deputy865

iTrader: (5)

I will try to be as unbiased as possible here as I, for the first time, bring my "issues" to the public to get their opinion on the matter. If at any point it turns out that I'm just being a whiner or a terrible consumer, let me know, I'll cease all complaining and go apologize straight to my parts guy immediately.

For the time being, I'll keep his name anonymous. No reason to ruin a guys name or his little side enterprise for nothing... unless.

Trying to keep this short, sweet and simple: I am building my SC300 to the max (check my build thread!) and I needed a parts guy. I was recommended to "Parts Guy" by a few people, have heard good things and continue to see people recommend him to others, etc. In the beginning, I asked him hundreds of questions (and I still ask him quite a bit up until recently) as this was my first build. He set me up with a parts list to meet my goal and off I went to build the funds for all the parts!

Buy #1

Not too much longer, I dropped some cash to buy the following from him:

- Borg Warner S366, Billet FMF Wheel - The turbo was to be coated black and V-band welded on
- Exhaust Manifold - Was to be braced, planed, coated black and have a custom wastegate neck and dump tube made.
- Tial MVR 44mm Wastegate - In black as well as coated black
- 3" to 4" Downpipe - Coated black

Buy #2

I bought this stuff maybe 2 weeks later

Tial Q 50mm BoV - In black!
Mishimoto Radiator

I received the stuff from Buy #2 in a timely manner. Buy #1 was an entirely different story. Parts Guy was having someone else do all the welding and modifying of my turbo hot side, manifold and downpipe. He originally, if I remember correctly, told me it would take around 6 weeks to have everything completed. He sent me some updates here and there and the quality of work done to everything was fantastic. Really nice pie cuts done on the manifold, downpipe looked great, etc. Was excited to receive all of it . All the sudden, Parts Guys disappears for 3-4 days. Not a single returned text, message, nothing. Turns out he was accused of stealing at his (former) job, fired and sent to jail. I was told all of my parts except for my turbo and wastegate were in the shop when he was escorted out and he wasn't allowed to get any of it back. I called the shop owner and had a few conversations with him and to be honest, I never got anywhere. He knew nothing about my parts and either didn't want to or couldn't really seem to help me. He was pretty salty about one of his employees working for him as well as selling parts for himself on the side (out of this guys shop). So now Parts Guy has to recreate ALL of my stuff "out of his own money". To end the story with Buy #1, in the end it took 96 days for me to get my stuff. It would have been longer, except I went down to a car event way out of state for me, met up with him and picked my parts up in person.

I picked things up from him in a parking lot at night, didn't really thoroughly look things over (my fault), tossed everything in a box and loaded it in my truck. Wasn't until I got home did I see the quality of the work done. The wastegate and turbo were both coated professionally and looked very nice. The welded on V-band flange to my turbo was also well done. My manifold looked like crap. The wastegate neck was just a cut bent piece of tube with the wastegate flange welded at the end and then (crookedly) welded onto the manifold itself. It was also MIG welded... My downpipe was the same story. MIG weldedtogether, beads of the welds weren't flush and I even found some wire still stuck to the bead.... These parts were also supposed to be ceramic coated black. I'm not sure how its supposed to be, but I could run my nail over this "coating" to scratch it off and it looked an awful lot like high temp spray paint... Not exactly exciting after waiting 96 days and spending $2k+ on.

If you want to see the parts, check out pages 6 and 7 of my build thread. You will see how the parts were and eventually see what I actually received.

Parts Guy was apologetic and even bought me an ARP headstud kit for the trouble - A nice gesture.

Despite all of it, I decided to continue my loyalty to him. He's always answered my questions and provide the help when I needed it... for the most part. In fact, we typically had a good time with our conversations.

Buy #3

Decided to spend even more money on a fully built 2jz bottom end. Rods, pistons, bearings, mains studs.. the works as well as a welded timing gear and modified oil pump. He told me 6 weeks for this and to earn my trust again (seeing as I ended up spending twice what I did in Buy #1), he put a "late clause" in there stating that if he was late, he would personally buy my transmission. I didn't have anything to lose, so I went ahead with it. About 5 weeks and 5 days in, my bottom end was complete and I ended up receiving it around the middle of week 7 ish.. I did not receive my welded timing gear or modified oil pump however. I paid for all of this in November of 2015.

Buy #4
(Present day)

Here I am again spending thousands like it was nothing. This time on a fully built head and related parts to be installed, water pump, head gasket and maybe a few other things. I bought this stuff on March 31, 2016 and I have not received any of it yet, however I am told it is done.

Buy #5
(Still present day)

I have recently purchased a new (bigger) turbo than my original S366.. I went with a BW SXE-369 .. Also purchased a custom intake manifold that Parts Guy has created for the 1jz (I'm doing a 1.5jz build), a throttle body and fuel rail. In the mean time, I had sent him my entire 1jz engine. I basically gave him my head in exchange for him using one of his own for my head build and he gave me $500 credit towards parts (which I used on my turbo) for my 1jz bottom end. Engine was 100%! In the same freight, I sent him my downpipe, manifold and dump tube to be redone properly. I sent this stuff about 1-2 weeks before I bought the stuff above. I was told it would take 3 weeks for him to complete my intake manifold. I would assume he would do the rest of my stuff in that time (or already be working on it) and send everything to me at once. The only thing I have received from anything I've bought in Buy #4 or Buy $5 would be my turbo... Which I found out was just a supercore.. My fault for not understanding, but I was a little upset about it because I now have more stuff in his hands to be completed.

So currently he has the following things of mine. The "3 week deadline" I was given for Buy #5 will be up on June 1, 2016.

- Fully built 1jz head (paid for on 3/30/16, Buy # 4)
- Modified Oil Pump (Paid for in November of 2015 in Buy #3)
- Welded Timing Gear (Paid for in November of 2015 in Buy #3)
- Head gasket (Buy #4)
- Water pump (Buy #4)
- Valvecovers (Sent these when I sent my engine in between Buy #4 & #5. They were to be coated black and have AN fittings welded on)
- Sensors from my 1jz block (I couldn't remove all of them, so he was going to and send them)
- Hotside to my turbo (Coated black, V-band welded on)
- Exhaust manifold (To be redone, sent with engine between Buy #4 and Buy #5)
- Wastegate dump tube (To be redone, sent with engine between Buy #4 and Buy #5)
- 3" to 4" downpipe (To be redone, sent with engine between Buy #4 and Buy #5)
- Custom Intake Manifold (Coated black, Buy #5)
- Fuel Rail (Buy #5)
- Throttle Body (Buy $5)

I haven't talked to Parts Guy much in the last 1.5 weeks to sort of keep my anger/anxiety at bay. He did message me yesterday to say all of my stuff will be done this week (on time). When I asked him what of mine he would be sending (just to verify we were on the same page), he never gave me an answer because he was "still waiting on stuff". So then I sent him the list I typed above and he replied with "I lied, I won't have all of that done".

So what do I do here? Be patient for 2-3+ more weeks until I have my stuff and just use a different person? He has said he is dealing with 5-7 other people at once, so he is busy...but that doesn't fly with me. I've always told him that if he was just honest with me, communicated, etc., I wouldn't have nearly as many issues. Someone somewhere has got to be a priority.. Not to boast or be too entitled, but I have literally spent thousand and thousands with this guy. In his defense, he has "held my hand" a bit with this build. Answering questions, helping me decide on parts, etc. Maybe this is part of being a "Parts Guy", maybe it isn't, I don't know. I'm a very customer service oriented person, so maybe I just expect to be served properly? He has also stated that my manfiold and downpipe will have to "come out of his pocket" for the 2nd time. First being when he went to jail and wasn't allowed to get my stuff.. Sure, that sucks... however, I'm the consumer, I already paid for something once and did not receive what I paid for. Hard for me to have empathy there.

In the end, it will suck if we part ways because he has been helpful.. But this is becoming too much and I at this point feel straight taken advantage of.


TL;DR

I bought a bunch of stuff from someone and they are taking forever to finish it all, with little communication on what is actually being done and unsatisfactory work has been produced in the past. I am still waiting for parts from said person.

Chattanoah

I don't know the best course of action, but something to think about: you as the buyer and consumer are under no obligation to give your patronage to anyone. As helpful as he's been, being jailed to the point of causing problems for the customer is pretty unacceptable, IMO... It's your hard earned money, after all. Don't be an *** about it, that never solves anything. Maybe as a gesture of gratitude and integrity you can finish out the business that's still on the table and move along. But don't necessarily burn the bridge if it turns out other "Parts Guy(s)" are the same or worse (I doubt that, but...). Of course I don't really have much experience in this area but this is what logic is telling me.

scsexy

iTrader: (1)

How about you buy your parts on your own and just listen to him for advice? Everything seems to be part delivery related so get the info on what you need then order it yourself.

deputy865

iTrader: (5)

I intend to finish out what is currently on the table with him, no doubt.. Whether or not I continue to do business though is up in the air. He definitely wants my business and is always asking me to buy stuff. In fact, a few times I've asked him what would help him more if I bought what. As in, what would put some money in his pocket as well as get me parts. I've tried being nice and understanding. Now I'm just annoyed and frustrated. I want my stuff!

I could easily take all the info, invoices, etc. from him and go elsewhere. I'd feel like a **** for using him though. I could have easily gotten a few things a little cheaper from others too... but I stayed loyal. I've never bought anything from someone else. Its all been through him!

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

I will keep this thread around for a couple of days before deleting it. If anybody wants to respond to the OP about this dilemma , this exact info is on his build thread . Please comment in his build thread.