I ordered a procharger to be installet at Altered Atmosphere around the 20th of july. I talked to the owner on the phone and we set aug 11th as the day for me to bring my car down ( I live 2 hours away). I was told that my car would be done on wensday, or thursday at the latest.

Mike called me to confirm the appointment. Then when I go to drop the car off he tells me friday or saturday at the latest. I call today and get told that my cart has not even been started, and that realistically it would be monday or tuesday.

They claim this is due to scheduleing conflicts. I've been scheduled for weeks and now I am sitting without a car while my car sits there not getting worked on. I was hoping that this shop would be different than most of the others, but I am having serious regrets about taking my car there.

 

Sorry to hear about that, I know how that feels and that pisses me off too. They better not pull that **** with me when I bring my car up.

 

It's not that I'm pissed that it is taking so long, It is the fact that I've been getting ********ted this whole time. I saw that Dr Bonz's car was down there and they say that they have to complete his car first. Too bad, I don't give a **** what they have to do, all I care about is them doing what they said they would.

 

I agree 100% with what you are saying. Hopefully they will make it right, might be too late. Keep us posted.

 

The other mike told me that he would call me tommorrow and let me know for sure so we'll see how he handles this. I had big plans for my car andI thought that I had found a good place to modify my it, we'll see.

 

great, this is where I was thinking of getting my car done. Please update us on the progress as it goes along. I will be coming from NY so I would prefer to have my car out of commision for as little time as possible.

What are tehy charging for the full install?? Does it include tuning or just the installation???

 

Despite my anger towards this place right now I feel that I should not discuss the price that I paid for anything. I'll keep you guys posted, I am supposed to hear back from them tommorow. If they feed me a bunch of **** I'll walk.

 

Hey Guys -

I definatly understand everyone concerns in reference to having their cars worked on asap. Time is valuable, and not being able to drive your pride and joy everyday can make any day that much less exciting.

I've been involved in this Industry for nearly ten years now, as a customer and as a shop owner. One thing that is hard to understand, especially if you are just getting started with your car in the aftermarket performance arena, is that nine out of ten shops are looking to make a quick buck (especially the dot coms), eight out of those nine shops could really care less if your happy or not with what you buy – so long as they make a sale, seven out of those shops go out of business after two or three years, and customers from at least six out of those seven shops end up paying a lot of money somewhere else to get their cars fixed again and properly.

We are different in that our goal is to provide the best service and product at reasonable prices. This is extremely hard to do, but I am a firm believer that I can continue to make it work for many years to come.

But, at the same time, we are not for everyone. We work very well with customers that understand that our mission is to offer extremely reasonable pricing and the best quality service (installation) in our area. At the same time, these customers also understand that we fight an ongoing battle with scheduling and keeping a time schedules because nothing is written in stone in this industry. Many jobs / cars we expect to take less than a day, commonly take us two or three days.

This leads to major headaches when it comes to scheduling and always getting everyone’s car done right away. Because of this, I made the decision about a year ago now that our number one concern here at Altered is quality, and quality will always take precedence over getting the job done quickly.

So for those that do not mind bearing in with us for a few extra days from time to time, rest assured your products and services will be top notch. The extra time it took to get the car done right will more than be made up in the long run and we will make sure you end up with something that you can really enjoy and take pride in.

Thanks for reading,

 

It's a long drive...

Maybe try a vacation in Nashville for a few days?

Doug would be happy to install it!

 

I understand the way the business goes as this is not my first highly modified car. I am not upset that the install is going to take a week, that is completely understandable.

What pisses me off is that I was told wensday was the day when I paid the deposit, then friday or saturday when I dropped it off, Then today when I called I was told at the earliest Monday or Tuesday. Honestly I would not have done this mod at this time had I know I was gonna be out a car for at least a week.

 

I feel compelled to interject and add my 2 cents since I had work done at Altered Atmosphere and can offer an additional opinion.

A few months back, AA had a 350z dyno day with food, drinks and Q&A sessions. They answered my questions and were all around helpful. I decided on the spot to buy my AEM CAI from them. Not only did they sell it to me at a very fair price, but they installed it within the hour. Their workmanship was top notch and very reasonable.

I agree that if they realize that on average they are taking longer than they are estimating, that it is in everyone's interest to work toward better schedule management.

In the end, they will do a good job and hopefully they'll make it up to you in some way.

 

Thanks for the input. I have not heard anything bad about Altered Atmosphere at all. I have alot of respect for the shop, but Unfortunatlly I have plans for next week and was never even told of the possibility of not having my car.

 

Sorry if you feel that your delay may be due to my car but I ordered JUNE 27th and was supposed to have it started on August 4th. My kit didn't come in as expected so this delayed everyone (including me). I guess it is just a backlog of installs due to delayed shipments from ATI.

 

Bonz, I don't feel that you are in anyway responsible for my car being there longer. I was merely stating that I saw that you postewd pics of you car there a while ago, and when I got there your car had still not been started.

 

I heard the delay was caused by the inability to lift Bonz's hood due to the 42 layers of Zaino on it.

 

I've had "highly modified" cars for almost ten years and been part owner of a speed shop before. I'm completely with Del350 on this one. I understand that good work takes time. Every time I drop a car off (which is rare) I stress that I want two things, Perfection no matter how long it takes. I know nothing fits perfectly and it takes time to make it so. I could care less if it takes a month to complete a three day job, because in a year I'm going to remember not that it had taken a month but I am going to remember the problems that keep popping up due to poor work. And two do not ******** me. If you can't touch my car for two weeks tell me, do not take it and let it sit in the back. If you’re worth it I'll wait and be happy you told me up front. According to del350 they did not say" I estimate it to be done XX ". He said "No later Than". I'm hoping Del350 told them that he needed the car. They should have told him to hang on to the car, sorry about the wait but we have to finish this first. Not take it and park it out back. All anybody wants is to be provided with information. Of course there are two sides to every story however, AAM did not seem to be very apologetic but seems to imply if you what to use us you'll take it how we give it. When he states "we are not for everyone. We work very well with customers that understand that our mission is to offer extremely reasonable pricing and the best quality service (installation) in our area. At the same time, these customers also understand that we fight an ongoing battle with scheduling and keeping a time schedules because nothing is written in stone in this industry. Many jobs / cars we expect to take less than a day, commonly take us two or three days." and "So for those that do not mind bearing in with us for a few extra days from time to time". He completely avoided the statement by del350 about broken promises, he said nothing about the work taking to long since they did not start how could he? I’m sorry this is so long but only those who really care will read it all anyways. Also I’m glad AAM responded there are very few of the shops that would do that for us.
Gary

 

 

Come on now. It's only 41 layers and most of those where Z-2 which, as you know, is MUCH lighter than the Z-5.

 

I stand corrected......

 

IMO, AA owes this guy a big apology for not being able to deliver what they promised him. Quality of product and geting the job done in a timely manner are two different things. Both of which are reasonable expectations for any customer to have of a business. Missed deadlines are a part of business but that doesn't make it ok, Just a fact of life. But missing by close to a week is pushing it. I think this guy has a pretty good reason to be pissed at his installer. Too bad they didn't provide much of an apology. Just spin.