bigworm

iTrader: (1)

"3. JEFFRREY INSISTED ON SENDING HIS MOTOR TO CRAWFORD BASED ON HIS UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HE SAW DURING THE DYNO SESSION. THIS WAS ALSO BASED FROM THE LEAKDOWN/COMPRESSION TEST DONE FROM GRUPPE S. JEFFREY STATED, “HE WOULD NOT ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THEN A NEW MOTOR” AFTER SPENDING ALL THIS MONEY ON HIS PROJECT, THIS WAS THE ONLY OPTION. FLI SUPPORTED JEFFREY’S DECISION AND FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH HIS WISHES"

crawford was, lets say, a 3rd party that said fli had done nothing to damage the motor, it is fine....

gilmore25

iTrader: (1)

Those are FLI's comments and they are looking to cover there own butt. If Crawford ran these tests were are the results? he have the results from Gruppe-s

bluwrxwgn

iTrader: (3)

The motor may be fine, but the fact is, that they screwed up because they could not produce and running functioning car. So it still falls back into FLI's hands as to what went wrong.

ipozestu

iTrader: (18)

Crawford was given a shortblock. He conducted a compression leakdown test with heads he had in his shop.
Again the question was never about the integrity of the block rather, whether the conditions the block was subject to; did they or did they not cause damage.

wombatsauce

iTrader: (7)

Jeff I am truly sorry to hear about this issue. It pains me every time I hear about something like this or have to deal with it myself. My troubles are nothing compared to yours, although my car was damaged and will cost thousands of my dollars to bring back to the way it was before it was placed in the care of a shop.

What I never understand is why shops or representatives of such never take into consideration what an issue like this looks like from the outside, and how it hurts them. In my case there wasn't any damage done to the reputation due to my incorrect handling of the situation - I should have gone immediately to the BAR and presented my case. I should not have kept quiet about my experience. Instead, I was "the nice guy" and let the situation drag out and eventually result in me leaving with and living with a damaged car. I see the damage every day and it still pisses me off.

The obvious comments friends of mine have made regarding my own issues haunt me to this day. I know you enough to know that you are not the type to try to "go after" anyone for no reason. Also, like me, you painfully kept your situation a secret until there was no choice. I am sure, like me, you just want your car to be OK regardless of what it takes to get there. You probably also don't appreciate people making you out to be a bad guy in your quest to get anything close to what you paid for.

A couple years ago, I had dreams of all the cool stuff I wanted to have done to my car. Now, I know there is no way in hell I will ever have a swapped car, even though I have the money for it. It's a damn shame, really. Very sad.

Again, I feel for your troubles and I still owe you a beer.

DetailAddict

iTrader: (52)

I *think* I read everything. So basically FLI is not installing the motor back because (according to FLI) removal of the motor was not necessary and was only done under customer request. Therefore, to re-install motor Jeff would have to pay, which I agree and it make sense. But as good business practice, shouldn't you (FLI) tell the customer ahead of time (re-install fee)? If FLI really thinks that the motor is fine and did in fact notify Jeff regarding the re-install fees. Jeff might have had think twice before giving it a go (if he in fact did give the authorization) AND Jeff would not be posting right now.

So if the leak down/compression test performed at Gruppe-S did not void any warranty AND the motor was good before the removal of the motor (since FLI claim it was only done because Jeff requested it). Why wasn't the car fixed/tunned?

Now, I don't know jack about tunning and not about to pretend to know. How long does it take to do the final tune if the tunner really knows how? Would it be longer than removing AND installation of the motor? If FLI had confident in their work, why not just tune it and be done with? Especially FLI has to pay ahead of time... I don't own a shop, but I would think the shop make more money to finish the car, get it out and get the next car in. So it would be FLI's best interest to get the car done and out, right?

Not taking side, just questions...

Bottom line... best of luck to FLI and Jeff...

Onizuka

iTrader: (17)

I think FLI should take a step back and think about this: they are only hurting their own business. Honestly, I used to work in the business of providing customers with a solution. To make things short: FLI offered a service but they couldn't provide it. They shouldn't charge a dime for providing nothing but head aches. I've been in the situation that FLI is at - I couldn't provide a service, so I walked away without getting paid. That's just how it works.

You either refund or you fix it. FLI is doing neither. I'm not jumping on any band wagon and I have a very clear idea of how a business is supposed to work. It honestly seems to me that there is no solution thus far.

This isn't just FLI, this could have been ANY shop. I don't agree with any business that offers a service, charges a customer, then does not provide anything. It doesn't matter if they've already done the manual labor - but since nothing was solved, they don't deserve a penny out of your wallet.

evsoul

iTrader: (1)

and why would FLI force jeff to get his car out of their parking lot.. its not like there is.. (no offense to FLI) but its a shop its not like there are tons of cars trying to park where they are..

not that its that important... its just the principle of the whole thing... forcing his car out while hes trying to figure out what the hell he is going to do.

evsoul

iTrader: (1)

and if you warranty the motor... wouldnt that warranty the whole thing? or is it "we warranty the motor, but not the labor to take it out and get it back in should something happen to it.." if that is infact the warranty policy.. then why isnt the motor being put back in for free.

ipozestu

iTrader: (18)

Greg your like a pitbull. You'd chew you own leg off for one more strike.

ipozestu

iTrader: (18)

Here's the latest. I requested an inventory list prior to towing my car. Here's what I got. Originally sent as word.doc

Jeffrey Richardson’s 2005 WRX Wagon Parts Inventory:




-ARP BOX- Arp Stud kit, knock/cam/crank pick up/oil pressure sensors

-BOX # 2- Motor mounts with bolts, transmission cover with bolts, 3 idler pulleys with bolts, crank dampner (bolt is in engine), PCV tube (plastic located at top of engine), timing belt, New NGK BCPR7ES-11 (post break in spark plugs)

-BOX # 3- Right Head, cams, sprockets, cam covers, plastic covers

-BOX # 4- Left Head, cams sprockets, cam cover, plastic covers

-BOX # 5- Turbo with bracket

-BOX #6- Coil Packs (times 4)

-GREEN RUBBER MAID BOX- O2 sensor, air box with Maf, radiator tubes, up-pipe, starter, AC/Alternator belts, catch cans, down pipe covers, Transmission assortment of bolts, front plastic cover and oil dip stick.

-BACK OF WAGON- Water cross over (with tubes), complete intake manifold minus our RC Modified Fuel Injectors, alternator, water/coolant recovery bottle, complete down pipe with O2 sensor, headers, plastic under cover and ACT clutch with stock flywheel and bolts.



I have verified that these parts are in my car and they are in the labeled boxes listed above. I also verified that all the above parts and my cars condition is in the same when the car was dropped off.


________________________________________ ___________________
Print name of owner of car Date

________________________________________ __________________
Signature of owner of car Date

________________________________________ ___________________
Print name of witness Date

________________________________________ ___________________
Signature of witness Date

Double Helix

iTrader: (3)

I have been in business with FLI for the last year. Since then I have had nothing but good experiences with them. This is kind of long so I am sorry but anyone who has made it this far is going to read this. Now big projects can sometimes have complications and that is something that the customer and the shop both have to be prepared for. I myself had problems with my car while at FLI however it was not with their service or work. In fact they did all they could do to correct the problem. You see I myself installed a SZ49 with stock modified injectors on my 04 STI with plans to have FLI tune it. Now this turbo had been removed from a wrecked STI (my friends car) and shipped to Deadbolt for an inspection and a rebuild. I also requested DB to monster port and install a 38mm waste gate. The reason for this was because FLI had tuned my friends car before he wrecked it and they were having problems with boost creep above 5000rpm (a common problem with the default waste gate on SZ49). Due to the fact he had a FMIC they were able to safely tune his car.

I got my turbo back from DB, installed it and was on my way to FLI. My car was on the rack and tuning was performed by miles. After about an hour or two of tuning Miles approached me with a problem. The nasty boost creep they had experienced with the other car was happening to mine. Both Miles and Steve spent almost two hours trying different methods to bleed off boost but to no avail. Finally we came to the conclusion that the waste gate might not have been ported to 38mm. After playing with my car for the whole day and a few hours of tuning I had half a map and left with a 5000rpm rev limiter for safety. Now for those that know cars also know that a TMIC cannot cool charged air like a FMIC can. That is why I didn't get a complete tune and my friend did. It just wasn't safe for my car. That day I was only charged for half the price of all the work they did and time wasted.

When I got home I removed the turbo and found out that the waste gate had not been ported like I asked. Problem found....Hours of tuning and headache because someone at DB didn't want to do the job right the first time. Well FLI went to bat for me with DB and tried to get me a new turbo to exchange for the old one because it was they who caused all this mess by not listening to the request that I paid for. Instead they just paid for shipping and I got my turbo sent and returned in a week. I got rid of my TMIC and bought a FMIC hoping this would help as well. I drove back to FLI and the tuning resumed. After an hour my car was holding good boost but something else popped up. Something that I was expecting. My AFRs were erratic because of my Typhoon intake. Miles asked for my permission to continue and spent almost three hours trying to tune it out. At the end of the day I was forced to settle for 346whp and 357tq...big wah I was happy. My car felt like a monster and I wasn't even making the power that I would have made had I bought the BIG MAF from the beginning. Again Miles apologized because he knew the car was capable of so much more and I was charged for half the time spent tuning.

This was just a little "FANBOY" action for everyone here and if you feel like the work that (I myself or my friends) have had done by FLI is not comparable to the work related to this thread than I hope that I wasted your time. At this moment FLI is putting the final touches on what should be the one of the fastest STIs around here and I can speak from experience because I put a lot of my own time wrenching on this car. FLI installed the COBB block into this STI and we broke it in with no problems what so ever before returning it to FLI for the last stage. Take this story for what it's worth and form your own conclusion. So far it has been a FLI bash and none of you besides IPOZESTU and FLI were there to see how this all went down. I hope that things work out between the two sides. This was just my own experiance. I was told by someone that I should go to Gruppe-S and they could fix the problems. Why would I do that it had nothing to do with tuning. If you feel that Gruppe-S is a better place than go there. I'm sure they will be real nice to you and compliment your wheels. If you want to do business with nice people who care about you then go to FLI.

Alan

ScubaruImpreza

iTrader: (6)

So are you saying that Gruppe-s is full of people who aren't nice and don't care about their customers?

Double Helix

iTrader: (3)

Read it again. Did I say that anywhere?

Double Helix

iTrader: (3)

The only thing I will say about Gruppe-S is that Mike is a nice and smart guy.