Yet more problems with Classicswede

[Timbo_1975]

Aside from the quality of installation and workmanship, I would love to see the wiring splices, how the AFR's look under load and how the o2 emulation has been done!

Possibly comical.

[940_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Timbo_1975

Aside from the quality of installation and workmanship, I would love to see the wiring splices, how the AFR's look under load and how the o2 emulation has been done!

Possibly comical.

It would be a hoot if he wasn't £1780 and 1350 road miles into turning a really rather nice V70 T5 into an unreliable liability.

[mad matt]

are you going to close this thread aswell as it needs doing too

[foggyjames]

I'm going to assume that you're Dai's brother, Matt. While it's a bad idea for you to come to his defence (in the other thread) whilst not declaring your vested interest , you're right that this wants locking as well.

cheers

James

[TheJoyOfSix]

That is to say, this thread will remain locked until there is a resolution one way or another.

[cumbrianmale]

An update or resolution to this?

[940_Turbo]

Dai wrote to Rick stating that Rick had to remove the LPG kit from the car in its entirety including every pipe, screw, bracket and hose clip. Once Rick returned all these items at Rick’s expense then Dai would make a full refund. He would not refund the wasted time and effort, as well as monetary expenditure.

Rick then spoke to Dai because it is unrealistic to account for every single little hose clip. The letter was phrased such that if a single clip was deemed to be missing no refund would be forthcoming. Further it would mean that Rick had to finance a second gas conversion with no guarantee that Dai would actually refund. Thus far every single promise Dai has made has been broken.

Rick pointed out to Dai that he had paid him before picking up the car. Dai then agreed that he would immediately send a refund of £500, Rick agreed he would remove the LPG kit once he received the cheque at which point Dai would refund the rest. Needless to say this was yet another empty promise from Mr. Brace.

The car now doesn’t run on gas at all, as soon as the ambient temperature drops below 7 degrees or so it constantly cuts out.

It's the usual Dai recipe, promise one thing, do nothing or something entirely different.

[david philips]

i read this once pity all would not take note.

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi - Customers - Improvement - Business - Work - Opportunities

[jepho]

The existence of this thread raises an interesting point. Publish and be damned or wait until after a resolution is effected? 940_Turbo is in an invidious position. Does he advertise what appears to be rather poor and overpriced work or does he try to move towards resolution and keep quiet; while having little confidence in the specialist work completed or an appropriate outcome from the person who carried out the work?

I can understand any dealer not wishing to engage in a debate about the quality of work provided on a public forum. It is a bad place to be for any dealer. There is frequently just one side of the debate presented (usually in anger) and although a dealer could defend himself by adding the necessary other half of the story, the debates often degenerate into an unseemly slanging match.

The situation described by 940_Turbo would make me rather fed up and if empty promises were the only thing forthcoming from a dealer, I too would consider a little help from the oxygen of publicity. On the facts provided, it does appear to be a justified measure and the dealer/specialist has it within his power to make the appropriate reparation and salvage whatever he can of his reputation from an already crazy situation. In my experience, once something has come off the rails, it takes a superhuman effort to get it back within the bounds of what is reasonable. Usually, it continues to languish outside the borders of reality and all parties end up dissatisfied.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it would appear that, on its face, 940_Turbo has rendered a public service to the forum membership and I for one am very much obliged for the heads up. The issue of moderating such threads is a simple one... does the thread serve any purpose? While it can be seen to expose bad workmanship, poor dealer attitudes and sharp practices, then it is imperative that threads such as this particular thread are permitted to exist... for these threads will also expose rude and demanding customers, who are clueless and deserving of public criticism.

The thread lock is a form of censorship and while that can be a valuable tool for threads which are no longer serving a purpose, preventing technical issues such as this one from being exposed is an unhelpful measure, when clearly something is very wrong with the LPG conversion detailed by 940_Turbo. My need to comment on this thread arises out my shock at the standard of work presented for what is, after all, clearly very good money being charged.

[940_Turbo]

^^^

There are all sorts of issues with washing the linen in public. Rick briefly considered simply selling the car. Now its problems have been aired in public clearly he can't sell it as a really nice gas converted car. The car is indubitably unreliable and arguably unsafe.

The car was excellent before Dai got his hands on it, even if the gas ‘conversion’ were removed it’ll leave scars. Re-converting the car is more expensive than had it been done properly on the first place because of the extra work undoing Dai’s handy work.

In the end Rick took the decision to have me make this thread. Not because mistakes were made, that can happen to the best of us. Not because he’s angry, although he is, but because it involves a significant amount of money and he didn’t want anyone else to fall into the trap he’d fallen into.

He even offered Dai more money to put this mess right, and if Dai had then we’d have left it at that and assumed Rick just got unlucky.

A director of the VOC then mediated and a compromise solution was put forward by the club. Rick agreed to this compromise despite the fact that it would cost more money because he wanted it resolved and because that person had no vested interest.

The sad truth is that every 'Dai promise' gets broken. From the type of injector he’ll use, to assurances he'll put things right, to ‘the cheque is in the post’.