GS SPAWN

Rick@synergy

meldog21

Yeah, give Rick at Synergy a call. Sorry but I'm being totally sarcastic.

Rick did the tune on my C5 Z06 several years ago after I installed my A&A supercharger. He did a great job as far as I can tell. The car has been fine. However, he was a pain to deal with and made me feel like I was imposing on him just to have him work on my car and give him my money. He does have tons of experience with Corvettes and other GM cars/ LSX engines. He is the tuner for Redtopz (Biil Brinkop) who is probably the fastest Corvette racer in California, but I'll bet he treats Bill a lot better than any regular customer.

Recently I had been having some strange exhaust noises and a possible loss of power. Of course I figured I would go to Rick since he is a local top expert tuner and had done the original tune. So I called him..... left a message.... no call back. A few days later I called again and left a message..... no call back. I contacted Bill who told me he doesn't answer the phone and I should email him (I guess he doesn't return phone messages either). So I emailed Rick..... 10 days later I got an email response that was unintelligible with no instructions for further contact or how to schedule an appointment.

I'm retired and my schedule is very flexible, but my time is still valuable. I refuse to give money to a business that doesn't respond or give me value for my money. When it comes to customer service and quality work, I vote with my wallet. That is why I am still on the hunt to find a tuner to look at my car. I will not attempt to contact Rick again or give him any more of my business. If you can get a hold of him and he takes care of your car great, but be prepared for some frustration.

Its fantastic timing that you put up this post so I can follow up on the suggestions people posted other than Rick at Synergy.

Dog

Let us know who you go with and how it works out.

smellya

Yeah Rick is hard to get ahold of but He is well worth it. Best tuner around. But why tune a new Z06 like Richie said something goes wrong they may not warranty it.

Boat Racer

In his first post the OP said "About to do a vengeance racing stage 1 upgrade, halltech intake, supercharger pulley and a thermostat!" If he does a supercharger pulley change (probably smaller upper pulley for more boost), that would require a tune change. Good point about losing the factory power train warranty but for some of us, that is a worthwhile risk for the additional power that can be gained.

REDHULK

im going big boys, **** warranty, at some point im doing a pro charger kit with built motor, vengeance racing is doing one right now, but for now im going down to l.a to do work with cunningham motorsports for there stage 1 kit... In a few years im going big

jhong321

I had Matt @ GP tuning check my Tune and retune my 2002 Z06 with A&A SC about 6 months ago and was able to pick up a few more ponys and get some of the Shakes out.
Good Guy and responds quickly.

REDHULK

Im going down to L.A to deal with the best of the best, Cunningham motorsports. they put togher a great pacage and I will install it and then tow it down to them, leave it for a week and pick it up the following week, im not messing around ..

transAm-98

Sorry, Rick was late on responding to your email. It get pretty busy in the shop with such a small crew. As for the "unintelligible" response, I thought he was pretty short and to the point.

His response to you was - "First place to start would be valve train to make sure you are not floating the valves. Also, if you have a fuel pressure gauge on it you can see if you are loosing fuel on the top end. If you want we can tackle those things for you.

Rick "

He even offered to take a look at the car for you. So maybe you should get your facts straight before bashing someone on the forums.

redtopz

Mel sorry to hear you are still having an issue with the car. For the record this was my response when you asked me about the weird sounds. I don't think I ever said that Rick doesn't answer his phone. In fact he answers the phone whenever I call even on weekends if I'm racing and need help.

"Hey Mel, how are you? Good idea checking it out now before it gets worse. When's the last time you changed plugs and wires? These engines are very sensitive to wires and the only ones that work reliably for me are OEM plug wires or Accel ceramic plug wires from Summit. NGK GP plugs. I'd try that first and if it's still there then take it to Rick."

meldog21

My facts are 100% accurate. Maybe you should work on your reading comprehension. If you read my post which you quoted you will see that I left 2 phone messages that were never returned. So if you were accurate, your apology should have started with sorry we never returned your phone messages, and then you could have gone on with sorry it took 10 days to return your email. I didn't even mention it in my post but I also called on 3 other occasions, but when it went to voicemail I just hung up because I had already left message(s).

I don't know if you read my email to Rick, but here it is:

Rick,

I have a C5 Z06 with the standard A&A supercharger, 60,000 miles, the motor is totally stock. You did the tune on it after the supercharger install a few years ago. The car has been fine for quite a long time but recently started making an unusual exhaust sound at mid to high rpms. It sounds normal under light load or regular slow street driving. No CEL or codes.

I am concerned that a problem could be developing and I'd like to find it before it gets really expensive.

Are you available for diagnosis, and possible repair?

Thanks,

Mel Hinshaw

If you notice, I describe the vehicle, history, and condition. Then I state a concern. Then, read this closely - I ask a question.

Here is Rick's response (as stated above):

First place to start would be valve train to make sure you are not floating the valves. Also, if you have a fuel pressure gauge on it you can see if you are loosing fuel on the top end. If you want we can tackle those things for you.

Rick

So to answer to my question, the response starts with possible diagnostic ideas (doesn't answer my question), and then he says he can do the possible diagnostic steps he just listed (kind of, in a round about way, may be interpreted as answering my question, but not really).

Really, how would this occur? Am I supposed to email back and wait 2 more weeks for a reply? I certainly can't call and get an answer. And, when could I get the car in, a week from now, a month, two months. Obviously if it is so busy the phone isn't answered, messages aren't returned, and even email takes 10 days, I'm pretty sure the car can't be looked tomorrow. So maybe contact and scheduling information would be appropriate. It's true that I wasn't that specific, but when I wrote the email I figured it would be responded to in a timely manner and with some info, maybe something like:

Sure, I can take a look at it for you. We're a little busy and are completely booked for about two weeks, but if you'd like to bring it in email me back (or call this secret number that I actually answer) and I can let you know when I can get you in.

If I ever have the need to send another email to synergy I will be sure to clearly enumerate and state any questions so they can be easily understood and directly answered. I'm pretty sure I won't be sending anything your way, but maybe this will help someone else since they'll know what to expect and how they should go about getting something done on their car.

Dog

transAm-98

Once again, sorry for the late response Mel. I check the the voicemail as often as Rick does and I don't recall hearing anything from you. Maybe it was broken up or indecipherable or just "unintelligible". I can promise it wasn't that we just said "F*** It" and didn't call you back. My name is Ryan, I'm the person who answers the phone about 80% of the time here when I can get to it or don't have a Dyno screaming in my ear. Sorry I missed your call. I'm also sorry that Rick's email response wasn't everything you hoped it would be. He gave you some some things you could look at to help narrow down the problem. This was probably because we didn't build your car and maybe he thought you would try to look at it yourself or take the car to whoever does your regular maintenance. In the end however he does offer to take a look at it for you if that's what you desire. I understand that the effort to write a second email in order to narrow down a time for you to bring the car in may have just been too much for you to bear. Thankfully, you found the energy to type your way to the forum to express all your frustrations with Synergy on the internet in hopes of hindering our regular business and to hopefully make you feel better.

Now that we have the apologies out of the way. Please feel free to give us a call or send another email Mel and I'd be happy to send you somewhere else.

To anyone else looking for service, tuning or engine building, please give us a call at

925-447-3749

or shoot us an email at

Sales@synergymotosports.net

My name is Ryan, and Rick or myself would be happy to help.

meldog21

Still working on that reading comprehension? It wasn't a call, it was multiple calls and messages over the course of a couple weeks.



A second email, after all the calls, messages, and super long wait for an email response? Really. It had already been a month. Luckily for me you gave me a lot of time to get info on other tuners in the Bay Area.


Clearly you have plenty of time to type on the internet too, even if you don't address the specific issues. Maybe a little more time phone, message, and emaill answering instead of typing on the forum would be a good idea for you?

It looks like you still can't read and respond appropriately. If you might have noticed in my previous posts, the whole point is that even though you were my first choice when I started looking for a solution to my vehicle problem, I will never bring the car to you again because of your poor customer service.

"To anyone else looking for service, tuning or engine building, please" -- keep in mind that during all that time waiting for a response I spoke with many top performance/Corvette people in CA. That's how I found out that I should email rather than expecting the phone to be answered or a message to be returned. Of the several people I spoke with they all had the same opinion, but using different words. "Dick", "hard to deal with", "hard to get a hold of", but does good work.
Every single person, the same opinion, amazing! I even stated in my first post that my car has been fine for quite a long time since my tune. So now, especially after your posts, I whole heartedly agree with everyone else's opinion. So for anyone looking for a tuner that does a good job they should consider synergy, as long as they don't mind horrible customer service.

Ryan, you might think I'm just an upset customer, which I am, but the real issue is how you guys do business. Every single person I spoke with had the same opinion of your shop. Your shop is also not the only tuner shop with a similar reputation. I don't know for sure but throughout my searching for a shop I noticed some obvious trends. My guess is that many people who are good mechanics may not have the same level of skill with business or administrative functions.

I, like many other Corvette owners, prefer reasonable customer service along with quality work. Pretty much the same as I expect with any product or service I purchase.

Its up to you. You can continue to keep sniping at me on the forum and continue to do business the way you do, or maybe, you can learn something from all the information I've provided and do something positive about it.

Dog

REDHULK

Maybe you guys should meet up in person and figure this **** out, mano e mano... Otherwise lets talk about making some ****ing power out of these cars and have some fun doing it.

Chili144

Well if your taking your car down to LA then make sure you go see Khole at American Heritage Performance in Harbor City. http://www.americanheritageperformance.com/ All he works on is Vette's and will know exactly what to do to get extra ponies out of that C7!!!

youngrigo

Rick has tuned all my boosted cars and never had a problem getting a hold of him....

jattz06

+1 for Rick, never had any issues dealing with him or Ryan

neverstop

I've had multiple cars at Synergy over the years and I don't like badmouthing shops and I'm sure they are cool guys but I just straight up have had nothing but bad experiences and I now take my business elsewhere.

+1 for Cunningham though, they do good work and have plenty of good things to say about them.

Nosferatu333

How did you determine that Cunningham were better than our local tuners...

REDHULK

I never determined anything, but his reviews are all amazing, not only that he is in to the kind of racing im going to be doing at shift-sector, he not only has amazing reviews but he sells the package I want! just seems like my kind of guy ! sounds like there are some great tuners in this area but they don't seem to think my package is going to make a lot of power, so im going straight to the guys that are selling this package , installing this package, and Ryne Cunningham will be tuning this car.

REDHULK

What i really wish is there was a shop here in northern california like cunningham motorsports or vengeance racing in georgia, one stop shop, were they do it all. You can look up on there web see all the diff race packages, look up vengeance racing, its all they do! I know there are some great tuners like rick at synergy, he has great reviews and ive been talking to him, so far he has been aweson with responding to me, im just looking for that one stop shop