akuma motorsports?

wondering if anyone had experiences with them? good or bad?

 

http://www.akumamotorsports.com/

3 Vendor Review Threads on NASIOC.com

John the owner is a stand up guy. He tuned my 06 Sti and it was just solid. When he was out in Utah tuning for Cobb when he was back in tri-state he offered to check the tune (for free), since some time had passed.

 

Evan the main tech there fab'd up my custom ewg, the welds were perfect, guy can install anything/do anything.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to have them do work for me again.

 

-Jordon

regardless of where your at in the tri state, you wont find better than EFI Logics in Bethel, CT...

 

Dont think I need to explain their credibility, just search them up and I guarantee you'll be overwhelmed and amazed at the same time.

 

my .02

Ahh, Akuma. I found them from a friend that brought his 2.5RS there to get an engine rebuilt. From that I've gone to them a couple of times for some small things (bushings and end-of-season alignments) and I love their work. They're pretty much the only shop I bring my LGT to. It helps that they're pretty close to me too.

The UN-Offical Akuma Write-Up.....Story of Akuma, the devil, bending me over ever so gently...

I guess i’ll start with the basics, I brought my car to Akuma (1991 240sx ka24de-t) around September of 2010 in hopes to get the whole thing completely checked over among various other performance part installations. This was my first car and I did about the worst job anyone could do in finding and picking a car but that's what happened and I had to deal with it. The car was at my house for about a month while I tired to figure out which shop to go to due to the severity of my problems. I had heard of many places like Precision but I had heard many good things about the new Akuma Motorsport. After looking on forums and checking the place out Akuma looked to be a perfect shop to take my car to. I was really excited to see what Akuma’s renowned customer service was really like. After leaving the car there in early Septembe, II began to talk to Akuma about the various parts I want to buy in hopes of turbo’n my 240. In the first couple months we were all scrambling to get parts while dealing with the factors that came up as Akuma got deeper into my motor. First thing was the turbo had a chipped fin, this was ok just get a brand new one. Akuma soon found many small things such as water pump, sensors, and transmission were also bad so I purchased replacements and had Akuma install them. After this we were at a stand still mainly due to MB Racing’s Rolland, taking about 12 weeks to deliver my turbo. The turbo eventually came in and was brought to Akuma on January 17th of 2011. Once they had the turbo we ran into a couple minor problems which were easily fixed. The main problem that occurred at Akuma in regards to my car was that Akuma got on a weekly basis with my car instead of daily, they had a lot of work to do but seemed to do one thing a week. For instance, when my turbo was delivered to Akuma they noticed that the flange was different from the downpipe I had and that the intercooler piping did not reach the turbo any more. They said they could make new custom piping to solve the problem so I told them go for it. They finished the piping quickly except for one thing. When it came to ordering their first part on my behalf Akuma failed miserably. Akuma ordered the flange from a site that was out of stock on them which caused me to wait three weeks before Ifinally gave up and just ordered one myself. This was done on a Wednesday in February and got to Akuma on the next day, Thursday. Akuma did not install the flange for days, I believe until the next Wednesday, after doing that they waited until Friday to inform me that I need a upgraded map sensor. I rushed and ordered one with Saturday delivery, you know how much that costs. And of corse on the phone I ask to Akuma, “If i get it there by tomorrow can you get it on the car and get it started” to which I got a assuring yes. After the part got there on Saturday instead of just installing the part, they had to do wiring. This was understandable because my harness had been f**ked up bad. After a couple days I get a call saying the wiring is done and the ecu and the map sensor are in, but that the battery is dead. This did not even seem to be a problem, at first. After I told john to order a battery he did, but it didn't come in for two days. and of coarse when it did it was the wrong one, positive and negative were switched. So he had to order another one. After the correct battery was finally put in, the distributor was broken, well that's what i was told. So i bought a distributor. and then the power transistor was broken, so i bought that to, but wait now you say its the whole harness itself, well ok. So next step is getting a uncut wiring harness, not hard but not fun while you live 45 mins away and have to take 6 courses. finally get that and get it to the shop by Tuesday March 15th, yea wow we are in march already. They decided that it was ok to keep waiting and waited till Thursday to install it which ended up spilling into friday. At friday at 1 they finished the wiring under the hood and it was john’s turn to hook up the ecu and fire the car up. It was lunch there so i left and went home to eat, being told that john would hope on my car and get it done and that i would get a call to come back that day. Never happens and doesnt for the rest of the weekend. Saturday i went back to akuma to talk to john . I told him that the car needs to be at least started by Tuesday, meaning just plug the ecu in and start the car. And should try to get it tuned by Wednesday or Thursday. On Tuesday i call at 4 after my classes and guess what john never touched my car but i was told he was going to by the end of the day. Well i never got a call so i called on Wednesday and guess what john is at home sick. I understood that he was sick and obviously could not ask anyone to slave over a hot motor while they are sick, but where was my phone call. This really was hard to hear because it had been over a full week of Akuma having the supposed “final key” to starting my car, but every time I called to see if it was running they said no, john hasn’t gotten to it yet. This lead me to believe that the car still doesn’t start, and there is no guarantee that it will work which would mean even more time buying more parts, which I am ready to do but would really have liked to started it sooner rather than as late as possible.

 

---I did not ever expect to add an addition onto this but what happened on Wednesday, March 23 (the day i posted the above review) upon my arrival at Akuma to pick up my car and take it to another shop was astonishing. I really got to see who John really is, right upon arrival you could see all of the tension, which I kinda should have expected. Immediately John is called for and told I am here, right when John walked into the front room he looked at my two friend, who drove me to Akuma since my car has been MIA for the past 6 months, and in an angry tone told them to go sit in the car. I almost wanted to say something, how can he stand there and tell them to go sit in the car, if anything he should have asked if he could have talked to me in private which I would have been happy to do. Right after this I knew that my conversation with John was going to be anything but logical, he was very sick and pissed. Immediately John starts scolding me for the post I made stating things such as, “do you understand what you’re doing, you are attacking my lively-hood, I have a kid on the way” At first this struck me and for half a second I felt bad about posting it, but than realize that everyone is going through a lot of financial problems. He acted like he was the only one. Not all of us feel the need to share our personal problems, my parents are going through a huge crisis right now because they cannot afford insurance but I need two operations coming up due to newly found problems. Unfortunately this means my car needs to be sold so getting it done really needs to happen because the surgeries need to take place in the summer to not conflict with my senior year. So when week after week it didn’t start I had to delay putting advertisement up showing the car for sale. Maybe if I had told them this they would have tried to get it started, just so that I can confirm it is in good shape, but I had always been raised to keep your family problems in your family. Than finally the wire harness got in on the beautiful Friday and I was told John had put my car on the list for tunes, but that he would most likely be able to get the ECU in and see if it fires up. This didn’t happen and when I went there on Wednesday to take the car John told me the ECU was in already but that he needed to check the triggers, idk what that means, but after calling multiple shops I was told he should be able to see if it starts by simply turning the key. John ended our conversation by giving me my final bill and assuring me he would never work on my car again, which is OK by me. p.s. i tired asking if he would take a bigger payment to do the work just to see how his principles were and idk if it was the key factor or if he really believe I felt bad about posting the truth about what happen but he told me to come in the next day and talk to him after I make the final payment.

 

----Well today went a lot smoother.....o wait no it didn’t it actually went kinda worse haha FML. This was the akuma aka devil at play....if you scroll up a big to the first segment you will find that I replaced my transmission. I did this because my old trans had shaft play and some blown seals, not to bad especially since my friends dad is a transmission specialist. I had the new trans shipped right to Akuma cuz i was at school, dts and once it was there called up to see how it looked. I was told the new trans was a steal for 300, IRONIC. I was told my old trans would be wrapped up so that I could take it home. This was the end of it for me, I figure I would come get it the final day with someone’s pickup truck. well since i was taking my car i decided well i need to get the trans finally, so i called my friend and set off. Once we got to Akuma and asked for the trans location. It was unknown. At first they told me they placed it outside on the pallate the new trans came in because it was leaking. They asked if i had taken it but i told em i was never told it was placed outside for me to take. I thought i would come get it when i got all my old parts at once. I tried asking what they were going to do any they said look and hopefully John will know when he gets back, whenever that will be. Immediately I shook it off, o well fked again, but than when i told my parents the took me to the police station to file a police report. The cops review the facts and stated we would need to contact an attorney and a small claims court. This should be a very fun experience, but it will be why no one will read this until those matters get solved.

 

-----My reason for doing this was simply, I wanted to state the facts of what happened according to the little information that Akuma gave me. They could have other reason’s but instead of telling me the reasons i was always told i would be called back asap but rarely did. Its kinda pathetic but I am doing this not to bash the work of Akuma, their work is good, but their procedures are flawed. There is not set schedule which leaves a ton of customers, to be waiting and waiting and not knowing why, which is what really stresses people out. I was gonna say i would recommend akuma as long as you are not going for a whole build, unless it subi, evo, gtr, but cannot since the last two days, up until than the only problem I had was the timeline and how I kept getting fronted even if i went and talked to them face to face, it would have been nicer in the end if John would have just spit in my face becasue that is how i felt he handled the last couple weeks of our...idk contract i guess, lies, bs, and than yelling at me, my friends, the list is just endless now... o well harm is done to both parties...now we just deal with the cards in front of us i guess... good looks o yea hadda say this cuz i laughed when i saw it, these guys charged me 6 bills for akuma decals but where my decals at lol, just stick a fork in me im done....

**i really want everyone who posted outrageously good post about Akuma to know that you probably just fk’d the next couple years of my life up with all your bs reviews on how professional akuma is and how customer oriented they were.

^^ agree with you.

 

If you don't have a $20,000 bill, he doesn't want to deal with you. I had my car tuned there, excuse after excuse, car ended up leaving with less horsepower then it came with. I had a Coolingmist CMGS kit in the car and asked John prior to see if he had experience with it, he assured me that it would be no problem. Then proceeded to ask me if I had instructions for the kit, I provided those and some insight about the unit as I spent a few weeks researching it. I tried to show John how the unit works and what each function does, as I studied it for a few days after installing it. I was told to "shh" followed by "go wait in the waiting room". Not to mention I spent all day there because after every pull, John hopped out and attended to a GTR. I'm sorry my $500 tune that I'm waiting for isn't as important as the 20k bill you have for some customer that's picking his car up tomorrow.

 

But as stated above and in previous posts, their work might be good, their fab might be good. But their approach to customers and dealing with them is incredibly poor. Very greedy and self-centered.

 

Just my .02.

wow that sucks. its always hard for people to seperate home and work. its also hard for paying customers to be handed empty promises time and again. lesson learned... unfortunatly the hard way. in the end you will win.

ok so there has been more problems due to akuma, well i assume its their fault. I have my car at another shop now and when they got the car started they notices two problems after a lot of troubleshooting, the first was the distributor cap was backwards, and the second was that they put a bad coolant sensor and apperantly the whole cooling system had goop in it. This is weird cuz akuma replaced my water pump which meant putting in more coolant, idk what they did here but they couldnt even get a good sensor for my car and that is why they had problems getting it to me.

that cuz after i posted the apology you guys kept screwing me over, lost my trans, didnt give me my intake until i asked, no stickers, and of corse i was promised up until the last day the motor was sound and the only thing needed was a tune scroll up there is even proof on here you guys thought you fixed it but that is not the case. The forum asks if anyone had experiences good or bad i would say mine is bad but people should still know how you guys run the business. If you guys would just own up and apologize for everything wrong you have done i could end this all but you guys keep pointing fingers back at me like im doing something wrong you took 3 grand from me and gave me a car in worse condition than when i brought it there. so thanks a lot and i will keep posting cuz i have had 3 officers tell me to bash the hell out of you plus two lawyers and multiple citizens so get use to this until your out of business.

Take it to PM or you can both go bye bye.

Two key success factors for customer satisfaction and loyalty in a commercial setting like you've described above:

 

1. Manage customer expectations every single day - if you say you're going to do something, then do it, or at least get back to the customer to advise them why you're not, and what the new time-line is for resolution, and,
   
2. Manage each customer's work as a project, with milestones and critical progress reviews - and then stick to that project schedule. If you're going to "mix" other customer's schedules into another customer's project, then each customer should be aware of it and agree to it. This de-conflicts any issues should they arise and goes immediately to point 1) above.
   

The really great shops, and I've worked with a few over the years, and heard of many others, do this day-in and day-out. They build some "slack" into the schedules for things like parts delays, and/or supplier issues, but before things fall behind, they pick-up the phone and call as soon as practical and let their customer know that the schedule is changing and why.

 

A customer should never have to guess whether something they've ordered (especially at great expense) is going to be installed as soon as it comes in. They should know before they order it, when it will be installed after it's shipped/delivered to the shop. Otherwise, a shop is just over-promising and under-delivering - just the reverse of what it should be - and both sides of the equation are frustrated.

 

Bottom line: Every good shop wants to do quality work, and when they can, they do, but they need good project management to enable them to focus on the "doing" and leave the "planning/managing" to the project manager(s). Just my real-world $.02 worth.

I have been watching this thread, and about 3 others that Sharan has put on boards completely unrelated to his Nissan 240SX. I have always been told that engaging in an internet/forum war with a person is a very bad idea. I would agree, to an extent. Once this person continues past the truth, the whole story should be laid out so the intelligent people of the community have the facts and can make informed decisions themselves.

 

The facts here are as follows. I have pictures and the invoice, and I am happy to post copies to end this nonsense. The car in question was brought to Akuma on a trailer. It had never run, however the customer stated that it started and then he had it towed. This should have been a red flag, but we moved forward. This car had quite a bit of DIY mods to it. It has a 'homemade' intake manifold and a JB Welded TPS housing. The OEM harness was heavily modified and various sensors either beat up or removed entirely. The trans had an input shaft that could be freely shaken from side to side...well out of acceptable limits. There are countless other small issues, but I will move on.

 

To keep this readable, I will try to be direct. We were requested to install a turbo, make a down pipe, make intercooler piping, fix wiring issues(the engine bay harness was severely hacked up), replace a battery, make an intake, swap his trans/clutch, fuel pressure reg with AN lines and fittings, install injectors(plus connectors), the AEM and the MAP sensor, tune and a few other minor installs. Basically, try to fix what wax fixable and install the new parts.(again, I can get the entire invoice, however I think you all get the point).

 

The customer provided the turbos...or turbos. The first few were not usable so we had to wait for him to procure the proper unit. Same thing with the injectors.... wrong ones from him then the correct ones. We had completed the trans swap, fab work(I/C and DP) and turbo install as well as the other units. We had to wait for a few parts, and a few weeks over the winter when Sharan could not pay his bill. This can happen, sometimes things come up and a customer can be delayed in payment...we understand. Once the build was back on track we had ordered a battery based on his year, and the terminals were switched, so we had to swap it out... no big deal. The AEM was installed, but the car came in with the original wiring harness hacked up. We consulted AEM(I can post the docs if necessary) and wired in accordance with their guidelines. We installed the AEM distributor disc and I loaded the base map.

 

The ECU was powering up and I was able to sync with the unit. I called AEM and verified all of the triggers were correct and that I had the most current start up map. I have tuned many AEM, but it never hurt to double check. We then began to trouble shoot the wiring, as the AEM tech and I agreed, it appears to be mechanical. We spoke with Sharan and told him what we were seeing. We checked for fuel pressure...injectors firing..OK We moved to spark... The plugs were not firing. Ok, so we double checked the distributor and coil...power in, but not out.(a little more detailed, but you get the idea) We checked the disc(AEM-trigger) and then told Sharan. We swapped the distributor and coil, so another call to AEM. They suggested to replace/repair the ECU to engine bay harness. At this point, I can understand the customer had to be frustrated and probably felt it was one thing after the next. Sharan came in and Jay spent about 45 minutes with him and his friends trying to explain the issues...which can be difficult if the person has no mechanical ability/understanding. We suggested to Sharan that a salvage yard would have a new harness and we could install and rewire the AEM...so we did.

 

At this point, I thought Sharan had a good grasp of what was going on. Well, apparently no as the next day or so I saw this thread...WTF?? We talked to him every time he called, we had put hours into this car and now we are getting roasted. I will say, the were times when I may have called him back late or maybe had Jay or Dimitri try to walk him through the status. It may have been my fault for not holding his hand through out the process, and if that is the issue, I do apologize. I do not apologize for our work though.

 

I confronted Sharan about his post. I may have had a heated discussion with him. I explained what we did, and how his rash actions can have far reaching consequences in these types of forums. He then apologized and asked if I would please tune the car. I had had enough at this point, and asked if we could talk the next day. I thought about his offer and felt that this was a now win situation for Akuma and told him I think we should go our separate ways. He came the next day with a tow truck and what he thought was the final payment for his bill. It was $1300 and he brought $13 dollars.... so I tipped the tow truck driver and told him we could not let the car go until it was paid in full. At that time Sharan posted his apology on the board.

 

The car was towed a day or so later. I do agree, the filter for Sharan's car was not on the car, it was still in the K&N box when he picked it up. No problem, it was quickly put in the car. If we did not give you stickers, please come by I will happily refund you cash. The old, broken trans was in the shop for a few weeks. We called Sharan and told him he needed to pick it up. He said no problem, but he could not get there during work hours. We told him we would happily put it out back on a palate for him to pick up and he said no problem. We did not just randomly put someones trans out side to be stolen...come on, no business would do that.

 

So, does this warrant an internet war? I do not think so. Does this customer have the right to be frustrated? I think he does, this can be an arduous process... modding an older car. Could I have worked a little closer to Sharan, knowing he had very little understanding of this platform and how this type of build goes, maybe. Could I be a little faster with emails...certainly...lol Do I think we performed sub-optimally, emphatically NO. Did we do the work in good conscious, and with a high level of precision...Yes. Did we stay within the budget prescribed from the customer...Yes.

 

I take Akuma VERY seriously. It is how I support my family, and do what I love. Do accusations like this upset me, yes. I want every customer to be treated like family and I hope their cars are everything they hoped they could be. My employees bleed Akuma and they try to interact with every customer we have. That is my model, treat everyone with a smile and perform the work with a high level of precision and care. I have learned that all customers just want to be taken seriously and treated with respect. They expect their cars to be done properly and in a timely fashion. I hope we do this every time, as I demand it from my staff. I hope you all read this and understand that I can not keep this type of war going, and I will not. If YOU want to see what we do, come in. You can just stop by and talk, look around the shop...MAKE your own decisions.

 

Regards,

 

John Shafer

Owner, Akuma Motorsports

Thank you, John for the well written response. Now, let's move on.

just to put a end to this...according to john i lied about everything that happened so it must be true, the car is not at a shop atm and does not have many confirmations saying akuma work was done wrong. on top of that the phone call for the trans never happened that was in person. and jay told me he would wrap it up and get it ready for me to take home which i responded i would be able to do after a couple weeks of hunting down a friend with a pick up truck. Never was i told it was outside, also the injectors were never reordered its just you guys never installed precision injectors and did not know that you were suppose to lubricate the o ring before installation. This ridiculous allegations about me messing everything up are so funny because it is why i started bringing witnesses with me to Akuma to watch you guys tell me one thing to my face and call 2 days later with completely different news. Its ok tho i want this over so every go to akuma they are a great shop and did NOT screw me over in anyway....I know the truth and will not be back though. Thanks for your services...lack their of