Superchips is a RIP off.. never buy one!

I just wanted to see if the Superchips was worth it. So I bought a used
model 3715 for 1998-2003 Dodge 5.9L. So I receive the unit, great shape, as
the other owner sold his truck and no longer needed this one, it was well
taken care of.

Time to program my 2002 Dodge 2500 with 5.9L. Low and behold the Superchips
tells me the programmer "Requires an Update" Well, I know this is going to
be trouble! So i called Superchips and the first guy says, no problem, even
through you bought it used there is no charge. Call back with the Vin # and
the numbers off the computer.

Okay, NP, I find the numbers I need and call them back. This time another
guy answers the phone, telling me that it will cost $200 to reprogram the
controller. Though he says if the other guy has the receipt, it will be only
$10.50

Well, what the heck, why two different people tell me different things, and
why, even though I'm the second owner, yet with the receipt it is $198.50
less??

I can't see how a company can list this for 1998-2003 model years and then
tell me that i have to pay $200 to get it fixed. To me that is FALSE
advertisement on there part. Anyway you look at it. Yes, I know there are
many different computers out there for a Dodge truck, so what. There are
many more different computers in every home and yet if a software company
sells a program that didn't work with them all, well.... need I say more, as
that company wouldn't last long IMO.

Also, it is like a 5 minute deal at the most to FLASH a programmer like the
Superships. Just plug in the serial cables and upload the newer flash is
all. What a ripoff to the end user to charge $200. I'm 33 years old, I'll
own more trucks in my life, what a shame I'll never buy from this company,
and never recommend them to anyone either.

-Steve

 

And why exactly is it not possible for you to just keep calling Superchips
back
until you get the first guy again on the phone who said they would give you
a
free flash update?!?

You might also look more carefully at the warranty of products that you buy
used. Here's the pertient warning on the Superchips warranty, accessible by

http://www.superchips.com/html/products/index.htm#

"This Limited Warranty applies only to the original purchaser and is not
transferable."


Ted

 

Good point, Ted! I thought this, when the OP posted his diatribe
against the good folks at Superchips:

I go to about 5-6000 garage sales each year. No, I'm not a dealer, .
.. . I'm simply an economically-minded, eclectic collector of other people's
cast offs. I have made some tremendous bargains, over the past several years.
Many of them, you would never believe, if I came off the anecdotal details of
those transactions.

I see and deal with a lot of people who have their heads on straight,
and let you know that they are having their sale, because they have a purpose
in mind, and that's to get RID of the stuff they consider to be junk, and get
it away from their homes, and out of their life. I also see the other kind of
people, who start out with that objective, but then begin having second
thoughts, and start thinking about how much money they paid for certain items,
and go directly to human phase three, where they think they can realize some
kind of return on the investment they made, by asking a certain (unrealistic)
percentage of the original retail price they paid, to sell to someone, standing
in their garage, willing ONLY to help them with that original objective, of
getting RID of the items. Normally, 10¢ or less, on the retail dollar, is
about right, provided it isn't worn out, damaged, stained, or otherwise
questionable, and in testable, working order.

Many times, I've picked up a fairly well worn, sabre saw, and found
it priced at $35.00. As I'm gently replacing it to it's former resting place,
many times, the wife of its owner will say something like, "My husband said
that cost over $100, new!" She'll then go into how well it works, and tell you
why he bought it -- new kitchen, remodel the bath, etc, etc, etc. After
listening, carefully, I usually ask about the written warranty, and replacement
policy, if I'm not completely satisfied at $35.00. Most of them suddenly get
it, but there are at least as many who need to duck, to avoid the low flying
aircraft, crashing into their foreheads. Either it's for sale at an
unbelieveably low price, or there's someone down the street with another one,
just like it, priced at $5.00, because they know you don't expect a warranty,
and they still have the same, original objective, of getting the damned thing
out of their house. Usually those deals are do-able, if I need a sabre saw, at
the moment, or I think one of my friends needs one. At $35, I'm just better
educated on the lack of intellect on the part of the seller, and chalking up a
few wasted minutes, as I move on down the street to the next sale.

Just last week, I was at a retired couple's sale, as they'd purchased
a new motor home, and were going to travel across the country, during their
remaining retirement years. He was selling his Shopsmith, and all his tools.
His prices were based on what he'd paid, retail, and NOTHING was being sold,
during the first hours of the sale. I picked up a NIB (new-in-the-box, for the
uninitiated), heat gun. It was a brand name piece, and they seemed to have two
of them. Neither was marked with a price, so I carried them to the card table,
where Granny had set up her little cashier's station, and was waiting for her
first valued customer. I asked about the price. She related that they
belonged to her brother, and he had said that the price was 49.95 new, and that
he wanted $40 dollars each for them. That's eighty bucks for two new heat
guns, valued, in the store, on the shelf, at about $100. Hold me back! I
asked about the warranty, and once she understood the question, she related
that there was "NO WARRANTY." I then, quietly asked, "Have you ever heard of a
company called Harbor Freight??" She said "No,." and I walked away, after
gently replacing the two nicely packaged, ten-year-old, heat guns back on the
table where I found them, while all the other shoppers smiled and began moving
toward the end of the driveway, themselves.

This Superchips deal is just another case or two fools, who both lost
sight of their objectives, (well at least the second one, did --- who knows, .
.. . the original owner may have seen the embodiment of PT Barnam's famous
quote, and taken advantage of fool #2). If the damned chip was used, whether
it was "in perfect condition" or not, the question of warranty issues is a
valid one, for anyone trying to make a sale. If they don't have a good answer,
maybe that's one of the reasons why the original manufacturer gets the prices
he does, in the first place. Let's face it, owner number two, (previously
identified as fool #2), probably got ripped off, and needs to file this one in
his "Things to Remember" folder, for future reference, and walk away a winner,
in the "lessons learned" respect, at least. Or, . . . . there's always the
Casino, . . .

BTW, for those who are wondering, . . . . the Shopsmith was, (and
prolly still is), available at $2,750.00, . . . . Well, . . . whaddjaexpect,
.. . . . it cost over $3000.00 new, and that isn't even counting the shipping
charges. Used Superchips can prolly be found nearby, at his son's place, . .
.. . if they had any children, that is.

If your going to be mad at someone, pardner, . . . . maybe the guy
who got your money is on the list of prime suspects. Here's hoping that you
haven't had children, either.

God Bless,
Dan'L

Let's see, . . . . Ummmmmm, . . . . "Four More Years!"

 

Yes, I had read their warrenty info, in great detail. Yet, I assumed that
when the model I bought,
regardless if used, said it was for 1998-2003, that it indeed was for them
years of that truck! I
had not assumed that their product would not work "Out of the Box"
correctly.

To call back and be on hold for 10-12 min at a time to try and reach the
same guy for what reason?
once they have the programer, who's to stop them from billing me before I
can get it back.

The really "DUMB" point of the matter is the fact that they said they would
update it if i had the guys
receipt to show he bought it, not me. What the heck then does it matter?

 

Basicly, this Fool #2 might just call Consumer Afairs on your Good folks at
Superchips.
Falsely selling something, that as I have stated before. If you bought a
VCR, and when you
got home to hook it up, said, needs an Update for this TV, and you then
called to find out
that it would cost another $150 to get this so called "Update"....what would
you do?

I just want to let other people know that Superchips is a ripoff, no resale
value for the $350+
you pay, when most people have a truck for 2-3 years. It isn't worth it.
Also let people know
the workers they don't know on thing from the other guy... bad PR if you ask
me.

 

Yes, I had read their warrenty info, in great detail. Yet, I assumed that

What, on earth, makes you think you're entitled to something from
these guys, whom you've never done business with?? What part of, "This
Limited Warranty applies only to the original purchaser and is not
transferable," don't you understand?? Where do you get off, complaining about
the business practice of someone whom you've never spent a dime with?? You
have zero legs to stand on, legally, morally, or ethically. You've suffered no
loss, due to their actions. Time to grow up and be an adult.

Wait, . . . . I know, . . . . You're just pissed off, because you
voted for Senator Soufflé, and now the entitlements he promised won't be
coming, the first of each month, and you found a neat little way to get some of
it back.

The good folx over at Superchips have a policy, and just because you
think you talked to someone who said something outside their policy, you think
you're entitled to something from them?? Did you record the call?? Can you
legally do so, from your home state??

You say they owe you! You couldn't be more wrong. They owe you
NOTHING. Grow up, and accept the personal responsibility of your own actions.
You got ripped off, but not by Superchips. I wanna know why you're not peeved
at the guy who sold you the bad part. He's the one who ripped you off. You
gave him money for something that we have to assume you were smart enough to
ask about, whether it would work, or not. If you failed to ask, even this most
basic question, then you deserve to get ripped off. No court in the land will
hand you a judgement against Superchips, until you exhaust ALL remedies against
the most recent source of grievance, . . . . the guy who sold you the bad chip.
Either go back to square one, or swallow the load, and crank yur belt down
another notch, and chalk this one up to experience, and send the nice folx over
at Superships a nice big check for a new chip to fit your car/truck, with the
latest version in it, and a nice warranty slip, that you can send them, with
all your personal data on it, in case there's a problem. That'll make you the
original purchaser, and you'll know not to try to sell it to someone else, and
tell them the warranty is transferable, cuz that'd be a lie. Remember: "This
Limited Warranty applies only to the original purchaser and is not
transferable."

God Bless,
Dan'L

Let's see, . . . . Ummmmmm, . . . . "Four More Years!"

 

I would believe them. My day job is at an ISP. We sell mostly DSL and T1's
to businesses that want a better level of support when they have problems
than
the usual inexperienced young just getting started tech support kid. It has
been about 5 years since I bought a new Cisco router for resale to a
business
customer. Everything since then has been Ebay Cisco routers. Just last
month
I bought 2 VXR's for $4K each. List on these, and they are still selling
brand new,
is about $30K each for the configurations I bought. And the devices work
perfectly.

Exactly. Used stuff at a garage sale where it's cash on the barrelhead, and
no guarentees, your lucky to get 10 cents on the dollar. If your willing to
warranty it, you can pass it off on Ebay, but your still not going to get
much
more than 35 cents on the dollar with certain exceptions.

Oh yeah, I've heard that one as most of my air tools I own are used
industrial
stuff. 3/4 of the time the sabre saws that 'my husband' bought aren't
commercial
grade in the first place, they are homeowner grade. That one bathroom
remodel is
about all that the thing is going to be able to poop out before it's so worn
out
it's falling apart.

Oh yeah, it's amazing what some people think they can get for used stuff.

It's really a case of someone buying something they aren't familiar with.
Very easy
to make a mistake and get burned when doing this.

Ted

 

Nope. This isn't how consumer protection laws work. The section your
referring to
is the uniform commercial code. What this requires is that basically a
seller of an item must
fairly represent it. Failing to do so is fraud. These codes apply to MOST
transactions.
A few notable exceptions are, for example, vehicle sales. Most states have
explicitly
defined vehicle sales as no warranty expressed or implied. Meaning if you
go buy a new
car and it carries no warranty, the second you drive it off the lot if it
blows up, your on
the hook.

But for everything else the onus is on the SELLER not on the MANUFACTURER.
For
example I go buy a razor at the store. The box the razor is blister packed
in displays
a prominent notice saying the razor is a 3 blade razor. I buy it and take
it home and find
out it's a 2 blade razor. The law requires the seller to refund my money.
The seller can't
tell me 'tough luck, go talk to the manufacturer and get your money from
him' The laws
assume that if the retailer doesen't like all their customers bringing back
razors, that the
retailer will exercise his rights under the law and go back to the
manufacturer.

In your case you bought the superchip used from some guy. That guy is who
unfairly
represented the superchip to you. Now, maybe Superchip unfairly represented
the
chip to that guy. If so, the law supports his complaining to superchip.
But, only him.
It doesen't support you making a claim against superchip.

I would go back to the seller and return it. If the seller wants to
complain to
the manufacturer, that's their problem.

Just because something has no resale value doesen't mean it's a ripoff.

Let's look at your truck. You bought it brand new for $20,000. In
20 years if you still have it it's going to be worth $200. That's a
decrease
of $19,800 over the 20 years, or a loss of $990 per year. By contrast
your superchip only lost $350 over 2 years or $175 a year. Which is
the bigger rip off?

Ted