NoSpleeny

iTrader: (3)

Here goes... At the end of this, you will hear my non-recommendation... and my recommendation as per shops.

Back not too long ago, I went to a shop called ALTECH PERFORMANCE. You guys probably know of that shop because they have that neon green race car that's all motor and their shop specializes in Turbos, engine swap, other engine work among other things.

I bought an AEM Pulley kit for my car and went to them to install it. My pulley kit contained the Alternator Pulley and the Belt that goes along with it.

When I got there, I asked them how much it was going to cost, they said it will take about 1 hour and the cost is $70 + tax. I was like.. right on. That's pretty good! As time past, I was sitting in the sun in the baking hot sun, the head mechanic there came to me and said we have a problem. I was like oh ****... The mechanic said, "we forgot to tighten your belt and it slipped off the pulley and it got chewed up." I told them that's ok.. put a new one on. He immediately said that there is a $35 + tax charge for the new belt. I argued with him. Furthermore, there were 3 people working on my car in the afternoon and it took them about 2 hours to get the job done. When the time to pay the bill, it came out to be about $120... I told them I had been a member of another car club that had discount from this shop. They said there was no discount applicible on this job. I asked why, the person said because belts are sold to customers at "cost price".

First off.. B U L L S H I T.. place pisses me off already.

About a week later, I'm driving along.. I hear a HUGE SQUEELING sound from my engine. It turned out the belt was slipping right off the alternator pulley! I went back to Altech Performance and told them to fix the problem. They had a look under the hood and said "the belt is as tight as it can go... however, the problem is, we put the wrong belt on the car. sorry." He then proceeded to tell me that the problem would cost 1 hour labor AND a new belt to fix and that I would need to pay again or they would refuse to perform the labor required to fix the problem. I argued with him again just like last time. Once again, 3 people working on the car, 2 hours to replace the belt. The bill came to be about $120 AGAIN. So that is $240 I spent so far and I have 1 chewed up belt from AEM which they messed up... AND they also kept my first belt that they put on stating it was the wrong size.

Well.. just recently, when the weather started getting cold, I got into the car and I started it and suddenly I heard a squeeling sound. It was the alternator... I decided that maybe it's not that bad and I should put some belt dressing on the belt. The belt dressing helped for about 20 km then it started SQUEELING again.. it wasn't squeeking.. it was SQUEELING..!

Lone behold, the belt was ONCE again of the wrong size. After this situation, I couldn't handle the squeeling anymore, I decided to go to a shop called SPEEDTECH in Scarborough to get my O.E. pulley and belt reinstalled. They installed the belt for a GREAT price (cheaper than Altech), and it took 1 person 1 hour to complete the job, not to mention he was making coffee too! It was great!

So.... all in all.... ALTECH PERFORMANCE IS A CON SHOP.. THAT PLACE RIPS YOU OFF. If this is the quality of their work.. don't be surprised if you put a turbo on there and they forgot to put the oil lines or use the wrong size oil lines and duct tape the tubing to the turbo...

SPEEDTECH is an amazing shop. I had my springs done there before and they were FAST.. not to mention they always do an amazing job when they work on anything on my car. Springs done twice. Pulley done once... among other things.

RECOMMENDATION: SPEEDTECH

NEVER-GO-TO: altech performance. They'll rip you off like they ripped me off and conned me out of money.

R1Style

iTrader: (20)

wow... I can't believe they even made you pay for a new belt in the first place.
Thanks and I'll stay away from Altech.

exclusive_vtec

thanks for the heads up.. u should go back to altech and get ur money back

SiG

iTrader: (12)

damn thats ridiculous, i cant believe they made you pay for their screw ups. man i woulda flipped

where is altech located, jsut curious, i aint going there, dont worry

EŽik

You'd think for a shop that does major engine work, they would have licenced mechanics, that know what they are doing. That pisses me off Spleeny, you should goto the better business bureau >> go get you money back. Seriously, I know I would.

NoSpleeny

iTrader: (3)

Altech is located @ St. Clair and Weston Road in Toronto. It's around that area. I'm just giving you guys the heads up cuz that was a big time rip off. I feel conned. But I don't think I'm going to follow through with anything except maybe a complaint to some agency or board. That's about it. I don't want to see anybody getting ripped off like they did to me.

EL-Sport

iTrader: (1)

I haven't had any dealings with Altech, so I can't comment about them, but I've always had great service and prices with Speedtech.