Superchips is a RIP off.. never buy one!

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

"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.

(unrealistic)

whaddjaexpect,

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.

(unrealistic)

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