I would like to nominate SVA Imports of Dover as the first on this list of bad tuner experiences. I took my car to SVA Imports in 2006 to fit a Vortech supercharger and tune it with the AEM ems. They installed the kit ok then about 4 weeks after it should have been ready I got a call telling me the engine was "knocking". The owner Raef Davis told me the big ends have gone and it would have to be rebuilt He then dissapeared "on holiday" not answerring calls leaving my car sitting messed up on the dyno.

I had to clear the full bill before they would release my car. I sued and eventually SVA Imports settled out of court. The settlement was they would repair the car to stock with a new engine for a set fee.

After the settlement in February 2007 I did not get the car back untill about June 2007, about 4 months longer than it should have taken. I had to pay them for extra parts/work as well and basically got ripped off by Raef Davis them again.

I never received an explanation for what happened to my car but the engine seizure was most likely due to bad mapping.

 

Here is a .PDF I made of the engineers report into the failure:
http://www.freewebsites.com/danw/SVA_Impor...mage_report.pdf

If anyone has similar bad experiences please post them so people know who to avoid.

 

 

Very dodgy subject that could lead to all sorts of court action.

 

I'm not sure I agree with the policy of no naming-and-shaming at all that PistonHeads adopts, but I do understand the need for it given the risk of defamation claims...

Please - if you're going to post on this thread with your own experiences, keep it objective and factual

 

I have had what i feel to be a very bad experience with a certain south based tuner this year. Really dont want to go into the ins and outs of it in public but if any body is thinking about going turbo and wants to know the facts about my experience then please feel free to PM me and i will state my case and evidence for you to make your own judgement

 

I don't think people that have had their cars ruined should be afraid to go public.
Theres a lot of new people that are interested in turbo/sc their cars on the forum.
I think it is in their interest to know what can happen if it goes wrong and what companies to avoid.

 

The problem is when someone steps over the line of fact and speculation, your post seems fine and to have had a claim ruling against the company makes it plausible and unlikely to have any comeback (unless you have a no disclosure clause) for you to air your experience.

If I however said that company x are to blame for my engine termination without any admission of liability then I am sure that not only I personally could be investigated for liable then also could the forum for not moderating or checking the facts.

Just a thing for anyone to think about before posting.

 

On the basis the forum is run out of California, I wouldn't have thought it would be an issue?

 

Suggest take the positive view and relate and record those who give us good service.
Owners can then come to their own conclusions as to why certain individuals and/or companies are not listed.