Most of you already know the story of me joining OB in the fall of 2010, openly expressing my dislike for them, and joining the Band.
I then came over here to PSN, also which story is well known.... what is not known is my personal encounters with Ken, behind the scenes. The point of this thread is not only to give factual information to deter people from using Ken, unlike the "he said she said" "his spray pattern sucks" BS you find over at OB.... its also to help give an explanation as to why my build didn't quite live up to the hype.
When I started my build I called Ken and told him I needed something more than the turbo cal. He told me he had been working on a DB4 hybrid pump, to supply 150-180cc's of fuel. I told him to put me on the list, and a few months later I got my pump.
As everyone knows my pump failed at just 1,000 miles. The cam pin broke, and Ken blamed my fuel regulator, which I have no doubt helped with it... but he didn't tell me the whole story.
Fast forward 6,000 miles and 2 weeks ago... cam pin breaks again. I call Ken and tell him I'm pulling the pump apart so I can have the rotor EDM'd... he freaked out, threatened me with no warranty, and when I told him that was fine, could tell that he was just trying to prevent me from seeing the "secrets" in the pump.
I get all the machine work done, box the pump up, and send it to Ken on June 7th..... I called him to let him know it was on the way. During this conversation I asked him what was up with 6.9performances pump. He told me that those "Pennsylvania Clowns" fawked with one of the fuel screws, messing up the calibration and that he wasn't going to pay the $350 to have it recalibrated.
I was confused as to why he would pay to do the work himself, when he told me that he was outsourcing it because he was too busy to do it. The next morning on my way to work, it just didn't sit right with me.... a high performance diesel shop, is going to send a 1 of 3 custom pump, to some other shop to calibrate for him....
I started doing some digging around, calling shops in his area, state wide, and then out of state until I finally found the creator of my DB4. Turns out he is also the creator of the turbo-cal and has never heard of Ken's crappy customer service, or shady dealings... go figure.
Him and I talk for nearly an hour, and in this conversation I find out a bunch of different things. First, he told Ken the cam pin was the weak point before the pump was ever built, and Ken decided to ignore it. Second, my pump was never 150cc's, and he never told Ken that. The DB4 project pumps were 120cc's @ 1400rpm max output..... Which brought me to my next question.... the other guys here paid nearly $1800, which was $800 more than me for an EDM'd pump putting out 180cc's.... Ken specifically told me these numbers. The pump builder just kind of chuckled and said... no, all 3 pumps are identical to each other.
I call Ken that following Monday to confirm he got the pump, he said he did and would tear into it that week.... I waited till Wednesday, called back.... over, and over, and over till he quit screening and BJ finally answered..... I said "Hey BJ, whats the status on my pump?"... he tells me Ken has it on the bench, but that's it. I said "really all I want to know is when it is going to make it over to "insert pump builders name"...... the phone went silent...
We had a long conversation, and explained I didn't really care that Ken was middle manning, what I cared about is that he lied so much... he was so worried about keeping this pump a secret that he lost his best customer, and his customer service sucks.... I recommended he go take some business ethics classes.... BJ and I went back and forth, he sympathized for me, and I told him that they had 48 hours to provide me a tracking number for the pump being sent to the builder, or being sent to me. He told me he would get it sent to the builder next day. I thanked him for being professional about it, and told him it was too bad it had to end this way, but I cannot work with a liar.
Friday rolls around, builder calls me, he has pump, but apparently Ken didn't agree with BJ. He tried telling the builder he had no rights to work directly with me, and that he had no proof the pump that was sent was mine... I tried calling Ken, but like the ***** he is, refused to take my call, and hung up on me when I called from another number....
I sent this email to him:
Ken, it has come to my attention that after sending my pump to the builder as I had asked, you then had a conversation with him, demanding that he not work on my pump via my instructions, and that he send the pump back to you. I informed him today that under no circumstance is he to release the pump to you. I know that you removed the pump from the original packaging to hide my address, but you left my receipt from the EDM shop in there, which has my name and card information on it. I also have a voice mail from Kerry (sp?) acknowledging that she sent my pump off, as well as pictures of the pump, its internals, the EDM'd rotor, and the serial tag.
There is no disputing that this pump is mine. I am releasing you from all liability tied to the pump and demanding that you not touch my pump, or any of its parts. I am terminating any all business relationship that I had with you and the pump's modifications are at my discretion and the discretion of any other person I choose. I have given "insert shop name here" my pump, and I am now working directly with them on the development of it. Machine work will be performed by who I choose.
I cc'd the builder in this email as well, so he will receive a copy for his records.
Justin Wheeler
I get a call from the builder about 45 minutes later telling me Ken called, pissed off, and gave up.
