Originally Posted by spawn350

UPDATE:

Sam got my car in March and told me the car would be ready for pickup in about a month and that the kit had been fabricated and was ready for install. At this point he already had $8,000 of my money. At the end of March I was told that he was almost ready. Then months go by and I find out that my car has just been sitting there collecting dust for no reason. In the interim I was contacted by him and asked to pay an obscene amount of money for the install, which I did. I was under the impression that the install was free since my car was the test mule. Instead, he was going to charge me $5,000 more (the breakdown has more details - request if needed). I had a hard time with this since he never talked about cost or gave me an estimate BEFORE my car had been shipped there, but I paid him. At this point I am $14,000 in. Keep in mind he quotes on his Facebook page that the job is 16 hours and a fee of $10,000 installed - so I get to pay an extra $4,000 to be the guinea pig.

Around June 7th I had enough after another forum member let me know that the car hadn't been touched at all and had been lied to over and over by Sam. I was pulling the plug and a local tuner got involved and brokered a deal where I got a $5,000 refund and agreed to keep positive in social media, and be a positive reference, which I did. He agreed that the car would be done no later than Sept. 7th, and if the car could not be completed by that time then a Twin Turbo kit would be installed and the car would be ready for pickup on that day.

3 months go by without a word from Sam. Complete silence. I only get updates through the forums. Finally, on Sept. 5th Sam calls to ask me what time I will be there on the 7th. I told him I didn't have a flight and would fly out the following weekend to pick the car up.

A week goes by and then I find out that the car still isn't done, and he has all these tuning issues to work out. He tells me that it isn't making great power because he needs a different size belt and that it would be 8+ months to get that belt, but that he would try to work it out and is basically trying to sell me on the poor performance. He picks that moment, 7 months later, to tell me that this kit is for the AWD model and not designed to make more power, though he had told me initially it was to better the performance level of the twin-turbo. So, basically, I would be lucky if it would match the performance of an off-the-shelf Stage 2 supercharger that I could have been driving months before. I find out Friday night that I am not picking up my car the following day and my airfare was wasted. I stew on it for a day and then cancel my order.

TODAY I ask about the status of my refund, money he has had for 9 months, and he tells me that he won't refund the money until the uninstall is complete, but that it is taking longer than expected. I tell him that is unacceptable as waiting to refund is only applicable when returning something - like mailing back a pair of shoes and he has possession of the parts and my car. He refused and so I called the police, BBB, my attorney, AMEX, and the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair and will pursue my refund and damages to the fullest extent of the law as well as spread the word on GTM as often as possible.

I have been contacted MANY MANY times on several forums about GTM and have heard many similar horror stories.

Take Aways:

1. Sam is a liar. Yes, I have proof.
2. GTM will price gouge
3. Sam has complained about cash flow several times. Might not be a safe place to send a big check.
4. Projects will end up extremely late, if they are ever completed - based on many other accounts and my own.

I advise anyone thinking about sending their car to Sam to really think about it. This appears to be the norm and not the exception.

From what I hear, the kits that tuners install are solid, so a kit from GTM might be OK, but I am worried about warranty issues.

This was truly one of the worst consumer experiences of my life. I am so disgusted I don't even want the car anymore.