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I went there once looking for parts and the guy tried to sell me a chewed blown radiator for $100, i went up the road and asked a radiator guy how much do they cost to fix that kind of damage, $700.

Glad i kept my money.

OK, For the Fanboys I'll keep it PC as my last post was deleted even though it was pretty tame and ambiguos.

This was just over 6 Yrs ago, and those that know me, know I have had a lot of experience with fast cars.

- Took my very expensive and heavily modified N1 spec (Not a real N1 but spec'd to that level) R32 GTR with slight oil leaking into the coolant. (N1 turbos, Cams, Forgies, Suspension, Clutch lightened flywheel, Wolf 3D, new head, all the extras inc $1500 Sound System) and was told Yes, we can help you!

- Patiently waited for months for it to be fixed even though I needed it for work and had to make my partner get the bus, (I took her car). Yes she loved that..... NOT!

- Called, Called and Called to see how it was going... I need this car back on the road.

- No business like response was given apart from we will get there, and all sorts of excuses.

- Approximatly 6 months in I called again and was given an offer (from memory) of $13,500 for the car un-running in the same condition as I had left it except with the bonnet taken off, parts of it taken off and a lot more dust.

- As you can imagine I was under a lot of pressure from my partner and was in the process of moving so I took it... Pressure even to the point that the owner of the business came to the bank I had loaned the money from, and kept hassling me about how much I owed on it and should take that.

- I naively did, to buy another running car to suit our 2 person working Canberra family.

- I would never go back there.

That is my experience. As I said before, take from that what you will.

I'll probably get flamed for this post, but this industry and some operators need to realise that we NEED our cars when they say, not just when it suits them. If I ran my business like a lot of the motor repair industy I wouldn't have a job. Sure they are just 2 Guys as stated above, but if they are then why take on Jobs they know they can't complete???

Edited by DJBarnstar

I don't disagree that performance shops need to be held accountable. I have found they are mainly missmanaged in these following areas.

1. Over booking work (Management issue)

2. Under/Over estimating effort and parts (skill/experience)

3. Learning on the job with our cars (skill/experience)

4. Not customer focussed (don't listen and don't call back)

5. Do not stand by their work (ie: they defend their mistakes)

6. DO NOT set customer expectations well.

7. Are only professionals until they get you booked in.

It's always a struggle unless they care for your car nearly as much as you do.

My main beef is when your made to feel like your doing the shop a favour by taking your car their, and in one case, I'm not going to say which local shop, getting the car back in a far worse condition drive line wise than when it was dropped off,. I only had that issue sorted by getting the car put on a car carrier and taken to Sydney and having the car sorted by a shop up there. No one could diagnose the issue here, and of course what people were diagnosing the issue as here, turned out to be nowhere near what the issue actually was. Of course I was thousands of dollars out of pocket sorting it out, and having the car off the road for two months, and the local shop denied everything.

That's why I'm a fan of going to Sydney.

You can get good work done here of course, but buyer beware.

Don't judge on what you haven't seen either. - too true

Most places will gladly take your money for big or small jobs. - Again so true

Sometimes it's worth just paying once to have something done right. - If I could find someone who could do everything right first go, I'd be a lot more happy.

Any out of town workshop is a risk in having to go back for any reason. $100+ in fuel each trip to Sydney and back.

I have been going to trojan for more than 2 years and i will continue going over there as long as they are operating. The only people whom i trust to leave my car with :thumbsup:

Customer service is always good and work done on the car are just unbelievable, john is the guru of skylines and imports.

i wont mind if they take a whole year to finish something on my car because i know time and effort has gone into it and the end results are always great. John and Angelo's time and effort in fixing any car is highly appreciated

The problem with this argument is that we all have our own opinions. And our own experiences with different shops. So some will agree and some won't.

There is no right or wrong way to go about what shop you choose.

Agree with kasko about the where to get my car serviced comment. I originally just wanted to know why Trojan wouldn't answer the phone and turns out they were on holidays, but are open again now...

I have probably contributed to getting the thread off topic though.

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