ComplaintsforShort Block Technologies, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  11/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Over 1 year ago i purchased a re-manufactured jet ski motor by SBT thru The Jetski Store in ************* *******.I later had an engine problem.I sent my jetski motor to SBT thru the jetski store to have it inspected to see if it would qualify for a warranty repair. It did not qualify, ***** from The Jetski store attempted to help me dispute it with SBT. We lost the dispute. I have been waiting for the return of my motor. I checked in with The Jetski Store every week or two to see when SBT would return it to them so that they could ship it back to me. Many Weeks went by. Finally SBT sent a motor to The Jetski Store so i could get it back. The Jetski Store was in contact with me and told me that SBT had disassembled my motor and that they don't have it to return to me. They told me that the motor might be partially refurbished and that i would have to check once i received it. The motor arrived at my house on Nov. 8th. I inspected the motor to find that SBT had sent me back a motor that needs a complete rebuild and has no pistons,it has 3 cylinders that need to be machined, a crankshaft that needs inspection and possibly new bearings and rods and the motor is not painted.It is from the same model as my ski but it needs alot more work to get it running than my motor would need. The motor that i originally sent them was purchased one year ago and had 5 hours of use on it before it failed.It was a 3 cylinder motor for a **** ****** WaveVenture Jetski. My motor came painted blue and it ended up having a partial engine failure, but was still running. The ski would no longer reach top speed due to a problem that damaged piston #3 ,cylinder #3, and started to slightly damage piston # 2. My motor still had a good piston in cylinder #1 and had two good cylinder bores on cylinders #1 and #2. I called **** in the warranty **** from SBT and she told me that they processed my motor and sent me back a different one. I told her that it is not acceptable but she disagrees,

  Business response

  11/23/2023

  the purchaser of the motor was *****************, who SBT tried to work with to help.  Once it was finally determined that the failure of the motor that an after warranty adjustment would not apply, many weeks had passed due to 3 way communications.  It was determined at that time that the motor had been cored, so we sent like replacement parts so the customer could rebuild the motor by another method.  The custom is claiming that the core sent back was not rebuildable - we have asked our warranty department to get pictures to try to figure out what the issues were with the core.  Contact should happen early next week to try to ascertain the issues and address the concerns.  SBT Management

• Initial Complaint

  11/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Sbt mislead me. To my understanding, they were to sell me a remanufactured engine after I sent them my Core engine. However, they declined to do business with me after inspecting my engine and sent it back to me disassembled, damaged and missing multiple critical components and now I cannot repair it. This is unfair and I expect SBT to make this right by sending me an engine I can use or to at the very least compensate me to return this engine back to the condition I sent it to them in.

  Business response

  11/09/2023

  There was a miscommunication on which engine Mr. Wrzesniewsky  had.  We do not remanufacture the supercharged Kawasaki's.  SBT takes care in sorting and shipping all the parts on a return engine.  The return engine is bolted back together and internal parts are bagged and put into the SBT box.  The picture Mr. Wrzesniewsky attached shows that the shipper reboxed the engine during shipping (not an SBT box and the label was changed), losing valuable parts.  We worked with the customer to get all the missing parts out to him so he can have his engine rebuilt.

• Initial Complaint

  10/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I purchased an SBT Remanufactured engine through *****************. The warranty on this motor started 9/30/22 per SBT. The engine arrived at my house on 10/9/22. Upon delivery I found that SBT sent the wrong engine, therefore I needed the correct flywheel for this incorrect engine. I contacted SBT and had to wait until the flywheel was delivered on 10/12/22. The engine was installed 10/14/22, Following all proper break in procedures and warnings. In 2023 around 9/5/23 I had an intermittent oil alarm. I called SBT and they suggested that I change the oil pressure sensor and to contact ***************** to put notes on my engine while it is under warranty. On 9/30/23 I took this jet ski out and the engine was idling great. Once we got up to speed the motor shut down and smoke came out of the exhaust. I instantly emailed ***** at ***************** to notify him of what happened and tried calling SBT but being a saturday they were closed. They were also closed sunday. Monday morning 10/2/23 I contacted SBT to open a warranty claim where I was told the motor was not under warranty due to date, and was suggested I ship them the engine to see what can be done under manufacturer defect. I told ***** in the warranty department that this engine should be under the 12 month NO FAULT warranty because it blew up the day of expiration. I shipped my engine to SBT where the deny the "manufacturers defect" claiming "It had other issues". This engine was under warranty when it blew up, SBT does not have a 24 hour hotline to call so I called first thing monday morning 10/2/23. This engine should be covered. With SBT sending me the wrong engine to begin with, this engine warranty should not have started until all parts needed were shipped. SBT is the one who suggested to send the engine in under manufactures defect, and labeled it that way so they can get out of replacing the engine.

  Customer response

  10/26/2023

  Hello, upon reviews and BBB claim the company reached out to me and is willing to send me a replacement engine. I wanted to add notes to my claim or put it on hold possibly, or close it out all together.

   

  complaint #********.

   

  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  06/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Last year, My insurance company paid SBT over 5K to supply me with a rebuilt motor for my boat. After waiting 8 months for the motor to arrive, it was installed in my boat. After only 8 hours of run time, the motor blew up. SBT was contacted, and a 2nd warranty claim was initiated. So, because of this, my boat was out of the water all summer. In April of 2023, I was told that the engine had arrived, and was installed. I paid almost $900 in expenses.After a total of 3 hours of run time on my 2nd rebuilt motor, it also " blew up" Now my boat is unusable for another summer. Now, its going to cost me more money to have the motor taken out of my boat, shipped back to *******, then shipped back to me, where I will have to pay the expenses, as SBT warrants non of those expenses. Is it fair that I have to bear all of these additional costs and be without a boat all summer? What do I want out of this? I think SBT owes me an engine that will work, and should have to pay the freight for their constant failures.

  Business response

  06/23/2023

  It is unfortunate that ******************** has not experienced trouble-free ownership typical of our engines.  We try to make sure we react quickly to any issue our customers may have.  This is why his comments surprised us.  We pulled the files on the engines that ******************* is referring to.  ******************** quotes extended times that SBT doesnt recognize in the interactions with the dealer who installed the motor.  According to our records:

  The engine was ordered from SBT by the dealer on 11/12/2021.  The engine shipped on 11/16/2021 (2 business days later) with a 2-year warranty.

  A warranty was called in on 08/24/2022.  SBT did not receive the engine until 10/31/2022.  The engine was torn down and inspected by the Warranty Manager, 4-stroke Manager, and myself.  The #4 piston was destroyed, #4 rod put a hole in the case, the burn pattern on the head in #4 was inconsistent with the burn patterns of cylinders #1-3.  This indicates that there was probably a misfire or fueling issue in #4.  Dealer was appraised of this so they could inspect the affected parts, and a new remanufactured engine was sent 11/16/2022 (2 weeks, 2 days).

  On 06/13/2023, SBT received a warranty claim on the new engine.  On 6/15, a box was sent to the dealer (received 6/19 according to ***** tracking).  The return engine tracking number has not be utilized yet.

  SBT has a No-Fault warranty policy we replace the motor as quickly as possible, regardless of fault. The first warranty appears to have been an electrical or fuel problem (not part of SBTs motors).  We replaced the motor without question (a standard at-fault warranty would not have due to external parts causing failure).  SBT has not received the second warranty, which we will tear down, inspect, let the dealer know the suspected reason for failure, and send out another engine as quickly as possible.  Although labor is not included in SBTs Fault-Free warranty, our warranty does replace engines even when the failure is outside of SBTs control.  All our 4-stroke engines are inspected and run on a dyno before being shipped to ensure the customer receives a fully checked,running engine.
  
  SBT recognizes that any warranty situation can cause frustration.  We will continue to do our best to expedite the process and get our customers back on the water when there is an issue.

  Customer response

  06/27/2023

   
  Complaint: 20184133
  
  I am rejecting this response because: There was NO fuel issue. There was a sub-standard part issue with the first engine. To blame the failure on something else is just pathetic. The bottom line: The engine failed after 6 hours of run time. Now, for the 2nd engine: It failed after 3 hours of run time. They can say what they want, but I find it hard to believe that the rebuilds were ever even run in their own shop. Otherwise, their own internal testing would have found the defects.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Cmsgt ****************************, Usaf Ret

  Business response

  07/06/2023

  SBT is not sure what grounds the customer's rejection is.  The customer requested a new engine (with the No-fault warranty he will receive), we sent him a box and prepaid return label (which was used - we just received the engine July 3rd), and are processing the warranty.  His direct request was "I think SBT owes me an engine that will work, and should have to pay the freight" - I believe we have accommodated the customer's direct request.

• Initial Complaint

  10/21/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased an engine from this company and when it arrived everything seemed normal and the motor turned over normally. I installed the engine and when everything was together it was stuck and wouldnt turn. I contacted the company a few times and they told me to figure out where it was bound up and to grind it off myself. The engine was supposed to be ready to go when it was shipped no work needed. After months of trying to find the problem taking it in and out, as well as paying a mechanic I finally found the issue. It was bad machine work on the engine. This was causing parts internally to bind up. I then did what they told me to do which was grind it out myself. After re installing the motor I called the company again to see what type of compensation they would provide for the inconvenience and selling me a defective part. They then offered a solution, after it was already fixed and put back together, of sending it back it back in and told me I would have to pay return shipping. They told me thats all they can do and they wouldnt help. Overall I was supposed to receive a product that was ready to go and thats not what I received. I received a defective part and was told to correct the issue myself.

  Business response

  11/03/2022

  **************: We sorry to hear that you had issues with your motor.  We tried to track down who you may have talked to.  Could you please let us know:

  a) What the motor serial number was? 

  b) Who you talked to at SBT (so we can sit down and try to figure out what the issue was and what might have been said)?

  c) What part you said they told you to modify?  You certainly shouldn't have to modify an engine you received, and we don't recommend it, so this is confusing to our team.

  We apologize for the wait.  This complaint caught me out of the country and I just received an update.

  Sincerely, SBT Management

  Customer response

  11/07/2022

   
  Complaint: 18254718
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This is a response to the message received from SBT and my case id number is 18254718.

   

   I'm not sure where the serial number is located. I looked around on the engine but didn't see anything if you let me know where it is I would be happy to tell you or if there's a way to look it up on your end my invoice number is *******. As far as who I spoke to I'm not sure. I tried to get ahold of my phone records to at least let you know what day and time the calls were made but unfortunately they wouldn't disclose the information without a court order.I also sent an email to sbt with pictures and never received a response. I did talk to the technical service department I remember that. And when I explained the issue I was having which was when I installed the rotary cover on to the engine, the engine would bind up and no longer spin freely. There wasn't a specific part I was told to modify I was told to mark all the parts with a sharpie and see where it rubs of and wherever it was touching I should grind it down. After months of trying to find out what was actually binding up I came to the conclusion that it was the surface on the engine block it self. There was poor machine work done and there was a lip around the perimeter of the surface that the rotary cover mounts to. I will attach pictures because I know it might be hard to follow wothout seeing it. But as you can tell In the pictures the lip is clearly shown there were rough bits causing the rotary valve to catch.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  11/08/2022

  ********* : We search the ******************************* and *********************************** for your name and/or ****** and didn't pull it up in the search function.  If you have the email could you forward it to our sales Manager ********************************* so we can get a handle on where the pictures went.  You should have received a response within 24 hours if there are no complications.

  Serial number will be on the end of the head on the flywheel side.  There is a silver sticker with a 6 digit number.  If that came off, it is also stamped into the head at the same location (harder to read since its painted, but can still see it.  Sticker is applied over the stamped in number).  We will try to get this solved as quickly as we can.

   

  SBT Management

  Customer response

  11/10/2022

   
  Complaint: 18254718
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The serial number for the engine I received is ****** and I have forwarded the email as requested 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Customer response

  11/10/2022

   
  Complaint: 18254718
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Complaint: 18254718
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The serial number for the engine I received is ****** and I have forwarded the email as requested 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  11/11/2022

  *********:  We've had parallel communication in email and by this concern.  Please contact Cliff *********************************** our warranty manager, and he can go through the details of the concern and help you resolve this.  Thanks you again for you patience as we tried to get all the information and sort this out.

  SBT Management

  Customer response

  11/16/2022

   
  Complaint: 18254718
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Hello the parallel communication you are referring to was the email you requested I forward to the email address you provided due to the fact I never received a response when I first sent the email in July. I no longer need technical support to resolve the issue. I'm looking for some sort of billing adjustment. Because the product I paid for was supposed to be ready to go when I received it and since the only solution I was offered was to fix it myself I think there needs to be some form of compensation
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Customer response

  11/16/2022

   
  Complaint: 18254718
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  Hello the parallel communication you are referring to was the email you requested I forward to the email address you provided due to the fact I never received a response when I first sent the email in July. I no longer need technical support to resolve the issue. I'm looking for some sort of billing adjustment. Because the product I paid for was supposed to be ready to go when I received it and since the only solution I was offered was to fix it myself I think there needs to be some form of compensation

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  11/16/2022

  Me.  Tucco:  Were you in contact with ***** our warranty manager (our last communication)?  He has been authorized to work with you on your request.

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