just about had enough

i have just had a scary moment i'll tell thee!

i'll tell you it warts and all. i'll admit i've been niave but here goes:

i took a bike in from a lad from peterborough and he said he knew that the con rod had snapped. as i surveyed the bike on the back of the pick up i said that a rebuild was "going to be £1,000". he then said that i did a racing cam as well didn't i? to which i replied "yeh for another £130".

anyway, i took his number and he went off on holiday. he looked about 28 and i had his mobile number.

upon inspection i found that the tappet nuts had come off both inlets and one of the nuts had jumped into the camchain and smashed out the top of the rocker cover.

anyway, what with the extra power of the race cam, i put it together with new bearing and pin, the special mains, rings, two exhaust valves, camchain, 5 bearings, gaskets, a dual valve spring kit, modern decomp, new ixu24.

also new blade, seals, vein (one blade was broken), CFBs because one was worn right through, cam bearings, and had three engineering jobs done as well as the crankpin fitted. i also did the kickstart mod, freewheel, sprague and even flowed the inlet valves.

i then rejetted the bike and the total bill was £1,300. as the battery was knackered i was asked to also get one of these for £40. so i had said that it would be £1,170 but it was an guide as i had said to him.

so he turned up tonight with two mates and i went right through all that i had done to the bike and showed them the 'dog's bowl' of bits.

they all disappeared down the drive and then the owner came back up and said that all he had was £900. so i said that the bike didn't leave until the bill was paid. i then went in the hiouse and answered the phone while he opened the garage doors and started to freewheel the bike out, i went out and got behind the bike to stop him and a semi-scuffle broke out.

i shoved it back in and he shoved it out and we had a right wrestle with me shouting "you can't take it till you've paid for it". the bike stopped sideways on and then in his west indies jive talk he said that i was dissing him, showing no respect, and not listening to his problem, that i had attitude! luckily his mates stayed back at their car.

i then called my brother in law and got him out, he took 10 minutes and by then all three of them were around me and doing the old mental games....

how do we know you fitted anything?
show us the receipte specific to this bike?
show us the profit?

then when i invited them in to see what i did and my margins etc - they weren't interested. they calmed down a bit with the B-I-L there coz he's a beefcake but no matter what we/they did i told tem that the bike didn't leave till i was paid!

they then focused on the fact that i'm not fully comp to ride and store the bike. i explained that i was covered for liability and third party to ride the bike. however, they now wanted to remove the bike because it was uninsured on my property. for a while i said i'd take it in the living room and it would be safe but minutes later we did the grinding circles again.

i explained that i'd done 30+ hours on it and was charging for just 20. i had written the receipt out last night and included a test ride but alas they got there before i took it today so they then thought that that should come out of the price!

the owner kept calling for heavies and then my BiL called the police. the police took 2 hours to get here. some 30 minutes after it had finished.

anyway, my BiL and i stood there and we had complete stalemate. the lad hadn't got any more money. ok he'd been on 2 weeks holiday to the carribean but he was now broke and it was my fault for not understanding him!!!!!!!!

suddenly two black geezers come up the drive, plough past the BiL (THANKS MATE!) and i know that i'm in the sheeeyut here!

they screamed in my face and demanded that i give them the keys or they would do me and the whole phucking place man! they calmed for a few minutes as they picked up some of the stories but alas the three young uns elaborated on things. they demanded the young lad gave me what he had and as i took the £900 they went nuts demanding the keys.

i wanted to finish it, it couldn't go well from here. not with 5 of them screaming at me. so i said that i wanted the £1,170 and that they should see fair that that was the minimum. alas the two new lads asked him if he had any more to which he replied "no" so one of them turned and twated me in a strange double knuckler.

i said that 'that would do, just take the bike and phuck off'.

confession
should have taken an address
should have stripped it and turned that estimate into a quote
should have taken a deposit up front for it

confession over.

i'll hold back from saying much more but i have met some good guys in loonyberg and arkley and even a couiple more but i have also met some scum. two of them were from closer to 'us' than you can imagine. mission: phuck me over!

so i'm just about flat broke and also feeling deperately down over this. having been in the car trade from birth to 28 nothing prepared me for the scum i've had to deal with.

yours in a state of shock (and expecting a smashed window etc etc anytime soon)

Taffy

baddudes

Hey, Hoss, you ok?? Sorry ya found out the hard way about doing business. Sounds almost like they set ya up from the beginning.

I grew up in a family operation out in SoCal, over a period of 17 years saw everything from the old gimme-change scam to customers getting in their cars when no-one was looking and driving off. Had tire-irons waved at me - mine turned out to be bigger - shot farther and faster, too -, station doors jimmied, windows broken and cash and tools (Ouch, THAT hurt) stolen, Chevron Oil gas tanker drivers taking payment for 2k to 3k gal. gasoline and claiming they got nowt....

Needless to say, I don't do work on anybodies anything unless I KNOW them, then only if I can get them to buy the parts first....

Did either you or your BiL get the car reg?? Coppers do anything for ya when they came around, or just an "Ah, mate, yer inta it now - doin' business at 'ome, eh?"?
Hope you don't have to see that again, and hope ya really are ok.

Sorry about that mate.
As Gary eluded, unless you know them personally, you need at least the price of the parts up front.
I hope you told the police about what happened so if there are any problems down the road, they can handle the matter.
For 900 they dont get a recipt either in my book. They come back with a problem, tuff luck.

bad deal, taf. my first thot is hunt em down and make em pay one way or another (prolly another).
closest i came to that was redoing a guy's triumph and cutting him a lot of slack on the bill, and he freaks on the phone when i tell him its done. after shouting at each other for awhile, i told him ok, its free, you can come pick it up on the road that's 100 feet below the back of my shop. but hurry before some truck runs it over. he paid the bill.
keep us informed on what happens.

That's lame Taffy, some people just plain suck!! :finger2:
It will all work out!!!

Tough luck Taff. Sorry for your loss but a few hundred quid is better than a trip to hospital. It sounds like you handled it as well as could be expected in the circumstances. In these situations I think it's the loss of faith in our fellow man and the abuse of trust that hurts the worst. The world is full of ******s but try not to let 'em get to ya. Chin up mate.

Wow, brother wish I was there with you. Like my dad says "what goes around comes around and every dog has his day" the worthless phucks will get thier's in the end. I hope the P.O.S. crashes the thing and get's his head torn off. I long for the days when men, were men and a hand shake was sacred. You just can't do anyone a favour. You got the skills get a hefty up front "deposit". It doesn't put any coin in your pocket but I appreciate you and not just as a wrench, you are a good friend.
Later
Ron

HEY taff ....my kickboxing cousin needs his berg rebuilt :twisted:

seriously these people are lowlife , you deserve more appreciation

thanks for all the words lads cheers!

well, last i checked i have a house, a garage and i'm in one bit!

just looking at what i wrote i should say that i simply tapered the inlet valves for 15 minutes and not some unauthorised excessive labours. easily the hardest part at present is the fact that as you rebuild the bikes i've been doing: nearly all of them need the ignition timing, pipes re-routing, and especially the last 10 minutes when there are screws missing from the seats and the exhaust rubs, and the job despite being near the end keeps eeking out.

looking back easty is kjnda right, they came here with less money than the bill and that's why three came. i mean why else do you need three? he said he needed the bike for work so i told him to use his thumb like i'd had too. but he was going to pay me what he had and by hook or by crook take the bike....

as i said, you got it warts and all. the lad who owned the bike spoke with a west indies accent and the UK is no different to the USA - we all know what pays for his pleasures (and it ain't baking powder!). so i have to learn not to diss him man!

the police bit i'll leave off here completely as the walls have ears as we all know. this is all forcing me to reconsider everything. essentially the bikes that are from '00 to say '04 are now worth only £1000 - £1,600 and yet a blown engine will cost that. so we have to solve this problem and i don't have an answer.

but regardless of that, i have to learn the lesson from it and have a better business practice in the future. what is suprising me is how hard this is all turning out to be. still....i have some money for the bank manager so he'll be pleased.

regards

Taffy

Hey Taffy, that's some real bad **** to happen to you but I think you did your best from the sound of it and tbh if you had kept it and they had gone away and come back it probably would have been with more of his 'crew' and been a threat to you and your property - catch 22 - they know where you live and you don't them.

These things can get OTT very quick, remember in the news last year a father of two went outside his house to confront some youths kicking in a digger in his front garden and they beat him to death in-front of his family....they were 17/18 years old if I remember rightly - no fear or realisation of what can happen now-a-days.

Self preservation has to be the no.1 priority (even over money...) I think.

Hope you recover from the ordeal well enough.

Sorry to here about that Taffy, sounds like the lad from Cumbria has pulled a swift one on you as well, although you have his engine. What's with people?
My rebuild is still taking place slowly and will let you know when it's done with pics to follow.
Chin up you've done nothing wrong, Kieran

Sorry to here about your miss adventure Taffy, there is some S**t heads about, it's a shame your brother in law didn't bring two friends of his own Mr Smith and Mr Wesson.
Just keep at it mate and try put it behind you, after all I would say this is still a very small minority of these type of people.
Started your ignitions yesterday but will speak with you at the end of the week.

Regards

Steve.

Hey that's bad news Taffy. Listen mate, that will be the end of the matter, he has his bike, & he's got away with paying far less than estimated, you need not worry about reprisals etc. It seems planned from what you've described.

Anyway, as others have advised, try to draw a line under it, take the learning’s & think of it as a hard lesson that will ensure better security for you & the business in the future.

Stiff upper lip old boy, don't let the swine’s grind you down!!

Hey...what can anyone else say...******s..but sh*t happens. At least you weren't shot.
Not sure what to advise except put it behind you & move on, otherwise it will fester in your mind.

It is difficult..as with mine; I told you i did'nt want to spend more than the bikes worth but the bill does inevatively creep up.

I was surprised (& pleased for the trust) with our payment method but I suppose being on this site / riding with U at HTDirt and u picking the bike up from my house all added to your security.

Anyway - my 02 501e is still brilliant - starts off the kick 1st time - so confident with it I've been doing MX practice tracks on it.So thanks again & don't let the b**tards get you down.

cheers all.

hey arkley, my mother came up on other business and as she went behind them one of them said "phuck offf you old hag!" so she laughed and said: "you must be from wisbech!!!!!". i hope that one makes you laugh!

well at least you cut your cloth according to your purse james.

regards

Taffy

Bad luck.

Sorry to hear this Taffy.

I had the same problem with a person that didnt want to pay my invoice, eventually i sent it throu a goverment controlled company who deals with un paid invoices and take it the legal way.
Next thing that happend was that "someone" broke in to my home and cleaned it out.
We had alarmguards and cameras everywhere, didnt help.
Now these days i have a sticker on my front door and on the workshop:
THIS PROPERTY IS PROTECTED BY ..... ...... !
And one thing is sure, if someone brakes in to the place again, all hell will brake loose.
Still after 2 years, not a scratch on the property.

Good luck, and go after them, but use help.

RE: Bad luck.

sorry to hear about this taffy!! i can't really say anything that hasn't already been said except that i (in my relatively short time on here) have only met awsome guys with a real passion for their bikes, work and others!
don't give up hope on the rest of us... people like that really are few and far between!
speak soon mate
ben

RE: Bad luck.

Too bad Taffy, but seems like you did what you could!! There's a lot of a**holes around, we're bound to meet some occationaly. Probably best to keep with nice quiet scandinavian customers ;.). Hope you'll get'em!!!

Uno

Holy cow...

sounds about like what I'm gonna do to ned after he finishes rebuilding my sad lump of husaberg :twisted:

Sooooooooooooo, can I also send over my engine for one of these bargain rebuilds/tune ups?