I have noticed all the comments regarding Vararam so I decided to post my experience.

I installed the Vararam 2 years ago and have had no trouble with the unit. The reason I installed the unit was to get the cooler air from the front of the car rather than the warmwer air from the engine compartment. THis may or not be true but it is why I installed the unit. I have been very happy with the results and gains over the last two years.

Two weeks ago as I was getting ready to check the filter I noticed the intake body was begining to bow as many have commented on. I then checked my air intake path from the TB and including the intake manifold. Everything was normal with no problems. With everything off the car I was wishing I had already purchased a FAST Intake I could have installed it and saved double work down the road.

At that point I called the company and they were very understanding and sent me the upgraded parts next day and they are already on my car.

This is just my experience but I can tell you in the past trying to get something replaced two years later can be a challenge and in this case it was extremelly pleasant. Based on performance of the product and customer support I would deffinately recommend this product and manufacturer.

Thanks and good job to the guys at Vararam

 

Good to hear. Just had one installed. Thanks for sharing.

 

checked mine which was installed January at Vararam and it is looking great.

 

There have been a lot of complaints about the initial quality of the unit. In my opinion the reputation of a company is not measured by what they do during a sale, but rather how they conduct themselves AFTER the sale is made. It says a lot about Vararam that they are willing to replace so many of these pieces at zero cost to the purchaser. They are surely losing money on their end, but it's nice to know that they are making the effort to remedy the situation. I just hope they don't go out of business replacing all these things for free!

 

Vararam was a nightmare to deal with on an issue I had 2 years ago. I actually gave up trying to get anywhere with them.

Emails would bounce back with "mailbox exceeded quota" messages, I couldn't leave a voicemail with them because their voicemail box was full.

Total nightmare.

 

I think it does say a lot that they HAVE to replace so many of these pieces because almost everyone has the same problem, even with the replacement pieces. Maybe if they were made better, they wouldn't need to be replaced.

San

 

How they deal with issues does say a lot.

HOWEVER, the other side of the coin is that anybody buying a NEW Vararam at this point should not feel like they will run into this problem.

I have not seen anything that makes me feel as if the design defect has, in fact, been completely addressed.

Just damage control so far.

If this thing was 99 bucks then I wouldn't expect so many people to be upset, but at 400 bucks, I expect perfection based on what a simple part this is. Just a duct, really...

 

Fixed it for you.

San

 

And you know that because....? I'd say, not so. If they were losing money on all these returns, requests, etc. they'd do one of two things: take the thing off the market, or change it BEFORE it's shipped.

In the face of their doing neither, I disagree with you: they are not losing money, not on the requests/complaints, returns. And not on the ones currently sold or already sold. Business 101 sez so.

 

Say what? Dirt being run through my engine at $99 wouldn't make me any happier. Dirt is Dirt. I've never once complained about the price of a Vajunk.

What is making people like me upset is all the premature wear of the bearings, and every aspect of the internal engine being polished with a bunch of sand and dirt. And the kicker? They know it's happening, and sell them anyways.

 

I'd bet it cost them very little to produce a Vararam, and less still to send out a replacement piece.

 

Same here, over a year and a half now for mine and all is well.

 

as a fairly new person here who is looking for an aftermarket intake. my initial thought was to buy one of theirs because of the advertising and power claims compared to other intakes. 400-500 is a lot of money and I honestly am leary or worried about this one because of all of the threads on this site. I do not want to offend anyone but I do want to hear from people who buy products and how well a vendor stands behind what they sell. I know you can't make everyone happy always. I will do more research before buying an intake from anyone.

 

I tryed to send them a email about getting my top piece replaced and I get this

"Failed to deliver to 'ledford@tmail.com'LOCAL module(account ledford@tmail.com) reports:mail receiving disabled"

does any one elese get this message from there Technical Questions email.

 

Good to hear they helped you out.

 

I got the same email response they probabely changed something about their email addresses or something like that. I just called them and talked directly with someone it was about a 10 minute conversation they were very nice and helpful.

 

The best way to do business is not to have to call them to rectify problems in the first place. There are other intakes that once you install them you forget about them till its time to clean the filter. There are so many posts complaining about vararam quality it doesnt matter how they handle all the complaints. Buy quality from the get go and avoid playing phone tag games and headaches.

 

May I respectfully disagree?

While 'after sale' service is certainly critically important, a company - and their reputation - must be judged by their commitment to producing the highest quality product possible within their chosen price point. I would argue that a company must constantly monitor customer experience - good and bad - and make improvements to their product as that experience suggests. Likewise, ongoing product testing should drive product improvements, and perhaps reduced manufacturing costs (read: better product at a lower cost).

As for them 'losing money' by having to take a few calls, answer a few e-mails, and replacing a few parts, I'm calling bologna! Their fully absorbed cost of their Vararam (for Corvette) must allow a very healthy gross profit margin... the replacements they send out are chicken feed.

You can pprobably tell, I'm not a ptential Vararam customer. YMMV!

Rb

 

Maybe I should have been more specific in my post. I do not disagree with ANY of you who pointed out that they should have sold a good product to begin with, and that $400 is a hefty price to pay for a defective piece of plastic. The simple fact that I was attempting to point out is that they apparently have recognized that there is a problem, and are attempting to fix it. Obviously they can't rewind time, and fix the problem before it started.......but giving people a brand new piece at no cost, and in some cases even two years after the original purchase IMO is not a bad step in the right direction.

I will respectfully disagree with you again with regards to them not losing money. The phrase "losing money" in no way was directed at Vararam answering phone calls or emails. It simply means that if you sell someone a product for $400, and then two years later when the customer comes to you and complains about the quality......if you decide to give them a brand new unit at no cost to them, you have just lost money on that brand new unit. I'm fairly certain that Vararam does not make these pieces in house, like most businesses they probably contract out to a company that deals with plastics and resins. Vararam obviously has to pay for the product that is made for them, and in turn marks it up accordingly to sell the the public.

I would agree that this is a case of damage control, and at the stake of losing their reputation could certainly tell anyone who isn't happy with the quality to go pound sand. Now, I'm certainly no Vararam nut hugger, in fact they shipped me the wrong PCV fitting with my unit which irked me right off the bat. I do however respect the fact that they are handing out replacements like candy.

Enough rambling, take it for what you will.

 

What is their contact info? Phone number would be ideal!