Mike's Motorworks and Customization

Review: I brought my 1967 Plymouth GTX vehicle to Mikes Motorworks for a power steering leak and other repairs. He had my car for over 6 months and when I got it back it leaked worse than when I initially brought to him. Mike strung me along from 12/23/14 until 6/27/15 to do approximately 2-3 weeks of work. He ended up invoicing me for more items than I agreed to. In addition he promised me 'cost price' for parts and then marked up parts over 50%. The car now leaks worse than when he received it. I requested him to fix the leak since its been six weeks since the car left his shop and only driven 5 miles. He refused to honor his word and Guarantee and told me never to come to his shop again. The car that he worked on for me prior to the GTX was a 1969 Pontiac GTO. He took months longer than he promised to finish my car. He mistakenly didn't adjust the carburetor stud and when he closed the hood it creased my perfect condition original steel hood that had just received a $15,000 paint job month prior. He offered to repair it but now my hood has bondo on it and will never be the same. After working with [redacted] for over a year I can say that I would never patronize Mikes Motorworks ever again. He is incredibly slow although he makes promises about being completed much sooner. He up charges on parts 30-90% and have piles of receipts to back up my claim. After sending (7) vehicles to him over the course of one year I find him to be a very unscrupulous business operator and a very dishonest man. He has blown his top and screamed at me at the top of his lungs after I ask him how much longer it will take to complete a repair. He has threatened me with bodily harm over a disagreement on a promise to have a certain repair completed in an agreed upon time frame. I continued to patronize him even after these numerous outbursts, since I have a weak spot in my heart.....[redacted] was acting as a mentor to my son, whom is an aspiring mechanic and very talented in his own right for a young man.Desired Settlement: I would like the parts and labor that I was charged to be refunded to me in full

Business

Response:

September 23, 2015 [redacted], Re: Revdex.com complaint ID [redacted]. This letter is in response to the accusations made by [redacted] against my business Mike’s MotorWorks and Customization. 1. Yes, Mr. [redacted] did bring in his 1967 Plymouth GTX for work. In his complaint Mr. [redacted] failed to state the amount of work that was being done to said car. The reason it took the time that it did to complete was mostly due to the fact that Mr. [redacted] provided his own parts as noted on the work order, and according to his own words all the parts were all supposed to be bolt on parts. In mechanical terms that means the part will fit or go onto the car with no modification’s what so ever. That was far from the case here. Every part either needed to have modification to the car or more parts to make it fit correctly or was completely wrong or defective. On some areas of the repair on this car Mr. [redacted] changed his mind mid project which caused me to have to redo or add work to what was already being done. 2. When Mr. [redacted] first had me look at the car in regards to the power steering leak, I told him that the power steering gear box was leaking not the power steering pump. Mr. [redacted] chose to ignore or not believe me. He stated that he wanted me to install a power steering pump rebuild kit. So I removed the power steering pump from the car, disassembled the pump removed the front pulley, removed the front pump seal, opened the customer supplied kit, and at that time found out that he supplied the wrong parts again. At this point I spent around two hours trying find a correct kit which I could not find through my sources. I installed a new front pump seal which is the only part I could find. The seal that I installed was NOT charged to Mr. [redacted] bill. 3. Mr. [redacted] paid for the work done to the car on 06/20/2015. He did not contact me regarding anything with the car till he emailed me on 08/24/2015. Please see attached emails received from Mr. [redacted] with my response sent to him on 08/25/2015 and his response on 08/25/2015 in which he states “I’m glad you put it in writing how I’m outside of the warranty period. Just picked up the car on 6/27/15. Let’s see what Revdex.com & Yelp has to say about this. I’m gonna be a thorn in your side for playing me like this. You’ll hear from my attorney next, [redacted]. Get ready to lawyer up.” As you can see it has been over 30 days since he took possession of the car. I offer NO warranty on work done when customers supply their own parts. Nobody does. On work done where I supply the parts I offer 30 day parts and labor warranty. 4. As far as the 50% markup. I never said that I would sell parts at my cost. I sell parts at retail as does any other business, and Mr. [redacted] has no idea what I am paying for the parts that I purchase and sell, so he can’t accurately make a percentage markup claim. 5. Also as far as only driving the car 5 miles it is 8.3 miles from my shop to his other shop, according to google maps. I know it is a small difference, but his claim is not accurate. The car has since been returned to his shop across from mine from his other shop since he picked it up, with that in mind the car has been driven over the 5 miles as said in his claim. 6. I did tell Mr. [redacted] to never return to my shop again. As shown in the attached email he made a verbal threat and due to that threat he isn’t allowed back 7. As far as the claim to the GTO again the customer supplied mostly wrong parts that were not bolt on as stated. And for the record custom work on classic cars takes longer than standard repair. Especially when you are making parts fit that were not originally meant for the car. 8. As far as mistakenly not adjusting the carburetor stud. I never touched it. The GTO has a taller in height than stock intake manifold on it which reduces hood clearance. It also has a performance spacer under the carburetor to increase air velocity, which also decreases hood clearance. The air cleaner on the car is also performance related again reducing hood clearance. All of these together made clearance to0 small and when I jacked up the suspension to install the new front coil springs, the car twisted a little which is normal but combined with all of the above mentioned, and the air cleaner nut hit the hood causing a dent. 9. The GTO hood is NOT an original 1969 hood it is a reproduction, and when I told Mr. [redacted] about what happened Mr. [redacted] thought that he had an aftermarket fiberglass hood on the car. I offered to have the hood repaired by a different custom paint and body shop or repair it in-house. Mr. [redacted] chose to have it repaired in house. 10. Again on the 30 to 90 percent markup claim. Without knowing what I pay for parts he cannot accurately make this claim, and he does not have ANY receipts showing what I pay for parts to back this claim up. 11. Mr. [redacted] has been buying subpar cars claiming to be totally restored classic cars. Every car he has brought over has had major problems not known by himself. The GTX in question has a cracked engine block that he did not know about, that I found and told him about. 12. Mr. [redacted] is the ONLY unhappy customer I have had in the three years in business. 13. Being slow – Mr. [redacted] asked me to give him a discount on my labor rate, I informed him that I would BUT his work would be filler work. Meaning when I didn’t have other cars or motorcycles to work on that I would be working on his. When that was original explained to Mr. [redacted] he was fine with it and understood that it would be a longer time than normal. Then he got to the point that if I had a vehicle of his in my shop he got upset if I worked on any other customers car beside his, I explained several times that my business cannot survive on only on customer, he said he understood, then usually a few days later it would start all over again. 14. Dishonest and unscrupulous business operator. Again Mr. [redacted] is the only customer of approximately 265 customers that feels that way. Also he has been asked not to return from at least one other Business and we have attached a letter from that business owner regarding this customer and his dealings with Mr. [redacted]. Please see attached statement from [redacted] 15. I have NEVER threatened Mr. [redacted] with bodily harm, and if he has a day or time, I have video surveillance and I will gladly review it with anybody. I don’t scream at the top of my lungs do to a past throat surgery, I physically can’t. I have raised my voice, and I do have that right when someone like Mr. [redacted] makes you as upset as he does, also part of the reason he was told to leave and not return. 16. I do not believe he kept coming back because he has a soft spot in his heart. He kept coming back because he was getting good work at a great price, and I was also helping his stepson by letting the stepson use my shop equipment and tools. And by the way that was done at no charge. 17. Mentoring to son “aspiring mechanic and very talented in his own right for a young man” – please see attached emails from Mr. [redacted] regarding his step-son [redacted] aka [redacted]. Most comments about his stepson were derogatory and demeaning. Which is pretty much the same way he treats everyone. If the B.B.B. is interested I have several people who are willing to write letters on my behalf stating how Mr. [redacted] has treated myself and my business to get what he wants. 18. Lastly I would like an explanation on how Mr. [redacted] figures that he is due a $775.00 refund when he wasn’t charged for a part and the labor charge was $168.00, from the bill he submitted. I did the work on the power steering pump, I cannot be held accountable or responsible for customers who supply wrong parts due to lack of knowledge about their own cars. At this time I do not believe Mr. [redacted] has any refund due to him. I believe that this complaint is fraudulent and I hope that I have proved to the B.B.B. that most of this complaint is a lie. Any further questions please contact me. Thank You.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:The claims made by [redacted] are false and incorrect. He twists the story around to accommodate and bolster his position. If needed I can rebuke his statements line by line. However the biggest point is my stepson Christopher Triggs informed him in person 20 days after I took repossession of the car that the PS oil leak is worse than when he received the car. Mr Elkins scoffed at the claim and told Mr Triggs "whatever". As as for the accompanying draft by [redacted] of [redacted], this was an artfully crafted letter and is filled with irregularities and lies. I will not comment further on this regarding [redacted] other than to state that disagree with every one of his points and to point out that I have secured legal representation and my counsel is in process of serving him with a lawsuit in Sutter County superior court for the damage he caused on my 1970 [redacted] Chevelle in excess of $15,000. My lawyer advises me to not discuss this case further with Revdex.com as we are pursuing legal recourse of said matter.