Jaspers Motor Werks sad story !
02-15-2011, 07:07 PM
#16
Nordschleife Master
I'm an idiot. Misunderstood the post by dianic not once but twice. Sorry man! My face is the same color as a guards red 911 right about now..
To the OP thanks for letting us know!
To the OP thanks for letting us know!
Last edited by Dan87951; 02-15-2011 at 08:23 PM.
08-26-2011, 06:09 PM
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Response to Lou and the Jasper Motor Werks "Story"
I'll start by saying that I'm sorry I didn't see this thread much sooner, as I would have responded to it much earlier, had I seen that it had been posted so many months ago. My fiance was the one who actually found this thread and told me about it yesterday and I've just now had time to respond to it in the appropriate manner.
Lou Zarnado called me a couple of years ago, regarding tuning his 08 997 Turbo. He explained that he had already taken the car to several places for tuning and was in disbelief at the prices that were being charged for tuning the Porsche Turbo ECU. He had many colorful things to say about the tuners to whom he had already spoken, including but not limited to REVO, GIAC, and several others. I told him at that time that the majority of our vehicles were referred to GMG to have a GIAC tune put on the car, but he said that spending 2 or 3 thousand dollars on tuning his ECU was "outrageous" and explained that he felt these companies were just trying to get his money and that he wasn't going to be "taken" by them. I told him that we offered tuning through Upsolute (with whom we are no longer affiliated), and that, although I hadn't had any complaints about their tunes, I hadn't had many "Ooohs and Awwws" either. I told him that the Upsolute tune would run about 700 dollars and that I would be sending the ECU out to Upsolute headquarters for his particular car and that we did NOT do it in house. Lou agreed that this inexpensive tune was the way he wanted to go and I sent his ECU to Upsolute in NC at his request.
Upon receiving his ECU, Upsolute immediately called me and said that someone else had been in his ECU and that there were broken solder joints inside as well as other issues with one of the chips on the board. I informed Lou of what I was told and he insisted that we proceed. Upsolute agreed to attempt to repair his ECU and sent it back to me a few days later. I returned the ECU to Lou and told him that Upsolute had attempted to repair, but could not take liability for work that had already been performed on his ECU.
I want to reiterate at this point, that I do not have any idea who damaged Lou's ECU and I am not the type to point the finger at anyone.
When we installed the ECU in Lou's car there was a problem with it starting, which I reported to Upsolute who said that they did not know what the problem could be, but that I should send it back to them. The ECU was sent out again and returned 2 days later and this time Lou's car started. I had my lead Porsche tech ride along with Lou on his test ride, and the whole time Lou complained about how the car wasn't picking up any additional hp or torque in the low RPM range. I explained to Lou that since this IS a turbocharged vehicle he was driving, that most of the power gains he would realize would be in the upper RPM range and a significant portion of those gains would be due to higher boost. Lou complained that this was not acceptable and that he did not like the gains provided by the tune, which he failed to experience while repeatedly shifting the car at 2500 RPM’s. Furthermore he said that he wanted to have the tune removed and returned back to stock. We gladly removed Lou's ECU again and sent it back to Upsolute a third time, who returned it to stock. I told Upsolute that we should return Lou's 700 dollars to him, since he seemed completely dissatisfied with every effort we had made, and with the performance of the car itself. We issued Lou a full refund for the tune as well as the 50 dollars we had charged him for removing and reinstalling the ECU several times. Lou said he was going to take his car back to REVO and then to another tuner to see what else was out there. At that point we wished him well and he was on his way.
We didn't hear from Lou again for over a week at which point he called saying that his car would not start again. I asked him where he had taken the car since the time he had our shop work on it and he mentioned several places, but was not very specific and seemed not to want to reveal what had happened between the time he had us send out his ECU, and the time he called us back to say that the car wasn't running. I have no idea where the car or ECU went during this time and I am unaware of what happened to his ECU. What I CAN say, is that his car was running perfectly when it left us, and he never complained about anything being wrong with the ECU or his car, until over a week later.
The thing that really bothers me about this post is not that Lou was dissatisfied with what was happening with his car (I would have been quite dissatisfied with all of this as well). It's not that Lou was unwilling to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a tune for his $170,000 car (I can understand wanting to get a deal also). The thing that really bothers me about this post, and about the fact that Lou thought it was right to post this, is the fact that, after visiting more than a handful of vendors and after being given EVERYTHING he asked for from my company, including a refund of every dollar he spent, he still chose to point Jasper out in particular, and never to mention any of his other "adventures" while he tried to get his car tuned for little or no money.
What seems even stranger to me is that Lou had called me 3 times since this unfortunate happening with his ECU, NEVER mentioning his dissatisfaction to me. Not when he called me to buy headers, not when he called me again to ask me to find someone to purchase his SL65AMG Black (with which he was also immensely dissatisfied). In fact, Lou never had anything negative to say to me, and thanked me on SEVERAL occasions, PROFUSELY, for the fantastic customer service with which I provided him, and for "putting up with him" since he admitted that he wasn't really sure what he wanted and was sorry for causing us so much trouble and for making us do so much work without making any money. He even related that in the same position that he, himself would have been so giving to a customer of his own. I told him that it was no problem whatsoever, and that if he wasn't happy with the tune Upsolute provided him, I was glad to remove it and refund his money.
We've done dozens of tunes in the 4 years that Jasper Motor Werks has been in business, and have not had a single other complaint. I actually didn't know we had even THIS complaint, until my fiance brought it to my attention recently.
If you read this post, Lou, next time you have a complaint about work that someone does for you, perhaps you should consider telling them about it, instead of praising them to their face and throwing them under the bus the second their back is turned. I'm truly sorry I don't have more time to spend on the forums, or I would have responded to Lou, and to this post, much sooner.
Now, I'd like to go on, momentarily, to explain who I am. My name is Gene Jasper and for the last 12 years I have been in the professional racing and performance parts fabrication industry. I started out in the late 90's building RX7's and moved into the racing industry in the early 2000's when drifting first came to the states. As Jasper Performance we successfully campaigned our drift team (first with one car and then with two) for 5 years on the US circuit. We were the team sometimes referred to as the "springboard" into the professional, competitive drifting community for such drivers as Rhys Millen, Samuel Hubinette, Tanner Foust, Tyler McQuarrie, and Conrad Grunewald, who all drove for Jasper Performance as their starting point into professional drifting.
In 2007 I started a new endeavor (Jasper Motor Werks), with two partners, making forced induction performance parts for 7 model cars (996 and 997TT and GT2, and the E46 M3, E90 M3 and 335i).
The Jasper team has been in attendance at the SEMA show every year for the last 8 years, most recently representing Garrett Turbos, as one of only two cars in their booth at the 2010 SEMA show. We will be representing Garrett again this year with our one of a kind, 4.2L 996 Twin Turbo Porsche. If any of you would like to see the result of a turbo Porsche custom tuned by a guy who is “incompetent” and "full of himself", please stop by the Garrett booth at this years’ SEMA show and take a look at the dyno sheets on the podiums surrounding our "1 Mile" car.
In response to the last of your extremely negative, unfounded post. I think what you meant to say is “Thanks for NOTHING on my bill, since you gave me a full refund”. I’d also like to remind you, since your memory seems to be faltering a bit, that I was the one who referred you to Todd Knighton. I told you when we first met, that if you wanted the best tune which could be provided on a factory ECU, you needed to talk to Todd at Protomotive, but I also mentioned that it would cost you a couple thousand dollars.
It’s fortunate for you, Lou, that most shops will refrain from publicly commenting on the attitude or behavior of a customer, for fear of losing business…..something I’ve also refrained from in the past, but certainly will NOT do here.
Now why would I come out, after all this time, and tell everyone here on Rennlist about a customer who obviously likes to request assistance from a company he speaks kind words to, in person, but speaks ill of, in other forums (no pun intended)? Maybe it’s because I’m not concerned with losing a customer like you……Thank God for that day job, huh Lou?
Just so everyone is clear on the reason for this post, I am not attacking Lou on a personal level, but I AM attacking his untruthful, exaggerated statements and his misconstrued facts.
Sincerely,
Gene Jasper
Jasper Motor Werks
Lou Zarnado called me a couple of years ago, regarding tuning his 08 997 Turbo. He explained that he had already taken the car to several places for tuning and was in disbelief at the prices that were being charged for tuning the Porsche Turbo ECU. He had many colorful things to say about the tuners to whom he had already spoken, including but not limited to REVO, GIAC, and several others. I told him at that time that the majority of our vehicles were referred to GMG to have a GIAC tune put on the car, but he said that spending 2 or 3 thousand dollars on tuning his ECU was "outrageous" and explained that he felt these companies were just trying to get his money and that he wasn't going to be "taken" by them. I told him that we offered tuning through Upsolute (with whom we are no longer affiliated), and that, although I hadn't had any complaints about their tunes, I hadn't had many "Ooohs and Awwws" either. I told him that the Upsolute tune would run about 700 dollars and that I would be sending the ECU out to Upsolute headquarters for his particular car and that we did NOT do it in house. Lou agreed that this inexpensive tune was the way he wanted to go and I sent his ECU to Upsolute in NC at his request.
Upon receiving his ECU, Upsolute immediately called me and said that someone else had been in his ECU and that there were broken solder joints inside as well as other issues with one of the chips on the board. I informed Lou of what I was told and he insisted that we proceed. Upsolute agreed to attempt to repair his ECU and sent it back to me a few days later. I returned the ECU to Lou and told him that Upsolute had attempted to repair, but could not take liability for work that had already been performed on his ECU.
I want to reiterate at this point, that I do not have any idea who damaged Lou's ECU and I am not the type to point the finger at anyone.
When we installed the ECU in Lou's car there was a problem with it starting, which I reported to Upsolute who said that they did not know what the problem could be, but that I should send it back to them. The ECU was sent out again and returned 2 days later and this time Lou's car started. I had my lead Porsche tech ride along with Lou on his test ride, and the whole time Lou complained about how the car wasn't picking up any additional hp or torque in the low RPM range. I explained to Lou that since this IS a turbocharged vehicle he was driving, that most of the power gains he would realize would be in the upper RPM range and a significant portion of those gains would be due to higher boost. Lou complained that this was not acceptable and that he did not like the gains provided by the tune, which he failed to experience while repeatedly shifting the car at 2500 RPM’s. Furthermore he said that he wanted to have the tune removed and returned back to stock. We gladly removed Lou's ECU again and sent it back to Upsolute a third time, who returned it to stock. I told Upsolute that we should return Lou's 700 dollars to him, since he seemed completely dissatisfied with every effort we had made, and with the performance of the car itself. We issued Lou a full refund for the tune as well as the 50 dollars we had charged him for removing and reinstalling the ECU several times. Lou said he was going to take his car back to REVO and then to another tuner to see what else was out there. At that point we wished him well and he was on his way.
We didn't hear from Lou again for over a week at which point he called saying that his car would not start again. I asked him where he had taken the car since the time he had our shop work on it and he mentioned several places, but was not very specific and seemed not to want to reveal what had happened between the time he had us send out his ECU, and the time he called us back to say that the car wasn't running. I have no idea where the car or ECU went during this time and I am unaware of what happened to his ECU. What I CAN say, is that his car was running perfectly when it left us, and he never complained about anything being wrong with the ECU or his car, until over a week later.
The thing that really bothers me about this post is not that Lou was dissatisfied with what was happening with his car (I would have been quite dissatisfied with all of this as well). It's not that Lou was unwilling to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a tune for his $170,000 car (I can understand wanting to get a deal also). The thing that really bothers me about this post, and about the fact that Lou thought it was right to post this, is the fact that, after visiting more than a handful of vendors and after being given EVERYTHING he asked for from my company, including a refund of every dollar he spent, he still chose to point Jasper out in particular, and never to mention any of his other "adventures" while he tried to get his car tuned for little or no money.
What seems even stranger to me is that Lou had called me 3 times since this unfortunate happening with his ECU, NEVER mentioning his dissatisfaction to me. Not when he called me to buy headers, not when he called me again to ask me to find someone to purchase his SL65AMG Black (with which he was also immensely dissatisfied). In fact, Lou never had anything negative to say to me, and thanked me on SEVERAL occasions, PROFUSELY, for the fantastic customer service with which I provided him, and for "putting up with him" since he admitted that he wasn't really sure what he wanted and was sorry for causing us so much trouble and for making us do so much work without making any money. He even related that in the same position that he, himself would have been so giving to a customer of his own. I told him that it was no problem whatsoever, and that if he wasn't happy with the tune Upsolute provided him, I was glad to remove it and refund his money.
We've done dozens of tunes in the 4 years that Jasper Motor Werks has been in business, and have not had a single other complaint. I actually didn't know we had even THIS complaint, until my fiance brought it to my attention recently.
If you read this post, Lou, next time you have a complaint about work that someone does for you, perhaps you should consider telling them about it, instead of praising them to their face and throwing them under the bus the second their back is turned. I'm truly sorry I don't have more time to spend on the forums, or I would have responded to Lou, and to this post, much sooner.
Now, I'd like to go on, momentarily, to explain who I am. My name is Gene Jasper and for the last 12 years I have been in the professional racing and performance parts fabrication industry. I started out in the late 90's building RX7's and moved into the racing industry in the early 2000's when drifting first came to the states. As Jasper Performance we successfully campaigned our drift team (first with one car and then with two) for 5 years on the US circuit. We were the team sometimes referred to as the "springboard" into the professional, competitive drifting community for such drivers as Rhys Millen, Samuel Hubinette, Tanner Foust, Tyler McQuarrie, and Conrad Grunewald, who all drove for Jasper Performance as their starting point into professional drifting.
In 2007 I started a new endeavor (Jasper Motor Werks), with two partners, making forced induction performance parts for 7 model cars (996 and 997TT and GT2, and the E46 M3, E90 M3 and 335i).
The Jasper team has been in attendance at the SEMA show every year for the last 8 years, most recently representing Garrett Turbos, as one of only two cars in their booth at the 2010 SEMA show. We will be representing Garrett again this year with our one of a kind, 4.2L 996 Twin Turbo Porsche. If any of you would like to see the result of a turbo Porsche custom tuned by a guy who is “incompetent” and "full of himself", please stop by the Garrett booth at this years’ SEMA show and take a look at the dyno sheets on the podiums surrounding our "1 Mile" car.
In response to the last of your extremely negative, unfounded post. I think what you meant to say is “Thanks for NOTHING on my bill, since you gave me a full refund”. I’d also like to remind you, since your memory seems to be faltering a bit, that I was the one who referred you to Todd Knighton. I told you when we first met, that if you wanted the best tune which could be provided on a factory ECU, you needed to talk to Todd at Protomotive, but I also mentioned that it would cost you a couple thousand dollars.
It’s fortunate for you, Lou, that most shops will refrain from publicly commenting on the attitude or behavior of a customer, for fear of losing business…..something I’ve also refrained from in the past, but certainly will NOT do here.
Now why would I come out, after all this time, and tell everyone here on Rennlist about a customer who obviously likes to request assistance from a company he speaks kind words to, in person, but speaks ill of, in other forums (no pun intended)? Maybe it’s because I’m not concerned with losing a customer like you……Thank God for that day job, huh Lou?
Just so everyone is clear on the reason for this post, I am not attacking Lou on a personal level, but I AM attacking his untruthful, exaggerated statements and his misconstrued facts.
Sincerely,
Gene Jasper
Jasper Motor Werks
08-28-2011, 01:44 AM
#23
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Complete utter Jean Jasper B.S. no one touched my car Before he hacked the computer & the start of my problems. The only truth spoken was my mention of reluctance to paying several thousand dollars for a reflash & still feel that way. My car now runs fine & has not since refused to start.I have offered proof both from two professional business's, Promotive & Newport Porsche. I was naive, trustful & paid the price. End of story !
09-06-2011, 11:31 PM
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That's right I have nothing better to do than slam someone for no apparent reason. I'm the one that got screwed & just passing it along. Do with this what you will . I'ts of no consequence to me.
09-07-2011, 03:08 AM
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So what your'e saying is that Todd Knighton Protomotive Inc. opinion & that of the Porsche dealer & myself isn't credible & everyone except jean Jasper is an idiot. The fact that my car ran perfectly & immediately after Jasper hacked my computer the car failed to start isn't proof enough to convince you for all i know is a friend or related to Jasper & is exercising damage control for him.
09-07-2011, 04:44 AM
#28
Never heard of the guy or his company until I read your post. He did a pretty good job of defending himself, I think. Doesn't need me to do so. I'm just rendering an opinion based upon what I have read so far. You may be right. It wasn't my intent to discredit your story. Sorry if you took it that way. I was pretty much repeating what someone else had said earlier: two sides to every story......
09-07-2011, 08:25 AM
#29
So what your'e saying is that Todd Knighton Protomotive Inc. opinion & that of the Porsche dealer & myself isn't credible & everyone except jean Jasper is an idiot. The fact that my car ran perfectly & immediately after Jasper hacked my computer the car failed to start isn't proof enough to convince you for all i know is a friend or related to Jasper & is exercising damage control for him.
09-10-2011, 10:31 AM
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Two sides to every story, with the truth somewhere in Btwn, as others have stated.
I have been down the flash/bricked ecu road and will never do that again. The 50 hp you get is simply not worth screwing up a 160k car and toasting your warranty.
I have been down the flash/bricked ecu road and will never do that again. The 50 hp you get is simply not worth screwing up a 160k car and toasting your warranty.