365 motor assy complete with transmission

Seems to me that the dollar amounts are significant enough to warrant investigating legal action or at least consult with Canadian counsel on what course of action you might consider given the laws in Ontario.

We now have seen two very detailed and egregious examples of bad behavior from this shop. Plus I have had pm correspondence from another 400i owner about his dissatisfaction with what was done to his car. It is one thing to overcharge for work if the work is done to perfection but in both of these cases the charges have been astronomical and the work has been inferior.

I hope that you can get some satisfaction and justice out this, Mitch!

 

Yeah I try pretty hard to give people the benefit of the doubt especially since only one side has been presented. But we have to be honest and agree this is not the first, or even the second, time these kind of allegations have been raised against Brett. It really doesn't look good for him.

 

Yeah, I remember that with willrace...he made a pretty good case back then but you're right.
But now, all I can say is 'Wow'! Good that it is being disclosed

 

Mitch, I've been off F-Chat for a while and am really saddened to hear that you have this problem.

We all know that there are 3 sides to every story but surely no restoration company can continually come under fire for behaving like this unless their is some truth to the stories. I know that misunderstanding and mistakes happen but on the surface this seems to go way past simple errors and borders on something far more deeply concerning.

If you've made payments by bank transfer it's easy to prove how much money has been paid - I know it's easy to get angry and take legal action but is there no way that that this can be resolved through compromise between yourself and Brett so neither of you suffer the expense (and stress) that this would cause ? With regards the stress - God knows you personally have gone through enough the past couple of years and could well do without it.

There must be a way out of this other than feeding the legal piranha's - the legal system structure seems to ensure that only they win whilst you both lose.

Which is a real shame.

 

I'm not sure if interesting is the word I'd use..I'd go with something like, confusing... or disappointing... and I'd certainly throw an 'unfortunate' into the mix somewhere.
In the meantime, for those interested, below is one many threads that Mitch has started on the car...I'll add his threads and posts as well... for some reason they're very, very different to the current one.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/467762-mitchells-365-a.html

2 V-12's…neither in the car, one completely in pieces, with a wiped out crank and missing dozens of parts, not mention all hardware…the other with a wiped out thrust, cracked block and bell housing…2 gearboxes to go through, nothing but rotted and rusty hardware, in moldy, crumbling boxes, a dozen carbs...a body need of extensive work, hopeless paint, exhaust, brakes, suspension, interior.. in short, everything...none of which was communicated in advance, with exception of repairing the cracked bell housing...but once it was at my shop, Mitch started talking about restoring it.

If anybody thinks that 1000-1200 hours is a lot for the that was required here, well, they just don't know what these projects take...they just don't... and the hours listed are 'hands-on' only, including no time for parts hunting, transport of the non-running car to the painter and back, hauling the interior around to the upholsterer, 3 hour roundtrips to the crank grinder, etc., etc., etc.

Then add to that an equally poor condition, equally misrepresented Maserati Merak that showed up at our at door and, sure, your going to have long time frames and two big invoices..and, furthermore, our directive from Mitch was clear, the second motor was the lowest priority... so we treated it as such. There were, however, supply issues that set us back when we could have finished the second motor sooner... and anybody whose recently tried to buy cam bolts, cam bolt washers, cam dowels, timing chain pads or a Reynolds tensioner will know that these parts were just not available, anywhere... and when that happens, we need to make headway on other projects, two of which were ahead of Mitch in the 'que' but were finished after his.

The 365 was delivered to Mitch in February and the Maserati in May although, for effect, that's left ambiguous in this thread... regardless, the difference with the Maserati is we were allowed the time to road test and debug...we weren't given the time to do that with the 365...against all of our advice, Mitch just had to have the car back so it could sit in his new garage...in February... and with the benefit of hindsight he's expressed to me and others what a mistake that was… his mistake.

According to his own statements in this thread and others on F-CHAT, the Maserati is "wonderful", exceeding all expectations... and frankly, until this thread, he said the same about the 365...many times, in many threads...so, again, it's all very confusing.

Unfortunately, Mitch trusted an unqualified local mechanic to change his spark plugs immediately after delivery...and not only did that mechanic burn his QP3 to the ground and ruin his new SD1, he also bashed in 12 new spark plugs, two of which had no gap whatsoever. So, from day one when the weather cleared, Mitch has been driving around on 10 cylinders, washing down the other two... over a 1000 miles... and while I would have thought that a multiple 365/400/400i owner would have recognized that something was not right, apparently he didn't... perhaps that's part of the problem right now...but I'm really not sure because this has gone sideways so fast that I simply haven't been able figure it out. Nevertheless, the fact that he's tried to lay another mechanics well documented negligence at my door step is a very, very low blow... and while I sincerely hope his new motor isn't ruined, I'll address that slanderous implication separately and accordingly.

I'll continue to address other comments here as time allows...

 

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/411258-off-restoration-365gt4-2-2-1976-a.html

 

You've crossed the line... entering dangerous territory... consider this your only warning... here's your thread about it...

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/494943-broken-rings.html

and here's your message to me when you inform me for the first time about discovering your plug issue... my reply shows first with your initial message to me below that... now stop it.




So you've been running on 10 cylinders all this time ???
So you've been washing down 2 cylinders all this time ???
For Christ sake…


NO WONDER IT HAD A ROUGH IDLE !!!
NO WONDER IT HAD UNBURNT FUEL IGNITING IN THE EXHAUST AND FLAMING OUT OF THE TAIL PIPES !!!


I'll be surprised if there isn't some damage to the rings/cylinder…maybe not, but it isn't good, obviously.
That motor had 185-190 psi all around before it shipped.
I sincerely hope that you haven't damaged that motor.


Noise from the chain area means that you need to adjust… takes 5 minutes.


Can't comment on the throttle linkage issue…other than that I think it's bull****…but, whatever.


You should have let us finish the car with the proper amount of road testing after the snow cleared.


Patience is a virtue…



Sent from Surface


From: mitchell barnes
Sent: ‎Saturday‎, ‎August‎ ‎29‎, ‎2015 ‎9‎:‎28‎ ‎AM
To: [email protected]


On the car. Remember spark plugs had to be changed because Will pumped the gas. Well two plugs had no gap��. The car is at a shop on Ind. that is where the spark plug issue was discovered. They started Friday. Compression 145-170. All over the map. They hear a noise in the timing chain area that needs checking. Throttle linkage will only open 3/4's. I will know more in less than 30 days. And will let you know
Sent from my iPhone

 

Post # 5...five months after delivery...

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/488066-wanted-365gt4-2-2-400-carb-version.html

 

Have a look Mohammed...Mitchell's post is very misleading.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/365-gt4-2-2-400-412/467762-mitchells-365-a.html

The 365 was delivered in February and the Maserati in May... considering how misrepresented the condition the cars were, I think we delivered in a very reasonable time.

Spare motor was lowest priority... it was in peices and missing dozens of parts upon arrival.

Besides the aforementioned Reynolds tensioner, cam bolts, cam washers and dowels, even Elring head gaskets and carb rebuild kits were impossible to get for long periods of time.

Like everyone else, we're at the mercy of parts availability.

 

Was that it Mitch ? Was that the conversation that caused this ? Was your pride hurt that badly ? I guess so..but all I was trying to do was explain that having dedicated so much time to your cars and motors over the past two years, I needed to get caught up on other projects...that's all.

 

Yes, Mitch, having to work with a customer in that position was difficult for us too... but your health was far from the only issue, as every day was a 'whole new ball game'...
one day it was "I sick,hold off"...3 days later "push on"...4 days later "I'm broke"...2 days later "find me a Maserati Royale"..." no, forget about the Royale, my garage contracter f#cked me, I'm broke again..."

It was non-stop drama in cryptic little snippets from beginning to end... the guys had to constantly ask if we were working on your stuff or not...I hardly knew what to say from one day to the next.

 

And that's all this was, an ill-conceived power play to force shipment.

 

That's right...and this is what I bought, just so I could strap your motor.

Am I the only who didn't have one these ?

Strange, I never needed one before...
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Simply untrue... that's all I say about this.

 

Careful Tim... you should know better...if you think there aren't any rumors coming out of that part of the world, well then...

Brandon Blex, for example ? 330 motor ? Ring any bells ?

I give his story little credit but, again, you should no better.

 

Hmmm...are any within a 100 mile radius...or...

 

Thanks Sam, it's good to know that I can always count on you to 'pile on' after hearing one side of the story.

All of Mitch's deposit are 'wired' directly into my incorporated business account... do you think that either my bookkeeper or my accountant would allow 2 years worth of deposits go 'unaccounted' for ? Come on... do you believe everything you read on blogs ?

 

This might actually be the most disappointing part of this...

"continual problem" Dave ? really ?

10 years in business, over 125 customers (most of whom don't play on F-CHAT all day), over 200 different Ferrari's and Maserati's through our doors... and you call this "continual" ?

 

If "your word is your bond", why are you lying now ?

And you know you are.

 

Saturday, August 29, 2015 9:28am

Mitchell Barnes to
GTbrettski @rogers.com

UPDATE

On the car. Remember spark plugs had to be changed because Will pumped the gas. Well two plugs had no gap��. The car is at a shop on Ind. that is where the spark plug issue was discovered. They started Friday. Compression 145-170. All over the map. They hear a noise in the timing chain area that needs checking. Throttle linkage will only open 3/4's. I will know more in less than 30 days. And will let you know
Sent from my iPhone

 

Hmmm...

 

Nonsense... you were totally aware of that situation long before you ever sent me your stuff Mitch and we talked about it many, many times...
it's precisely why you 're doing this the way you are !

So come on man, leave the theatrics aside and let's just focus on the facts.

 

Don't shoot at me Brett. Would you like me to post the PM's you sent me where you talk about how badly you screwed up Kurt's deal by not providing estimates, invoices, or agreements in writing?
I'm warning you Brett right now.....Don't shoot at me.