Friday, February 28, 2014

Steve Colletti's unhappy customer and employee

So, now I'll skip forward a little bit and make this a short blog today and come back to what happened after I told Steve Colletti to rebuild the engine with its current crankshaft, which we know from the previous blog, Steve did not understand.

After March had gone by, I was upset but not overly upset because I know extenuating circumstances do happen.  But I was slightly perturbed because if Steve would have started working on my car immediately (November), rather than waiting until February, the car might have been completed or almost completed on time, even after running into difficulties, which was his excuse.  If he would have started in November, he would have had an extra 2.5 months to deal with errors or difficulties.  But he waited until February to start my car when he had told me the car would probably be done in January (Remember telling me that Steve the "ripper off-er" Colletti?).  Since I do not drive my car in the winter, I really didn't care to have it done in January, so that did not affect me at all when he said that.  I wanted him to take his time and do it correctly, but I also wanted it to be done in a certain time frame.  I brought the car in November, as you know from the previous posts, to have it done around the beginning of March.  This gave him 3.5 months to complete the car which should have been plenty of time considering he told me he was slow on business.  He told me it would be done.  This was one major factor in choosing this place.  If that promise was not made to me, I would not have come here to begin with.  Obviously he just wanted my money and was not concerned with being professional and doing what was promised.

Once May had arrived, I was really upset.  Steve has called me a "difficult" customer in the Better Business Bureau report.  I guess a "difficult" customer to them is one who expects the owner to be true to his word.  While visiting Katie Knabe (my former wife and daughter of Bill Knabe) some time around the beginning of the summer, I told Katie of the difficulties I was having with Colletti Motorsports.  She said she wondered why Steve had told me that my car would be done in January, when her father, Bill Knabe, always takes off for the entire month of December.   Bill Knabe, if you haven't read previous posts, was an employee of Colletti Motorsports. This left the shop undermanned.  She also told me, and this is a direct quote, her father "was not happy with Steve."  Now I was really nervous and upset about my car.


Thursday, February 27, 2014

Tag


Steve Colletti, the incompetent lying mechanic.

Alright, let's start a little more from the beginning.  Why did I even choose Colletti Motorsports to start with?  Well, I dated and was briefly married to the daughter of an employee of Colletti Motorsports.  The employee's name was Bill Knabe and his daughter's name was Katie Knabe.  Unfortunately and sadly, both have passed away from cancer.  My truck had needed a new motor at one time and I needed somewhere to go to that I could trust.  As many people know, it is hard to trust automotive mechanic shops.  I was not married to Katie at this time.  We had gotten a dissolution and became friends again later on.  Knowing Katie and her father, I decided to go ahead and bring my truck to Colletti Motorsports.  They found a new motor to replace the broken down motor that was in my truck.  Changing motors does not take that much skill and they were able to do it with no problems.  That experience I had with them was fine.  It was the later experience, that this blog is dedicated to, that is my horror story.

My Buick Grand National was broken down and my Combat Medic Vietnam Veteran father had passed away and left a little bit of money to me.  We both enjoyed cars and he was a dirt track and drag racer back in his day.  I love taking care of and having my car, therefore, I wanted to spend some money to have my car fixed so that I could care for it and enjoy it as a sort of therapy from my father's loss.  Knowing Katie and her father, and the fact that Colletti Motorsports's website claimed they were "turbo specialists," (a claim they no longer state) I decided to come and talk to Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") about rebuilding the engine in my Buick Grand National.

My father had passed away on Veteran's Day in 2010.  I came to Colletti Motorsports right around that timeframe.  I told Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") that I would like to have the engine rebuilt and that I wanted it done around the beginning of March (2011) and that I wanted it to be around 500HP.  I also strongly pointed out that I heard these cars can be very tricky to work on.  I did not want to insult him, but at the same time I wanted to warn him.  A previous mechanic I had while living in Florida (Kevin King of KDK Performance) told me to never have anyone, who is not experienced with Buick Grand Nationals, ever work on my car.  He said typically, they will blow up the first day you get them back.  I have also read articles in GM High Tech Magazine that state this as well. Well, I had had Millet's Automotive in Piqua, OH, rebuild my Buick around 1999 when I was on leave from the Navy.  I was on a one month leave and needed the car done in 3 weeks.  Millet's Automotive did the job in 3 weeks and the car lasted me for 10 years.  I assumed if Millet's could do it, Colletti Motorsports could as well.  But they have obviously proved me wrong.  So, Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") told me, with a big smile, it would be no problem.  Not only did he say it would not be a problem, he said it would probably be done in January.

The end of February comes and I am asked to stop by.  I am excited to think that my car is done or almost done.  I get there and my semi-rare car is just sitting out in the front parking lot, which is not secure.  They have no fences or anything to protect your car from theft or vandals.  I go inside the shop and see my engine in pieces. (Remember, the car was promised to be done at the beginning of March.) I was pretty upset but I remembered that Millet's Automotive rebuilt my car in 3 weeks, so I still thought the car could be done on time.  Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") showed me that my Buick has, what I later found out on my own, an offset crankshaft.  He had apparently never seen one before and did not know what to do.  He had printed out an article in which someone had converted their Turbo Buick from an offset crankshaft to a standard crankshaft and recommended to me that we do this.  This also required that the timing order be changed.  I said I wanted to look into this plan of his.  It did not seem right to me.

What makes a Grand National a Grand National is its unique motor.  Once you change that, it is no longer a Grand National.  Most car enthusiasts will understand this point and especially if you are a Turbo Buick owner.  I looked into the matter of the offset crankshaft and discovered that there is a fluid channel in the crankshaft that gives it extra strength and that Buick Grand National crankshafts hold up to quite a lot of stress.  This was something Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") could not figure out on his own.  I had to tell him.  He apparently was either not intelligent enough, or too lazy and incompetent, or all of these to find this out on his own  This was when I started getting really nervous.  I was afraid that my car was going to blow up right after I got it back just like I had been warned and read about.  It was from that point on that I really started documenting everything.  I did not get my car back until January 2013 when it was supposed to be March 2011.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

8 fuel injectors for a 6 cylinder car

Colletti Motorsports charged me for 8 fuel injectors when my car is a 6 cylinder.  My car, by the way, is a 1987 Buick Grand National.  Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") charged me $600 for a set of 8 - 50lb/hr injectors when he could have gotten better ones from any reputable Turbo Buick supplier cheaper. I am having 6 - 60lb/hr injectors installed for a total price of $425.00 at KDK Performance (more performance too), but Colletti Motorsports opted to make me spend more money for some reason, for less performance.  When I told him of this, he offered no apology or refund.  How inept do you have to be to do something like that?  Oh, I'm sure he was not inept.  I am sure he did it on purpose.  You see, many of these shady mechanics have only one supplier they work with.  That way they get incentives and "kickbacks" from their dedicated supplier.  I am most certain of this.

Here is my receipt with 8 fuel injectors charged to me.  At the time of this, I found the same injectors, but only 6 instead of 8, for $350.00 somewhere on the web.  I had written the number 350 down to remind me of how much I should have been charged.  The second pic is of recent injector prices from Jack Cotton's website.

There are also other hand written numbers on the receipt that I wrote.

Colletti Motorsports charged me $234.00 for the Number 2 and 3 Forged Main Caps.  I found them for $160.00.

Colletti Motorsports charged me $295.00 for Comp Cam and Lifter.  I found them for $219.00.

Quite a mark up for these parts, and I did not even go through the entire list.  Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") is nothing but a liar and a thief.




Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Colletti Motorsports: Steve Colletti, the con man.

Steve Colletti is the owner of Colletti Motorsports (or Colletti Motor Sports) and is a "ripper off-er."  Basically when you walk in the door, he sees dollars signs in his eyes.  But he is very good, that is, he displays a professional and courteous demeanor.  But really, underneath all that, is a man scheming to get your money.  He will tell you anything and everything that you want to hear just to get you in the doorway.  After that, you are essentially stuck and at the mercy of them.  They will tear your car down in a manner in which it will not be drivable anymore, so you cannot just get your vehicle and go elsewhere.  They will make everything seem alright.  They will fill your head with candy and rainbows, but it is all an act for them to go at their own pace, not yours, and do what they want, not what you want them to do.  If you are lucky, your car will stay running when you get it back but more likely than not, you will be unhappy with their work and your car may just very well break down.  Then after you check your receipts and see the cost of parts, you can go on the internet and see how much the parts actually cost.  Don't forget, since he has a business, he gets a tax break on parts as well.  You will see that his markup of parts is often 30%-50%, whereas a reputable mechanic shop will charge 10%-20%, which is customary.  It is customary because they have to charge for their time involved in retrieving the part.

Their motto is they "treat you and your car like family," which is the complete opposite of what they do.

My advice for you, to save a big headache and hassle, time and money, is to stay away from this deviant place.



BTW, I did not initially know how to do a blog so my friend started this for me and is under his account.  My name is John Olds and I have nothing to hide.  Only Steve Colletti (the "ripper off-er") does.  He does not want you to know the truth, nor does he want to pay back the money for his mistakes.