Back Yard Mechanics Grrrrrr......

[zx7thrills]

I live in Langley B.C, and I sold my 08 rev ski doo last season because I was tired of all the recalls and the belt problem I was having. Me and 2 other friends jumped ship and we all bought the cats. 2 m1000 and 1m8. I wanted to do my 09 m1000 up abit so this mechanic I met through a friend (whos a huge cat fan) talked me into buying this kit from cutler which had twin pipes with abunch of other stuff costing almost $3000 Canadian. He said no problem , you will get huge power etc...So trusting this guy knew what he was doing it sat in his shop for almost 2 months as he tried to get it working I guess. The first time I rode it, I made it about 10 min from parking lot and my throtle cable melted so I had to get towed back to parking lot. I took it back to this so called mechanic, he said its a waranty issue and orderd me a new one, and air mailed it as I was busting his balls to get it fixed right away.Well 2 weeks later the cable was in.He wanted me to pay for the entire job which I gave him 3k down to begin with, and I wasnt super cofortable paying it all up untill I knew it was running proper but I did anyways. Well when he told me $6000 my jaw just about hit the floor!!!plus the cable he put to close to my pipes. For twins air box reeds fuel mngmt fuel pressure etc.....He said he had over 200 hours into it.....I said whats your hourly rate. He replyd $85.... I cant belive a back yard mechanic that has kinda 1 employee, uses paint cans to hold sleds off the ground, dosent stock parts, no over head, other than his mg pmt, which most people have.Kamloops Artic cat charges $80 per hr and there in a multi million commercial building with stocked shelves and employee, a $10k computer that u hook up to the sleds that trouble shoot problems and there 5 bucks an hour less...... Anyways to make a long story short, I took my sled out for the third time last week and had nothing but problems $21000 into it and runs like crap. I wish I kept my ski doo now as there are lots of dealerships that do know what there doing. I deleted this mechanics number out of my phone as I wouldnt even let him work on my lawn mower. The boys in Prince George at Howies Marine started ripping it apart yesterday and found alot of things wrong with how he put kit together.
Anyways point is, becarefull who you use if not a dealership, if they have recently lost there full time job and decided to try and work on sleds all day to cover the bills watch out....or if they live on abby & alder grove border.......WELL RUN

 

[HILCLMR]

$21000 ?

I hope this guy gave you documentation, Does he have a license to do business? Is he licensed in any way? I would seriously be thinking of taking him to court. 200 hrs? to do what? it does not take 200hrs to build a motor let alone install a kit. It's not the sleds fault it's the guy doing the work. You should speak with a lawyer on this one. Don't let this guy get away with this.

 

[Going West]

that dude is a thief

I dont understand how he could possible have 200 hours into your sled. I just check out what was included in your cuttler performance package. and there is nothing that even requires you to pull the motor. I just finish doing all the same mods to my sled excepect it was a single pipe,(full speedwerx system rkt head, bdx intake, BDB, vforce reeds, side vents, rkt secondary, rox riser, left hand throttle, boss seat, knee pads, lead dog light, skis, and im shure theres some stuff i cant remember) and i might have a total of 25 hrs in the shop, this also includes lots of beer and vistiting. if some one worked steady it should take no longer then 8 hrs and thats if your very slow and had to figure every thing out for the first time.

for what you spent you could have had a cutler turbo for 7500 installed or 6500 if you did the work yourself.

sorry about your bad luck

 

[PCDOC]

That sucks........... you got taken to the cleaners. How could this guy have 200 hours into a kit???? Did he decide to RE-engineer the components? I'm no certified mechanic, but I'm sure I could rebuild at least 10 motors in that amount of time. Guess it's a good time for you to learn how to do this stuff yourself!!!!

 

[woodpecker]

Paint cans thats funny! you mean I could be making $50 more an hour!
x2 that on the attorney thing

 

[0neoldfart]

Hope you have a reciept...

I hope you have good documentation, as that repair bill constitutes rape. I am a liscenced journeyman (automotive) mechanic, and the CPC kit shouldn't take more then 7 hrs to install AND tune. I doubt I have 100 hrs in my M1K, and I've done a LOT more then that too it, including a new rear skid, tunnel, diamond drive, STM valves, RKT head, hood and venting, etc, etc, etc. Sorry to hear that there are people like that out there - in the future one should get an estimate prior to starting repars / mods. Good luck in court.

 

[evan3000]

Did you pay him already? pleases don't say you did with cash!!! Lots of hacks out there!!!! I'm sure the guy had good intentions but clearly isn't experienced. I take my sled to a smaller local shop!!! and would never use local dealer because I have heard of hack jobs coming out of there!!! Do your research before you drop your machine off!!!

 

[mtn_extreme]

I sympathize with your loss but in reading your story, it seems even you realize that your somewhat responsible. As posted , it isn't the machines fault, get it in a good dealers hand and your not going to wish for the doo back.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

yep...give the sled a decent chance...hope the new guys get it right for ya...sounds at least you were lucky enough not to have a major componant failure from the other clowns install....

 

[Grizzly Adams]

if you are not feeling like litigating then please post the azzhats name so we can trash his silly azz on here. I got some buds out that way who would love to have a new sled bashin story.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

maybe i don't need a name north or south of hwy on bradner???? Just fishin!

 

[likkerpig]

That is why you find out what a project costs before you do it. I'm not saying the guy was right in rapin you (or trying to) for 3,000 which is BS, but did you ever ask how many hours and how much is this going to cost? If you're not comfortable doing the mods yourself, TAKE IT TO A DEALER and pay their labor rate, as much as it sucks. Hopefully it will be a 1 time expense. What you're paying for in labor at the dealership is A) knowledgeable, trained and certified mechanics. B) a reputable dealer (of couse some are not...) and C) if they did something wrong, then you have recourse.

 

[SLEDIOT]

200hrs? Holy FU@$%CK!!!! You can pretty much hand file and machine all the parts to build a sled on yer own in that time. The few things you named off arent worth the 1st $3000 let alone $6k. I would unmake friends with him in a hurry. Maybe threaten to call revenue Canada and report his under the table financial state or els give some of yer money back. At the least you owe him for parts and some labor out of all fairness......

 

[zx7thrills]

hey LIKKERPIG, you must not have read my whole thread there. I said there is no dealership around where i live that does any wor on the cats. And I also said this back yard mechanic is $5 buck an hour more than the closest dealership which is 3.5 hrs away. Not sure what you ment there but wanted to make it as clear as I can for you ok, and yes I did get a verbal rough quote from this guy which was around the low 3k mark. Its hard with this guy to argue with him and belive me I have no problem staiting how I feel etc...but when he shows you on paper how everything ended up where it did its hard to tell him to f__k off when hes the guy that is suposed to have sled running propper. Yes I was too weak with this guy and should have told him to beat it along time ago. Its hard when your in the middle of work on your sled and all you are wishing for is it to be done.

 

[likkerpig]

No point in pissin on cold ashes, but in your original post you didn't say anything about the closest dealership being 3.5 hours away...but whatever, doesn't matter. Point of the thread is well taken- know who you let work on your stuff and make sure they're not some POS hack. I think there are good points that everyone could benefit from in this thread. On a personal note, I do truly hope you get your machine back and in great running order soon. Winter is always too short.

 

[zx7thrills]

Grizzly Adams

Ok I will give you a hint....his shop is on the South side of hwy and West of bradner.....lol....just so everyone knows I really just wish this guy told me when he got into it that he really didnt know what he was doing and that id be better bringing to someone else, and I would have been fine itleast knowing he MANED UP. But after talking to him on my cell phone when my spark plug wires kept popping off the plugs, when I was ridding whistler last week , broken down AGAIN and I felt that he really wasnt to intrested in helping me anymore, I said f%$k this and just deleted his number out of my cell phone and honest to god I put it up for sale later that night. Im glad I never sold it now that its at Howies Marine in Prince George. They found alot of things wrong with the work that BRAD of Powder Assults did..oooooppps. Howies says she is going like a raped ape now. Pulls super hard, so Im excited to get it back!!!! Now we just need snow...

 

[diggerdown]

You should sue him and take his tools away so he can screw someone else over too. Thats got to border on the verge of being criminal!

 

[rdr99]

BIG TOP POWER SPORTS in Chilliwack or Friesen in Langley, aren't these local Cat dealers...?

 

[zx7thrills]

Ya big top in Chilliwack is a cat dealer with no real sled mechanic as they arnt into sleds really. There main things are Suzuki motorcycles and Artic Cat quads. They have sold 2 sleds this year. I talked with owner and he even said they dont get into mods really as there mechanics dont have any experience with sleds all that much....And Frissen in Lang, never heard of them.

 

[steveo10]

200HRS?

i hope that cat can teleport after that!