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BEWARE!!!
bluephil19781 - 7/1/16 at 10:49 AM

This time 2 years ago I got my car back from Stoner Racing after giving them instructions to build and fit a custom roll cage on my car, not happy at all with the result. I initially contacted Maurice or 'Mo' Stoner as a result of a recommendation on the piston heads forum. Researching his website it was clear his company has a lot of experience in the world of motorsport as they looked after a lot of cars which competed in a Jap race series. Was supposed to be done within a week but as usual this turned into over a month, which wasn't an issue but when it came back I was shocked at what they had done. I had previously posted pictures on here but quickly removed them as this was only going to go one way. The instructions were to construct a roll cage with a powder coated finish within the MSA regulations. What I got back was far from this, the list of problems was endless but included-

Side bars not shaped correctly and were supposed to run along the body of the car
Bars not parallel, one side I could fit the tonneau cover whereas the other side I couldn't
Some of the WORST welding you have ever seen
'Finished' with spray from a rattle can including areas which were missed in places and too much on other areas causing drips (oh no undercoat either)
Damaged the scuttle, rear wheel arch and over spray all over the cockpit.

Unfortunately I paid for the work before the car was actually delivered back to me so they had my money. I called him as soon as it was delivered and he assured everything would be put right in the new year. New year came, excuse after excuse then radio silence, nothing, ignoring all communications.

Rain actually stripped the paint off, i had to end up wrapping the whole cage in insulation tape.

I couldn't let him get away with taking £800 off me for such a cr@p job and as much as I wanted to go and see him face to face I knew that would only end up going one way. It wasn't just the cost of the cage, it was the cost of putting things right and repairing the damage caused. Thankfully our I got a report on the work along with a quote from Mac1 for replacing the damaged panels.
I didn't want to instruct costly solicitors as I had no faith in the system and thought I'd be even more out of pocket so I contacted CAB and they said that there is a process you have to follow to take legal action, I sent several letters (of which they provide a template) and got no response, in this time I had found out a lot about this guy and seems that he is a serial offender at this sort of thing and has been the director of many companies which have changed names etc etc etc, also credit searches showed he had a pretty dark history.
I continued with this process as I was still seething and I thought him getting another CCJ was the least he deserved, this eventually happened and then it was time to instruct the county court bailiffs who visited his home address to be told that he doesn't live there anymore, FYI county court bailiffs are as useful as mudguards on a tortoise.
End of, that's it. No! I was watching a programme called 'can't pay, we'll take it away' and got the idea to instruct the sheriffs office to collect the debt. After a lengthy call and some time to get over the fact they don't actually ride horses and carry Colts I paid £75 which covered their first visit and was told that was all I needed to pay. I got an email a few weeks later saying he does live there and he knew nothing about this debt (yeah right) they were going to run some checks on some vehicles which were at his property. A few more weeks later an email to say they've been round again and he is going to seek legal advice because he knew nothing about any of this and also non of the cars are registered in his name, it appeared he has a partner who has everything in her name nowadays so I thought that was that...
My persistence paid off as I have just received payment of the first installment.


rcx718 - 7/1/16 at 11:00 AM

Good to hear you got a result. Hopefully it wasn't too much stress for you.

I just successfully took Curry's to court.


nick205 - 7/1/16 at 12:35 PM

Hats off for sticking with it - some people take the mickey and like to think they'll get away with it!


Ben_Copeland - 7/1/16 at 01:59 PM

Well Done !


morcus - 7/1/16 at 05:50 PM

Good on you for sticking with it as with this sort of thing there's likely to be tens, maybe even hundreds of other people who cut their losses and give up.


02GF74 - 7/1/16 at 06:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by rcx718
Good to hear you got a result. Hopefully it wasn't too much stress for you.

I just successfully took Curry's to court.


Chicken tikka or prawn vindaloo?