Hi Eveyone,
I am having a problem with the BEC owners club not completing my car and trying to give me half the car and a pile of parts for almost the same money
as i already paid for the whole car!
The guy isnt being vey helpful and just wondered if im the only one in this situation?
Thanks
Sorry to hear of your problems. It may be worth sending Jubal a U2U (private forum message)
He's been in a similar situation to you.
If you're based in the North there's quite a few people that may be able to tale the car off your/BEC hands and finish it off for you.
Cheers
The BEC owner's club and the bike engined car centre (or whetever its called) are not the same thing, although they are both run by the same
guy.
Of course, you had a receipt for all the car and parts you gave him, so if you can't sort him out in person, you can show the evidence to trading
standards. If you can't prove your case, you might find redress difficult.
Do a search - there's quite a bit of stuff about it on here....
The thread advertising his services has now gone but I think it's common knowledge I had a lot of difficulties with this person. He's
extremely plausible prior to work starting but in my experience he was incapable of finishing anything. Almost everything he did on my car was bodged.
The bits he outsourced were fine.
I had trading standards involved but agreed to settle with him for the price of parts and finish the car properly myself with some help.
Interestingly, when I saw what he was paying for parts (he sent me copies of his invoices) I realised (at least partly) why he was struggling. He had
under-priced the job quite badly and hence was doing more of it himself than I believe he was skilled to undertake.
As smart51 maybe suggests(?), he's the type of guy with whom you should have a very detailed written contract drawn up if you were going to
employ him. I didn't but then I had a chunk of cash held back and refused to settle my bill before testing the car.
Thank you for your replies.. i dont want to go into detail on here but if anyone has any more info please could you PM me.
Its got as far as going to court now.
Basically he is refusing to complete the build, offering me half the parts and charging me almost 3k for labour when the car is basically a shell. He
is refusing a refund so it comes down to breach of contract. I have spoken to legal representatives and unfortunately court is the only option now.
I'm guessing im not the only one in this situation so any more info would be much appreciated.
Many Thanks
Really sorry to hear about all your problems and do hope you get sorted out. Unfortunately it seems to be the case that Chris should not be running a
business with the issues he seems to have with several pieces of business now. Keep us all informed of how things go anyway - obviously any
information given out is pretty sensitive with court action in progress.
I joined the BEC owners club too - as much for the supposed discounts offered as anything else. Demon Tweeks had never heard of the BEC Owners Club
apparently!!
I am really sorry to hear about this. I hope the case goes well for you as he is clearly up to the same old tricks.
In my case I suffered huge delays on the job. Lots of mis-information and excuses. He planned the job very badly indeed and hence got caught out by
the non-standard handbrake routing on my car, which caused him to have to rerun some brake lines to avoid handbrake cables fouling the prop (which
he'd ordered and measured up for).
When the car was eventually delivered back to me over two months late he and his Dad tried to physically bully me into paying for it before I'd
tested it properly the next day at Oulton. I refused and managed to get them to leave the car with me.
At Oulton it sprang a fuel leak, where I discovered he'd removed the fuel sender and not refitted the blanking plate correctly. The Koso dash was
not wired correctly showing the wrong revs, low oil not wired and the fuel gauge was wired to a sender he knew wasn't there! The general state of
the car's wiring was not of a professional standard (scotch blocks everywhere, a real mess behind the dash). It needed a rewire. The brakes were
very poor too. I didn't turn a lap after the sighting laps. The car was too dangerous. I also discovered the cooling system wasn't plumbed
in correctly. Basic stuff for a supposed professional.
When I refused to settle my balance he accused me of planning not to pay all along. He also threatened me. Naturally, that was the very last time we
spoke and all correspondence was in writing thereafter. After taking advice from trading standards they suggested offering to pay for parts. He agreed
to that as he no doubt knew the car wouldn't stand up to independent inspection.
When I saw his invoices for parts I discovered he was making almost no money on the job. So no wonder he was happy to settle like that. However, at
least I had the satisfaction of not paying a penny towards labour costs.
I managed to finish the car off to a much better standard (R1 dash, rewire, plumbed properly and brakes sorted) with some bought in help and enjoyed a
proper trackday season last year (although only after I'd fixed the shoddy gear change mech he'd installed).
It's such a shame really, the guy seemed to have good intentions but didn't demonstrate (to me at least) the skill to carry out the work.
Think how busy he'd be if the first few jobs he'd done got glowing references. A missed opportunity but clearly no-one sets out to fail so I
guess it's lack of ability holding him back.
Jubal: Thanks for your detailed explanation. I'm sure other members and future members will be glad of the heads up.
You are not the only one trust me, there is me and also another guy (unless you have changed your name!)
Chris could not have been any nicer. He agreed to everything I wanted, carbon fibre parts, custom colour, me supplying my own R888's and tyres
choosing accessories(lights etc) out of the catalouge etc.
However, the build itself took well over 6 months, not the 6 weeks as promised. I had a track day booked for my birthday 12 weeks after I paid my
deposit. There was to be no problem me driving my car there, even it it failed the SVA he would still trailer it there. Well, that came and went. He
advised me once that my SVA was canceled (double booked) but when i rung the centre, he had cancled it!
Numorous baby scans, illnesses, stomache bugs, bank visits, SVA dates, and threats of legal action meant the car finally was completed, but many
months later.
Again, the parts used on my car probably amount to more than what I paid for it. Esp when you include tax and the SVA cost too!
I spoke formally with the chap who SVA'd my car once it passed and he said that Chris does give them the complete run around! Chris also lied
saying my car failed its SVA on emissions, but really it failed as it didnt even start due to the cam position sensor. The SvA guy did say though that
my car was built to a great standard. I also got the car looked over at Caterham who also commented on the build and how well it was presented.
I think i was lucky. I was the first inline for the new build offer he was doing, and coupled witht he fact it HAD to be SVA'd and wasnt already
registered, a lot of his bodge jobs could not be carried out.
Only things I want/had toc hange is
paddleshift "wrong" way round
clutch cable chaffing but spotted and adjusted before any damage
terrible geo and ride height dialed in
Didnt attempt to fit my gear indicator guage or temp gauge i sent him and asked to fit to which he had agreed
TBH, and I really dont care if he reads it or it upsets mods, the guy is a complete out and out liar. Yes he can build fantastic cars, but I would
strongly suggest to be prepared to wait or think twice.
I am his only sucess story.
Any reason why your car cannot be completed? In this current climate, I would have expected to see the administrators called in along time ago!
Hi Kriss, Thanks for spending the time to respond. Your right, you were lucky. I think i now know who those three new chassis were bought for. Two of you have them and mine should be still in his hands. I asked for the car to be completed over and over again and he eventually gave up and said he wasnt going to complete. no idea what he's doing now but if anyone has any info i'd love to find out.
sounds as though he has given up to me.
I am not surprised. He had a poor reputation for one off work (ie transplants) and not enough time to complete full on builds.
I know one guy ended up getting his car into Mk for them to complete, and I think Chris paid for it! dont quote me but some arrangement similar to
that.
Normally the cock is stallign and buying his time, looks like he has taken at look at the books for once and found out its just not viable to operate
without some type of change.
I'm not going to add my long story to this growing thread. Suffice to say it's similar to most. My car is now in the hands of MK who will be
completing this 12 month (yes 12 months!) project.
One thing i am definately not happy about however is the fact that http://www.becowners.co.uk/ is still live
and running! Not good enough.
quote:
Originally posted by blueskate
One thing i am definately not happy about however is the fact that http://www.becowners.co.uk/ is still live and running! Not good enough.
It seemed to me that the owner's club was more of an excuse to get free/cheap space at shows (and on websites!) to advertise the workshop than
anything to benefit the membership. At least LCB seems to have quietly stopped serving his ads.
He's a sole trader so the options are pretty limited if he's refusing to do the work to the agreed standard or give a refund. Sadly,
he'll probably declare himself bankrupt if there's any more creditors out there.
Regards the mods etc, if more people had spoken up over a year ago there'd be less people having trouble now. I'm as guilty as anyone on
that issue having deleted my original (pretty emotive) posts when I thought it was going to go legal.
well lets treat this as an example of shaming bad workmanship and unreliable traders.
Anyone with any further comments please contact me.
Thanks
I paid just over £20 buy PayPal to become a member a few months back and I still havent received anything through the post. I sent the guy an E-mail a
few weeks back and Iam still waiting for his reply
quote:
Originally posted by Wells
I paid just over £20 buy PayPal to become a member a few months back and I still havent received anything through the post. I sent the guy an E-mail a few weeks back and Iam still waiting for his reply
Agreed,you can dispute on PayPal if you never recieved anything and Chris Derby can't prove he sent anything.
just reminded me of another thing
"yeah mate, posted it recorded delivery for you today"
10 days later,
2nd class shitty old pre used envelope rocks up with receipt for 2nd deposit.
not all of the discount he "arranged" are valid so i heard. plus, i doesnt take much to set up similar affiliates. i have one set up with
POTN and another with a local motor factors, just because they asked if i wanted one, certainly didnt require £20 a pop to set up!
i was also told my car was being featured by the Sun newspaper and also was going to have a monthly update build blog on the newsletter! needless to
say they never happened