Damned AC buttons-- a fix???
03-06-2017, 01:15 AM
#136
Intermediate
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: San Marino, CA
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Nice detective work...the thought was beginning to cross my mind about him...can any of the Mods look at his IP address and see where he's really coming from? Unless he's gone to the trouble of using a VPN of course.
Well I finally got my buttons and they were complete crap. They looked like someone had manufactured them with a hacksaw and asphalt. Whatever you do DO NOT BUY THESE FOR ANY REASON.
In the reply from their customer service when I complained, something struck me wrong with the wording in the email... It sounded really familiar. Here it is:
"We insist to all our customers to please watch carefully all the high definition pictures available at our web site. Our buttons makes for a good solution once installed. In fact, it came to our knowledge that there are several forums talking about this, customers who already installed the buttons the car are satisfied, however customers who didnt install the buttons or who didnt read or watch the product page carefully are not 100% satisfied. This demonstrate problem is not the product but the expectations created."
That sounds eerily familiar to the posts from renncayman who coincidently seems to be overly excited about his buttons, received them 5 days before anyone else who ordered, has talked to customer service directly even though he had no problems, and keeps pointing people to the climarepair website. Then I looked at his posts...
Of the 65 he has currently, about 80% are about climarepair. In fact his account opened in 2013 and immediately started talking about the stickers that Climarepair was offering for this same issue and how satisfied he was with those. Then basically no posts for two years until the beginning of this year when surprise... he was singing the praises of/defending another Climarepair product.
Then I saw this post from 2013 (#28):
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...witches-2.html
I am guessing that from what I am seeing in that picture (Temp and climate control in Celsius, date in international format (DD.MM.YY), SPANISH TELECOM AMENA as service provider) that this car is in fact not in San Mateo, CA but SPAIN. Combine that with the slightly broken english in his posts, and that the first dropbox site he used to post pics in 2013 was a spanish site based out of Madrid, and I am pretty sure that renncayman is the owner or at least a stakeholder in climarepair.
Either way, that's some shady ****.
renncayman, if you are going to start a small company to cater to a niche market that is very interconnected you might want to start with a foundation of a quality product, transparent advertising and testimonials, and flawless customer service. Otherwise it reeks of a scam.
tl;dr - About 99.9% sure renncayman is affiliated with climarepair. Buyer beware.
In the reply from their customer service when I complained, something struck me wrong with the wording in the email... It sounded really familiar. Here it is:
"We insist to all our customers to please watch carefully all the high definition pictures available at our web site. Our buttons makes for a good solution once installed. In fact, it came to our knowledge that there are several forums talking about this, customers who already installed the buttons the car are satisfied, however customers who didnt install the buttons or who didnt read or watch the product page carefully are not 100% satisfied. This demonstrate problem is not the product but the expectations created."
That sounds eerily familiar to the posts from renncayman who coincidently seems to be overly excited about his buttons, received them 5 days before anyone else who ordered, has talked to customer service directly even though he had no problems, and keeps pointing people to the climarepair website. Then I looked at his posts...
Of the 65 he has currently, about 80% are about climarepair. In fact his account opened in 2013 and immediately started talking about the stickers that Climarepair was offering for this same issue and how satisfied he was with those. Then basically no posts for two years until the beginning of this year when surprise... he was singing the praises of/defending another Climarepair product.
Then I saw this post from 2013 (#28):
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...witches-2.html
I am guessing that from what I am seeing in that picture (Temp and climate control in Celsius, date in international format (DD.MM.YY), SPANISH TELECOM AMENA as service provider) that this car is in fact not in San Mateo, CA but SPAIN. Combine that with the slightly broken english in his posts, and that the first dropbox site he used to post pics in 2013 was a spanish site based out of Madrid, and I am pretty sure that renncayman is the owner or at least a stakeholder in climarepair.
Either way, that's some shady ****.
renncayman, if you are going to start a small company to cater to a niche market that is very interconnected you might want to start with a foundation of a quality product, transparent advertising and testimonials, and flawless customer service. Otherwise it reeks of a scam.
tl;dr - About 99.9% sure renncayman is affiliated with climarepair. Buyer beware.
03-06-2017, 08:59 AM
#138
Three Wheelin'
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Swedish expat in Latvia
Posts: 1,575
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There was also a post on Facebook (997 enthusiasts I think) with another dissatisfied customer and the clima controls looked like **** to be honest.
I would be ashamed to ship such Products.
I guess the cheapest would be just to strip them from the goey stuff like I did with the PCM ****.
I would be ashamed to ship such Products.
I guess the cheapest would be just to strip them from the goey stuff like I did with the PCM ****.
03-06-2017, 10:48 AM
#139
Case closed... If anyone who's installed these garbage buttons wants to send me their old OE buttons I'll gladly strip the old rubberized coating and shoot them with a couple coats of Lacquer and post up detailed pics.
$5 fix and will no doubt be on par with a new set of OE buttons and never peal. Better yet pic up a can of Lacquer and try it yourself.
$5 fix and will no doubt be on par with a new set of OE buttons and never peal. Better yet pic up a can of Lacquer and try it yourself.
03-06-2017, 11:18 AM
#140
I took care of the FB post....
There was also a post on Facebook (997 enthusiasts I think) with another dissatisfied customer and the clima controls looked like **** to be honest.
I would be ashamed to ship such Products.
I guess the cheapest would be just to strip them from the goey stuff like I did with the PCM ****.
I would be ashamed to ship such Products.
I guess the cheapest would be just to strip them from the goey stuff like I did with the PCM ****.
03-06-2017, 11:45 AM
#141
Race Director
Case closed... If anyone who's installed these garbage buttons wants to send me their old OE buttons I'll gladly strip the old rubberized coating and shoot them with a couple coats of Lacquer and post up detailed pics.
$5 fix and will no doubt be on par with a new set of OE buttons and never peal. Better yet pic up a can of Lacquer and try it yourself.
$5 fix and will no doubt be on par with a new set of OE buttons and never peal. Better yet pic up a can of Lacquer and try it yourself.
03-06-2017, 11:58 AM
#142
Three Wheelin'
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Swedish expat in Latvia
Posts: 1,575
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On the PCM ***** it was molded in the plastic.
I assume it's the same here since they are illuminated and the fan symbol must shine through.
See my previous picture in this thread. The left picture is of the **** that was stripped from the goey stuff. I think it was a good result.
I have a 2007 and my ventilation controls are already in this pure plastic and not the peeling rubber. At least what I can feel. So, I assume just removing the gunk should work? Possibly they look the same underneath?
Would be interesting if someone tried who already have them disassembled.
It took me two minutes on the PCM ***** with a scotch brite sponge and some soap.
I assume it's the same here since they are illuminated and the fan symbol must shine through.
See my previous picture in this thread. The left picture is of the **** that was stripped from the goey stuff. I think it was a good result.
I have a 2007 and my ventilation controls are already in this pure plastic and not the peeling rubber. At least what I can feel. So, I assume just removing the gunk should work? Possibly they look the same underneath?
Would be interesting if someone tried who already have them disassembled.
It took me two minutes on the PCM ***** with a scotch brite sponge and some soap.
Last edited by Racetwin2; 03-07-2017 at 04:16 AM.
03-06-2017, 05:27 PM
#143
Got mine today. They aren't perfect but are way better than those in some of the posted pictures. I think they will look OK once installed. However, if a better quality product comes along I will definitely step up.
For now they won't catch your eye as much as the ones with peeling coating.
For now they won't catch your eye as much as the ones with peeling coating.
03-06-2017, 08:58 PM
#144
If it were something more complicated than fan and temp I could see worrying about the symbol but my take on that is you won't miss the symbol. It should be second nature which is which. The display will also be indicating which button is being pushed so not really a big deal IMHO. When/if mine start to peel I'll be pulling them and shooting them.
03-06-2017, 09:03 PM
#145
The idea that people are spending $100 for two small plastic (low quality) buttons is keeping me awake at night. Someone needs to peel the coating and mist some lacquer already. Come on Rennlisters where's that DIY spirit...
03-07-2017, 12:45 AM
#146
Got mine today. They aren't perfect but are way better than those in some of the posted pictures. I think they will look OK once installed. However, if a better quality product comes along I will definitely step up.
For now they won't catch your eye as much as the ones with peeling coating.
For now they won't catch your eye as much as the ones with peeling coating.
03-08-2017, 01:59 AM
#148
Rennlist Member
For those of you that have received them: did any of you select the 'free' shipping option? When I placed the order I totally missed expedited shipping option and wondering how long will I have to wait - do realize their website says it can take up to 6 weeks and hoping that's for US it might be quicker.
Certainly looks like opinions on these are very divided and want to see for myself before pursuing other options.
Certainly looks like opinions on these are very divided and want to see for myself before pursuing other options.
03-08-2017, 09:28 AM
#149
For those of you that have received them: did any of you select the 'free' shipping option? When I placed the order I totally missed expedited shipping option and wondering how long will I have to wait - do realize their website says it can take up to 6 weeks and hoping that's for US it might be quicker.
Certainly looks like opinions on these are very divided and want to see for myself before pursuing other options.
Certainly looks like opinions on these are very divided and want to see for myself before pursuing other options.
03-08-2017, 12:05 PM
#150
Instructor
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: San Mateo, CA
Posts: 135
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Received 0 Likes
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Well I finally got my buttons and they were complete crap. They looked like someone had manufactured them with a hacksaw and asphalt. Whatever you do DO NOT BUY THESE FOR ANY REASON.
In the reply from their customer service when I complained, something struck me wrong with the wording in the email... It sounded really familiar. Here it is:
"We insist to all our customers to please watch carefully all the high definition pictures available at our web site. Our buttons makes for a good solution once installed. In fact, it came to our knowledge that there are several forums talking about this, customers who already installed the buttons the car are satisfied, however customers who didn’t install the buttons or who didn’t read or watch the product page carefully are not 100% satisfied. This demonstrate problem is not the product but the expectations created."
That sounds eerily familiar to the posts from renncayman who coincidently seems to be overly excited about his buttons, received them 5 days before anyone else who ordered, has talked to customer service directly even though he had no problems, and keeps pointing people to the climarepair website. Then I looked at his posts...
Of the 65 he has currently, about 80% are about climarepair. In fact his account opened in 2013 and immediately started talking about the stickers that Climarepair was offering for this same issue and how satisfied he was with those. Then basically no posts for two years until the beginning of this year when surprise... he was singing the praises of/defending another Climarepair product.
Then I saw this post from 2013 (#28):
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...witches-2.html
I am guessing that from what I am seeing in that picture (Temp and climate control in Celsius, date in international format (DD.MM.YY), SPANISH TELECOM AMENA as service provider) that this car is in fact not in San Mateo, CA but SPAIN. Combine that with the slightly broken english in his posts, and that the first dropbox site he used to post pics in 2013 was a spanish site based out of Madrid, and I am pretty sure that renncayman is the owner or at least a stakeholder in climarepair.
Either way, that's some shady ****.
renncayman, if you are going to start a small company to cater to a niche market that is very interconnected you might want to start with a foundation of a quality product, transparent advertising and testimonials, and flawless customer service. Otherwise it reeks of a scam.
tl;dr - About 99.9% sure renncayman is affiliated with climarepair. Buyer beware.
In the reply from their customer service when I complained, something struck me wrong with the wording in the email... It sounded really familiar. Here it is:
"We insist to all our customers to please watch carefully all the high definition pictures available at our web site. Our buttons makes for a good solution once installed. In fact, it came to our knowledge that there are several forums talking about this, customers who already installed the buttons the car are satisfied, however customers who didn’t install the buttons or who didn’t read or watch the product page carefully are not 100% satisfied. This demonstrate problem is not the product but the expectations created."
That sounds eerily familiar to the posts from renncayman who coincidently seems to be overly excited about his buttons, received them 5 days before anyone else who ordered, has talked to customer service directly even though he had no problems, and keeps pointing people to the climarepair website. Then I looked at his posts...
Of the 65 he has currently, about 80% are about climarepair. In fact his account opened in 2013 and immediately started talking about the stickers that Climarepair was offering for this same issue and how satisfied he was with those. Then basically no posts for two years until the beginning of this year when surprise... he was singing the praises of/defending another Climarepair product.
Then I saw this post from 2013 (#28):
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...witches-2.html
I am guessing that from what I am seeing in that picture (Temp and climate control in Celsius, date in international format (DD.MM.YY), SPANISH TELECOM AMENA as service provider) that this car is in fact not in San Mateo, CA but SPAIN. Combine that with the slightly broken english in his posts, and that the first dropbox site he used to post pics in 2013 was a spanish site based out of Madrid, and I am pretty sure that renncayman is the owner or at least a stakeholder in climarepair.
Either way, that's some shady ****.
renncayman, if you are going to start a small company to cater to a niche market that is very interconnected you might want to start with a foundation of a quality product, transparent advertising and testimonials, and flawless customer service. Otherwise it reeks of a scam.
tl;dr - About 99.9% sure renncayman is affiliated with climarepair. Buyer beware.
Yes, very nice detective work, except you missed something important: I moved to Spain with my family in year 2000, and moved back to the USA in 2009, so english is like my second language. Half of my family lives in Spain, so I tend to travel there at least 3 times a year, landing in Madrid because most flights to Spain lands there. And yes, I remember a long stop over in Madridīs airport where I connected to this forum. So what?
I also tend to write only in the threats Iīm subscribed to, because I donīt like to gossip if I donīt have something interesting to add to the discussion.
And dont worry, I dont speak english properly but Iīm a US citizen (if you have some kind of problem regarding immigration donīt worry, you can always vote D. Trump, here are my TWO passports, the Spanish and the US:
Enough stupidity for today.