Ok, so I'm not sure if this is in the wrong section. Feel free to move it if you think it should be in another sub-group.


Ok.

So... how to start. Well, I found an FD for sale on craigslist. It was in Portland, and I was in Vancouver, BC. Long story short, I wanted to get the car inspected before making the 500 mile trek to see/purchase this car.

I contacted PR and they pointed me in the direction of Ground Zero.

I contacted the seller, and asked if he would be able to bring the car to them for a full inspection. Including compression test... the whole works.

A few days go by, and I get a call from a desk jockey at GZ saying the car was there and he wanted to explain anything that was wrong/needed replacing on it.

He said the mechanics had found a "small" oil leak on the pan, the front pads needed to be replaced and that the tires also may need replacing. They said it was taken on a test drive, the car boosted well and it was in good running shape.

I asked about the compression test, he seemed a bit off gaurd when I asked him. He put the phone down and came back, saying the car had good compression, 90 on each face. I felt something was fishy, but hey... they were supposed to be a good shop with a good reputation so I took thier word.



Ok, cool so I was happy with this and paid them for thier time.


Fast forward 2 days.....


I arrive in Portland and meet up with the seller. The car looks good, and I took it out for a test drive. I booted around for a short while, until my friend said he thought something didn't feel right. I let him hop behind the wheel and he takes it up a hill. He thought the clutch was slipping, and after a 4th gear pull up a hill, sure enough it was in BAD shape. Anything over 4k was harsh slipping. At this point I was pretty pissed because GZ had said they took it out for a drive. Sorry, but if you mechanic can't tell that this car was slipping I really question his mechanical skills.

We get back to the sellers residence and go over the car a bit more. Aside from that, we find the A/C does not work either. After a bit of haggling we settle on a price that was I felt was fair due to the slipping clutch and A/C issue (he seemed to predend he didn't know anything about the clutch but I could tell he was lying). I drove all the way down from Vancouver, and didn't want to go back empty handed. The clutch was not a BIG deal, just the fact that nothing had been mentioned before.

On the way back to Vancouver... aside from the really annoying slipping clutch things were going smoothly until about Seattle. Sitting in a bit of traffic, I noticed a fair amount of smoke coming from under the car. It also smelled like burning oil. I figured it was the leaky oilpan dripping on the D/P or something along those lines. Either way, I needed to be in Blaine by 5pm to get to the storage place so I couldn't stop.

After a few minutes the smoke goes away, and all seems good. We make it to the storage facility,

Again fastforward a few days.

The car is now in BC, and heading to get it's Provincial inspection done. I figure everything is going to be fine since I changed the pads, and measured the tires and they had more than enough tread left.

I have the mechanic come out and get me. He seemed quite worried. I asked him what the problem was, and he showed me. The rear turbo was leaking **** loads of oil. There was NO leak from the oil pan. I was freaking out, because a certian "shop" had said it was a minor leak from the oilpan.

WTF?

Now I am pissed and call up Ground Zero. I get this moron phone jockey who tells me the manager is not in and to leave my number and he will get back to me. OK I wait a day, nothing. I call back and he is magically not there again. Basically I call them for 5 days straight 2 times a day and he is "never there."

I left a long message for him, basically pissed that thier shitty mechanic didn't see that A) the clutch was TOTALLY gone and B) the turbos were dangerously leaking oil onto the pre-cat which could cause a fire.

What kind of shop has such low standards that they would lie to me about this.

Sorry but if your mechanic can't see that the oil is OBVIOUSLY... and I mean OBVIOUSLY coming from the turbo area and NOT the oilpan, then he is a complete MORON. I am having issues beliveing that they even did a comp test, even though I paid for it and I don't think they took it for a test drive.


To this day, I have not heard back from them. I have left MULTIPLE messages, and after asking for my money back for the inspection I put a stop on my VISA for the payment.



Anyways that's the story. I'm pissed that a shop would have such low standards to miss this, send out a very dangerous car (and supposed to be a good rotary shop... ya, right) and refuse to call me back.


Well that's the end of my RANT!

This happened a month ago, and I've been waiting for a response from them but haven't heard a peep. So now it goes on the interweb. Hope they loose LOTS of work over this.

 

Right outside of Portland is a shop called Pineapple Racing. That should have been your first and only choice. I've never even heard of Ground Zero. Sorry you got screwed though. It would be wise to ask the guys in the Northwest Regional forum next time. I'm sure they would say the same thing to you that I am saying now.

 

I agree.

I would suggest you contact the Better Business Bureau. Well... I'd suggest you attempt to recontact this Ground Zero place, tell them that if they can't take responsibility for their craftsmanship then you will contact the BBB.

If they are going to be that shady than you should pass that along to people who can really do something about it ;-)

 

Wow, that's harsh. I'd be pissed too.

 

About a year and a half ago I was also directed to go to Ground Zero to have some work done on my car and have it tuned.
I had done some work on my car and had swapped out my fuel system for something a little beefier. When I got to groundzero they informed me that my injectors were leaking. They fixed the problem and then went on to trouble shoot some other things on my car.
They had 2 people working on my car because I had to have it completed with haste. Once they were done fixing and tuning my car I was given a bill that, while it was more than I wanted to pay, was not unreasonable. Infact the cost of the labor of the additional person was removed, and I only had to pay half the price.

When I went there the shop seemed extremely nice, and the shop's 750hp+ fd is a monster, and their supra.....damn. Anyways, I guess everyone has different experiences, and your situation certainly is unfortunate.

PS: getting ahold of the owner/manager is difficult sometimes

 

uhhh, not to rain on your parade. But ground zero has been out of business for a month or so. Maybe longer. I'll try to find the thread in the NW section. I think that you may have been gamed.

 

Read it closer... I went to Pineapple first. They said they don't do inspections on whole cars anymore because they moved to a smaller shop. They reccomended Ground Zero.

Good thing to hear they are out of business. That's what shotty dealings deserve.

I didn't loose a lot of money, is't not the biggest deal. I was more pissed about the fact that they did what they did, lying to make a quick buck because I was out of town.

 

Sorry to hear about your unfortuneate dealings. GZ has been in owner turmoil for quite some time if I am correct. That sucks that Pineapple could not perform the inspection... Though that doesn't sound like them to reccommend a shop that would treat you like this...

 

if you have a written report from GZ saying that the car is ok, sue their asses

 

I do have a paper they gave me. Listing only the brakes, "oil pan leak" and tires.

Nothing about the clutch being toast or the dangerous oil leak from the turbo oil feed line.

 

get a written report from another shop for the sake of formality(including a compression test) and you can do it. don't take too long because they can say that whatever is wrong with the car happened after the purchase,