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Bonus Gifts With My Service

frx026

By frx026,
in Victoria

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frx026 Proficient

frx026

Posted
Posted

So, I have been more of an observer on the forum than a poster for some time now. I watch with some amusement some of the posts that take me back to my early days owning a skyline. It’s good to see the younger guys still learning and figuring out things. In some cases the same things.

I have still have a few skylines. They are great toys. More weekend than work. So when the time came to upgrade the 33GTR as the daily I needed something a bit more practical. The missus was at me to get something with rear doors.

So you can imagine who won that argument. Anyway. I bought something practical with potential and four doors.

I can’t mention the type of car, the workshop name or give too much away, however, after a massive turbo upgrade, retune and supporting mods etc my new daily was ready to be driven. A few initial teething problems but nothing too serious.The work done by the reputable workshop was good quality, relatively well priced and the car was looked after.

Skip forward a year. It’s about time to do the timing belt, tensioners etc. All service items. The car had ran really well and clocked a number of KM on a daily basis. The car has been reliable, comfortable and surprisingly easy to drive at speed and in the wet.

So, back to that workshop. Living a distance away from them it was worked out they would transport the car over to the workshop for me, do the service and I would be good to go.

Or so I thought.

The car has come back with:

1 – A bonus oil leak. It makes the Exxon Valdeez incident look environmentally friendly (younger guys – google that)

2 – A broken gearbox. Stripped out planetaries from 1st, 2nd and 3rd with enough metal fragments to be used as a “metal storm” gun (youtube that one)

Several calls to the people responsible resulted in nothing. I was calling a mobile number as I had done previously and as I had received calls/texts from.

A call to the workshop landline number and the news was not so good. The person that had my car had not worked there for approx. 5 weeks. Plenty of time to get my details.

The workshop stated I had cancelled and they had not done any work on the car.

I have tracking in this car so I can log onto SD card the travels. It’s extremely handy for tax purposes.

I discovered after downloading the tracking from the car that car had not been to that workshop, it had in-fact been to 2 private residences. It was becoming more obvious that an ex-employee of the workshop had got my details, cancelled me from the workshop, picked the car up (truck and all) and scammed me out of $2K.

I had the car back for a week and drove it very few KM because of the oil leak.

I now have a damage bill of $11K on the car. The gearbox is $9K alone.

Cops are investigating the alleged offenders for “obtaining goods by deception”. That is still on going.

My insurance does not cover it as I handed over the keys.

The workshop in question does not want to know about it at all.

For legal reasons I cannot reveal the make, model or type of car, nor can I reveal the workshop, names of the alleged offenders or even a suburb that this occurred in. I can confirm it was in Melbourne within 50km of the CBD.

I will not be able to PM people info, so please don’t ask.

So a word of warning to my fellow car enthusiasts – be careful. There are “humans” in the world that will do this to others, Don't fall victim and don't get scammed.

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Odium Grand Master

Odium

Posted
Posted

OUCH! Sorry to hear you encountered that scum! :O

Was the gearbox actually yours and they wrecked it with launches? Or did they swap your good one for a known bad one?
Where is the oil leak from? any evidence of other work near that area?

PranK Grand Master

PranK

Posted
Posted

Jezuz Christ.

I'm stunned that stuff this brazen still goes on!

I'm really feeling for you frx026! Thats horrible!

I must say thought that I chuckled at the need to upgrade the turbo and give it a retune so that it could be a daily. :D

GTRPSI Mentor

GTRPSI

Posted
Posted

Wow, not so much the oil leak but the busted Gear box, unbelievable.

Did you get a receipt for the work done? Was it written/printed under a business name?

Pay eftpos or cash? I hope eftpos so its traceable, ill bet they would try not to show it in the books too.

So it was booked into a workshop and the work was never performed there?

They say it was canceled? By whom, you? Or the person that took it home to work on told the workshop owner you canceled? (and tried to pull a job on the side)

If so your tracking may lead you to their residence i hope.....

frx026 Proficient

frx026

Posted
  • Author
Posted

9k gearbox? My money is on it being a Volkswagen or Evo

Yes it is one of those Semi Auto Boxes. However not in either of those cars.

I must say thought that I chuckled at the need to upgrade the turbo and give it a retune so that it could be a daily. :D

I don't like standard cars. They bore me.

Even the wifes run about has some work done to it. Nothing to serious, just a bolt on supercharger.

Did you get a receipt for the work done? Was it written/printed under a business name?

Pay eftpos or cash? I hope eftpos so its traceable, ill bet they would try not to show it in the books too.

So it was booked into a workshop and the work was never performed there?

They say it was canceled? By whom, you? Or the person that took it home to work on told the workshop owner you canceled? (and tried to pull a job on the side)

If so your tracking may lead you to their residence i hope.....

.

A call to the workshop landline number and the news was not so good. The person that had my car had not worked there for approx. 5 weeks. Plenty of time to get my details.

The workshop stated I had cancelled and they had not done any work on the car.

I have tracking in this car so I can log onto SD card the travels. It’s extremely handy for tax purposes.

I discovered after downloading the tracking from the car that car had not been to that workshop, it had in-fact been to 2 private residences. It was becoming more obvious that an ex-employee of the workshop had got my details, cancelled me from the workshop, picked the car up (truck and all) and scammed me out of $2K.

Your questions were answered in my original post.

I cannot provide further info at this stage.

Was the gearbox actually yours and they wrecked it with launches?

Yes, the box is mine.

I am not able to say how it was wrecked as that is giving away too much specific details at this stage Sorry.

I can't express how pissed off and angry I am with this.

frx026 Proficient

frx026

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Mmmmm, looking at the list of cars in your sig, I suspect a spinning propeller is on the front of the unfortunate vehicle.

I hope you can get it sorted.

I have removed the car in question from the list of cars I have displayed. I cannot give identifying info.

  • 2 weeks later...
frx026 Proficient

frx026

Posted
  • Author
Posted

So, to provide an update.

I have found another gearbox overseas. The supply in Japan of new units had dried up. Obviously Japanese its not a shitty focus. However with the rarity of this car (less than 100 in the country) it has been an epic search. The $9k bill I thought I would have will be more.

I have seen the box apart. I have never seen a gearbox so badly destroyed. It appears as though:

1 - Wrong fluid and not enough of it was used (3L came out and its meant o have 11L)

2 - Multiple launches with TC engaged

Planetaries are shot, teeth are ripped off, bearings look like they have had sand through them, valves have pieces of metal through them. The entire thing is shot. The only thing salvageable is the outer casing. And even that has marks in it.

If the car was just an evo or something and not so rare I would have put it in a crusher and walked away.

Civil action will be costly and result in me getting $5 a week for 300 million years. If I won.

VCAT? Maybe. but I might not get anything..

Cops? Well, they dont exactly have a swat team chasing these guys. Even though there are now 3 people I have become aware of in the same situation.

Some humans suck!

  • 1 month later...
frx026 Proficient

frx026

Posted
  • Author
Posted

For those following this.

I have also discovred that the alarm had been tampered with, the imobilier circuit bypassed.

Obviously setting the car up to be knocked off later.

total cost of repairs

Gearbox parts - $9600

Labour to heat treat gears, assemble and test $5500

Oil leak $2300

New door, boot and ignition locks $1780

New immobiliser with integration to factory system $1340

I have become aware of 2 other people in a similar situation. One of which looks like we will team up to recover costs from these people..

anyway... $20k down the drain for nothing.. f**k i hate people sometimes,

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