Received a call from Banks yesterday

[Patriot_RAM]

I called Banks in May to get sales information on some products. They just now called me back yesterday. Oh -- I meant May of LAST year.



Would you trust your truck to a company that takes a year to return a SALES call? Imaging waiting for a call back from tech support.



I just had to share this, thought it was amusing.

 

[Tim]

I wouldn't buy a Banks product anyway. I saw a Ford with banks badges on the side last night, and gauges. I just thought to myself, "What a moron. " I laughed to myself as he drove away.

 

[hasselbach]

I wouldn't buy a Banks product anyway. I saw a Ford with banks badges on the side last night, and gauges. I just thought to myself, "What a moron. " I laughed to myself as he drove away.

 

[FDavid]

I called banks about 8 months ago to inquire about sending in my trucks head to get ported and polished and have there big hoss inatke manifold put on and they called me back 6 months later. Unfortunalty they wouldnt do it

 

[midlife crisis]

Irony revisited-Trailer Life Advertisement from Jan 04- Ol Gale hiself grin'n ear to ear, saying " Call today, before your dream disappears".



Man I tell ya- all the negative things I've heard and read about these folks, if I ever do get the urge to bomb- I would not consider them. All I hear is overpriced, and overstated performance, and now bad CS.

 

[BRayls]

with all due respect, how many of the bad comments came from people who have dealt with banks? maybe a few. the rest I would bet are just people repeating what they " have heard" . note by my sig I have no banks products or affiliation but I have had some of their stuff and its not all bad.

 

[Will24]

I found a banks plate on eBay back in the fall, and out of curiousity I called banks to get an MSRP on the plate, $390! I about had a heart attack, that was PLATE ONLY, good for 35hp.



-Will

 

[TCDiesel]

Purchasing directly from Banks is most of the CS/BS. Their are many Local dealers that are CS friendly and the rates that are usally charged are far less than Banks MSRP. That is my biggest complaint to Banks they are causing far more problems than the profits at MSRP is making. Local good dealers would have return the calls within a reasonable amount of time if not immediately.

 

[midlife crisis]

with all due respect, how many of the bad comments came from people who have dealt with banks? maybe a few. the rest I would bet are just people repeating what they " have heard" . note by my sig I have no banks products or affiliation but I have had some of their stuff and its not all bad.

With respect back at ya, you would have to qualify the credibility of the posters yourself. Seemed credible to me. I am sorry for pointing out a overwhelmingly obvious fact, but there seems to be alot of dissatisfied (potential) customers out in search land.

My sig reflects my firsthand knowledge too, but I can read the writin on the wall.

 

[DHayden]

I don't necessarily think credibility should be in question. Anyone can look at Banks products on Banks own website or a Banks distributor and compare their price/power to any other distributor and make an educated decision.



I have never owned banks and probably never will for the simple fact it seems I can get twice the power for half the money. That's just my choice, if you have the money and want to spend it on Banks so be it.

 

[hasselbach]

I got nothing against Banks, but I still like my window sticker. Did anyone catch Trucks this weekend? The new Banks Sidewinder is a pretty sweet truck, even for a duramax.

 

[macdaddy]

I agree

with all due respect, how many of the bad comments came from people who have dealt with banks? maybe a few. the rest I would bet are just people repeating what they " have heard" . note by my sig I have no banks products or affiliation but I have had some of their stuff and its not all bad.

When it comes to their hardware it is state of the art IMO. I had their 4" exhaust on my 99 bolted up real nice with no problems. Revolutionary muffler nice sound with no drone. Their headers are the best in the industry, 7/8" flanges with no gaskets , nice.

Their software is a different story "VERY PROBLEMATIC". I have yet to see one single one that I know of that haven't had problems. My brothers Big Hoss fuel box on his F-550 ????????? . We never no if the damn is going to start.



Mac

 

[DPKetchum]

Sold MANY Banks kits on 12 valves. NEVER a issue or a problem. They were COMPLETE and the Stage 3 kit would scream. Bought directly from Banks. Customer service was always top notch. Customer loved the kits as did the techs. Complete and easy to install. Had a 24 valve come in with Banks stuff/High Ram/Exhaust/box etc. had a failed lift pump and then a dead VP44. Tech said I SCREWD UP when STAR asked if mods and they declined warranty(NEVER DID THAT AGAIN)anyhow Gale Banks got involved(yes really)said the product had NOTHING to do with the VP44 failure. (one of the first early ones we ever saw)and Banks shipped a NEW Vp44 to us and we shipped Banks the old one. Gale Banks said that Dodge had done some testing at their facility and he would handle it on his end! Customer was shocked as we were also. This is NOT I heard this from so and so. This went down in our dealer in Georgia.

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

Kroeker went with Banks to bomb the KORE Race truck. I have to admit I have never wanted to pay the big bucks for Banks products. They always seemed to offer less bang for your buck than say Edge. When he told me what he was doing, I was not a happy camper. I begged and pleaded to let us bomb the truck ourselves. Stating that for less money we could double the HP output. Kroeker stuck to his Big Guns and Banks did the transformation.

The job they did was superb! Kore's race truck makes gobbs of power, at a flip of the throttle, and keeps EGT's under 1250* at all times. There were no failures in the Baja 500, Baja 1000 or the Parker 425. Add in thousands of on road miles, from towing to hauling mass. There has not been one Banks part changed on that truck since it was installed at Banks.

Now I am not trying to be a cheerleader here by any means. I will tell it how it is, no matter the outcome. I would recommend Banks products to anyone who wants a complete package, designed for your truck, engineered to compliment each componant. Me, I will stick to the massive power that DD has always offered, at a cost to me, provided by www.desertdieselparts.com .



Enjoy,

Greg

DRC

 

[BHolm]

I have never ordered anything for a diesel from them but I do have the full "power pack" on my 460 gas motorhome. I have been EXTREMELY pleased with it. The headers were top notch, the exhaust sounds awesome and the transmission programming made a big difference. It transformed that beast from laboring at 75mph to being able to cruise at 85-90 getting better milage. I think they do a lot of work to make things functional as a package, unlike just buying a box and having to put a kit together yourself. That extra engineering has a cost, and it has a benefit.

 

[Patriot_RAM]

I mentioned this to another TDR member that did some work on my truck this past weekend. He also called them to inquire about the same product. His return call was three years later.

:--)



My experience was first hand -- they returned my call almost exactly one year after I called to inquire about the high-ram intake. I had actually forgot about it until they called. In the last TDR, their upgraded intercooler caught my attention and I thought about looking into one, but when I got the call back about the high-ram, I remembered just how long ago my first call to them was.

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

Here is more of the same:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128313&highlight=Banks

TWest

Purchasing directly from Banks is most of the CS/BS. Their are many Local dealers that are CS friendly and the rates that are usually charged are far less than Banks MSRP. That is my biggest complaint to Banks they are causing far more problems than the profits at MSRP is making. Local good dealers would have return the calls within a reasonable amount of time if not immediately.

This could be part of the problem. I think it hard OT find out too who the dealers are for Banks though.

Greg Boardman

Kroeker went with Banks to bomb the KORE Race truck. I have to admit I have never wanted to pay the big bucks for Banks products. They always seemed to offer less bang for your buck than say Edge. When he told me what he was doing, I was not a happy camper. I begged and pleaded to let us bomb the truck ourselves. Stating that for less money we could double the HP output. Kroeker stuck to his Big Guns and Banks did the transformation.

The job they did was superb! Kore's race truck makes gobbs of power, at a flip of the throttle, and keeps EGT's under 1250* at all times. There were no failures in the Baja 500, Baja 1000 or the Parker 425. Add in thousands of on road miles, from towing to hauling mass. There has not been one Banks part changed on that truck since it was installed at Banks. [QUOTE}



Greg, do you suppose the fact that it was Kores truck that will probably do magazine covers and have a lot of exposure is the reason they got the customer service they did? Seems like the regular joe , when calling Banks themselves, cant even get a return phone call. Now why is that?

 

[Scooby]

I had a chance to tour the Banks facility in Irwindale, Ca. Banks stuff is expensive because they have a fantastic campus of buildings and do a great deal of research and development. Their products are high quality and I don't think I've heard of a complaint about their workmanship - all done there in California. Customer Service and Sales are other issues that I can't really address other than to say my friend worked there in sales and didn't care for the structure, the pressure and the new head of sales (which was Gale's son - all of 30 years old or something like that).



Their "project" vehicles and the shop they have there are amazing - it would make any gear-head drool. But someone has to pay for all the R&D and that would be us.

If you don't like it - don't buy it. Why so many of us get emotional about it is just silly.

 

[JHardwick]

Local good dealers would have return the calls within a reasonable amount of time if not immediately.

Why not just answer the call?

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

[QUOTE}



Greg, do you suppose the fact that it was Kores truck that will probably do magazine covers and have a lot of exposure is the reason they got the customer service they did? Seems like the regular joe , when calling Banks themselves, cant even get a return phone call. Now why is that?

I am not sure you understand the reasons KORE went with Banks. Banks is a great product... ..... Yes it is expensive, is their customer service the best? Maybe not. I for one try to service my customers same day if not even same hour... . Banks was good for Kore because of the exposure, Sure, Kore is in business to make money. That is why we all work to make money. But Kore could have gone with a number of performance products. They choose Banks because it made sense to them. Take the best stuff, run it harder than it was intended to run, and run it some more.