I worked with millennium autosports about a year ago, at the time i was new to the whole aftermarket experience were i did not know much about buying parts pricing of parts or labor time.in December i bought a rare automobile from Arizona, which had a blown engine and i was looking for a good shop to take it to. I had a friend who said millennium autosports does good work take it to them, so i had the car towed my car to millennium autosports were i had met the owner Brian, he had informed me that they do work on this particular vehicle and have knowledge in this field and labor should take about 3 months to finish. So I had trusted him with my car.
A month later 2-15-05 i gave Brian about $10,000.00 cash to start ordering parts, we had also agreed to exchange my seats with some after market seats at a discount if i would let him have my orignal seats, so i did three weeks go by and i asked Brian an update because my engine had came in he said he was waiting on my turbo and manifold which he said was no problem, so i thought nothing of it maybe this usual in this business another 3 weeks no phone call from millennium or Brian. I called to see were is Brian, Shawn his partner over there had informed me Brian was out of town and would be back Monday so i decided to go up to the shop and see what's going on, when arriving Brian who rarely works on peoples cars was outside exchanging my original seats to put in to his vehicle, i went over to Brian to ask what he is doing he said my seats have came in so he was swapping out the seats to put in his car, i told him about his partner Shawn that said he had left and is out of town, he said he was getting ready to go. So thinking nothing of it i let it ride and checked to see what parts were in my seats and a couple different parts had came in, except for this turbo and manifold.By know they had taken out the old engine and were getting ready to put the new one in. (we were going to rebuild the old engine)
A couple more weeks go by and by know i have order more parts and Brian was still waiting on the manifold the turbo was in. So a week later i came to the shop and bought Brian another "down payment" for the additional parts this time i had bought him about $8900.00 which he counted and gave me receipt for. I asked for the update and he said that he was waiting on this manifold to get ready to put in. So i did some home work and called the manufacture Veliside and they had said they stooped making this particular for the U.S. And this was going on for a couple months. I called Brian to see did he really order it or not he aside that he did, but his vendor just informed him they stooped carrying this part, (but if this was the case why you didn't he know this 2 months ago?). So we decided to go with a different type of manifold which was a Greedy intake manifold. Finally that part came in after about two weeks. Brian has called me and told me this. He told me I still needed to get some minor things like fuel pumps and fans little things. So the next day later i had bought Brian another $2000. For the rest of parts and get everything started by know two and half months have gone by.
Three weeks later my car is till parked outside his shop no work nothing done. I asked Brian what is going on he said he is waiting on the fuel pumps and things and they showed be in, also I had asked him about a painting the car to show quality, he recommended me to this painter down the road from him. So I went to see this painter cool guy named Eddie who did good work on paint jobs. So next day I came to millennium to ask them to tow the car to the painter so we can strip it and paint it (that way the parts can come in.) They said they would that took them a week to get it towed there, know were on to 3 months.
Eddie took about two weeks to paint the car, in that time frame Brian had said the parts were all in. So we towed the car back to millennium on a flatbed. When the car got there the tow truck driver had dropped it on the bumper and cracked it Eddie was more then willing to fix it no problem it was his tow truck drivers fault. (I also took pictures of the car with new paint job before going to millennium and no scratches or anything at the time and Eddie told them to keep the car inside so the paint doesn't get bad) Fast forward two weeks later i came to the shop to see the status suprise suprise my car is outside and it had rained a week ago so know the car has water marks soaked into it. I told Brian that was not right so the next day he bought the car into the shop to start the work, needles to say that he parked the car next to were they put on the mufflers and that requires some welding, so know the car has water marks and rust marks from the metal sparks. Brian first response was (dude we didn't do that) remember i have pictures of the time it came out of the pain shop and the time when the bumper got cracked, no water marks in either pictures.
Anyway they finally started the work on the car this about 5 months know, and they had put the enigne in and were putting in the cams cam gears and fuel pumps and also seats and everything else. During this time they were putting it n parts i had met the mechanic his name was "Tuck" he looked as though he knew what he was doing and Brian said he was the best guy there. So they finally got the car done about three weeks later and said they were mapping the ECU and then it was ready for Dyno runs. (Great news im happy). The next day i call Brian and he wasn't there so his partner Shawn picked up and told me that they did the runs and had a problem, and he couldn't tell me what so he put me on hold for there head mechanic named "Gray" he informed that there was a bolt loose on the turbo and that when they were doing there dyno runs it sucked it in and broke the compressor wheel was in shock asked him to tell Brian to call me, no call this was Monday know and that happened on a Friday, so i called the actual manufacture Greddy and talked to the turbo developers they said that it is rarely ever happened that either the shop didn't know what they were doing or somebody deliberately did that.
Finally talked to Brian and he said sorry it was our fault and that he would repair it and it wouldn't cost me a penny, he also said it would take 2 weeks to get it back. (Also "tuck" the mechanic there best guy quit) so i had no mechanic. Two weeks go by no turbo back called Brian and asked what is going on he said should be back pretty soon so in the mean time they towed the car back to Eddie the painter to get him to sand down the scratches and cracked bumper took about a week and half.By know the turbo was back and they had someone else install the new turbo, Brian again said it would take about 3 days to get the fuel system and ECU right to get the car ready. (Finally the cars almost done)
So the cars in the shop like on a Wednesday and they finished mapping the ECU so it was back on the dyno for runs on Friday this time they put a filter on it (typically filter are put on a 3inch outlet they didn't. I called Brian at the shop to see the status and he wasn't there this is what Shawn said so I asked Shawn the status he put me on hold to check and 20 mins later Gray the head mechanic picked up and told me that there was another problem i was mad by know, i asked him what's the problem know they said the filter paper got sucked in and broke the compressor again was in total shock this was ridicules so i told them to get it correct and fix my turbo.
Know it was about August towards September time and Brian said the turbo still wasn't in and what he would do was to put on another turbo smaller one not the same size, until mine came in and so i agreed i wanted my car by know so I had him right an agreement to compensate for the new turbo promiseing to give back my original. Finally about the beginning of September the car was completed with a new turbo which less performance wise. I still owed Brian $2500 that was due when my turbo came back. He called and said he needed to talk so i called him to my office and he came and said time's are rough he needs to get some money he had to pay for rent on the shop and he was relying on the money, i said i wouldn't give it unill the turbo came and he promised to get the car finished gave me his word. So being me gave him $1000 and the rest when the turbo came in. Know the car was finished and Eddie did a new paint job with out charging anything, (he was probably the most truthful person in this experience plus he did a hell of a job).
Know its about the new year no call from millennium I called them there is no turbo and i also found out through someone that worked there Brian had sent off my engine head to a company to get it worked on i called Brian and he had no excuse for why he sent it off (remember i was going to use this to work on) and no turbo, so it old him my friend is coming to pick up the engine head and he did. But the whole reason he did this was because he had the turbo in the shop he was trying to rebuild my engine and use my turbo to put in his car. (this was told by his employee) my friend that he didn't know that worked there. Here it is June car is not running turbo does not spool and they deliberately wired my fans so they didn't work and my engine would get hot. I had my own mechanic fix it except for the turbo that will cost me about $5000.
I believe this experience for me was an eye-opener to show what kind things these small time shops try to do, I'm single guy that owns my own home and have debts that money was earned by hard work and time saving up it cost me $21,000.00, and they just ripped me off, currently the car is not working the turbo don't work and it doesn't start up right the cams are adjusted all the way up. The guy who suggested me to them was extremely sorry because his other friend who is in the navy sent his car and its still there collecting dust, its been there for 6 months. I have all my proof pictures receipts and Brian knows I'm right. The funny thing is his partner Shawn just had his car published in a magazine and his quote was to all the tuners out there "if you're gonna do a job do it right the first time" and here it is his own shop messes up 3 times and don't know what they are doing.
Beware to all the young kids out there know and research your shop before letting them doing work, or you might loose allot of money. I'm going to try to save up again maybe another yr. Or 2 before I trust someone again with my car.
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