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Old 11-05-2007, 10:08 AM
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BTW, sucks that you have to go thru this. Shoulda taken it to LIC!
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Old 11-05-2007, 10:51 AM
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damn... here's my totally unbiased opinion.

a shop shouldnt ask a customer to double check their work, that really bugs me as a person who knows nothing about working on cars. That lack of confidence in your work is reason enough for me to never go to that shop.

the 06STi guy seems like he gave the shop plenty of chances to make it right and they kept messing up, i mean his car caught on fire... He pretty much came in here and stated the facts of all that happend, he didnt really talk **** so all the people swinging from GST's nuts need to get a life, mostly that ipozestu guy... seriously man wtf?

it seems like GST does want to get this squared away i dont know if they wanted admit that they blew it big time ( from a 3rd person perspective they did). seems more like they want to save their reputation rather than sincerely make things right with 06STi.
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Old 11-05-2007, 11:39 AM
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Old 11-05-2007, 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by ipozestu
Wow!!! You're a TOOL!!! Things go wrong, F'n deal with it. Confidence and standing by ones work is just as important after the sale. You are a fool to think you're going to walk out of any shop with no problems.
GST will always do their best. In the event something goes wrong, the do their best to fix it.

Do you think there is a "written in stone" standard? Every one of these cars has it's problems. Don't want the problems? Leave it alone. Every item you change on the car poses a potential problem. If you're not going to allow GST a chance to resolve this; STFU.

You're coming off as a real TOOL.

Have a nice day.
No offense but thats pretty lame. The reason people are paying an ridiculous amm. per hour instead of doing it themselves it because the shop says, hey we know how to do this and can do it for you. Not, we sorta know how to do this and might **** something up, but will still charge you crazy prices.

All I want to know is, so why did this happen? did they admit a mistake?

+1000 for lic

06sti, I know you're pain. Its like headache after headache. I can tell you that LIC motorsports just doesn't do crappy work. They won't install poor fitting parts, they won't ever do something half assed, it really is your dream at this point I can promise you. They will do an awesome job on your car, treat you like a human and chat with you so you can take care of all your points/concerns. Most likely they will end up fixing stuff on your car that some other shop totally fooked up. This is a place you really can just take your car and know it will be done right and not think about it anymore, it's nice to install parts and then enjoy them, instead of worrying about what the hell is wrong!

Last edited by slow04wrx; 11-05-2007 at 02:02 PM.
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Old 11-05-2007, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by 06STi
One last post...
Mike or GST has not even once to my knowlage tried to call me after this. I friday night 11pm left a message at his shop line. Figured I'd hear back from him. Ah Nope...
*edit* ok I actually read the thread... you did have some cause to be really mad. Still I think going public with this adds no value to the situation.


First off I totally understand your frustration - I had a situation with my car that resulted in essentially $6000 of wasted money with a local shop. So I'm not some tool calling you a tool - I've lost big money.

However I did not take my issue public, and I think you should not have either just because they did not get back to you within a few days. I worked with the shop and over a period of time my issue was resolved.

The shops around here are good people, they MASSIVELY screw up sometimes, I'm not defending anyone, but very few times have I heard of a shop not backing up their work and spending even THOUSANDS of dollars to fix their mistakes. You live in Blackhawk, you have a fabulous motorcycle, you should be a successful person who is skilled in problem resolution.


IMHO you should have only taken this public if GST had refused to ameliorate your situation. Taking it public just escalates tension.

Last edited by verc; 11-05-2007 at 02:26 PM.
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Old 11-05-2007, 02:18 PM
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Originally Posted by 06STi
B.T.W.

Heres a few pic's of my garage for the guys that think I'm new to modding stuff.











So you can see.. I'm not new to modding things. l

Did you used to be on MR2oc.com? Know Mike Norman?
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Old 11-05-2007, 02:35 PM
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Here's another opinion... There is never ever a circumstance where a shop should let a car back to a customer with un-tightened bolts or ANY un-finished work PERIOD. Sometimes this happens, and when it is detected it should be corrected ASAP. It is absolutely un-called for to send a customer's car back without at the very least checking one's work. It's not hard to have a list of what was done for each car, and before it's considered DONE you simply visually check everything that was touched. If there isn't time for this, there isn't time to do the job. I speak from experience as I worked as a mechanic between '94 and '97. I didn't do complicated work, but when it comes down to it none of this is any more complicated than following a list.

All the people saying to "just deal with it" need to stop. That is so insane I don't even know what to say to it. I completely understand why the OP would have made his post, and he did so in a pretty nice way compared to some of these that have happened.

I have had work done at a lot of Suby shops. There has been one in my experience that has stood by their work and redone things that they made a mistake with. I will always refer people to this shop, and will take anything I don't want to do myself here in the future if I find myself with another Suby. Other than that, every shop experience has been a disappointment and in the silliest ways - shoddy or un-finished work, damage to the car, etc. It's as dumb as when you ask for "no onions" and get onions on your sammich anyway.

The VW shop I go to has done a lot of work for me (inspection, Warranty Service for the 15k, 20k and 25k, clutch jorb, brake work, r/r engine/trans mounts, and a few others) and they have never done me wrong in over a year and over $5k worth of work. A few times they have needed my car for more time - sometimes as much as 3-4 more days to make things right, but I have never had a problem with anything they have done. I feel it is simply because they take pride in their work, and strive to make sure their customers are happy. Anyone can do this.

I know that in my line of work if I were as sloppy as some of the stuff I have seen and heard about - I would be unemployed. I am not sure why some feel it is unreasonable for A) a shop to do good work the first time most of the time and B) a shop to make good when things go bad.

Ipozestu - I have met you in person and I don't understand why you said what you did in your post. You have had your fair share of hard times - seems like you would be understanding.

1WRX2NV - I have never met you but I know you have been around here forever. It seems like you have had gobs of work done and you know your way around getting mods done. Regardless none of your comments here are useful (mine aren't either really) and from my point of view I feel you should let these guys handle the issue themselves without continuing to say things along the lines of "your bad experiences cannot have happened because of my good experiences." This has been happening like this for years now. Just like this thread, it doesn't help anything really.

Mike is a good guy and has lots of loyal customers and fans for a reason. It is crazy that this guy's car caught on fire, but of course that is completely between him and GST. I feel like I understand where he is coming from though I haven't had his experiences. It is a horrible feeling when things go wrong - for both parties!! I wish everyone the best and hope/feel this will be handled satisfactorily. Anything else would be such a shame for the parties involved
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Old 11-05-2007, 03:15 PM
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NO offense but if you really lost 6 grand due to a shop you think you understand a little more. Fact of the matter is forum is for information, and shops do a lot of business on them. Having a review/reading about other peoples experiences are exactly what the forums are for. Anyone who wants to stop this communication makes me wonder. You even said yourself he had cause so why not let people hear about his experience? Isn't that why we use to the internet in the first place????

I guess I just don't understand the logic.


PS: Saying All the shops around here are really good people is totally lame, and if anything throws more fuel on the fire than the original post imo. Its just a stilly thing to say, these are businesses......

Originally Posted by verc
*edit* ok I actually read the thread... you did have some cause to be really mad. Still I think going public with this adds no value to the situation.


First off I totally understand your frustration - I had a situation with my car that resulted in essentially $6000 of wasted money with a local shop. So I'm not some tool calling you a tool - I've lost big money.

However I did not take my issue public, and I think you should not have either just because they did not get back to you within a few days. I worked with the shop and over a period of time my issue was resolved.

The shops around here are good people, they MASSIVELY screw up sometimes, I'm not defending anyone, but very few times have I heard of a shop not backing up their work and spending even THOUSANDS of dollars to fix their mistakes. You live in Blackhawk, you have a fabulous motorcycle, you should be a successful person who is skilled in problem resolution.


IMHO you should have only taken this public if GST had refused to ameliorate your situation. Taking it public just escalates tension.

Last edited by slow04wrx; 11-05-2007 at 03:20 PM.
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Old 11-05-2007, 03:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Mad Ra88it
Did you used to be on MR2oc.com? Know Mike Norman?
Yes I do know him very well. g-force racing or ducatina Yes I'm mkimr2 on there.

Last edited by 06STi; 11-05-2007 at 05:15 PM.
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Old 11-05-2007, 04:11 PM
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Originally Posted by slow04wrx
NO offense but if you really lost 6 grand due to a shop you think you understand a little more. Fact of the matter is forum is for information, and shops do a lot of business on them. Having a review/reading about other peoples experiences are exactly what the forums are for. Anyone who wants to stop this communication makes me wonder. You even said yourself he had cause so why not let people hear about his experience? Isn't that why we use to the internet in the first place????

I guess I just don't understand the logic.

PS: Saying All the shops around here are really good people is totally lame, and if anything throws more fuel on the fire than the original post imo. Its just a stilly thing to say, these are businesses......

I think you misread my post. YES, it helps the community by informing us of this event. NO, it does not help the OPs personal situation by taking it public.

I mean I've seen more than a few of the sales teams I work with get screwed because of a situation where they try to escalate an issue they have by bringing high visibility to the community, it becomes unproductive and only serves to irk their partners and then they fail to close the deal. If they had only kept discussions within closed channels, they would have another 20g's of commission in their pockets.


RE: PS - yeah there are a few jackarses that still have their shops in business. I should have said "MOST of the shops around here" - which you'd know and agree with me is true if you've dealed with more than a few of them.


Anyways this is OT now. I do wish the OP's situation is resolved in a timely manner and that GST remediates the problem to satisfaction.

Last edited by verc; 11-05-2007 at 04:16 PM.
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Old 11-05-2007, 04:16 PM
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Sounds like a crappy situation for GST and for 06sti.


I don't know the situation as I've been trying to keep my head off the chopping block at work...but I will say this..

ONE....you knew what you were doing when you posted this thread and taht was starting ****..intentionally. Hence the let the drama begin name of the thread. You obviously have experience with doing work yourself and with having people do your work. You obviously have money...hence the Blackhawk location. With your experience and your history you should have known to take a different approach to this. Like posting up and saying...damn crappy day. Here is what happened.

basically...with your experience and your budget you should have known better than to expect just a turbo to be the end of your parts. You obviously did some research and know what it takes to build a turbo upgrade and give your tuner what they need to tune your car. You took short cuts. Short cuts are bad mmmkay.

Secondly....it sounds like some **** went wrong...it happens. Also sounds like they've tried to take care of you. That's admiral as they don't really need to do that. In fact they really didn't need to touch your car at all.

What is happening to shops is that people buy used parts or they find the cheapest outlets for their parts...guys who drop ship...etc. Then they piece together these hack job hodge podge of parts then take them to a shop and say put this on.... There are shops out there that will tell you to take a hike. They don't supply or you didn't get it from them they ain't puttin it on. Personally I don't offense to this stance as they're protecting their asses from stuff like this.


On top of that....I don't care who works on your car....you SHOULD double check your work. People screw up. It happens. If you're not checking their work you might just catch on fire.

Seriously....shops that specialize in tires sometimes forget to tighten lug nuts. Shops that specialize in brakes sometimes forget to put the backing plates on or don't get all the air out. Etc. **** happens. People make mistakes.



Sounds to me like mike was being nice to a forum member....as I'm sure you dropped i-club when you came in to the shop. Sounds like he gave you some injectors trying to help you out. SOunds like some things went wrong...terribly wrong. It sounds like mike is trying to take care of you.

So you're left with two things.....let mike take care of it and check the work yourself. OR...take it somewhere else....or do it yourself.


My question....you're in blackhawk....why didn't you take it to shiv?
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Old 11-05-2007, 04:52 PM
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I dont think he is just trying to screw gst, I think he just wants his car fixed. I doubt gst has a problem with people posting up about their experiences.


Originally Posted by verc
I think you misread my post. YES, it helps the community by informing us of this event. NO, it does not help the OPs personal situation by taking it public.

I just don't like it when someone post up a bad experience and then everyone hates on them.........there should be no issues with posting the truth, whether it be good or bad.

I mean I've seen more than a few of the sales teams I work with get screwed because of a situation where they try to escalate an issue they have by bringing high visibility to the community, it becomes unproductive and only serves to irk their partners and then they fail to close the deal. If they had only kept discussions within closed channels, they would have another 20g's of commission in their pockets.


RE: PS - yeah there are a few jackarses that still have their shops in business. I should have said "MOST of the shops around here" - which you'd know and agree with me is true if you've dealed with more than a few of them.


Anyways this is OT now. I do wish the OP's situation is resolved in a timely manner and that GST remediates the problem to satisfaction.
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Old 11-05-2007, 05:10 PM
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Originally Posted by OneManArmy
On top of that....I don't care who works on your car....you SHOULD double check your work. People screw up. It happens. If you're not checking their work you might just catch on fire.

Seriously....shops that specialize in tires sometimes forget to tighten lug nuts. Shops that specialize in brakes sometimes forget to put the backing plates on or don't get all the air out. Etc. **** happens. People make mistakes.

So you're left with two things.....let mike take care of it and check the work yourself. OR...take it somewhere else....or do it yourself.


My question....you're in blackhawk....why didn't you take it to shiv?
Actually you let a shop do the work so you don't have to double check, THEY have to double check everything, hence why you pay the BIG bucks. I worked in the automotive maintenance business for a while and the one thing you learn real fast is you ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK your work, otherwise **** gets **cked up and you're the one left footing the bill. If the OP had the time to double check work, he would have done the install himself.
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Old 11-05-2007, 05:13 PM
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Originally Posted by OneManArmy
Sounds like a crappy situation for GST and for 06sti.


I don't know the situation as I've been trying to keep my head off the chopping block at work...but I will say this..

ONE....you knew what you were doing when you posted this thread and taht was starting ****..intentionally. Hence the let the drama begin name of the thread. You obviously have experience with doing work yourself and with having people do your work. You obviously have money...hence the Blackhawk location. With your experience and your history you should have known to take a different approach to this. Like posting up and saying...damn crappy day. Here is what happened.

basically...with your experience and your budget you should have known better than to expect just a turbo to be the end of your parts. You obviously did some research and know what it takes to build a turbo upgrade and give your tuner what they need to tune your car. You took short cuts. Short cuts are bad mmmkay.

Secondly....it sounds like some **** went wrong...it happens. Also sounds like they've tried to take care of you. That's admiral as they don't really need to do that. In fact they really didn't need to touch your car at all.

What is happening to shops is that people buy used parts or they find the cheapest outlets for their parts...guys who drop ship...etc. Then they piece together these hack job hodge podge of parts then take them to a shop and say put this on.... There are shops out there that will tell you to take a hike. They don't supply or you didn't get it from them they ain't puttin it on. Personally I don't offense to this stance as they're protecting their asses from stuff like this.


On top of that....I don't care who works on your car....you SHOULD double check your work. People screw up. It happens. If you're not checking their work you might just catch on fire.

Seriously....shops that specialize in tires sometimes forget to tighten lug nuts. Shops that specialize in brakes sometimes forget to put the backing plates on or don't get all the air out. Etc. **** happens. People make mistakes.



Sounds to me like mike was being nice to a forum member....as I'm sure you dropped i-club when you came in to the shop. Sounds like he gave you some injectors trying to help you out. SOunds like some things went wrong...terribly wrong. It sounds like mike is trying to take care of you.

So you're left with two things.....let mike take care of it and check the work yourself. OR...take it somewhere else....or do it yourself.


My question....you're in blackhawk....why didn't you take it to shiv?
I think being quiet for a month or two and letting them fix and refix is plenty of time. Now.... If you read some of my past posts I have dropped small hints to what has been going on.

( The no drama thread) where I posted
( GST Spring sale thread, Can we please fix my car now.) When I hear no responce and they have seem to drop off the face of the earth. Little reminders, My other posts,
(Who can tune ecutek in the bay area) A month or so ago. You can read this posts and see what I was leading up to.

As for other shops Your barking up the wrong tree.. I know how things go. I have worked in the "trenches" and as a regonal trainning rep. I am now a Instuctor at a automotive / motorcycle tech school. I have well over 18 years modding 60 cars and 20 motorcycles owned. I know how **** works and how **** happens. Thats it why I gave them a handful of times to fix their mistakes.
People do make mistakes.... But when its 5 times in a row ???? Its time to speak up. This is not nasa rocket work here.

I will be the only one that touches my car for now on.... Lesson learned. Just makes it tought to work 80 hours a week and then get up and mess with the car. I work really hard. I pay to play. I have never once walked into a shop and said i'm from ( so and so web site / club or what ever) greg and mike and both vouch for this. Its just not me. You offer a service. I'm here to pay.

**** happens. I posted this as to put forth my experence and hope that GST slows the snow ball for a while. And that others can learn form my mistakes that maybe not able to afford them such as I might. I'm not flow with money by any means. I do find it funny that all the gst crew think its related to me low balling or ****ty knock off parts. ****.. I have almost the Full APS catalog on my car. A PE 1820 Turbo and pe 850 injectors. Its not a ebay downpipe and a hks what ever and a super -s flow junk. I have stuff made to work togther.

GST did try and call me today. I was teaching a class. Was not able to pick it up. I will be in contact with them soon enough.

I also need to still find a tuner as my a/f ratios should not be 10:1 across the board.

P.S. He gave me the injectors because they broke the a/c line in my car. The injectors were used and two were questionable at that. But since they are not a a/c shop I figured I'd take care of the a/c myself.

Wow.. I'm a tool and I'll just run back to my tool box again.
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Old 11-05-2007, 05:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Angelus897
Actually you let a shop do the work so you don't have to double check, THEY have to double check everything, hence why you pay the BIG bucks. I worked in the automotive maintenance business for a while and the one thing you learn real fast is you ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK your work, otherwise **** gets **cked up and you're the one left footing the bill. If the OP had the time to double check work, he would have done the install himself.
Yes In my line of work. You dont do this and you can kill someone. Work like this on a motorcycle I'd been dead a few times now.
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