Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post - Forged Performance

dpjones · 04-16-2010, 10:28 AM

Within a few days of my car arriving at GTM, this is what Sam found:

1) I sent my list above to Sam and he agreed with the items I had found and had not yet fixed.
2) Noticed the boost pressure is uncontrollable. It will reach 11.5 psi.

3a) Put the car on the lift and confirmed that the passenger side Downpipe had been beaten with a hammer.

3b) Downpipe

4) Confirmed that the wastegate support brackets had been cut out.

5) Found a loose bolt wedged between the Turbo center section and the Exhaust housing on the turbo.

6) Found that the Driver's side upper dump tube has a severe exhaust leak due to the wrong hardware being installed. So, both sides had an exhaust leak!
7) The engine harness on the passenger side was lying on the exhaust manifold and had began to melt. This is shown on the picture above that is also showing evidence of the exhaust leak. This was supposed to be moved out of the way and a bunch of heat wrap was supposed to be installed (as shown in the picture below), and it wasn't.

8) This is how it should have been.

9) The Speed Sensor connector on the Engine Harness has been broken. The portion that was broken is what holds the two sides together. This more than likely would have disconnected over time.

10) The battery positive terminal cable has not been installed to the starter per the instructions. It is practically touching the turbo housing and has a potential of grounding which is an extreme fire hazard. The smallest front impact could have caught the car on fire.

11) The GTM Kit comes with a spacer that needs installed under the Rack & Pinion bracket. They installed it, but put the bracket back on upside down. Due to this, the factory cover that protects the Rack & Pinion was not even put back on.

12) The HKS AFK was not even hooked up to the factory Knock sensor, let alone calibrated.
13) The oil in the motor looked really bad. It has a burnt look to it. Forged put new MOTUL oil in it and it only had about 900 miles or so on it, of which 550 were pure highway miles coming home from Georgia.

14a) Oh, and the biggie......THE STAGE 1 TURBOS ARE ON THE CAR.....NOT THE STAGE II TURBOS THAT I ORDERED AND PAID FOR.

14b) Wrong Turbos

14c) Wrong Turbos

In conclusion, Sam said it looks like a butcher had worked on my car. I know he is not exaggerating, I know a fair amount about cars, and as you can see from above, the workmanship was absolutely horrible.

I sent Sharif a certified letter letting him know what we had found. Sharif immediately tried to pass himself off as the victim. Asking me why I didn't send my car back to him because they stand behind everything they do. He kept telling me how he just couldn't believe I sent the car to GTM without talking to him first. Would anyone on here have sent it back to Forged? Every attempt I made to bring things up to Sharif, before my car was done, while at his shop, and even on the drive home resulted in the same thing. Would telling him all the things I found suddenly make him say...oh, and by the way, the wrong turbos are on your car too? If I sent it there, would they have found and fixed the things like the battery terminal, engine harness, etc., or just simply fixed the stuff I found. Would they have then told me about the wrong turbos? Sharif told me that because I sent the car somewhere else that he isn't responsible for anything. I told him wrong answer. He then said he is a reasonable man and maybe we could split the cost...again I told him wrong answer. He then said he would speak to Sam and get back with me. When speaking with Sam, Sharif even told Sam that he had noticed the broken connector on the Engine Harness!!!! Why didn't he fix it?

After 3 months had gone by since Sharif was made aware of all of this, I still had not heard back from him. I did receive a Christmas card from Forged! I also received a call from Ryan at Forged a while back saying that they had found my Cruise Sensor. They deducted the cost of it from my bill with the agreement that once the new part came in, I would pay what they had deducted and they would send it to me. Ryan told me that I needed to send them money and they would ship it!!! What nerve!!!

After hiring an attorney, she contacted Sharif towards the end of March. Sharif sent my attorney an email where he said that he personally looked at David's turbos and they were Stage II turbos and that he made the assumption that since both kits should be identical, that mine were also Stage II turbos. The funny thing is, Sharif sent me an email back in December after he found out my car was with GTM saying that he had promised me mine were Stage II turbos since he had seen them with his own eyes.

So, my brand new car that has just over 5k miles on it, which I have had for 14 months now, has spent 11 months in a shop. It really stinks making payments, insurance payments, XM subscription, etc. on a car that I don't even have. I have had to pay for rentals and finally had to break down and buy a used vehicle to drive.

I just wanted to share this with everyone so they can make an informed decision before giving Forged their business. David’s car is in the same boat, sitting at another mechanic's shop waiting on some sort of resolution. I truly hope that everyone else who has had work done there has a great install, and even all the parts they paid for. I just find it alarming and upsetting that 2 G37s go there and both come back in such poor condition. I imagine a lot of people that pay for this stuff don't have the knowledge to take things apart and see a lot of what I saw, so they would just trust Sharif's assurances that the problems were "normal" and that no damage has been done to their car.
As stated above, I plan to file a civil lawsuit against Forged Performance for violations of the Georgia Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. I am also going to file a complaint with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs at georgia.gov - Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs. This agency investigates consumer complaints when there is evidence of a pattern of unfair or deceptive acts. They are also able to issue fines and potentially help consumers recoup losses. Most importantly, the agency may institute legal action on behalf of the state if a “significant quantity” of complaints about unfair or deceptive practices is received about a particular company.

Given what happened to me and Dave, and reading other comments about Forged Performance on this forum, I certainly doubt that I am the only person who will have a reason to complain. Any time a company rips off a consumer by misrepresenting the qualities, standards, characteristics, uses, and qualities of the product (such as saying Stage II Turbos were installed when in reality they were Stage I Turbos), it is not a private matter, but one of significant public interest and concern that the Office of Consumer Affairs should pursue and investigate to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. I believe the OCA should investigate and, at a minimum, conduct ongoing future monitoring of Forged Performance. If you or someone you know has had an experience similar to mine, you should also report Forged Performance. I certainly don’t want anyone else to go through what I have been forced to go through.

04-16-2010, 10:28 AM	#5 (permalink)
dpjones Base Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: St. Peters, MO Posts: 11 Drives: 09 G37 Sedan 6MT S Rep Power: 16	Forged Performance - My Story (cont) Within a few days of my car arriving at GTM, this is what Sam found: 1) I sent my list above to Sam and he agreed with the items I had found and had not yet fixed. 2) Noticed the boost pressure is uncontrollable. It will reach 11.5 psi. 3a) Put the car on the lift and confirmed that the passenger side Downpipe had been beaten with a hammer. 3b) Downpipe 4) Confirmed that the wastegate support brackets had been cut out. 5) Found a loose bolt wedged between the Turbo center section and the Exhaust housing on the turbo. 6) Found that the Driver's side upper dump tube has a severe exhaust leak due to the wrong hardware being installed. So, both sides had an exhaust leak! 7) The engine harness on the passenger side was lying on the exhaust manifold and had began to melt. This is shown on the picture above that is also showing evidence of the exhaust leak. This was supposed to be moved out of the way and a bunch of heat wrap was supposed to be installed (as shown in the picture below), and it wasn't. 8) This is how it should have been. 9) The Speed Sensor connector on the Engine Harness has been broken. The portion that was broken is what holds the two sides together. This more than likely would have disconnected over time. 10) The battery positive terminal cable has not been installed to the starter per the instructions. It is practically touching the turbo housing and has a potential of grounding which is an extreme fire hazard. The smallest front impact could have caught the car on fire. 11) The GTM Kit comes with a spacer that needs installed under the Rack & Pinion bracket. They installed it, but put the bracket back on upside down. Due to this, the factory cover that protects the Rack & Pinion was not even put back on. 12) The HKS AFK was not even hooked up to the factory Knock sensor, let alone calibrated. 13) The oil in the motor looked really bad. It has a burnt look to it. Forged put new MOTUL oil in it and it only had about 900 miles or so on it, of which 550 were pure highway miles coming home from Georgia. 14a) Oh, and the biggie......THE STAGE 1 TURBOS ARE ON THE CAR.....NOT THE STAGE II TURBOS THAT I ORDERED AND PAID FOR. 14b) Wrong Turbos 14c) Wrong Turbos In conclusion, Sam said it looks like a butcher had worked on my car. I know he is not exaggerating, I know a fair amount about cars, and as you can see from above, the workmanship was absolutely horrible. I sent Sharif a certified letter letting him know what we had found. Sharif immediately tried to pass himself off as the victim. Asking me why I didn't send my car back to him because they stand behind everything they do. He kept telling me how he just couldn't believe I sent the car to GTM without talking to him first. Would anyone on here have sent it back to Forged? Every attempt I made to bring things up to Sharif, before my car was done, while at his shop, and even on the drive home resulted in the same thing. Would telling him all the things I found suddenly make him say...oh, and by the way, the wrong turbos are on your car too? If I sent it there, would they have found and fixed the things like the battery terminal, engine harness, etc., or just simply fixed the stuff I found. Would they have then told me about the wrong turbos? Sharif told me that because I sent the car somewhere else that he isn't responsible for anything. I told him wrong answer. He then said he is a reasonable man and maybe we could split the cost...again I told him wrong answer. He then said he would speak to Sam and get back with me. When speaking with Sam, Sharif even told Sam that he had noticed the broken connector on the Engine Harness!!!! Why didn't he fix it? After 3 months had gone by since Sharif was made aware of all of this, I still had not heard back from him. I did receive a Christmas card from Forged! I also received a call from Ryan at Forged a while back saying that they had found my Cruise Sensor. They deducted the cost of it from my bill with the agreement that once the new part came in, I would pay what they had deducted and they would send it to me. Ryan told me that I needed to send them money and they would ship it!!! What nerve!!! After hiring an attorney, she contacted Sharif towards the end of March. Sharif sent my attorney an email where he said that he personally looked at David's turbos and they were Stage II turbos and that he made the assumption that since both kits should be identical, that mine were also Stage II turbos. The funny thing is, Sharif sent me an email back in December after he found out my car was with GTM saying that he had promised me mine were Stage II turbos since he had seen them with his own eyes. So, my brand new car that has just over 5k miles on it, which I have had for 14 months now, has spent 11 months in a shop. It really stinks making payments, insurance payments, XM subscription, etc. on a car that I don't even have. I have had to pay for rentals and finally had to break down and buy a used vehicle to drive. I just wanted to share this with everyone so they can make an informed decision before giving Forged their business. David’s car is in the same boat, sitting at another mechanic's shop waiting on some sort of resolution. I truly hope that everyone else who has had work done there has a great install, and even all the parts they paid for. I just find it alarming and upsetting that 2 G37s go there and both come back in such poor condition. I imagine a lot of people that pay for this stuff don't have the knowledge to take things apart and see a lot of what I saw, so they would just trust Sharif's assurances that the problems were "normal" and that no damage has been done to their car. As stated above, I plan to file a civil lawsuit against Forged Performance for violations of the Georgia Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. I am also going to file a complaint with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs at georgia.gov - Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs. This agency investigates consumer complaints when there is evidence of a pattern of unfair or deceptive acts. They are also able to issue fines and potentially help consumers recoup losses. Most importantly, the agency may institute legal action on behalf of the state if a “significant quantity” of complaints about unfair or deceptive practices is received about a particular company. Given what happened to me and Dave, and reading other comments about Forged Performance on this forum, I certainly doubt that I am the only person who will have a reason to complain. Any time a company rips off a consumer by misrepresenting the qualities, standards, characteristics, uses, and qualities of the product (such as saying Stage II Turbos were installed when in reality they were Stage I Turbos), it is not a private matter, but one of significant public interest and concern that the Office of Consumer Affairs should pursue and investigate to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. I believe the OCA should investigate and, at a minimum, conduct ongoing future monitoring of Forged Performance. If you or someone you know has had an experience similar to mine, you should also report Forged Performance. I certainly don’t want anyone else to go through what I have been forced to go through.