12 years ago I talked with Myron cottrell the owner of TPIS on the phone and he came across as extremely egotistical and arrogant. I am holier than GM was between every two words ... I decided to avoid them for that reason ....

Well, I decided years later to just bite the bullet and order their oversized runners since I'm polishing everything underthe hood to a shine.

I called and placed an order with a jim who actually sounded irritated that I called to order something. When I said I need the oversized runners, he blurted out that they were running a month behind. Never mind I said, I'm not in a hurry. Lemme order the darn things and you can just ship em whenever they come in. He took my order and I gave a credit card etc...

A month later (today) I decided to call and check on my order. I called and spoke to the only other guy there and he was shocked that I was able to place an order. He checked my last name and said that no order is on file. I repeated my statement that I had given a credit card which he rudely interrupted to say something like "you're not listening" ...

I guess ignorance and stupidity is rampant in that shop and it seems that myron cottrell has infected everyone with his crappy attitude to the point that the people sound irritated at you for calling to order.

I thought I'd relay this occurence and encourage people to look elsewhere for any of their products or even consider other products. I myself decided to bypass the tpis runners and just go for the SLP ones or even accel.

As a 16 year old (32 years ago) we all agreed to fire the bass player in the music band I was in at the time because he as such an ******* even though he was the best in the tri state area at the time. Never regretted it. Nobody will tolerate an ******* no matter how "knowledgeable" they are. In truth, this forum has more collective knowledge and wisdom than the cottrell brothers and their shop people....

tpis do yourself a favor and retire so a younger nicer set of corvette people (that realize it's all about people) can take your place ...

 

I recently tuned a Camaro, that had a tpis miniram, and a tpis chip.
Now, everyone knows the miniram comes with no provisions for an EGR valve, right? So, you would think the first thing TPIS would do is eliminate the code 32, EGR problem, right?
Guess what? The CEL was on, and there it was, code 32. Read the chip from tpis, x in the code 32 box. and on top of that, the ONLY changes made to the entire chip was the injector flow rate. THAT WAS ALL!!!
TERRIBLE for the money they get for that.
Just thought I'd share, bein as we're bashin tpis.

 

The TPIS chip I received with my engine 4 years ago was a joke. The car ran like total cr@p with it. It is the reason I got into DIY tuning (which I really enjoy).

 

I never had any issue with ordering parts from them, never got any attitude and service I got was fine. As to chips I'm sure they could do better, had one myself it got the car up and running, I began tuning it myself from there, however I did look it over and it was not a stock 8d, 727 bin, but primarily they are a machine shop.

 

how do you feel when you talk to a 16 year old kid that thinks he knows what he is talking about? and swears up and down that his car is pakcing 600 hp from a filter and exhaust upgrade. Myron probably new you were 16 and full of dreams and were probably not going to buy anything.

before i bought my mini ram, i called and talked to Myron and Jim, Jim mostly. i called and asked questions at least 50 times in a period of about a year. When i told them that i was ready to buy the miniram, they asked me one more time if i had any questions, i didn't and got my mini in about a week. i have nothing but good things to say about these guys. Since then, i have purchased several other parts from them, and again all good experiences.

 

I think Jim at TPIS is a first class BUTTPLUG.

And since you have the biggest a-hole at the top, there's absolutely no reason anyone lower shouldn't be just the same. It would never change unless the company was sold to a new sheriff.

I've heard they were the same way years ago, as you described, and I'm talking about Myron.

I will never deal with those F-sticks again.

 

I have had many bad experiences with TPIS, but the last one chapped my azz. A friend is a dealer, but I chose to buy direct from TPIS, because I did not deserve dealer pricing. I ordered a set of in stock plug wires. I believe they were $50. Paid in full, and waited. 3 weeks later, no wires. After speaking to Jim, he explained that they forgot to ship my order
No problem, we are all human. I asked if he would sent them 2 day shipping, as I had a $1500 to win race in 3 days. He said NO!
The extra few dollars could not be absorbed by TPIS because they buy them for $3 less than they sell them.
Ok, fine. Order cancelled. After checking my dealer 's pricing, I saw that they were $15 or more cheaper than the list price, assuring me that approx 50% mark up was attached to the catalog price. THIS pissed me off. Flat out, lied to.
That is why I will never do business with them.

 

BUTTPLUG ..... Bloody fock that was bad =))

 

That shouldnt matter. First rule of customer service, treat everyone the same. Second rule, treat them as you want to be treated.
I deal with a younger crowd all the time. Some are tire kickers, some actually buy. Doesnt have to do with age, older guys and gals do the same too.
I dont have any exp with their customer service, but their chip sure did suck. Esp bein as it was for their part!

 

so you're saying that leefarah could have been a tire kicker and Myron didn't want to answer this kid's question? thank you i agree.

i have also heard from others about having next to nothing burned into their chips, thier chips suck enough said.

 

Service is everything, amazing how so many companies have no idea what good service is.

 

16+32= leefarah is 48...

 

OK, so i screwed up the whole age thing, so you were 36 years old when he was rude to you, call him back and tell him to f-off for being rude to you 12 years ago.

 

Man you can't read for sht can you? GO BACK and reread what he wrote and try to absorb it THEN post your crap.



I've had a few interesting dealings with them too.
Once I bought a roller cam from them only to open the box and see it was a flat tappet. I did get my money back but you'd think they could tell by the lobe profile a flat vs a roller.
I will fully agree they aren't the most customer service savvy group around.

 

I bought my new Miniram from them off ebay. They had to be nice or I would have left bad feedback.

 

LOL, people sell a TPIS Miniram on Ebay as if they were made of gold. I remember seeing a few auctions where some guys were selling them at $2,000. And that is without the fuel rail AN fittings and adapters which connect the braided line to the stock fuel lines!

I bought a small port 1204 Miniram directly from TPIS for about $1,400 and within a few days received it as it was advertised on their catalog. Not one problem dealing with them.

 

No direct dealings with them but I have asked several questions via e-mail over the years without an answer. I also am unimpressed with their website.

I also now know everything there is to know about balancing an engine.

 

I bought a head gasket from them years ago. Got damaged durring shipping. Called them and they just send me another right away free of charge. They did not even want the old one back and used better cardboard to ship it the second time. I don't know the guy's name I talked to (i think chris), but they never gave me any BS. Who knows, I have not bought anything from them in years.

 

I bought a happy hooker from them. It was shipped promptly, the only problem was they added a 600 dollar wiring harness to my order. It took a few phone calls and a couple of weeks to get my CC refunded but I did not get any attitude from Jim, in fact he was helpful.

Mike

 

Hi All,

Thanks to everyone that helped me "vent" at unexpected behaviour by vette people (and famous ones at that).

Sorry about the age (and math) thing although it was hilariuos to read that someone arrived at the conclusion that I'm a 16 year old tire kicker :-) I was 16 again if just for a minute!

I also wanna apologize for bashing tpis but I just had to share this "little" experience with the forum. I've been helped tremendously just by reading previous (sometimes priceless) posts which could sometimes represent years of experience and thousands of dollars in trial and error with vendors and parts. I sorta felt obliged to put in this caveat here.

In my opinion, vette people are smart as a minumum and the absolute majority of the ones I met are pretty much the cream of the crop and very nice too. These guys at tpis are off on their own in rudeland. Jeeze, how stressful can it be in chaska minnisota???

Anyway, I am 48 years young and NEVER kick tires. I NEVER want my time wasted and will absolutely just not do it to anyone else. I sold pro audio equipment for a living in my twenties and now fully understand that the price you pay is (and should be) proportional to the time the salesperson spends with you. If they had to educate you completely, you should pay close to retail for all the knowledge but if you were a polite price seeker, I would immediately shoot you my best price and hope you appreciated the honesty... It;s mostly not like that anymore and that's too bad.

At my young age ({:-) I shouldn't keep learning lessons especially by tpis (again). From reading everyone's answers, and although there were a few neutral experiences and one positive one, the consensus is that they are NOT customer service oriented whatever their specialty is and in my case, I'll just steer clear of em and enjoy all the other available sources of just as good parts.

Thank you all for reading and participating. I enjoyed reading all the responses tremendously and still laughing !!!