Good Local Garages for Cambelt Change? In north west

[Dr_Doom]

Are Blue Print a good company and should these leads start to strip after 6 months of use. The cam belt and oil filter where also blue print.

 

 

As far as i know, Blueprint are supposed to be good quality parts & i've never heard anything bad about them. I'm sure i've had Blueprint parts in the past.... Anyway, it doesn't matter what make they are, even the cheapest plug leads shouldn't wear out after 6 months

[Guest HyperSports]

OK Guys

 

I'm not a man a many words on this forum but it comes to the point where we have to explain our side of the story and the facts of the event, before my blood boils anymore !!!

 

Firstly, this customer is a Lexus GS300 owner, not a Supra owner - the one with the N/A "GE" engine. We had an email and call to ask about a head gasket replacement on a GS300, who was thinking about a turbo conversion. Immediately we thought OK, the customer was to supply his own head gasket, probably a suitable gasket to lower the compression a bit. We originally quoted £550.00 + VAT to do the job plus any other parts required, ie. oil, coolant, cam belt etc.

 

When the customer turned up, he had another list of jobs to do. He wanted us to install his second hand thermostat (running with none in), fit a Walbro fuel pump (incorrect fitting for the car, and required modification to fit correctly), fit a new dizzy cap and rotor arm, and to not just skim the head as originally quoted, but to install a full set of valve stem oil seals. We then found out that the car had had an overheating issue, so when the head was off we had the cooling system in the head pressure checked - silly not to do it if the car has had an overheating issue - the valves lapped in, skimmed and new stem seals put in. Extra on top of what we originally quoted.

 

So we get round to the head gasket - not even an OEM Toyota one but the cheapest one Money can buy. The extra work involved with the cylinder head meant that the Engine shop had the head for 1 1/2 days in total. Putting down the head as usual, we notice Tippex all over the engine where a scrap yard had put on, indicating a engine had been put in (badly). In the midst of the job, we informed the customer that we were to install a new timing belt, and he said that the one had only been on 6 months. Anyone in the Tuning game would not install a second hand timing belt back on again, unless your name was Bodgit and Scarper Ltd - regardless if it had been on 6 months or 6 years. So the customer took this on board. Then we come around to putting oil in. The customer said there's some oil in the boot. So we looked and there was 3 litres of Shell oil, 1 litre of Lucas oil and another Litre of another brand. He asked why we had charged him for using Millers stuff that we use, and was surprised to hear that we wouldn't want to mix the 3 brands together !!

 

During the job, we encountered a wiring fault probably due to brittle wires in this poorly maintained engine bay. Bear in mind this car is 13 years old and not been looked after very well. We found the fault which took an extra 1 or 2 hours. Also, the plug leads appeared old and one was faulty, so we again informed the customer that it needed the leads. He stated that the plugs and leads were replace with HKS plugs and Blueprint leads 6 months ago. When the plugs were taken out, they were Denso plugs with a bright orange ring on the ceramic, and looked like they hadn't been changed in years !! Alas, the plugs went back in, with the new leads. We then intalled the Walbro fuel pump, an EBAY special, that (guess what) wasn't the right one for the car, but with a little modification, we got it to fit.

 

At no point did we every confess to not having the correct tools for the job. Anyone who has been to our place will notice we have £100,000 dyno, and more Snap On tool boxes you can shake a stick at, filled with all the gear we use on a daily basis. MAYBE WE SHOULD USE HIS SOUTH AFRICAN METHOD WHICH HE DESCRIBES, WHICH MAY BE A TOOTH OUT BUT ITS OK TO USE FROM A to B !!!!!!!

 

In summary, the main customer complaint was:

 

A) We had his car too long - Bearing in mind it was bank holiday and we were closed most of Saturday, Sunday and Monday - We had the car a total of 4.5 days. - I don't consider this to be too long when doing a job of this kind.

 

B) He wasted a journey (8 miles down the road) to come and pick it up on Saturday when the car wasn't ready - maybe some miscommunication between us and we apologise for the confusion.

 

C) The bill was more than £550.00 - Well bear in mind all of the extra work mentioned above, that he had asked for when the car arrived plus the extra things we found it needed. Well the original £550.00 + VAT (£646.25) and the charged bill of £817.00 + VAT (£961.00) is the difference. The point which annoys me is the time we spent on it, probably 16 to 18 hours with all the jobs and problems - and we charged 10 or 11 on the bill !!

 

If we had put 3 different brands of oil, a second hand timing belt and let him have the car back running on 5 cylinders, then maybe the bill would've been as agreed.

 

I'm sorry, but the top and bottom of it, is that if you cannot afford to do the job PROPERLY when things go wrong, then there is no point owning this type of car.

 

Hope this clears things up to all of the GOOD guys who've used us before and I sincerely hope it doesn't put any new customers off giving us a try ...

 

All the Best, Chris

 

Hyper Sports & Racing Ltd

0845 225 0111

http://www.HyperSR.com

[Pixelfill]

Thanks for your reply Chris. As we are all too aware there are always two sides to any story

 

Mike

[garetheves]

Good to hear both sides of the story. Hopefully this will get sorted out. I admit to a little bit of frustration for various reasons, when my car was off the road, but in the end my car was sorted and is running sweet now im pleased to say. I havent been put off using Hyper again, in fact ill be phoning them in the next few days about my MOT.

[Guest EandP]

Just joined today, and had a read up about hyper,i have been taking my car to them for about the last two and a half years, and cant complain about anything,the prices,communication between us and if anything is found to be wrong with my car,i am informed promptly and a price (usually within pence) is agreed!!! not being a mechanic myself, i know from personal experience that if a timing belt fails, it can cost in excess of 10 times the cost of just having the timing belt changed. I think that Chris @ hyper is quite right in saying "be it 6 weeks or 6years it is good practice to have it replaced for everyones peace of mind!!" The customer for me seems want everything for nothing!!

[Class One]

Seems like a balanced and well worded reply. I stand by what i said earlier in this thread. I am awlay sceptical about an unknown n00b posting up in an obscure section of the forum about their dealings with x trader or y trader. As always there are two sides to the story, and this one ends here.