Brian@BMVK
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I think everyone should be aware that while Calimer certain has a very good product, his customer service is extremely poor and I would absolutely not recommend getting a transmission from him. The story for why below.
On Aug 9th of this year, my 2nd gear failed and the transmission would pop out of gear when I applied any torque. At that point I knew that I was going to replace mine with an upgrade, and do the clutch, flywheel etc all at the same time. I contacted Calimer, lined up a donor transmission to get rebuilt Stage 1. I got one from a 2014 that had a 2nd gear problem as well, and sent it in. I had talked with him both via email and over the phone, and during both, confirmed with him that mine was a 2015, so needed to be built with the 3 bolt output shaft flange. He confirmed.
Come last week, I got the trans, and had everything for the swap. I have a friend who is a service manager at a local shop (and tracks his S550), and techs that I actually trust to treat it like their own, and whom I've become friends with. They gave me a fantastic price to do the swap, far too good to pass up to spend 8-10 hours by myself on jackstands doing it. About 3 hours after I dropped it off, I got a message asking what year the Calimer transmission was. I then instantly knew what happened: Ben hadn't swapped the flange. At the time, it was annoying, but no big deal because they could change it from my old transmission. Here is where the poor customer service starts....
I called Ben, explained what happened, and his response was "oh, I probably forgot". No, "I'm sorry". Again, at that point, it was an annoyance and not an issue. After getting the car back and driving it, I was smelling a bit of a burning smell once stopped. I brought it back to the shop, as they're near work, and we found the problem: the output shaft seal was leaking/spitting fluid and it was getting on the exhaust. I took some pictures, and sent them to Ben. His response is in the picture. Needless to say I was LIVID. The only reason this happened is because he messed up first. My friend's shop would not have needed to touch it if Ben had done it correctly. He had to take the flange off to rebuild the transmission anyway! Since then, there has been no apology, no offer to compensate me for his mistake (another $200 for the repair, completed today). This is not acceptable at all. Avoid. I know he has a good product, and it performs great, but this level of service doesn't deserve the financial reward.
On Aug 9th of this year, my 2nd gear failed and the transmission would pop out of gear when I applied any torque. At that point I knew that I was going to replace mine with an upgrade, and do the clutch, flywheel etc all at the same time. I contacted Calimer, lined up a donor transmission to get rebuilt Stage 1. I got one from a 2014 that had a 2nd gear problem as well, and sent it in. I had talked with him both via email and over the phone, and during both, confirmed with him that mine was a 2015, so needed to be built with the 3 bolt output shaft flange. He confirmed.
Come last week, I got the trans, and had everything for the swap. I have a friend who is a service manager at a local shop (and tracks his S550), and techs that I actually trust to treat it like their own, and whom I've become friends with. They gave me a fantastic price to do the swap, far too good to pass up to spend 8-10 hours by myself on jackstands doing it. About 3 hours after I dropped it off, I got a message asking what year the Calimer transmission was. I then instantly knew what happened: Ben hadn't swapped the flange. At the time, it was annoying, but no big deal because they could change it from my old transmission. Here is where the poor customer service starts....
I called Ben, explained what happened, and his response was "oh, I probably forgot". No, "I'm sorry". Again, at that point, it was an annoyance and not an issue. After getting the car back and driving it, I was smelling a bit of a burning smell once stopped. I brought it back to the shop, as they're near work, and we found the problem: the output shaft seal was leaking/spitting fluid and it was getting on the exhaust. I took some pictures, and sent them to Ben. His response is in the picture. Needless to say I was LIVID. The only reason this happened is because he messed up first. My friend's shop would not have needed to touch it if Ben had done it correctly. He had to take the flange off to rebuild the transmission anyway! Since then, there has been no apology, no offer to compensate me for his mistake (another $200 for the repair, completed today). This is not acceptable at all. Avoid. I know he has a good product, and it performs great, but this level of service doesn't deserve the financial reward.
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