Motiv Cycleworks

Hello,     I received the complaint in the mail today.  It is dated September 14, 2016.  I would have responded to it sooner if I would have gotten it sooner.       Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell our side of the story. I would like...

to start by saying I'm sorry this has happened on a personal level I like the owner of the motorcycle.  I feel he is a decent man.  I [redacted]'t think he understands how much time was involved with this project.  We obviously had some communication mishaps. The owner of the bike called on the phone and asked how much it would be to do an engine swap on his motorcycle. His motorcycle was at another shop already, and he didn't like the price and service he was getting from them. He was informed that it would be between $1100.00 and $1800.00.  He then told us that his business was slow at that time and he didn't have a lot of money.  He asked if we could do it for $1100.00.  We accepted the engine swap for $1100.00.  In an engine swap you can remove a part and record how it went on and with what hardware.  This was not just an engine swap. When we received the bike it was in 3 boxes and 1 bag.  There were also parts missing.  Every bolt, nut, and spacer for the bike was in 1 large bag.   The owner was informed of the issues regarding the disorganization of his motorcycle and the extra labor involved.  We informed him that is was going to take a lot longer than he was originally told.  We were going to work on it in between other jobs because we were giving him such a break on labor cost.  We understand that people have hard times sometimes.  So we were still going to do it for the original price of $1100.00.   We had [redacted]e work in the past and were trying to help out an existing customer and keep him happy.        We installed the engine and clutch correctly. The clutch he provided initially was warped.  He was informed by the previous shop the clutch needed to be replaced.  When we removed the throw out bearing it was in many pieces, as well, denoting is was not operating properly when it came in. We were not told of any clutch repairs initially just an engine swap.  We replaced his warped clutch and damaged throw out bearing as well  at no further labor cost.      We informed him how upside down we were on labor cost on this project, and unfortunately we could no longer proceed.   The owner was informed the engine was swapped.  It would run and drive but we would not fully tune or adjust everything due to the labor cost limitations previously discussed. The clutch and idle were adjusted when he arrived to pick up the bike.  The fist thing he did when he sat on the bike was change the clutch adjustment.  He said he didn't like the way it pulled.  The clutch did not function correctly after he changed the adjustment.  I personally test drove the bike before he picked it up and it had no issues.    The carburetors were only installed and the idle set.  They were not synced. The exhaust headers were installed and initial torqued.  They needed to be heated to full temperature and re torqued. We talked to the owner about this.  To save him money we were not doing all the little things he could do at home himself.  The owner called upset and asking about the smoking.  He was told with a engine rebuild it is very common for an engine to smoke until the fresh rings get seated between 200-400 miles.    The customer stated after the engine was hot it would slow down and try to stall when the clutch was pulled in.  We researched this and found that if the crankshaft endplay is not correct it will cause this.  We did not rebuild the engine we just installed it.  The customer researched it himself and found people on the forum that stated it was a warped clutch. ( these people did not inspect the clutch and had no knowledge of the bike only what he was telling them)  The customer then purchased his own tools to replace the clutch, and requested that I use his tools to replace the clutch.  Trying to keep the customer happy we took the clutch back out a third time, with his tools,  to inspect it at no cost to him.  The clutch was in good condition, and we found nothing wrong.      This was a very long process.  It took a lot longer than we would have liked, because we were doing so much labor at such a cut rate.  When he returned the bike we did all the labor for free.  When I had calls from him I returned his calls, and he did not answer.  I did leave messages from time to time.  We made arrangements for him to pick up the bike.  He did not show up the first time we made arrangements.  The second time we made arrangements for him to pick up the bike he did not show up at the time we agreed on.  He was 3-4 hours later then we planned.  I was not here at that time.      In Closing,  I feel I have responded to all the matter he has stated.  I am very sorry this has happened.  We take pride in helping out customers as much as we can and doing the best we can for them.  This has snowballed into a huge mess.  At this point the shop has over $2400.00 in labor in this project and only billed him $1100.00  We also replaced a few small parts for him that were not charged.   I explained to him how upside down we were and I could no longer do this.  We have [redacted]e a lot for this customer this time and in the past.  To hear him state that in the past our work was "good enough"  is very disconcerting.  If you look at our reviews and talk to our customers, you will find we do a very good job.     At this time my only settlement resolution is, I will do up his whole in full bill no breaks on labor and bill him.  It will be around $2400.00.  Then he can have his bike repaired some where else.  If the shop determines that it was something we did here at motiv he can bring the bill in to me and I will pay that bill after he pays his bill in full.    [redacted]