Another Speedtech "experience"...

[BrknFngrs]

After scanning through the forums i saw a few posts regarding speedtech so i thought id post this up, just to share my experience from today.

Basically, i took my car in today to get S2000 seats installed (into a civic) i was quoted 2 hours. I show up at speedtech right at 9, give them my car and head to work. When i dropped my car off i had already pulled the passenger seat so it was nice and easy to work with, had the bolts that had been removed in a labeled ziploc as well. I show up to pick up my car about 6 hours later, they tell me its not done and to come back 3 hours later. I ask them if i can go check it out, they say no. So i get a call a few hours later saying that it took "a little" longer and they proceed to tell me it took them six hours to modify the seats and that there was extra materials costs too. (6 hours to modify foot location on 2 seats????) When i got there I had the tech fully explain what he did and he said that "there was alot of measuring involved".... The end modifications ended up being moving the feet about a half inch wider and adding an extension to the rail on one side of each seat.

When checking out the quality of the work i notice that there is a 1/4-1/2" of threading between the foot of the seat and the hole in the floor completly showing. (the bolt was no where near in properly) I point this out to the tech, he looks closer at it and after a little persuasion he offers to fix it. So he proceeds to just grab the ratchet and tighten it down. Since this tightening just bends the feet i start looking at the welds in the area and point out a few that are kinda iffy. He ends up taking out both and reinforcing the outer feet's welds...which took about 20 minutes total. And after looking at the rails there is nothing added that a shop familiar with welding shouldn't have in there at all times.

This really got me thinking, if he can fix it in 20 minutes how did it possibly take 6 hours to do? (i do understand getting it the first time would be harder...but 6 hours??)

I was told that they can ONLY bill me for 4 hours by the guy who gave me the 2 hour quote. After seeing that i was obviously unhappy with the situation he said that its "just one of those things" and "he has to pay his guys".

Basically, after that rant, im just asking for feedback on the situation. How common of a problem is this with speedtech?? Any suggestions for what i can/should do?

[b_t]

sounds like the opposite of what happened with me at autodream, at least the tech was helpful.. when I went to them, the guys in the back were fuck all useless.

[Vietsta]

i don't like the people that work at speedtech. i find them rude

[Graham_A_M]

I hate that place, and wont go back. They were totally unwilling to help. Their "on sale" price for Falken tires was higher then the regular Kal-tire price of the same tires.

Thanks to the attentiveness to the customer, the 3 person line up took 40 minutes to get through.. that was great!

[Vietsta]

i think that they only want the people that buys lots of stuff and crap. and the small guys like us that just buys 1 or 2 things are nothing to them

[BrknFngrs]

so it appears that speedtech problems are fairly common...

[arian_ma]

Hey man, I understand your situation fully and I know you have the right to be pissed, but look at it their way.
I was there today, and in the back (including inside the shop) were 6 cars, all being worked on. Now you have to realize that things do go wrong, a lot, when working on cars, because nothing is as easy as it seems. And to be fair, the other cars were there before yours. I'm not saying this is the way I want to be treated, but you still have to understand that things can go wrong. I think what probably happened was that something went wrong with one of the other 5 cars, and they tried to fix it because it was something major like engine work, and your car fell back in line. It happens all the time at any shop you go to. Seeing as you were not impressed on the phone, he tried to do the job as quickly as possible for you so that you would be happy, yet still things went wrong. In the end, he still tried to help you out.
Now if this was me, I'd be angry as well, but after seeing the back and how busy they actually are (with 2 mechanics working on all these cars) I can't say that I am surprised that it took them so long. But since I know where you're coming from, I would have also expected to be given a scheduled time where all of the mech's time would be devoted to my car, and not busy with other cars (though that would most likely take them a few more days to schedule you in).
There is no shop out there whose moto is: "Let's fuck around with our customers and see how pissed we can get 'em," cars are just a bitch to work on man.
Sorry about your bad experience, personally I have nothing but good things to say about SpeedTech.

[BrknFngrs]

i completly know what your saying about them being busy with other cars, and thats not 95% of why it pissed me off. Had they even phoned me and bin like "ya know, we got fcked over on another project, is there any way we can get your car back to you tomorow instead?" I would have been ok with it. I can understand that things go wrong, there are other projects, etc etc. But getting a completely fcked quote and getting comments like "well its just one of those things" does not make me happy. As for something going wrong with another car, thats fine, i understand that they have biiig projects on the go but there is no way in hell i should be paying for time that isn't fully devoted to my project. Which is the only thing i can think of that would make a job like this take 6 hours.

[WWJAI]

Originally posted by Vietsta
i think that they only want the people that buys lots of stuff and crap. and the small guys like us that just buys 1 or 2 things are nothing to them

i totally agree...the only time they actually offer us small guys who don't have heavily modded vehicles is when nobody else is really in the store

i wouldn't be surprised if during that 6 hrs they charged you, they only spent like 2 hrs on it and worked on the seats on and off

[Vietsta]

i knew someone would understand my point of view. i would rather stick to like tunerworks and autodream

[GoChris]

sorry to say I'm not suprised, just going there for parts a couple times turned me off from ever going back.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by Vietsta
i knew someone would understand my point of view. i would rather stick to like tunerworks and autodream

sometimes autodream isnt any better, sorry to say. but most shops get quite busy

[BrknFngrs]

i havent had any experience with autodream but it doesn't matter, they're not commenting on the fact that the shops get busy. Its more about getting shrugged off in general

[danno]

all i can say is you give someone a price you stick too it. they've been in business long enough to know what kind of time it takes to do this.

i've been there had my car worked on and they did good. just sometimes it doesn't work out but they should own up to the fact that they couldn't get it done when they said. i guess in the end you won't go back there so they will lose out.

[msommers]

I'm also not a fan of Speedtech at all. For one, they are one of the most expensive tuner shops in Calgary. I dealt over the phone with Autodream on an RS*R exhaust and he agreed to everything and hadn't even met me. I went over to speedtech and asked if they could match or go lower and it was no deal, just an outright "nope". Rims/tires are always more expensive there too. I agree with the atmosphere of it being a total chotch attitude where if you don't spend 10,000 to "get your foot in the door" with them, they don't like you. I've spent a lot of money at Autodream, and after awhile, you get to know the guys and can swing deals, start becoming more of friends....that's just business. But Speedtech has to learn to give a little. I've never bought anything from speedtech and never will.

As for your situation BrknFngrs, if you get quoted 2 hrs, you should have paid 2 hours. If they didn't know how long it was going to take, give a range at least or admit it's your first try at it. Paying for someone else's screw-ups on another car is totally bogus if that was the case. I have a feeling that putting those S2000 seats in your civic is like putting R32/R33 GTR seats in an S13, chop off the foot and weld on a bigger piece. It ain't rocket science. Would you mind posting picks of there rails on your car BrknFngrs? It would be much appreciated.

[BrknFngrs]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by danno
[B]all i can say is you give someone a price you stick too it. they've been in business long enough to know what kind of time it takes to do this.

i'll give em that this isn't a common swap so it mite take a bit longer but at some point it switches from "it took a bit longer" to "what the hell took so long?"

[danno]

yea i'll have to admit they are very expensive. i had a whole engine swap done by speedtech and it took 8 hours, it's a little messed up if they can't get 2 seats done in 6hours.

i'm happy i'm getting a gti, now i can go to tunerworks or concept 1.

[Mr_ET]

if you're looking to buy parts and you don't really care about money then with all means buy at speedtech. If you wana shop for the parts i am certain you can find a better price in another shop or online. as far as having parts installed i would strongly recommend somewhere else. Heard so many stories of them underquoting and underdelivering on promises. Many examples can be found on beyond.

I've been there a few times and always treated like dirt. they answer their phone while i'm in front of them asking questions. Always feel like i need to put money on the counter to get any sort of help or attention.

btw i'm 27 well educated and know what i'm talking about when i ask questions. I do research prior to going there so i don't waste any time. I am sure some other people have had better experiences that's just me.

i'm out!

[vtec]

ya i have to agree, if they quoted you 2 hours for the job, you should have paid 2 hours for the job.
Its not your fault they took longer or only quoted you that time.

I work in a dealership and thats how times/hours get worked out. ( that includes aftermarket parts aswell )

[msommers]

Well BrknFngrs was just over at my place, unfortunetly my camera died just as I turned it on!! But anyways, all I can say it total hack job. Imagine a straight piece of steel. Both edges cut down on either side so it will fold into proper positioning. And then left. Nothing re-welded at all. This shit wouldn't even come close to passing inspection. Its like the ghetto rigging of boring out the one foot hole and putting a giant washer on the GTR seats onto 240's. All I can say is WOW