After 6 weeks of waiting. Rant about NST.

tsxtasy · 04-02-2009, 01:08 AM

THIS IS A RANT ABOUT THE FORUM VENDOR NST. It is my opinion on the customer service of NST based on how I have been treated while trying to get a set of pulleys. It was written with anger, so if it isn't quite coherent in some areas, forgive me. I'm only human, and it's harder to organize my thoughts when I am angry. For those of you who are thinking about getting NST pulleys, I suggest you read this first. If you don't feel like reading my rant, just scroll to the bottom of the post and read the moral of the story.

I have nothing after 6 weeks. I ordered a set of NST pulleys 6 weeks ago through Marcus. I placed my order right after a supposed batch was made. When Marcus contacted NST, we were told that all those pulleys were already preordered and that there would be another batch made in late March. I was a bit irritated, and couldn't really see how all the pulleys had been called for since there don't seem to be many people on the forums getting these.
I talked to NST on AIM to complain and try to find out how all of the pulleys could be sold already, and I wanted to know who was buying all of them so I could at least go there and get pulleys. I really wanted to have them before the reflash, so I was willing to order from whatever place had gotten them. NST never told me.
Over the past few weeks I have messaged him once in a while to see when the next batch was going to be made. Skipping to what really pissed me off:
The last batch was made last week. Late March like NST said, amazing he kept his word on that. Then I find out that apparently Marcus placed the order too late and that all of the pulleys had been claimed already. Now I message NST again trying to figure out how the hell I got shafted again. I guess only a certain number of pulleys are made, he doesn't actually fill all the preorders. So even if you preorder, you will still probably get screwed. So after finding that out, and finding out the next batch won't be made till mid April, I am pretty pissed off. Now there was no way I could get my pulleys before the reflash, so I started to lose interest. This morning I emailed Marcus and told him I wanted to cancel my order because I was tired of NST and didn't want to wait anymore. If I couldn't get pulleys before I really wanted them, then I might as well wait a few months more and spend the money on things I would rather get sooner.
This evening I see a post by NST saying he has slightly used pulleys in stock. All those times talking to him I never heard about those... I decide give NST one more chance and messaged him again to see how much the used pulleys were. To sum it up in a nutshell, he then tells me that he won't sell me a used set because I had an order through Marcus and that Marcus would complain. I told NST I had already cancelled my order this morning anyways, so it really shouldn't be an issue. He then told me that a batch was being made April 15th and that if I was still interested then to give them a call and I could get a new or used set. I quickly told him "i already told you i would be interested in a used kit..." and how does he respond? "unfortunately i need to run now." tells me to have a great night and signs off... I'm sorry but if you are running a damn business, you don't just blow off a potential customer and sign off.
I try to give this guy another chance and try to buy a set of used pulleys and I get blown off, yet again. So after getting shafted twice, and now a third time, and waiting for 6 weeks, I have no pulleys and a lot of anger.

It is hard for me to believe that this guy is almost as bad as DC. They were a pretty bad company to deal with, but this guy almost takes the cake. He only ranks higher than DC because at least his products aren't defective like DCs. I guess that is one positive note under a mountain of negatives. And for the record, I never did find out where all these pulleys he makes are going. I know Marcus ordered 4, and got none, so either some sites are ordering a lot of them, or this guy is making 1 pulley per batch.

moral of the story: UR pulleys here I come

tekneek · 04-02-2009, 01:11 AM

you have the worst of luck. at least marcus was cool about it and you still have your $.

i'm interested what NST has to say about this.

tsxtasy · 04-02-2009, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tekneek

you have the worst of luck. at least marcus was cool about it and you still have your $.

i'm interested what NST has to say about this.

yeah, I don't seem to have much luck with my TSX. I pushed through a lot of it, but this is just stupid. I will only wait more than a month for a JDM item. Something that is USDM should not take so long, with the exception of HyTech. But there is no comparison between HyTech and NST.

iakonafuji · 04-02-2009, 01:15 AM

I've been in your position a few times, and it really is aggravating as a buyer to be in that situation. All you want is their product...you're giving them enough respect by desiring their product, the least they can give you in return (in exchange for your potential money of course) is a little bit of respect and dignity thrown your way. The owner of NST needs to get his ish together if he wants to be more successful. I personally don't have any experience with him, so I can't give a justified opinion on his business-skills, but from what you've voiced so far, I don't think I'll be doing business with him in the near future....

Adule · 04-02-2009, 03:19 AM

Sounds like piss-poor customer service. I am going to be unbiased as I never dealt with NST yet and I do plan on getting a set of pulleys. I would be less irritated if a company represenative actually tells their customers straight forward answers, regardless if it's bad, instead of dodging simple questions. I might just make the transition to UR like you did just to avoid the wait time. But thanks for sharing, I always thought the principle of a business(besides profit) is to have a strong relationship with your customers.

ScOeDeLiC · 04-02-2009, 03:28 AM

UR pulleys FTW! ditch NST and grab some unorthodox pulleys!

1TSXer · 04-02-2009, 04:09 AM

Hmm, I ordered my NST pulley from them direct and got it in a few days.

audioserf · 04-02-2009, 07:35 AM

I'm not a fan of NST at all. Like 1TSXer, I ordered directly from NST's website and received my item within days - that part went great. The problem was that my shiny new "OEM diamater" crank pulley was a good 6mm smaller in diamater than the actual OEM crank pulley on the TSX, meaning it would underdrive the supercharger I plan to add. It took me three weeks to get ahold of Mike and actually get my refund issued. Three weeks.

Stories like this about NST aren't uncommon. I also know of an individual who ordered pullies in bulk and they arrived so badly damaged that he had to return the entire shipment. NST's packaging sucks. The whole company appears to be one dude making shit in his basement, or something.

Go with some UR pulleys. Excelerate's been selling those for years and they're a time-proven brand.

xjohnkdoex · 04-02-2009, 09:03 AM

yeah, this isn't the first horror story with customer service regarding NST. i do recall a thread where peregrine (i think) had some communication and waiting issues with them as well.

+1 for UR. i ordered them from a vendor through another site. they were shipped fairly quickly directly from UR. and their customer service was great too. i had a few questions about the instructions and the timing belt, and they were very responsive.

di2lude · 04-02-2009, 11:26 AM

Why would a company not make enough product to even cover preorders..

matiasneto · 04-02-2009, 11:40 AM

i was thinking of getting those pulleys because of my sound system but not anymore

zhieson · 04-02-2009, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiasneto

i was thinking of getting those pulleys because of my sound system but not anymore

+1
Unless nst has a good response to this I may pass them up. I am/was seriously considering a set of their pulleys but a headache is never fun. Hopefully he can shed some light in his defense.

sortudo7 · 04-02-2009, 12:17 PM

Man Nick, that sucks! I feel your pain though, there are some vendors out there like that. Glad we have some good ones like Marcus at least to deal with. I would find out where they are located and see if they're a business or a residence and what not because that just sounds mad shady. At least you know never to deal with them again.

audioserf · 04-02-2009, 12:27 PM

Something to consider is that you only hear about bad experiences (usually). That's a rule of life. You don't remember the average driver, but you never forget the ****head who cut you off and made you spill your coffee.

I wouldn't deal with NST again -- I think Mike needs to get his shit together. However, I'm sure he's got a lot of customers who are satisfied with their products and his service and have no complaints.

TSX_WS · 04-02-2009, 02:52 PM

^ I gotta say that my set of UR pulleys is great, audioserf. Unorthodox Racing came up with pulleys earlier and I havent heard anyone complaining yet. Does that mean anything?