1dayk20egsi

First off let me say that im 31 years old been into honda/imports for over a decade. Im a pretty easy going guy and pretty much let things slide when im
****ed over but today i just cant let someone else go through what i went through. So this is why im writing this review.

Alternative Motorsports in Oklahoma City.

About 2 months ago i was quoted 800 for a simple b16a2 swap, problem is when all is said and done it cost me 1550$ the only extra thing needed was fluids (roughly 100bux?) and a main relay (10-30$ on ebay)

I asked for the shop to check my headlights because they were not working.
Found out later on a few days later my headlights were not working so they never checked it, even found that during the swap they unplugged one headlight and didnt plug it back in (still headlight didnt work).

Also a check engine light came on after 2 minutes driving away (they say it is intermittent and i just happened to get lucky when it came on- they wired the o2 sensor into the wrong pin

Good thing i check fluids before i left because they didnt have any coolant or wiper fluid in the tanks (they said the engine had the coolant but the resevoir didnt i know thats not the case because after a few days i had to refill the coolant again because the coolant they put in at the shop didnt siphon through the engine - a "brain fart" is what the mechanic said to me as the reason it was missed ( a brain fart that almost cost me 4500$)

Also over 50mph car shook like crazy it was out of balance they said they test drove it but i guess not over 50mph (they rebalanced the tires and it was good after that)

Steering wheel they installed but didnt hook up horn button and its a quick release hub but they
installed it in a way where u cant release the wheel at all - they said it wasnt a quick release hub (it is)

So after all this you would think id never go back to them right? Nope i made the mistake and let it slide and figured just my luck and they missed a couple things no biggie. I wish i could go back in time.

I get quoted 550 for installing intake headers exhaust coilovers/shocks and seats, some simple bolt ons. I'll tell you this i was quoted 860$ WITHOUT the seats so it would of been AT LEAST 1000$ if they did the seats so again i was charged twice what their estimate was (if you do decide to come to Alternative motorsports and your quoted something just double that price, even if its a bolt on item)

During both jobs i never got a call ever, I was always the one calling for status updates and the guy matt there doesnt give u anything to work off of u have to almost feel like probing
to get an answer it just seems like he wants you off the phone as soon as possible.

I wasnt in a rush, hell i waited a month for simple bolt ons yes a month LITTERALLY brought in on October 1 and it was ready on October 27th.

I kept calling every other day and there was always an excuse why my car wasnt done yet. Toward the end i asked for the owner to
call me back but every time matt left a message i never got a call back its funny becuase each time i asked for a call back he said "i can leave another message" ( i dont want another message just give him the first
message, that i need a call back ) matt says Chucks a busy man and has messages from back 2 weeks
that right there should tell u to stay away from this place manager doesnt know how to run a shop
u gotta take care of **** in a reasonable timeframe 1 month to install bolt on's 1 week for a telephone call?

The reason the price was higher than anticipated is becauseThey say it took 5 hours to mod up a 8" test pipe first thats a damn long time to fab up a piece. I was told of the issue
and it needed a custom test pipe and it would be 75$ an hour im thinking 1 or 2 hours - instead they spent "5 " hours and tacked it on the bill.
Unless ur using blacksmith tools and ur making the piece from scratch i cant see where it would take this long.

When i left the car with them a month ago I asked them to have the driver side to be a 1/2" higher than passenger because im a fat/big guy and when im in the car i want it to sit even well its the opposite the
driver side is lower than passenger so i gotta have that redone

Also when i picked it up and the n1 style exhaust it was bolted up wrong
first it sticks 2-3" out further than it should be (probably due to their custom test pipe that was made too long) also the biggest issue is the canister sould angle outwards instead its actually angled about a half inch inside, it looks awful, so i gotta have that redone as well
Also the stock seat was put in on the passenger side with the brackets of the seat hitting my dash leaving a beautiful mark.


Here is the reason im even writing all of this
Finally go to pick it up and get there and mentioned to my mom "they didnt take the stickers off the tires". (in my mind it takes 3 seconds to take off the stickers from the tires, but going the extra "mile" is too much for this shop)
Well Chuck overheard me and goes off on me and my mom who was picking up the car with me ..he starts approaching my
mom and swearing saying and i quote "get your fat piece of **** mom out of here" now let me remind you that this is a owner of a business and deffinately unproffesional, obviously my mom is scared of this burly guy and gets in her car and has to drive off. This is some ghetto **** goin down. So he then turn towards me im in my car he opens the driver side door yells at me and says look at his piece of **** car its a pile of crap (WOOOOWWWW) dude u dont say that to your customers cars ...and i just gave this guy over 2 grand on all labor to his business you shouldn't go off on someones car that they actually love and put alot of money into. I hope to god that all my work that was being done wasnt half *** because my car is rusted and the body
looks like **** (dude its a project car body work is next) worst of all and i swear to ****ing god i am not lying he starts slamming the door closed and open over and over 3 + times on my arm he actually physically assaulted me basically. He said get your **** out of here. 5 or more people were all there with him and witnessed this so thats a good thing at least if there his friends they can see what a guy he is or if its potential customers then i can feel good knowing that he just basically caused himself to lose business.


I spent close to now 7grand on this car and when u spend that kind of money u expect to get **** done correctly especially if you take it to a "tuning" shop.

So next time i need work done im going to Humble Performance.

Btw, i did file a complaint with the OKC police, i didnt file charges because i dont want to deal with going to court. So at least this way i protect myself if something happens to me my car our my house. Im also going to file with BBB and post on a few different forums to let other potential customers know the risk they are getting into, noone can have this bad of luck, just too many issues. I also wrote this because now i have it all off my chest and if chuck reads this he can realise exactly what ive gone through, because im not sure he knew the whole story.

This was simply a review of Alternative Motorsports which i give a 1.5 stars out of 5

1dayk20egsi

i guess im not the only one with issues and them here is a reply from another forum i go to
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im just like you. im too nice, and when i never liked their service in the first place, i seem to keep going back to Alternative.

they did my k-swap, and also quoted me less, and like every week, was like an extra $1000. they always have excuses for something. they over price everything, and take extra time on things to make their labor cost more. $80 an hour right? i had a mount welded back together that was extremely small. i paid $180-200 or something, on a part of the mount that was like the size of my finger nail. took like 30 minutes for one of their guys to do it. wtf?

every time ive taken my car to them for so much vibration from my axles, they dont seem to understand the vibration im feeling. the they rotate my tires and say its better. they put my tires from the front, to the back. my front tires are 205/50/15 and my back are 195/50/15.

my car sat at their shop from august 08 to the very last days of november 08, and always sitting under a car leaking oil all over my car. my car is taken care of VERY well. i clean it EVERY day.

when i needed another header because my flex pipe was always going bad, i left my car at their shop again since it didnt have a header on it. they didnt even call to make another order on the new header until the next week. they would always tell me they have been really busy on other customers cars, and dynoing all day. they would also tell me they would call me back whenever i asked them. they NEVER called back, and i called them every day. got the same thing. whenever i have stopped by now and then to find out the progress, it just looks like they arent really that busy. looks more like they're having fun dynoing cars all the time, possibly with their friends cars.

chuck does get an attitude alot. i cant tell the story between him and my dad. id have to go to my dad and find out. but i know it came to a threatening point.

alternativechuck

Here at Alternative Motorsports we run a professional honda shop, we have been working on honda's since 1986, Yes our labor rate is $75.00 per hour and we charge for what we do, we have thousands and thousands of happy costomers, and no we cannot please everyone that has a honda.

This customer called to get a quote on a b16 swap into a hatch, he was quoted $800.00 plus fluids, filters and wiring if he had all the parts, customer stated he had everything. This is where is problem is, he didnt have everything! The car was towed to our shop on 8/27/10 We started on the swap and found out he was missing alot of stuff, hoses, throttle cable, no belts, fluids, filters hose clamps etc, When we finished the car his batt was no good, he oked a batt and then the main fuel relay was bad, and yes he oked that and did not have a problem with any of it, he also had us install a e-bay steering wheel and the power steering pump he had was no good, so after fixing everything the car needed it was no longer $800.00 labor for the swap, parts and labor came to 1530.02 and $455.29 was parts he didnt have. He had no problem with the work we did at that time.
He brought the car back to us on 10/01/2010 to install struts and springs, wheels and tires, header and cat back 4 wheel alignment, he was quoted $550.00
After going through the customer supplied parts we found a cold air intake and called him back to see if he wanted to install that and gave him a price of $75.00, he ok'ed that. Then his e-bay exhaust had no test pipe and would not line up, his header was pointed towards the ground, we called the customer and told him if he wanted us to fix the exhaust it would be $75.00 per hour plus parts to add a flex pipe and fix the exhaust correctly, he oked the work. I personally spent 5 hours on this job to repair the e-bay crap, but only charged the customer 2.5 hours labor plus parts. This is what he had a problem with, He gave me a call and said bill was to high, we discussed the bill, I knocked of the install for the cold air and lowered my labor on the exhaust to $75.00 and he was fine on the phone.
He came to pick the car up and I was in the parking lot, and he and his mom were slamming my shop because the mounted and balanced tires that we installed on his car for free still had the stickers on the tires, so according to them now his car is all screwed up and its a piece of **** now and we are a half *** shop and he is slamming us on the internet. lol I asked the customer what the problem was and he said it was bullshit i didn't take off his stickers on his tires, and his mom was yelling and cursing in the parking lot, So I told them to take there car and get off my property. We have alot of awesome customers, this is just a person we don't need bringing the moral down around my shop or oklahoma, He stated to me that everyone in oklahoma were red necks and no one here knew half what he did about honda's. I will post pics of his car and him off my security camera's and the video that I saved! It is way different than what he is saying, specially his mom in the back ground, lmfao.

Arsenal

Judge Judy needs to chime in

nemisish20

To the OP. Why in the WORLD would you pay someone to do a B Swap in a CIVIC?

Can you loosen a bolt and tighten it back up? If so, you could have done the swap your self.

Either way, i dont see alternative at fault because i have had customers who at first seem down to earth and then you give them the world and they decide it is not enough.

And since when does getting an engine swap include washer fluid? That is a courtesy not a requirement.

OP, your best bet is to get a book and stop spending money.

DB8 RHD

I always love reviews of shops and then the shop owner comes in and "o ive done nothing wrong, f-u don't need your business anyways".

Google - "Review of Alternative Motorsports" and the first 6 results are bad reviews lol, you wouldn't think you would want that if you run a "professional Honda shop"

I run a very very small shop w/ no bad reviews and go outta my way on all customer cars and that's always the way its gonna be.

Little heads up, always have a customer come in to approve said changes / modifications, saves your own ***, quote higher then lower cause that seems to be the main complaint.

75$ an hour seems very steep for "bolt ons", I charge 50$ an hour, then peak at 90$ an hour when in comes to complete custom fab, I would only discount labor if I thought I was personally over charging.

Not taking sides, just words of advice, waiting for the video's now, I love watching people make tards of them self's.

nemisish20

I didnt review them.

1dayk20egsi

94dxcoupe

To the OP, I do not know alternative motorsports however, you should know that if you buy a bunch of ebay crap and expect it to fit you are sadly mistaken. Alternative Motorsports is completely justified charging much more to install crap parts. They never fit right and you have to MAKE them fit.... The end result being half-*** parts that kind of 'fit'

WhiteSlips

When you have an old car and you put a complete swap in it that consists of all used parts, **** is going to come up. If you want it done right, you have to pay to get it done right. They quote you a flat rate up front and I'm sure let you know that if anything comes up you will have to pay for the extra labor, parts etc.

If it's that big of a deal, hire a lawyer, file suit in small claims court for reimbursement of the unfair charges and move on. You will end up spending $100/ hour just for the attorney to get the suit started. When it's all said and done you will spend more on an attorney than you did on your entire swap.