Problems with German Audio Tech Cluster / Dead Pixel Repair Service

[sjenkins1129]

Is anyone else experiencing problems with this company?

They claim one day turnaround service from the date they receive it. They have had my instrument cluster for 2 weeks. They won't answer emails, won't return phone messages and appear to be completely out of communication. I shipped my cluster to them and it was signed for on July 20. Two weeks later, no repaired cluster and contact can be had. I have been trying to get a hold of them by email & phone since July 24th for an update, as this was the date they claimed I would have the cluster back after completed repair & return shipping... it is now August 3rd.

I didn't really start to panic until I couldn't get return communication for several days. I now leave them daily communication, begging them for a response.

I am severely concerned as the cluster is VIN coded to the car and the vehicle is currently not safely usable without a cluster. If they don't return my instrument cluster the prognosis looks bleak, both functionally and financially to get my car running again.

I would gladly accept input regarding resolution with German Audio Tech and/or suggestions for if I never get my cluster back and have to pursue a replacement.

[Liam79]

I can't help I'm afraid but it might make you feel a bit better to know that if the worst comes to the worst, mileage and VIN matching and coding another cluster to your car is no problem for the great guys on here. You can get a replacement used cluster up and running if necessary. But good luck trying to get your existing cluster back!

[DHoang]

click on
germanaudiotech.com

[aspensilver540]

click on
germanaudiotech.com

Ouch. OP I would start work on the new cluster and let go of the old one. Reverse charges on the card and report to BBB.

[sjenkins1129]

Son of a Baked Bean!!! My brother had used them with positive results so I didn't investigate them deeply. After reading the negatives that span multiple years, I may be screwed. I would seriously consider showing up on their doorstep the next time work travel takes me to the west coast.
I hope that perhaps they are just full of crap about their turnaround time and my cluster magically shows back up. What I don't understand is how they have such high feedback numbers and such a decent positive percentage for a company that has so many negative stories. Do they just pick one poor bastard out of 100 to give a rough way to go? Was I just the unlucky number drawn from the hat?
Anybody have a nice used cluster for sale?

[blackknight530i]

In several of the repairs I have done, there have been at least 1 or 2 that had already been repaired by German Auto Tech and had pixels fail again. They aren't the only ones I've seen that happen to, but that sucks even more that they aren't even bothering to fix yours or even tell you what's going on. If you need a cluster for the time being, I can make up a temp cluster for you so you can drive the car, though if you get yours back, it would need to be mileage corrected if you put miles on the car. PM me for more options if you want. I'm pretty sure I can help you out.

[badblud]

I am looking to have some pixel work done on my cluster as well, so this is all great info. Blackknight530i can you help me out as well? I tried to pm you but apparently I cannot yet. But I can get you my email if that might help.

[easymoney]

I am having second thoughts after reading this 'cause I need my pixel repaired for my recently acquired 540. Planning of driving early in the morning and hopefully it gets fixed before the end of the day.

[blackknight530i]

I am looking to have some pixel work done on my cluster as well, so this is all great info. Blackknight530i can you help me out as well? I tried to pm you but apparently I cannot yet. But I can get you my email if that might help.

PM was replied to with my email address.

[sjenkins1129]

Blackknight530i, I appreciate your offer and I may need to take you up on it. I still have received no reply from German Audio Tech but they did make a step when I started the eBay complaint process. Yesterday at 4:35AM EDT (1:35 in the morning their time) they posted a tracking number and claimed "Shipped" with eBay. Of course the tracking number still doesn't show in the USPS system. Either they made a string of digits up or they printed the label and have not yet shipped. I cant help but worry that they are just "playing the game", by providing a tracking number with eBay they take the heat off for a bit.

[blackknight530i]

Blackknight530i, I appreciate your offer and I may need to take you up on it. I still have received no reply from German Audio Tech but they did make a step when I started the eBay complaint process. Yesterday at 4:35AM EDT (1:35 in the morning their time) they posted a tracking number and claimed "Shipped" with eBay. Of course the tracking number still doesn't show in the USPS system. Either they made a string of digits up or they printed the label and have not yet shipped. I cant help but worry that they are just "playing the game", by providing a tracking number with eBay they take the heat off for a bit.

USPS is known for having bad tracking updates. I just shipped a package out the other day and it went from "pre-shipment information sent to USPS" to "out for delivery" on the same day, yet only took 2 days to get where it was going. If they shipped it Priority, I would give it a couple days before escalating the claim. If you don't get it by Monday though, I would definitely move things along.

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I keep clusters in stock all the time and can put together one to get you by or offer you other options as well.

[sjenkins1129]

Well, bad USPS tracking it is. A package showed up today and there is a cluster in it. In hind sight, I should have marked mine in some way. I won't know that it is mine and if it is fixed until tomorrow. Wish me luck...

[aspensilver540]

GL, and thank Dog it arrived safely.

Make sure to leave negative feedback for the communication

[sjenkins1129]

Well, sort of good, sort of bad. Installed cluster and still had a burnt out lamp but pixels appeared to be all present. I installed LED lights for the instrument cluster. It lit up nice and bright but it flickered a lot. I went back to incandescent bulbs and all seems well again. The bulb flicker issue seems to be LED related and not German Audio Tech's fault.

As for the original problem of pixel repair, it seems to be correct. They were supposed to check and replace lamps, didn't happen completely.

My bigger concern now, is Speedo accuracy. Prior to sending in for repair, the speedometer read 4/5MPH faster than actual when checked by GPS. Now it reads 10MPH faster than with GPS... always something.

Any suggestions for speedometer calibration?

[Liam79]

Hmmm do needles need to come off for pixel repair? Maybe they haven't put them back on exactly correct?

[dannyzabolotny]

Hmmm do needles need to come off for pixel repair? Maybe they haven't put them back on exactly correct?

Needles have to come off if you want to take the cluster apart without drilling it. Being that German Audio Tech is known for cutting corners, they probably took the easy route and drilled it without taking off the needles.

[blackknight530i]

Needles have to come off if you want to take the cluster apart without drilling it. Being that German Audio Tech is known for cutting corners, they probably took the easy route and drilled it without taking off the needles.

This +1.

[lovbyts]

Hi guys, new member here but not new to forums or wrench turning. I joined because of ALMOST sending my cluster to German Audio Tech but after some research on this forum and another I saw some terrible reviews over the years. Very sorry to year about your issue sjenkins1129, I know people like that suck. I have experienced a few myself in the past.

Maybe it was German Audio Tech who put those BS Youtube videos up that show you how to destroy your stepper motors removing the needles 100% the wrong way. Fvck if I had just read the reviews and looked at the under side of the stepper motor. I didnt realize there was a brass spring.

Well thanks for the great forum. I have learned a lot from it doing some work on my daughters 2001 X5 3.0i for her. Now I have to shell out some bucks to fix the instrument cluster I screwed up trying to fix the dead pixels and save her money. I guess I did save her money in the long run. lol

[redsho330i]

I just had a bad experience with German Audio Tech over the purchase of an E46 navigation screen. The day after I purchased it they sent me a tracking#. After seeing no updates for a week and a half, I sent a contact message through their web site - no response. Two days later on a Friday I called and reached someone who gave me some confusing story about the post office not picking it up or something about their clerk. It didn't make much sense. The following Tuesday I sent an email and got no response. So Wednesday I filed a complaint with eBay. Four days later I finally saw the tracking update then got the item shortly afterwards.

I tried to leave a negative review but eBay deleted it because they said the seller had shipped the item and they hadn't had to refund my purchase price. I sure don't agree with eBay's policy on this. I bet German Audio Tech knew I wouldn't be able to leave a negative review.

[redsho330i]

I talked to eBay about why I wasn't allowed to leave negative feedback after filing a complaint. I was told that the system response is automatic. If the seller creates a tracking number (which he immediately did) then eventually delivers the item, the seller automatically wins the case and the buyer can't leave negative feedback. Through the appeals process I was able to file a complaint about his failure to respond to my messages and the way he gamed the system by immediately creating a tracking number and only delivering after I filed a complaint with eBay. But there is no way to go back and leave negative feedback.

[arctic745]

There's plenty out there on the behaviors of this seller. Just wish I'd seen them before doing business with them.

Bought 2 items from him and both had issues. Not catastrophic, but annoying -- like the wrong button labels on a rebuilt computer. Was only able to program it after looking at the instructions and using the right positions rather than what was written on the buttons. Said he'd send replacement buttons. Nope.

While allegedly replacing the buttons, I agreed with him to send several cores along with another unit for repair. The repair was done correctly, but he has claimed he didn't receive the cores (funny, they were in the same box as the unit he did repair) and stalled repeatedly after I providing proof of delivery at his request. Stalled me past the point where I could still complain on Ebay. So, while this repair works, he ripped me off for $100+ in core payments.

Now, after past ebay/paypal complaint periods, he's unresponsive. He must just chuckle knowing that he screwed another one and there's nothing eBay will do about it.

Oh well, at least the pixels work.

[balidawg]

Wow, that German Audio Tech outift is really crooked! Maybe someone needs to pay him a personal visit?

Anyway, for MID and Cluster pixel repair in SoCal try BavTec in Riverside.
http://www.bavtekinc.com/repairs
Tomas is a solid guy, been doing this for over ten years, very responsive, and has repaired several MIDs and clusters for me and tracked down some used parts. Pretty sure he has an ebay store, but I just stop by his shop near the BMW dealer.

[lesguy]

I sent my mid off to this company. Fixed it same day and sent me a youtube video and email when the work was completed. $109 total

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E38-E39-..._nbn7nX6H_a3cw

[ramitchell]

Wow! Wish I had done some research and read these threads before dealing with them! Found them on eBay and had a few questions about the mid. They answered my questions within a few hours and even sent me a link to the correct product. Ordered the mid, installed it and it has been working fine for the past 2 weeks. I'm hoping I lucked out!
I did start to wonder about them as the invoice included an address to send in your old mid for 'core credit'. I was wondering how they issued the 'credit' so sent several messages on eBay and got no response. Sent them questions about how would I receive core credit (check, PayPal, etc.) from their email address listed on the invoice and still no response. Based upon their suspect quality, I think I'll just hold on to the original mid for a while in case something happens.

[hotron1906]

German Audio Tech is a scam. Chris stole both my $125 and stole my unit (he also botched the repair the first time). He refuses to provide a response after several months...complete radio silence. I'll post his mug shot as soon as it becomes available.