Seller Feedback QCA not so crash hot!!!!

[boof]

I will try to keep this as unpersonal as possible as I do not wish it to turn into a mess. I will keep to the facts as much as possible and will accept any criticism that may be directed to me.

Late last year I removed the engine from my car to undertake a 1uz conversion. After reading reports on this forum and some positive feedback from past customers I asked Pete at QCA to undertake the work.

This was in January this year, after a lot of problems on a chev truck in his shop he was able to accept delivery of my vehicle in March. I paid a sum of money to cover costs of parts etc as had been agreed between myself and Peter. I was a little unsure of doing this but he appeared to be a top bloke with a lot of knowledge and great reports of honesty and service.

The conversion was to take 2-4 weeks with all the a/c and other accessories reconnected and running, a full tow in and drive away solution. After talking to Peter we decided on aftermarket management and he told me all tuning necessary would be taken care of.

I will not go on about the length of time taken so we will skip forward to the end of August when I finally took delivery of my vehicle. At the time of delivery there were some problems. The a/c did not work, the power steering was leaking, the 4wd activation was not operational, the vehicle was using 30+L/100ks regardless of driving style and was blowing fuel out of the exhaust, the vehicle was also overheating rather badly when stationary. A alloy radiator had been fitted but was too large and large enough fans could not be fitted. The vehicle also had no operational tacho.

At this point I would like to say that Pete accepted all problems and agreed to rectify them. The vehicle was returned after a fortnight when he had cleared his schedule to look at it. Upon return of the vehicle the radiator had been replaced and a good set of fans fitted, overheating solved. Power steering, tacho, 4wd and tune had also been sorted out. A/C was still not working.

The vehicle was returned again and the a/c repaired it failed several days later. This was repeated a further 3 times. This was eventually sorted out.

While driving the vehicle a couple of weeks later the a/c failed again this time causing a near vehicle fire. The vehicle lost a coil so was only running on 4 cylinders. The fault was found to be a cable run under the second battery had rubbed through and shorted. The fuse failed but melted and reactivated the short.

At this time Pete again came to look at the vehicle and supplied the parts required. The vehicle was towed at my expense to have it repaired at his shop. I picked the vehicle up a fortnight later, the a/c had not been repaired and was still faulty. The vehicle stopped 4 days later, this time I removed the dash and assessed the situation. I found a large protion of the factory loom melted. I asked Peter to employ sideshow off this forum to rewire the vehicle. I found the wiring to be a mess and a large contributor to the problems experienced. He refused stating he had a guy local to me he would prefer to do it. After a week of nothing happening I rewired the vehicle myself.

I then decided to get some local shops to assess the vehicle. The exhaust was found to be inadequate the muffler and cat deemed inadequate by 3 different shops. I have replaced this at my cost and am asking QCA to pay for 50% of the cost of the muffler, and any other rectification works required.

At this time the vehicle still has no a/c, is hunting at idle and has a flat spot off idle that have been present since the last visit to QCA. There have been other problems found but at this stage I will leave it at that.

Peter has offered to fix all problems but as I am sure you can understand after so many let downs and continual sub standard quality of work I do not wish to return the car to him.

I found him to be pleasant to deal with and this is not a personal attack against him. I may be a one off but I know I would have appreciated knowing of any problems with his work before undertaking this project.

To date QCA has been paid the sum of $9500aus. It has cost me another 3000 on top of that in towing costs and other problems associated with the conversion. I estimate it costing me another 2-3 to finish and repair the faults.

In closing I guess the old catchphrase of you get what you pay for is not always true.

Mods if any of this oversteps the boundaries please let me know.

 

[Pro]

will accept any criticism that may be directed to me

you might, but we won't.

is this your first engine conversion? by conversion i mean "toyota engine into (insert other manufacturer here) body" ?

most of it sounds like teething problems, your wiring issues sound like the issues i had with my RX3 when the alternator regulator decided to let go and fry ALL electrical components (from washer motor, to all bulbs, to the wiper motor, to my new $600 head unit) when a pindrop of water leaked thru the windscreen seal onto the (newly relocated blade style) fusebox. all fuses were bridged and 80A now had a "free for all" in any copper wiring it chose.

$10k is a lot of money, but is about average for an engine conversion these days.

i too have personally dealt with Peter from QCA and found his professionalism outstanding.

thanks for keeping your head about this and posting the facts, not opinions. this is what feedback is all about.

i will PM Peter and let him know this is here so he has a chance to respond.

 

[boof]

Aaron I appreciate your comments, teething problems are acceptable however after waiting 4+ months to recieve the vehicle I would not expect the problems I have had. I have pictures to post if need be of the quality of work. I have refrained to keep this fair. 3 and a half months of problems after a 4 month installation is a bit over the top in my opinion.

Peter is aware I would be posting this as I told him before doing so.

His professionalism in sending parts out is not in question. As I said mine may be a one off and I hope so. The cable that shorted was one run during the conversion and ran under a battery with the battery sitting directly on it.

 

[boof]

Well just an update for those that may be interested. The vehicle suffered another failure just after the last post. Due to the impending birth of our 3rd child I did not wish to deal with the vehicle. Once again Peter took the vehicle back, with a list of faults to be rectified.

I must compliment Peter on his professionalism in regards to fixing the problem, I just wish his tradesmanship was as professional. He has had the vehicle since the first week of December, which is another 8 weeks. My complaint with this is that in the last 11mths since QCA started the conversion I have had the vehicle in a driveable state for 10 weeks. Given the amount of Hiluxs with the Lexus engine in them I dont regard it as a one off conversion not attempted before.

I have been promised the vehicle would be returned every day since the 25th of January. I am still awaiting the vehicle which seems to be having problems which has Peter pulling his hair out.

My main reason for this post is to inform others that for parts and information relating to the UZ engines QCA seem to be on the ball. However I believe that a full conversion is beyond their ability as a workshop. I would love to hear from someone who has had a full conversion undertaken by QCA with different results?

 

[91_4x4runner]

From a standpoint of professionalism, if the product didn't work the first or second time, I think a refund of around 1/2 the cost should be given and the product returned in working order to the consumer by any means necessary without additional cost.


That's how we handle quality assurance at work, and it seems like a good template for other businesses.

 

[Pro]

From a standpoint of professionalism, if the product didn't work the first or second time, I think a refund of around 1/2 the cost should be given and the product returned in working order to the consumer by any means necessary without additional cost.


That's how we handle quality assurance at work, and it seems like a good template for other businesses.

do you run and own said business? i'd love to know how your work manages to stay in the black with that kind of practise.

 

[boof]

Ok just a update yet again. The vehicle was returned to me on the 8th of February. This means Peter had the car for nearly 9 weeks. The vehicle started and the a/c worked. Peter hadnt sorted the idle problem yet and informed of this. However the vehicle was booked in to have some Fab work done so it. Peter has said he will sort the idle when I get it back.

When I got home from work and inspected the vehicle it also had no hazard lights, horn, stereo, lights on warning buzzer, interior light, and the central locking would not work. I phoned Peter and told him of my unhappiness at receiving the car back yet again with more problems.

I delivered the car to the guy at Hervey Bay on the 9th of February. I received a call from him on Friday the 16th. The car had yet again failed due to what looks like a wiring related problem.

I have spoken to Peter and again said I wish to have the vehicle fixed by someone other than himself. This time he has finally agreed. Hopefully this will see an end to an engine conversion that has been nothing but a pita for nearly 12 mths now.

 

[sideshow]

i work with alot of workshops down in sydney and speak to some around the country

i have been doin conversions for over 10 yrs and these days i just do wiring

because to do a full conversion from scratch and everything to work 100% would cost the owner around 10 to 20 grand

there are alot of people doin conversions so theres competition

unfortunately 90% of workshops underquote prices when doin a conversion

and unfortunately the customer doesnt want to pay alot for it

so its a catch 22

another prob is workshops say they can do the full job perfectly

but then they get to a hard spot and stuff the conversion right up

i constantly get phone calls where guys didnt want to pay me to wire their car vause they found someone closer and cheaper
well a month goes past they they say its not running right can u come out well i basically double the price and then say call me back if yr interested
hehehe

i see so many mechanics get involved in jobs that are over their head
and when they quoted you for a weeks worth of work
and they have already worked 2 weeks on your car trust me the workmanship goes down

it happens to everyone esepcially when they get the hsits with the car and spend to long and waste time and money

all i can say is doing conversions is very hard to make money for every hour you work on the car because u cannot charge the customer that



if everyone refunded 1/2 the cost of a product failing not many workshops would survive

its a tough industry and too many shonky workshops out there

trust me i work on a different car and a different place every day

i see it all

i got flown to perth last yr to do some wiring

i had to double check and tripple check everything cause if i flew back to sydney and then the car ran into problems then i would have to go back and fix the prob if i could nto fix it over the phone and i would have ot pay for it

i think at end of day you should have made a list of whats wrong
then say to them fix it or i will take legal action

if the workshop said they can do the job then they should od the job
not do half the job

thats y i fix alot of other peoples stuff ups

 

[brooksy]

Sideshow,

I have a feeling you will be getting a phone call from Boof soon. I have his Hilux at my shop ATM getting a lot of custom work done. I have a person here in Hervey Bay that used to work for Toyota in Germany (Ekky Stoleberg) but he is hesitant to do the job as wiring isn't his forte :boggled: He said if he was doing it from scratch no worries but to fault find someone elses shocking work he isn't interested as he has enough work to contend with.
I know how frustrated (insert very p!22ed off here) Boof is & I find it surprising how calm he is coming across.
We have a lot of Events that we were commited to & magazine features that I am worried may not happen because of the very inadequate quality in work that has been carried out.
I just hope that Boof gets in contact with you soon & tells Pete that he has no other option to force Pete to pay for all your expenses to fix the problem as I think Boof has given Pete more than enough chances & been patient enough at getting it right.


brooksy

 

[sideshow]

i drove to qld last november to do 3 jobs

2 of the jobs cancelled because dumb idiots didnt call me to tell me of changes

sorry for swearing but i was so shittyyyyy

anyway for me to come there would cost around 2000 depending what was wrong

and prob need afew months notice

i can come quickly on a weekend but i would have to think about how much extra id have to charge especially since im gettin married in june

so its either next few weeks or in july

all i can say and to anyone posting in this forum and complaining about other workshops issssssssss

you get what u pay for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so listen to this everyone

ask anyone and u wont hear much bad things bout me

i always look after my customers and alwyas do make sure everything is 100%

anyway email me or pm me if your interested

sorry if i sound rude but too many times these days i get call then they laugh at my price

then they ring me 2 weeks later saying can i come fix their car properly due to the other shop stuffed it

i can fix yr problems as i do this every day

so pm or email me if yr interested but if u want it soon then ill have to see my other half as my nuts are tied for next few months

 

[brooksy]

I will let Gary know what you can do. Gary will have to tell QCA what is happening & basically give them NO choice.
I know that Gary wanted you to do the wiring in the first place & we knew you were coming up to do a friends Bundera at Sunny Coast which is when Gary wanted his done at the same time but Pete reckoned he had someone who was better & cheaper. Unfortunately he has proven to be incorrect on both counts !!!!


brooksy

 

[sideshow]

well i can so much stuff but ill keep my mouth shut cause i hear this very often

the last trip up there turned to **** so the next time i come up there

ill make sure it doesnt happen again

but make sure if he wants it done before june he better dosomething soon

as after mid may i wont be able to come up that way till july

 

[boof]

Sideshow, its no secret to anyone who knows me I have wanted you to fix the wiring from the get go. Unfortunately Peter does not wish too, the problem with the wiring is not a simple one. A lot of it stems from the fact that when the wire was run under a battery and caused a short it has damaged a cable somewhere in the vehicle.

Peter has tried to just go around the problem and rewire this that and the other. As a result the vehicle no longer utilizes factory starter relays and other points as well. This not only makes it hard for someone to fault find in future but also hard to know what the hell is going on.

The only real way to fix it is to replace the entire factory loom and reinstate the factory starters etc. Unfortunately Peter will not pay someone else to do it so I am stuck at this point in time. He has said he will replace the loom and inspect it again. I will wait and see what happens this time I guess. The vehicle is having work done at present so its not in my hands anyway. Yes I could fork out to have you come and do the job but are you going to be 100% that there is not a problem left by QCA? Also once you have done that I no longer have any recourse with QCA and I have to continually pay you to fly up and look at it.

Also as a final note in regards to the cost of the conversion. If I had done the job similiar to some others that is pay to source out different parts of the job and finish off other areas myself. The job would have cost me around 6500 -7000 dollars. I paid an extra 3000 initially on this cost to have one shop do it. There are plenty around that can do the work at this cost without dramas. My reasoning was two things if there was ever a problem finger pointing could not occur and secondly I was told 2-4 weeks to do the job obviously quicker than I could have done the conversion. I think to say that people cant do the job for the prices they quote is incorrect. I honestly believe that had QCA farmed out the wiring to someone like yourself my vehicle would not have been the pita it has become.

 

[sideshow]

i found out the day before i was driving for 12 hours up to coloundra that a job was cancelled not even a call a week before so maybe i can reschedule everything

anyway if that was yr car all i can say is sukkkkkkk shiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttt

if it wasnt yr car then dont worry bout it

i see soo many bad jobs in mech and in auto elect and those workshops still are busy

makes me wonder how they do it cause the customers never go back for more work so anyone here how thinks they might know the industry and are complaining on here about other businessses it doesnt matter they should be complaining to the workshop or to mvrica or whatever theyre called

ive been in mech and auto elect industry for 20 years and i know most the good and bad shops in sydney but nothin will change bad jobs will always get done no matter how bad the workshop gets a rap

you get what u pay for maybe one day people on forums will understand this
i run my own business and i do this for a living i do not do my own tax or stuff i cannot do i pay for others to do it

90% of forums are just idiots spreading wrong information if every job was easy then id be working elsewhere when i get work thru forums i then help the forums out when i dont get much work i dont help as much
its a give takee thing

anyway im not putting anyone down all i was pissedddd with was the job that didnt have the decency to call me to postpone the job so if that was u i told u how i feel if it wasnt then dont worry

but i have a business to run just like the workshop yr complaining about

so its best u sort it out with him and not anyone on here because i have learnt that no matter how poorquality the shop is they will just keep sucking more and more loosers their way

anywa enough bitching my 1uz hasnt missed abeat in 3 years pity i cant say that about others heheheheheheheheh

i love being smart assssssssss on forums these days i better go now before they kick me offff

 

[boof]

i found out the day before i was driving for 12 hours up to coloundra that a job was cancelled not even a call a week before so maybe i can reschedule everything

anyway if that was yr car all i can say is sukkkkkkk shiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttt

if it wasnt yr car then dont worry bout it

i see soo many bad jobs in mech and in auto elect and those workshops still are busy

makes me wonder how they do it cause the customers never go back for more work so anyone here how thinks they might know the industry and are complaining on here about other businessses it doesnt matter they should be complaining to the workshop or to mvrica or whatever theyre called

ive been in mech and auto elect industry for 20 years and i know most the good and bad shops in sydney but nothin will change bad jobs will always get done no matter how bad the workshop gets a rap

you get what u pay for maybe one day people on forums will understand this
i run my own business and i do this for a living i do not do my own tax or stuff i cannot do i pay for others to do it

90% of forums are just idiots spreading wrong information if every job was easy then id be working elsewhere when i get work thru forums i then help the forums out when i dont get much work i dont help as much
its a give takee thing

anyway im not putting anyone down all i was pissedddd with was the job that didnt have the decency to call me to postpone the job so if that was u i told u how i feel if it wasnt then dont worry

but i have a business to run just like the workshop yr complaining about

so its best u sort it out with him and not anyone on here because i have learnt that no matter how poorquality the shop is they will just keep sucking more and more loosers their way

anywa enough bitching my 1uz hasnt missed abeat in 3 years pity i cant say that about others heheheheheheheheh

i love being smart assssssssss on forums these days i better go now before they kick me offff

Nope it wasnt my car I never actually scheduled anything in with you I spoke to you about availability a month or more before your trip. As for your holier than now attitude I wouldnt get you do the job anyway, you come across like a spoilt little child with a stick up their arse.

And for the record a lot of the positive feedback on the shop was off here. That was the reason for this thread so anyone doing a search in the future would know some history. Not sure what your problem is nor do I care I will get the vehicle fixed. If need be I will rewire it myself, point is I paid someone to do it and they will do it at there cost and not mine.

I am sure there are a lot of people reading this on here that would no longer use your services I sure know I wouldnt.:madfawk:

 

[sideshow]

im not spoilt yet getting there thou hheeheh

the customer that pissed me off last year stuffed things up for everyone else

havin to drive 12 hours andthen find out it was wasted would upset anyone

i did ask if it was u and it wasnt so dont take what i said to heart

i talk of the forums as a mechanic and businessman point of view

most others on here are on here with a backyard mechanic point of view

this is why i sound harsh sometimes people on forums say it will take 3 hours to do somehting

i turn around and say no it will take 10 hours because i havebeen thru this many many times and know the crap

anyway if i sound like that to u its your view

im here to make money and i might be harsh but i tell it as it is

people use my services cause i know what im doin and i make sure everything is done before i leave

if they dont like that then i guess they will go elsewhere

if people reading this then they will make up their own mind

but if any of them run their own business then hopefully they will understand where im coming from

i just think this section of the forum is not very good
bagmouthing other businesses before knowing both sides of the story is not right and this place can get into alot of trouble legally

cya ive had enough of this forum anyway

 

[boof]

im not spoilt yet getting there thou hheeheh

the customer that pissed me off last year stuffed things up for everyone else

havin to drive 12 hours andthen find out it was wasted would upset anyone

i did ask if it was u and it wasnt so dont take what i said to heart

i talk of the forums as a mechanic and businessman point of view

most others on here are on here with a backyard mechanic point of view

this is why i sound harsh sometimes people on forums say it will take 3 hours to do somehting

i turn around and say no it will take 10 hours because i havebeen thru this many many times and know the crap

anyway if i sound like that to u its your view

im here to make money and i might be harsh but i tell it as it is

people use my services cause i know what im doin and i make sure everything is done before i leave

if they dont like that then i guess they will go elsewhere

if people reading this then they will make up their own mind

but if any of them run their own business then hopefully they will understand where im coming from

i just think this section of the forum is not very good
bagmouthing other businesses before knowing both sides of the story is not right and this place can get into alot of trouble legally

cya ive had enough of this forum anyway

Peter was informed by me before I posted and has plenty of time to put across his view I would take his lack of reply to show that my posts are truthful and not one sided:no:

 

[Pro]

this is a QCA/boof prob, not a sideshow prob.

leave it alone.

 

[bansheebuzz]

has the wiring been sorted? im on the gold coast, have my own shop, like sideshow i do alot of engine conversion wiring. I do a/c modification and repairs and also fuel injection diagnostic/repairs.

If your problems are still unresolved drop me a msg

 

[bundymonkey]

Its basically fixed now