Must read/ Stafford Turbos

[trymecelica03]

I paid for my GT turbo kit almost 4 months ago. I havent recieved it. Mike want answer the phone or emails. He want respond to the messages I leave him. I would suggest all to avoid buying his products unless you want to get ripped off like I did. If anybody has any suggestions on how to get my turbo kit from him or my money back, please speak up. Thanks!

[Masayver]

I can't imagine Mike hasn't returned a phone call if you left him a message. I know he doesn't answer his phone often, but he does get back to you if you leave a voice mail. It's rare that Mike e-mails me or PMs me back, so I rarely use electronic mail to reach him.

[cool2miketlu]

Yeah keep calling him if you can not get him and want your money back, did you pay with credit card? If you did dispute the charges because one side did not fulfill its obligations. Now if you pay by check you will have to go through your bank let them know the situation and see if you can get your money back for service thats not rendered.

You should not have paid for anything so early for products thats not yet made. If its a must get something signed like a contract, preferably some sort of a guarantee that you will get what you paid for in agreed amount of time. Like some % off if the term of contract is breached or atleast full refund plus any accruing financing rate.

Not saying bad thing about Mike Stafford but this is something everyone should do to guarantee their purchase. Especially with large sum of money.

[nyoneway]

I think there's a statue of limitation with credit cards. If you waited 4 months, you're definately out of luck. Usually I would start to worry after 1-2 months of waiting if I put in full cash up front, esp. for a turbo kit.

The word's out that Mike is somewhere in Canada right now. Lets wait for him to get back and give him a chance to respond before anyone start jumping into conclusions.

[Smaay]

i know mike personally and i cant believe that he would put his name and reputation at risk like that. He is an extreamly busy man. give him a chance.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Any updates with this?

[Lark03]

when noone will give you any direct answers or respond to voice/emails... this what i have found to work...

Contact:
-your credit card company

-if you used pay pal, tell them this an try to get your money back

(the problem is you might have waited too long to get any type of refund)

-contact the www.bbb.org

finally, get in touch with the FBI Internet Fraud unit



for some reason you can go a few months with emails an calls... but once they get a call from the BBB an a few other orginizations either your money is returned back to you or your products arrive all of the sudden

[trymecelica03]

Thanks lark23, I payed thru paypal. But whats really uncool about the waiting is the last time I reached mike he told me shipping wasn't his job. My kit should of arrived 3 months ago. Mike even promised he would send a traking number, but he never did. I put this on this forum because it seems tobe the only way to get ahold of this company.

[CONTROL ONE]

i can assure you he is not in canada, yet...

[marc]

the BBB (better business bureau) should get on his ass.

I've called them before for stuff, lark is right, they work wonders.

[CONTROL ONE]

i just spoke to mr. stafford

the reason why those 2 kits are late is b/c he just manufactured a new fuel pressure line and did not want to ship the kits until they were complete

both of your kits are completely finished, packed up and ready to go - they are just waiting for the new fuel lines which will be finished early this week

[SFpower]

actually its not a fuel line its a fuel rail .if someone could host the pics i'll let you see the complete kit on a motor on a stand and pics of the new fuelrails

[RADR1732]

I think you have to give him some more patience. I bet at the time that you ordered the kit, you didn't know you were getting a new fuel rail cause I don't think Mike offered that. Well now it is included in the kit at no extra charge. Mike will not scrifice everything that he has accomplished now. He has invested so much money into this project already and he does not want to send out incomplete kits. He is very busy and it didn't help that I threw him a huge project for SEMA about a month ago. I'm sure that has something to do with your kit being late.

Give him a chance to make it right with you and you won't regret it. There are others out there like RichGT who have been waiting for their kit for a much longer period of time for another kit and hasn't gotten it. Yet he waits and waits and is patient cause he feels that it will pay off in the end.

Richard

[morexviit]

Originally posted by RADR1732
I think you have to give him some more patience. I bet at the time that you ordered the kit, you didn't know you were getting a new fuel rail cause I don't think Mike offered that. Well now it is included in the kit at no extra charge. Mike will not scrifice everything that he has accomplished now. He has invested so much money into this project already and he does not want to send out incomplete kits. He is very busy and it didn't help that I threw him a huge project for SEMA about a month ago. I'm sure that has something to do with your kit being late.

Give him a chance to make it right with you and you won't regret it. There are others out there like RichGT who have been waiting for their kit for a much longer period of time for another kit and hasn't gotten it. Yet he waits and waits and is patient cause he feels that it will pay off in the end.

Richard
I understand that you know him personally and you're trying to defend him... which is very noble... but there is no reason why he couldn't have made a few phone calls or send an email. There's no excuse for bad service. many people have excellent products but that only goes so far, if you wanna run a business right, you have to take the extra step and back up your product with good service.

[AznTwins]

I've ordered my kit since august... And even though I haven't recieved it yet, I understand that he is very busy. Just be patient, he's improving the kit to make it better. Wouldn't you rather have a kit that was complete, then to run into some problems in the future? And I've talked to mike on the phone about 3 times last week, so I dont think he's ignoring anybodys calls, he's just really busy. And about the e-mails, I'm sure he gets like 50 e-mails and pm's a day so it would pretty hard to respond to everyone. But can somebody host the pics so everyone can see what the complete kit looks like with the new fuel rail on it?

[satur9]

i agree about the better business practices. if the guy is that busy he should hire some help. at least someone to reply to people .its just good business. and if his business is so good that he cant answer people.especially to those who paid. the he shouldnt adveritse and madey hell have more freetime. am not dissing him by any means its just that theres been mutiple post about the same deal . i was seriously considering this kit but if i haveto pay for it now to get it next summer and if i have a install problem or something and cant get ahold of the guy and my car is on jackstand or worse yet at a shop charging me buy the hour i'd be very pissed.it seems resolved for now i hope future buyers have better luck

[cmiguel32]

I can host the pics.

I spoke with Stafford on thursday night
he told me he hadn't written up an installation on it
which is why it wasn't shipped out.
I knew he was working on a fuel rail, he didn't mention
to me that it was the reason the kit was being held up.
Can't complain about getting a fuel rail though. :)

[SFpower]

i don't know who trymecelica03 is.but i have been in contact w/ all of those who are recieving my turbo kit.yes i had some delays do to suppliers and do to product inprovement .those that are waiting on the kit and already paid get the inprovements like billit center feed fuel rail ,air cleaner, open loop boost switch,and mass air signal conditioner for FREE.thats 355.00 in upgrages that they will recieve becuase the were patient.I don't know what else i could do to make up for the delay

[Red-one]

Great..! development is still goin on in turbo kits. It's nice to see improvements...Thanxs SF

BRGDS
RED

[marc]

D Y N O ! ! ! ! !

[cool2miketlu]

Why don't we have a sticky page for Mike Stafford's turbo kit, to update people who paid. It would be easier for Mike and the paid customer to find out whats going on.
If I am a buyer and paid the money already, I would be very nervous after the first month with no sign of the kit or reply from seller. It's nice they get more stuff for their kits, but to a consumer who paid would definately like to have more info to reassure them that the shop is still there and they will get their kit.
Maybe add an schedual of when Mike is going to places to install things so he is unreachable would be nice too, so they would not think Mike disappeared with their money.

[Catalyst]

If anyone has any questions on the turbo kit, feel free to contact me. I work for SF.
AIM. CatalystCivic
email. teamcatalystracing@yahoo.com
or just PM me.

I help out with the computer work, and i mainly build all of the civic parts. But with the large number of people interested in the celica kits, i am sure i can help you guys out with anything you will need.

[trymecelica03]

Hey Mike Stafford, Remember me. Bobby with illicit motors 713-870-0767, I'm the person you keep ignoring. You want answer any of the messages I left for you. Why do you think I havent sold any more kits for you. Because the one you are suppost to ship to chris in maryland two months ago isn't there. I have no problems with delays, just call me and let me know what the problems are. You told chris on thursday that you lost his address but I payed you thru paypal. All you had to do was look it up or given me a call. So please call me with any and all updates on his order.

Thank you
illicit motors

[cmiguel32]

Any updates?

[xspwolf]

this is funny as heck... how hard is to hire a secretary and make a web site to look more professional... looks like Mike needs someone with some business experience to help him run the business

[RADR1732]

Originally posted by xspwolf
this is funny as heck... how hard is to hire a secretary and make a web site to look more professional... looks like Mike needs someone with some business experience to help him run the business

Hehe funny you mentioned that. Trust me we have been working on a lot of different things. One thing that you guys have to realize is that Mike has been really busy trying to put this kit out and making sure that people will be very happy with it. He realizes that he now needs some help with his growing business and we are working on that.

Richard

[mastersamman]

I know the feeling of dishing out big bucks and having to wait not knowing if you will get ripped off. I did that with an SR20DET swap into my 240SX. Luckly I only down half and the other half when it was finished.

Another similar story, my cousin shipped his Integra GSR motor out to a reputable shop in LA to build up. Well after a few first initial updates and responses he recieved no more. Then months went by and he decided to call them. Still no answer. So he went down to LA to check out this place and there was just an empty rental space where the shop used to be. LOL.

Just be careful out there with all your big bucks guys. There is a sucker born every minute, just don't be one. Check out the place really good first. Even reputable shops just pack up and leave with what they owe you. I rather perfer a shop within a 100 mile driving distance of me. That way I can constantly monitor the progress in person if I dish out a large sum of $$$.

[cool2miketlu]

well your cousin should hire a lawyer and sue the shop owner. My buddy bought HRE wheels from a shop paid $5,000 up front and never got it, later find out the shop is gone so he sue the guy right away. Went to court and now he owns $5,000 worth of the guys home, if continue not to pay he can put a lein (sp?) and sell that mofo house.

[mastersamman]

True he did not do that...he was like "Oh damn" and that was it. Looking at it its funny because now, he has a LS motor in his GSR. LOL. Instead of upgrading he downgraded.

[pro-style-gts]

If I could afford that kit I'd buy it and be patient. It would definately be worth the wait if there is improvements. I waited 3 months for my hood.