This is the experience I had with John Wayne, Custom Chips Inc. Make your decision for yourself. I have the entire conversation copied and and can post it.


Sept 23 2014
I asked about a chip being made and was provided the information

Sept 29 2014
I asked if the chip can be mailed out to me and received by the coming weekend, Oct 3 2014. I was told it takes an hour to make the chip and as for getting it by the weekend "yes I can".
I paid for the chip by paypal and provided the required information.

Oct 3 2014 3:46 pm
I asked if the chip had been sent, as I did not receive it or any shipping information by mail or delivery. At 8:05 pm this same day I was told "Its on its way, Ill get you a tracking number when my system updates"

Oct 5 2014 3:05 pm
I asked for the tracking info and about the chip. the response was "yes when the system updates" I asked when I can expect that. his answer is "I will let you know, don't worry," and "why don't you trust a business". then Im told he is "at the mercy of a business"

Oct 10 2014
I message him and said that it "had been five days. when could I expect tracking or a chip? his response two hours later was "I will check on tracking and see. don't worry you will get it". I told him that was the second time I was told not to worry. I again requested verification for the order being mailed. He said he had to" talk to his shipper and we will get it straighten out no problem"
I stated that I did not want this to turn bad and I have been patient. I also said I would give this until tomorrow to see if I receive either the chip or tracking information. no response

Oct 11 2014
I did not receive either the chip or tracking information I messaged Custom Chips Inc and said "I" have not received nether the chip or tracking information. As a last opportunity to resolve this how do you wish to continue.?"


This is his response: " i think u better change your tone with me, u can in no way hurt me so what are you threatening?"
my response was "so be it"

A few minutes later he messages me and tell me "
ok, the shipper said he resent your chip yesterday, it was returned to sender cause of a bad zip code ,it was a misprint! its back out on its way to you already and he will have a tracking number for you later today. I APOLOGIZE,THAT WAS ACTUALLY OUR FAULT

Oct 12 2014 9:51pm
I was messaged and told it will be USPS tracking, rush shipping and provided the tracking tools page. Still no tracking number provided.


I understand that mail can get lost or mistakes made in shipping. A tracking number doesnt take long to get, unless something has not been shipped. This shipping issue could have been discovered earlier on. Its called managing a business.
As for "I think you better change your tone with me, u can in no way hurt me so what are you threatening" . I had made no threat. I have no intention of hurting anyone. Again, not very professional for a business. You only hurt yourself, reputation or business.

 

Here is how specialty shops, including a lot of machine shops think:



Sad really, granted there are the exceptions.

 

Well let's just hope the chip is bang on! If it works well, let us all know as I am still hurting from Tuned Performance dropping off the face of the earth. Resources like this are hard to come by.

Put it down to a bad day.

 

It would at least be nice if someone with the skill and equipment could remove the VATS aspect from a EPROM Module.

I used to send Tuned Performance EPROM modules that I'd pull from cars and trucks at our pick n pull.



I have a 1989 Camaro and he made alterations to a 1992 EPROM for me. It is preferred because they had worked out some bugs that plagued earlier versions. Or something to that effect.

He removed the VATS aspect from the EPROM.
He changed the torque converter clutch lockup to 45mph as apposed to the 35mph it had.
He removed the speed limiter.
and that's it.

After "all" the work I had done trying to fix an intermittent stalling at a light problem, that was getting worse by the day.

Just changing to that chip fixed it.

I was totally amazed......

Can EPROM modules go bad ? Apparently they can.

I believe I was one of his last customers before he left .I just want to say that Brian = Tuned Performance, taught me a lot over the last year. Where ever he is, I just hope he's OK.

 

I hope the chip is good. I chose his product because of the recommendations and responses from previous customers. I'm not discrediting his product, just reporting on the customer service I received. I'll post up on the chip when it gets here.

 

I call BS on the bad zip and re-ship, ask him for the first tracking # with the bad zip, he should still have it, if he ever did. Also, another reason I call BS, is when creating shipping labels in the software (most companies use this) it would tell them it's a invalid zip code and won't create shipment label. OR if he's a small man operation and created the shipment online, still, it should tell him invalid zip and won't print the label.

 

I didn't know Brian had left the forum.He helped me a lot and was a real nice guy.Bummer

 

hey Tony let us know about the cars performance.
about 6 months ago. a person i know ordered a chip from john wayne, the way the guy i know was talking john changed the timing and fuel curve of a basically stock tpi 305 that had been converted from tbi. he said he used an LO5 tiiming curve and the guy i know said that the hypertech chip he had was better. low and behold i now have that tpi 305, computer, hypertech chip and john waynes chip now but i want to put my ZZ3 350 in my car with TPI this year (if i ever finish building it) and trying to decide to burn my own chips or see if john wayne can get a good tune for me.

 

I had received the chip through usps. He did send it rush delivery due to the shipping error. It was well packaged. Im looking forward to installing it this weekend. I will post the install and results as soon as possible.

 

i cant wait

 

Hey Tony, seems like both you and I had the same experience around the same time but mine gets worse. I got my chip a whole week before the G1 adapter and everything was shipped to a prior address, luckily I rent that house out to family so no real harm there. But having asked him time and time again to send to a specific address he was starting to show failure of attention to detail. Ok so fast forward to me sitting in my office like a kid with a new toy taking apart the ECM and chip from an otherwise perfectly running L98 Iroc, followed his link as to the installing to the T and even felt accomplished as I have big hands and well you get it. Hook everything back up to my car, crank the sucker up and it starts with a nice tone, but it lived for about three seconds like that f$#@! Tried again and again to no avail, screw it I changed back to stock to at least drive home, nope! nope! and nope! Car started and shook like a wet dog. My heart began to sink man I'm telling you. So, I didn't let my anger overtake me and I contacted John with the various steps of troubleshooting I performed and how everything was good on my end other than a crappy running car. He kept telling me his chip was not at fault, I maybe misinstalled it, kept telling me to check things that I had just told him through message I had already done three or four times,an hour prior. Man, this guy tried my patience! So I left it as that, whatever. Here I am now waiting on a few ecm's and prom chips to troubleshoot my car, which I'm well into about 400$ with other components I replaced because of this, all I'm looking forward to is getting my car running right again. I won't be touching my car with his crap anymore. What's funny is he swore he has never I repeat never, had a customer complain. I highly doubt that! Anyhow I should be getting my stuff soon so I can move along and get my car running right. Let me know how your chip turned out. Thanks

 

Approximately a couple of months ago I finished a t5 swap into my sons 1991 Z28, 350 auto car. After the swap, the car had serious jerking issues. I ordered a chip from him and 6 to 7 days later I had it. I installed it and the car runs smooth. I'll consider myself lucky on this.

 

I just ordered from him a month ago. Shipping was slow and I reached out to him about it, but it came the same day I messaged him. Other than the slow shipping I had no other issues, and the chip is great. Corrected issues I was having with the car, and he was quick to respond when I did reach out to him. I hope everyone's issues get straightened out.

 

This thread was intended to provide an experience with a vendor. Feedback is important to the vendor and consumers. I have not posted results of the product itself as I have not completed the install, trial runs and results. I am in communication with this vendor and his responses have been immediate. More to come.

 

Tony 91RS,

Thank you for your posts and review of your experiences. I am in the market for a new chip, and I have found this thread helpful.

Veaceonee,

Would you please take down the picture you posted of Christ? Although you do not share my view, I view the post as irreverent and, therefore, "in vain."

Thanks again!
Bill

 

I have some experience with custom chips. I ordered a chip about a week and a half ago. Hadn't seen it yet so touched base with him and I had a tracking number back within half hour. Now I'm in Canada and coming from Cali stuff always takes a bit but so far I'm pretty happy with his service. Will comment again once the chip is here and in the car.

 

Just trying to convey about how MOST specialty shops act. So, it is relevant at the time of posting. But, I will amend it so there will be noone getting offended.

 

Any news?

I have purchased a chip from John Wayne but as of yet have not installed it.

Waiting to see if I should risk it or not since the car runs great as it is.

 

If you don't like it, remove it.

 

I had completed another thread in the aftermarket section. This thread was about the vendor.

 

What kind of $ does a burned chip run if I may ask?

 

there are several vendors with a varying cost on chips. they can range between $30 to $200, depending. I purchased a chip at $65 from John. I then purchased the adapter for it from another sourse, at his recomendation. that cost was $40.

compared to other vendors, Johns chip was the best value, for the product. it was custom made for my application, and he was quick to reply with answers or assistance.

 

Any updates? I just ordered a chip from custom chips. I paid $100 for the chip and the adapter, hopefully it performs as well as he claims.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...-inc-chip.html

 

I have a John Wayne custom chip in my formula i converted from carb to tpi efi, im not impressed over the stock chip but the person i bought the tpi set up from said that he took a timing table from a lo3 350 tbi car and other things for the chip. im not sure why he would change much on a stock 305 tpi but i didnt like it. then about a week on a facebook group, john wayne is a member of, he claimed a disgruntled customer set him ***** pics. after all this somehow my name got in the mix and i got deleted from the group and im not sure why

 

i caught the tail end of that issue on the facebook page. the page was deleted. the moderators of that page should never had let it get out of control like that. there are those who are not happy with his chips and those that are. this thread and the other i made was simply to provide information and expirence witha product and vendor. your expeirence and opinion is of course welcome.

 

I'm also debating on whether or not to buy a chip from john Wayne. My 88 IROC has been doing some weird things and I've narrowed it down to a bad ecm/prom. So, I'd like to try one of his chips and possibly fix my problem and gain a few ponies in the mean time.. I'm just not ready to pull the trigger on ordering yet..

 

I have one from custom chips. Haven't installed it as of yet due to winter here in Canada and the car being off the road. Ordered the chip and received everything I was suppose to but took longer than I think it should have mind you I'm in Canada and he's over in California. I'll let you know come spring if I like it.

 

i wasnt trying to blast the guy. i did talk to a few guys who were happy with their chips, and lets face it there will be people who hate a product just because it didnt make them 100+ horsepower, like guys who put 24# injectors on a stock 305. another thing custom chip burning without the vehicle on a dyno or having a wideband O2 sensor and adjusting tunes until you get it perfect is hard to do and i understand that

 

I'd like to chime in since I've dealt with John before and have a chip on the way now. Handling time can be a bit slow but only took a week for my first one, I was persistent though. Got the chip around June 2014. Been having long start issues lately. Before it'd start up as soon as I turned the key. Went around everything related to start up and something told me to pull the tuned chip out and just have my stock chip installed. Boom car fired right up like it used to. Tried multiple times and every time it delivered on the dime. Put John's chip back in and there were those long start ups. Not sure what happened down the line. The chip overall was worth it though.

 

I wonder why he has been kicked off almost all the FB pages he's been on..
(there are many reasons, becareful)

 

Is this guy named oscar sabastian ?

 

As far as I know, they're two different people. I've seen chips from both, but neither have been too impressive.

 

Oscar Sebastian (John Wayne) is a very shady guy. For example, he claims his service is in Santa Maria California. Yet the phone number and area code is Delaware. That phone number is registered to a Buddhist community in Delaware. That's the first red flag if you ask me. Also there is a lady that is the organizer for the Buddhist community named Khandro Sherab Dolma. She follows John Wayne (Oscar) on facebook and always praises how wonderful his chips are. So its obvious that she helps advertising and promoting his product when all along, they are partners in thier community. Shady shady shady.

http://www.meetup.com/TibetanVajraya...stBeachCenter/

 

.

 

Phone Numbers match.

 

First picture says that his service is in Santa Maria. Nect picture shows that he lives in Delaware. 3rd picture shows that he is in a Buddhist organization.

 

I call BS on the bad zip and re-ship, ask him for the first tracking # with the bad zip, he should still have it, if he ever did. Also, another reason I call BS, is when creating shipping labels in the software (most companies use this) it would tell them it's a invalid zip code and won't create shipment label. OR if he's a small man operation and created the shipment online, still, it should tell him invalid zip and won't print the label.[/QUOTE]


I agree 100%. In this day and age there should be no excuse

 

Seriously don't back down off your stance. You have given him every opportunity to make it right. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck............

 

He's definitely Oscar then, the chip I received from him a couple years ago came from Delaware however. I did find it odd that he wouldn't let me pick it up to avoid shipping cost when I purchased it from him.

In our emails he listed two phone numbers, (302)864-4868 and (302)212-8623 one of which he listed as his cell number. Might be worth a call, OP. These also came from what could be his personal email, o.sebastian33@yahoo.com

 

I purchased a chip from Custom Chips a few months back and it seems to work great. Car is noticeably faster and runs a little bit smoother. Not sure about anyone else's experience ,but so far the chip does what it says. Also, looks like they have a big following on Facebook and they are the go-to guys on most of the forums.

 

Also, John was very helpful and walked me through the entire installation. I give them an A+ rating! Honest and very helpful. Will recommend them

 

Seems shady, there was a good reason ninetyone was banned from tgo.
I hope I'm not that bad at business. before he started soliciting any and every one on tgo and gearheadefi corvette forum he was begging me for tpi file hypertech, jets, ads and stock. I don't have any secret information to hide so I shared it and some custom files I have made. I feel kinda burned for giving information he stated was for educational use that he may be profiting on. Enabling lean cruise on vehicle imo is a risky practice unless you know for sure the state of tune ahead or are running a wb / gauge. I wish him best of luck in his endeavors but some of his practices seem unethical Duke !

 

Would like to see dyno and track times between the 2 chips.
I know a 350 chip stuck in a 305 car will make it faster, just wondering what magic he posses..

 

I'm
Not sure but my buddy ordered one for his and he previously had the car tuned by another mail order tuning company and the chip from Custom
chips was way better. His car was a 350 TPI AUTO and he converted it to a manual T56. Check them out on Facebook , they have like 1700 likes and pretty much dominate every Fbody forum on Facebook , that's why I was convinced to order one but I'm happy with mine

 

Sounds like a couple of you guys have a personal beef with the guy but from what I hear on Facebook most people like his work and swear by him so idk

 

You're plenty fine to work with and I'm sure most of us that have worked with you will agree.

He may have a lot of likes on Facebook, but that doesn't mean he's actually doing good work. The thing about tuning these cars is that it's black magic to most of the people who own them and because of that they'll be satisfied with just about anything (Think about how some swear by Hypertech chips even though it's been known for quite some type they do little to nothing).

I've personally seen two of his chips, one was a stock L98 tune with an adjusted injector constant to compensate for larger injectors (this was going to run my built 350) and another that was for a stock L98 with headers, that simply had a timing bump, much like a Hypertech chip. There was also a thread on here, I believe in the TPI section, where someone was running his chip and their BLMs were 160 (which is the highest the ECM will go), meaning it was incredibly lean.

I don't think any of us have a beef with him, I just think that there's a lot of tuners on this forum that have seen his work and we know it's not all its cracked up to be. He's also been pretty shady with a lot of his customers, which is enough reason to not recommend him to anyone. To top it off, he was banned from this forum under TWO different names because of his shitty practices. There's no beef, just plenty of reason to not have faith in his work.

 

He was tossed from several FB forums I'm on.
I also got tired of his constant misinformation postings and blocked him after I saw how he talked w several people on the forums.

 

I heard of him on a Facebook forum called Third Gen F-bodies Worldwide and saw a review of his chips on there and over 60 people said it worked out great for them and some of those guys were into tuning as well. So I tried it and worked well for me. My car is a few tenths quicker in the 1/4 and my buddies car runs a lot better than it did with the previous tune that he had done with some other company online. I'm sure there will always be people that either installed theirs wrong or whatever but who knows. I know I had to buy what is called a memory adapter to make it work and it was $35

 

I have a pretty stock 91 Z28 305 TPI 5 speed.

I got a JW chip as I was curious.

Before the chip it ran 15.3 flat consistently or there abouts.

After the chip it ran 15.6 no matter what I did to it.

I think people are probably feeling what happens when you DC the battery anyways.

All the trims reset and it runs like a raped ape regardless if you switch the chip or not.

It does not shock me people "feel" a difference, look at how many Honda kids think their car is way more powerful with a giant barrel filter on it (Hot Air Intake) just because they now can hear an induction noise.

If they ran back to back 1/4's that "feel" might come with a little less conviction.

I believe in testable, repeatable, falsifiable so I get the most accurate model of reality possible.

Stock Chip back in and it knocks out 15.3 again.

Might be the torque spots have changed and my driving style cant take advantage of it, who knows.

For $65 its worth a try, its less than the price of a tank of gas where I come from.