FA20CLUB won't refund my incomplete tune - even partialy
 

Well, I didn't want to get into contacting the BBB, but if this is what it comes down to - I guess this is it.

My email:

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It's been over a month now since any tune update that I can use daily, and I already have a new tune by another tuner - so I'd like to be refunded the price of the tune or what you think is fair. You mentioned using a queue system on ft86club, but you never sent official emails.. so as far as I'm concerned, you have stopped working on my (incomplete) tune, and I have not received a final tune.

Thanks for your understanding, and hope things work out better with the new system.
Mike Austin

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FA20CLUB reply:

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The instructions for the que are sent by auto reply when you send an email to logs@fa20club.com. I cant refund a intangible item such as a tune or software license.

FA20CLUB.com
info@fa20club.com
www.fa20club.com
888-657-1444

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So I guess this is an intangible item?? (TUNE ONLY)

http://www.fa20club.com/product.php?...cat=251&page=1

I even said "what you think is fair".. I don't know how to make it any nicer than that. This is not how you do business.

Mike

FYI - BBB can't do shit. They have 0 power to do anything.

All you can do is write a bad review. Small Claims Court? I doubt it's that serious. You can try to see if your bank will refund the transaction. I've done this for digital goods that I never received.

More backstory is required...

What was wrong with the tunes that you got?
What was "incomplete" about them? Did they not send you updated tunes in a timely matter?

I looked back through his threads and it looked like he wasn't happy with the inital tune (I commented in the thread where he had a low IAM) and then didn't get a response from FA20Club to correct the tune over the course of October and November, so he found another tuner.

The BBB's ratings are pure nonsense. If a company does not pay money and register with them, they give that company an F rating automatically. But a company with complaints can pay $450 to get an A rating and make the complaints magically disappear.

You are better off using the internet (posting on this forum, giving a review on yelp, etc.).

Yep.. I wanted to give them a chance.. more than 2 weeks between tunes, and the last one was a month. The last tune I had was barely a base tune, so was not optimized at all and I didn't run it daily. The last straw was forced to the end of the queue after waiting a month.

And the reply.. a tune is intangible.. what? I'm just asking to get my unfinished tune portion.. not the cable and license. And as far as the BBB, I have used them before.. they don't take action, but they are like a credit score for companies. You don't want to be on their list.

It's kind of ridiculous really. You never say "I can't help you" to a customer, no matter what. You say "I'm sorry we couldn't help you, let me get back to you and we can work something out" at the least.

Mike

I've dealt with this before in small claims court, if you take the time and effort it will eventually be ruled as a tangible item with tangible effects and an outcome.

i.e: items in a video game are intangible. There is no physical presence of the item that can be viewed or monitored.

In retrospect a tune is a tangible item and has a physical impact in a given situation. If a car blows up because it is directly related to the tune then who is responsible? The intangible tune that never really existed? Eh wrong answer and the court has agreed that is also the wrong answer in numerous cases.

Tony is a good guy, has great reviews, and I am sure will make something right. As a business owner you suck up these losses. If business was for everyone, everyone would be in business.

You'll have better luck with your cc company than the bbb

If you bought something online from a debit card rather than cc then you dun goofed

Call your CC...they will fight this for you pretty well.

I don't doubt Tony is a good guy, personally.. but his replies are baffling coming from a business owner. I doubt I will go the CC company route, I'd just like Tony to understand and acknowledge the problem with the way he does business.

Another example is when I asked him about the SPC LCAs, and instead of fixing the photos, he removed them:

http://www.fa20club.com/home.php?cat=332

Now I'm even more confused if those are the older WRX versions or the newer BRZ/FR-S ones. I don't get it.

I don't want to drag this thread on too long, I just want to let people know my experience. I'm happy with my almost-finished other tune, both service and support wise.

Mike

looks like someone has got too much free time on his hands :D

not related to fa20club, just an observation: not sure why but it seems people mostly leave good reviews and keep their mouth shut about bad experience. i was surprised how many folks started posting their bad experience with visconti only after a car he was tuning got fried. before that he was THE tuner to go to.

There is a dedicated subforum for this.

Putting it here just to get a bigger audience is BS.

I don't know back story, or am taking sides; rather it should be mentioned in the proper forum.

If it makes you feel any better, i am on around 6months and still have not had a complete(good) working tune from my tuner (not FA20club).....basically about ready to accept it as a loss and move on. I will take the same approach, tell him im not happy and that i will be trying a different tuner and ask him to refund partial, or whatever he thinks is fair.

Its a tough situation, because the tuner has spent many, many hours most likely at a loss trying to tune the car, yet cannot get it working, so the small amount of money he did make, is hard to give back. But from a customer standpoint, I paid for a product/service, and never received it. So i think a partial refund is fair, 50% maybe? That still will turn into like $500 or so for me...so totally worth it.

Hope it all works out for you! Good Luck