Is Bernie still there?
 

I have read all the closed threads related to the delays being experienced by the Stewart Development re-valves done by Bernie, but has anyone heard from him lately. I paid for mine 9 weeks ago and still have not received anything. I have not heard from him in a month, no emails and no one picks up the phone either.
I am not trying to talk crap about Bernie, hell I defended him in one of the other threads, I just need to know if he is still alive or what the heck is going on. I know he is busy and don't expect much, I just need to know if I will have my shocks in time for an event in a month.

Ibtl

I suggest contacting Weekend-Racer.com

Why lock the thread? I am not trying to be a whining bitch, just want to know what is going on.
Why weekend-racer.com? I ordered them directly from Bernie.

(zack morris's phone)

Cause he's beanies official distributor

I see.

I'm still waiting for a set of custom revalves from Bernie I ordered at the beginning of December. I'm hoping he can come through and deliver.

Having dealt with "mad genious" guys like this before I will say be vary wary.



I'm hunting wabbits.

I was being sarcastic. I'm 100% on your side dude.

Soo many people on here have had issues with this guy and I have no idea why he's exempt from the "shit list". IIRC over the years there have been guys that didnt live up to their promises transaction wise that eventually, ended up on the community shit list. I understand the guy is a vendor, but does that make it ok? At the very least people should be able to talk openly about it without closing the threads.

I know tons of guys that are plenty busy with work, myself included, but to use that as an excuse for not keeping in contact with customers that have already paid/sent in shocks (I'm not sure how his system works) is BS. Its one thing to not take on any NEW customers, but at least take 10 mins at the end of your hellish day to respond to those that have been patiently waiting.

Again, I have no personal experience with the guy, and after seeing all the posts like this one I never will.

Please note: Any appearance of absence is merely a device to enhance your (damping) experience

I had a few communication sues but it was all ironEd out. He is so busy he has farmed out the front line customer service stuff to weekendracer.com. He said it's so he can focus on just the shocks and since he has no time to contact people and still stay afloat. I have my shocks now and they are just what I expected. Don't worry about anything if you use him just remember that it will take a month or two to get them back.

I locked the original, and have gotten a lot of crap about it too.

Maybe not the best decision I've made, but I'd like to make a couple things clear. I don't know Bernie, never sent any shocks to him, and know him only by reputation. Quite frankly that thread wasn't accomplishing anything. Once Weekend Racer had posted with a decent way to contact him, albeit through a third party, I figured it was a good time to lock it. We weren't accomplishing anything and I left the thread there for others to find. If they're smart, they'll search and learn everything they need to know from that thread.

That's all poorly worded, but you get my point. I'm just waking up.

Got a hold of John at weekend-racer and he said he would look into it for me. I was not aware of this process before since I had directly emailed Bernie before and placed my order by direct email as well.
It turns out that John could not find any record of my transaction. They will figure it out and call me back. That is all I want to know. That is why I have been trying to get a response
I have been working 13+ hr days for the past few months now and spend hardly any time at my desk, but still I can get at least a few one liner emails out. I think getting the third party to take care of customers is the smart way to go. Bernie was very helpful before I paid for the shocks and based on forum discussions and people I have talked to these shocks should be the POOP!!! I will have to wait and see what they ride and handle like before I will give my final opinion on whether the 2 month wait is worth it.
I am sure it will be. The only way he can get away with this is if the shocks are as amazing as people say they are.

As I stated already (if you would read it), this weekend-racer deal is new. It's Bernie's way of trying to have a reliable source as the front line of communication instead of himself who is working long hours valving shocks and he can then focus on the job at hand.

It's nothing new, lots of companies do this.

I talked to Weekend Racer this morning. They are trying to sort out the issues with orders. Hopefully they can help get Bernie squared away. FCM revalves are about $200 each plus the cost of shocks. WER/SD is still a reasonably priced option. The Xida CS looks to be a good deal as well.

Does he do Koni races or only bilstiens?

I am pretty sure he does not work on the Koni's.

Konis may be serviced only by Performance Shock, Pro Parts, True Choice, and Koni North America.

I paid back in November 2010 and still have yet to hear anything back from Bernie in regards to where my shocks are. I'll definitely be contacting weekendracer in hopes that they can resolve this issue.

I paid for my shocks in late December. I too was panicking quite a bit wondering if I would ever get them back.

I got them about 3 weeks ago. They are on my car and have resulted in a much improved ride and very controlled handling. My wife can even tell the difference. She just had hernia surgery 3+ weeks ago and rode in the Miata for a few miles yesterday (she was holding her gut but she does that even in her Envoy Denali).

Bernie's work is very good (I can't give him a terrific because all my shock top hats were installed 90 degrees off). Much hassle for me to loosen and rotate.

You will get them but you must be patient. I really think he would much improve his Miata business if he bought a few used sets and had them on the shelf. That way, you send him a rebuildable set and he sends you out a set that has already been rebuilt. One he gets a batch together that need to be rebuilt, he can rebuild them in the size batch he prefers doing.

Sweet! Got my shocks. Now I just need to get them on the car and tested.

Bernie does custom tunes so it would be harder to have a stock of revalved shocks available. It appears that this might be changing now that weekend-racer.com is helping. From what I can see they will be selling Spec and other standardized packages that might be possible to keep in stock for a quick turnaround.
If you want someone like Bernie to do something customized to your preferences/requirements you will just have to wait, if he does all he does, it has to take time, especially for a one man shop.
My biggest issue was the lack of communication, but weekend racer has improved that a great deal for future buyers.

That's good news. I was told mine were to ship last week. I still haven't received them but hoping they come soon.

He should just make a track shock for NB/ISC tops, valve them for 750/450 so they are good for 700/400 or 800/500lb springs. And then make a "Street version" for lighter springs.

Still waiting for a reply, I have contacted both partys and nothing. Have emailed weekend-racer and no replies to my emails. I purchased new shocks and want my old ones back. When did you guys ship your stuff out, mine were sent out in Feb.

I ordered new shocks to get revalved. Took almost 10 weeks. Try giving John at weekend-racer.com a call. He picked up every time I called.
I got the shocks on the car this past week with ebay sleeves 450/250 springs and FCM 36mm bump stops. WOW! What a difference! I still have to do some alignment changes and mod the sleeves to reduce the ride height (Looks like 4x4 miata right now). But even witht these less than ideal alignment settings it handles awesome, very predictable and neutral, just as I had requested. Initially I wanted to say that the shocks felt a little underdamped and bouncy, but then I realized the suspension was just absorbing the harsher bumps more smoothly than what I was used to on Ricelands and AXG+RB springs riding on OEM bump stops which was pretty harsh on the rough roads I drive to work. These revalves smoothly absorb the shock in one cycle without excessive bouncing. I guess you can't expect springs that are 3 times oem rates to ride quite as smoothe as factory spings.
Bernie does a great job. I will be doing a track day in a few weeks which will be the real test. Now I just need to get he ebay sleeves cut down and figuire out if I want to run a spring isolator up top to keep the springs in place better. The fronts seem to be fine with just the factory top hats in place, but the rears sound like they move when I back out of my steep driveway and go over the curb or hit a speedbump sideways (at an angle).

I just passed the 6 month mark of waiting for my shocks from Bernie. I was told they were to ship on May 11th or 12th and as of today the 19th I have not received any shipping confirmation.

My rears move around with 350's in the back and a pretty damn low ride height. I am upgrading to stiffer springs in a month or so at which time I will also add isolators.

I've been riding around on my new shocks for about 3 weeks now and they are wicked. Very happy and I'm not even running the springs they were valved for. Once I go stiffer it will be nice to see the difference.

3 month + turn around for a one man high end race suspension shop is nothing. Especially since it's the start of race season down there and Bernie does shocks for some BIG race teams. My tuner used to live in N.Carolina and he runs a race shop up here now and has nothing but great thigns to say about SD. He was saying how Bernie does it all by himself because he hasn't found anyone yet who has the same level of perfection he does. IIRC he does some NASCAR teams, Porsche cup cars etc.

So I sent an email to weekend-racer.com a few days ago about some questions I had about my setup. This is the reply I get:

"Weekend-Racer.com is no longer providing Steward Development services... I recommend contacting them directly for help 336-899-0072. I'm sorry, I wish I could have been more help. "

What the hell??? Checked the website too and all the SD products have been removed. Poor John must have gotten tired of all the pissed off customers.

All this really sucks because Bernie really delivers a top notch product. On the other hand I have waited over a week now to get a reply back from FCM on a question I had as well. So I guess if you want custom shocks and don't have tons of cash or a racing team, make sure you are aware of possible delays before ordering.

I'm beginning to feel like I got ripped off. Time for the forum owner to give Bernie call.

http://www.stewartdevelopment.com/contact.html

go visit him in high point NC

Good luck! I know the feeling. He has not ripped you off though.You will get your shocks eventually. Hopefully you did not send in your only set of shocks in to get revalved? It would suck to have a car on jack stands for that long. I hope someone answers the phone now. I called till I turned blue and no one picks up or responds to the voicemails. This might be different now that weekend racer is not taking care of the customer relations.

Well that didnt last long. Didn't weekendracer just sign on with him a short while back? I mean just read this thread and the others like it. I wouldn't want to be any part of it either. They probably tried to help the guy out and started getting angry customers themselves.

Whether your the BEST GUY IN THE WORLD at revalving shocks, who gives a flying fuck if you cant produce? He cant even answer back customer emails and phone calls.

It comes down to one thing. Some people only care about the money going in their pocket. If their set, why sweat the little guys. They'll wait, just like all of you have been for months. lol

No, no, no, remember guys, it's race season and these shock revalvers are geniuses at what they do. They can't be expected to meet deadlines or respond to customer questions or inquiries. Don't be silly.

I was in the same place a month+ ago. I did get my shocks and they were worth it.

My car was laid up on jack stands while I was waiting. I got the the point where I'd given up hope of driving the car this spring, so I bought another set of Bilsteins (used from a classified on miata.net). About a week (maybe 2) after I installed the 'new' shocks and got to drive my car again, I got an email that my shocks were on the way. A few days later my new SD Bilsteins were delivered.

They really are worth the money. I would do it again - I just wouldn't send him my only set. As a matter of fact, I haven't sold my 'duplicate set' yet because I'm in the process of buying an '04 MSM. I'm going to evaluate the ride/handling after I get it and decide if I should sell my extra Bilsteins or send them to Bernie for a rebuild.

Been 7 months now for me, got the same ship dates and through John @ Weekend Racer I have now been informed that I might get them back in a couple of months IF Bernie can complete the BMW jig he needs to do the work.

I don't know what to say about that last piece of information, as Bernie confirmed the work can be done before I sent him the shocks and payment.

Got a nother reply a day or so later that weekend-racer and SD are back in business and now the website displays the SD options again. Confusing to say the least.

In a few more months, his services will exhibit shorter lead times.

Then lead times will increase again as the 2012 season approaches.

I heard the same sort of grumbles down here from some motorcycle buddies RE a local bike engine guru. "Best time to deal with him is around September". Some punk said I skyped him and he never replied. I laughed.

You could order prepackaged items of lesser quality from ship-a-box vendors. For instance DGR has good customer service, answers the phone, IMs, emails. From his home office. Oh yeah he does not make, develop, produce, analyze, or create anything. Not that that is a bad thing.

I doubt he gives a shit about you guys getting your panties in a wad. If he has as many high profile customers as you think, the race teams I am sure pay megatons more money than you all did. I had my machine work bumped back for "an emergency race motor." I bet the race motor guy is in good with the machine shop and pays them for the express service. Granted, he should give a disclaimer, say I don't know about the turn around time, or just not take them. Really, If I were him, I would deal with the race teams and such first, because their needs are different, and tell everyone else that they will be fit in when possible.

Gonna start this over here too?

Fine.

That's a bunch of bullshit. Nobody is saying that DGR customers and Bernie/FCM customers (or 949 customers, or FM customers) should have the same expectations going in. Clearly they are differently structured operations and are targeting different customer bases.

None of that excuses a company from maintaining contact with customers or attempting to estimate reasonable deadlines and then meet them.

As you say, it's a well known fact that the custom guys (like FCM and Bernie) are much, much busier during race season. Why is it so terribly difficult for them to adjust their lead times during the race season then? Are they constantly shocked that it gets busy during race season every year? Have they not figured out the connection?

Don't be ridiculous. Nobody is saying the Bernie or FCM should have a 24/7 customer service department that picks up on the first ring, or that it would be physically possible to have every order shipped out within a week. What I'm saying is that if the last 10 orders have each taken 6 months to fill, maybe they should stop telling people to expect a 1-2 month wait time, and when a customer makes several calls and repeated emails to cancel their order and request a refund, they shouldn't have a start a forum thread (weeks later) in order to have the request acknowledged and answered.

So shut the hell up with the damned "It's not Wal-Mart" comments. Nobody is saying that it is.

why?

Because I bought new shocks and revalving in November and Bernie took my shocks and sent them to a "racer with numbers"-oh and that was way back in December. It's May 29th and I still ain't got my shocks from Bernie.

Well, another week has passed and after leaving a couple phone messages I've received a whopping Z E R O returned messages, Z E R O emails, and Z E R O shocks. If that's how a site sponsor treats a member who places an order then IMO it's time for the site to contact the vendor.

I just got off of the phone with John Mueller of Weekend-Racer. John is working with Bernie, their differences have been resolved, and John is taking care of orders and communications.

Wannafbody - I asked John if he minded you calling him to discuss your particular issue. John said he preferred you email him on his business website so that he has a record of information he can refer back to if necessary. John said he will try to help you if it's within his power to do so.

You can reach John here:

http://www.weekend-racer.com/index.p...age=contact_us


So there's the scoop. I'm sure this isn't quite the end of the story, but I'm hoping for a happy ending for everybody involved.

I appreciate Jon being willing to look into the situation but the reality is that it really isn't Jon's problem-it's Bernie's problem. I've left about 6 phone messages for Bernie without a single call back. Bernie is a sponsor here and he wanted business from this site but my order isn't important enough to take care of and he doesn't even have the decency to call me back. I think the site admin needs to contact Bernie-this is now an issue of fraud-we're days away from the 7 month mark.

The REASON John is now involved is because you left 6 phone messages and havn't heard back. Get it? He offered to help, so take it.


Lolfraud. It took Bernie a good month to get back to me but he eventually did. It's the middle of the summer, he's prob neck deep in shocks. Yeah, it's not an excuse, but it's reality. So deal. Doubt you'll hear from him so email John and leave the issue with him.

I just got off the phone with John and he's going to look into it for me. And yes, after almost 7 months since I bought new shocks and revalving from Bernie without as much as a PM, email or phone call I would say that constitutes fraud on the part of Bernie-or else such horrible business practices that he's lost all record of my business transaction:vash:

Fraud involves intent to steal, and that's not what Bernie was up to, but I don't think Wannafbody has any reason to be satisfied with any part of how this worked out for him. I'll be happy if Wannafbody get's what he's contracted for for both his and Bernie's sake. This situation isn't good for anybody in the Miata community. Guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

I think part of this is that Bernie doesn't have a clue about business basics. In my case, since I paid for 2 new shocks and revalving by paypal to my credit card for him to not deliver is credit card fraud. If a site sponsor intentionally or unintentionally commits credit card fraud the site admins should have a conversation with the sponsor. I'd prefer to have it settled quickly and get the shocks I paid for.

Guys.. This is Bernie right?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3485/...f2f32b6fa7.jpg

After running my first track event with the revalved Bilsteins and driving my dads 99 on Koni Sports I have to say my 3 month wait was worth it. Once I installed springs that matched the rates I asked Bernie to revalve to, everything was awesome. The street ride is very impressive, not a factory ride but very comfortable for the increased spring rate.
Wannaflyboy, they seemed to loose my order through the changover in their agreement or something. Once I made it clear that I had an even coming up things started to happen and I had my set in less than two weeks.
Have you heard anything else yet? I hope you get your shocks in soon.

Won't it be great when you can order up a custom set and have them in three or four weeks. So how about posting your dyno sheets so we can all share in the fun?

Jon posted that Bernie is top work on my shocks on Tuesday, June 14th. We'll see if Bernie delivers. There was another person claiming he's been waiting for shocks from Bernie for over a year.

If you mean that guy who loves to call folks "douchbag", I'd be surprised if he ever sees his shocks. Negative social skills = nobody minds screwing with you.

I gotta disagree, Bernie took the money and if he doesn't deliver the product that's fraud and he should have a thick enough skin to take the name calling. In my case, he told John my shocks would ship May 12. He never touched them. At the very least he's a liar and he's so ignorant that he won't even return a phone call.

Well, at the very least, it's not very smart calling the fellow who you're ultimately hoping to get your shocks from a douchbag, especially before he's delivered them.

I'm not saying that calling Bernie a douchbag is being polite. I don't know the full story as to why he hasn't received his shocks in over a year but it doesn't reflect well on Bernie and anything other than unservicable shocks indicates either gross incompetence or fraud on the part of Bernie.

Lets see if you gets your shocks back before I do.

8 months and counting now.

I think the point he was trying to make was that it's spelled "douche bag".