blasian

iTrader: (29)

I'm gonna have to agree with Rude as well. That's saying a lot considering he and I never agree

tig488

iTrader: (18)

everybody swings on their installers nuts until something happens that pisses them off. then they proceed to the next shop that fixes that previous mistake....until that shop farts in the wrong direction....and the cycle repeats itself over and over, constantly swinging from this shops nuts to that shops nuts while they say they arent nutswingers, eventually they run out of nuts.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

Thank you sir! That means a lot.

iStan

iTrader: (29)

I've stayed away from the drama for so long... Rude and I have butt heads on certain matters, but I will say, he has never deviated from exposing the truth regardless of what or who it was. Commendable.

blasian

iTrader: (29)

Just callin' it like I see it sir. I respect the consistency

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Stan.

rcdash

iTrader: (18)

I gave Scott the benefit of the doubt as well, much to my chagrin later. I'm not so willing to condemn folks on a whim when their livelihood is at stake. I even talked to him on the phone to try to understand his side of things. I only knew him through a single transaction (VRT STB). It quickly became clear that he just didn't operate in the same reality when he could simply deny the allegations with no logical explanations whatsoever.

Sharif hasn't been on here defending himself against every accusation, whether it's based in fact or not. He hasn't refuted that he needs to do better. As someone who has dealt with his shop repeatedly with over $40k worth of transactions (some great, admittedly a few not), I think FP has been and has the potential to be a great asset to this community. So yes, I think they deserve an opportunity to turn things around.

You guys want to just destroy and wreak havoc on the forums in the name of saving the community? You ask why you should give Forged Performance a second chance? Why the **** not if there's a chance they can do better? It's about our future as a community on this platform. Do you want to see a great shop emerge out of this turmoil or do you want it to just go away?

Highway Riding

iTrader: (6)

this sums it all up!

iStan

iTrader: (29)

Doug/OP.

I am sorry to hear, I can't imagine what you're feeling right now. Best of luck to you. I hope this gets resolved quickly and you're back on the road enjoying your car, because in the end, that's what matters. Hopefully all the attention you receive will allow you the best results in a timely fashion.

bbs350z

iTrader: (85)

wow, this is almost overwhelming. last year i almost took my car to forged...from wisconsin. im not knocking shariff or forged, as i agree with xkr and other posts, sometimes techs do things managers/owners cant see (but should see) but in the ops defense, it was obvious where the error was and who was negligent.

sadly, this isnt the first bad ive heard about forged. names wont be thrown around, should he choose to speak he will do so on his own.

i believe that with the economy being in its current state, people will scramble to do unmeasurable things for that extra buck, even at their "valued" customers expense, which is sad, because ultimately when that valued customer is dissatisfied they usually mention something, and word of mouth is the largest form of capitalization there is.

i too have had my share of troubles at yet another reputable shop thast many others have gone too (name being withheld). car sat for 6 months, and had absolutely nothing done, missing parts, ordered and paid for parts never received, shifting blame, etc. bottom line, i do all of my own work, and for the most part, i just dont trust other shops to do the same thing i can do.

i hope all works out well for the op. thanks go out to sam at gtm

CRIDDA

iTrader: (10)

r0mey

iTrader: (35)

So the question is what is forged gonna do now? Everyone keeps giving their opinion but no one knows what Sharif will do.

buzzardmountain

iTrader: (17)

I would say time will tell.......just sit back and wait for Forged and the OP to work it out. But that's not the nature of forums.....

XKR

iTrader: (1)

Let me remind you of somethings Eric and others....

You have forgotten that when MrS left VRT ...I gave him another chance even though I was indirectly screwed.... My brother was.. I have even posted that in the MrS thread. I gave SGP a second chance to clean up.... I am sure you remember that. I flew from Florida to Houston to get info on your transmission... Did the same for 3 more of you..... Why??? Because I am just that kind of person.... plus I just got a new flying toy. But never the less.... I had your back because I felt you would have done the same for me.

Now you all are asking me to turn by back on Sharif? Why can't I grant him the same I have given others?? I would do the same for Intense, SP, SFR,Injected, GTM and others...... Matter of fact I did that not too long ago for one of the shops on that list. I handled it through pm.

I have stated that I agree about most of what's being said..... But success can blur a mans vision.... Trust me... I know!!! Ask my wife!!!

Sharif picked up a hobby with this time attack.... Left his shop in the hands of whoever..... **** falls apart .... No one on here cannot say that he does not know what he is doing. I have given him many projects to to....and he has come through all the time.....Some feel it's because of who I am.....but what about Raj, Paul, Dil just to name a few? If Sharif was just a hack....I would not have spent over 120k with him....I am too smart to have someone screw me over and not say something. Even if I find out later....well...let me just say I am too vindictive of a person to let them get away with it. A hack could not have done the last project I gave him to do

Today is 4-20-10....... If another car leaves FP in the horrendous condition that I have seen so far.....I will stop supporting FP and they will never get anymore business from me....

One of the customers involved contacted me...I won't say who... If he wants he can say.....I gave him my honest opinion of what I would do if it were me in his/ her shoes. My advise was not to help FP.....it was my honest opinion.

Am I angry that this all came out???.....No! I am glad it did....this is about the community not one man or shop. if a shop is f-ing up.....I want to know....it's all about helping the community. What I am upset about is that the OP did not post it sooner......We could have helped save some customers some headache.

Now I will be in ATL to speak with Sharif....phone call can't fix this.....but like I said...I will be buying a new Nissan and giving it to FP and GTM to complete in a contracted time. I am even willing to have it shipped to every shop listed above to go over and list the issues they have found all at my expense.

I will also post the bill on line for everyone to see.....maybe everyone should do that....if it's out there...less chance of mistakes.....

But like I said....the customers were wronged and should be taken care of in a fair manner. I feel that future customers will get the same good treatment I and
other have received ....not because of me....but because of all this coming out in the open.

Alberto

iTrader: (14)

I dont know if you posted this towards me but if you did....

I would never simply leave a shop, stop "representing" them, stop sending people there and in the end bash them for p!ssing me off.

I didnt leave AAM when Mike p!ssed me off, I didnt leave AAM when I found clips missing under the hood, etc. I left because he flat out lied to my face and lied about parts that went on my car. For that I will bash AAM and Mike to no end.

I didnt leave Forged because the rebuild took 2X as long as the original build. I didnt leave Forged when on my way home my fuel system leaked and I was left stranded near Atlanta on the side of the road at 3am. Every car and shop will run into issues, and Sharif had always done right by the issues and by me....then things changed.

I left because I had soooo many issues with my rebuild that simply werent excusable to me. Things that tell me nothing other than "we dont give a $hit about your car" Things as simple as clips missing and as serious as tunes that stuttered so much it made Mike @ AAM look like a fawkin champion tuner. Not to mention something as simple as a bulleted list of issues wasnt close to being complete before I arranged to fly and drive down the remainder of the way, its not like Im around the fawking corner.

When a relationship reaches that point between shop and customer, and the shop, willingly OR UNWILLINGLY clearly shows thru their work that they dont care anymore, I have to move on. In my case, as is with this case here, Sharif "stepped up" and was willing to fix it on his timeline-because my problems were my fault for rushing him While that has some merit to some people on here, not having screwed up so big in the first place (all while depositing tens of thousands of dollars) is the better thing to do.

Unlike MOST OF YOU, even the FP huggers of today, I had the pleasure of being an early FP customer, and seeing what a great shop that was to be a part of, the experience was exceptional.

I have also seen the "new" FP, and how they treat people, issues, concerns, and cars is that is not what Im about.

tig488

iTrader: (18)

no bert it wasnt directed at you, just a blanket statement of how things go down here.

although FP has not done a complete build for me, so I have not gone thru what you guys have, I have known him and have been a customer of Sharifs longer than most as well. I was in his first GB for pistons and rods that he did 6 or 7 years ago, and ive dealt with him multiple times since then. i always felt like he was honest. call me crazy but I wouldnt hesitate to let him do a build for me even now.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

Mike,

I have to respectfully disagree about the 2nd chances on this crucial distinction... once we (those of us on the Recon Unit) became aware of numerous victims both publicly on the forums and behind the scenes, those shops/shop owners were written off as scammers and bad apples. Most of the victims or people with intel approached you back then.

This time around... several people have initiated contact with me and did not approach you for obvious reasons, given your closeness to the man & shop they were spilling beans about. I hope you can understand their apprehensions and concerns without taking it personally. I received 1st hand stories from customers as far back as 3+ years ago. I also received info 2nd hand from people who approached Forged customers to ask questions about their setup and were seriously considering taking their cars also to Forged. However the customers told them nightmare stories of their ordeals that dissuaded these potential customers from taking their cars to Forged. All the stories shared common complaints:

1. poor/shoddy/incompetent workmanship
2. getting the runaround from Sharif himself
3. Sharif dragging his feet to make things right within a reasonable time frame
4. Sharif using coercion to discourage them from posting negatively on the forums, including threats of refusing to fix the issues/problems with the car to threatening lawsuits

In addition, some of the stories included allegations of fraud reference parts that were paid for. Based on the stories I was told... it was quite clear that the alleged problems were way beyond the scope of QC issues and Sharif spending too much time away from the shop, since many of the allegations involved Sharif himself and how they were directly treated by him personally.

After these people came forward and confided in me, whether intentional or not... you compared them to Tiger's "******" and made reference to false victims. NO WONDER THESE GUYS ARE APPREHENSIVE TO COME FORWARD TO YOU AND/OR PUBLICLY ON THE FORUMS TO SHARE THEIR STORIES!

FWIW, I'm encouraging these guys to come forward and post their experiences publicly. I have even encouraged them to do so in your Shop Rating thread. But with Juan and Doug already being threatened with lawsuits for doing just that... it doesn't help alleviate their apprehensions for coming forward. I made a promise to each of these people that I would not reveal their identities. Ultimately, it is their decision as to whether any of them decide to post. However, I could not in good conscience remain silent after everything I was told from multiple sources. Especially with people/info that came to me UNSOLICITED.

And Mike... I will always be grateful for your efforts to mediate with Mark Gust/SGP on my behalf regarding my trans. I will never forget that.

bbs350z

iTrader: (85)

in my experience, theres a difference in treatment between customer and shop when you give them a blank check, compared to working on a budget. one of those companies xkr listed was that kind of company(not fp in this case). i gave them a time frame of 1 month for simple simple things(tune, flash, check over my work i had done), which turned to 2 monthsecu troubles which i wasnt upset about), which equated out to 5 months. there were times i was told theyd get to my car the next day only to find out they hadnt started even 2 weeks later because they "had more cars come in", which really shows how much they care. i was even told "hey, you gotta get your car out of here or else itll sit ouside in the loading dock". mind it was december in the midwest. what kind of shop can call themselves a shop and treat a customer that way? this is just a small example.

its not just forged, i feel its the complete tuning shop community that needs work. some offer exceptional service, some dont, but the problem lies in with people not speaking up about their bad experiences. as alberto said, its them taking in too many cars, in every shop. knock out a few cars in the time itd take to do correctly will surely yeild more profit, but the quality isnt there. its not a good feeling having a once sides roamnce with a shop that turns out garbage.

go-fast

so that 20k bill from sam is only for taking it apart?

Glex25

iTrader: (11)

Maybe the invoice is just a appraisal of the future work needed

Staying out of this but I agree with Rude where there have been previous hints
from other members about not being happy with the work performed and were
afraid of speaking out.