Several weeks ago I went on the internet to search for a set of heads for my 74 Charger. Mine were repairable, but I felt it would be easier to find a set already done. I found an ad advertising a set of Dodge 340 heads. I e-mailed the person and he said they were reconditioned and he wanted what he had into them, which was $475. He said they were just done and they and were only on his car very a very short time and the only reason he took them off was to build a new motor. I asked him to save them for me and that was i was a little short of money. I scraped up the money which was $475. And i took an extra $25. For me and my son to eat. I drove from Madoc, which is about 4 hours and I arrived at the address which was Car Store Automotive. Matt the owner was not there and the person at the counter sold me the heads. He told me it would $475. Plus taxes and I assumed it was a private deal and no one never mentioned tax. I then spoke to Matt on the phone and worked out a deal with the tax and the guy at the counter helped me load the heads and as he did, he said you will not be disappointed, these heads were just rebuilt. I took the heads home and dropped them off at Carquest in Lindsay to have my valve springs installed that match my cam shaft. The Carquest employee told me the cost to change the springs over would cost approximately $80.-$100.
A few days later he called me and said you better have a look at these heads. I drove the 2 hours to Carquest in Lindsay and the employee showed me the issue with the heads. I was a mechanic for approximately 10 years and have been building my own race engines for many years, so I know what I am looking at. The employee at the machine shop showed me the guides which had an extreme amount of clearance and were actually out of round. The valve seats were also in very poor condition and needed to be repaired. The employee said the only way to fix the heads is to install bronze valve guides. He gave me a price of $350. To do everything required, including the original work I requested. At that point I thought of returning the heads, but I spent $50. On gas and now owed the Carquest for the work he started. I wrote Matt at Car Store and his response was, that Carquest was hosing me. I told him I saw the heads myself and that there was no way the were just rebuilt. He said he would recover the money from the machine shop then return the money to me. Weeks went by and in the end, his machine shop said the work was done six months earlier and he done the work required. Matt at Car Store told me to fight with his machine shop if I wanted any money back. I told him, I bought the heads off him and he is reponsible. He refused to help me and I threatened him with small claims and after many e-mails back and forth he said send the heads back in the condition I bought them and he knew my machine shop already started to work on them at that point. He also offered to send me $100. Towards the work on the heads at some point and about 5 days later I e-mailed him to confirm he sent the money. He told me to quit bugging him, he was away and would sends it later. I said this has been going on long enough and I would just file against him. He then sent me a picture of an envelope addressed to me that sitting on a desk and said I was just going to mail it, but he was not sending it now. I emailed him and said I thought you were away and he said I am at a funeral and he stopped at his business in the morning. I called his business and asked if Matt was in and the person on the other end said, yes just a minute. This was just after he mailed me the picture. I was respectful the whole time and in the end, I decided to take the $100. Just to end this.in the end i spent $500, for the heads and another $350. To fix them. I sent gas money to buy the heads and several trips to the Carquest to talk to the employee there. I basically have $1000.invested in a used set of heads and I could have almost new.
I would just like to add that Matt accused me of trying to get something for nothing and Carquest is just ripping me off. The person at Carquest is just an employee and gets a paycheck. He was also very busy at the time and really did not have time to do the heads, so he has no reason to be dishonest. As far as me trying to make a buck, is absurd. I only wanted a portion of what I paid to fix the heads, because I knew Matt just spent money on these heads and obviously the work was not done, or done improperly. It makes no sense to pay to have a set of heads rebuilt, if they were just done. I also bought these heads because they supposedly in bolt on condition and me and my son wanted to make a local car show. To send then out to get fixed and miss the show for nothing, makes no sense either. To top it off, if I wanted to rebuild heads i would of fixed my own and i thought I was saving time by buying reconditioned.
He will say he has a bill for the work done and that he offered my money back. He offered my money back 6 weeks later and after dozens of emails. He said I want the heads back untouched and he knew I had a bill at Carquest for starting the work. He will accuse me of harassment and although I had his home phone and home address, I only emailed his business e-mail. He will say I slandered his name and this was after repeated attempts to solve this. He will say I am building a different type of car and need the extra money to do it, and I am not sure how he knows this, but I live 4 hours from his place and i building a car similar to the one he owned. All I wanted was a portion of the cost, because I thought he was ripped by Guelph Machine shop, who obviously did not do the work right to start with. He just does not want to pay and he played games for almost two monts.
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