Werks

Oli I think that we can all respect that you are expressing your feelings/opinions on your experience with Pfadt. The point is though that what you experienced is seemingly quite different than what many others seem to have experienced and that does not make what others have to say less valid. This is not your battle to fight, it's Pfadts. You extended a helping hand and it seems gave him a second chance which is more than the majority of unsuccessful business owners ever gets. Now it is up to Aaron to come back, figure out how to right any wrongs he may or may not have made and get on with life.

I will add that I too thought Aaron was great when I met him at Katech's Track Attack at AutoBahn, he was checking out my car which was fully decked out in his parts and was a pleasure to speak with. It was only when I started having problems and had to deal with the company directly that I started to see the other side of Pfadt (notice I said Pfadt the business, not Aaron). I will add that a lot of those bad experiences and BS stories i.e. "the sway bar broke because I'm using sticky tires" excuses came from dealing with Pfadt employee's. I did not speak with Aaron directly until Katech stepped in and called him directly because I complained to them that I felt like I was getting the run around. They had enough pull to get him involved (which you have to remember the average customer more than likely would not be able to do).

While talking to him on the phone I told him point blank "from one business owner to another I just want you to understand what customers like me are going through dealing with your guys because you are probably no longer involved in the direct support of customers". I then walked him through my entire experience including me being told the excuse that my sway bars broke because I was running sticky tires and high downforce. When I mentioned that he point blank told me "no, that did not happen". I remember the conversation exactly, my next comment was hold on for a second, first of all I have no reason to lie to you and make that up and secondly he could choose to believe me or not but I have nothing to gain or loose by making things up because I had already made the decision to return the parts I was having issues with to Katech but at the end of the day it's his business with his name on it and I thought that it is important that he know how it is being run, what he chooses to do with that information is up to him. I then thanked him for his call and went on about life.

So I can say with 100% confidence that he was informed about what was going on and how his customers were being treated because I told him that directly. If he chose to believe me or not that's on him. I do not know if he made any attempts to fix things there or not but at the end of the day his name is on the business, he runs the place and he is responsible for his employees just like you, me and every other business owner. The fact that the guy is "nice" and comes across as "genuine" when we spoke to him at the track etc. does not automatically make him a good business person, it does not mean that he is not capable of doing wrong or making mistakes, it does not mean that customers did not get wronged, it does not mean that his interest were or were not good. All it means is that he was nice when we met him! For all I know the guy could just be the biggest screw up in the world or just incapable of managing people correctly. At the end of the day though debate all that you want it does not change the fact that a lot of people had a negative experience dealing with Pfadt and again it is not your job or I think in your best interest to continue being the army of one continually defending him. He's a man, let him man up and deal with it. It's his mess, he has to deal with it.

COSPEED

We remember that. We were precharged for a bunch of orders starting on 11/26/2013 which was the norm and didn't care. But then the first week of 01/2014 we cancelled all our orders and asked for a refund because we could not get any answers on delivery times. We got lucky as a distributor but a lot of end users who bought direct did not get so lucky.

Weird thing was we had orders for their motor mounts and in January 2014 was told that they had been discontinued before November 2013 when we placed the orders for them so I am not sure why they took the orders on them and charged us for them. This is not a bash just telling our story of what happened with us.

Either way I feel for anyone with those headers that did not fit and coil overs that need rebuilding and hope everything can be resolved and business can go on as usual for everyone including Pfadt. We all need to make mistakes in life to learn to grow better and stronger in the end.

0PerformanceCorvettes

LOL

What's retail on an ECS PB&J?

NOSLO6

No dog in this fight as I didn't ever buy parts from them, but will note that my Facebook feed this morning included an item from the official PFADT site about a 2014 black Friday sale. (Not a joke)

Werks

Looks like they are back now under the aFe Power banner as a platinum supporting vendor, guess round 2 is starting lol. Took a look at their site and they are still showing the same sway bars design that broke on a lot of us etc. etc. I really feel sorry for the next batch of people that are going to have problems with these parts that have known issues and they are still not fixing!

dhowdy

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...fe-family.html

Mr.Nubain

I agree, taking payment for product you don't even have is something that in my using days drug-dealers(at least ones I'd deal with) wouldn't even do that and that is an unregulated/all black-market. If you don't have it, you don't take the money. If you take the money, you best be sure you can reimburse the customer if something goes down. I read a lot of this thread in it's entirety and I always wanted a set of their headers because they look great, but from what I've read, I'll buy a different brand/company come tax season. I work hard for what little money I do have these days, I'll be damned if I get ripped off for "car parts".

savewave

I'll try to get to the bottom of it. It seems Corvetteforum admins/moderators, the IB automotive community and the IB advertising team isn't on the same page with this matter.

jbsblownc5

I feel a need to put my 2 cents in here. First off, thank you Jim for looking into this.

I have met and found both Aaron and Robin to be great folks, and I do have their coil overs, engine mounts and tranny mounts on my C5, all of which seem to be fine. Having said that, I was a bit taken back when they shut their doors. I certainly don't know the whole story, and can't comment much on it. I will say that they should take care of EVERYONE who lost money or had issues with their products, before they start making money again off the same crowd.

I will also say that while I don't know you all that well Oli, I do respect you as a business man, a race car driver, and a gentleman. I will also add that I have now seen you adamantly defend no less then 3 separate businesses/vendors that you have a relationship with, and moreover, something to gain by continuing to support/promote...

My 2Cents

Jzolman

I was at summit racing and purchased a complete header and exhaust for a zr1 made by pfadt. They were on the scratch and dent table wrapped in plastic. I paid 350 for them. I love them at that price. Looking for more They have these big sells s couple times a year.

kutlow

My brother bought the coil overs and after 1 month they broke and the front bar broke. Many phone calls and nothing. He got blocked on here. Stay away from this company.

kutlow

wow talk about a scam.

phxcobra

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

383

I think George Bush said it best "fool me once........shame on you.......ya fool me I cant get fooled again"

Kraz8s

I'm one of the guys that Streetk14 had mentioned earlier in this thread that has fitment issues with the 1.875" headers. I had received my headers on the day Pfadt announced they were closing. Got them installed a few days later. After a while I started to notice a shutter in the steering wheel when making hard turns. Took it to my tuner/mechanic and we saw where one of the driver's side primaries was contacting the steering shaft.

Knowing that I was SOL in getting support we tried multiple fixes, none which really satisfied any of us. So for most of this year I've just been sucking it up knowing that I have ill fitting parts on my car.

Now that Pfadt is back I'm hoping I can get this resolved. I know there has to be more of us with this issue and hope those with it speak up.

phxcobra

Good Luck!

dagon138

I've been a long time early customer. Even before they were well known. People might have forgot but for a long time they offered the only affordable adjustable coilover option around.

I have had their coilovers and sway bars for several years now, no issues aside occasionally need to tighten the sway bars.
Good to check out your suspension periodically anyways.

Their C5 headers were a massive fail though.
Mine did not fit. And even though I was refunded (thanks CCA and savewave) I still lost out by getting them coated.

The quality of their posts really went south on the forum that last year as well.

So I haven't made up my mind if I'd purchase the parts again.
It's going to take a while to build up trust for some.
Understandably others will never want any of their money going to Aaron Pfadt again.

savewave

After discussing the matter with the folks at IB, I believe we're all on the same page now. AFE Power was a supporting vendor at Corvetteforum prior to its merger with or acquisition of Pfadt. From all reports, they seem to be an ethical and responsible business.

They can continue to market and promote their products at Corvetteforum, but MAY NOT use this site to promote or sell Pfadt products. Threads already posted by AFE Power to promote Pfadt will be removed.

In its posts about Pfadt, AFE Power has said that they want to work with site users to resolve any unaddressed issues with Pfadt and ask that you contact AFE Power direct through PM. If you prefer to email them, the only email addresses I have are: joshb@afepower.com and sales@afecontrol.com.

If you have unresolved issues on Pfadt products, please let us know whether AFE Power is able to resolve them for you. If you prefer, we can contact AFE Power on your behalf.

vettestream

Since it’s been mentioned more than a few times in this thread already, can someone extrapolate on the Pfadt sway bar issue?

I have the light rates, was it only the heavy rate bars that had an issue? I am just getting into HPDe’s so I’m not pushing anywhere near as hard as most of the guys chiming in, but would still like to know.

I have already had issues with another well-known vendors coil over snapping on me (known issue with their gen 1, but I had a Gen 2) and it was a 6 month ordeal to get my car back on the road. And not a pleasant process, so if there is an issue with the Pfadt light rate’s I would rather remove them, than take a risk.

Olitho

It is my experience in dealing with aFe that your best bet is to deal with JoshB at the first e-mail above. aFe represented to me early on that they want to do what they can to clear up any issues that remain.