Matt Sheppard

The way I see it:

Danno already has a business that he conducts in the computer field. It's a profitable business that he made work without any of our contribution on how to make it so. It demands a lot of his time seeing it is the primary way he pays his bills.

He has contributed more to this list and to individuals asking help than most of the "Johney-come-lately" listers EVER will contribute. Guru Racing is more of an outgrowth of that than a substitute for his income source and, taken in that paradigm, shipping delays are usually accepted gracefully as an inconvenience. Some of you that have been around this forum and the email lists for more than a year or so will remember when Steve R chips were the hot ticket and how long did you wait for those - If you knew how to get Mr. Russakov to bless you with a set? I waited and was glad to get them . . . whenever, since my option was Autothority or one of their clones and they were not real interested in improving their "mousetraps". Also understand that he started the company w/ another lister who is no longer supporting the company on a daily basis - basically out of the picture now. So the comment on him being a "one-man orchestra" was right on the money. He has deep interest and even deeper competence and in a plethora of fields and only one lifetime to explore them - pity for us all.

His problems with contractors that has been addressed earlier in the thread really just scratches the surface. He's been undercut by these same contractors who want to sell to him AND bring the product to retail as well. I'm sure those offering him business accumen from across the pond understand ethics and marketing channels enough to see the problem there. I see this $#it on this same board and it absolutely burns me.

"Hey, I've got this great idea for a product and a small, but loyal group of enthusiasts who want it and I want you to build it for me. What would my costs be? . . . Wait you want to sell it to that same group for $40 less after I pay for the initial run of product?"

Remeber the SDS threads and how everyone was ready to buy a system from them like yesterday? Who was it that pointed out that it was not truely a 3-D mapping solution and then explained in detail why that is important? Not just blew smoke over the issue but offered sound reasoning. I'm sure he saw a business opportunity when so much interest was shown in that product, but more so I think he knew there were better routes to achieving his goals than that and offered it to the rest of us once he figured out how he was going to get there.

My friends, Danno is one of us. He's grass-roots. He's not Winward or Huntley who sell 10,000 widgets a month to fund his R & D. I have no doubt in my mind that he will get to that level though. And if this supplier ***** chops his legs out from under him, he'll figure out an even better way to handle the issues at hand and contract w/ better human beings to produce it and he'll be there to trouble shoot your problems because he has been for the 4 years I've been reading these posts.

danny951

very well put Matt. I hate to read threads like this from folks on Rennlist. Danno has helped everyone out here on this forum in one way or another with his knowledge and help. Geez... If I still had my 951 I would have bought from Danno.. and am still looking to when I do get another 951 (if that ever happens with the way things have been going for me lately).
Danno, please do not get discouraged from this thread. I know it can be hard to keep on when people start their bashing, but it is much easier for people tocomplain than to praise... I really hope you are still doing these kits when I get my car.. someday...

ewainwright

What we all are asking for is better communication of issues affecting delivery, address delivery time, and the quality of the J pipe. Danno has promised to do just that.

Steve R is no longer around. In my determination, that is because he was not addressing his customer's needs and as a direct result word got around and people went somewhere else. This is the void that Danno is filling.

I, for one, have a vested interest in Danno/ Guru Racing and I don't want to see Danno meet the same fate as Steve R. Danno's product is great. This is evidenced in that several are really happy with their system.

We understand that Danno has other interests, unfortunately. The majority of the posting are praising his products, knowledge, and are generally supportive. I have made a commitment and investment in Danno. It is important for me that Danno stays in business. Therefore, he has to address these issues. Please don't take this as a bashing because it is not. It is my hope for a positive, constructive, and necessary change.

Matt H

Danny- where are you in Dallas?
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TonyG

Danno is in Santa Barbara (oh... how I wish I could be living there!)

He has provided a TON of information and clarification to everyone here. Do I always agree with him? No. But 98% of the time I do. His information is pretty darn good...

And... he's a true Porsche guy through and through.

Matt Sheppard articulated things pretty well so I won't repeat them...


Danno will provide the kits for sure... Unfortunately, in the Porsche tuner business, you have to be dependent on other businesses to provide outsourced "stuff".

In that respect, I'd rather he ensures that everything is up to his standards, than receive parts that are sub-par. I'm sure everyone will agree on this.

Unfortunately, it's hard for a tuner (and this applies to Huntley, SFR, Powerhaus, Technodyne, etc... on and on... ) to talk to people all day to everyone that wants to buy things, then sit up all night making them since they have no time during the day to do so because of the phone calls.

But if they don't take the your calls, then they get slammed for lousy customer service...

And.. everyone wants the best prices around, so that eliminates hiring people who know what the heck they are talking about to answer the phones to sell parts. That leaves, the verticle point... the owner to do all the selling, all the consulting, all the fabrication (or at a minimum, oversee everything that their minions create), etc...

danny951

I am in S. Arlington

m42racer

The most important issue here is not who offers the product, but that it gets out there. This is customer service. All the best product in the world is worthless, unless it is available. Many good businesses have gone by the wayside because they did not meet the demand. We are seeing many new products coming available to us from many new sources. Competition creates a better product at a lower price. We will all gain from this. Let the new parts keep coming from whoever.

sybelix

just wanted to add my HI here..
I've been the last two weeks away from home,
on vacation here in Boca Chica , Dominican Republic, Caribia
It's been great, but we are leavin' in few hours via Paris
to Helsinki , Finland, home..
And there in the garage waits my 951...
Boost, here I come..

Hope to have my MAP kit waiting for me...

See ya guys..

Mike B

I've been around for a "little" while and have gained a"lifetime" of knowledge from people alot more experienced than I...

Danno is one of those people whose information has been invaluable and he certainly has forgotten more than I will probably ever know about these cars...I'm aware of his supplier and shipping delays but that didn't disuade me at all...I wanted the best value for my dollar so I sprung for HIS chips et al vs. any alternative...

Is there room for improvement with his customer service and delivery schedule? Perhaps...but I still wouldn't have spent a dime for any other chips...Can't wait to plug them in.

Thanks Danno!

Edit: Tough life Tommy Hope you missed the windy weather down there!

B951S

Wow, ok. when starting this thread I never knew that it would get such a respsonse. I just wanted to do a quick survey to see how many people are getting GURUs MAP. Anyway, I believe in Danno and his products and will tolerate some delay because I think for the money, you can't go wrong.

Let me ask something else of you MAP owners. Did you get a telephone number to call for Danno or Travis that is different to the web site for tech support? Based on Danno's unavailability at the guru contact details email and phone, I am concerned that tech support might be a problem. From the threads I have read on this subject, most customers said that they could get hold of someone for tech support quite easily which leaves me wondering how they got hold of Guru. Maybe it was that there was a limited user group in the 'early days'?

Hopefully, I won't need it as I have reaserached every thread in the archives to do with installation and troubleshooting the MAP kit. It would be a good thing for GURU to compile a "lessons learned / common issues" document to issue with the kit to try and limit the one on one support to those problems that really need it.

Dwayne Williams

I had an initial issue with my MAP 1 install. Turned out to be user error (I hooked up a wire wrong). Travis called me over a weekend, solved the problem in like 10 minutes, and then called me back the next day to make sure everything was okay. I haven't really needed any tech support from them since but the support I got when I needed it was great. I've asked a few low priority "what if" or "how do I" questions to Danno and he's been pretty good about getting back to me.

BTW - part of the goodies I was waiting for from Danno showed up on Sunday. Hopefully the rest will show soon.

sybelix

back in Finland now..

yup, we missed it, thank God.
Fabian was apparently pretty bad boy.