Still no Luck... Sigh...

[ecm garrett]

Originally Posted by Weasy2k

that gold is hot

+1, i like it, makes me want to do it even more

[Weasy2k]

Originally Posted by ecm garrett

+1, i like it, makes me want to do it even more, well not all that he did, but valve cover and maybe something else

right....

[Brad Bedell]

Originally Posted by Weasy2k

But thats just my opinion.

I think we covered the opinions about Canadian politics in a thread in off topic didn't we?

The one thing you can predict about the internet is that people will be your best friend to your face and bash you online. It's quite amusing how empowered people become with a keyboard. I wonder if I can market a 'pet keyboard' to help people speak their mind more often in public. Hell, pet rocks sold well for a while.

Mike, Is it okay if I call you Robert from here out? Sorry about that, I'd edit it but can't now.

[Weasy2k]

lol basterd!!

[DavidV]

Bryan's prior customer was Goldmember's Faja:



-- DavidV

[Weasy2k]

ummm....wow....uhhh

[chdesign]

OK I am new to this board but I didn't sign up just to take sides or anything but here is my view of the whole thing.....My name is Craig and I do some work for Harry now and again welding work and some install stuff as well as building my motor at his shop. I'm sure that Mike remembers me. I have no ill will towards Mike or towards Harry. From what I was able to observe that week was this. I do remember that Mike asked for Chad to work on his car exclusively not Harry and Chad was the only one to work on the car for the first few items they worked on, I'm not sure what they are as I didn't really keep to much attention to the car I had other things going on. I do remember seeing some things that were not the best in the world like the CryO2 install which in all honesty isn't any fault of Harry's shop the kit was brought in with insuffiecient lines and I even remember making the comment when Mike was around that I would have new lines made at Asheville Hose but due to time constraints this was not an option. Everything about this car was time time time it seemed more than money. For the time that Mikes car was at the shop it would have cost him A WHOLE LOT MORE than what it did. The phrase here you get what you pay for kinda applys. Mike didn't have to pay that much because everything done on his job was rushed to get done by Mike and the shop wasn't really given adaquate time to do the work correctly.
Concerning the Nemisis I do remember there being issues with it as information was looked up on this unit concerning the wiring for probably 3 hours as it was a used unit with wiring that was not as stated in the original instruction manuals. I also remember a couple times where Mike was supposed to call Harry to see if he had time to work on his car that day and he didn't and just showed up. With as much as Harry was trying to do for this guy I would think he would at least give him the courteasy to at least try to do what Harry asked and call before he just showed up.
The holes being drilled in the intake manifold I remember seeing at one point and I questioned this myself but I was told that Mike insisted that it be done the way it was because he didn't have time yet again for the intake manifold to be taken back off and done correctly. This problem yes should have been done better but also goes back to Mike not giving the shop enough time to do what was asked to be done.
Everytime I was there Harry graciously let Mike work on his own car so I have no idea what was done by Mike and what was done by the shop. personally if I was the owner of the shop I wouldn't have let Mike touch it if my shop were doing the work. It would be my shop doing the work and not the customer using the bay to do some work on their own car. I understand harry did this to try and cut Mike a break and save him some money.
Another thing that shoudl be added is that Mike came to Harry after going to I think 2 or 3 other shops asking for quotes on this work and finally went to Harry because he cut him a break and tried to save him alot of money by one not charging him as much and two letting him work on his own car to save money there too.
The fuel pressure regulator wasn't mounted to anything when it came to the shop. Yes this should have been corrected but if I remember correctly I think harry even suggested to have this mounted properly but Mike insisted it would be OK and that he didn't again have time to mess with it.
Again I'm not trying to take sides but my personally feeling on this is that the work would have been done right the first time if Harry's shop had been given SUFFICIENT time to do the work and the correct material to do the work.
I'm not trying to take anybody's word for anything. I'm just giving an account of what I observed. From what I have seen Harry has always done only what the customer has asked of him and in many cases done more. From what I observed of Mike he rushed the job done on his car and kept trying to find ways he could possibly get it done cheaper. On a personal note I do think also that the bringing up of the "I'm a marine" thing is just a cheap ego boost IMO I know plenty of guys who were marines and I know some other guys that are marines now and alot of them are some of the most lying people I know others are straigh up and Honest so that statement shows me personally nothing about your personal fortitude. I'm not bad mouthing the Marines in any shape and form they are some kick ass soldiers but just by saying someone is a marine doesn't neccisarily automatically tell me hey I can trust this guy. With any person in the work you have to actually gain their trust before you can truely believe them a title means nothing especially in this world about your personaly beliefs and thoughts. T
Thats just how I saw things from my view of occasionally looking at the car while it was at the shop and overhearing the conversations between Mike and Harry and other members of the shop. I will say I was not there for all of it as I have another Job I am dedicated to but I do remember being there 3 days while the car was there.

[chdesign]

Oh yeah the guy that initially tried to tune Mikes car Steve Osley had no previous knowledge of the nemisis system or much knowledge of MR2's for that matter. Steve is a highly renowned member of the RX-7 community and if you throw his name around in any RX-7 board people are sure to recognize it as he is one of the most knowledgable RX-7 mechanics on the east coast. I just wanted to clear that up before anything more was said about Steve. He is an extremely knowledgeable engine and ECU tuner.

[Locofrancais MR2Guru]

Hey Craig, now that youre not a "lurker" anymore maybe you should post some of your stuff !

[2000redCIVICsi]

Originally Posted by Weasy2k

One thing that sucks about the internet world is when people sign up on boards just to take sides...

Unless your affiliated with the shop or have had direct operation with what happened here it would be awesome if you could just watch what goes on vs trying to stir pots.

But thats just my opinion.

I didnt join just to stir up the debate. The information i provided didnt pertain to you. I just described what mikes car was doing after harry worked on it vs what mikes car does now that brian worked on it. How i choose to express these facts is my business. Your the only one who has a problem with what i said so it hasnt stirred up anything. Im sorry you think im just throwing fuel to the fire but ive spent just as much time in this car as mike himself, and the cars behavior difference is night and day. i felt this needed to be said. Shhhh.

[mr2slow4you]

^All else beside the fact, of course a untuned car running a fuel map for a different motor is going to run like shit.

[noshoes]

Originally Posted by mr2slow4you

^All else beside the fact, of course a untuned car running a fuel map for a different motor is going to run like shit.

That's a given.

I'm curious though, what did all of you think of the pictures posted?

[toytech]

I don't post on this board much, but having 20 years in the repair industry, 5 of those years running a shop I felt I should chime in.
First problem I see here as an outsider professional is Harry letting the customer control the repair process. Big no no if you plan on staying in business you need to have policies and stick to them such as only doing repairs in a manner you are comfortable with! If you cut a corner for someone you are still going to be held to blame if it goes wrong, and there are plenty of cars to work on there is no need to lower yourself to that standard.
Charge what you need to make a profit, discounts are for Jiffy lube and will kill your business in the long run! Another issue here which lies at the heart of the majority of customer/shop conflicts is comunication, I believe there was probably a difference between what was expected and what was promissed, but it was likely a case of miscoomunication both ways.
Brian that engine compartment looked horrible before you worked on it, I might have sent it away, but you really did it up proper.
Also for the car owner, did you discuss any of this with Harry before posting?
Most problems can be resolved pretty easy this way without a public e-beheading (assuming you didn't)
Chris

[PHOENIX]

well spoken toytech

[Weasy2k]

Originally Posted by 2000redCIVICsi

I didnt join just to stir up the debate. The information i provided didnt pertain to you. I just described what mikes car was doing after harry worked on it vs what mikes car does now that brian worked on it. How i choose to express these facts is my business. Your the only one who has a problem with what i said so it hasnt stirred up anything. Im sorry you think im just throwing fuel to the fire but ive spent just as much time in this car as mike himself, and the cars behavior difference is night and day. i felt this needed to be said. Shhhh.

Of course wehn a car is fixed it will run better...a given!

ahh ill just let this go so much can be said...

[Locofrancais MR2Guru]

Originally Posted by robertsmb

Harry's shop, chad exclusivly, installed the nemesis and ran the wires... It was not done by someone else.

Chad does not work for, nor is he employed by MR2 Guru. He does spend time at our shop in his spare time. You (Mike) hired Chad in the agreement to pay of his debt to you on your own terms without our affiliation. If you remember correctly, I had asked you to go to Bryan for the Nemesis install to begin with. I agreed to let Chad do the work while your car was here at the shop as a favor to him. He is insured due to the fact that he still owns DragonTech. If Chad had known you were bringing him a used unit I am sure he would have declined as did the rest.
After 3 hours of all of us trying to get wires straight and labeling everything properly, it was nearly 2am before the Nemesis install was started. Mike rushed this process because Steve, the tuner, was already waiting. He had to return the next day.

Originally Posted by toytech

Also for the car owner, did you discuss any of this with Harry before posting?
Most problems can be resolved pretty easy this way without a public e-beheading (assuming you didn't)

As a matter of fact, no Mike did not take this up with me first. He also did not mention anything about the current complaints at his second visit. He did say that his car was still sputtering under boost, but that he was going to get that taken care of at his appointment with Bryan. No hard feelings were expressed at that time.

[quote=toytech]First problem I see here as an outsider professional is Harry letting the customer control the repair process. Big no no if you plan on staying in business you need to have policies and stick to them such as only doing repairs in a manner you are comfortable with! If you cut a corner for someone you are still going to be held to blame if it goes wrong, and there are plenty of cars to work on there is no need to lower yourself to that standard.[quote]
I do agree with this, and normall I stand by it 100%. The only reasons I allowed this to begin with was:
1. Chad had dealings with him long ago and said he was reputable and respectable. I trust Chad's opinion. I trusted as far as to let Mike stay in my own home for the length of his visit.
2. Mike assured me that any of the work he did himself or was done by previous shops would not reflect on me or my business. Word for word.

Mike should have known, as well as anyone knows that has had dealings with MR2 Guru and its actual employees is this; if there is a problem or if there is anything that someone is not satisfied with it will be taken care of. It helps if we are informed of any problems a customer/guest feels that they have due to us and/or our services (such as the private customer Mike mentioned earlier that got another brand new fuel pump and install for free due to the customer's contaminated fuel tank).

I think its possible that Mike did not take these pictured issues up with me becuause we did not perform those services (regulator, downpipe install, etc.). He did not complain about the intake manifold to me (which was provided as a prototype), nor did he address any issues with me that are being discussed in this thread.

Bryan and I have spoken, and I now understand why he could have been so upset with the impression he got of us and our work. I think things have been clarified to the point that there is no more need for harsh words or shop-bashing.

On a final note, Mike, if you had come to me with your questions or problems and given us the chance to try to make things right with you this thread would have never been necessary/posted. I do wish you had initially come to us and addressed any issues with me privately. If you feel that your time spent here was wasted, please remember that none of the installs other than below came to my knowlege before you arrived, and I still tried to make time for you.
The two things that your appointment was for is free of complaint.... find/fix grounds removed by another shop and try to diagnose your boost problems. (Nemesis install was appointed by the agreement between Chad and Mike). The second appointment -that in itself was a maybe as you were told at the first appointment- was made to fix your timing (also a previous problem). These things were fixed in a very timely manner and were all that time was reserved for. It was not reserved to install cams/gears, or the things we squeezed in such as the boost controller, the turbo timer, the power inverter, the fuel rail, injectorsand fuel lines that you provided, replace the turbo/manifold gasket (also performed by Chad, and not Mike, who was in Atlanta), wastegate actuator repair (not allowing wastegate to open (performed by Chad), diagnosed/repaired parasitic drain on battery and more that there was just no time for. We did not install a fuel pressure regulator, we did not run his CO2 braided lines over the valve cover, and we did not advise the drilling of the manifold while it was ON the engine. I no less words, this action was taken under because Mike refused the time it would take to remove it to do so. Had I refused, the Nemesis could not have been installed. I should have refused.

What would be helpful to the community would be for Mike to post feedback on the numerous other shops that overcharged him for work they did not know how to do and did improperly. As I was the last shop to see the car, this reflected on us poorly to Bryan's point of view.

The fact is that I have had 3 complaints since 2002 in my work with MR2's. Two of those were quickly addressed and taken care of and they are still my customers to this day. The third I was never made aware of until I was alerted to this thread by a PM from an unaffiliated party.

Mike, I would prefer not to have problems between us. I do wish this was handled more professionally by contacting me. I am unhappy about some of the work you expected to be done in 1/8 the time that it should have been done in without consideration for the quality of the work, and how that reflected on me.

[2000redCIVICsi]

Originally Posted by Weasy2k

Of course wehn a car is fixed it will run better...a given!

ahh ill just let this go so much can be said...

Deal, i want no bad blood with anyone here.

[Unrealjet]

Phoenix motorsports sold me a pretty bad car from what ive heard at shops around asheville and from friends who work on cars. it was in rough shape and for no reason should have been driven.... lucky it made it as long as i rode it but im not here to flame just post my experience!! took them from middle of august untill november to do a simple project. I would never receive calls from them about the progress on my car and when i asked them to let me know when my motor came in it never happened. I was promised things like 18's to go on the car that i never saw... finally i took the car a week after the set finish date and was required to sign papers saying since i took it early i voided any shop warranties. Lights did not work. Switches were broken in the car. paint was scratched off both doors from people opening them while on the lift and hitting the lift. hood does not fit the car at all along with the trunk being mounted off balance and rattlecanned. Engine bay was also rattlecanned and was peeling and scratching before i took it out of the shop. Parts were ordered without my knowing along with expenses i was told i had payed off were suddenly charged again. car is sitting at a good shop now i will remane nameless untill i get the car out. This post is not to flame but just to inform about my experience... and for any of you out there who know me or the shop you probably know this isnt the first time its happened.....