So you guys tell me. You pay a supposed good shop $1,100 to install heads, cam, and headers. Within a day the left wheel lugs are loose, the #2 plug wire is almost off sets code. Then the crank bolt lets go and all the belts and pulleys get eaten.

Would you let them repair it or move on?

Then, would you think they would cover more than just their cost for parts, if you had another shop repair all thier mistakes?

Help me out with some advise here.........................Full story to follow.

 

If it's a no **** reputable shop, they should make all the repairs at ZERO cost to you.

I had a issue somewhat like this on my Eclipse a few years ago. My shop took it back and fixed it at no charge, no questions asked. They even changed my oil on top of it.

As for another shop fixing it, and having the first shop pay for it.....it's slim and none. And unfortunately, slim is on life support.

 

I hate to say this but 1,100 dollars,you got what you paid for.To answer your question move on.

 

I'd let them repair it. If they did the heads, cam and headers they must know what their doing. Maybe they turned it over to a helper to finish it off. This will be a customer relations learning process for them and no cost to you.

 

Before the story is posted, this is about us.

John - oneblackvette - came to us for heads and cam. We did the install, tuned the car, he picked the car up, it made 440 RWHP and at the end of the week he picked it up.

Monday I recieve a call, John says that the crank pulley bolt came loose and he was upset that it ruined his weekend. Understandable, who wouldnt be mad? I offer to take the car back and fix it at zero expense to him. He declines, saying that he wouldn't trust us to do it again.

- Side note - GM has a recall for this happening to thousands of vettes, we have it happen to one.
- We also check out the bulletin after this happens from GM. GM states that a thrust washer, behind the crank pulley, needs to be replaced with a different one and a new crank bolt be installed WITH LOCKTITE. We were unaware of the locktite being required, which is understandable since it isnt even that way from the factory. We just followed procedure to replace the bolt and re-torque to factory specs. Again, we offered to fix everything and anything free of charge, John declined.

It is very unfortunate that something like this did happen, we did everything in our power to take the car back and fix it, again, free of charge.

In the end, John chose to have someone do the work on the car on the side. He wants us to pay for full price as if a dealership did the work, which we declined to do as well.

 

We tried, but with zero luck. Unfortunately he declined.

 

Sometimes if an issue arises it is better to try and work it out between you and that shop. Great customer service often is defined by the events after your purchase rather than the initial high of new parts on the car.

It seems as if Straightline tried to do the right thing by making an attempt to repair the car. I think it is unreasable to expect them to pay for the repair at another shop. This is just my opinion though.

Dougie

 

Dougie - again, another shop didnt, an individual did it on the side. Just trying to make sure that was noted.

 

Wow, very unfortunate indeed. I would have definitely offered to let the same shop do the repairs. Give the shop a chance to make amends, so at least(and hopefully) both parties walk away without a sour taste.

As for taking the car somewhere else and having the first shop pay for it.....that would never fly. Anywhere.

 

Reputable tuner I would have given him a chance to correct. To me reputable is someone who backs up their product with service .

 

The offer was made to fix it for free.

You said "No".

You then let a shadetree mechanic work on it and try to charge dealer rates. Shame shame shame.

You did NOT choose wisely grasshopper.

 

 

OH, I misread that Mike. I most definately would not be paying for anything. I think it is also unfair to make a post that states "Vendor Warning" There are very few shops that service these cars to begin with. (at least down here)

I think maybe before posting something like this you should have tried to exhaust every option with that particular vendor first. These guys are the ones that support us and bring us products and service and help maintain this virtual world we all like to participate in. Don't get me wrong, if there is something that was done wrong and you did get screwed, then we all should know about it. However, this post was probably a bit premature. Cars break, installs have issues. Give these guys a chance to stand up behind there products and service.

Dougie

 

Seems like the vendor tried to make it right.

 

OK stop right there. He is a dealership mechanic working under the dealers roof and being paid directly by me. That's shade tree? Lack of a dealer invoice makes it shade tree. Where have you been.

 

I think my biggest issue was that I went to these guys looking for a perfect job as two other forum members say that they got and instead ended up with

Loose plug wire
Loose wheel
Crankbolt came out
Exhaust hitting trans and diff.

And now it seems wrong parts installed.

My question was, if someone did this to your car, would you let them have a second chance to do it again? The bolt I can maybe see the other things reflect poor workmanship that I did not want a second time.

 

I think leaving parts loose on a car is wrong. Does not just happen. And I did try and work things out with them. But no way were they going to get to leave things loose again. I had my 5 year old with me when the belts flew off. Should I just be glad no one got hurt? And say oh they will do better the next time?

 

And my answer is still yes. Mainly because no shop is going to pay for work being done by someone who doesn't work for them. Now, if you would have taken the offer to have it repaired for free, and the same thing happened again, then you bring legal matters into it.

Furthermore, if what happened was in part, or fully due to overlooking a recall-and they even ponied up and admitted that-I would see that as a clear sign that they want to make things right, and not be so quick to write it off as poor workmanship. But that's just me.

It's very unfortunate what happened, but I honestly believe you went about it wrong.

 

#1- Loose plug wire- if may take 6 seconds to put it back on, why even make it a concern
#2- The shop offered to fix the problems- you should have brought it back to them, where they would of explained the situation and fixed it free of charge
#3- And now the exhaust is hitting the trans and diff.- again, explain that to the shop and they would probably again fix it free of charge if it was there fault

They gave you the opportunity to bring it back and have the problems fixed for free, should of taken them up on the offer, then if the same problems existed after that, you could start to complain

 

Two chances then legal?