Just frustrated with Ballade Timing Chain Tensioner + customer service response:

3 weeks ago I bought the Ballade TCT because I watched Engineer Explained. My bad that I should have done more research before immediately purchased one. Then i went install and noticed it just would not fully snap in place. Turned crank still no help, I actually also posted for help in this forum : ) Then many nice people on this forum warned me there are cases that people failed to install Ballade TCT, I could have known that if I did more research, my mistake indeed.

So I bought an OEM and installed with no issue and car is running now, so I contacted Ballade discussing the issue and possible return & refund. They say I need to ship it back for their tech staff to check if it's the part issue or install error. They've been transparent that if it's part issue, they will cover the re-shipping fee, but if it's installation error, I will cover both shipping and re-packaging fee, which is reasonable. I shipped back and today got their call:

Their tech staff confirmed there's no issue with the part, but maybe the piston was not fully retracted and that's why i could not install, which could be adjusted and make a success install. But the part has scratch from attempt of installation so they could not resell it, thus no return & refund, plus I need to pay them shipping AGAIN to get the part back. They suggest I could re-sell the part myself to get some money back. That's where i'm astonished: there's no instruction at all in the package saying how to retract the piston, i don't think I am expected to know re-adjust the piston for the install. I attach a photo of the part before I shipped it back, as you can see there are visible scratches due to install attempt, so agree that this cannot be re-sell to other customer. But I'm still frustrated with the conclusion that I'm responsible for not being able to install it and paying for this unusable part plus twice shipping.

On the phone I did mention that I will post this whole thing and they told me they will speak up for the story too, so I do expect posts/reply from Ballade. By no mean this post is to trash talk a company and I just want share one data point of this product with this S2k community. I will not re-sell this part but i can upload more pics of detail after I pay them shipping again and get my part back.

To state again:
1. This is only my personal experience with Ballade TCT product, does not represent majority experience with this TCT part or their customer service
2. I do not have any experience with other Ballade products, this post has no relevance to any other Ballade product
3. during the call with Ballade customer service, they explained everything with calm tone and no ugly argument.

Thanks again for reading this long post, as well as the prompt help on my TCT replace issue from this great s2k community.

 

And that's why I will not be going with a Ballade TCT

 

Billman> OEM> Ballade.

 

Is that paint or anodizing on the part?
Seems like a pretty bad idea to have the internal parts paint/powder coated which could easily chip and float around in the engine.
Maybe Billman would accept it as a core exchange, otherwise sorry for the wasted money.

 

I think in the long run you will see this as a blessing in disguise. Instead of the Ballade unit going bad and perhaps leading to issues, you will be happy knowing you have a bulletproof unit from Billman.

 

The fact is the ballade tensioner will not fit all engines in a fully compressed state. There is simply not enough room.

That does not look like the TCT ballade has been selling. It looks like a spray painted oem unit.

 

So it's better than their previous one. Wow, progess.

 

that really sucks, thanks for posting. it's posts like these that made me go Billman. i'm really curious to how ballade responds.

 

I am not sure they will or can respond. They have not responded to the other threads about them lately and there is one thread mentioning they were banned from S2ki. Not sure if that was reversed or what happened, just remember reading part of that thread.

I have never ordered anything from them so I am not saying anything for or against them, just saw the comments and threads here about them.

 

ah thanks a lot for this suggestion! Reason I don't want re-sell is to not bring potential damage to other's car, but selling as core exchange sounds good!