Unsatisfied Customer Warning - Late Model Speed

[z28w]

Also forgot to add I found bad stuff about him on hemi sites a year ago. I obtained his cell phone and home number from some users on that forum. I did report him to the IN AG and the local police dept because I couldnt get my car back, but once back all the chargebacks started. I cant even discribe how mad I was nothing worked even the computer was completely messed up. But all is well now.

[JANNETTYRACING]

Originally Posted by Shooter1

All, C5 members; I haven't posted on C5 a lot due to my travel schedule but I have been lurking long enough to know this is a good community. This is why I want to advise all that I have been through a very unsatisfactory dealing with Late Model Speed in Indiana. I went to Late Model Speed to save a few bucks on upgrading after Livernois did a great job getting me to 589 rwhp. It is a long story and I am not going to assault character here. I am merely going to state my experience with them and suggest that you all be very weary what you believe. This has been a painful 12,900.00 learning experience for me. I am not going to banter with Late Model Speed here either. Enough of my time and VERY hard earned money has went in their pocket; which equates to an expensive learning lesson for me that I will NOT forget. My car was going to come home a stroker with 8 rib front and 14 rib rear belt with 10% overdrive on the front.

1.) Late Model Speed has an F rating with the Indiana Better Business Bureau. Please search the Challenger/Charger forums for more information.
2.) After many deadlines come and past and the pit feeling in my stomach grew worse; 6.5 weeks came and I forced the car delivered home after advisement it needed some "fine tuning" and had belt squeek. When the car arrived; it would not even run conistently on it's own. Surging and squeeling loudly around my block so bad that I was afraid it was going to wake my neighbors at 5:30 am and I had to fly out for overseas in a few hours; I advised this was no where near 95% and I was surprised it couldn't idle under it's own power without dying. I was told 2 days prior that his folks were "surprised" at how good it idled as it was such a HP monster.
3.) I never got a full dyno printout as he said "His dyno was old and he didn't take good care of it?" When put on a dynojet; I had literally lost 140 rwhp. That's right; from 589 rwhp to 450 rwhp and had no rev limiter while on the dyno. It had to be manually let off as the rpm kept climbing above the limiter.
4.) Upon inspection, after the car was dropped off (paid for); leaks from the transmission and the rear main seal were very evident, my air didn't work, my remote start didn't work, it was literally 2 quarts low on oil, boost bypass wasn't hooked up, interior wasn't assembled correctly from where the ADM gauges were installed but NOT working correctly, just to name a few.
5.) Now we get to the real problems! I was so upset once I returned home and fully inspected the car myself with the notes taken earlier from skilled friends that it was clear the car could NEVER go back to Late Model Speed. Here I was painfully into a 12,900 lesson so I called upon a trusted professional for help. Here is what was found.
a.) Catch can installed improperly
b.) 3 bell housing bolts were loose
c.) 2 intake manifold bolts were finger tight
d.) collectors on the headers were loose
e.) 2nd ring on 4 of 8 pistons were installed UPSIDE DOWN
f.) cylinder walls had excessive scoring from NO SUPPORT RAILS BEING
USED
g.) excessive oil in cylinders and pistons had puddles of oil on top of them
h.) no assembly lube was used on head bolts, scoring the heads
i.) crankshaft had excessive play
j.) All this and the only personal thing I will say is when the car was
delivered and Late Model Speed could see my initial disgust; they actually
had the testicular audacity to say they could have done better if I hadn't
called them so much. I almost came unglued. That was it for me, done.
All this and I only put 4 miles on the car to dyno and was scared to drive it after it spewed oil and transmission fluid.

I just want C5 members to read and make their own choice. I will follow the BBB from this point forward . I felt a duty to share my experience as the cost for me is staggering even though my "trusted source" is treating me very fairly on getting my car running again, knowing what I have been through. I have not listed many, many things that occurred but I think you get the picture.

Sincerely,
Shooter1

This is a Sad but all to common situation, in the 25 Years I have been in business the only thing I have ever been accused of is being to expensive.

Why do people think we are too expensive, Because of Substandard shops setting the price for a job by saying I can do it cheaper than the Reputable shop.

I have seen several Dozen So Call Speed Shops open and close around me, they last 1-2 years in most cases doing substandard work at substandard prices.

A high percentage of our Work Load Comes From Other shops hacking up cars.

Like you, they already spent all the Toy Money and are Now forced to Pay again to UNDO and REDO Work that could have been done right the first time.

It always Cost More to do it Twice.

The only advice I can give is, DON'T MAKE DECISIONS BASE ON PRICE, Do your Home work, Get References at least 5 from Customers whom have experience with the company you are considering.

If it sounds too good, It Usually Is a Scam.

Ted.

[Ultimate fighter]

I am very sorry to hear about Ed Potter and late model speed screwing you . I had my trailblazer SS in Ed's shop from Dec 3rd 08 until the middle of the summer of 09 and i paid him to build me a forged bottomend for my tbss . I will not bore everyone with a long post about all the lies, promises that he never kept , but I will share a few key points . I had a custom cowl hood made by MPD1 about a month before I gave my tbss to Ed to build me a forged bottomend ....Within the first week he drilled 2 holes through the top of the hood installing the shocks on the hood that I asked him to install , he sent the hood out to get fixed and you would not believe how they tried fixing it . It was a joke. I was supposed to have my tbss back on Dec 23rd and in late jan I finally went to pick it up and it was backfiring terrible during WOT runs. Ed told me it must have been the gas he put in and to take it home and throw in a tank of my good gas where I live 4 hrs away ....I did that and nothing changed and I brought the tbss back to ed and he kept it for 6 more months and supposeable installed 4 more shortblocks because the mains and the rod bearings where burning up within the first 50 miles of him trying to tune it ....
He had finally told me that he does not know why this is happening and he would give me a portion of my money back but he wanted the shortblock back when he gave me the money ...I agreed to that and that was back in July and august of 09 and so far I have not recieved 1 penny from this crook . I have reported him to the BBB , I have reported him to the attorney generals office and the thing that I found most interesting was when ed told me that I can sue him and even if the judge says I need to pay you , I wont ..... so good luck trying to get a dime out of me .

I am soo sorry that more people have had to get burnt by him...i have posted on several forums that i talk on and filed with the 2 state firms that I was advised to notify so that there are records of him doing these terrible things to people ....I sure hope nobody else has to go through these types of scenarios with Ed ....

[thespymaster]

Originally Posted by bws_82

I'm very sorry about what happened. I can relate to the shitty service as my baby had a tune so bad that I now have to get all forged internals just to feel comfortable with driving it. C5 needs to investigate this that's for sure, so that it doesn't happen again. Its going to no matter what, but if its from a C5 sponsor then that is rediculous to keep a vendor like that on this forum. C5 has such a tight group and its a shame to have someone like Late Model Speed and that dumbass ripping people off for the headers on this site. To me its the same dam thing! They are both using this site to take advange of customers they know will pay a lot of money when it comes to our cars! I can't speak for everyone else, but I don't want to be at a C5 Fest with a company like that next to a lot full of Camaro owners that thay look at as their next victims!!

I'm pissed right along with you man!! Sue the shit outta their asses!

I assume the fee paid to LMS is under $15,000 ?

If so , rather than higher a ATTORNEY at significant expense to you, just find out what your STATE rules and claims limits are for SMALL CLAIMS COURT , usually up to $15,000 and sue him that way, cost is normally under $500 to file

Then have Livernois document what LMS did wrong (videos/etc) and bring them in with you to Small Claims court and pretty sure you would get your money back with interest!

If you win, you get a court ordered judgement against LMS..

LMS out of funds, then you can sieze property at his business equaled to the judgement.

If LMS is a "S Corporation" and the judgement is issued, you can go after his personal assets as well!

[JProberts]

I'm shocked somebody has not kicked the shit out of this Ed guy yet! I can't believe some of the theft he has done to people on this forum. It's really hard to believe that some shop owner would do this and continue to find other victims? How can a business get away with doin gthis more than once.

I will tell you this if I gave a shop, person, bank or whatever over $10,000 and got ripped off and nothing was done legally to my satisfaction, that person would not have the chance to do it to anyone else thats for sure!

Over $10,000!!!!!! Hell I would catch a charge for that type of money

[Shooter1]

The amount was 12,900.

Trust me; I considered the old fashioned way but I do not have what you would call a "normal" job. I will use my skill set for people much more despicable than a back yard crook who got over on me. I am not going to jeopardize a career and a requiring high level clearances for a guy like this. I chalked it up to an expensive learning lesson much like Janetty is referring to. Wheels are in motion to pursue other avenues at this time.

There are other folks selling/making him parts that have read this by now and I do not expect them to get involved but would ask they contemplate saying no the next time the phone rings and it's Late Model Speed needing parts on the ohter end of the line. That however, is their call. Personally; if you have read the stories on here alone and ot counting other forums; I think it's enough for his "peers" for lack of a better word to say nah; I can live without this sale.

I do hope people continue to share their experiences here and spread the word as much as they can.

Thanks.

[Ultimate fighter]

I am very sorry that more people have been jacked by this thief... I will be pursueing a civil charge against LMSpeed/Late Model Speed and Ed Potter

I am happy to see that people are posting there experiences with this guy because back when I started my ordeal with him Dec.3rd of 08 there was zero info that I found when i searched for some backround ... I did find a few threads when he was with Lingenfelter but they were far and few between... I could kick myself in the A$& because his proposal was about $1000.00 higher than livernois and Exotic Performance Plus .... He was lower than lingenfelter and speed inc. He has the gift of gab and that is about it ... I hope this forum keeps this thread up ...I have seen several threads taken down for some reason on other sites .... I think it is only fair to us consumers that we are able to access good and bad on vendors especially when you have a crook like this operating .....

Originally Posted by Shooter1

The amount was 12,900.

Trust me; I considered the old fashioned way but I do not have what you would call a "normal" job. I will use my skill set for people much more despicable than a back yard crook who got over on me. I am not going to jeopardize a career and a requiring high level clearances for a guy like this. I chalked it up to an expensive learning lesson much like Janetty is referring to. Wheels are in motion to pursue other avenues at this time.

There are other folks selling/making him parts that have read this by now and I do not expect them to get involved but would ask they contemplate saying no the next time the phone rings and it's Late Model Speed needing parts on the ohter end of the line. That however, is their call. Personally; if you have read the stories on here alone and ot counting other forums; I think it's enough for his "peers" for lack of a better word to say nah; I can live without this sale.

I do hope people continue to share their experiences here and spread the word as much as they can.

Thanks.

[Iroczlover]

he use to help run lingenfilter when John was alive

[Chris@Livernois]

See the final result from Shooter's new build here

Regards,

Rick LeBlanc
Livernois Motorsports

[SSTony]

LMS screwed me too but it was just for some parts i ordered.

[Will@Apf]

Add us to the list....Lms Got us for a blower kit...

and for some reason i cant get a hold of him?????

[FASST 1]

Originally Posted by Will@Apf

Add us to the list....Lms Got us for $6,300...

I know that you installed at least one Harrop that you got from LMS. Did you tune it or use the one from LMS. I have been emailed by others that got his tune and confirmed it sucks!

[Will@Apf]

Originally Posted by FASST 1

I know that you installed at least one Harrop that you got from LMS. Did you tune it or use the one from LMS. I have been emailed by others that got his tune and confirmed it sucks!

Yeah i got the "buy two get one" special ........We tuned it and it did great, IMO a great little blower... have no idea about his tune......

[thespymaster]

Just some LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO for the BUSINESS TYPES here posting negative comments...............If you are posting another company's debt to the public, without a court judgement against them, you are violating the FCRA ...Fair Credit Reporting Act and setting yourself up for a law suit....

You can post all negative you want, leave the DOLLAR figures out, I only write this to protect the LEGIT DEALERS here on Camaro5.com