Complaint Review: Hack Shack/Strictly Modified Customs / Strictly FX

I dont really know what any of this is about. I have work done at their shop before and never experienced any of these problems. Actually my truck was featured in 3 magazines thanks to their work. I never had a problem with communications with them however they always were really busy when I would call or stop by. Only thing I can say is I wish they were still in Dayton and could get some more work done.

I will response to each ignorant statement this company has made in reference to MY issues. They would have better NOT to even reply because now I'll really make them look stupid!

Paragraph 1: The custom work to be performed was NOT dealing with the engine, but exterior of the wagon. I never received one call to inform me of any issues with the engine. It was driven from Detroit, Michigan on an engine that was about to blow? If there were issues with it leaking, all it took was a phone call or email (which they NEVER do) and I would have driven there, fixed the leak at a professional auto shop and returned the wagon to them to work on. He slightly mentioned slow leak to me, but said it wasn't that big of a problem and not to worry about it. All work was given a price estimate from THE OWNER (Shannon). Can I help that he quoted a cheaper price than what he should have? What happened was he gave a quote and when he got into the project he realized that he messed up and quoted me too low. The rear bumper I purchsed for them to put on WAS specifically for my wagon. I have the pictures and paper work to prove it. No customer should forward more than half the requested money until at least half the job of a specific area is completed. This was agreed upon by myself and the owner prior to drop off! No where on the entire car was even half of a job completed. If Shannon doesn't know of any custom shop that would take on my project, it is because he is very inexperienced and shouldn't try to hang with the "REAL" custom car shops.

Paragraph 2: I am a very intelligent, professional, reasonable and easy to get along with customer. Ficticious ideas are what make a quality show car correct? I am a professional Product Engineer in the automotive industry and my ficticious ideas contributed to the interior design of the award winning Ford PT Cruiser. Again, if it was $20,000 worth of work...why wasn't that quoted to me? Another idiotic statement from uneducated owner that has closed shop and moved to another state to try to steal from other customers.

Paragraph #3: First of all... field is spelled "FIELD, not FEILD." Any engineer knows that just because that is his profession doesn't mean he has the materials, time nor experience to do a uniquely designed show car. Doesn't that idiot know how many different types of engineers it takes to make a simple car? Again, he talks a good game before he accepts a project...but once he sees he's in deeper than he should be....I have the video taped evidence to show that the little work that was done could have been done by a 14 year old with no custom experience! He says that he didn't know that a stock daily driven Ford Taurus wagon could be considered a show car? Again, I have video tape of this car being in car shows. I didn't realize that I was taking my car to his shop to be judged! I started this project while in college and with limited funds. Why did this business accept the car after I drove 4 hours to drop it off if all he has to say is bad things? He has a very poor rebuttal and there is no way he would have won in court if I choose to proceed.

Update: Since then, I've purchased a new 1990 Taurus wagon and started the project all over. I have sank about $10,000 into this project so far and it will be ready for magazines and the car show circuit soon. I have several well known custom shops throughout Michigan working on the custom designed interior, exterior, sound system, air ride and excited to complete my "creation". I even ran into several individuals I never knew at car shows that heard of this company and said they are known for this! The police officer on the scene even told me that he recalled issues in the past where they had to come out. When this project is completed I will have video and pictures of the "poor" work done by Hack Shack/ Strictly Modified Customs/Strictly FX and the "quality" work done by real custom shops. I use his poor work to reference businesses what NOT to do. They just laughed uncontrollably when I showed them the video footage of what was done to me. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what i did. From this horrible experience, I learned to always review the history of the business you choose to go with, check with the BBB for any negative items, review photos of previous custom jobs done that are similar to what you're looking to have done and make sure the owner is respectful and a true business man.

Final word: This poor owners rebuttal included more words than he ever verbally spoke or emailed to me! Amazing. Why didn't he mention the item(s) he stole out of the car? Hummmm. I'm done trying to figure his explanation out. Oh yeah, don't fall for the pictures on the web site, because I did too!

A Ripped Off Customer

The transmission leaked and the motor was about to blow up. This customers bill was anticipated to reach $3000.00 which we only received $500.00 of the bill 6 months after we started doing work, and then the customer wanted to add more work to the bill but then wasnt sure. We require half of the bill to start work. It took the customer a year to receive his back bumper from another company which didn't fit in the first place nor was it made for his car. I dont know of any custom shop in the United States that sends their customers daily progress reports on their vehicle with detailed pictures stating work.

This is an isolated account with a very difficult customer that should have been avoided. I feel extremely sorry for any companies that deal with this guys fictous ideas. $20,000.00 worth of work for $3,000.00.

You do the math. If this guy is a professional in the feild he should have done the work himself. All that work he claims he wanted done for $1300.00 yeah seems unbelieveable to me. I didnt know that a completely stock daily driven Taurus Station Wagon was considered a custom vehicle ah yeah the strobe lights in the headlights made it custom. To see some of our work you can check out our website and judge for yourself.