Shop/Dealer Reviews and RECOMENDATIONS for Northeast
OMG two idiots.. 'The Shop' and 'ICS' .. then add 'XXTuning' to the list.. man we are in desperate need of a good performance shop in CT ... Pruven Performance are really good with Supras and are an Authorized HKS Dealer.. if i ever need to do anything.. thta might be my last and only resort before selling the car
+1 on xxtuning... terrible... Went with a buddy just to simply get his cobra tinted, and the fool was practically laying on his car while talking to us. His full body against it with his entire arms resting on the roof. The look on my buddies face as this was happening was priceless. I know it's something so very basic and simple but you know how some people are with the touching, and that is no way to show how you take care of a customer's vehicle...
+1 on xxtuning... terrible... Went with a buddy just to simply get his cobra tinted, and the fool was practically laying on his car while talking to us. His full body against it with his entire arms resting on the roof. The look on my buddies face as this was happening was priceless. I know it's something so very basic and simple but you know how some people are with the touching, and that is no way to show how you take care of a customer's vehicle...
I wonder how their pricing is now, I know a few years back when I had plans to buy and build a tt 350 I asked how much to buy and install the old aps twin kit (msrp was like $6900) and they wanted $16000 lol and also didn't even give me the time of day when I was making a serious inquiry... I was young but I wasn't in school and I had the money to spend, hopefully these new guys treat their customers with more respect
New Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 196
Likes: 0
From: Westchester NY
really never heard anything bad about xxtuning. Most of these shops that you are mentioning are suby/evo shops. They are all overpriced. Just better off doing the work yourself.
You guys should look into EFILOGICS
Havent tried them yet but one of the guys is from xxtuning. At one point xxtuning was a good shop. they charged me 425 for springs installed and aligned. Then when those blew out i put coilover in myself.
You guys should look into EFILOGICS
Havent tried them yet but one of the guys is from xxtuning. At one point xxtuning was a good shop. they charged me 425 for springs installed and aligned. Then when those blew out i put coilover in myself.
Vic had his APS TT done at XXTuning before i had my GreddyTT done at MRC.. he was the reason why i first looked into XXTuning.. but then i did some research and found they had about 60% bad reviews.. but Vic always gave them good reviews.. that 60% was enough for me to stay away.. and usually when a shop gets bought out they keep the dead weight.. just new management.. thats ok i will continue to keep my distance from XXTuning
Vic had his APS TT done at XXTuning before i had my GreddyTT done at MRC.. he was the reason why i first looked into XXTuning.. but then i did some research and found they had about 60% bad reviews.. but Vic always gave them good reviews.. that 60% was enough for me to stay away.. and usually when a shop gets bought out they keep the dead weight.. just new management.. thats ok i will continue to keep my distance from XXTuning
350Z-holic
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 6,912
Likes: 0
From: Interwebz
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
From: Ct
I really hate to do this, but I feel I should warn the Northeast about these guys. Everything is fixed and running great right now - so no complaints as far as the final product is concerned. There were, however, a lot of bumps in the road to getting all my issues fixed.
My relationship with these guys went from getting a custom alignment done, to fixing an electrical/boost issue. On both occassions I saw a not so good pattern in their business practices.
When I brought it to them for the alignment, it was honestly as a last resort. Every shop I'd call around the area didn't want to touch my car. In fact, I went as far as dropping it off at Performance Outfitters and they called me a few hours later just to say that they "couldn't get it on their lift"
.
But anyway, I left the car at ICS so they could lower and align it. When I went to pick it up, the car had been aligned, but not lowered
. For those who don't know about alignments, you're supposed to lower the car BEFORE the alignment gets done. I needed the car that weekend, so I took it home, lowered it myself, and brought it back to ICS a few days later so that they could do a realignment.
Later for the electrical/boost issue, they handed the car back to me without fixing the boost leak. I turned right around as soon as I noticed and brought it back. George (the owner) apologizes and tells me to bring the car back the following morning.
After leaving ICS, I go over a friend's house, park the car and notice a little present they left me:
At this point I was fuming
.
I must have called George's cell 10X until he finally picked up. He tells me he'll get the wheel fixed at a shop in NY and that he'll give me his truck for the next few days. Not that I needed it, but I still took it out of spite.
I drop the car off the next morning to get the wheel and the boost leak fixed. I pick it up a few days later and George wants to charge me another $200 for the two hours it took to fix the boost leak. Considering they f*cked up my brand new Volk wheel and that the boost leak should have been already fixed to begin with, I found the charge to be very unreasonable. Thing is, at that moment, I was so frustrated with the whole thing that I just wanted to get out of there. I paid the $200 and left.
Deep down, I think George is a good guy, but when it comes to business he falls apart. One of the things that really irked me was that he talked a lot of **** about every shop that isn't his - even if he didn't know them. He's also one of the greediest and most disorganized business owners I've met. I'm sure he charged me for a lot more hours than were actually spent on my car.
Bottom Line: If you're going to bring your car to these guys, be very careful and ask a lot of questions. If they see you're weak, they'll rip you off and take advantage of you a lot more than they did to me. I, for one will try my hardest to stay away from them, as I feel it's not worth all the bullsh!t and babysitting.
My relationship with these guys went from getting a custom alignment done, to fixing an electrical/boost issue. On both occassions I saw a not so good pattern in their business practices.
When I brought it to them for the alignment, it was honestly as a last resort. Every shop I'd call around the area didn't want to touch my car. In fact, I went as far as dropping it off at Performance Outfitters and they called me a few hours later just to say that they "couldn't get it on their lift"
. But anyway, I left the car at ICS so they could lower and align it. When I went to pick it up, the car had been aligned, but not lowered
. For those who don't know about alignments, you're supposed to lower the car BEFORE the alignment gets done. I needed the car that weekend, so I took it home, lowered it myself, and brought it back to ICS a few days later so that they could do a realignment. Later for the electrical/boost issue, they handed the car back to me without fixing the boost leak
. I turned right around as soon as I noticed and brought it back. George (the owner) apologizes and tells me to bring the car back the following morning.After leaving ICS, I go over a friend's house, park the car and notice a little present they left me:
At this point I was fuming
. I must have called George's cell 10X until he finally picked up. He tells me he'll get the wheel fixed at a shop in NY and that he'll give me his truck for the next few days. Not that I needed it, but I still took it out of spite.
I drop the car off the next morning to get the wheel and the boost leak fixed. I pick it up a few days later and George wants to charge me another $200 for the two hours it took to fix the boost leak. Considering they f*cked up my brand new Volk wheel and that the boost leak should have been already fixed to begin with, I found the charge to be very unreasonable. Thing is, at that moment, I was so frustrated with the whole thing that I just wanted to get out of there. I paid the $200 and left
.Deep down, I think George is a good guy, but when it comes to business he falls apart. One of the things that really irked me was that he talked a lot of **** about every shop that isn't his - even if he didn't know them. He's also one of the greediest and most disorganized business owners I've met. I'm sure he charged me for a lot more hours than were actually spent on my car.
Bottom Line: If you're going to bring your car to these guys, be very careful and ask a lot of questions. If they see you're weak, they'll rip you off and take advantage of you a lot more than they did to me. I, for one will try my hardest to stay away from them, as I feel it's not worth all the bullsh!t and babysitting.
On another day you dropped of the car you told me that your boost controller was not working and that you had a problem starting your car. I told you please drop it off in my rear shop this way I could keep your car stored in door in case it did not want to start. The issue you where having with the starting was a burned out starter and the leads wires going to the starter where melted from the heat. I installed a new starter repaired cleaned the terminals, heat wrapped the starter for you. Starter issue fixed.
You stated that the boost controller was not working. Again we diagnosed the system found a bunch of blown fuses and a melted wire behind the fuse box. We repaired the melted wire, installed new fuses and took time to figure out why this happened? After closely looking over your car, which was a disaster of wire job! FYI I would never let a car leave my shop looking like that. I came to the conclusion (After seeing hot battery terminals) that someone tried to jump start your car installing the cables on the opposite side (Reverse Polarity) Very lucky for you that's all the issues you had. Once the work was completed there was no reason for myself or any of my techs to road test your car to check for a boost leak. I did exactly what you told me to do. Alignment, fix starting issue and boost controller.
The wheel my friend, I apologize for. I did not wake up that morning and say hey I am going to go out of my way to scratch your wheel. Accidents do happen. After interogating my staff and reviewed my cameras I found out what happened. The tech's hand pushed your car into a bay this way it was out of the way. What happened is that your wheel caught arm of the lift.
Once you informed me on the scuff I immediately handed over my truck for transportation to you and remove the wheel and personally took it Pro Formance to refinish your wheel as promised. I picked it up immediately and reinstalled it as promised.
As far as the $200.00 Charge for the boost leak test and repair.. I spent over 3 hours and charged you for 2 hours, I even looked completely over the vehicle at n/c to make sure you would not have any other issues with your car.
Bottom line not only am I a very honest person and care very much about my customers car. I even went out of my way to call you to find out how your car was running and how the show went.
I discounted you on all the work that was performed on your car by us because I know that you have been to many other places and have not been satisfied with quality of work.
I strive for perfection, quality and satisfying my clients.
-George Kakaletris
ICS Performance
I am very sorry to hear about your disappointing experience with ICS. You called me inquiring on an alignment for your 350Z and some electrical issues you where having. I aligned the car, removed the bumper found a way to get your car on our alignment rack to complete the job as promised.
Both times that I dropped the car off I went up to you to go over what needed to get done. You knew very well what I was bringing the car in for. You were always too busy to talk and would assure me that everything is under control - which it wasn't.
Edit: Again, it's nothing personal against you. It's your business practices that need to improve.
Last edited by JZurita; Jun 2, 2009 at 07:14 PM.