Consumer reviews and reports on scam companies, bad products and services
ESP Environmental Systems Products Inc. ESP ESP-GLOBAL.COM ESP SYSTEM 1 Bad Service, Bad System, SCAM East Granby, Connecticut
27th of Oct, 2011 by User660381
I bought a brand new ESP System 1 machine that cost me more than $37k. During the following days, my business was closed and I lost a lot of money and customers. Mind you I am not the only owner of these machines. I have several associates and friends who run this ESP System 1 machine, and all of them either have been in a lock down state or their machine is disabled awaiting for the next service. I had problems with the machine since day one. Called service and they came and "fixed" it, but problems continues to arise. Had errors and problems with gas calibrations about "Auto Zero Low Flow." Mind you, I don't think BAR locks your machine anymore after several failed attempts. The reason why I say this is because I failed gas calibration more than 10 times, and eventually it ate up a brand new zero gas bottle that was used on the same day. But somehow on the 11th or 12th attempt, it passed the gas calibration. BAR came in the next time for a random audit. Probably their servers detected that I failed too many gas calibration attempts ::scratches head:: BAR opened up my machine with a key and told me that I was using an illegal gas bench instead of a NOx Cell Bench. He wrote up a report and told me to get it fixed within 7 business days otherwise they'll lock my machine. I called ESP service to come and get it fixed. They said that I wasn't using an illegal bench, and at the same time he couldn't really give me a good explanation. He said it's a problem with BAR and ESP and that BAR was making them switch benches or something like that. Anyway, the fu*king part cost me 1400 dollars. I wasn't under contract. Also, he did mentioned that the new part that he installed will have problems with "HC Hang Up errors" during smog inspections. He said when I get that error I can call ESP service and they'll come by and cover the part at no charge. I also told ESP service guy about the calibration problems. He immediately accessed the system software, punched a few keys, did some things with the gas analyzer, and performed a gas calibration with a low zero gas bottle well below 50psi, but I don't think he knew the bottle was below 50psi because he didn't even look at my regulator gauge. Anyway, somehow it passed calibration. I told him about the error that I received after I failed gas calibration..."Auto Zero Low Flow".....The ESP guy told me that I didn't have any pressure in the zero gas bottle. He said the minimum pressure should be more than 50psi, but on that day when he performed the gas calibration, it was well below 50psi. So how the heck did it pass calibration with a low zero gas bottle?.....He said the system is buggy sometimes. He also said that he couldn't properly diagnose the problem unless I have a new zero gas bottle that had a pressure of 50psi or more. Which was true, I ran out of zero gas bottles that day so he couldn't "properly diagnose" it. ESP guy left that day. 3 days later on my next calibration, I put in a brand new zero gas bottle. But the system failed the gas calibration again more than 6 times, it gave me the same error...."Auto Zero Low Flow".......I called ESP service and a new guy came in. If I can remember, he did the same thing the previous ESP tech did, by opening up the machine, punching some keys onto the computer, and somehow he got it to pass calibration. He couldn't reproduce my error. Obviously the machine was buggy, OR he did something to get it to pass calibration. Anyway, the service cost me 350 bucks which I paid. ESP guy told me the problem could be a bad manifold which is going to cost me $500+ dollars. But I wasn't going to change it yet since he already somehow got it to pass calibration and got rid of that error. On my next calibration, it failed again and gave me another error which I forgot to note down. On my second attempt I was able to reproduce the same error "Auto Zero Low Flow".....I called ESP service and again as usual, a new guy arrives 3 days later. This time I put in a new zero gas bottle. The ESP tech performed calibration and it failed, and gave us the same error message about "Auto Zero Low Flow"....He recommended me to replace the manifold that was "acting up." He said that there was no way he could diagnose the manifold to see if it was going bad or not. He said he can only replace it. Uhhhhhh ok,....what was I suppose to do?....It was his word against mine. So I gave him the go to replace the part which cost me more than 500 bucks and that didn't even include the service fee. The total amount for part and service labor was almost $1k. Again, after replacing the part, he did almost the exact same thing as the other techs did, and somehow he managed to get it to pass calibration 3 times consecutively. Ok no errors left, calibration good to go, smog inspection is ready.... 3 weeks later, calibration failed again and I got the same error message again about "Auto Zero Low Flow"......What the f*k is wrong now?......What's weird is, why is it that ESP techs can pass calibration, but when I try to calibrate it, it fails... I call their headquarters at connecticut to complain about their poorly designed machine, all they did was redirect me to one of their local branches and told me to contact ESP customer service. They directed an ESP tech back to my shop. I spoke to him and complained about all this bull$h*t and he totally agreed with me. He said it's sort of like a scam. He told me that most of their machines are not even new, it's mostly refurbished and that more than likely I received a refurbished machine, but there was no way we can tell if it was refurbished or not. The bottom line he said was this,....these so called new machines with supposedly new software installed have a lot of problems and that they are NOT well tested and that the only people who can fully fix and properly test and diagnose it, are the manufacturers. And the only people who can "test it", are us shop owners and smog technicians. It's simple really, we test it, something breaks down, we call ESP service, they come and "REPLACE" parts and charge you parts and service labor fees which is usually between $300-2000k dollars unless you are under their contract. One of the biggest problems is that most of these ESP techs do not know what they are doing. All they do is try to diagnose the problem by using critical thinking and then replacing the parts and charge you parts and service labor fees. They have no equipment to test the actual parts inside the system to see if it's going bad or not. So I am reaching out to the people who are wanting to run and own a shop of their own. This is also for the people who are looking for emission inspection systems. Think twice and study on what kind of machines you want to buy. Go door to door and ask shop techs and ask them what they think of their machines. Otherwise, you will face bankruptcy. In my personal opinion, please do not go with ESP unless you are under contract with them which is about $4k a year. For every part that you buy or replace, you must make sure you have an invoice copy and save all your receipts. Most of these ESP techs are poorly trained and don't know what they are doing. There job is simple.....They get a customer complaint, they go and replace their parts and charge them parts and labor fees without even knowing that the part is actually good or going bad. They only go by critical thinking with no diagnostic skills. End the end, you end up losing a lot of money. Go with SPX machines, even though they are quite old and still uses windows DOS system, they are well tested and highly stable. I've owned one for many many years and they have served me well, so well that I went under contract with them.

Post your Comment

Complaint Details


Get new code


 

Recently Updated Reports

1
1260 days ago by thestoryofdianegerrish
goldendoodle world - goldendoodle world lake ridge kennels Vulgar,...
I just came across this page a few minutes ago. I am Sandra Johnson and although this page was...
2
1485 days ago by freeinfofraud
Bitky.io - Unable to withdraw funds
Bitky be Aware! Unable to withdraw money! Bitky idoes not allow you to withdraw your funds, do...
4
1489 days ago by ned l.
Bi Polar Bullies - Bi Polar Bullies Kennel Karen Wolfe BUYERS BEWERE OF THIS...
thank you for bringing this to my attention...my name is Karen Wolfe, i'm the owner of...
7
1490 days ago by ned l.
ServiceMagic ServiceMagic scams and cheats contractors...
Jason - I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with your leads recently. The leads that...
     

User Registration

Already a ScamExposure.com member? Log in now.
Username
E-mail address
Password
 
Get new code

User Registration

A confirmation email was sent to "".
To confirm your account, please click the link in the message.

If you don't see the email in your Inbox, please check your Spam box.

User Login

Not a member of ScamExposure.com? Register now.
E-mail address
Password
Forgot your password?
E-mail address
Back
Loading, please wait...
Your password has been sent to the specified email address. Log in