Now my own story....
I must say that I now know of several people.. i.e. getting on for a dozen.. who have had shocking service from Ali. I personnaly believe that I have been lied to on several occasions as to the reasons why my repair took soo long,(some of these I have verified by speaking to independant persons who confirmed my suspisions). His defence was that I asked for extra bits to be done, well yes but only because he was going to have the car for additional weeks due to some other delay, I dont trust him, he almost cost me an additional £475 when he failed to sort out the AA issue. Just completly unprofessional in my opinion.
Examples, he had the car for six months, I was told the head had been sent away within a week of him recieving the car, the car was still sitting at his house (verified by third party). Two weeks later the car was spotted at his garage, how did he get it there? on a trailer.... I suspect it was driven. The car was spotted at the workshop by another individual and the engine looked to be still in one piece. Three months later I am told the head had been machined and it was on its way back to him. The following week I am told the head is scrap and cant be machined.
I have been in touch now with Sabre heads and I have been told that he remembers the head, and he informed Ali that it was scrap the day it arrived... so thats over three months to take a head off the car and send it away. I believe I was lied to from day one. The head arrived back and he rebuilds the engine but he cant time the cams.. a self proclaimed Lotus specialist who cant set up the timing on a set of verniers (Ali had told me he could do this himself). Robin had to dig him out of the sh*t on this one for which I am eternally grateful.
Next thing he attempts to fit new AP racing disks to the front end of the car. They dont fit.These are disks that have been batch produced and are fitted to several cars already. At this point blames the new disks. The disks and uprights are sent to Elise parts (I understand at my expense) for them to build up and they find the fault straight away. Wheel bearing colapsed puting the hub out of alignment. I had been in contact with Elise parts about the problem prior to them recieving the bits and they phoned me when they arrived. Now you could claim as some have done that there was a problem with the disks and that Eliseparts are being dishonest, but with the previous head experiance, I know who I am going to believe. I was told by Elise parts that it was obvious apparently. New bearings fitted and the brakes worked fine. Geary built them up himself and they were perfect with the new bearings fitted.
If that aint bad enough he had switches to fit for the lights,(which I supplied) and a new header tank (which I supplied) and a clutch brace (which I supplied).. on the morning that I turned up to collect the car(bear in mind he has had these parts for months), he was frantically trying to fit the switches.. the header tank was not done, and the clutch plate was not done (and has never been seen again)
Sorry, I've kept my mouth shut on this too long, now the same thing has happened again to another member of SE, I didnt want to say anything for fear of upsetting the establishment. In my opinion he's a bloody cowbow who turns out shody work and has been protected against ctitisism by some of the mods on here who are quick to jump on anyone who moans about it.
P.S. Gareth, now I've said my peice, I know you were pissed that I didnt do it before, so thats it sorted now then..
edited several times because I cant spell for peanuts...
Well it moves... might as well make the most of it....
