Complaint Review: Motor Meister Inc. Jerry Marks Jr. - Downey California

In Feb. 2010 A good friend of mine asked me to oversee the rebuild process of his 1969 Porsche 911. He has dreamed of this for years and had the funds to start the dream. I searched online for a Porsche engine rebuilder. A company named MotorMeister Inc. is near the top of the search engine. I also read other comments online about horrible experiences with this company. I don't like to believe everything I read, so I contacted MotorMeister and started an email and phone conversation with Jerry Marks Jr. (Marques). Via email, I asked about rebuilding 1969 Porsche 911 engine costs, turn-around time and deposits. Worst case senarios, because I know this isn't MotorMeisters' first engine rebuild, so they should be able to give me "worst case" pricing ,turn-around time and any deposits required. I have emails for all. I also asked, via email, about the negative comments on the web. Jerry Marks Jr. replies " we are the hot blonde at the bar and everybody hates us..." He told me over the phone ,"its a cut-throat business and everyone is trying to knock off the mountain top". I have 299 emails related to this engine rebuilding nightmare. I was duped into believing Jerrys tale.    So, April 13th 2010 Jerry sends me an email estimate for $8394 to rebuild the engine, transmission with various aftermarket add-ons and such, complete, done, out-the-door. With a 16-20 week turn aound time and "no money down". I have the original Work Order. June 1 2010 I get a revised work order from Jerry. After they tore down the engine for "inspection" they found numerous parts that needed to be replaced.   That did raise a RED_FLAG because I asked for a "worst case" engine quote up front. Now the price is $12786. Since the price jumped up over 50% I requested to save the old parts. Jerry said "we don't do that" "our parts are on an exchange basis only".   Since this project was already 6 weeks in, we decided to move forward, since there was 10-12 weeks left for the rebuild. June 7th 2010 Mia Pike from MotorMeister called me for an $8000 deposit. I was shocked, since I was told "no money down", I have the email. mia told me to send the money "because you will only delay the process" . 65% deposit was pretty steep, but we did not want to delay the process. June 7th 2010 I sent off a cashiers check, I have the stub. That was the last I heard from MotorMeister Until I called in December 2010 to check on the return of job #869. Since it had been 18 weeks and they should be ready to ship, right? WRONG! Jerry was stalling the rebuild by blamming his suppliers of parts. Jerry and Mia tried to divert the delay by assigning a "status" number. My number in-line among the rest ahead of me. Well, they pulled that gimmick until Sept. 2011. That's when I filed complaint with the CA BBB. That only resulted in another work order from MotorMeister, Sept 9th 2011, with a new total of $15572. Along with a"late payments" claim by Jerry.Something Jerry pulled out the sky to spin the delay back on me. Well, there are no "payments" required since my original Work order does not state that. Feb 2012, Mia Pike called me and said the engine is done. I was shocked, done, really? Mia asked for $5000 more dollars before they post up a youtube video of the engine running. I asked her its really done? done? finished? No, reply. She asked, "what can you send us?" We had a debate about long it took to get ths far, and she said "send us $2000 and we will put up the video". I agreed. I have the emails for that. A week later I saw the video, and was FURIUOS! The engine was not done, it ran, poorly, but it was NOT what I ordered.  The engine sounded like a bunch of metal marbles tumbling in a drum.      After that I called the California Attorney Generals Office, division of automive repair (BAR). The CA BAR office said Motormeister does not record measurments and tolerances to the rebuilds. Nor does motormeister have any reciepts for the parts they purchase for your engine. Since then, Jerry Marks Jr. tried tacking on storage fees for thousands, threatened to auction off the engine.   All I asked for, from day one, do what you promised to do. Motormeister Inc. has failed to deliver a quality product, in a timely manner for a fair price. MotorMeister has failed at all 3 of the baisic components of business.    Our current situation is; I asked for reciepts for parts and sublet labor. Jerry has nothing to provide execpt poor low resolution photos of some engine parts, he claims to be from job #869. I have posted up my own 2 youtbe videos, to keep a public diary log and  to raise awareness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1AhXVu4Eck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpu5W8fpd0

Or just search , motormeister,. they pop up in the top 3 of motormeister videos.

We have a list of 16 current MMI customers with names, phone numbers and email addresses.

Someone has to help us expose this company.

A completely dissatisfied customer, #869 since 4/13/2010. yes, two thousand ten.