Frustration with Aristocrat Motors in Kansas City

[Bob O]

BHR = Bob Hinson Racing. They are on Gillham Rd (I think). Its been a while since I was there and I forgot about them. It's a shop you should check out. They've been around a long time.

[sepia2.4]

Bob Hindson Racing. About 27th and Holmes, original location.

http://www.bobhindsonracinginc.com/SiteResources/Data/Templates/templatea.asp?docid=514&DocName=Home

Orginally started by Bob Hindson around 72-73. He was Art Bunker's race boss and raced factory 914-6s along with Kendall Noah back in the early 70s.

The shop is now owned by Aaron Holstrom. Aaron worked for BHR since he graduated from high school—a while ago. Good guy. I'm having them weld new rear sway bar mounts on my 911 next week.

I was going to have Aristocrat change the oil on my Boxster since they do it for about $60 including oil and filter, but now I'm not so sure. Probably should do it myself.

[Cloudsurfer]

Thanks for the help guys, I am going to pay BHR a visit. I live downtown, so their location would be very convenient. It took a bit of refreshing, but I do know who Bob Hinson is. I hope Aaron has the same good business sense.

As far as Aristocrat changing your oil, I've noticed the $60 price, but after the fiasco I've had with them, they're never seeing my car again. I think I forgot to mention in the previous posts that the problem pertaining to my audio turned out to be cross wires on one of the power amps. Only cost me $300 in diagnostic time by the audio shop to figure that out, and furthermore, Aristocrat had no reason whatsoever to be unplugging leads from a power amp while doing an alignment! I also have two calls in each to both the service manager and the president of the company- no call back from either of them. Not exactly a company I want to do business with.

Patrick

[Cloudsurfer]

Just an update on things. I have a meeting with the President and Service Manager this week to discuss the fact that they clearly attempted to defraud me on my service visit and damaged my car.

I have documented proof of their attempt to defraud me pertaining to the brand new wheel they told me that was "visually bent" which was spun a few days later by another shop on a Hunter 97XX and found perfectly true, as well as the fact that they tried to scam me by telling me my window regulator needed replacement ($600 parts and labor), after apparently disconnecting the microswitch to the interior door handle.

With regard to their ability (or lack thereof) with respect to operating as a competent shop- they completely missed damaged suspension bits and their alignment was horribly off, after two tries.

Depending upon the outcome of this meeting, this matter will either be resolved by financial settlement, or will go to my attorney for further action and PCNA and the BBB will be involved.

Patrick

[Gary in BR]

This has been a horrible story, I've use iA before and the guys there have always treated me well. As far as the dealership they need to do something with that service department or they will lose more than whatever settlement this ends up being.

Good luck to you.

[Cloudsurfer]

So, had a long talk this morning with the Service Manager and Dealer Manager at Aristocrat Porsche, and it was very productive. They completely apologized for the mis-diagnosis pertaining to the window regulator and the mis-communication of the bent wheel situations. I met their Porsche techs- real nice, professional guys and they have a very impressive and clean work area. The Service Manager is a real stand up guy, and even though this is a complete mess between Imagine, a 3rd party Imagine contracts with, and Aristocrat they took care of the damage to my car. All in all, I'm still not thrilled that things happened the way they did, but I am very impressed by the fact that Aristocrat took ownership of the problem and made good on their promise to rectify it.

For the record, Imagine completely swept this whole situation under the rug, and blamed Aristocrat for everything. I still have yet to receive an apology for being yelled at in the showroom by the owner. Also, there are certain things I learned today which I cannot publicly discuss but that I find incredibly disturbing. Needless to say, I am never setting foot into Imagine Auto again.

Patrick