Kai@eliteMS lol
Dear Kai,
I had to create an account here just to clarify certain details being discussed.
It is good that admins need to approve the accounts otherwise I would say too much.
I find it very disrespectful how you presented this incident and how you try to defend yourself at my cost.
Well then, let’s get the story telling going. First let’s define my car; It is old 2002 Audi A4 equipped with slowest per liter engine (3.0) and currently rocking 180k miles (around 95k 3 years ago)
In the beginning of 2011, my brother informed me of a “new” shop in LI. Since my car had a few issues and I like to support ‘local’ businesses I wanted to give it a try. Let me just clarify that when I say YOU, I don’t mean you personally, but professionally as Elite Motorsports (at a time located in Medford, NY, an hour away from me with no traffic).
My experience with Elite began with bringing the car for diagnosis of highway vibrations. I was told that I will be charged flat fee using Mitchell book time (whatever that means) for replacing upper control arms. I made arrangements with rental company (must give Kai credit for helping with that) and returned back for the car a day or two later. Vibrations felt less severe but after blowing almost a grand for arms, I wasn’t willing to dump more into car. What ‘surprised’ me at the moment, is that Elite charged HALF HOUR extra to remove stubborn pinch bolt. I wasn’t pissed off about it till I went to a reputable shop in Queens to roll my front fenders and be told that ELITE didn’t put the correct bolt back! I may still have it as a reminder of poor attention to detail. If YOU charge me extra, I would at least expect the CORRECT bolt. A few dollar part at MOST. Reputable shop changed the bolt for FREE. Of course, all that happened after infamous transmission incident…
In late October 2011, after taking lady home after ‘meh date’ my car wouldn’t disengage clutch. I set it in neutral and had it towed home.
Reputable shop in queens was too booked to take it in emergency repair and it was JUST before legendary Bear Mountain run called Cliffs of Insanity, which is the only event I take my car to. I used to wait whole year just to a take spirited drive surrounded by magical fall colors and twisty roads. 
I emailed Kai, he gave me a quote for clutch job and I had a car towed there on next night.
On the night of 25th October, car was delivered. The next day Kai kept me updated. I was told that tranny needs rebuild due to “1st and 2nd gear collar issue”, ??? and the clutch was installed. I was surprised how a bad clutch could take 2 gears with it, but it is an AUDI, anything can happen. Cliffs of Insanity were around the corner, I needed it done. I had transmission arranged from Shokan and my brother (Coderedpl) did 6 hour road trip to deliver it from upstate NY to Long Island.
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n245/Coderedpl/b6transmission/IMG_20111027_130856_zpse1e25703.jpg
Kai noted that he is willing to give me $100 off (in reality I only got $40 off) on the second transmission pull. I picked up the car around 28th of October and had a blast at COI. However there was lots of bad smell and smoke of burning grease/oil (eventually it went away).
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n245/Coderedpl/b6transmission/IMG_2192.jpg
On the 23th of November, I inspected my old transmission to see what I can do with it and noticed fresh, over-sized cracks. Sal acknowledged the drop of the transmission (which made me question the whole issue with 2 gears not working right) that created big crack in bell housing. Which by the way, is UNACCEPTABLE. You secure the heavy load? Right?
But since the housing is damaged, nobody wanted to break it apart in fear of further damage, so I asked if YOU had anybody willing to take on the task. I paid $2k for a used unit and it wasn’t easy with post-college budget. I got back to you before waterfest as I was unsucessful getting anything done with it. As I was not in rush to get it done, I wasn’t on your case.
You said after waterfest in July of 2012 that you may find a case/housing for it and that’s all I’ve heard about it till this July of 2014.
Your response was to have me STOP by in person so we can TALK about it. Instead I found you at Waterfest 2014, to which you were surprised, even though I did email you saying that I’ll be there and we can TALK. I made no scene, acted professionally, but all I got was cold shoulder and story to meet again in your shop to TALK.
Let me get one thing straight. I don’t have LUXURY of time. Just as you and most people, I have things to do, like a job, just like you. I work in Connecticut and deal with enough traffic to gear anxiety when I look at parking lots that make me want to puke. My girlfriend is complaining that I don’t see her enough, so it is very difficult for me to justify driving deep into Long Island just to chit chat with you. You have seen the transmission, you know exactly what the problem is.
To say the least I find it very aggravating that you talk shit about me on forums. When we had the incident, I didn’t run around the forums yelling that you have poor handling of materials or cannot use the right hardware, but it is clearly a systematic issue here. Even though all above mentioned people knew about my adventure with Elite, I still didn’t stop them from going to YOU. I guess that makes me a very bad friend?
I know my car is old and doesn’t get luxury treatment of exotics but I hoped for more from a premium shop.
But I want to put it all behind us as I have no intentions of playing games. So I am just asking for your resolution… here
OK, so let me get this straight…
- You have your car towed in with a suspected bad clutch.
- Kai calls you next day and tells you new clutch is in, but you need a transmission rebuild because 1st/2nd gear collar issue
- Instead of getting a rebuild, you provide a used transmission from Shokan, which is installed by Elite. Elite charges you twice for dropping the transmission minus $40 discount
- Elite gives the car back to you along with the old transmission, and mentions absolutely nothing about dropping it or damaging it
- A month later you inspect the old transmission, and find that it is badly cracked. No shop will attempt to open it because it is so badly damaged. Therefore, you cannot confirm 1/2 collar issue
- You contact Elite who admits to damaging the transmission
- Elite says they will help you, but then give you the runaround for four years
- You still have the old damaged transmission
Is all that correct?
If so, it is another case of Elite intentional deceiving the customer. They damaged your transmission beyond repair (no shops will open it) and they didnt tell you until you found out yourself a month down the road.
I am sure you are thinking this is what actually happened…
- Elite went to install the new clutch in your car, and in the process dropped your transmission
- Instead of informing you of the damage, they call you and tell you that you need a transmission rebuild, expecting that you will give them the aOK to do the rebuild, and they will replace it with a used transmission
- Instead, you guys get a transmission from Shokan in record time, which messes up their plan
- They dont tell you anything about the damage to the old transmission, and hope you wont notice
- They admit to causing the damage when confronted, but make no real effort to resolve the issue
OK, so I would say you are owed in cash the value of a fully functioning rebuilt transmission. They diagnosed yours as a 1/2 shift problem. However, since they damaged it beyond repair, you cannot confirm that with a third party. As far as everyone knows, there was no 1/2 shift problem, and they made the whole thing up.
On top of that, you should receive a full refund for the second transmission pull and any expenses to install the second transmission. They caused the damage, why did you have to pay twice for labor?
Good Luck getting this resolved.
I am sure Kowdee will be on here in a second to tell you how tasteless you are being asking for Elite to pay for the damage they caused.
Geeez subscribed*
Seriously, smiley face? Totally acceptable?
You guys destroy his transmission, don’t tell him about it at the time, charge him twice for a transmission install, and don’t do a thing to help him in the last four years even when you admit to the damage? And that equals smiley face and totally acceptable?
AHAHAHHAAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHA
You are friggin hilarious Kai! Smiley Face ;D Normally we have to go to other forums for LULZ, but tonight you bring them right to us here on AudiRevolution. Thanks for the entertainment.
“AR. Its like Yelp for Audi’s.”
Would make a great T-Shirt 
That’s what needs to go on the AR t-shirts!! We’ve found it. Haha
Absolutely agree!!!
LOL. Perfect!
A big thank you goes out to Kowdee! Only six posts in, and he is defining what should, and should not be posted on AudiRevolution.
I nominate Kowdee for New User of the Year !!!
Ive asked Kai on Audizine why he hasnt posted since Tomek posted his issue.
Well, there is the offer then. It’s up to Tomek at this point to followup and see if Kai is going to put his money where his mouth is.
If, for whatever reason, Tomek can’t go to the garage in person (e.g. he no longer lives near the garage, he is too busy, he doesn’t want to meet with Kai in person, etc.) then there should be no reason why this issue cant be resolved via email/telephone. In fact, it would probably be best for both sides if any resolution were put in writing. If Kai isnt willing to resolve issue via email/telephone, then I would say his offer is insincere.
Good Luck!
Yikes! I’m surprised they don’t try to obscure the identities of their customers at all. Not sure I’d want to take my car to a place that posts my first name, license plate # and a pic of my car on the internet…
Dave
Kai never gave me any offer, just says to come by so he can ‘take care of it’ (and what he means by that? free license plate frame?)
To be fair, I sent him ANOTHER email to inquire about details (in case he stopped checking this thread) and responded on AZ.
If I am going somewhere, I want to know for what.
Give him some time to present a valid offer via email, and if he doesnt then followup on the AZ thread. He will definitely take notice on the AZ thread.
You have him and the other guy (co-owner?) both admitting that they destroyed your transmission by dropping it, or other. There was no history of an issue with the 1-2 gear before you took it in, and it cant be confirmed now since they destroyed it.
Therefore, they owe you the value of a used, working, transmission AND a refund on the labor for the second install.
And in return, I would guess that they ask that you tell everyone the issue has been resolved and then never metion the details again.
Anything less would be BS, IMHO.
Good Luck!
He said he responded to your email?
I bet that’s stick welded. Looks like the amperage was set too low and it was sticking. Hence the random blobs everywhere and no penetration into the base metal.
Teach me your ways
to me that looks mig welded, im thinking the guy just pointed the gun up there without a helmet on closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. he would have been better off with a 3 dollar exhaust clamp. and honestly being in the business everyone says they can weld but very few actually can, especially in close quarters and overhead position. if the guy used stick there would have been holes blown through everything and a fuck ton more puddy.
I woulda have lost my shit if I saw something like that on my car. and if I owned that shop the “tech” would be canned immediately if not sooner.