Ben and the team at A&J have been pretty busy preparing for SEMA later this month. He just wanted me to post on his behalf some unfortunate happenings in case you aren't on his mailing list.


======

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ben Leung &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Dear customer,;

Starting September 25th 2007, please make notes that Dickson Chai will no longer be employed by A&J Racing. Please be advised that A&J Racing will not be held responsible for any misinformation provided by Dickson Chai. A&J Racing is implementing this change due to several complaints and misconducts towards Dickson Chai.


A&J Racing is committed to providing excellence in service and genuine client care. All staff is asked not to communicate any further with Dickson Chai regarding matters which are confidential or proprietary to our company. Please direct any related concerns or comments to: SALES@AJ-RACING.COM

Regards,
Ben Leung
</TD></TR></TABLE>

This has been cross posted in the S2000 forum and Fit forum as well. Mods, sorry for the multiple posts, but Ben felt it was important that this info reached the community most relevant to his business. Thanks HT!

 

Hmmm good to know not to deal with that Dick.

 

^

 

lol

 

From my own experience: I ordered 3 things from A&J Racing. My packing slip arrived ahead of the package. When I opened it, I realized tha only 2 outta 3 items where listed. I tried and tried to get ahold of Dickson to no avail for a couple of day's. Finally after the package had arrived, I got in touch with Ben who resolved everything and completely saved the day for me. I have reffered Ben to anybody who would listen ever since.

 

whats the story behind this?

 

For A&J's sake, its probably not a good idea for us to discuss our past experiences about the company. Its apparent that whatever happened has been corrected.

 

i've done transactions with Dickson before, 2 or 3 times and no problem, always got a good deal, good service, thats why i'm curious to what happened

 

ive ordered from them before. while the order did get screwed up they did send the correct item quickly n covered shipping costs

 

Huh, Ben's really trying to get the word out about Dickson. Guess there was some serious drama going down. No one is going into detail about this though. Guess I'm a sucker for the drama .

Thanx for the update Pat . And all the best to A&J. Look forward to the next dD day with y'all.

 

good info thanks

 

sooo he must be a dickface

 

&lt;------Down for teh drama.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> A&J Racing is committed to providing excellence in service and genuine client care. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Bull shiet... where was this when my motor was blown up by ben's tunning a few years ago. All I got was oh sorry, and was out another $1500 in repairs. A&J said the spent time trying to fix the black smoke they caused, so we shoudln't be paying for repairs.

He was more worried about his o2 sensor getting fried more than my car that he made puff black smoke.

They might give u guys great parts, but their service and tunning is something I would advise against. Anyone can sound nice selling you stuff. Its the art of selling.


Modified by AzN_Flava at 9:03 AM 10/8/2007

 

^ Full story please, before people start passing misinformed opinions. What did they do to fix the problem? Anything at all?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AzN_Flava &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Bull shiet... where was this when my motor was blown up by ben's tunning a few years ago. All I got was oh sorry, and was out another $1500 in repairs. A&J said the spent time trying to fix the black smoke they caused, so we shoudln't be paying for repairs.

He was more worried about his o2 sensor getting fried more than my car that he made puff black smoke.

They might give u guys great parts, but their service and tunning is something I would advise against. Anyone can sound nice selling you stuff. Its the art of selling. </TD></TR></TABLE>
IN for more info on this situation.


Modified by get RIGHT at 11:06 AM 10/8/2007

 

Error on the quoting of get right =P I hit reply, then i copied quote from above Cheers to man, my bad!

Onto the story...

I have actually kept this story off the board for a long, long time. I didn’t post because I didn’t believe the case was going to get solved, and it was my hope that A&J would put some work into fixing their problems with me if I kept silent. I didn’t want to be an irrational person going on the board “flamethrower” in hand. I was expecting a reputable shop, in the eyes of Honda-tech, to take care of their mistakes. However, the way A&J handled the situation with me, just ended up as a proverbial finger pointing situation.

I had my motor built and assembled by Hybrid Hatch down in Bakersfield in Fall of 2004. As many of you know, he, in the opinion of many is one of the best. He had received the parts from Rocket and Tom from Camp1320. These guys were overseeing my short block assembly. As a result, I’m willing to say, there wasn’t an assembly problem, but of course, I still put in my due diligence and double checked the short block upon its arrival.

Next, I had the short block and head put together in Vancouver. I had an awesome team working on this with three certified GM Dueck Technicians putting my block together. Now, I’ve put plenty of heads and blocks together. It’s relatively simple. Shoot, I’m willing to say 50% of this board probably have and know it’s a simple job where you really can’t go wrong if you’re careful.

Anyways, I’m just trying to show that I put up an honest effort and did my homework and had certified and reputable people who worked my motor before I left it in A&J’s hands.

November/December 2004: So I called A&J, tried to make various appointments to get it tuned. I looked for Alan, but Alan wasn’t available. To my understanding, at the time, he wasn’t working there, or was no longer on the best of terms with Ben. Alan was my first request for tuning. However, Ben says he can tune and he’s the man in charge. So, okay, it’s A&J. They say they can tune, they show off Moo Man’s car all the time here on Honda-Tech.

I took my car to A&J after making the appointment. When I entered, I had an exhaust that didn’t smoke, no pinging, and basically, no problems. I have witnesses, but I’ll leave their names out as they were past/current customers of A&J.

I took my car there, and I noticed Moo Man sitting in my car and trying to idle my car with my Hondata S200. I still recall him managing to stall my car a few times trying to get it to idle. I don’t know how he managed to do that, but I wasn’t going to go and question him, as I’m paying for the service. Perhaps Ben did teach Moo Man how to idle the car, so I can’t go assuming he didn’t know what he’s doing. Plus, I’m an engine builder, not a tuner. This wasn’t and still isn’t my place to speak up.

After stalling my car a few times, Ben comes out and street tunes my car. Car comes back as the new face of Marlboro. Move over Smoking Joe, make way for Azn_Flava’s Integra. James Bond would be proud of my new built-in smokescreen! After various attempts to fix and diagnose the smoking, they did something to make it not smoke for a few minutes. I was like, “okay time to drive home and ask the guys on Honda-tech.”
I was already told by my friends in California to take my car and run and vtechhhhhh it out of there, as A&J clearly don’t know what they were doing.

To top off the great night, they managed to shoot a 3 foot flame out of my exhaust. I really felt that I was screwed. Best part of all, I went in with a motor full of engine oil. I return home, with less than a bottle of engine oil in the motor.

Solution?
I asked how they were going to compensate and fix my problem; they said there wasn’t going to be any compensation, since they spent a few hours trying to fix my car afterwards. They said the problem was prior to me bringing it in, and there would be no compensation. They said sorry, and packed up and closed up. I called again later on asking them isn’t there anything they planned to do, and they gave me the same speech. The problem came from assembly. They said it’s not from the tuning.

In the end, I felt like I was screwed over. Piston no.4 ring lands looked like crap. I still have bills and receipts of the repair. If A&J likes to prove their excellence in service and genuine client care, I’d be glad to send the repair bill over and work out some sort of compensation. I have pix, and I have witnesses from customers/friends of A&J to back up my cause. Once again I don’t want to put them into the heat of the battle. So don’t make me list names. I invite members in the industry to take a look at the images themselves and come to conclusions based on them.



























Modified by AzN_Flava at 9:21 AM 10/8/2007


Modified by AzN_Flava at 9:22 AM 10/8/2007

 

I have always had very good service from A&J.

Good guys

 

I'm curious, what kind of "tuning" was done"? How long did you leave the car with them? From what you wrote, sounds like you were just there for a few hours (dropped off, street tuned, went home).

Not trying to take sides here, but if all was caused by bad tuning, wouldn't be the damages be seen across all the cylinders? Also, oil burning can no where be related to tuning, unless they did take the motor apart and reassemble.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Wai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm curious, what kind of "tuning" was done"? How long did you leave the car with them? From what you wrote, sounds like you were just there for a few hours (dropped off, street tuned, went home).

Not trying to take sides here, but if all was caused by bad tuning, wouldn't be the damages be seen across all the cylinders? Also, oil burning can no where be related to tuning, unless they did take the motor apart and reassemble.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry, I should have been more clear. It was street tuning. I got charged for 3 hours, but was there for around 5-6. I was there since early afternoon, and we probably didnt finish until 8ish if I recall correctly?

As for damage seen across all cyclinders, you could see similar damage on piston cyc no 1. The damage was no where as hardcore as piston no4, but there were similar marks already being formed.

However, I'm pretty sure its a tuning problem because of the oil burning issue. They probably overfueled it resulting in the flame throwing action they caused with my exhaust hence the mega backfire... ftl boom



Modified by AzN_Flava at 1:35 AM 10/9/2007

 

AJR was never known for its engine tuning capabilities.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Big Phat R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have always had very good service from A&J.

Good guys </TD></TR></TABLE>

I've read here that your motor is built quite extensively, I was wondering if AJR was responsible for tuning it also or do you mostly purchase parts? Would you mind telling me who tunes your setup please?

 

i'd be SO pissed if that happened to my motor

did they give a reason for what happened?


from what you've said, they brought the car back and just gave it to you without saying anything of what happened?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"I took my car to A&J after making the appointment. When I entered, I had an exhaust that didn’t smoke, no pinging, and basically, no problems."</TD></TR></TABLE>

The above quote is too vague for me. I need to know more about the car BEFORE you went to A&J. If this was a freshly built car, was it tuned at all before going to A&J? Were you running some kind of basemap? If it wasnt TUNED why were you driving it to begin with? Any of this damage could have been initially caused by driving it (or even just starting the motor) on a poor tune, and when you went to get tuned at A&J, that could have just put the exclaimation point on damage that was already started by driving on a shitty tune to begin with. And just because someone stalls the car when trying to tune the idle doesnt mean this is what happens to the motor.

Not pointing fingers, just looking for more info.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW DC2R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

The above quote is too vague for me. I need to know more about the car BEFORE you went to A&J. If this was a freshly built car, was it tuned at all before going to A&J? Were you running some kind of basemap? If it wasnt TUNED why were you driving it to begin with? Any of this damage could have been initially caused by driving it (or even just starting the motor) on a poor tune, and when you went to get tuned at A&J, that could have just put the exclaimation point on damage that was already started by driving on a shitty tune to begin with. And just because someone stalls the car when trying to tune the idle doesnt mean this is what happens to the motor.

Not pointing fingers, just looking for more info. </TD></TR></TABLE>

No problem, glad to share more info. It was a fresh built motor with parts that would declare a premium before racewars. hehe It was your typical honda-tech dream motor built for boost. It was a 84mm 9.7 ls/vtec with gsr cams. Even though the motor was built for boost, it was tuned w/o turbo. I got the basemap from either Rocket or Hybrid Hatch. Both who knew the ins and outs of my motor from assembly, so the basemap, should be a pretty darn good basemap lol. Even though, I think tuners and professional engine builders can whip up a basemap pretty darn close to the actual thing since they see so much of the tuning process, anyways, it still is not a tune. I live a few km from A&J. So after my motor was built, I drove it there. I live maybe 5km (3.125 miles) or less from them. Once again, I didn't drive it hard to the way there, and the basemap was deemed safe by the likes of Rocket/Hybrid.

Glad to share more info with everyone, no offense taken


Modified by AzN_Flava at 9:23 AM 10/9/2007