ComplaintsforSix Motorcycle/Car Custom and Electronic's LLC

• Initial Complaint

  08/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I reached out to Samir B************, Six Motorcycle/Car Custom and Electronics LLC owner, in late 2021, aiming to develop a custom cafe racer for my college senior thesis. Our correspondence included verbal agreements and visits to his shop. I purchased a Honda CB650 for $2,200 based on his recommendation and made payments of $2,000 and $3,000 on February 17 and 18, 2022, respectively. Despite these investments, timely progress was lacking, leading me to voice concerns. Trusting Samir's expertise and at his recommendation, I extended more payments to ensure the progress of this project. Payments reached a total of $10,000 by March 17, 2022. My senior thesis deadline passed with no project completion, causing serious emotional distress. Assurances were made that the bike would be ready by my college graduation in May 2022. Continued delays prompted my involvement in the project even after my graduation, causing emotional strain and placing severe financial burdens on me. Amid many verbal promises, I requested a written deadline from Samir, the date he provided was July 31, 2022. Shortly after this I would have a mental breakdown that resulted in my hospitalization. In light of these challenges, I maintained commitment, visiting Samir's shop multiple times despite difficulties. Several promised deadlines, including July 31, 2022, were missed. I sought to gain clarity as to why through an itemized project document, revealing that only $2,629.20 of my funds had been spent by August 15, 2022. Communication dwindled, and as time passed it became clear that project completion was unlikely. Over the course of 2023 I made several attempts to terminate the project, requesting reimbursement for the unspent funds. While Samir mentioned additional parts were ordered, he failed to provide requested documentation. Subsequent attempts at communication were ignored. Despite my efforts for amicable resolution, external intervention seems necessary to address this dispute.

  Business response

  09/14/2023

  **** ******

  We are writing in response to the BBB complaint you filed against our business regarding your custom café racer build for a school project. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns and provide our perspective on the matter.  

  To provide a clear timeline of events, you first visited our shop on February 8, 2022, to discuss the details of your custom café racer build. During this meeting, you expressed your desire to be actively involved in the build process and provided us a specific timeline, with a deadline of April 18, 2022, to complete the project. We want to emphasize that we did express our concerns about the short timeframe you requested for such a complex project. Building a custom café racer requires meticulous attention to detail and a significant amount of time and effort. We wanted to ensure that we could deliver a high-quality product that met your expectations within the given timeframe, and this was a tight timeline for the type of project requested, but you understood if the deadline was not met. 
  

  From February 8, 2022, until October 21, 2022, we maintained open communication with you via text and calls. We discussed various aspects of the project and kept you updated on the progress even after your personal breakdown. Once it was clear the deadline would not be met you made arrangements to pick up the motorcycle “as is” to present it at the school show, the bike was in your possession for about a week and was returned on May 9, 2022. We understand that personal challenges, such as a difficult breakup and being removed from your college campus, can have a significant impact on one's ability to focus and engage in ongoing projects. These circumstances may have contributed to the delay or change in his involvement with the project. Our team showed empathy and offered support going to the extent of providing transportation, accommodation, and meals to help him during this difficult time in hopes we could make progress forward and complete the build. Unfortunately, communication dwindled in October.  
  

  On January 25, 2023, you contacted us via phone and requested to put the project on hold. You also mentioned that you wanted to pick up the parts and bike to recover some of your investment. We agreed to your request, understanding your need to recoup your expenses, and informed you storage charges would begin 7 days after the project was canceled if not picked up. You scheduled to pick up the following weekend, then called to reschedule pickup. However, despite our agreement, you never came to pick up the parts and bike.  
  

  In an effort to find a solution, we reached out to you on March 6, 2023, and offered an alternative plan to address your concerns. However, you respectfully declined this offer a month later during a call. On May 7, 2023, you texted us, expressing your anticipation of seeing the project through with new income acknowledging project is on a necessary hold.  
  

  It is important to note that at no point during our interactions did we agree to provide a monetary refund. We do not believe that a refund is fair to either party considering the labor, efforts, and storage costs you have incurred since the project was put on hold 7 months ago. We have made every effort to accommodate the customers' requests and have been transparent about the timeline and costs associated with the project.  
  

  We are willing to continue working on the project, or if the customer prefers, we can release the parts and bike to them and waive the remaining outstanding balance of $2,357.02. This means that there will be no monetary exchange required from either party. We believe this is a fair resolution that takes into account the customer's investment and our efforts thus far. 
  

  We value our customers and strive to provide the best service possible. However, in this particular case, we believe that we have fulfilled our obligations and have made every effort to meet your expectations. We understand your disappointment, but we respectfully disagree with your assertion that a monetary refund is warranted. If you have any further concerns or would like to discuss solutions to the matter further, please do not hesitate to contact us directly. We are committed to finding a resolution that is fair and satisfactory for both parties involved.  
  

  Sincerely, Owner SB 
  Six Motorcycle/Car Custom and Electronics LLC 

  
  

  Customer response

  09/17/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  September 17, 2023
  Dear Samir B************,

  I hope this letter finds you well. I'd like to express my appreciation for your prompt response to my BBB complaint. It's essential to maintain an open and transparent dialogue as we seek to resolve this matter.

  Your response outlines an overview of events but omits some critical details. One such detail is that our interactions began long before February 8, 2022, with my initial outreach to you being in late 2021. In this outreach, I explained to you my project vision for a custom motorcycle, the reason I needed it (my senior thesis), and when I would need the custom motorcycle by (March 2022). In the interactions that followed, you expressed your concerns about the project timeline, and we mutually agreed to extend the project’s delivery date to April 18, 2022. This decision was made based on your assurance that the project could meet this revised timeline. Your commitment to meeting this deadline was pivotal in my decision to invest $12,200 into the project. I cannot overstate that had you not provided these assurances, I would not have proceeded with such a financial commitment or given you my business if I was not led to believe in the feasibility of our revised timeline.

  Subsequently, I purchased a $2,200 motorcycle, tested and approved by you, and delivered it to your shop on February 17, 2022. On the following day, February 18, 2022, I also completed my $5,000 deposit in cash paid directly to you. As you can imagine, following these significant financial investments, I was thoroughly invested in the progress of this custom motorcycle build. In the period following February 18, 2022, I made frequent visits to your Auto Body shop, actively participating in project-related tasks. As time passed, I slowly became concerned about the progress of the project, but you assured me that the motorcycle would be completed, and the main issue was a lack of funds. Again, trusting your expertise and your commitment to delivering the motorcycle on time, I paid an additional $5,000 on March 17, 2022, bringing my total payment to you to $10,000, in addition to the $2,200 I paid for the motorcycle itself.

  As April 18, 2022, came and went without the motorcycle’s completion, I adapted my senior thesis presentation, displaying the unfinished motorcycle. This accounts for the only time the motorcycle has been out of your auto body shop since February 17, 2022. This period was roughly a week beginning in early May with the motorcycle being returned to your shop on May 9, 2022. The expectation was that I would be able to take the completed motorcycle with me after my graduation on May 21, 2022. However, this date also passed without the project's completion. Given my graduation and relocation out of ************ the project began to present considerable logistical challenges, challenges I never anticipated because I expected the motorcycle to be completed long before I graduated. I expressed my concerns to you and requested a firm deadline. You proposed July 31, 2022, which I accepted with the understanding that the project would indeed be finalized by this date.

  Despite these missed deadlines, I remained committed to the project and even resumed working on it after a stress-induced hospitalization in early June. In July 2022, I made two multi-day trips (July 6-8 and July 22-25) to your shop to continue my involvement in the project. However, the promised completion date of July 31, 2022, came and went, and the motorcycle remained unfinished.

  I visited your shop one more time from August 12-15. On this trip, I would request an itemized list of the parts purchased for the motorcycle thus far, as well as a list of tasks still to be completed on the motorcycle. On August 15, 2022, I received the itemized list of parts purchased for the project, which showed a total cost of $2,629.20, $340 less than the total parts cost indicated in your September 5, 2023, invoice. Being that the only purchase I approved after August 15, 2022, was a new gas tank which amounted to roughly $84, I am unsure of the reason for this $340 discrepancy. Also of note here are the billed hours of labor from this September 5, 2023, invoice, which totaled 24 hours. Given the time since the project's initiation, learning that you’ve only spent 24 hours working on it has raised new concerns.

  Finally, in this same invoice, you cite a $6,370.00 storage fee, beginning after an alleged January 25, 2023, hold request. According to your invoice, this has been the main driver of project costs and serves as your justification for my outstanding balance of $2,357.02 owed to you. Please keep in mind that this storage charge only began this year, after an alleged hold request by me on January 25, 2023, and several missed deadlines on your behalf in 2022. Secondly, I enlisted your services to build a custom motorcycle, not to store an unfinished one. And finally, I gave you $10,000 to develop a custom motorcycle by April 18, 2022. When I received an invoice from you in September 2023 stating I owed you $2,357.02 not because of work done in relation to the custom motorcycle but because of storage fees from the unfinished project, I was frankly surprised and disheartened at the audacity of your claim.

  It is paramount to recognize that at this point in time the project's timeline and costs have significantly deviated from our initial agreement. The terms of our initial agreement, to deliver a custom motorcycle by April 18, 2022, for my senior thesis show, have long been broken. And despite the patience I’ve shown by extending project deadlines, these amended dates have been missed as well. Lastly, the lengthy delays and the logged hours of work completed raise questions about the feasibility of this project's completion.
  For the above-stated reasons, I believe, a refund would be the only fair course of action.

  Sincerely,
  **** *****
  

  Business response

  10/06/2023

  We have reached an agreement and have worked out the details. Please find attached the email documentation for reference.

  The agreement is as follows:

  1. The motorcycle will be picked up on Monday, October 9, 2023, at around 10 am. If there are any changes to this schedule, we will be updated. Upon pickup, you will be required to sign a vehicle release form electronically(Abel will not be present at pickup). This form serves as a legal document acknowledging the motorcycle was picked up and releasing any liability from our end. We will make a copy of the signed form for your records, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process.

  2. The parts purchased for the project will be listed for sale at our shop on Abel's behalf. Funds collected from the sale of parts will be sent to directly to him. Our aim is to maximize the value of these parts and ensure a fair return for him. However, it is important to note that the duration of the sale process may vary, and we cannot guarantee a specific timeframe for the sale of all the parts.
  In the event that you are unsatisfied with the amount of time it is taking to make the sale or for any reason, we want to assure you that you are always welcome to request the unsold parts back. To ensure transparency and keep Abel informed throughout the process, we will put together a comprehensive list of the parts with their respective costs for sale. Before finalizing any offers on these parts, we will always consult with you for your approval if the cost differs from the listed price. By maintaining this open line of communication, we aim to provide you with a clear overview of the progress and enable you to keep track of the parts being sold.

  3. There is no outstanding balance owed by either party.

  Customer response

  10/06/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** *****

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