I just called AA to get an idea of pricing on sending them my ECU for some custom SW (M50, 540 HFM, ASC Delete, CAI) and socketing of the ECU, so I could swap back to a stock SW chip for resale of car and emissions purposes. The Sales guy answering the phone acted like I was talking Greek and was more interested in pushing a $6K Supercharger down my throat after I told him I have no interest in a SC. Is there someone that has dealt with AA for the SW updates and can shed some light on who to speak to. The conversation with their Rep didn't exactly give me a terrific impression of AA

Thanks in advance

MSH

I have not had good luck with a specific individual in sales at AA. Take a look in the "vendor's" section of this board and it will become crystal clear who the weakest link at AA is.

Don't discount AA because of this particular individual but in my experience if you fall into his hands you are screwed.

I would deal with Alex at eurospeed performance. He did my obd2 software with the socketing. Great service, great help and its AA software
http://www.eurospeedperformance.com/

sorry dont know anyone at AA

I have called them one time... not talking bad about AA but the particular person I spoke with was NO help at all, regardless I will not give them my business just because of this because I believe in customer service...oh ya and I wanted to buy a supercharger :rolleyes

yup, that guy is a troll :D cant be good for buisness, must be related to ownership or something

I got an ECU upgrade from AA and it was a less than stellar experience. I bought a spare ECU and before I did I asked AA if there would be any charge to program that spare, and they said no. So I sent it to them, they said it was not the same model as mine and would not work, so I would have to GIVE them my ECU and they would SELL me theirs for $75. That felt like a rip, but what could I do? They didn't offer me any other option and they had both my original ECU and the spare, so I was car-less.

Then the one they sent me was BAD, and I had to return it! They offered no apology, just instructions on how to return it. The replacement they sent was fine, but I never got any good feeling from anyone over there.

Customer service is not their strong point.

Guys...thanks for the input. I sent an e-mail back to the "info" alias for AA and copied both Karl Hugh and Christina Hugh with all the specifics. I think keeping them "in the loop" so to speak will help me get the correct info/service...I hope anyway!!

Thanks,
MSH

Try to talk to Karl or Chris, the sales reps are commission crazy, and often times forget to actually help you with your inquiry, good company, but they have dropped the customer service ball as of late, once the new line of BMW turbo kits hits the market, they'll shape up i'm sure

Try to talk to Karl or Chris, the sales reps are commission crazy, and often times forget to actually help you with your inquiry, good company, but they have dropped the customer service ball as of late, once the new line of BMW turbo kits hits the market, they'll shape up i'm sure

I have been dealing with a "Joe" at AA. Although I was initially concerned my subsequent conversations with him were a bit better. I will withhold any further judgement until the entire transaction is completed. Thanks again for all your input

MSH

well I have always had a great experience with AA. When I took my car there for replacing the vanos, they drove me to the mall so I would not be bored at their store. I have always dealt with prestige at AA, very nice guy and has always answered all my questions.

Does anyone know if Rey still works there? And yes, I've met Presitge in person before, and he's a nice guy.

Yetiboy, you're in the bay area - Go drop a line to Dick at DynoSpot Racing in San Jose.. I believe they'll do custom GIAC stuff, I think. I'm running a GIAC chip in my 95 M3 - swapped it in for the TMS/Conforti chip that's meant to run on 93 octane.

I've had nothing but good experiences with AA. They've gone out of their way several times to help me trouble shoot problems...

Assuming he is still there, I recommend speaking with Alvaro Murillo. Very nice, knowledgeable guy.

Alvaro no longer works there.

I have been dealing with a "Joe" at AA. Although I was initially concerned my subsequent conversations with him were a bit better. I will withhold any further judgement until the entire transaction is completed. Thanks again for all your input

MSH


Yup i had a lot of problems with this guy "Joe" at AA.... He was so persistent on getting a sale, I asked him about a combo price for an Intake and Software and decided to get it (25 off original). Called him the next day and told him to cancel the software and asked him when i could expect the intake. He goes it is "Out of Stock". Wtf? Why is he pushing so much to sell this knowing the product is not available? A week after (today) i called and it is still out of stock. I tried to cancel the order and he goes you can't because the kit is being fabricated already you have to pay 3% credit card fee to cancel. He then said that my card was charged with the software. I told him the software was cancelled a week ago and he is denying it. He also said that he doesn't want to waste his time for an intake sale but rather take a supercharger sale. It ended up that he would credit back the charge on my credit card account but that remains to be seen.

Thumbs down on AA and its Customer Service..... despite me having the same kit on my other car (which i bought a few years back)..... i will not do business with them again.


PS: He took my Software order but never got my ECU number. That got me real suspicious.

Do you think i could still get this charge disputed from the credit card company?

Quake, call your credit card company and get it reversed. I had 3 different poeple tell me similar stories at our local BMWCCA Oktoberfest 2 weeks ago, what the hell happened to AA?
I have a buddy in KC that got dicked around by them when he was trying to give them like $10k to buy some stage ?? kit for his M3, and I heard an identical story from a local indy shop that was trying to make a substantial purchase, both parties went elsewhere and bought different brands.
When I had an AA turbo M3 and was dealing with them on new software I kept getting force fed this stuff about just selling the kit and buying a new gen 3 stage 2 kit, that makes allot of sense, I'm trying to negotiate a cheaper price on software update for a/f ratio adjustments and I got $10k lying around for a new kit. All the cool guys I used to talk to aren't there anymore and I haven't talked to anyone worth a flip since.
If anything AA's customer service is helping their competition by driving people to just make their own custom kits with support through websites like this.

??Alvaro is gone now? Hmm.

I am authorized to sell their products, but got very upset with them when they refused to drop ship a $6,000 purchase :rolleyes
I have not pushed their products since.

They still have the best sounding exhaust IMO though...

i had dealt with christina hugh, she was great to work with and wasnt pushing anything on me... highly recommened... very good customer service...

I called Joe and asked a question and you would have thought I was asking for him to pay for the part I was asking about.

Perhaps I didn't say I was a fellow vendor, but still.

Sorry, just my $.02

I apologize if I have made anyone feel uncomfortable or have upset any one who called in recent days, It is my 2nd week here at active and I am trying to pick up all the BMW lingo as fast as possible and If I do go out of my way to ask my boss for a reduced price on an item I have to have a meeting with him and he does not like the fact that we have to compete with price when they spend so much money and time to compete in quality, so when I go and nag for a discount and then the customer re-nags on the transaction, the Credit card charge is out of pocket on our part but its the price of business I suppose. I plan on keeping this job for the long term future if at all possible. So if you guys have an issue with me at work and customer service or whatever, just drop me an email and Ill try to work out the issue, again sorry to anyone I upset.
Joe
Active Autowerke
(305)-233-9300

i guess that is how they do business in AA. Here's another post from last month........... ironic having so much complaints from such a reputable company. (that is from what i knew a few years back)


http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260564&highlight=active+auto%2A

I've heard these same sketchy stories from some good friends. Its either hit or miss over there. Its a shame because they make a lot of quality stuff. Except the intake mounting process: why the hell do they have you drilling into the car to secure the intake? I thought that was weird.

All,

I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the fact that I just received an e-mail directly from Karl Hugh at AA that addresses many of the concerns outlined by other members and myself here in this thread. While I don't feel it is appropriate to publish Karl's e-mail I will say that he acknowledges that they will do their best to ensure that customer service (both pre and post sale) is a top priority for AA moving forward. It goes a long way, in my book at least, that Karl is doing his best to make the situation "right." In addition, I think it's good to see that Joe has come on the board and addressed some of the concerns presented here. As I stated earlier though I will withhold full judgement until my order is completed and that first turn of the key with the upgraded ECU is successful.

Thanks,
MSH

You should try Dick at DSR

together with Giac, he has built me a decent engine .. I have an OBD1 with a 3.2(you've seen my car)

We last made 259bhp on the dyno ...

Going to NCRC on monday?

-f



All,

I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the fact that I just received an e-mail directly from Karl Hugh at AA that addresses many of the concerns outlined by other members and myself here in this thread. While I don't feel it is appropriate to publish Karl's e-mail I will say that he acknowledges that they will do their best to ensure that customer service (both pre and post sale) is a top priority for AA moving forward. It goes a long way, in my book at least, that Karl is doing his best to make the situation "right." In addition, I think it's good to see that Joe has come on the board and addressed some of the concerns presented here. As I stated earlier though I will withhold full judgement until my order is completed and that first turn of the key with the upgraded ECU is successful.

Thanks,
MSH

You should try Dick at DSR

together with Giac, he has built me a decent engine .. I have an OBD1 with a 3.2(you've seen my car)

We last made 259bhp on the dyno ...

Going to NCRC on monday?

-f

Nice...260 territory...the LTW is coming along nicely it sounds.

Won't be at the track on Monday, but I should be at Hunpin's next event...I think they are now doing an event in conjunction with Doug Gales's group (TMR) at Laguna in mid-Dec....I may be there.

MSH

Maybe we should all give Joe another chance, I will do it.

At least he made an apology.

Maybe we should all give Joe another chance, I will do it.

At least he made an apology.

I agree 100%...hence my post at the bottom of page 1 of this thread

MSH

I just got a Call from Mike at Active, and he walked me through their exact procedures explaining why they couldnt drop ship that purchase. It makes sense now that I have a better understanding of what is going on.

Mike, thanks for the call, I will get some more orders for ya :buttrock

This is crazy!

I haven't looked at the board much at all in the past year, since I don't have a BMW anymore, but I remember AA always being a 10 in every area, quality and customer service.

I called once about a chip I bought and the guy on the phone was very detail oriented and helpful.

Such a shame, seemed like they were doing so well last I remembered.

Finally got my dispute charge back. It is a good thing the dispute department of my Credit Card had a better customer support than AA. I never received any response from AA regarding the cancellation of my order. I did receive a call from them 2 weeks later (talk about quick response time, lol) confiming the cancellation but the dispute was already filed.

Maybe it is just the sales rep but for me i have heard a lot of horror stories regarding AA. They were one of the better companies a few years back but from what i have just experienced, I will be bringing my business elsewhere.

Had another exemplary experience with AA today. They took care of a problem for me with a very fair resolution, despite the fact said product was no longer in warranty. They also threw in every "wear" item I needed for replacement and called me 3 times to coordinate shipping it.

I've had nothing but excellent experiences with them...