BumpinVTEC

This post is to keep people from getting screwed over from these guys..aka. Chris Reed and Alex, last name unknown...previous owners of Lab junkies and Honda lab, the lab...

I've been out of the Honda game for awhile but purchased a civic last October for a commuter for school, it turned out to be a lemon and eventually needed a rebuild...my car broke down last month and i desperately needed it fixed, i was in over my head and found this place on Craigslist offering full single cam vtec rebuilds for 900 (bearings to pistons and rings to new gaskets and seals from top to bottom i called them and they told me they would have it done in 48 to 72 hours cause the had plenty of cores in stock. I talked to CHRIS REED and told him my situation. He said he can get it done and had a tow guy that would pick up my car for 250 (i live about an hour away) so I jumped the gun and had them start work on the car, this was on Monday.

So after a few days I called to see the status after I already paid a non-refundable deposit of 600, No answer from his calls, so I looked online which is what i should've done in the first place and found out about there previous shop and their shady reputation. I got worried and gave him a couple more calls and no answer...then i sent him a text saying why aren't you calling me back and that I found out about all the bad reviews and i hope he wasn't trying to scam me. He soon returned my call saying that the number I called forwards to their cell phones? and that he couldn't answer at the time, which was odd since he called right back after I sent the text, he also called me by accident at 9 in the evening which also was sketchy to me...if its a forwarding number then how is he calling me at that hour and receiving text?

So when he called he said that he was sorry and he would call me everyday letting me know on the progress of the car, and that he wasn't going to scam me, he also said why would i scam you if i make six figures a year, and that all the bad reviews were people who just didn't have the money..I stayed with my suspicions but it was too late, they already had my car...later that day he calls saying he already pulled the motor and that the block had a crack that needed to be welded cause he was unsure if the head gasket would seal...He was charging me an extra 150 if wanted it back my Saturday even though he told me the car would be done by Thursday or Friday, he said if i didn't want to pay the 150 i would have to wait about a week for new cores to come in, I was getting more and more stressed out already since i was borrowing my dads car and he needed it back asap...

I showed up the next day, Friday, to see what the hell he was talking about to find my car on the lift with my motor still in the car...I asked his partner Alex what crack was he talking about and you can tell he didn't know what to tell me...like he was trying to think of something to say, all this while Chris was on the phone standing 10 feet away, Alex gave him a look and Chris looked at him and gave a hand gesture to stop talking, he then got off the phone and said it was the bank but you can tell by the way he was talking that he was not, like he was talking his friend or something...He then said he was talking about the short block core, that he only had one left and it needed to be repaired if i wanted to get my car by Saturday...he gave two options; pay the 150 and repair this block or wait til Wednesday for them to rebuild my current block...i told them I would only pay if i get it back the following day, I needed my car for school...this whole time I noticed it was just two of them and some guy named Pedro in the shop...I asked who is the certified mechanic and they told me he was only in the shop til 12 noon...By this point i just wanted my car back so i paid the extra 150 totaling my bill to 1190 from the original 980 including tax...I then come to find out there 6 month warranty is a piece of **** since they charge for labor to do warranty work...weird cause one of the paragraphs in the contract said parts and WORKMANSHIP would be covered?? when i asked Chris about it, he said workmanship is if a bolt comes off while driving they would fix it, but when asked what happened if a I throw a bearing out in like 3 months, he we would negotiate the labor fee...wow....

so long story short I picked up my car the next day, Saturday, Chris was there and I asked hows the car, I walked past him to go see my car but gave me a stern voice to wait cause he wanted me to pay first, I asked to see the car first and he did and I took it for a test drive..the car seemed to drive fine and the motor was looked fresh like was just steam cleaned, so I paid and left, but on my way home, the check engine comes on, pulled the code and its a knock sensor malfunction...when i get home, i had to tighten hoses, adjust the idle since it was idling a little high. I was curious and checked too see if my k&n drop in is still there and its not, they replaced it with a shitty used one! Despite having a warranty and the way they acted I will never call them back or take my car there, I just don't want to deal with them...LESSON LEARNED=ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH ON A PLACE BEFORE HAVING THEM DO WORK! I'm still kicking myself in the *** cause I always usually do, but I was desperate to get my car running to get to school and give my dad's car back, I haven't missed a single day of school yet. I only hope that they rebuilt my motor right! I go to a machinist trade school an hour away from me, I'm a mentor and tutor a bunch of parolees there and I hope my car works long enough so it last me til graduation...I hope karma bites them back hard...A couple of the parolees were even down to go back there and get my money back but I said no, your this far in the program to bettering your life and there is no point getting in trouble again over some ****...so to anyone who is reading this, stay away from these people!!!!!!

*WHEN I MENTIONED ALL THE BAD ONLINE REVIEWS I SAW WHEN THEY HAD ALREADY STARTED WORK ON MY CAR, CHRIS AND ALEX SAID IT WAS ALL PEOPLE THAT JUST COULDN'T PUT UP THE CASH, WELL I PUT UP THE CASH AND THEY SCREWED ME STILL SO DON'T BELIEVE A DAMN WORD THIS GUY SAYS! I WOULD'VE SHOWED UP EVERYDAY IF I DIDNT LIVE ALMOST TWO HOURS AWAY!

*UPDATE 10/14/11
-On my way to my first interview...car started to overheat on the 118 freeway, granny drove it in the slow lane, then within 15 minutes it started to lose power exited off the reseda off ramp then it just died on me...a fellow Honda enthusiast, a total stranger pulled over to help me out...we tried to put coolant in the radiator but it was just done....every time we poured some in it spewed it out like a volcano...called a tow and spent a hundred bucks towing it to my parents house....tried to start it and it turned on but sounded like it was on it's last leg...I'm speechless....missed an interview and my car is dead...I'm taking these guys to court...to all that has a bad experience pm so we can try to get all our money back

-big ups to "david" thanks for pulling over and helping me out, your that man!

Oh..there address is

27221 East 5th street.
Highland, CA

Right off the 210 freeway

DO/\/\O

bumer i always thought og going there for a friend but not going nomore

cancel

iTrader: (2)

karma would kick in, shouldve posted a thread on htech, lots of reputable people on here that will do it for some cash

BoostedDOHCGSR

They run as Honda Acura Specialist right now and I have heard nothing but bad things about them as well.
Good luck with everything.

BumpinVTEC

i now know i should have, i should have done my research before i even took my car there, but when your not into cars for awhile and your focus is on school then you tend to not think about anything else then what needs to get done at the moment which was to get my car fixed as quick as possible...but its too late now, i just want to warn people cause i don't want them to scam more people...

JDM_JNKY

iTrader: (4)

Sucks to hear your story, we've fixed plenty of "lab" cars at the shop. We just built and installed a GSR LSD trans in a lab customers car not too long ago. They told him it was an LSD b16 or GSR, the damn thing was a stock LS tranny HAHAHA......But you Should have came to the Nastie Garage 1st . We could have had your car out in 3days w/ a JDM replacement LB for that price give or take a few dollars, sometimes it pays to do it right once. We are also in the IE. Oh well next time give us a call 909 728 9967 Joel

EF-9_JDMBoy

iTrader: (2)

wow thats some bs sad to hear man
not talking bad bout you op but this is why i rather not drive i'll bus it or bike it hell even skate it before i take my car to anyones shop cause if this happen to me, in a few years id be a parolee lol

hopefully your car is fine and they actually did some work to your car and didnt give you a used engine that was pressure washed

94GSRlbc

what school do you go to UTI?

Mrevann

horrible bro i feel bad for you..... i was ggonnna go there but then i asked my friends to help ... but i heard that Nastie Garage is the best place to go....

shorsh

iTrader: (6)

sii works at the lab

SouthSider13

low&slow

that sucks man sorry for ur $ loss for shitty work

SIRIUS VTEC

Should've just called wrench-pro, but I understand. Trial and Error.

phoxking

thanks for the hint. also watch out guys theirs a shop soon coming out in O.C. called "The Motive" jipped my friends fresh rebuilt itr lsd tranny for a non-lsd one when they were building his motor. sucks, but lesson learned always to be careful what shop you go to!

civic nation

iTrader: (5)

I dont trust any shop and never will.

that sucks that those guys are ripping people off left and right still.

civic nation

iTrader: (5)

I always flag ads like those on craigslist

phoxking

not all of us can do that though, because certain problems with our cars just have to be taken to a shop..i'd like to know how to do internal work or other ish but it's just time consuming with what i have to do right now (school,work, etc.)

BumpinVTEC

I go to NTMA (national tooling and machinist association) in Norwalk...they do machinist training, and are sponsored by HAAS, if anyone has seen the show sons of guns, those are the CNC machines we train on...really good school, and with economy as it is, jobs in my field are always hiring...but yea...lesson learned and I do hope they at least did some work on my car...i know at least they gave me a new rebuilt head since some of the spark plugs were stripped from the previous owner that i bought the car from...my short block is missing the VIN?? so i don't know...thanks for looking guys and spread the word if you hear there name come up...

EusebioSam19

iTrader: (2)

Dude get together with everyone else who's been scammed by these fools
I'm sure you can take them to court, you could have put together a dohc for that
***** ****ed up. Hope you end up doing something about this.

Karmas a bitch bro
I've heard nothing but crap about them
This adds to the list

EusebioSam19

iTrader: (2)

Lol

Stunna MIKE

you could have gotten a motor from HMO for half that price and done all the work in a half a day!

DO/\/\O

bump! could of got a motor from moshi moshi motors

tonylovesjdmEF9

okay bro sorry to hear this but you have to not jump the gun specially on cl i got my ef from my friend he took to many short cuts on the wiring and i had problems luckly i took care of i have helped many ppl from honda tech ( godluvstegs, kingvem,mrevan, and pilot on dubs) i know i could help more if possible unluckly im not a shop i just do everything out of my garage or go over their house and well all i have to say is learn by mistakes for now on look and do your research bro but gl with your car

Mrevann

^ vouch...... Tony has remade my harness and help me with my engine =] tyvm again sir.

tonylovesjdmEF9

^^^no problem hopefully soon i get more tools to start a small bussiness out my garage doing swaps and other **** right now its just small jobs ( brakes tuneups timing belts other **** just ask )