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-   -   Landmaster Project - Part II (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/post-war/43330-landmaster-project-part-ii-14.html)

Means what? Sending the car back again to Bangalore? In that case give it to Suraksha. I can take care of that sure.

I don't know if there's a way to get some money back from Motorsmiths.

If the paintwork which you could SEE was this pathetic, imagine what the drivetrain and mechanicals were like.

4.5 lakhs is the amount of money these shameless, gutless, lying thieves have charged for this job - aided, abetted and protected by a parasite who is active here on the forum. Anyone from here who went to see the car while work was going on were shooed away saying they are not allowed to. Absolute lies served up unashamedly every now and then over email whenever I demanded a status report and posted something out here on Team BHP (until I post something here, emails are ignored and ISD calls are not picked up).

I was told the paint job was complete as far back as May. When Jay went in at the end of June the body didnt have a coat of paint. After Jay reported back to me for 3 days continuously, he was also disallowed from entering the garage.

Zak tried to pop in every now and then whenever he was in Bangalore, but that relationship suffered after HE was ripped off by MotorSmiths on his Mivec Lancer. Suddenly he had to get me to send emails in advance for him to visit the garage, and even then he was kept waiting outside the garage for 3 hours on one occassion - Zak still refused to go away without seeing the car, which is why he was finally let in.

In effect, ANYONE that I knew was kept away deliberately and anyone who tried to go there despite that was then told very rudely to keep away- by the said parasite. Thus they discouraged any possibility of me getting news of the actual situation on site, and kept feeding me feel-good news and absolute lies throughout.

Finally Vijay (prabhuav) managed to break through this "security cordon" and I got to speak to the one person there who seems to have some sort of scruples. He admitted there was no communication on what needs to be done and that there was needless intervention and 'diktats' from the said parasite who ironically was expected to stay away from this job as per the original agreement. For this I got a pathetic, sissy SMS from the owner for Vijay getting all the credit on the forum.

The reports from Vijay on the work being done were scary - every little bit of work that he told me was being done were jobs that I had been told were 'completed'. In the end we were forced to graft as all the promised "original" bits and pieces that the lying rascal of an owner claimed to have 'sourced' for the car were missing, and even some original pieces on the vehicle like the semaphore/trafficator had been replaced by cheap plastic imitations.

The painters and fitters tried their best to make the vehicle presentable before handing it over - they were apologetic and showed some sense of shame/remorse when the car was being handed over. The thief and the parasite were obviously missing from the scene when this happened.

There is no chance that I would go back to them for money or anything else. How would one go back to such lying, thieving scoundrels who claim to have used (and have definitely charged for) the best materials, charging me 1.4 lakhs for 'preparation' of the body not including patchwork (extra - another 80k or so), 80-90k for the paint, 40 k for an engine (over which I had a roaring arguement with them right at the beginning - how on earth does a used Conti engine cost 40k when you can get used cars for that price?) that sounded like a diesel and was so badly put on the vehicle that we had to redo all the mechanical work all over again.

I realize I may have pushed some limits on language in this post, but such is the nature of the robbery that it is impossible to be civil about it anymore. I had personally requested ALL the members who visited the garage at least once and were so enraged that they wanted to rant about them here NOT to do so in the larger interests of keeping the spirit of this community intact - some of the stuff people wanted to post here are things that the mods havent seen because of the fact that I wanted to keep it clean and focussed on the job and not the thieving scoundrels. However, I realize that it is in the best interests of this community and the motoring fraternity at large that daylight robbers such as these are exposed. Dealers, tuners and several others have been named, shamed and stripped in public for a lot less.

Those photographs are SHOCKING! To have called that a paint-job, is a slur to all paint jobs!

I now really realize what has got Steer so dejected with the project. To have waited for months with anticipation and to see this would drive the most docile person raving mad. If fact, knowing Steer, I'm wondering why he hasn't personally ripped the people associated with the job a new one each. More than anger, I'd call Steer's approach to this the height of restraint. My heart goes out to you, Steer.

I had done a better paintjob on my Bullet - totally DIY.

This is fraud man. Why dont you scan the recipts/job card/description of work done by the garage and paste here. We can all forward them to our friends and see that this garage of fraudsters shuts down. I am going to mention this fraud with al lthe details to all the folks in the various automotive clubs i am a memeber of. Did the same with Bimal Motors and had our HR firm send out a notice to all employees not to deal with them.

god! those pictures did really made drop tears! And my little experience in surface preperation techniques is giving me some real bad signals!
Am sad!

Steer, I was wondering with the gradyak transation in tone in the Part I thread as the thread progressed. I was intrigued by the last posts; and I let it go as it is very really difficult to get 100% satisfaction from such works. From the initial pages of this thread, I though that what the heck, you got a good body work; and with old cars, it the body work which takes most time (several months), while mechanical works can be done in a few hours, or may be a week or so. Even the first pic you posted had me wondering at the shine and polish of the car.

But the last few pics - the close up ones - and now, this information leaves me speechless.

Too bad. That was a "sample vedikettu" in retrospect, no? (For the un-initiated vedikettu = fireworks. The sample one at Trichur pooram, near steer's home will leave the real ones at every other place red in the face).

Was this mentioned in the Part I thread? If so, I missed it.

Edit - ah. In page 3, you say 52 days to make out an estimate. That is the time any local workshop will take to finish off the job.

Zak, in some other thready, you were asked by somebody else what happened to that mivec, which you were excited about. I am afraid you owe us another thread. Mostly because expectations around here were very high about that car.

In fact, if only the details of that rip off were published earlier, steer would have been saved of plenty of pain, I think.

Details please!!!

err.... that is not restoration. That is an invitation to be sued - for theft.

publish, publish, publish.

That is what the internet is here for. Worst case - they will sue for (alleged) defamation.

And speaking out the truth is not defamation.

Just search the forum for words like "ripoff", "cheat", etc

My mivec experience wouldn't have helped Steer. Because, that happened after the Landmaster was almost mishandled by those cheats.
Yes, I understand the need for a good thread explaining all what happened to the Mivec, my Star! Soon, I'll put it up with the beauty burning the roads now at Coimbatore!

Err.. quoting myself -

Just in case I am misunderstood - those are kind of words we use for things like dust on dashboard, an estimate inflated by 1 Lakh (work done at some other place), etc. Your language is far more mild.

Steer that was a pathetic experience you did have. One of the main reasons i r\prefer going to small local garages are just that. No permission required to check out your beauty being worked on. The amount of time you spent on the vehicle is really too much and the people involved ought to come out in the open and offer an apology. So much for running a place which is supposedly known for good work!!!

I have one query. Why is it that you guys chose bangalore compared to kerala?

Holy c#%@, This is ripoff central, not a garage!! There are no two ways about this. At the very least, Motorsmith should refund the entire Rs 4.5 l . But sigh, this is India, swalpa adjust madi rules here.

Steer my heart goes out to you man! I salute your patience .. and resilience!!

I really think you should disclose the name of the 'parasite' - at least will put an end to community members getting taken for a ride!:Frustrati

The paint finish looks like the result of roadside paintjob. Infact some road side paint jobs have lasted better than this. I feel sorry for you Steer. If something like this happened to me i really don't know how i would've taken to it or what it would've done to me. With Hydra i agree when hesays your approach to this is the heights of restraint. I salute you man.

Motorsmiths buggers will not get away with this, what goes around comes around.

hey steer,

if you dont mind, would like to ask a question, the exobirant rates you have mentioned above, how did you accept them in the first place? werent the rates mentioned before starting the work?

Steer, I have spoken to my painter (the one who takes care of my City) and he says he can help. I know you have few offers for help already, but if you are thinking of coming to Coimbatore for any other task and want to check out an option, I can take care of it here.

I am going to be digging into my Dad's trunk again this weekend to see if I can find anything else of interest, like the switch gear (which I doubt) and the "H" emblem/cup for the steering wheel (which I thought he had... but please don't count on it as it's been a long time now)

Pls try if u can manage one of those ivory knobs for me too,please: