http://forum.1320stangs.com/index.php?showtopic=5555
This is tragic story on a mustang owner getting incredibly screwed over by a local shop here in Arizona. Shop name is AMP (All Mustang Power). Right now, this story has hit over 300+ forums in 2 days, and has been viewed almost 100,000 times on www.1320stangs.com within 2 days. I myself have been a member of this site for quite some time. Please show your support. It is a great story to read, and see all the support that has come into play. With mustang lovers, camaros, escorts, hondas (both bikes and cars) etc. Have people from Canada all the way to the UK who have joined the site just to read the story. (this is a arizona/southwest mustang group which now has people from all over)..........I am sorry for how long it is.
I would first like to say that one point during this confrontation something was said to the effect that it would do no good to post this on the internet because it would go nowhere fast and no one would care about what happened.
Now on to what happened …
The week prior to 28 July 04, I called Tom Thompson at AMP Performance to make arrangements with him to set aside a day where we could settle up the paperwork with my car and I could take my car out of All Mustang Parts & Performance, Phoenix, AZ.
After talking to him several times, he is unsure when I can come get my car. Since I am in the military, my work schedule isn’t very flexible at all, so I really needed to establish a day when everything could be accomplished 100% and when I take the car away from AMP we wouldn’t have to do business again.
Tom was very reluctant to setup a time for me to come get the car and wanted to make sure that all of the parts that belonged to the car were ready for me to take when I came. These parts included the old shortblock that came out of my 2002 Mustang GT that AMP took to their very own wrecking yard when it came out of the car. I specifically told them to save all parts that came off the car (to include the stock engine with damaged pistons) and the supercharger that was en route back from Vortech Superchargers. Finally after a few days of getting them to pick a date, Tom and I agreed that I would come up on 28 July 2004 (a week away) to get a full refund for all labor paid since the job was uncompleted.
A little background:
Tom refused to put the car back together after the story about how he and his father assaulted an individual that I brought to the shop on the last visit was posted on the internet. They claimed that I had been shady with them by not telling them that I was bringing a few individuals with me to inspect the damage on the brand new DSS Pro Mod 4.6 Shortblock that they were being paid to put into my car. I had the DSS shortblock delivered straight from DSS to AMP in February when I took the car there. To make a long story short, when AMP put the new motor into the car and reinstalled the supercharger and remaining parts, the engine started to make a ticking noise while on the test drive. The car idled great before the test drive, I was there to witness them starting up the car. Come to find out a few days later, they had pulled the motor out and found 5 damaged Pro-lite pistons, damage to the newly reworked heads at a cost of $2500 and a handful of foreign debris in the motor.
Upon talking to Tom, he said that either someone in the shop sabotaged my new motor or a “snap ring” came out of the supercharger and went into my brand new $3000 short block causing serious damage to 5 pistons. They are telling me that I am going to have to pay for all repairs if Vortech says the blower is at fault. Otherwise, they will pay for all repairs that need to be completed.
So Vortech comes back and says the blower is 100% perfect. Since they had it apart they decide to perform preventive maintenance and put brand new bearings in it.
This is where the story turns:
Tom tells me there is no way they will put the car back together because of the other post on the internet. They tell me I need to get my friends to keep their mouths shut and quit telling the story. Tom Thompson tells me the only way they will put the car back together is if everyone on the internet retracts all statements made in the post. They pay for the repairs to the new motor and agree to refund 100% for all money paid for labor since the job was uncomplete. In the mean time they had the pistons replaced in the motor since it was their responsibility and they assembled the car.
28 July:
I call up to AMP and ask to speak to Tom. This is the day we planned that I would come up first thing in the morning to receive a full refund for labor and then pick the car up “IN PIECES”.
Tom gets on the phone and I ask him if everything is still good to go for today. He says yes and tells me in a harsh tone: “Yeah fine, YOU need to be here at 3pm and that’s that.” I tell him that we had agreed to settle up first thing 28 July 04 and we had an appointment. He says: “Yeah well I am telling you that you come up here at 3pm, no earlier. When I told him I was already on my way he said "Well you better turn your ass around. If you come up here from Tucson earlier you can drive around Phoenix all day or wait across the street in an empty parking lot because you aren’t coming in here until 3.”
So I kindly ask, “Well is everything okay? Was there a problem with getting my old engine back from the junkyard or something didn’t show up?” To which he replies: “All I’m going to tell you is be here at three, no earlier and that’s that” and he hangs up on me.
What is going on now?! I thought this was going to be smooth and we could settle up today. So I call him back after a few minutes and tell him that since my work schedule is so tight, this was the only day that I can do this and we had to settle up today. I also tell him that I will be bringing one witness and ask if it will be a problem. He said “I don’t care bring whoever you want”. I say “Okay” and tell him that if he changes his mind about it being a problem, then we should make arrangements now for the police to be there. Since he was going to pay for the tow ONLY to Tucson, I asked him to kindly cancel the tow truck for my car and that I would arrange the tow truck. Throughout all of the phone calls I kept a calm tone and refused to get into an argument with them so that we could keep the tension as low as possible. Tom Thompson was very short with me and had a serious attitude about the whole thing.
SO I wait all the way until 3 pm. I drive over 2 hours from Tucson to Phoenix in traffic and show up at AMP at 3:03PM. My witness was unable to make it last minute so it was just me. The tow truck that I had ordered was just pulling up. Once inside AMP I find out that Tom and his dad (owners) were not there – their excuse was that they went to some kind of “emergency meeting” with their lawyers. I am extremely surprised by this after all the fuss Tom made to me over the phone about showing up at 3pm. I asked if he remembered about our meeting being at 3pm and all the employees inside assured me that he did. I asked about my refund and was told that ONLY Tom can give the refunds.
I was told that the car and all the parts were ready to go. The engine, heads, intake, etc. were all piled up against the wall near the garage door so that I could take them. They told me to just “take the car” and that Tom would settle up with me some other time. Well after 5 months of dealing with Tom, I know that I probably wouldn’t get any kind of satisfaction if I just “take the car” without Tom and I settling up the paperwork. I asked several times for them to call Tom and tell him that I was here waiting on him. Everyone refused because Tom had told them not to call while he was away. One of the employees behind the counter assured me that “Tom is a man of his word” and that I shouldn’t be worried about getting screwed over. Everyone there seemed upset with me since I was reluctant about taking my 2002 GT in an unassembled fashion without getting my refund for roughly about $1500 for a job not finished.
The tow truck driver agreed that maybe I shouldn’t take the car and that he had to go to another tow and assured me that I should call him if I needed him again.
After being in close contact with a lawyer, he advised me to contact the Phoenix Police Department to document what was going on here. Since nobody knew when Tom would be back and settle up with me and the pressure continued to increase for the car to leave, I decided to take the advice and call the police.
Upon arriving, the officers commented that they were regularly called to AMP and couldn’t believe that some things never changed with that place. I explained the story to them and left out no details whatsoever. They went inside to talk to the employees behind the counter. They were greeted nicely from behind the counter and stated the I was just making things more difficult than they had to be since I wouldn’t just take the car without my refund and be on my way. The police decide to stay with me and advise me to just get the car out of there so I don’t have to worry about it. They offer to stay until the whole thing is finished and I am grateful for it. I call for the tow truck and am told that it will be on the way in 1 hour.
About 30 minutes later, Bob Thompson (another co-owner of AMP, who runs the junkyard) shows up. One of the policemen and I are standing outside and Bob walks up to me and asks what’s going on. I tell him nicely that I’m just waiting for Tom to show up so that we can settle up the paperwork before I take the car. He then looks at the cop and asks several times why he is there. The police officer tells him twice that he is just there to keep the peace. Bob then asks me why the officer is there and I tell him just to mediate (after what happened last time). Bob continues to make a big deal out of it and says that there aren’t enough men in this country that can deal with their problems without calling the police. He says that there “ain’t nothing but pussies around here” and started asking who called them in the first place since they didn’t call. Well since I was the only one there it was obvious. The officer said “Well if someone calls us then there must be a problem so we are here to make sure everyone is safe”. Well upon hearing this, Bob says “What?! It’s just him (points at me) and his fuckin’ faggot friends on the internet”. The officer looked right back at him and said “You know, that’s just the kind of comments that tells me that maybe I should be here”. Bob then goes into a rant about how everyone around here is afraid to solve problems like he solves them and that he isn’t afraid of “taking care of business” with anyone. Well, since I’m in the military, I know that a true man knows better than to lower himself to fighting with someone, period. Just isn’t worth it, lets just do the paperwork IMO.
So 5 minutes later, Tom and his dad show up and come to a screeching halt in their Dodge truck in the parking lot. Tom gets out of the driver’s seat and comes right up to me and says “You need to get the fuck off my property right now!” He then turned around and said to the officer “He needs to get the fuck off my property, I’m Tom Thompson and I own this place, he is halting my business and needs to get the fuck off my property!” All this time the dad, John Thompson is saying that he has copies of my emails that I have sent to other people about AMP and asks the police if they want to read them. They tell him no.
I barely said a word and stayed calm the whole time. If the police weren’t there I am sure that they would have tried beat the crap out of me. I didn’t provoke them in any way. I just asked “What about my refund?”. Tom replied “I don’t give a shit, you aren’t getting a fucking thing from me, you can take us to court since you and your friends think you know the legal system!” Then they said they were going to push my car across the street with all the parts in it. (Keep in mind the engine, tranny, and all related parts are out of the car and all over the ground).
(BTW I think that whole “He’s halting my business” thing was Tom referring to the story about how Tom and his father assaulted someone and it was posted on the internet. I purposely stayed out of it since AMP still had my car)
So I kindly leave and drive across the street into an empty parking lot. I watch from across the street as the AMP employees push the car out of the garage and load it up with all the parts that were on the ground. I couldn’t believe that I was kicked off the property and I barely said a word! Who freaks out when they see the police….. they were only there to make sure that it stayed civil. I was honestly worried about getting hurt after seeing how they acted last time I was there, and to immediately be kicked off the property by Tom as he got out of the truck tells me that he stayed away so he would not have to pay me. I mean, think about it – if he had just come from some meeting with lawyers and had told his employees not to call him, how would he know that I was causing problems – and up until then the only thing that I had not done was leave without the money we agreed AMP owed me for their inability to do the job.
While I was waiting across the street, Tom Thompson called the business whose parking lot I was in and told them to “tell me to get the hell out of there.” So two people came to the car window of the car I was in while waiting across the street. They asked if everything was okay since AMP called them and told them to tell me to leave. I quickly explained the whole story about how AMP put my new motor together and then damaged it and how they still owed me over $1500 for a job that they could not handle. I told him that the police were over there and told me to be here. He said “wow this isn’t a first”. I told him I was in the military also and he laughed and said “Good luck to you, I’m not gonna tell anyone who serves our country to leave”.
So I watched from across the street as my car was loaded up with all the parts and then moved onto the flatbed along with the engine, transmission and all the parts that came off the car EXCEPT my old shortblock that AMP decided to keep without my consent.
After everything was loaded up, the police came back over and wished me luck. They said that this kind of thing is not uncommon with AMP and that I should report them to the Better Business Bureau. The ycouldn’t believe how Tom and his dad made such a big entrance coming back from their meeting (at 5:40) and then demanded that I leave when I didn’t even say a word. They seemed to agree that it was very shady and that AMP hated the police and the feeling was mutual. They again wished me luck and all of us hope that nobody else would ever have to have such horrific problems with AMP, even though these sort of things are very common with them.
Remember, at one point during this confrontation I heard something about being dared to post this on the internet presumably because it would go nowhere fast and no one would care about what happened to me.
If the Thompson family will treat an active duty military service member like this and take his hard earned money from him without being able to make good on their end, what else are they capable of? With AMP, it can (and apparently does) happen to people all the time. We need to get the word out far and wide to everyone regardless. The internet can spread bad practices quicker than word of mouth can, so as for this going nowhere … well … I guess we’ll see about that…
Please post your support of this cause below. I’ll keep you updated on what is going on as it happens so stay tuned. . .
Must View!!!
Can't even describe how frustrating that was to read.