1) Pull your car immediately and take it somewhere else (i.e. a better shop).
Why would you trust a shop that's already lied to you, made mistakes out of ignorance, and made mistakes out of incompetence to fix the problems? DON'T
2) Save and document all communications with the shop, including receipts
3) Write down all the damage to your car and how much it's cost you. I'm assuming that thus far, it's equal to or greater to the actual positive work done on your car? I'd demand they pay all the transport costs and whatever the next shop pays you (they won't agree)
4) Contact a lawyer and sue them. When you found your car sitting there untouched FIVE MONTHS after you dropped it off and they've been giving you fake updates, you shoulda pulled it on the spot.
Observation:
Unfortunately, many of these shops are not run particularly professionally. They often don't have the front office staff to communicate with clients, keep track of records, and most importantly, plan out and follow a schedule.
These shops also don't have a ton of financial backing OR their owner isn't good with money. That means the issue isn't necessarily the competence of the techs/tuners, but the owner taking on jobs and accepting payment when they simply don't have the equipment, manpower, or simply the time to get the job done as promised
They take on a job, start, an issue comes up, then they take on a diff job just to get capital to fix the first one, or a diff job, and then you have a death spiral that inevitably leads to the business dying.
That's just talking about poor business practices - if the shop owner has a gambling or drug problem (who hasn't heard of THAT before), then the fall only happens quicker
A few more things:
1) The Z and VQ have been around long enough that turbo setups have been pretty well established, right? These days, it seems like you throw $10K at Fast Intentions and you get literally everything you need and it'll work. There's probably a couple options out there
Thats why it's so mind boggling that your shop couldn't handle this - it's not like they have to custom a bunch of stuff for a brand new platform that has no support
If possible, i always try to go to shops where I can physically travel to and meet the owner/staff face to face. If there's an issue, i can be there, and if there's a communication delay, i can walk up to the door and chat. I know its not possible in all areas, but if you can, do it.
or
hey, if you have the money, ship the car to Fast intentions and have them drop in a new engine and turbo set up. At least it'll work.
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