If this is true, I FULLY understand why there is a problem......customer service sucks. A few years ago, I had them re-core some cats. They were delivered when I was out of town, so they were returned to sender. They held them hostage until I gave them $400 to re-ship. Why anyone puts up with them I have no idea.....
If the situation was bad enough, you would post the name of the shop. Sounds like you are not there yet, but close enough to post paragraphs of detail? <shakes head>
There is nothing wrong with real feedback. There is nothing wrong with "hey I'm posting this to get the lead out of some lazy good for nothing shop". The problem is some people think we are not smart enough to recognize a self serving post under the guise of a public service announcement. Thankfully, that is not the case with the OP.
$400 to reship? Are you serious? Were they hand delivered both times by Air Force One or something? Dude, that sucks. I like my Fabspeed headers so far and have said nothing but good things about the product. This is all pretty sad if true. Was thinking about getting Fabspeed exhausts for the 911.
Sorry if this will upset anyone with this but in my opinion this was your first mistake........ I entered into an agreement with a "after market" shop to engineer and develop components for the 348. .......You have one of the finest high performance cars in the world from a company who likely poured tens of millions of dollars into its development yet you still felt compelled to go to a local mechanic to have the car further 'enhanced', that you could somehow make it better than the factories meager development efforts. To take a car beyond its designed spec is tricky for any car yet alone a Ferrari. I just cant understand people who do this to such a car !!! Sure a few cosmetic add ons or mods to 'individualize' your baby is fine but I feel anyone who takes on this sort of challenge is exposing themselves to all sorts of disaster. Even if the mods are all good where do you go next, still more, turbo, then the drive train to handle the extra power, then the brakes need upgrading to pull it all to a stop, heating problems (as you have already mentioned)....on and on it goes. Then when you want to sell whats left of your Ferrari it will be worth peanuts as most Ferrari owner/buyers will likely think as I do and wouldn't touch it with a barge poll !!! It is a Ferrari. If it somehow isn't enough......buy a better one With the money you may well have spent here perhaps you could have sourced a 'speciale' or a later model with the extra HP (dont know what year yours is).
An example of what I would call 'automotive rape' Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Maybe I'm a bit old fashioned but the company whoever it is made a an arrangement with you.Whether it was written or verbal you supplied them with something they needed for seven months and personally if it had been me you dealt with I would have made sure you got your pride and joy back in better condition than you left it there and damage free regardless of cost. To the company if you are reading this a man is only as good as his word and his word should be his bond ! A company is only as strong as their weakest link so get rid of your weak links and do the right thing to the customer who put their complete faith in you.
To me the 348 is a hot rod of Ferraris, Would I mod a GTO no. The system that was built for the car gets notably more HP and Torque. I am very happy with the quality of the work and performance gains the car has made. I was very clear about what I wasn't happy about, That being the car delivered in the condition I received it in and also not having the equipment the car was promised to have. That being said, I did receive a call after yesterdays post. And all my parts including the high flow cats are being gathered and shipped soon. They have also offered to make good on the bumper repair.
Hopefully your car will be restored and you will be made whole. I'd like to think the restraint and maturity you showed in your approach here were the cause versus outing a bad dealer and venting vitriol even if that dealer is a sponser here. I look forward to a favorable report of a satisfactory outcome later. Regarding upgrading the 348 from Ozzie Red above, we Stooges have determined after much resesrch and discussion over much beer and wings - okay there was some research too - that while Ferrari didn't leave a heap of performance lying around on the factory floor, they didn't exactly push the envelope as they might have on other models. I wouldn't be inclined to mess with a 430 at all; the 360 also does not have much one can do. The 355 is a much more complicated machine than the 348 but still has areas for garage mechanic improvements as our own gothspeed has shown. In fact his car dynoed as the highest 355 ever tested at the facility and was pushing 360 CS territory. He continues to refine the factory design to make the engine more efficient and solve compromises made in the design, especially regarding heat management. The 348, on the other hand, is less refined by a measure and has many areas for improvement if you just follow the factory lead alone by considering the evolution of the V8 model line. We are drawing on that and many years of hot rodding experience with dozens of makes and models to upgrade the performance of the car without compromising reliability or anything else. Plus it's danged fun. The improvements and gains we've made, plus the beer, have proved we're not blowing smoke here. For example we sort of stumbled upon the whole chip issue and next week we should have more to report after the Stoogefest and, of course, more beer.
They did everything but send a ransom note using cut-up letters from magazines. And not one person cared, I spoke to 3 or 4 people.
I agree .... I feel bad for the OP , but not sorry for him. Nothing good could come of this, and the shop in question even willing to take on such a project with someone else's car is negligent. They deserve any negative publicity just out of sheer stupidity. I wouldn't let anyone use my weed wacker for fear of them breaking it.
Regarding upgrading the 348 from Ozzie Red above, we Stooges have determined after much research and discussion over much beer and wings - okay there was some research too - that while Ferrari didn't leave a heap of performance lying around on the factory floor, they didn't exactly push the envelope as they might have on other models. I wouldn't be inclined to mess with a 430 at all; the 360 also does not have much one can do. The 355 is a much more complicated machine than the 348 but still has areas for garage mechanic improvements as our own gothspeed has shown. Ozzie Red........ not bad, I like it !!!??? might even use it. All be it you are clever stooges, no questions there, to do what you do. However based on the vacuum applied to my wallet every time I go near a mechanic with any sort of work required on my baby the money spent on such a project as this, I would imagine, would be significant indeed. My take home message on all of this would be that, particularly in the US and/or UK could you not pick up a 'Series Speciale' or possibly a 'Competizione' for much the same as the std car price plus what was spent, or maybe pay just a little more and get a much rarer more collectable beasty which will appreciate rather than spending all that money only to depreciate the crap out of your own car ! Unfortunately in Oz both of these models are rare as hens teeth and so this would not be a typical scenario for us here (there's a 94 Competizione for sale now at $AUD 249,000 with 64K km's on it !!!) However 360's at the moment are (sorry guys) a dime a dozen with 2000 - 2001 model F1's with low km's selling for around $AUD 90,000 - 100,000, the same price as a good 93, 94, 348 (plus or minus 10K) and a 360 is nothing to be sneezed at...... NB/ Currently there are 31 X 360's, 15 X 355's and only 8 X 348's for sale at the moment on 'Carsales.com.au and not allot of differences in prices. 80,000 - 110,000 will get you any/all models.
