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Board of Inquiry® Got a problem with someone you had a dealing with? Can't get it resolved and no other recourse presents itself? Had an especially good transaction with someone? Looking for info on a dealer?

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Unread 12-20-2009, 02:26 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick View Post
F you buddy
As I told FATBUM....Let's keep it civil or it'll be over...at least for the 2 of you for a short while

Take it to PM if you have a problem with each other please and let's let the thread run it's course and see if Chris answers.
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Unread 12-20-2009, 03:14 PM   #12
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RichZ and Shadow, I'm sorry for my Dumb question!!
But in Light of things in this particular section,I find it disturbing that people want to complain but not give any particulars!! To me that just seems Wrong!!
Although I've never dealt monetarily with any of the BIG 3 Tuners on this site,I have on occasion talked with All 3 either by phone or E-mail on problems that I've encountered while repairing a customers vehicle!!Sometimes 2-4 heads are better than 1!!
And as I've stated before in the open forums,if I need something done to my personal vehicle that I can't do myself,It'll go to Tracy at RevXtreme,Greg at AntiVenom or Chris at XtremeMotorSports!!
The biggest problem I'd have is deciding Who,I'd be flipping coins,rolling dice and maybe even pulling cards from my Gypsy Witch deck!

If you going to Bad Mouth somebody,Lay it out there!!
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Unread 12-20-2009, 03:49 PM   #13
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Hey Junk, there's nothing to apologize for and I'm right there with you

As I told "someoneyoushouldknow", lay it out and lets see what happens...and she has

FATBUM (IIRC) layed his story out some time ago on here. and is still waiting on a resolution.
FYI- I spoke with both he and Chris by phone probably a month ago. This should have been rectified by now

If I'm recalling incorrectly, then FATBUM, either lay it all out or let it go
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Unread 12-20-2009, 05:29 PM   #14
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I will post a feedback IF and/or when I decide if i want to do that or not. I asked a question if the shop was still a sponsor, half the comments were unrelated and uncalled for. It is my personal decision to air it out on here if/when i feel like it, so why that is am issue is beyond me. I didnt say "xtreme sucks dick!" in my original post, so why i was being responded to like that was BS.


Why dont i pick my car up? Because i dont have an extra 10k to throw at my car so i can replace the motor that chris already filed an insurance claim on so he could install another. He is responsible and liable to fix it, so i am trying to let him do that. Keyword is trying. There are reasonable expectations and minimum qualities of service that are far from being met.
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Unread 12-20-2009, 08:06 PM   #15
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I have never been to his shop, but I understand he has 1 lift? (correct me if I'm mistaken)And is also a one or two man shop. If he does not have someone answering the phone then I suspect he is under a car or in the shop wrenching. Neither allows for a tech to answer calls as everytime you need to get a call, you have to crawl out, or set down, or anything else that ends up delaying the job your trying to finish. Customer DO need to be kept updated so what I usually do is set aside 2 hrs a day to return calls & messages. Now for me it is easier as we have 7 employees including dedicated sales staff....but customers still get lost in the cracks as we only have 2 lines in and if both are in use the phone system does not give the caller a busy signal...it just rings forever. Were working on this as well but it is part of our lease & we cannot change it.

The other way I try is when I get home (usually work 10 plus hour day's) I spend a few hours on the computer answering dozens of PM's & emails, and also try to contribute to threads and help with guidance and sharing knowledge.

Junk knows as Greg & I and 1/2 dozen other shops all get along and call each other when we are stuck or just want another opinion. That is a plus (sort of a non-official tuners network) since we all try to get along. Unfortunately there are those few shops or tuners that spend a good amount of their time slamming or backstabbing others so that is another time wasting factor to be considered as it is not always effective to ignore them.

And trying to get qualified help (not just a GM tech, but a true performance expert) is near impossible. I have spent $10's of thousands on hireing different techs with great resumes, just to find they are great parts changers at a dealership, but not worth a dang in this specialized market we all work in. On top of that, we usually have come-backs from the tech we let go & since we stand behind what we do that is costly as well. We are ALWAYS looking for that qualifed tech to add to our staff, the one that wants to be a part & put the same pride & care we do into their work....but they are far & few between so I suspect Chris has had the same trouble finding a tech to put out work to his level.

All else aside, the customer is key and in the corvette/exotic world this group tends to be a bit eccentric & have large easy to bruise ego's so a good shop MUST find a way to keep in touch with his customers. It is just a difficult balancing act to keep everyone happy AND be productive. If I took every call & answered every message that came in I would get very little done and then everyone gets upset. On top of that this is the Holiday season and it makes things all the more difficult. Parts are delayed or lost more than any other time of year and everyone wants "my car done first!".

My advice is follow Shadow's suggestions and hopefully Chris can get back to people more promptly in the future, but it is harder to do than all our suggestions make it seem.

Good luck to all & please all try to be more easy going & understanding as no good comes out of public bickering for ALL involved.
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Unread 12-20-2009, 08:27 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RevXtreme 1 View Post
...Good luck to all & please all try to be more easy going & understanding as no good comes out of public bickering for ALL involved.
Excellent advise and great write up Tracy.
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Unread 12-20-2009, 08:38 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatbum View Post
I will post a feedback IF and/or when I decide if i want to do that or not. I asked a question if the shop was still a sponsor, half the comments were unrelated and uncalled for. It is my personal decision to air it out on here if/when i feel like it, so why that is am issue is beyond me. I didnt say "xtreme sucks dick!" in my original post, so why i was being responded to like that was BS.


Why dont i pick my car up? Because i dont have an extra 10k to throw at my car so i can replace the motor that chris already filed an insurance claim on so he could install another. He is responsible and liable to fix it, so i am trying to let him do that. Keyword is trying. There are reasonable expectations and minimum qualities of service that are far from being met.
Well, in retrospect, you're right. All you asked is "are they still a sponsor?"

And in response to that, it "appears" that they are.
Any other determination of thier supporting vendor status here is up to RichZ and way above my paygrade.

However...
Quote:
..i dont have an extra 10k to throw at my car so i can replace the motor that chris already filed an insurance claim on so he could install another. He is responsible and liable to fix it, so i am trying to let him do that. Keyword is trying. There are reasonable expectations and minimum qualities of service that are far from being met
...you've apparently "chosen" to "air it here" by alledging that Chris has somehow not provided service either for which he's been paid or promised to perform. You're furthermore implying that the shop's level of customer service is somehow, "below par."

So...now that you've opened Pandora's box, please provide details to support your accusation.
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Unread 12-20-2009, 10:13 PM   #18
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I'm at work right now and currently cannot get on another forum where this issue has been timelined, otherwise I would just hyperlink it. I can do this later.

I took my car to Xtreme for some cam work, intake manifold install and tune.
We ran into issues that were caused by another shop, which although not Chris's fault, would have been observed quicker if Chris hadn't procrastinated on the car. I went up there the first day and Chris said he would meet me at 9am. He didn't show up till 1130ish.
The next 4 times I went to pick up my car, Chris was only there before me 1 time. Because he spent the night "working on my car", although, nothing had changed from when I left the day before. The last time I went to pick up my car, I called and asked if the car was ready to be picked up, because he said it would be done that day, and he said to come at 3, and when I told him that I had to take my 2 week old baby and wife with me because I had no other way, so I wanted to make sure it was really done, he said yup everythings good. I family ended up being there that night till 9pm, when I got there at around 2:30, the car had been barely worked on from the last day I came and it was NO WHERE near completition. Justin (the other guy who works there) was working on it, and all the times I went there, he was the ONLY one working on my car, Chris would touch it for a couple minutes and then literally dissappear for an hour leaving the shop and no one would know where he went. He left to get something to eat one time and came back an hour later and said he had a snickers bar...he would also just sit in the one room with AC for long periods of time just texting and talking to someone on the phone. It puzzled me that he was always on his phone txting people, but never could respond to me when I asked about the status of my car. (Of course, that is perception, and that happened to be mine)

The night I stayed till 9pm the rocker arms starting falling apart when they started the motor. Chris said the rockers just go bad sometimes, even though I made the comment that they were fine before and the same cam is in, the only thing that changed was the valvesprings. He said it just happens so I ordered some trunion upgrades from comp to add to stock rockers. He said the car was ready to be picked up a week and a half or so later so I came with my father in law who had driver down and picked the car up. He said he didnt install the trunion but would have Justin come out and install them as soon as they arrived, but he replaced the stock rockers. The entirety of him having my car, he would never keep me informed on progress.
I drove home and never took the car over 3kish rpm, and parked it, I drove it to work the next day and while on base going 25mph, the car started going clank clank clackity clack. I called Chris, and called a tow truck. This was on a Thurs or Fri I believe.

Chris asked me if I could wait till Monday for them to pick the car up since they had their show in blountstown that weekend. I said yes. Justin came and picked the car up on either Tuesday or Monday, I can't recall. I had taken the liberty of taking off the valve cover to see any clues. I took pictures and posted them on a board with some reknown LS engine builders and they all agreed that the wrong valve seals were used when Chris had a machine shop put the heads together. (He had the machine shop put the heads together because the old ones wouldnt come off because of something a previous shop had done that is unrelated).
Due to the wrong valve seals being used, it caused the valve stem to snap in half and drop in the motor. I asked Chris and asked Justin to MAKE SURE they took pictures of the heads and motor when they took the engine apart at their shop and still to this day do not have pics. The motor blew up Oct 6th. Chris had originally called me and said he would "make me a deal" on a new motor since I was having so many troubles, and then once the valve seals being the wrong ones came to light, he called me immediately and said that he was "going to take care of it". I was relieved at hearing this and said ok.

He had to have an insurance adjuster come out and inspect the car. They came on a Wens/thurs and Chris said he would know the next day about the check. He never called me back about when they were getting the check and didnt answer my calls. The next week sometime I finally got a hold of him and said they had gotten the check (one thing that oftened seemed to happen was: I would call Chris and not be answered for days on end trying to find out the status of something and then when i would finally get a hold of him, he would say they had gotten something (a part, check etc) a few days prior, why he wouldn't inform me of this is beyond me).
He had originally told me that he had no idea when the check was coming and that the insurance people were working in, after a week or so I asked him for the name of his insurance company so I could call and inquire about when the check was coming because he had refused to do so. He refused to provide me this information. I wanted to know when the check was coming and Chris wouldn't call. I asked him who he was buying the new motor from and he won't tell me anything other then "a dealer in Atlanta".
I asked him if I needed to get a lawyer to make sure my car got fixed and he said "Your car is going to sit for months on end, you know how long court cases take". I asked him if he was going to fix the car or not, and he again said yes. This was after tons of calls, emails and txts that went unanswered.
Finally got the check and motor in Nov. I was told by Chris originally that when they got the motor it should only take a week for the motor to go in.
He told me "the end of Nov first week in December" my car should be done.
November goes by and nothing. Some of this is partially due to Rich Zs car being on the lift, and his time being tied up with that. Chris says the lift is not an issue, I am assuming he used the floor where the dyno is because you can stand below it by removing some panels.
First week in december goes by and Chris says he is working on it. He says he is staying everynight to work on it. The motor is in my car by the 10th or 11th, after the first week of December.
Car won't start at Chris' shop when they go for initial start up. "dealer" gave them a motor with a 58tooth reluctor wheel, (that is for vette LS2s, GTOs have 24tooth except rare 06 models).
Chris said he made sure they had the Vin model etc and I don't blame him for that. I do realize though, that if it hadn't taken him so long to put the motor in to begin with they would have found this out weeks prior.
So Chris says he is having someone take it back up to Atlanta to swap motors.
They got the new (#2) motor back last Tuesday. I tell Chris that I NEED my car back. I tell him I feel like he is sitting on it and procrastinating. He says he isn't. On Thursday when I ask him what needs to be done, he says that it came as a short block so he has to put the heads and intake manifold on. (Which takes all of 5 minutes) and the motor is not in the car. It takes a day to put a motor in a car. I have heard this time and time again.
Thursday night the last thing I say is "What is the status of my car". He doesn't respond. He is yet to respond.

I believe Chris Harwood has a good knowledge of motors, LSx in particular and tuning. I think he has acted like a subpar businessman with his lack of communication and time management.

I am at work and don't have much time so I speed typed this, if it sounds all jumbled then it probably is. There are a lot of things missing I'm sure.

O and I live 2.5 hours away and have no car other then my wifes. Chris gave me $275 dollars for a rent a car but that lasted 6 days. I have been overtly stressed trying to find transportation for medical appts and just work. I work 6pm-6am and the days shift. Everyone I have talked to tells me to get a lawyer, I don't because Chris keeps leading me to believe the car is "about to be done". All I want is my car back in good order.

If this is one hiccup in Chris' long list of vehicles that he has worked on, then good, good for him, but this ones a bad one. I hope it never happens again and I hope he changes his slogan of "Our customers are #1". Because I know I would be working on my weekends and that the poor guy who can't leave his house when he has off work would have his car back. When I told my wife that they had the wrong motor she started crying because of how difficult it is for her to be home alone with the baby without a car and she feels like I will never get my car back. I don't blame her. I feel like crying too. It has been unbearably stressful to the point my squadron commander has asked to get involved, but I, still hoping that Chris is a man of his word, is going to get my car back to me. Every week turns into another though and X-Mas is coming up quick.


I wasn't going to write anything because I thought it would make Chris want to pee in my soup (if you can pick up the waitor analogy). I don't know what to expect. I don't like that his forum doesn't allow the creator of a post to delete it. I was pressured (or maybe encouraged) by the staff to post what I felt so maybe it would inspire a resolution.

Well here's for being hopeful.

-Dan
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Unread 12-20-2009, 10:27 PM   #19
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And Rich Z, i think you had a picture of your car on the lift that showed mine in the background, would you mind posting it for me? There was a picture that was posted and then immediately taken down about a couple minutes ago by MRS.XTREME that showed my car in the exact same spot, and what looked like it had the same boxes sitting in the truck just how it was in Nov....which would mean.....
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Unread 12-20-2009, 10:52 PM   #20
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Although, in retrospect, that could have been an old photo. Still interesting that it would be taken down so quickly.
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