in the process if a customer has any kind of complaint of grievance as perhaps the outcome may be different.

Now i'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want the manifold, but I feel i've been let down by promises not met. I can cancel the chargeback, but what assurances can you give me that it will get dispatched next week? Ronnie said on Tuesday that it'd be 2-3 days, and it's already next week now.

Regards

Sounds to me like the main issue was the fact that you stated a timeframe you had no control over sticking too.... Not the quality of the product.

If you commit to delivering a product at a specific date, make sure you have control of the timeline. if you can't control the timeline, don't commit to a date.

Seems simple enough to me.

Hey bud, at least you know that they are being made-to-order and are quality built. Not mass production. This is how I view it. Hell, it took me almost 2 months to get my rev works UEL. You have to, and I am sure you do, understand that there's no machine welding these, theres no conveyor belt in the shop, etc etc. It's individuals working on these products 1 header, 1 tube, 1 flange, 1 weld at a time. If they take the time on the header (for quality purposes), you know it will lag the time on the next header for somebody else. You just have to accept it, and when you do, you'll have your header in no time, extremely happy.

"Shit happens."

I will chime in not as a cheerleader, but as someone who fell victim to the same assumptions. Note I have no stake in JDL as they have yet to ship me my header :)

For a comparison, I made a prototype intake and actually made power. Ordered 20 of the same components to make the 15+ orders happen. Then only 6 pipes show up. Then the ceramic coatings guy takes leave. Then the first batch goes in the trash for QC issues...so now I have 15 pre-orders and 3 pipes. Sucks when the customers are pro racers and usual folks; you can only do so much.

Shit happens, small outfits keep costs down by making GB's etc...but if you want what everyone else wants, be prepared to wait. Note the knife edge like collector--that is not cheap. Imagine cutting stainless that precisely, welding it without coking it, and do so in bulk...I used to say I wouldn't touch it for less than $1k, make it $2k...the time involved is nuts and why it is taking so long.

....impatiently awaiting the header here as well :)

Shit happens, and there are delays, but if someone wants a refund, it should happen quickly.

If a vendor misses a deadline, even if it's not their fault, they are the one providing the service. Part of their service is processing refunds in a timely manor.

Are you upset about ordering your Revworks header over these? I seen on one of your threads your revworks header is being shipped back to the company due to a dilemma in the design? Does this make you feel you should of went the other route and ordered the JDL? Can you make a comparison of either or?

The question should be: what is the company doing about it? I never had any intention of purchasing JDLs. I love the rev works and people's reviews on them. Which is why I ordered the RW. Looking at the bad reviews on Borlas, I knew I would not order those. But with all these companies making headers for this car, some errors are bound to happen. These companies build quality products. I guess I could say mine happened to have a mishap. BUT, that's why they warranty their work for 1 year. And their customer support is superb. Though I have to send them back, (no shipping cost
To me) I highly recommend the RW header.

Hope this answers your question.

Probably what the OP should have done was make a post to sell his spot/header from the GB I am sure people would have jumped on it.



Simmons

He could have done that. But I think him posting his feedback is a chance to see how the company reacts to it, and how they plan on making it better/right.

From what I have seen in this thread, its clear that the Owner wants to make it right. He saw that mistakes were made with the group buy and is learning from the experience. Which to me is pretty important.

To update..

I have been in communication with Ronnie @JDLAutoDesign since leaving this feedback and we have come to an agreement which I hope they are able to fulfil.

I want this manifold, I always have, so hopefully it won't be too long now.

Thanks @Jesse@JDLAutodesign

Unfortunately JDL have been able to fulfil their promise yet again. They promised my manifold would be dispatched via Fedex priority on Friday, absolute worst-case.

I got told they 'missed the cut off', which is pathetic. No apology.

Tracking still shows as "initiated", which usually means the sender has purchased/instigated some shipping, but haven't yet dropped the goods off/been collected.

I've had to cancel my booking at the tuner for fitting this Saturday. Embarrassing and disappointing. Fortunately the transaction is still in dispute (which JDL agreed to dispatch in this state) so I can get my money back if I want to.


I would like to re-iterate before the bandwagon monkeys start howling, I have no issue waiting for something, I have issue with people breaking promises. Repeatedly.

So apparently the parcel got lost/paperwork damaged at the FedEx office. JDL re-shipped the manifold last Thursday (25th).

I picked it up from my local FedEx office on Saturday, and was unpleasantly greeted with the following finish inside the runners:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...728_193550.jpg

I am somewhat amazed that with such effort put into everywhere else on the manifold, they would neglect to de-burr these holes properly. I appreciate some folk won't understand why this is an issue, and i'm not going to turn this into an education, but I am not happy to run it in this state on my engine.

I've contacted JDL to notify of them of this and they have offered a full refund for the manifold (no apology or comment on the finish, though), but have also stated that if I de-burr (the poor finish) then the warranty will be voided.

I'm a bit speechless to be honest. It looks like my options are :-

1) Fix the poor finish at my cost and lose the warranty
2) Send it back for full refund at my cost
3) ... ?

:(

Send it back, get your money back.

Wow. Looks like JDL gets crossed off my list.

It's 1 header. Really? I'll post pics of my collector when it arrives. Not everyone is getting those holes drilled into theirs.

No, its the collective horrible customer service so far.

I would assume it's more in relation to how they're handling it. It'd be proper to expect the warranty to remain intact or to be able to use the warranty to get a header, etc.

Gotcha, understandable

Okay, so summarise this feedback into my final post on the subject (I have decided to keep the manifold, apparently forfeit the warranty due to fixing shoddy workmanship, etc etc).


Based on my experience with JDL...

You may have to wait a long time for your product
You may experience poor/lacking communication
You may experience shipping dates repeatedly not met
You may get shipping tracking numbers which don't get past "initiated" state
You may receive attitude on the phone
You may not get bungs/bosses placed where you agreed
You may get runners not de-burred internally
You may get excuses
You may lose your warranty if you fix any of the poor workmanship
You may get a parcel with a different value marked as you agreed
You may just come to the conclusion that all of the above is simply down to too much workload


Alternatively..

You may get none of the above and live life a happy little bunny. Or should that be unicorn?


Pays yer money, takes yer choice.

wow.. I would rather have to go with Nameless