Vipermed 97.01
Enthusiast
This is a statement in an attempt to clerify and offer another side of the story that has been slandering us throughout the community. Many of you have been wondering why we have not defended ourselves in this matter. It is my opinion that it is very unprofessional to debate resolvable issues in any public forum. Also, let me state, that I will not use this thread as a debating pedestal, it is just a statement. Anyone who has any question can e-mail me or call me directly.
This job was completed for Keith Rutherford who in turn sold the car to Mr. Leone. Mr. Leone called with some concerns upon purchasing the car. His initial complaint was a problem with the #10 cylinder. Instead of me telling Mr. Leone the warranty was not transferable, we told him that we would work with him however possible. No were monies exchanged. We advised him the next step would be a leakdown test. This was done and they did find the problem with the #10 cylinder. We then advised Mr. Leone that we recommended the car be transported to us. We would arrange the shipping to us, but that he would be responsible to arrange for the return. We wanted to do this as not to have a third party involved, third party being his repair shop. Mr. Leone was very appreciative for this. We advised that it would be approximately 1 to 2 weeks before Exotic Transport could pick up the car. After further contact with Mr. Leone, we were told that the motor had been removed and disassembled and a problem was found with #10 wrist pin. Also, we were told that upon removing the camshaft, it was damaged along with the cam bearings. We were advised that they were going to rebuild the motor for $3500. Well, immediately we became concerned as the Viper motor has NEVER used Camshaft bearings. Upon e-mailing Mr. Leone of our concerns to damaged parts that do not exist, we told Mr. Leone that we would send a engine crate to pick up the motor, which we did. We received the motor in pieces, with all internal parts removed and missing other key parts, like the timing chain cover. We immediately saw the damage to #10 Cylinder liner, which as anyone that is familiar with assembling these motors is impossible to find. Dodge has no part# or availability for this liner. We exhausted all efforts including Arrow Racing who does the Viper Warranty Rebuilds. Finally we took one of our in stock perfectly good motor and send it to our machine shop (which I have receipt) for disassembly and removal and transfer of the cylinder liner.
Mr. Leone has also questioned the pistons that were put, implying that they were used and that he himself called Ross Pistons to verify job number on the pistons. We have a letter from Ross Pistons stating that it was there clerical error in Job Card#. I say this as our honesty to this regard has been questioned. Feel free to contact Ericka Molina at Ross Pistons.
Mr. Leone sent us an e-mail, as we see he posted on his first post, regarding what he found when he unshrinked wrap the motor. That was on a Wednesday and I was on duty that day. On Thursday as soon as I read my e-mails and Mr. Leone called, I talked to him. On that Thursday when I talked to Mr. Leone, he had concerns with the oil pan gasket and cylinder heads. I told him that the Cylinder Heads were never even touched other than to assemble back on the block, and that even when doing the shortblock for the original owner, the heads were never touched. After expressing his concerns of moisture and rust in the chambers, I explained that the Heads were received off of the motor and placed in the crate in our climate controlled facility. We also told him that the oil pan was temporarily placed without tightning due to the need to remove for timing chain cover installation and proper oil pump alignment, as we did not receive the timing chain cover. I advised Mr. Leone that I would examine the photos and get back to him.
He was very pleasant and appreciative, and at NO POINT did I tell him that we would not stand behind our work. However, after hanging up with him, we received a phone call from a customer advising us that Mr. Leone had started this slandering of our name before even speaking with me, including liability suit threats. I was shocked, as I felt I was speaking to two different people. As I mentioned earlier, that when I spoke to him on Thursday he was extremly pleasant and appreciative to the fact that we told him that we would look at the photos and make this right, if needed. However after receiving the phone call from the customer, I was so upset, that I did not return Mr. Leone's phone calls as I wanted to keep my professionalism and felt that I wouldn't be able to do that when I talked to him. I could not understand why he had started this thread before even talking to me. Then when we did talk to him on Thursday, as I mentioned before he was, as always, extremely nice and appreciative of any efforts that we were willing to make to correct this if needed.
Legally, Mr. Leones concerns is with the person whom he purchased the vehicle, however, at no time did I tell him this as we wanted nothing more than this new Viper owner to enjoy his Viper experience, which is still the stance we take.
My major concern in this matter is that too many hands have been involved in this with us receiving all critisism. In my opinion, had we received the car from the beginning, as we suggested, this would have come to a happy conclusion.
Once again, I will not use this a debating platform, but will be more than glad to answer any questions via e-mail.
As far a BIG BAD CJ.........Come on CJ, tell the community the truth instead of these outright lies. You have turned your financial disastrous problems into ours. In fact, your recevied everything plus what you paid for. You left out the details of how 1 month later you decided to sell us back the engine and supercharger for moneys owed and exchange for stock motor w/aggressive cam. You also forgot to advise the board of the money you still owe to us $6k and how you purchased a salvaged 97GTS from us for 8K and resold to your customer for 33k. We had title of that vehicle and were holding it for money that you still owed to us. However, after speaking to the person who you sold the car to that you had cut off all communications with him and that his bank was demanding the title. At that point we felt he was in the middle of this, and should not be penalized, therefore, we mailed him the title, in which you e-mailed us thanking us. A I have copies of those e-mails. It was not necessary to post these complaints, which in fact, the e-mails we have just tells how appreciative you were about working with you during these hard financial times. Not one time did you ever complain about any product or services performed and received by us.
As far as the 10.5 second car, we are NOT in posession of that car. We sold the customer a Head/cam/stepped header package etc. to be installed by his tuner. We are in contact with the customer as work progresses.
In ending, we would like nothing more than to resolve this problem with Mr. Leone in a fair way for both parties. I do feel, however, that this board should be used when there is no resolution to a problem or when no attempts were being made. This was not the case with Mr. Leone.
This job was completed for Keith Rutherford who in turn sold the car to Mr. Leone. Mr. Leone called with some concerns upon purchasing the car. His initial complaint was a problem with the #10 cylinder. Instead of me telling Mr. Leone the warranty was not transferable, we told him that we would work with him however possible. No were monies exchanged. We advised him the next step would be a leakdown test. This was done and they did find the problem with the #10 cylinder. We then advised Mr. Leone that we recommended the car be transported to us. We would arrange the shipping to us, but that he would be responsible to arrange for the return. We wanted to do this as not to have a third party involved, third party being his repair shop. Mr. Leone was very appreciative for this. We advised that it would be approximately 1 to 2 weeks before Exotic Transport could pick up the car. After further contact with Mr. Leone, we were told that the motor had been removed and disassembled and a problem was found with #10 wrist pin. Also, we were told that upon removing the camshaft, it was damaged along with the cam bearings. We were advised that they were going to rebuild the motor for $3500. Well, immediately we became concerned as the Viper motor has NEVER used Camshaft bearings. Upon e-mailing Mr. Leone of our concerns to damaged parts that do not exist, we told Mr. Leone that we would send a engine crate to pick up the motor, which we did. We received the motor in pieces, with all internal parts removed and missing other key parts, like the timing chain cover. We immediately saw the damage to #10 Cylinder liner, which as anyone that is familiar with assembling these motors is impossible to find. Dodge has no part# or availability for this liner. We exhausted all efforts including Arrow Racing who does the Viper Warranty Rebuilds. Finally we took one of our in stock perfectly good motor and send it to our machine shop (which I have receipt) for disassembly and removal and transfer of the cylinder liner.
Mr. Leone has also questioned the pistons that were put, implying that they were used and that he himself called Ross Pistons to verify job number on the pistons. We have a letter from Ross Pistons stating that it was there clerical error in Job Card#. I say this as our honesty to this regard has been questioned. Feel free to contact Ericka Molina at Ross Pistons.
Mr. Leone sent us an e-mail, as we see he posted on his first post, regarding what he found when he unshrinked wrap the motor. That was on a Wednesday and I was on duty that day. On Thursday as soon as I read my e-mails and Mr. Leone called, I talked to him. On that Thursday when I talked to Mr. Leone, he had concerns with the oil pan gasket and cylinder heads. I told him that the Cylinder Heads were never even touched other than to assemble back on the block, and that even when doing the shortblock for the original owner, the heads were never touched. After expressing his concerns of moisture and rust in the chambers, I explained that the Heads were received off of the motor and placed in the crate in our climate controlled facility. We also told him that the oil pan was temporarily placed without tightning due to the need to remove for timing chain cover installation and proper oil pump alignment, as we did not receive the timing chain cover. I advised Mr. Leone that I would examine the photos and get back to him.
He was very pleasant and appreciative, and at NO POINT did I tell him that we would not stand behind our work. However, after hanging up with him, we received a phone call from a customer advising us that Mr. Leone had started this slandering of our name before even speaking with me, including liability suit threats. I was shocked, as I felt I was speaking to two different people. As I mentioned earlier, that when I spoke to him on Thursday he was extremly pleasant and appreciative to the fact that we told him that we would look at the photos and make this right, if needed. However after receiving the phone call from the customer, I was so upset, that I did not return Mr. Leone's phone calls as I wanted to keep my professionalism and felt that I wouldn't be able to do that when I talked to him. I could not understand why he had started this thread before even talking to me. Then when we did talk to him on Thursday, as I mentioned before he was, as always, extremely nice and appreciative of any efforts that we were willing to make to correct this if needed.
Legally, Mr. Leones concerns is with the person whom he purchased the vehicle, however, at no time did I tell him this as we wanted nothing more than this new Viper owner to enjoy his Viper experience, which is still the stance we take.
My major concern in this matter is that too many hands have been involved in this with us receiving all critisism. In my opinion, had we received the car from the beginning, as we suggested, this would have come to a happy conclusion.
Once again, I will not use this a debating platform, but will be more than glad to answer any questions via e-mail.
As far a BIG BAD CJ.........Come on CJ, tell the community the truth instead of these outright lies. You have turned your financial disastrous problems into ours. In fact, your recevied everything plus what you paid for. You left out the details of how 1 month later you decided to sell us back the engine and supercharger for moneys owed and exchange for stock motor w/aggressive cam. You also forgot to advise the board of the money you still owe to us $6k and how you purchased a salvaged 97GTS from us for 8K and resold to your customer for 33k. We had title of that vehicle and were holding it for money that you still owed to us. However, after speaking to the person who you sold the car to that you had cut off all communications with him and that his bank was demanding the title. At that point we felt he was in the middle of this, and should not be penalized, therefore, we mailed him the title, in which you e-mailed us thanking us. A I have copies of those e-mails. It was not necessary to post these complaints, which in fact, the e-mails we have just tells how appreciative you were about working with you during these hard financial times. Not one time did you ever complain about any product or services performed and received by us.
As far as the 10.5 second car, we are NOT in posession of that car. We sold the customer a Head/cam/stepped header package etc. to be installed by his tuner. We are in contact with the customer as work progresses.
In ending, we would like nothing more than to resolve this problem with Mr. Leone in a fair way for both parties. I do feel, however, that this board should be used when there is no resolution to a problem or when no attempts were being made. This was not the case with Mr. Leone.
