What an oxymoron. I received my new brakesmart controller yesterday, 9 days after I paid for it. Easy install, no problems. Noticed that the red manual button will not depress. Almost like it is glued to the housing, you cannot push the button. Also getting mystery messages, like "electric brakes detected" when nothing is hooked to the truck. Started calling at 10 am today (friday) when they opened, wanted to talk to someone in tech support to find out if I did something wrong or if it might be a faulty controller. Left a message. Called again at 12, left a message. Called at 2 pm, told the girl that if I needed to send it back I wanted to do it soon, being Friday, didn't want to be stuck until monday just to find out that it had to be returned. Said she'd have the tech guy call. Called again at 4 pm, she said he was going to return his calls at the end of the day. Guess what, no call. I just need to know if the box is good or needs to be exchanged, cannot get a return call, or even a "sorry, he's busy, is there someone else who can help you". Nothing. It annoyed the girl that I kept calling. I spent a lot of money on this thing, I think I'm going to send it back and get a maxbrake. Brakesmart does not care about their existing customers.

Sorry for the rant, hope it saves someone else the headache.

 

Haven't had to deal with customer support on it, but I used my Prodigy 12 hours a day for 9 months and I've been extremely happy with it (no malfunctions at all either).

 

Yeah, I have a prodigy, it has done me well for about five years, but has started messing up here lately, and I bought a 20,000 lb trailer, so I figured I'd get a really good controller. Just got it from the wrong outfit, I reckon.

 

I would recommend you notify your credit card company immediately of a disputed charge. This company has the worst service I have ever experienced. I spent one full Sat. finding the owner's phone number and called him directly at home. He was more than a little suprized (ain't the innernet cool?) and he assured me the problem I had would be dealt with.

Long story short (and I do mean long) the problem was not taken care of. After months and months of run-around I mentally wrote off the cost of the unit. It just wasn't worth the BS. As much as I hate it sometimes the Edit win.

 

Have not pulled anything yet that my Prodigy did not handle. And if it has a problem you walk into the closest dealer and they will give you a new. Lifetime warranty.

 

I'll notify the card company. It is actually Dr Performance, I guess they own Brakesmart. That was the one and only time I'll deal with that outfit.

 

Based on the threads here they (Dr P) are difficult to deal with. I think there's way to many calls coming in for the number of folks they have to return them. The fellow that developed the Brakesmart sold the company to Dr Performance a couple years ago. It's been difficult ever since. I am hearing good things on the Max Brake though.

 

Thats sucks about your experience. I managed to get one long before the other company took it over. The original designer and owner was a great guy to deal with. He had some very extreme issues at home that took him away from his ability to continue with the business so he sold it.
My Brakesmart has been used for just over 5 yrs now and never had an issue.
Other then when I was testing the prototype for the egt and boost functions but thats all part of testing. It really sounds like whoever is putting the units together is not putting the time and care into it as it seems like your issues are from it being squashed or tightened too much in the box.
Sorry you have had this happen. I am not surprised at what you are encountering with where it came from though.
Providing good product and good customer service is a tough road to plow...been there and done that on both sides of the coin. Good luck.

Scotty

 

I have had NO problems with my Prodigy, lifetime warranty, across the counter immediate relacement if a problem does arise.

I considered a Brakesmart until I found out who owned the company. Bought my Prodigy the same day.

The CC company will help you to resolve your issues and get you a return authorization. I would send it back via the USPS, get a sig required and pay for tracking. Once you have the sig on the return, it becomes your most important document for a credit return.

Hope you get it straightened out real quickly.

CD

 

Given that you are having problems with the new controller you installed because the older controller had begun to have problems, I'm going to guess the problem is actually with your connector on the truck.

 

No, the manual button on the brakesmart is stuck. Won't work, and I can't test the brakes or override the electronics. I tested the voltage on all the prongs of my hitch plug, and everything is getting the juice it's supposed to. The prodigy wasn't giving full power to the trailer, and was getting jumpy, it would bounce around when just sitting in the driveway with my foot on the brake. But it has been a good controller for a long time, if they do have a warranty I'll have it checked out.

 

Call up and ask for Lucas, I ened up calling and calling cause it was well over a week and still nothing (was suppose to be a 2 day air thing since I needed it asap) so I finally was able to talk to him and he sent me one one next day air and that one arrived when it was suppose to a few days later the other one showed up with an airbrake setup not my Dodge setup needless to say that one is sitting in my garage...lol He is about the only one that actually did something for me.

 

I've had a Brakesmart for over a year and it is an excellent unit and I will never go back to standard brake controller.

While installing my BD short shifter I knocked the red manual brake button off the Brakesmart.
I simply took the controller apart and reinstalled the red button. There is a couple of plastic parts and a spring to that assembly.
It's a simple assembly & I would try this before returning the unit.

When we upgraded to a new trailer this spring, I was getting the "trailer unit detected" message about once a day while towing.
I called up Dr. Performance & got help right away. They asked me to increase the "amp divisor" by 10 points.
The Brakesmart "polls" the trailer brakes & I believe this parameter change makes it less sensitive.

I highly recommend Brakesmart & Dr. Performance.

..Joe

 

your problem is simple to fix, you have the screws on the side of your controller were your manual button is in too tight, back it off some and the manual button will work. You wont find a better brake controller. DrP I have had no problems with them, or there brakesmart and stage 3 chip in my 05

 

What Stang said

The manual button on my Brakesmart became a little stiff and did not return to the top - I had changed the mount & used a slightly longer screw - backing it out freed up the button.