chit chat thread

P_Roloff

Guess this answers our questions about BavAuto...

Rekpoint

m42b32 said:

I was watching Doug DeMuro's review of the McLaren F1 and noticed something familiar.... looks like I can call the e36 window switch retrofit in my e30 a McLaren F1 window switch retrofit. Neat.

Wiper stock is the same too!

HipMF

Rekpoint said:

Wiper stock is the same too!

FYI, I'm pretty sure it's "stalk", not "stock".

You're welcome.

rampelsauce

P_Roloff said:

Guess this answers our questions about BavAuto...

ECS tuning is an unstoppable juggernaut killing our favorite parts providers! Luckily FCP is too big.

patsbimmer1

So we're all clear here ECS isn't actually acquiring these companies. They're falling under the ECS umbrella but in the grand scheme they're being purchased by Bertram Capital who is the private equity firm supplying the money that has ECS in it's portfolio. These moves all make sense from a private equity standpoint. The target is acquire and increase value in order to sell at a higher price later on. A 5-7 year investment is pretty standard for most private equity firms. They're piling capital into a company to make it's net worth and gross revenue as large as possible in order to dump it off later. Every time they acquire a new company it's net growth. ECS and it's subsidiaries will all be sold off at a later date and the cycle will start over and as a community we'll be fucked looking for quality aftermarket parts at a fair price.

Nick_F

patsbimmer1 said:

You're in luck! I deal with this for a living! So if you signed for $195 then you owe $195 unless you verbally authorized more. The catch would be knowing the exact wording in the line you signed and of it says something where you "agreed" to paying more within a percentage of the quoted price. Unfortunately unless they agree to allow you to pay less then you'll end up paying it then filing a complaint with the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection which will take weeks.

Yea I didn't know the specifics so I went in and just talked to them without making an enemy and agreed to 300 flat. I'm still not happy about it being quoted one thing and then it doubling and eventually paying 50% more but I've learned through this experience and at least the install went smooth and was done well.

patsbimmer1

Nick_F said:

Yea I didn't know the specifics so I went in and just talked to them without making an enemy and agreed to 300 flat. I'm still not happy about it being quoted one thing and then it doubling and eventually paying 50% more but I've learned through this experience and at least the install went smooth and was done well.

Did you sign a full and final settlement? If not you can still challenge them through the DATCP. It's still wrong for them to charge you more than you were quoted. If they were getting in over their heads they should have called and gotten verbal authorization to charge more or ate the cost and learned a $200 lesson. Communication is key in that situation and they blew it.

straight6pwr

patsbimmer1 said:

Communication is key in that situation and they blew it.

+1,000,000

Nick_F

patsbimmer1 said:

Did you sign a full and final settlement? If not you can still challenge them through the DATCP. It's still wrong for them to charge you more than you were quoted. If they were getting in over their heads they should have called and gotten verbal authorization to charge more or ate the cost and learned a $200 lesson. Communication is key in that situation and they blew it.

Yea I signed the final statement after we settled on the price and I paid. What they told me is that they pulled the wrong book time and it was supposed to be ~5 hours not 1.5 and I'm not sure why they didn't call once they realized the job was bigger than thought. I won't go back or recommend people to there shop for whatever that is worth but at least it was done correctly and I won't have to call them or go back for that reason.

HipMF

patsbimmer1 said:

So we're all clear here ECS isn't actually acquiring these companies. They're falling under the ECS umbrella but in the grand scheme they're being purchased by Bertram Capital who is the private equity firm supplying the money that has ECS in it's portfolio. These moves all make sense from a private equity standpoint. The target is acquire and increase value in order to sell at a higher price later on. A 5-7 year investment is pretty standard for most private equity firms. They're piling capital into a company to make it's net worth and gross revenue as large as possible in order to dump it off later. Every time they acquire a new company it's net growth. ECS and it's subsidiaries will all be sold off at a later date and the cycle will start over and as a community we'll be fucked looking for quality aftermarket parts at a fair price.

Sounds about right.

Two of the major companies that make the machines we use to build PCBs at work have fallen into this. It's been a few years and so far it's been fine, but I'm not optimistic about the future...

andyhundley

Nick_F said:

Yea, I'll be trying to come to an agreement but not double. I guess we shall see what happens but you're right. A happy customer brings more business

What repair did you have done? What was the reason behind the increase in cost? EDIT: Nvm I read that they misquoted you.