Beware Extreme Boost!

I waited from January 2003 until August 2003 for my turbo kit from eXtremeBoost. Anyone considering purchase of eXtremeBoost products should click here to read about the problems I've endured in waiting for my kit.

These are actual emails between myself and Jeffrey Burke (LB on the MR2 message board), detailing his unfulfilled promises to ship parts I had already paid for in advance. In addition to the delays, I had to pay extremely high shipping charges (more than $250) to get all of the parts.

After six months, I took my problems public to the MR2 Message Board, only to be painted as the "bad guy" for airing my problems when Jeffrey was . Apparently Jeffrey has friends protecting him on the board.

After reading these emails, I believe that any reasonable person would have to come to the conclusion that Jeffrey is unable to handle problems that result from his own incompetence. If your dealings with him are smooth sailing, then things seem to be fine. However, when a problem arises with your order, Jeffrey will probably not correct them, and certainly not in a timely manner.

Take my advice and steer clear of Jeffrey and eXtremeBoost at all costs.

David Martin
August 2003

UPDATE (September 2004):
It's been more than a year since this page was first published. I never received a refund for the parts Jeffrey failed to provide. In fact, Jeffrey stopped responding to my emails more than a year ago.

I visited the MR2 Message Board recently, and discovered an entire thread dedicated to helping forum members get restitution from Jeffrey. Hopefully the Board's sysops will be quicker to respond the next time a "favored" member starts ripping off the general membership, rather than worry about their message board rules. Thread links are shown below.

Original thread is here. It got too long (!) so a new thread was started here.

UPDATE (October 2004):
Jeffrey's business practices finally came home to roost, and he has been banned from the MR2 Message Board. It took way too long, but at least his list of potential victims has been reduced by this action. Here's Bill Strong's notice:

Due to the business practices of Extremeboost.com I have removed access from all forums with the exception of Buyers & sellers Feedback forum.

Earlier this year I removed the company as a sponsor due to the customer issues they were having.

It has been brought to my attention that his continued sales makes the board look bad when members continue to purchase from him.

I will say this again. It is not MY fault of the MR2OCs fault because you do not do your research. I am not your lawyer. My admins and moderators are not your legal council. Our job is not to get you your parts or your money. As I have stated in the past, "You shop from vendors listed here at your own risk". I cannot and will not take blame because you got ripped off by a user using this board.

Now it is said that I could have banned this user, or that user. Now some people are smarter than others at using the internet. It is fairly easy to get around the simple blocking we have. We also have users that are simply out of a few grand or more. I kept his accounts live so that at least he came back here and posted, sometimes getting people their money and products. Now that I am under pressure to nix his accounts, you may not see the guy again.

So I have limited him to only one forum. He has friends who will probably post for him, or he will assume another identity.

Be aware now that purchasing from Extremeboost.com can be either a good experiance or a bad one.

Giving him access to this board to help you guys get your stuff back has bitten me in the ass. People I consider really good friends are pissed off with the way things have gone. I am sorry.

Bill Strong
MR2OC

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NOTE: The wastegate had already arrived, drop-shipped from TIAL.

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NOTE: The turbo was drop-shipped from Australia.

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NOTE: It's now been about two months since I placed the order.

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-----Original Message-----
From: David Martin [mailto:dgmartin@lvcm.com]
Sent: April 03 , 2003 6:11 PM
To: 'Jeffrey@eXtremeBoost.com'
Subject: FedEx charges

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NOTE: There was a long thread about why Jeffrey instructed them to ship via the fastest way. He said to dispute with FedEx, I felt it was his responsibility for incorrectly specifying shipping. No resolution was obtained. So I paid $200 for express shipping for a turbo to sit on my floor for months.

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NOTE: Refers to header and downpipe that Jeffrey said arrived March 27.

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NOTE: Approaching 3-month anniversary. Note promise to "ship tomorrow". I was to find out that promises like that were commonplace -- actual performance was entirely different.

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NOTE: This refers to the manifold and downpipe, which Jeffrey promised to ship on April 3, then re-promised to ship on April 17.

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NOTE: Jeffrey refers to the "as planned" date as "yesterday" (April 25), when he had originally promised to ship on April 3, then re-promised to ship on April 17. (one week earlier).

I went to see him at SW2003, and he promised (yet again) to check on the manifold when he got home.

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NOTE: It's three weeks later, and there had been a holdup while I considered having Jeffrey's fabricator add EGT bungs to the manifold.

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-----Original Message-----
From: David Martin [mailto:dgmartin@lvcm.com]
Sent: May 23 , 2003 8:13 AM
To: Jeffrey
Subject: Exhaust Manifold

NOTE: Another ten days have passed with no word from Jeffrey. I'm now firmly convinced he's telling me whatever I want to hear,  then immediately forgetting about me.

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NOTE: Another week passes....

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NOTE: Another lame excuse....

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NOTE: Another week goes by with no word from Jeffrey....

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NOTE: Now it's someone else's fault....

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NOTE: Good news and bad news.

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NOTE: Jeffrey acknowledges that there's a technical problem here.

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NOTE: Two-and-a-half weeks later, still waiting. Now at the five-month anniversary since the order was placed (and paid for).

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NOTE: I have no idea what this means, except he includes another promised ship date.

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-----Original Message-----
From: David Martin [mailto:dgmartin@cox.net]
Sent: July 10 , 2003 3:53 AM
To: Jeffrey
Subject: Still Waiting

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NOTE: This one is priceless. If I weren't so annoyed, I'd be laughing. "The parts must have gone astray". I guess he should have kept them locked up so they wouldn't wander off (parts are always doing that).

Also note that he apparently has forgotten what I'm waiting for. I guess I should have written every day so that he could remember.

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NOTE: This is a good one as well. It sounds like this is the first he's heard of my problem. My parts just "missed the checklist".

How could someone running a business (I use the term loosely) have no system in place that tells him what has been shipped, and what has not been shipped? I mean, it's not like this is all news to him

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NOTE: I also left Jeffrey a phone message, reiterating my degree of unhappiness. He replied via email (below):

NOTE: Another promise to ship out the parts. I waited until the following week to inquire about this latest promise.

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NOTE: It is now SIX months since I paid for my kit!

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NOTE: The oil feed and drain that he refers to were never received. I ended up buying them from ATP Turbo.

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NOTE: Jeffrey has not bothered to respond to my emails for two weeks now. This might have something to do with my posting warnings about doing business with him on the MR2 Message Board. In posting those warnings, I was accused of trying to undermine his reputation (like he needs any help from me -- he's doing just fine destroying it on his own!). Maybe YOU should decide.

Anyway, the forum moderators considered me the "bad guy" in all this for posting messages on the board warning other members about Jeffrey. They think it's unfair to Jeffrey! My side of the transaction apparently was not considered. The board moderators never contacted me by email, but threatened to have me blacklisted from the forum. One of the moderators went so far as to fabricate a phony message that was supposed to look like I had written it. When I complained to Bill Strong, he had it removed.

The final shipment arrived in mid-August 2003, nearly SEVEN MONTHS after I submitted my payment to him. However, during a dry assembly of the turbo parts, I found that Jeffrey had not shipped me the complete oil line kit. The flange fitting for the oil drain and the oil supply fitting for the turbo body were not included in the kit. At this point, I just accepted that I had received all I was going to receive, and turned to other merchants for the remaining parts.