Comments interjected(?) below about Cranes customer service
>
> Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 11:42:30 -0400
> From: "Kai M. Radicke" <kradicke@wishboneclassics.com>
> Subject: Re: Electronic ignition
>
> > I have seen and read some information on three products:
> > Pertronix
> > Crane
> > Ignitor
> >
> > I would appreciate hearing from any users of these products
> > (or any others!), both pro and con. Any comments on the
> > ease of installation, reliability (or non-!), support from the
> > manufacturer, etc. would be appreciated very much!
>
> Jim,
>
> As someone already pointed out, the Pertronix and the Ignitor are the same
> unit... but here is run down you wanted:
>
<snipped>
> Crane XR700 & XR3000:
>
> Good kits, good instructions, good reliability and good performance. The
> XR3000 is the successor to the XR700. I have a customer running an XR3000
> and Crane coil combination that I sold him last year and he seems quite
> pleased with that setup. Crane has good tech support if you call and they
> also are quick to send out replacement or missing parts. So this is a good
I feel obliged to post my own comments about Cranes "customer service". Back
in about 1998 I was driving my TR8 to work which had an Allison(?) ignition in
it which always worked great, but this morning was running rough and stumbling
like the timing was off. It got worse as I drove. When I got to work, the
opened the distributor to see if anything looked obvious. The little plastic
disc that shutters the light sensor looked slightly askew. I touched it and it
came apart and fell off. Then I noticed that the controller said "lifetime
guarantee" on it and decided to call. Well I found out the company had been
sold to Crane. I called crane expecting to have to pay for a new one (how much
could they be? It's just a little plastic disc with slots...). After waiting
around 45minutes on hold on a non-toll free number I was connected to someone
who told me they still honored the lifetime guarantee and would send me a new
one(Cool!). A MONTH later I received a small plastic disc in the mail with six
slots. For a V8. So I spent another hour on hold to tell Crane I got the
wrong part. They apologized and said they would send another. I made a point
of telling them my car had a V8 and suggested the disc would need 8 slots not
six. Another MONTH went by before I received another disc-the same wrong
disc!! Another hour or so on hold and this time I read off the part number
from the old, broken disc. A short MONTH later my new disc arrived finally the
right part. And my TR8 had been sitting in the parking lot at work for THREE
MONTHS waiting for a $1 part. I would have gladly paid $25 for a 1-800 number
to call and a quick, timely replacement with the CORRECT part. THREE FREAKIN'
MONTHS!!!!
I am not a fan of their customer "service" and can only hope the people in
charge have been fired in the lats seven years. The unit seems to work well
however and I recommend using an electronic ignition, maybe not from Crane
though...
-Wayne S.
1980 TR8
> choice, but you need to hide the control box if you are concerned with it
> looking out of place
>
> Magna Spark:
>
<snipped>
> Cheers,
>
> Kai
>
> - --
> Kai M. Radicke
> Wishbone Classics
> * British Car Parts *
> www.wbclassics.com
> Ph: 215.945.7250
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