Have you had it with GRINN :(

[awesomeebikes]

I used to call these people my friends. Not anymore. I am a lowly battery and ebike builder with dreams of success. For months now I have not been able to acquire a motor or even a reliable controller from grinn. The new Cycle Analyst V3.0 I received reports 227 volts on a 36 volt pack. They expect me to jump through there hoops before they will even consider allowing me to send It back. The controller that failed on me was on a 48 volt system after only 30 miles of usage. I explained in an email how my other bike had nearly 11,000 miles on the same controller at 76.8 volts. They some how got it that the bike with 11,000 miles on it was the one with the bad controller. Oh yeah, I'm going to send them an old, old controller with 11,000 miles on it and expect a warranty repair. How dense are these people.
Grinn's quality is GONE!
Customer service is CRAP!
I have spent thousands of dollars with GRINN over the years! I am down right pissed off with them. Now they are giving me nothing but grief.
I'll let you know how this plays out. If they don't stand behind there products than I will not be an advocate for there products anymore!
I talk with many people on a daily basis about ebikes and light electric vehicles.
I would hate to lose the product line that Grinn offers, but if its just crap than I don't want it and wont sell it.

 

[Eujangles]

Ouch! First bad news I've heard about them. I live just down the street from them and they have always been very helpful...even given me advice on products they had nothing to do with, and went so far as to help me find a cheap battery online when I couldn't afford one of theirs (I was buying a motor and controller).

Not sure where you are from and what long distance charges are like for you, but if you haven't yet, maybe just try calling them. Sometimes it's easier to communicate these things over the phone than in emails.

Also, since it's your first post here, you should probably know that any feedback you get on the forum is courtesy of Grin: the owner, Justin, is the reason we are able to share information here, and pretty much the whole ebike community owes them a bit of a thank you. Have patience...I am sure they will set things right.

 

[Lessss]

My guess is they are feeing the economy drop out like everyone else and they have probably been burned a few times.

 

[Ypedal]

ouch.. that sucks :|

However, i'm sure the problem can be figured out...

The CA problem, is it a standalone or direct plugin ? . and what were you asked to try ?

A bit more info on the problem would be helpful .

I've dealt with ebikes.ca since the very early days when they had inventory in a storage unit, have had a handfull of problems, but with patience they have always been resolved... always.

 

[kifukarider]

The new Cycle Analyst V3.0 I received reports 227 volts on a 36 volt pack. They expect me to jump through there hoops before they will even consider allowing me to send It back.

It sounds like they are giving you full technical support in troubleshooting your issue. You are just not willing to go through the process. There is a setting on the CA3 for calibrating the voltage. Are you just too lazy to let them help you calibrate and set it? It should be be calibrated when shipped but maybe you got unlucky. In any case, it sounds like GRINN is ready to help and I suspect you are the problem at this point.

I've dealt with many vendors and I can say without a doubt Grin has been the most responsive. I sometimes get multiple responses to an email by two different people on the same day.

Anyway, I hope you resolve your issue. Good luck.

 

[teklektik]

Since you ask (in the title) - my experiences with Grin have been uniformly outstanding. Great products, quick shipment, and knowledgeable and speedy technical support. I often get technical questions answered in mere hours. They have even shipped replacement units to me overnight on their own dime. Unquestionably one of the best outfits with which I have done business.

But - moving on to you:

I used to call these people my friends. Not anymore. I am a lowly battery and ebike builder with dreams of success. For months now I have not been able to acquire a motor or even a reliable controller from grinn.
...
How dense are these people.
Grinn's quality is GONE!
Customer service is CRAP!
I have spent thousands of dollars with GRINN over the years! I am down right pissed off with them. Now they are giving me nothing but grief.
....
If they don't stand behind there products than I will not be an advocate for there products anymore!
I talk with many people on a daily basis about ebikes and light electric vehicles.
I would hate to lose the product line that Grinn offers, but if its just crap than I don't want it and wont sell it.

Golly - bitching, ranting, and a little threatening thrown in for spice. Quite the First Post...

I'm pretty sure you are not going to get a lot of believers or sympathizers on a forum owned by Grin Tech where Justin may be the single most esteemed and respected member....

You have 'dreams of success'? --- Here's a tip: "You need to get along to get ahead..."

• Cool off, contact Grin Tech, and cooperate instead of dragging unrelated bikes and controllers into the discussions... Have some respect for their time and keep the discussion short, factual, and on target - anything else is just confusing noise.... You shot yourself in the foot blathering about some other bike - don't blame them - fix it.

I suggest you avail yourself of the CA V3 Beta thread to resolve any issues you have with your V3. However, that is a moderately complicated unit so be prepared to 'jump though hoops' explaining how you have installed and configured it before anyone will be able to assist....

• And of course, remember that the V3 is a pre-release beta unit, not a formally released product so some difficulties and lack of polish are to be expected. If you're not up to that, then wait for the formal production release...

 

[Bill Nye the science guy]

Grinn has been awesome, dont mess with my canadian duty free supplier!!!

 

[dogman dan]

Well, at least he joined a forum where the moderators will NOT immediately delete his comments and silence him for complaining about the forums owner, or it's advertisers if Justin was taking ads.

There have been a few complaints about Grin over the years, but not nearly the number we've had about other vendors.

Gee, I bet if you had been doing business with bms battery, they'd have been really helpful to you.

Can't wait to see Justin's side of this story.

 

[100volts+]

Something smells rotten in Denmark. Just sayin.

 

[dogman dan]

What I meant by can't wait to hear from Justin on this one. I think there must just be some miscommunication going on. No vendor is immune from a product failure.

But I don't immediately jump to the conclusion that this person is not really a customer. We have pretty well ended the shill member problem. AW is very hard to fool.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Summer is a very busy time for them, and Justin was just at the international interbike meet at Las Vegas.

Sooo...the way I understand it, you have spent thousands of dollars with Grin. You have several controllers. One of them has run 11,000-miles on 76.8V (and is presumably still running?) I'm not sure if you realize it, but 11,000-miles on a controller is pretty damn good! So you liked that controller so much, you bought a second one from Grin of the same model, then it failed at 48V after only 30-miles.

The voltage it failed at is irrelevant, they are multi-voltage adjustable. What is the controller doing? What were the circumstances around the failure? was there smoke? did it just stop working? Were you riding in the rain? was it a long and steep uphill when at max amps? 30 miles means it was very new, so it's very likely a simple problem.

The reason you are being asked to "jump through hoops" is because sometimes it is a very simple fix, and diagnosing it through emails can make the process faster, easier, and cheaper.

I don't know why your CycleAnalyst is not reading the right voltage, perhaps the shunt needs to be calibrated/ or there is a setting that must be input? Need more information....if you want help.

My job has long hours and is boring, so I suspect I am one of the top ten readers on this site, simply because I kill time here. Grin remains one of my personal top-3 vendors, and I would not hesitate to buy from them at any time.

 

[100volts+]

Here is another cliche. When it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. This one is as obvious as the post that starts out, "Hi I'm Suzanne, I am a super hot 24 year old single babe and my hobby is getting it on with ebike nerds. Can anyone here help me. I want to build an electric bike too."

 

[teklektik]

Hard to say....

As far as the V3 is concerned: There have been a few instances with the V3 needing a re-flash out-of-box. The exact symptom he describes has occurred before (example) and requires a double flash. Goes quick and no big deal - particularly since the V3 is in beta - but maybe AB considers that 'jumping through hoops'. Without the re-flash to ensure proper firmware there is no way to determine if the unit is actually misbehaving and would have been a recommendation from Grin. Beta status is mentioned on both ebikes.ca V3 pages, but maybe he didn't get the implications.

As for the controller - who knows - in the best case it's just a bad V3 installation/configuration and it's being limited to ZERO throttle...

My vote is for misunderstanding and an all-too-common expectation that all businesses should simply exchange a product on the whim of the buyer like Amazon does. Not a realistic view for more complex DIY products and small companies.

In any case, one heck of a first impression - and most of it from the way the tale was told, not from the tale itself...

 

[friendly1uk]

Well the question was if we have had it with grinn, and it seems nobody is heading down that road. In fact, people seem very happy with them. Grinn might of about had it with the op though. Who is rejecting their offers of help, refusing to answer any questions, and basically bad mouthing them based on nothing certain.


I would give you your refund, then delete you from history. Making sure your cards your name and your address could never order from them again.

 

[el_walto]

i recently had some shipping issues, including getting someone elses package that had the same last name as me. But stuff happens, and they were helpful resolving the issue. So yes, it took me a while to get a cable because it went to the wrong address, and yes,i had to ship someone else package back, but they discounted my order because of the mishap.

Sometimes it is much more easy, and time effective to describe issues over the telephone rather than email.

 

[DAND214]

I used to call these people my friends. Not anymore. I am a lowly battery and ebike builder with dreams of success. For months now I have not been able to acquire a motor or even a reliable controller from grinn. The new Cycle Analyst V3.0 I received reports 227 volts on a 36 volt pack. They expect me to jump through there hoops before they will even consider allowing me to send It back. The controller that failed on me was on a 48 volt system after only 30 miles of usage. I explained in an email how my other bike had nearly 11,000 miles on the same controller at 76.8 volts. They some how got it that the bike with 11,000 miles on it was the one with the bad controller. Oh yeah, I'm going to send them an old, old controller with 11,000 miles on it and expect a warranty repair. How dense are these people.
Grinn's quality is GONE!
Customer service is CRAP!
I have spent thousands of dollars with GRINN over the years! I am down right pissed off with them. Now they are giving me nothing but grief.
I'll let you know how this plays out. If they don't stand behind there products than I will not be an advocate for there products anymore!
I talk with many people on a daily basis about ebikes and light electric vehicles.
I would hate to lose the product line that Grinn offers, but if its just crap than I don't want it and wont sell it.

Won't fill in his profile, so how can we help.

No replies to the comments on his post.

Where or why did he post here knowing it's Justins' baby.
I'm sure he knows.

Where are you awesomeebikes?

Dan

 

[Rassy]

I'll pile on to. Not having any knowledge about the original poster, I have made it a policy to try to ignore new posters that don't indicate their location, at least their country. Why? Because it shows that they have either not looked at the forum much, or don't pay attention, or just don't care.

I expect he didn't even realize Grin (Yes it's Grin, not Grinn) owned the forum and now he's just plain embarrassed about his original post, and he should be.

Edit: When I reread what I wrote, I realized we may all have jumped to the wrong conclusion. Maybe there really is a new rip off company that calls themselves Grinn. Maybe they get rejects from Grin's garbage dumpster and then sell them as their own creations. My partial apology to the OP if this is the case.

 

[amberwolf]

I don't consider it stupidity to air frustration about a vendor, regardless of where it's done. I personally don't see enough details about the problem for us to help much, beyond the CA issue, but I don't think the OP came here for help, but rather just to vent, and given my experiences with various companies' "support" processes over my lifetime, I can't blame him. Hopefully we can change the venting to actual fixing of the problems, one way or another, if the OP comes back.

In the meantime, it would be helpful if other members didn't just jump on the OP about the situation, and either stayed out of it, or actively tried to help.



While I would definitely not answer "yes" to the title question of the thread, I do sympathize with the OP, and I suspect it might be either a language issue or a time issue (someone going too fast thru correspondence and not reading everything the OP said, perhaps). However, without seeing all of the actual correspondence from both sides I could not say.

As pointed out, the CA issue has been seen before and is probably easily fixed. The controller issue sounds like a simple communication mixup, and is probably also easily dealt with.


Regardin issues with Grin Tech, my only real issues have been timeliness, but given how busy they are, and other circumstances in my situations, I can forgive that. I've had some wierd stuff with a couple of Grin controllers (used with Grin motors) that I haven't yet figured out, but I haven't contacted them about it, since one of them is secondhand, though the other I bought new direct from them--both do work for my application, just not quite as I expected them to. Since I haven't contacted them about hte issues I can't say anything about how their service in relation to that might be.

 

[awesomeebikes]

I have lost sale after sale because of Grinns poor inventory this summer. I'm almost out of business because of this.
The CA V3.0 I have is rather goofy, it will not except any Rshunt value, it resets itself to 0.00. And yes I am troubleshooting it.
I have built countless ebikes and just about all of my parts have come from grinn. I have had many of Grinns batteries come through my shop. They are junk. They are some of the most unreliable packs I have come across. I use Headway cells in my packs, may not be the lightest, but they are reliable.
Grinn has gone from being helpful to being downright insulting. When I try to call I get the old message saying that they will be out of the offices from September 1st to the 8th, it is September 28th today.

Grinn has been my main go to since they started several years back. I've fought with bmsbattery and evassemble and other various distributers in the past. Grinn has provided top notch ebike components and I'm not about to forget about the Cycle Analyst that we couldn't live without today.

I know this forum was started by Justin and his group. I hope they see just how much they have ticked off the wrong person. I have spoken with about 20 people about what they have done. You cant screw over a customer in this day and age and get away with it Scott free.

I'm only ranting like this because I am at the end of my rope. I expect that my business is done with at this point. Spent all summer telling potential customers sorry I cant get parts. So I'll go back to this as a hobby. As a business, I don't see this working at all in the future.


Justin, if you want to delete my posts, and delete me as a dealer fine. Here in the USA we have free speech.

 

[dnmun]

I'll pile on to. Not having any knowledge about the original poster, I have made it a policy to try to ignore new posters that don't indicate their location, at least their country. Why? Because it shows that they have either not looked at the forum much, or don't pay attention, or are just plain stupid.

I expect he didn't even realize Grin (Yes it's Grin, not Grinn) owned the forum and now he's just plain embarrassed about his stupidity and he should be.

Edit: When I reread what I wrote, I realized we may all have jumped to the wrong conclusion. Maybe there really is a new rip off company that calls themselves Grinn. Maybe they get rejects from Grin's garbage dumpster and then sell them as their own creations. My partial apology to the OP if this is the case.

no, he used the two n's instead of an m as in nn=m so it should read "Grim technologies". they are the ones doing the dumpster diving.

 

[awesomeebikes]

I used to call them Grinn tech. Kind of a compliment actually. What do you do when you twist the throttle of a high end ebike. Grinn!
I guess Grim tech is more appropriate. Things are looking pretty GRIM from where I am at.

 

[2020freerider]

What a strange rant!

The boys at Grinn have been so helpful and patient in answering my Noob questions. Their service so far is exemplary.

Luv the forum and all the characters out there in ES land that make it unique.

Cheers

 

[Icewrench]

Justin did not start this forum. But he did save it from a dumpster of sorts...

Look up bitcoins and romneys tax returns for some background on the sites founder.....

 

[liveforphysics]

Why do I get the feeling after reading this guys posts that the issues are entirely on his side, and he is uncooperative to troubleshoot and get them resolved?

Of all the vendors in the world for ebikes, none has done as much to advance and satisfy ebike products, and it's odd all the rest of us have only had excellent experiences dealing with them.

 

[nicobie]

I am 100% sure that if the CA is defective Grin will replace it.

But reading between the lines, it appears that you have a "history" with them. Maybe they just got tired of dealing with you. When dealing with people it's best to start with a carrot and not the stick.

However blaming Grin for the failure of your business is just plain bogus. They aren't the only people in the world that sell ebike stuff.