Another screw up by tony's corvette shop ...

[combustables]

My nightmare with tony's corvette shop in Gaithersburg MD continues. They replaced the heads on my car and took 7 months to finish the job, I drove the car a few times after I got it back and it broke down AGAIN. The incompetent mechanic that did the work already made numerous mistakes but this one beats them all.​

I was driving when the dash board suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. I quickly drove home a 1/2 mile away and opened the hood to see what was up.​

Upon examining the damage, I noticed that my belt had come off. After I pulled the belt off and visually checked everything, I saw that my powermaster chrome alternator housing was broken and that the AIR pump bracket was cracked.​

There was a bolt sticking out of the top of the AIR pump where the engine brace is located. Actually one bolt had completely come off and another bolt was resting around the thermostat housing area and the other one was completely unthreaded and sticking out barely hanging there.​

This is what happened as a result.​

http://www.labib.com/c4/DSCN3960.JPG
http://www.labib.com/c4/DSCN3961.JPG
http://www.labib.com/c4/DSCN3962.JPG​

I've used tony's corvette shop for straight forward stuff before and they were ok. This screw-up is absolutely unforgivable though. Tony might be a nice polite guy but the arrogant idiot mechanic that did the work just chaps my hide. I've talked with tony about 2 other previous discoveries and he apologized but I won't talk to him anymore. I can only complain so much about crappy work. I just HOPE I don't experience more "bad stuff" as a result of the original shoddy work.​

BTW, I examined the bolts that came loose and they did NOT have any sign of loctite on them at all which is why I suspect the guy threaded them by hand and later forgot about them .... I barely put a couple of hundred miles on the car when this happened.​

I ordered a new powermaster alternator and found a used AIR bracket from vette2vette. The chrome alternator is backordered from summit and I can't drive my convertible for a second summer in a row. Thanks tony's corvette shop....​

This was supposedly one of the best shops in the area .... I can't imagine letting them work on ANY of my cars after this ...​

 

[Schrade]

'Chroming' metal changes the molecular structure. It will shatter like the alternator case has. The bracket looks like it shattered too, which doesn't looked chromed :confused .

Did they clean it in an acid tank?

 

[combustables]

'Chroming' metal changes the molecular structure. It will shatter like the alternator case has. The bracket looks like it shattered too, which doesn't looked chromed :confused .

Did they clean it in an acid tank?

The powermaster factory called to let me know they repaired the alternator and installed a new housing and it's on its way back. They said they had never seen such a catastrophic housing failure before. I told them what happened and they concur. They only charged for replacing the one part and shipping. Very cool folks and I'm still buying American.

They sell these all day long at summit and this was the first one they had seen like that. I honestly doubt that it was metal fatigue.

I'm sure as daylight it was the moron mechanic that didn't tighten the bracket bolts correctly. That much force distributed unevenly on one bolt will shear brackets and cause exactly what I saw.

 

[tcxd40]

Sorry to hear of your run of bad luck. I would have stop using that shop with the first problem!

Just another reason I do 99.9% of my own work. Get the manual and learn.

You not only save money you also can help another VETTER with your experince.

The CAC is just a great place to learn from what others have done.

tcxd40

 

[tonyponykay]

thanks for the heads up, Md resident

I bought my 87 vert from a guy that had work done at Tony's, I have his receipts... I noticed how expensive some of the work was..

something like 134 dollars for an OIL CHANGE!

come on now... thats a bit ridiculous isn't it?

I feel for you, that's one of the worst shop experiences I've ever heard of.

Reason I bought my vettes is to work on them myself. I don't trust any mechanic in the area except one that has a shop near my house. Been good to me. Don't know if he works on vettes though. He's a Japanese car mechanic mostly. Worked on my 95 Formula though, and he hated it..

Advised me to buy a Toyota, but my wife has one and I really don't like them. I could just about push that thing around faster. I feel like Fred Flintstone in her Rav 4. I refuse to even drive it anymore so I just sit in the passenger seat. It's nice in the traffic cause she can drive and I don't have to... can't stand the traffic. Give me a country road and my vette.

Good information about that shop, thanks for the heads up because I live in Md and was considering taking it there in case of any serious issues.

Good luck with yours,
tk :bash

 

[Scrrem]

This was supposedly one of the best shops in the area .... I can't imagine letting them work on ANY of my cars after this ...

Wow, I had heard the same thing...suppose to be one of the top shops. Guess I need to get my shop manual out and learn to do the work myself.
Rich

 

[Rob]

I'm surprised to hear this because when I lived down there - in Reston and Sterling, Tony's was one of the best shops around. I actually toured his facility with a Corvette Club and was blown away. It's an amazing shop and Tony and his mechanics were very cordial and personable.

 

[Schrade]

I'm surprised to hear this because when I lived down there - in Reston and Sterling, Tony's was one of the best shops around. I actually toured his facility with a Corvette Club and was blown away. It's an amazing shop and Tony and his mechanics were very cordial and personable.

Tour? Was it scheduled? Or UN-scheduled???

 

[combustables]

I'm surprised to hear this because when I lived down there - in Reston and Sterling, Tony's was one of the best shops around. I actually toured his facility with a Corvette Club and was blown away. It's an amazing shop and Tony and his mechanics were very cordial and personable.

Rob,

Tony is a personable guy. He's polite and cordial. That wasn't my complaint. My exact problem lies in the quality of the work that was done and how long the job took to complete.

Since I paid time and material, I expected a timely job. Instead the work took 7 months when any good shop could have done it in 2 weeks.

The work itself was very shoddy. the first problem was the destruction of heavy duty wiring I had special ordered for the 2 spal cooling fans that were installed. Tony acknowledged the mistake and paid for the wiring by deducting from the very inflated bill of about $4000 dollars. The second problem was that the abs compartment was flooded with brake fluid and since the car sat there for months, the abs unit and some of the line connections actually rusted out. The ABS light has been on since and they never adressed that.

The third problem was that Tony subbed out the transmission work to an aamco shop and the car ran terribly after I picked it up from them. I brought it back to Tony's and they discovered a broken spark plug and fixed that. The fourth problem was that they lost parts I actually gave them to install. I meticulously made out a list of parts to install and some were uninstalled and missing when I got everything back thrown together in 2 big boxes.

I had bought individual electrical connectors for the harness and they installed used pigtails instead. I got back some of the electrical connectors but not all. Finally, the door spring had broken off and I was never told about it. I had to ask the forum guys for help and that was an easy fix.

I drove the car for exactly 220 miles before this last problem occured where the brackets and alternator broke off as a result of bolts not being tightened or even installed as some forum members suspect.

So you see, this long ordeal was full of problems and I became COMPLETELY disenchanted with the polite lip service I got. Actions speak louder than words, and this experience was a bad one. I can't imagine Tony being rude with all these issues.

My final impression was that Tony kept putting my "job" on the back burner in order to accommodate more lucrative work that kept coming in. I was under the assumption that since the shop was allegedly top notch that I should accept the delay. That was a bad mistake on my behalf. As soon as the second month went by, I should have stuck to my hunch and just pulled the car out of there and figured out that I was being taken advantage of. I might have even saved some of the damage that finally ocurred as a result of the the bad work done by that incompetent mechanic.

You might have had a nice tour there, but that's not what I was interested in. I wanted good work done for a his advertised price and that is DEFINITELY NOT what I got.

Thanks
Lee

 

[KANE]

...I wanted good work done for a his advertised price and that is DEFINITELY NOT what I got...

Lee-

Isn't it hard to find a "healthcare" professional for our cars??? I'll give you a lot of credit for giving folks second chances!


My $.02- I've gotten to the point that I "interview" mechanics the way I would a babysitter for my son... I also do this well in advance of needing their services!

I get the feeling you're looking for another shop.... so-

FWIW- Things I ask are:

• What do you charge?
• What certifications do you have?
• What experience do you have with X (Corvettes, etc) cars?
• Can I visit you at your shop for a tour?
• Can I talk with your mechanics?
• How do you divide the work?
• What is your approach to repairs & troubleshooting?
• How long is turn around for common repairs / services?

If someone doesn't want to meet me- I won't do business with them. If I'm not important enough for the owner of the shop to talk with me- I won't be important enough when I have a service issue. Transparency is very important to me.

So, as you look... I'd say don't discount a shop that isn't specifically for Corvettes. Good work that satisfies you and someone you can trust is hard to come by!

Example 1- my mechanic became my friend. Doug Swope in Manhattan, KS (Doug's Autocraft) who was the only guy I'd let come near my 1978 Vette. He worked on everything- however, his passion was Corvettes. He did the TH350 to 700R4 swap for me.

Example 2- a large, local "Corvette" shop (someone who advertises Corvette as a speciality) that I found NOT to be what I was looking for. When I was going about interviewing shops well in advance of my 1980's engine replacement, a local "Corvette" shop said (paraphrased) "bring me $5k and we'll talk about an engine I can build for you. No cash in my hand- no talk about what I can do." Needless to say, I went to another shop (a small shop) and was very happy. Art (the small shop) is the only guy I'll let near my cars.



Anyway, good luck on your search- let us know when you find someone and how your experience with them goes!

 

[combustables]

Hi Johnny,

Thanks very much for your excellent advice. I saved it as a checklist for the next shop that I will do any work next time.

I'm not sure who it will be but I've been asking around and have found a couple of places that I will try next time. One is around the Baltimore area which is a good 50 plus miles away but I don't mind going that far for good work.

As you said, no one looks forward to "healthcare" services but they are inevitable and I'll be sure to post my experience the next time anybody does anything to either vette.

I've been a fan of this forum and the plant/museum since I visited a couple of years ago . I opted for an R8C museuem delivery option and I can honestly say that was one of the best experiences I've ever had. The plant was extremely impressive (and spotless) and the people were outstanding. Folks came up to us and thanked us for buying and my wife was thrilled and impressed with the personalized approach. The museum folks were fantastic and very professional. Too bad the CTS-V isn't made there. That's our next car

Thanks again!
Lee

 

[gtobethesda]

Tony's

No disrespect to anyone. We're talking about only my experience. I've been going to Tony's for seven years now. I'm VERY particular about the work that is done on my Vette. I grew up working on my own muscle cars... I know enough to know what I'm looking at. Tony has been nothing but honest (including the fact that he is expensive.)

He's done lots of work for me over the years...and always done it right. Or very occasionally when I didn't like something (and that was me being picky), he's immediately corrected it, often himself. Always at no additional cost.

One Friday night I was stuck in horrible traffic with my wife to pick up my car and Tony personally stayed (just for me) until 8 pm. On a Friday! That is service! Who else would do that for a customer? I could not be more happy with Tony or his shop. For me I happily get what I pay for.

Cheers,
Martin

 

[combustables]

Tony's corvette shop in Maryland.

Hi,

Thanks for voicing your opinion and relaying your experience. I actually have not been back after the series of experiences I went through so I can't speak to his service now.

The funny thing is that I was after precision and correctness at any price but couldn't get it and in the end got offers to lessen the price (as if that mattered to me)...

Generally, (and this has been my own experience), people don't dramatically change quickly. Nevertheless, I hope Tony treats other first time customers with more care.

Good luck!

 

[tonyponykay]

mechanics...blegh

i've been to hundreds of mechanics and found that they all are either arrogant or dumb and couldn't find a hole if they fell into it...

the worst experience I ever had was at F body in Maryland, wow, what a bunch of arrogant idiots...they did much the same to my transam that your guy did to your car Lee. 5 times returned for an oil leak that only got worse, they dropped a spark plug and claimed that it came out bent from my cylinder, and that they couldn't get another one in without taking the head off and checking the cylinder...I gave them an excellent running transam with a mere oil leak and they gave me back a wreck after 2800 dollars and a month later....I've never taken my cars, 2 vettes, to a mechanic.. I even buy my tires online and take my wheels off one by one and have they change the tire on the each wheel without taking my car there. I don't trust any of them after the horrible experiences I've had...no way no how...anybody but me is touching my cars... period

this site has been my lifeline and a source of tremendous help and knowledge. thanks to the kind people here, I've managed to do my own work...

Thank you all
tony

 

[Toms007]

No disrespect to anyone. We're talking about only my experience. I've been going to Tony's for seven years now. I'm VERY particular about the work that is done on my Vette. I grew up working on my own muscle cars... I know enough to know what I'm looking at. Tony has been nothing but honest (including the fact that he is expensive.)

He's done lots of work for me over the years...and always done it right. Or very occasionally when I didn't like something (and that was me being picky), he's immediately corrected it, often himself. Always at no additional cost.

One Friday night I was stuck in horrible traffic with my wife to pick up my car and Tony personally stayed (just for me) until 8 pm. On a Friday! That is service! Who else would do that for a customer? I could not be more happy with Tony or his shop. For me I happily get what I pay for.

Cheers,
Martin

Martin, thanks for posting your experiences and welcome to CAC. I do hope that you find lots here to keep you coming back.

 

[93Rubie]

i've been to hundreds of mechanics and found that they all are either arrogant or dumb and couldn't find a hole if they fell into it...

the worst experience I ever had was at F body in Maryland, wow, what a bunch of arrogant idiots...they did much the same to my transam that your guy did to your car Lee. 5 times returned for an oil leak that only got worse, they dropped a spark plug and claimed that it came out bent from my cylinder, and that they couldn't get another one in without taking the head off and checking the cylinder...I gave them an excellent running transam with a mere oil leak and they gave me back a wreck after 2800 dollars and a month later....I've never taken my cars, 2 vettes, to a mechanic.. I even buy my tires online and take my wheels off one by one and have they change the tire on the each wheel without taking my car there. I don't trust any of them after the horrible experiences I've had...no way no how...anybody but me is touching my cars... period

this site has been my lifeline and a source of tremendous help and knowledge. thanks to the kind people here, I've managed to do my own work...

Thank you all
tony

Does this go for your daily drivers too? Never take them to any mechanic?

You had better rephrase your words or be prepared to eat them. I take expectation with the ALL part. Especially after the day I had, come walk a mile in my moccasins, and see the color of the grass on my side of the fence.

 

[KANE]

Ok... old thread. ;squint: