That name rang a bell. Turns out that these guys are the clowns that messed
up by sister's MGB which I ended up fixing and now own. I emailed her to
confirm that these were indeed the guys and she replied with the following
message. I worked on the car before she took it to them and I can assure you
that the electrical system was not botched at all. She went through
alternators and batteries while they played with it trying to find why it
kept dying. Eventually, I flew up to New York and undid all of their handy
work and she ended up sueing for what they wanted for their "work". Sorry to
bomb the list with this but, I was the one that work on it before and after
they did the work and it was some of the worst half assed botch jobs I have
ever seen. I would hate to see anyone go through what she did. This was a
few years ago.
She writes:
*****
I had some kind of bizarre electrical problem with the car right around the
time I moved to Arlington. I thought, great, there's this huge MG specialty
mechanic right up the street, I'll just take it there! He "fixed" the car in
a few days, and I attempted to drive to NY. No luck - the car died on the NJ
Turnpike about 20 miles from Philly. Luckily, a cop drove by and called me a
tow. I had to take a cab to Amtrack in Philly and the LIRR home, and I
called Motorhead (Jeff)and told him where the car was. He wouldn't agree to
pay for someone to fix it up there, so I told him he was responsible for
paying to tow it back to Virginia.
Well, he towed it back, and he tried to fix it again, and it died again, and
again, and like a month went by. I found out after giving up my NY license
plates that the car wasn't street legal in VA, which Jeff & Co neglected to
tell me despite the fact that they had performed an expensive tune-up on the
car(including installing an incorrect air filter, you may remember).
So now I had no car from early December through the end of January, no tags
and I owed this bleep about $1,500. So I told him I was taking the car to
someone who could fix it (namely, you) and I wasn't paying for the tow bill,
the tuneup or any of the work he'd done on the electrical system. I had AmEx
cancel the charges and started what became a 14-month-long legal dispute
He called me, and called me and called me, trying to get me to bring the car
back in so he could have another chance to fix it. I was at the end of my
rope with the situation. I knew he just wanted to get his hands on the car
so he could hold it hostage to my paying the bill. He finally agreed to
being paid about $400 (mostly for a brake job and an alternator) after I got
a lawyer to send him a letter.
He had the nerve to insist as part of the settlement that I physically go to
Motorhead and shake his hand and the hands of all of his employees to show
that "there were no hard feelings." I can tell you I was on the verge of
physical violence. I refused for two weeks and then finally gave in and went
down there and did it. It was like he knew he was putting me through some
kind of psychological torture and was enjoying it.
Among the mechanical problems caused by Motorhead: installed a relay
backwards, causing a problem where the ignition could not be shut off;
unsafe wire splices; wires hanging loose that were not properly grounded or
connected; disconnected wires to the stereo and headlights; a profusely
leaking gasket replaced during the tuneup; bypassing of the inertia switch,
which is the mechanism that shuts down the fuel line after an impact to
prevent the car from exploding. And his estimate to replace the exhaust
system so that the car would be made street legal in the state? Another
$1,200. When I told him that the car wasn't worth what I would end up owing
him at the end of this, he told me he'd buy the car from me.
I have never had such an unpleasant experience before or since, and I'm
fully convinced that the guy is pathological, and either has the worst MG
mechanics working for him in existence, or is the most accomplished crook in
the auto repair industry. I'm not sure which. But I hope he never touches
another British sports car.
*****
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