Did Turner buy ECS Tuning?

[muppetman342]

I've never bought anything from blunt, been in the Volvo game longer than the BMW game, so I was steered towards FCP. Gosh is their customer service incredible...I bought a diff bushing from them that was too big and broke my diff cover (Corteco, watch out); I called them up and they reimbursed me for the cost of a used diff cover off of eBay, no fuss! And their lifetime guarantee, how do you beat that?

[freeride53]

My first few experiences with ECS Tuning (back in the day) were OK, and I appreciated their generally low prices.

In late 2016, I picked up my second E30 and started ordering a lot of parts to refresh, and upgrade the car overall. I spent probably ~$1K at ECS and after several orders, they sent me some incorrect parts. These parts were simply incorrectly tagged, so I instead of some hoses for my E30's M42, I wound up with some rando E46 M3 chassis parts. Here's when things got really annoying.

I contacted customer services several times, and spoke to some really rude chaps on the line. It took me several escalations and complaints until they partially reimbursed me the return shipping costs. It really left a sour taste, and led me to researching & figuring out what's been documented in this thread. Awful.

I still have a bunch of parts left to order ahead of body & paint for my E30, and I plan on using Blunt. No doubt about it.

[rturbo 930]

Well I don't know if he's the one responsible, although I'd bet he is lol.

[nando]

What do you mean? Sears is doing really well. Their management obviously knew what they were doing..

[rturbo 930]

https://www.twice.com/retailing/top-sears-exec-resigns-55402

This guy is the new CEO at ECS? I don't know the details of Sears' downfall, but I'd be highly suspect of that guy.

[ForcedFirebird]

What irks me is their wholesale deletion of information.

Initially when the Pelican purchase was made known, it was covered with a couple threads on Rennlist, on bimmerforums, and a couple threads on Pelican's own forums (including a reasoned response by the then-owner of Pelican). Those threads were ALL deleted (seriously, go try to find ANY news covering the acquisition during that time).

Thankfully bastions of free information like r3v remain largely independent of such tactics. Add revenue is the lifeblood of larger forums who have sold out.

Posted on Pelican's forum:

Hi all,

Some of you may know me already from e-mails, Coffee & Cars or just when you visited Pelican Parts. I thought this would be good time to introduce myself to the entire community. I have been with Pelican for almost 5 years where Wayne and I put together a team to carry on Pelican with the same spirit and enthusiasm Wayne and Tom brought to the business when they founded it over 20 years ago. That same team is here today, along with all the employees of Pelican Parts that have made us who we are over the past 20 years. We have been and continue to be a passionate group of automotive enthusiasts. We are committed to providing content, community and parts for the do-it-yourselfer.

Some years ago, Wayne decided he wanted to spend more time with his family and side projects (books, cars, doing what he loves...) and started working towards a day when Pelican could manage without him. That day came in September, 2017 when Pelican Parts was added to Bertram’s portfolio alongside ECS Tuning and Turner Motorsports. Shortly after the sale I think Wayne said it well, “The reality is that after 20+ years of sweat, writing five books, and numerous skinned knuckles, I have been transitioning my roles in order to spend more time with my family. This is a process that has been going on over the past five years, and I don't expect any significant changes to Pelican or the great community that we have all built here.”

Since the purchase of the company we have maintained who we are and have always been at Pelican Parts with support from ECS’s new CEO Imran Jooma who joined them late last year. Pelican has an excellent group of employees who care deeply about the company and our customer. The sale of the company has not created any change of employment for any of the Pelican employees. Wayne continues to support the business with his attendance at Coffee and Cars events and most recently represented Pelican in an episode of Wheeler Dealers on the Velocity channel. All of the team members at Pelican are dedicated to serving our customers and continue to strive to meet the needs of the auto enthusiast and that will never change. We appreciate your ongoing support of our community.


Bryan Handlen
CEO of Pelican Parts

[roguetoaster]

I'm fairly proactive about getting parts made by quality brands. I've seen those "assembled by ECS" packages before, and as you found out, usually the parts in there are from lesser brands, and they make it quite difficult to find out what the brand is. I never bother with them.

They usually list what is in the kit oh, so you should know if you're getting good or bad stuff.

[DrJosh]

There is a facebook support group for ECS victims

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1969390720044815/

[SkiFree]

What irks me is their wholesale deletion of information.

Initially when the Pelican purchase was made known, it was covered with a couple threads on Rennlist, on bimmerforums, and a couple threads on Pelican's own forums (including a reasoned response by the then-owner of Pelican). Those threads were ALL deleted (seriously, go try to find ANY news covering the acquisition during that time).

Thankfully bastions of free information like r3v remain largely independent of such tactics. Add revenue is the lifeblood of larger forums who have sold out.

[rturbo 930]

I'm fairly proactive about getting parts made by quality brands. I've seen those "assembled by ECS" packages before, and as you found out, usually the parts in there are from lesser brands, and they make it quite difficult to find out what the brand is. I never bother with them.

[LateFan]

^^ I'm with you. I like to know who, where, and where the bits are made.

On my Audi A4 engine rebuild, I bought individual OEM parts, plus system "packages" from ECS, with misc clamps, hoses, check valves, injector inserts, etc. "Assembled by ECS staff" says the description, with a handful of OEM bits in there. Ipd does the same thing with Volvo part kits.

Well, all of the plastic stuff in those kits was Chinese and very poor quality - I had a vacuum check valve break in half in 10 miles. The plastic injector inserts shattered trying to install them. Hoses were "Uro,"...we all love Uro...

So, I'm packing up all my part numbers and sending an email off to Blunt today.

[jeenyus]

This is my feeling too. The layout and pictures of the website are what they do well. It's a facade of quality, but behind that facade it's obvious it's less than great.

I'm more than happy paying a little more for a quality part and smaller companies. I'm tired of the price alone dictating business.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[nando]

I always hated it because people who have no idea how to find BMW parts would constantly post "ECS has it in stock", when in fact, they do not have most parts in stock - they would have to order it from a dealer or distributor like anyone else.

They just cloned the ETK database and added a bunch of pretty pictures (the only thing they're good for) with "low" prices (and ass-rape shipping), so everyone hangs off their sack. Funny part is none of the guys who built the current site even work there anymore..

[jeenyus]

Not wanting to defend ECS as I think their service generally sucks, but they don't exactly outsource to China as far as I can tell. They buy the same parts that other vendors buy, but they do choose to offer some lower tier options that others do not.

I'm pretty sure that story posted from the Operations Manger at Turner said they are outsourcing to Mexico and China.

All I know is in my experience some of the parts have been a little less than what I was expecting.

Will I stop using them? Probably not, but I most certainly am going to look for the thing I need somewhere else well before I visit ECS.

[TrentW]

Steve and the guys at Blunttech are true blue, knowledgeable, and always willing to provide customer service and advice along with good prices.

They are also working on a new and improved website, which should make everyone happy.





No more cardboard male genitalia though. Those were the good old days.