qboy

I'm going to make this as short as possible. I had my car brought to RPM Motors in July 2011 and met with Charlie Williams to get some work done on my 1975 Corvette. Charlie said the job would take no more than 4 months. After many promises that they were working on the car and that it would be finished soon but without much progress, I finally gave up and the car was sent to another shop to finish the job in July 2014.

They had the car just over 3 years and I paid them over $10,000 plus an additional $4,200 in October 2013 for a new computer, paddle shifter, tranny controller and O2 sensors because Charlie said he was having trouble tuning it with the current setup. When I went to see progress on the tuning, Charlie told me and another person with me that the computer was installed but I wouldn’t be able to see it because it was mounted on the car under the seat.

When I decided to give up on RPM, Charlie said that I wouldn't be getting the computer or any of the other parts I had recently paid for because he had returned it. I asked him if he had really put the computer on the car and he said he did which I find hard to believe. I'm wondering if it was ever even ordered at all. Even after all the money I paid them, for work that was supposedly done, at then end the car was a mess and would barely even start even though Charlie said he had tuned it.

When the car was sent from RPM Motors to the new shop, Charlie said he would be paying the new shop for work to be completed there from money he owed me. The new shop said they only received $2,000 up front from Charlie and have been unable to get him to pay the remaining amount owed. After many attempts to speak with Charlie about this, I finally realized he does not intend to pay. A few others have also had bad experiences with Charlie and RPM Motors:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...alifornia.html

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...larita-ca.html


Here are a couple of posts on the forum to show how long they had my car:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-corvette.html (I posted this after RPM Motors had the car for 3 months)

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ew-year-3.html (check out posts #42 & 44) (Also #52 where the car had already been there 1 1/2 years. Charlie says I'll have it in a month but it still never got finshed in an additional 1 1/2 years)

MTPZ06

Wow...unfortunate. Best of luck.

c5wolf

3 years he had your car??? I think you might have the record but there is definetly a pattern there
Ibtl

dagon138

Sucks to hear that....they were actually quick with my HCI build.

Olitho

I have had my race car there a number of times. One time I took it in to do an LS6 to LS3 swap on my C5 Z06 ST2 race car after I blew an engine at Laguna Seca and then had the car catch on fire. It burned for furiously for about 60 seconds before the fire crew put it out. Auston and his guy did the swap and put in a new dry sump. Auston lived in the engine bay for several days redoing and fixing all the burned wiring. He turned the car around in a week. I was at the race track the following Saturday. I am sorry to hear of your troubles, but they can turn stuff around quickly.

qboy

I tried to make the original post short so people would read it and know not to trust Charlie @RPM Motors. There is much more to the story like the time he said the car was at an interior shop for a month but I couldn't see the car because the owner of the interior shop was out of the country although somehow no interior was done there. Also, the many times Charlie avoided talking to me and the time I called and talked to Charlie but he said he was Austin.

He told me so many times that the car would be finished within 4-6 weeks but something would always prevent that from happening. I figured if I just kept the car there, he'd have to finish it eventually but after many, many chances to do so, Charlie just couldn't do it. I'm also amazed that if he was supposed to be such a good tuner, how the car could barely start and not idle. It makes me think he never tuned it at all because you'd need to rev it just to prevent it from stalling. It also had nothing to do with money because I always paid him the very same day he ever asked for more money.

Also, I'm not the only one who has had major problems with them. There are probably many more who just won't or don't know about posting their issues on this forum. About 6 months after the car left RPM, Charlie told me he was going to be paying the remaining amount owed to the new shop. Both the new shop and myself have contacted RPM numerous times but Charlie still hasn't paid and it's been out of RPM for over a year now. I just want to be sure people on this forum know not to trust Charlie or RPM Motors.

PLRX

Many people in here (keyboard) praised that shop, but when they are in front of you at a Corvette show, Cars & coffee, a GTG or at the HRE open house they would be bashing the man, and the shop.

I have never met the man or been a customer, but if I was you (the OP) I'd take the shop to court.

robert miller

I have heard both good & bad. But more bad than good on Charlie & his shop... Just to bad doing people like this... Robert

c5z06.O

I read some threads over this RPM Charlie person. I thank the people who took the time to warn me. Then I found American Heritage performance. Glad I did. One shop short before finding AHP. If I knew about them before, I would have had my motor built there. They did a wonderful job on my twin disc install. Still running strong w/ no issues at all. Going to make an appointment soon to change all the fluids.

seevi

I had a cam swap at RPM back in December 2012. The mechanics their had very good reputations. It took a month to get the job done. I got a 13 RWHP gain from a Charlie Williams cam swap and tune! When I compared the tunes before and after, only the timing and idle were changed. A follow up tune at another shop netted another 20 RWHP. I had a significant amount of valvetrain noise due to incorrect pushrods! If you're considering any work, caveat emptor.

vettebuyer6369

The only people now posting are third parties not related to the OPs transaction.

If there is a development in this issue on either side, please contact me and I'll add it to the thread.