dpjones

I want to share my own personal experience with Forged Performance. I am reporting Forged Performance to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs, and I hope that by posting my experience here, that anyone else who has had a similar experience, you will also alert the Office of Consumer Affairs so that a full government investigation will occur. This is lengthy, so please bear with me, but there is a lot to this, and it is time that it comes out into the open. I personally have no prior relationship with Sharif before this situation. Like most of you, I found Sharif to be a likeable guy who made me feel like a fried. However, I've been thoroughly disappointed with Sharif and Forged Performance. I am putting this out in the open so the public can make informed decisions before hiring a shop to perform work on their cars, and so that others may have the courage to speak out. I just don’t want others to be harmed as I was.

Before the guts, here is a brief summary of where things stand today. Some of this will make more sense after you read the whole thing. I have hired a very prominent attorney in the Atlanta, GA area to represent me. Her specialty is the 1st Amendment (Freedom of Speech) which is important as you shall see. When she first contacted Sharif, he did exactly what I had suspected: Sharif immediately threatened to file a frivolous lawsuit against me for this posting. Later after he himself hired an attorney, his attorney also made it clear to mine that Sharif would sue and that any hope of settling things would require my silence to protect his reputation. If a shop messes up, they have the chance to make things right and get back some respect/reputation, but if they sue people for telling what happened to them, in my opinion, there is no coming back from that. I think that this shows what the place is really about. Before hiring his attorney, Sharif emailed my attorney and even had the nerve to say I had committed fraud. My first course of action was I filed a dispute with my Credit Card Company since I had not gotten what I had paid for and due to all of the damage done. After 7 weeks, the Credit Card Company decided not to refund my money because I had not returned my car to Forged Performance and given them an opportunity to fix my car, even though there was no contract requiring me to return the car to them. As you will see, based on the serious damage Forged Performance did to my car, there was no way I was taking my car back there. Sharif told my attorney that I had filed the dispute saying I didn't recognize the charges so I was committing fraud! I can't think of any reason he would say that, and to my attorney of all people. I even have a copy of the letter Sharif sent my Credit Card Company where he is clearly defending his business and saying he was wanting me to bring my car back to him so he could fix it. In that letter, he told them that he was never made aware of anything until after I had sent my car to another mechanic, and that is why he should not be responsible at this time. As you read below, you will see that this is clearly not the case. I had brought up issues as soon as 2 months before I picked up my car, while at the shop, and even on the drive home.

As of 4/13/2010, Sharif has been sent a demand letter giving him 30 days to settle with us, or a lawsuit will be filed against him for Fraud/Deceptive Trade Practices. I believe, for reasons detailed below, that Sharif intentionally misrepresented the type of turbos that were installed on my car. I suspect that his motives may have been that he knew I was out of state, and thought that I would never be able to afford to hire a lawyer in Georgia, which is over 500 miles away from where I live, to sue him. I also feel that he thought he could get by without me ever knowing that he had installed the wrong turbos on my car.

Also on 4/13/2010, Sharif indicated to me that he would be more willing to settle things if I was to keep quiet on the forums, and even post something stating that we had come to an agreement so hopefully the posting would stop.

And now for what happened:

Around March of 2009, I contacted Sharif with Forged about putting the GTM Twin Turbo kit on my brand new 09 G37S Sedan. According to their web site, they "Specialize" in the Infiniti G37 (VQ37HR). We spoke several times and I really felt good about what he had to say. Sharif is definitely a good talker and salesman. We had agreed on the Stage-II Turbo for my car, 3" Downpipes, External Gates, clutch/flywheel, etc. I went ahead and put a deposit down with Forged for $12000 to cover the majority of the parts. I drove my car to his shop towards the end of April and then flew back to St. Louis, MO. The project was supposed to take 6 to 8 weeks. The only thing that bothered me initially was that I wanted to order the kit myself and bring it with me to his shop. This would have saved me from paying Sales Tax on $8500 which is a pretty good chunk of change. Sharif convinced me to just let him take care of it. Because I had grown to trust him, I just let it go. There will be more on this later.

Over the next couple of months, Forged installed the kit, and then ran into a snag that was not their fault. Nissan changed the ECU for the 09 Sedan so that the Uprev Software could not program them like they could the 08 G37 Coupe. So, now began the waiting. Sharif had to wait on Sam to get him the ECU Flash, Sam had to wait on the Uprev folks to crack the new ECUs and update their software, etc. etc. I don't blame the next 3 months on anyone.....new car...new ECU....stuff happens.

During this time, I referred a friend of mine named Dave to Sharif to have the TT kit put on his 08 G37 Coupe. He is DmfG37sTT on MyG37.com. His car went down there and was having pretty much the same stuff put on his car.

September is when things start going downhill. Sharif posted something on the forums about Dave's car and mentioned he had the Stage III kit. Dave saw this and got excited and sent me a text about it. This made sense to me since Dave was considering having his motor built later to handle more boost, so why not put the bigger turbos on it. I had been in touch with Sam at GTM about getting a 3" exhaust made for my car. No one was making one yet for the G37 Sedan. I called him that same day to ask about the progress on the exhaust. Just being chatty, I said something to Sam about David's car having the Stage III kit....Sam told me that Sharif had made a typo and that he was getting the Stage I. I guess Sharif had already been made aware of this and had modified his post. I then said to Sam, "I thought Dave was getting the Stage II kit like me". Sam then told me that both of us were getting the Stage I kit. I told him that I had ordered and paid for the Stage II. Sam did some digging and called me back. He told me that Sharif had indeed ordered the Stage I kits for both of our cars. He was looking at the Purchase Orders right in front of him. I then called Sharif and asked him what was going on. He assured me that our cars had the Stage II kits and that there was just some confusion with the part numbers. He said that they were confusing. He was going to call Sam and call me back. Needless to say, this started a bunch of phone calls between Dave, Sam, Sharif and I. Sam told me that he indeed confirmed to Sharif that a Stage I was ordered, and that what was shipped. Sharif told him as well that he had received Stage II Turbos. I could see Sam making a mistake once, but making the same mistake 2 months apart and shipping the wrong Turbos? Sam then told Sharif that if he had indeed received the Stage II kits, he owed GTM more money since they only charged him for the Stage I kits. Sharif said no. Sharif then continues to tell me that both Dave and I had the Stage II kits and again that the part numbers were confusing. The Stage I kit ends in "TT01" and the Stage II kit ends in "TT02". Is that confusing???

While my car was pretty much put back together, Dave's motor was out of his car. There is a stamp on the housing that says what AR the housing is. We should have had a ".86" AR and not the ".64". It is next to impossible to see this with everything installed like on my car. Since Dave's motor was out, Dave asked Sharif to go take a picture of the correct Turbos on his motor. Three days later Sharif provided the pictures Dave asked for and they showed the Stage II Turbos on his car. When clients are questioning you about what you put on their car, basically questioning your integrity, would you take 3 days to take a simple picture?

Sharif kept assuring me I had the correct turbos. It was very important that I had the correct turbos because the smaller turbo housings can lead to over boosting on the VQ37VHR motor. According to Sam, and even Sharif, the .64AR housing are too small for that motor. If that were to happen, damage could be done to my motor.

dpjones

After speaking with Sam, I realized that it would have cost me less money to send my car to GTM. Also, my car would have had a specific tune for it which would likely yield more power from the kit. Even factoring in the cost of shipping my car to and from GTM, I would have paid less for more a better tune. To elaborate on this, GTM provides two different turbo kits:

1) One is a “Turn Key” kit that includes all the parts and the tune (ECU Flash). This tune is a general tune that will be safe for the car. This kit includes the fuel pump and injectors, but does not include the down pipes or external waste gates. The full retail price of this kit is $8495.
2) The other is a “Tuner” kit that does not include the tune (ECU Flash). It includes the down pipes and external waste gates, but does not include the fuel pump or injectors. The full retail price of this kit is $7995.

If you send your car to GTM, you would get the “Tuner” kit and purchase the fuel pump and injectors. The full retail price of this is $8694. If you send your car somewhere else, or do it yourself, you would get the “Turn-Key” kit and purchase the down pipes and the external gates. The full retail price of this is $9595. Right off the bat there is a $901 savings. If GTM does the turbo kit, they will then put your car on their dyno and custom tune it. Even charging an amount for this, the cost would still be less and you have a custom tune which should yield better results. On top of that, where Sharif charges the full retail price for the turbo kit, down pipes, etc, GTM usually provides discounts, as you would expect, when you purchase in quantity. I have evidence of this from another customer of GTM. Then after removing the sales tax, I feel I would have spent a significant less amount of money, and had a better performing car, not to mention all of the problems noted here.

Sharif touts how he is capable of tuning the VQ37VHR motors. He told me several times on the phone that if he had to, he could tune the car. He also told me that he could get more power out of the motor if he tuned it. While I was in Georgia picking up my car, Sharif even told me that he wants to get himself and other in their shop training from Uprev to be able to tune the VQ37VHR motors. I can't think of a reason that he would need this training since he kept telling me how good he was at tuning them.

To add to this, Forged charged me $565 more than GTM's Internet (Retail) price for the down pies and external wastegates. When I picked up my car I brought this to Sharif's attention. He took the difference off my bill, but he made it sound like he was losing money. He told me that he paid more for the kit than $1100 retail price. It was hard for me to keep calm with him looking me in the eye telling me this. A simple mistake may have been made, but why can't he say that instead of telling me that now I'm paying him less than what GTM charged him? I have the purchase order from Forged to GTM showing exactly what he ordered and how much Forged paid GTM for the parts. The purchase order showed Forged ordering the Stage 1 turbo kit, and it showed that Forged paid below the internet/retail price for all of the items from GTM. This all leads into why I feel he didn't want me ordering the parts and bringing them with me....he gets the parts at a discount and makes a profit off of them....so basically I had to pay the Sales Tax, and full Internet pricing so he could make more money. I would have saved a bunch ordering all of it myself (no tax and some discounted pricing), and even more sending it to GTM...even with having to ship the car.

Sharif kept assuring me that my car was ready to go, all they had to do was get the ECU Flash. Once he finally got the flash (I believe this was around 2nd week of October), then more came up.

1) First my car wouldn't run for more than a couple of seconds. After 2 days of switching out injectors, trying this, trying that, they found the fuel was bad. Sharif says they had to wait on a modification to the fuel pump assembly so they left my fuel pump out leaving the gas tank exposed. Why was it left exposed?

2) Forged Performance then found an exhaust leek and that my Camp 2 was not hooked up to the Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) sensor. This cost some more time.

3) My car has the All-wheel steering and Sharif found that my car wouldn't drive straight...the rear wheels were steering the car wrong. Again, several days of delays, and finally the Nissan dealer there reset some things and all was good. This is to be expected I guess when disconnecting the Steering Coupler...although I will say that when I installed my HFCs, I disconnected it and didn't have any issues.

I know of no reason all of these things couldn't have been addressed before they received the ECU Flash. The factory fuel pump could have been put in and the car could have been started and driven lightly. I had even asked Sharif to do this, but he said it wasn't necessary. It was about 4 weeks after they got my Tune that I was able to pick up my car. The car I had been driving was a lease and had to go back at the end of October. Sharif did pay for me to drive a rental for the remaining 3 to 4 weeks before my car was ready.

Another thing that came up was Sharif asked me if I knew what a wire/sensor was for that was hanging behind my Navigation Screen / Radio. He sent me pictures of it. I did not know what it was. Sharif kept alluding to maybe I had dislodged it when I put in the KP Technology modules in my car. First of all, I didn't appreciate that. I then sent him pictures of my install that clearly showed this wire/sensor was not there. What stinks is that I kept asking him to take it to a dealer and find out what it is. I felt like he kept blowing me off and he didn't think it was important. I'm sorry, but this is my new $40000 car that I have barely had a chance to drive, it is important to me. I don't even think my car had 5000 miles on it when I dropped it off, including the drive to Georgia.

One thing I didn't realize at first was that I would be losing my window washers. This is prudent living in Missouri where we get a decent amount of ice and snow. In my opinion, a shop should mention something like this ahead of time, especially when it involves a safety issue. I only became aware of this when Sharif sent me pictures of my car with the blow-off valves and intercooler piping mounted. The factory location for the washer reservoir was completely consumed by the piping and such. I mentioned this several times to Sharif, and he knew very well that this car is my daily driver, yet he never would even respond about it for a long time, let alone do anything about it. Again, shouldn't a shop like this be able to do something about this? Despite my concerns, I again felt as if Sharif was just blowing me off. The bottom line is, nothing was ever done about it. Why when I asked Sam at GTM about it does he simply tell me, we can make one work? Sam told me there is a company called Denso that makes a kit that will plug directly into the factory wiring harness and can be mounted somewhere else in the engine bay or hidden away somewhere. The installed cost of the kit would less than $100.

Another item of interest is the HKS EVC Boost Controller. When all this started, Sharif explained to me how this could be used to vary the boost based on Engine RPM or vehicle Speed. This seemed like a really good feature to me. David got his car back several weeks before me and I went to check it out. I looked at his manual for the EVC and it mentioned a Scramble feature that could be enabled and the best way to do this is with an external switch. I called and asked Sharif about this. Although not wrong, I feel that when you are paying someone to install something in your car, they should go over the possible features of it and not make assumptions. If not actually installing the switch, at least install the harness that came with the EVC and run the wires somewhere easy to get to. Same goes for the harness for Easy Writer Software...this is an optional harness, but again, I was never even told about this. Sharif agreed to get the Easy Writer harness and install it along with the harness for the Scramble switch. While talking about it, I asked him again about whether it was wired up for RPM and Vehicle Speed. He now tells me no...They normally never do this because most customers don't want this feature. I did want this, as we had already spoken about it, and again, why make those assumptions? He agreed to hook them up. Just a couple of days before my flight to Georgia, Sharif tells me that they hooked up the RPM wire, but they couldn't figure out how to hook up the wire for the vehicle speed. WHAT????

dpjones

And still another item. A few weeks before picking up my car, Sharif and I started talking about the HKS AFK. It is both an Air/Fuel Monitor, and a knock detection system. I decided I wanted one and Sharif had one in stock, so that was added to my list. I was doing reading on the system, and read that it needs to be calibrated using headphones and having the car on a dyno. I asked Sharif about this and he said that it wasn't necessary and they did not do that for my car...the default settings would be fine he told me. I contacted HKS Technical Support and they said that it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to be calibrated and were surprised that a Pro shop like Forged would not be doing this. I'll touch on this more later, but I find out later from GTM that Forged didn't even hook up the Knock Amp portion of the AFK...I basically had a really expensive A/F Meter. The Knock Amp is important because engine knock can be devastating to a motor. Combining the fact that my car was over boosting, and I couldn’t even tell if it was knocking at all, I am really worried whether any damage has been done to my motor.

And still another item. It seems to me that pretty much everyone who goes FI gets dyno runs and sheets with their numbers. Usually at wastegate pressure (Boost Controller Off), and with higher boost using a boost controller. All I ever got was a phone call telling me it was making something like 498 at almost 8 psi. I asked what it did at 6 psi which is supposed to be the wastegate pressure. Sharif then tells me that this was with the EVC (Boost Controller) off so that this was the wastegate pressure. I asked him why it was so high, and he told me I must have a really efficient Intercooler. I didn't buy this. I have the same setup as all the other G37s and they all run at 6 psi...even David’s car does. From that day until the day I picked it up, I kept asking about this and all Sharif would say is that maybe I have the wrong springs. He sent some springs home with me so I could change them out if I wanted!!! For those of you who are really Turbo Savvy.....you may have figured out by now why my car is pushing too much boost. Sam has confirmed that too small of a turbo housing on those motors can lead to over boosting. I find it hard to believe that someone of Sharif's status didn't know this.

Another item deals with the CAMP 2 being displayed on my navigation screen. I had already done half of what was required for them when I installed the KP Technology navigation bypass module. This allows me to type on the navigation screen while the car is moving. I told them how this worked. Sharif tells me he can't get the CAMP to display while driving the car. After him telling me this for a few days, I spent 3 minutes on the internet and found that a wire needed to be cut so that the Auxiliary inputs would work when the emergency brake is off. I then told them how to do this. Shouldn't a shop like Forged know this? Or at least know how to look this up?

Ok...now for the day I pick the car up....yes, there is a lot more to this story.....

Sharif picks me and a friend of mine up at the airport and takes us to breakfast and then to the shop. My car is sitting outside and AT FIRST GLANCE, it looks awesome.

UNFORTUNATELY, it took very little time for me to notice that something had backed into or hit my driver's side rear quarter panel...very obvious....scratched...dented...etc. I also quickly noticed that the top of the front bumper above the headlights was not even attached on either side. I popped the hood and found that the 2 curved white brackets that sit under it were not even there.

With the hood popped, I also noticed that my top engine cover was missing.
I was really frustrated....you would think that after having my car for 7 months, me flying in from another state, Sharif would have done a better job looking my car over. I just don't see how he could have missed the damage done to my car if he was looking at it closely as you would expect him to after a project like this. He got an estimate from Hong's Body shop which is close to Forged. He told me to get an estimate once I got back home and he would take care of it. The funny thing is, I did get one from an Infiniti Body shop, and Sharif then questioned me about it being higher. I'm sorry....I'm getting my car fixed at a dealership's body shop...not Hongs.....and according to the body shop I went to, labor rates are higher here than around Atlanta. He asked me to get more estimates.

While still at the shop, I also noticed that the cover under the engine was not installed.

I had sent Sharif a detailed list well in advance of my trip of things to make sure of....factory parts present, etc....I was told the list had been gone through and that everything was addressed. When I got there...that was clearly not the case. Only one of my factory Exhaust manifolds was there, the window washer reservoir as missing, my Fast Intentions High Flow Cats (which I had already sold) were missing, my factory clutch and flywheel were missing, factory fuel pump was missing. All of these items were found before I left, but the point is that they should have been ready to go. They had not went through and addressed my list as they told me they had.....all of these items were on the list.

When taking the car on a test drive, I commented on how quickly the turbos were spooling up...Sharif told me this was normal....I found out later...this is not the case. Sam also has David’s car and says that the difference is very noticeable between the 2 cars. I also complained about the smell of exhaust....again, Sharif said this was normal. Sorry, when you are idling, the dumps should be closed. Common sense would tell you that there is no reason for exhaust fumes to be coming in the car. When speaking with Sam on the phone after I got the car home, he agreed that I should not be smelling the exhaust like that. Basically, I don't feel like he took anything I said seriously.....from the mysterious wire/sensor, to the AFK calibration, to the EVC Speed hook up, smell of exhaust, fast spooling, over boosting, etc....nothing....everything was ok in Sharif's eyes.

While at Forged, I again asked Sharif about the Stage II turbos being on my car, and he again assured me that the Stage II turbos were are on my car, and not to worry about it.

Another thing that struck me as odd was I asked Sharif to put my car on the lift so I could take a look under the car. He told me no, that he was too busy. Does this seem OK to any of you? He had my car 7 months, I spent 25k, and I wanted to take a look under the car. I can't believe he said no. He was so busy though that when some dude drove his GTR there, and then decided while he was there that he wanted an anti-freeze flush/fill (he didn't have an appointment), of course Sharif put his car in a bay and on the lift. I think I know why he didn't want me under the car, but I will let you guys decide on that.

On the drive home, I was really noticing the smell of exhaust. I spoke with Sharif on the phone while on the road, and again he told me this was normal...said that since I don’t have any CATs, I'm simply noticing a smell the CATS used to remove from the exhaust. Why would the fumes that dump out the rear of the car, while traveling 70+ mph on the highway have any chance of getting into the car where I could smell it??? Simply put, there was an exhaust leak in the engine bay. I confirmed this on the driver’s side myself as I state below, and Sam confirmed there was an even worse one on the passenger’s side. Again, I bring up a concern, and I feel that Sharif just blows me off. Also I noticed that with the Boost Controller off, the car was going over 10psi of boost!!! Something is not right....I asked Sharif about this on the phone as well, and again he tells me this is normal.

I also noticed that my Front Radar Detection Unit was not working. The rear was working, but not the front.

dpjones

Ok, I got home early the morning of Thanksgiving. The next day, I went out to start wrenching on the car....my new GTM 3" exhaust had been delivered the day I was traveling to Forged. A buddy and I got the car on stands and quickly saw things I didn't like.



1) The Passenger's side Down Pipe has been dented in severely. It looks like Forged used a hammer and beat the crap out of it. These parts are made for these cars and should be going in without any issues. Sam confirmed this as well.


2) The metal around one of the mounting holes on the Driver's side wastegate has been broken/cut off. Basically only half of one of the bolts was pushing against anything. Sam confirmed this as well.

3) The Driver's side Dump Tube is loose. Actually, the whole assembly (dump tube, wastegate, etc.) moves, so I think the exhaust manifold or something are loose. I can hear a vibration/rattle at times and I believe this, along with the charge pipes knocking into each other, is the cause. Did I mention something about an exhaust leak? Obviously there is one when the exhaust manifold is so loose. Sam confirmed this as well.

4) The Dump Tubes have different bolts in them where the wastegates attach to them. The Passenger's side has Allen-Head bolts where the Driver's side has normal ones. Yes, this is trivial, but just shows a lack of attention to detail and quality in my opinion.


5) The lower clamps that connect the Driver's side Charge Pipe to the pipe coming from the intercooler was turned the wrong direction. The bolts from the clamp were protruding into the inner fender and keeping the inner fender lining from going back all the way. I fixed this myself before I decided to send my car to GTM.


6) The Drive's-side front inner-fender was missing two snap clips (the ones in the back to the left of the strut). The inner fender was not completely attached due to this and the item above.


7) The Driver's-side front inner-fender is missing a snap clip (the one by the outer edge next the quarter panel). Again, this along with the items above meant the inner fender was not in place as it should be, and the inner portion was so loose it could move around.

8) The passenger's side charge pipe would make a knocking noise against the pipe it connects to. The pipes simply needed adjusting within the coupler to prevent this. I fixed this myself before I decided to send my car to GTM.


9a) On the passenger's side Blow-Off-Valve, the part where the vacuum line attaches was loose and would spin around freely. I fixed this myself before I decided to send my car to GTM.


9b) Passenger's side Blow-Off-Valve

10) The instructions called for 3 vacuum taps to be made in the Intake Collector. Instead of doing this, Forged only did the one in the rear and used a Vacuum Block. I questioned Sharif about this and he told me they always do this and it is fine. I'm sorry, I paid for the Turbo kit that GTM created and I want it installed as GTM says it should be. Sam confirmed this and said using the vacuum block is not recommended unless it was using a larger tap and input tube to it. Sam also stated that it is better for each blow-off valve to have its vacuum line running independently to each side (inlet) of the intake manifold.


11) The Passenger's-side front inner-fender is missing a snap clip (the one by the outer edge next the quarter panel).


12) One of the two bolts/screws holding the front bumper on from the inner fender is missing on each side.

13) The pipe going to the inter cooler on the driver's side was extremely loose, and would knock into the intercooler outlet causing a noise. I temporarily fixed this myself before I decided to send my car to GTM. I used some larger wire ties to basically hold it in place.
14) There is a very noticeable clunking noise coming from the front passenger side of the car when going over bumps at slow to medium speeds. I asked Sharif about this, and once again, he told me this was normal. He said it was my new sway bars. I spoke with Sam about this, and he said there should not be any noise like this due to the sway bars. Sam has confirmed the noise is there, but has not yet determined the cause of it.
15) The steering wheel seems to be off slightly.
16) The headlights seem to be weird. They point low and they have an unusual pattern in them in the middle of the car. It is as if the driver’s side light points too far to the left and creates a void or something in the middle.
17) There are some retaining clips (the things that clip to the plastic so a bolt can thread into them) missing on the cover under the engine.
18) One of the holes in the engine is stripped where the cover under the engine mounts.
19) The little rock guard (I guess that is what it is??) on the driver's side under the car is missing.
20) Forged mounted the EVC inside of my Ash Tray location. It looks nice, but the round button/dial on the EVC is depressed when the ash-tray is closed. I'm not sure what this could do, I guess it depends on what mode the EVC is in when this happens.
21) The EVC display isn't mounted at the proper angle. This makes it hard to read, especially during the day. Again, it looks nice, but it needed to be adjusted to a different angle.
22) The Glove Box sticks/hangs when opening and closing...it is not smooth like it should be.
23) I discovered why the front Radar Detection Unit was working, the fuse was blown.
24) I had asked Sharif to make sure my car was not too low, especially after seeing David’s car which was way too low...his rear tires would scrape. Sharif knew I was going to be putting a larger exhaust on the car. I'll admit, the car looked great so low, and that is what Sharif kept telling me, how good it looked. This is my daily driver, and he knew that. Needless to say, after installing the new 3" exhaust, I had to raise the rear of my car myself. I was driving at a whopping 5mph in a Sears’s parking lot and the exhaust hit on a manhole cover barely protruding above the pavement.
25) This is trivial, but why when I have stressed that I wanted the inside of my car to look totally factory, why do they mount the IR sensor for the CAMP 2 on my vertical center console. They should have at least asked me. In my opinion, it would have been pretty simple to put it inside of a vent.
26) They lost my Intelligent Cruise Control module. This is a $2200 part and the main brains to my cruise control. Forged ordered one, but not until right before I was coming for my car, and of course they are on back order with no expected date. So, I would have to put this on myself, and I have to go without Cruise Control until it comes in.
27) I purchased a mirror with a small light on it attached to a telescoping handle from Sears. I used this to try and verify what turbos were on my car. For the Stage II turbos, you should be able to see the ".86" stamped on the housing when looking at the rear of the passenger side housing. It is tough to see up in there, but from what I could see, I noticed something that looked like a symbol of some sort where the ".86" should be. As you will see below, I now know what this symbol is. The Stage I turbos have the ".64" stamped in a different location that you just can't see with the turbos mounted. They do have the symbol I just mentioned though.

At this point, I had seen enough. I am pretty mechanically inclined and have worked on many cars in my life. I have rebuilt a small block for my first car (78 Z-28). I have done things like brakes, tune ups, and even rebuilt the Turbo-350 Transmission in my Camaro. I have also worked professionally in a high end car audio shop where I was an Installer and have done everything from simple head unit replacements, to building custom door panels and enclosures, fiber glass work, etc. In my opinion, the workmanship was very poor on the car, things were missing, things not hooked up correctly, noises, etc... every step along the way when I would bring something up to Sharif, it was the same response...that is normal. Never was it something like, "We will look into that". Now that I had my car back in Missouri, I just did not want to send my car back to Sharif. When spending this kind of money with a supposedly high end performance shop, this stuff should have never happened. I was especially concerned about the over boosting and still wondering whether I even had the right turbos on the car. So, I called Sam at GTM and told him I wanted him to look at my car in more detail. A few days later a semi arrived at my house and loaded up the car for California.

dpjones

Within a few days of my car arriving at GTM, this is what Sam found:

1) I sent my list above to Sam and he agreed with the items I had found and had not yet fixed.
2) Noticed the boost pressure is uncontrollable. It will reach 11.5 psi.


3a) Put the car on the lift and confirmed that the passenger side Downpipe had been beaten with a hammer.


3b) Downpipe


4) Confirmed that the wastegate support brackets had been cut out.


5) Found a loose bolt wedged between the Turbo center section and the Exhaust housing on the turbo.


6) Found that the Driver's side upper dump tube has a severe exhaust leak due to the wrong hardware being installed. So, both sides had an exhaust leak!
7) The engine harness on the passenger side was lying on the exhaust manifold and had began to melt. This is shown on the picture above that is also showing evidence of the exhaust leak. This was supposed to be moved out of the way and a bunch of heat wrap was supposed to be installed (as shown in the picture below), and it wasn't.


8) This is how it should have been.


9) The Speed Sensor connector on the Engine Harness has been broken. The portion that was broken is what holds the two sides together. This more than likely would have disconnected over time.

10) The battery positive terminal cable has not been installed to the starter per the instructions. It is practically touching the turbo housing and has a potential of grounding which is an extreme fire hazard. The smallest front impact could have caught the car on fire.


11) The GTM Kit comes with a spacer that needs installed under the Rack & Pinion bracket. They installed it, but put the bracket back on upside down. Due to this, the factory cover that protects the Rack & Pinion was not even put back on.

12) The HKS AFK was not even hooked up to the factory Knock sensor, let alone calibrated.
13) The oil in the motor looked really bad. It has a burnt look to it. Forged put new MOTUL oil in it and it only had about 900 miles or so on it, of which 550 were pure highway miles coming home from Georgia.


14a) Oh, and the biggie......THE STAGE 1 TURBOS ARE ON THE CAR.....NOT THE STAGE II TURBOS THAT I ORDERED AND PAID FOR.


14b) Wrong Turbos


14c) Wrong Turbos

In conclusion, Sam said it looks like a butcher had worked on my car. I know he is not exaggerating, I know a fair amount about cars, and as you can see from above, the workmanship was absolutely horrible.

I sent Sharif a certified letter letting him know what we had found. Sharif immediately tried to pass himself off as the victim. Asking me why I didn't send my car back to him because they stand behind everything they do. He kept telling me how he just couldn't believe I sent the car to GTM without talking to him first. Would anyone on here have sent it back to Forged? Every attempt I made to bring things up to Sharif, before my car was done, while at his shop, and even on the drive home resulted in the same thing. Would telling him all the things I found suddenly make him say...oh, and by the way, the wrong turbos are on your car too? If I sent it there, would they have found and fixed the things like the battery terminal, engine harness, etc., or just simply fixed the stuff I found. Would they have then told me about the wrong turbos? Sharif told me that because I sent the car somewhere else that he isn't responsible for anything. I told him wrong answer. He then said he is a reasonable man and maybe we could split the cost...again I told him wrong answer. He then said he would speak to Sam and get back with me. When speaking with Sam, Sharif even told Sam that he had noticed the broken connector on the Engine Harness!!!! Why didn't he fix it?

After 3 months had gone by since Sharif was made aware of all of this, I still had not heard back from him. I did receive a Christmas card from Forged! I also received a call from Ryan at Forged a while back saying that they had found my Cruise Sensor. They deducted the cost of it from my bill with the agreement that once the new part came in, I would pay what they had deducted and they would send it to me. Ryan told me that I needed to send them money and they would ship it!!! What nerve!!!

After hiring an attorney, she contacted Sharif towards the end of March. Sharif sent my attorney an email where he said that he personally looked at David's turbos and they were Stage II turbos and that he made the assumption that since both kits should be identical, that mine were also Stage II turbos. The funny thing is, Sharif sent me an email back in December after he found out my car was with GTM saying that he had promised me mine were Stage II turbos since he had seen them with his own eyes.

So, my brand new car that has just over 5k miles on it, which I have had for 14 months now, has spent 11 months in a shop. It really stinks making payments, insurance payments, XM subscription, etc. on a car that I don't even have. I have had to pay for rentals and finally had to break down and buy a used vehicle to drive.

I just wanted to share this with everyone so they can make an informed decision before giving Forged their business. David’s car is in the same boat, sitting at another mechanic's shop waiting on some sort of resolution. I truly hope that everyone else who has had work done there has a great install, and even all the parts they paid for. I just find it alarming and upsetting that 2 G37s go there and both come back in such poor condition. I imagine a lot of people that pay for this stuff don't have the knowledge to take things apart and see a lot of what I saw, so they would just trust Sharif's assurances that the problems were "normal" and that no damage has been done to their car.
As stated above, I plan to file a civil lawsuit against Forged Performance for violations of the Georgia Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. I am also going to file a complaint with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs at georgia.gov - Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs. This agency investigates consumer complaints when there is evidence of a pattern of unfair or deceptive acts. They are also able to issue fines and potentially help consumers recoup losses. Most importantly, the agency may institute legal action on behalf of the state if a “significant quantity” of complaints about unfair or deceptive practices is received about a particular company.

Given what happened to me and Dave, and reading other comments about Forged Performance on this forum, I certainly doubt that I am the only person who will have a reason to complain. Any time a company rips off a consumer by misrepresenting the qualities, standards, characteristics, uses, and qualities of the product (such as saying Stage II Turbos were installed when in reality they were Stage I Turbos), it is not a private matter, but one of significant public interest and concern that the Office of Consumer Affairs should pursue and investigate to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. I believe the OCA should investigate and, at a minimum, conduct ongoing future monitoring of Forged Performance. If you or someone you know has had an experience similar to mine, you should also report Forged Performance. I certainly don’t want anyone else to go through what I have been forced to go through.

Modme

iTrader: (17)

Holy smokes! There goes another one. Sorry to hear all the trouble you went thru.

IIQuickSilverII

sam?


anyways, i read you story which i already knew about and no excuses for the bad work done work, i think a lawsuit against you is the wrong course of action, considering "another" shop who is no "victim" either and has also has tried to silence critics and blame others countless of times...and there is blackmail int he process also...you are the wrong target. YOu should not have had to go trhoguh any of this anyways. Bu again, its a bad situation what you are going through and the is no excuse for hte kind of work done...

Now i am a bit confused by your post:

you 1st say:
" If a shop messes up, they have the chance to make things right and get back some respect/reputation, but if they sue people for telling what happened to them, in my opinion, there is no coming back from that. "

but then you say:
"kept telling me how he just couldn't believe I sent the car to GTM without talking to him first. Would anyone on here have sent it back to Forged?"


While i may agree with both statements individually i dont think they can be put together since they are actually countering each other.

NeverBoneStock

iTrader: (25)

Thats just terrible. Black Jack ... care to chime in about your experience buying tires and having coilovers installed ???

Blackjack

iTrader: (3)

Sure... It is good to point out that I've never done TT. My experience is strictly to wheels, tires, suspension, and minor engine mods.

This will be my last post in this thread.

dpjones

By making it right, I mean do what it takes to resolve the situation....like instead of suing, pay the bill from the other shop. I think that looks better for a shop...admitting the mistakes...and taking care of them....instead of trying to keep the public from knowing about it. The is no way I could take it back there....absolutely no trust at this point. I waited a long time before suing for the damages and nothing was getting resolved.

Ivoidwarranties

iTrader: (7)

Good God. I knew I was waiting to hear something about this but I had no idea. Sorry to hear all your pain and suffering.

Raizon

iTrader: (7)

Damn man...I feel your pain just reading your post. I hope your lawsuit goes in your favor. Good luck!

Q8y_drifter

Holy crap!

HamstersG

iTrader: (5)

An extremely well-written and thorough story. Thanks for sharing!

Edit: And sorry that you had to go through this. I would be beside myself.

TreSe7en

iTrader: (2)

Wow, very long but detailed read. Sorry to hear about all your troubles. Curious to hear about what Forged has to say after seeing their responses to Juan's thread