Customer Service 101 - How IT should be done
Howdy folks, some of you may know this story, or parts of it, but I did want to throw some kudo's out, and tell the whole story, so that there are no more rumors or inaccuracies thrown around to customers.
Last spring, I started my quest to go boosted and shopped around, eventually ordering the DDMWorks Stage 2 turbo kit (this was before they had a Stage 1 - 3 marketing, and it was just their original turbo kit). During the ordering process and while consulting with Dave online with options and my many questions, he suggested that I could have him install it at Maggie Valley, allowing me to assist and watch in the process, learning as we go.
I agreed and made an appointment with Angie for Friday. I was limited on my vacation time from work, so hadn't planned to attend until Friday, driving in on Thursday night.
I arrived at the DDMWorks tent at 9am on Friday morning and was greeted by the team and we started the process.
Install went smoothly, Dave was juggling customers and the installation, as he does at an event and we completed the install at approximately 8pm. No, it doesn't take that long to install a turbo kit, but again, Dave was juggling and I wasn't in a hurry. He was patient with my many questions.
After he let the engine warm up completely, Dave informed me that he and Bob (mefiburn.com) were taking it for a test drive down the road. I remember Bob mentioning as he watched the numbers on his laptop connected to the ECU, "this is one of the best builds yet".
I watched as Dave and Bob rode off in my sling, itching to get behind the wheel myself. I sat in the tent, visiting with a few other customers and waited, trying to act like I was patient and cool, ya know.
I'd guess it was about 15 minutes later, not sure, but Dave comes walking up, I look around, no sling, no Bob, just Dave. He asks to talk with me and pulls me aside. Tells me that there is an issue, the sling is ok, but there is a problem with the engine, and assures me that it will be taken care of. Dave asks if I trailered or rode it in, and I stated I rode in. He then made arrangements with Angie to drive me to my hotel, I wasn't within walking distance.
Bob's data on his laptop showed that the turbo boost was shooting straight up and probably hit at least 20psi+, and Dave commented that it broke loose in 4th gear as he rolled into it. As most of you know, the stock engine isn't good for more than about 9lbs of boost.
As I'm waiting on things to get cleaned up in the tent and closing down, several other customers that are hearing the story assure me I'm in good hands, and while I had just met Dave that day, I was anxious about it, but felt reassured. As Angie takes me to my hotel, we pass a gas station on the end of town, and I see my sling loaded into a trailer, the last time I would see it for a month.
The next morning, after Angie picks me up and takes me over to the event, Dave comes over to chat, he wanted to know if I wanted to fly out or get a rental car. After checking a few things on my laptop, we determine that a rental car would be logistically easier, Angie drove me over to the rental place in Waynesville and DDMWorks paid for a rental car to get me back to TX, I wasn't expecting this, but they even offered to get me gas cards so I wouldn't have to refuel it out of my own pocket, but I declined, I was going to have to pay for gas on the way back to TX anyway, thought this was a bit excessive, but a very nice gesture.
Back at the DDMWorks tent, while visiting with the team, I learned that Dave had recruited support from Dennis at Rent 3 wheel to haul my sling back to DDMWorks in SC overnight, Dave didn't get much sleep that night.
He had another event the following weekend, IIRC, but about a week later, Dave called me with the status, the engine was no good, and suspected it was a bad wastegate or a bad turbo. Either way, he's going to replace the engine at no cost to me and let me know when it's time to come get it. While repairing the Slingshot the boost actuator on the turbo was tested and shown to be the reason the turbo overboosted.
I asked him about putting in a built engine, since he was already doing the labor, and he made me a hell of a deal on a few things on my wishlist.
He offered to fly me out, but I declined, he was already doing so much to help me.
I flew out mid July and picked up a beautifully running sling. Other than an oil leak that we had to replace a fitting on, it's run perfectly and I'm now running 13 lbs of boost on it. Since then, I've put a bit over 8000 miles on the sling, very happy.
Many thanks to everyone at DDMWorks for the service and support, top notch and they have a customer for life, and probably trying to figure out how to get rid of me, because bad luck does tend to follow me around 
