I just absolutely unloaded on someone from BEGi (miata)

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Getting someone else's map will only "get you semi-close", which is basically where I already am.

Update: Called BEGi today, talked to Steph. Things got heated. She told me I was lucky I got everything as quickly as I did (I laughed... then laughed more, then cussed her out, then laughed). She also told me I had no ground to stand on, as I could have run the turbo kit with the stock injectors and stock ECU. I laughed again and added "WOW".
They have no intentions of replacing the compressor inlet tube. Not that I'd let them anyway (without them having one in stock. It would take months to get a new one I'm sure). I told her the tune was no good, she said I have a frayed crank angle sensor wire, which I'm 99% sure I don't (I'm going to check that tonight).
Oh, also, the main reason I bought the megasquirt (to be able to switch maps and stuff), yeah, that feature was disabled on this one (just got an email from her).



Thinking about making BEGi/Bell Engineering pay for me to bring the car to DIY and have them sort everything out, as well as add in the map switching feature. This is completely unacceptable.

[the converted]

WTF? Does their website say anything about the MS being locked down?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

http://www.bellengineering.net/product_ ... cts_id=723

That's the MS on their site.
I called 2 days ago and talked to Corky. He picked up and asked what was up. I told him basically everything with the turbo kit wasn't right and he just sort of sighed and said "yeah...". So anyway, he informed me that Stephanie (who was supposed to get back to me on a bunch of stuff) decided to take the rest of the week off. Now I'm talking to Tim, who definitely has BETTER suggestions. I set the air gap on the crank angle sensor (didn't work, but hey, it's logical), and am going to try to trick the TPS to being 50% all the time tonight. We'll see.
Oh, I also cut the reducer off the old pipe and replaced the silicone coupler going to the turbo (so I'm now using the BEGi intake). It really doesn't sound as good as the one off the 240, but whatever.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Update!

All hell broke loose with the kit. On the way to work one morning, the car randomly decided it wanted to dump as much fuel as it could. This of course made the car run like crap, and die. It also put 1/2 quart of fuel into my oil. I got it home and took the Prelude to work. After getting home, I re-flashed the ECU for S&Gs and started it up. It ran on 3 cylinders

After a bunch of emails/calls back and forth (mostly forth... they don't get back to you in a timely fashion), I decided to swap the injectors around to see if it was the injectors or the MS that was the problem.

#3 cylinder BAD.

Injector from BEGi.
After shuffling them around, cylinder #3 still wouldn't run. Hooray! MS is bad.
But wait... look at that injector... it has a Bosch logo on it. The Bell site says that their injectors are from DENSO.
http://www.bellengineering.net/product_ ... cts_id=586
What do you know, something else they shipped me that is other than what they said it was.
So I do some quick recon. Google that part number. Bosch 0280155715. What comes up? That's right folks, a Bosch 24lb injector... or about 250cc, which is about factory injector size.
What was happening was once I hit 4 grand and boost was setting in, the car was leaning out DRAMATICALLY and misfiring.
To confirm this was the case, I pulled the megasquirt tonight, plugged in the factory MAF, and plugged in the factory ECU. If these are indeed 550s, it shouldn't run, and fuel should be dumping everywhere. Guess what, the b**** fired right up. Smooth idle, 4 cylinders. No CEL, no nothing.

^factory ECU plugged in

^running all nice nice.

I sent Steph an email explaining all this, and said "you have a lot of explaining to do".


Bonus pic:

I put a new top on. Holy crap that thing is a pain to shut with the new top. Had to leave paint cans on it for 2 days to stretch the vinyl.

[frapjap]

Sounds awful man. Hopefully they get the act together and either send you the right stuff ot take a deep discount on your bill.

You'd fare well from posting this and a link to your build thread with the issues you're having on miataturbo and miata.net.

[allenms240]

Damn, do they have something coming.

[Razi]

So I do some quick recon. Google that part number. Bosch 0280155715. What comes up? That's right folks, a Bosch 24lb injector... or about 250cc, which is about factory injector size.
What was happening was once I hit 4 grand and boost was setting in, the car was leaning out DRAMATICALLY and misfiring.
To confirm this was the case, I pulled the megasquirt tonight, plugged in the factory MAF, and plugged in the factory ECU. If these are indeed 550s, it shouldn't run, and fuel should be dumping everywhere. Guess what, the b**** fired right up. Smooth idle, 4 cylinders. No CEL, no nothing.
.

WOW

[PapaSmurf2k3]

So I called them this morning. Surprise surprise Steph wasn't in, but she'd be back in a couple hours and would call me back.
5.5 hours later I call her and say "hey I'm calling cos you never call me back"... meaning not just today, but all the time... ever. She snapped and said "Well I couldn't have called you if I just got in now can I?!". Way to kick things off.

I open by saying "I'm just calling to get my money back, and wash my hands of this whole ordeal. Hopefully you have read the email I sent you".
She jumps down my throat. "I'm not giving you your money back. We need to verify that the Megasquirt is bad, so you have to ship it to us, we'll ship it to Greece and have the guy look at it. If he says its bad, we'll repair it and give it to you"
Me: "Steph, that is unacceptable. That will take forever, not to mention you'll have all the chips in your possession at that point (parts and money), and its in your best interest to make things look like there was nothing wrong. I just want my money back". She then starts yelling about how I called her a liar. Basically she's insulted that I don't think she would provide me with truthful accurate results of whatever test she is going to run.

I propose we ship it to a 3rd party to have them check it (DIY in Atlanta). It will be faster, and an un-biased judgement.
Stephanie: "NO!! NO NO NO!! I Will not agree to that!!"
Me: "ok, I can see we're getting nowhere with this... lets move on. The injectors you sold me. You have them labeled on your website as DENSO 550cc injectors. You shipped me Bosch 250cc injectors".
Stephanie "NO!!! NO NO!!! Our website says 'DENSO STYLE' Injectors!! You have modified Bosch injectors. They ARE 550cc!".
Mind you, now I know she's a dirty rotten liar.

Do you see "DENSO STYLE" anywhere on there?
Anyway, whatever. I say "Ok then, if they are 550cc, then why was my car leaning out under boost... and the ultimate question- how the hell does my factory ECU run these injectors without running rich or anything?!"
Steph: "You can do that... the factory ECU will run 550cc injectors"
Me: "Ok Steph, you're wrong. I just want my money back. Hell, I'll ship these to a 3rd party to get them flow tested"
Steph "NO NO NO!!! We have to do it all!"
Me: "What is the time frame associated with that? It took 10 weeks to get my Megasquirt"
Steph: "I will not give you a timeframe"
Me: "Ok, then I am contacting my credit card company and telling them to withdraw the payment"
Steph: "Then you are a thief!"
Me: "call it whatever you want, I'm getting my money back."
Steph: "I need to talk this over with Corky"
Me: "Do you have a timeframe on that?"
Steph "No. I will not give you a time for that"
Me: ".... .... (stunned).... ok if I don't hear anything by Monday, it goes to the lawyers"

Then Steph got pretty angry again, and we more or less ended up hanging up on each other. Note: this is a condensed version. I had them f*** on so many levels its not funny. Megasquirt being labeled as a PNP (DIY trademark, meaning it came from them when it really didn't). Megasquirt not coming with features it was advertised with.

I ended up just saying F it, and contacted the credit card company immediately after hanging up with her. I'm only getting $1225 back from them, seeing as how everything else (the injectors) was paid through paypal. I'll try raising a dispute with them now too. Bell owes me $1499 in total.
What a freaking nightmare. Honestly, I'm done talking to Steph. She is not logical at all. Big Cheese Corky Bell from here on out.

[Razi]

Pathetic.
I hope you get your money back.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Just sent this Email to Corky and copied Tim on it:

Hi Corky. Hopefully you got the message I sent you through Miata.net. If not, let me know and I can email it to you.

I'm writing to you because I want to say that I am honestly done dealing with Stephanie. She has been extremely hostile with me during the last conversations (about a month now). She is really not being logical, and seems to be getting very emotional. I just want my money back for the defective and function-lacking Megasquirt ECU, as well as the bogus injectors that were shipped to me.
By my math, this is $1499 ($1170 for the Megasquirt, $329 for the "550cc" injectors). Let me know if you figure otherwise. Stephanie wouldn't have any of it, and wanted to run lengthy tests on the ECU and injectors (in house and shipped to Greece). This doesn't work for me as it would take FAR too long (putting it passed my dispute grace period with my credit card company), as well as would "put all the chips on her table" if you will.
I suggested we ship the parts to a neutral 3rd party for testing (DIY for the Megasquirt in Atlanta, and someone else to flow test the injectors). She would not agree to that. Obviously at this point she doesn't trust my diagnostics, and I don't trust her ability to get anything done in a timely manner. Stephanie also refused to offer a temporary refund while everything was being tested. She snapped at me some more over the phone, so I had to call it quits. I contacted my credit card company and informed them to refund the last transaction from Bell. This was only ~$1225 out of the $1499 that is owed to me. I'm telling you this just to give you a heads up so you know what is going on and what is coming. I really hate to see it go this route, but I feel as though I have no choice. I'm still willing to play ball and ship this stuff off to a 3rd party to get it all checked out, as I'm not a thief (as Stephanie accused me of being if I withdrew my payment).

I feel as though I have done substantial leg work and diagnostic work on my end to prove my case, yet nothing has been done/suggested to prove otherwise. Stephanie originally said that my crank angle sensor wire was frayed and that's why the megasquirt wouldn't rev passed 4000 RPM (and said it with confidence I might add). I entertained the idea, inspected my car, found no frayed wires, and even took pictures and sent them to her. I've also taken pictures of the injectors that were sent to me, clearly labeled as Bosch injectors with a part number matching 250cc (While the website claims you sell Denso 550cc). In addition to that, I've taken pictures of my car running with the factory ECU, and although it is hard to get pictures of the actual injectors on the engine, I took pictures of my stock injectors sitting in a bag. You can examine the timestamp info on the pictures and verify that I didn't have time to swap the injectors between pictures (...and why would I want to return this stuff unless it was bad anyway?)

Again, sorry it all has to go down like this, but she's really not working with me at all. I'm going to try and get the remaining money through paypal, but it might be too late (transaction took place a long time ago). Let me know if you have any suggestions. Many previous Emails are attached to this one, and I have more if you'd like to know anything. Also, I'm leaving on a 2 week vacation next weekend, so its in our best interests to get a plan together soon.

Tim- if you have anything to add, feel free to jump in.

~James

[Dattebayo]

Greece?

lol They don't like to anything in a timely manner over there. And I'd go to say they are all borderline thieves in that country, they will take advantage of any situation to screw you (in my experience).

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Greece?

That's basically what I said the first time I heard where it came from.
"Greece? Like... the country? Or is there a Greece, USA that I don't know about..."

[costa_rican13]

steph is bi***! what the hell kind of CS is that? i say lawyer if anything doesn't come out of their pockets soon.

[Dattebayo]

what the hell kind of CS is that?

Greece?

lol, to those that don't know, Greece is just like (if not is) a third-world country. You have to argue and bargain with their people all the time. Ugh, I would have just done a charge-back and been done with it after I heard the the country "Greece" mentioned...

[240sxcl50]

Total bs! I would say lawyer up,you would probly have this all resolved before they even would have done any test on the ecu,if you had went that route.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

In the future you can use a heatgun or hairdryer to heat-cycle the vinyl so it "wears in".

[PapaSmurf2k3]

^That's a big 10-4. I was wondering if that would work before, but alas, I didn't have a hair dryer or heat gun anyway... so paint cans and hot air in my garage it was!

This just in:

They want me to ship the stuff back to them, but no word of a refund yet... umm, what?
Also- they are still listing it as a MS PNP....

[Eikon]

I'd find a neighbor with a dog and fill a box with what you find in their yard and then ship that back to them with their label.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Rough day, Seth?
I like how diabolical you are becoming.

I don't have a problem with shipping this stuff back... I just want my money, and I have a feeling they are going to pull some sort of "but it's got minor scratches on it!!" BS. Well what do you expect? You shipped me something that was bad, that I didn't find out about until after it was installed. The scratches are from your crappy mounting instructions/method, which didn't work!

[Eikon]

I came home to find my 5 year old son had opened a box of original micro machines that I bought when I was in high school.. (mid 90's). I had kept them in pristine condition.. had them in a box in my closet.. They were only worth about $45.. so it's not that big a deal I guess.. but still.. pretty pissed!!!!!

So yeah.. I'm in the kind of mood to suggest something mischevious.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

So... you are currently playing with the micro machines, right?

[Dattebayo]

Is your 5 year old son named Kevin McCalister?

[Eikon]

So... you are currently playing with the micro machines, right?

I might play with them later.. Seeing as I was able to resist the urge to play with them for 15 years, I think I can wait a few more hours.

I actually went out and bought a new "micro machine" this evening. I got a '98 Honda Civic w/ 190k for commuting the 70 miles round trip to work for this summer. It's a nice little car..

[PapaSmurf2k3]

A nugget from the golden age of japanese vehicles for sure. Enjoy it man.

[AZhitman]

Understanding that this is a REALLY old thread, what ever came of this issue, James?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

BEGi refused to give me a refund for all the non-functional s*** they sent me, so I put it in a box, sent it back, and told my credit card company to not pay them. Some of it had been bought via paypal though, which I couldn't get back (because I paid for it long before I actually got the stuff and was able to put it on/test it, because so much other stuff was missing).

At the end of the day, Corky got his a** handed to him by my credit card company, but he also got ~$300 worth of free s*** back from me (via the non-refunded paypal). There's horror stories about BEGi all over miata.net... where they are a sponsor.

NICO would have kicked them to the curb a long time ago as a sponsor.

[Sportscar]

You will hear this same story on forum after forum. I've dealt with BEGI since 1998 and the story is still the same. I sold a car last year with a BEGI kit on it that I bought in 1998 and I still didn't have all the parts BEGI owed me for the kit on it.

I don't tell people to avoid buying from BEGI I tell them to run away. Things only got worst when Stephanie joined the company.

What always amazes me is how some people continue to not only do business with them but actually defend them for their actions.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

What always amazes me is how some people continue to not only do business with them but actually defend them for their actions.

Me too!!! I don't know what kool-aid they are handing out, but I certainly didn't drink it.

Welcome to NICO! Thanks for posting up. Do you still have any Miatai? Got any pics?

My current setup is sort of a crazy hodge-podge of parts from BEGi and FM.
BEGi manifold and downpipe (HEAVILY modified downpipe so that it actually works), BEGi intake and hot side piping. BEGi intercooler (which I had to weld extender tabs on, and mill the factor tab so it would sit more in the middle of the air opening). FM cold side piping, FM Hydra EMS, and I'm probably forgetting a bunch of other stuff.

[frapjap]

So basically all BEGI did right was give you two pipes, and intercooler that didn't have holes in it, and an acceptable turbo and manifold?

My DIY budget build sounds like higher quality than that "kit."

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Nah, I got the turbo from Wicked Innovation. Even their pipes/couplers were pretty cheap. The couplers are pretty much the bare minimum length, so there's no wiggle room. The manifold uses 10mm studs, so I had to bore out the mounting holes on the turbo, and grind down wrenches to fit to secure the larger hardware (everyone else uses 8mm). The intercooler had mounting holes in it, but they were WAY off. My intercooler was pushed FAR to one side of my bumper opening.