Just because someone is your "friend" doesn't give you the right to disregard their explicit instructions not to drive their car.

Disconnecting the dash cam is fine (lots of shops do it), the shitty work is ok as long as you fix it in the end but I just can't imagine what went through your head when you thought it was ok to take a 400kms joyride.

Hope you learn from your mistake.

Wow that is well worth getting KO'd over IMO. Some people are just much less forgiving, unfortunately. Or just not about that. Doesn't he have his own subs in his own car? i'm guessing not.

I learned my mistake. cant make excuses for my actions. Not gonna bull shit to everyone. This is a lot for me to take in and it wasn't until everything is in front of me where I see that I'm flawed on so many levels.

Which is why I'm actively replying. I don't plan on running away from my problems. I've been a part of this forum for some time now and I realize now looking back how I can't make any of the mistakes that I have done.

Dude what does "learning as a business owner" have to do with taking customers cars for joyrides??? I'm beyond speechless...

I'm continually bothered by this "new to the industry", "learning curve" crap he spews as if they have anything to do with the decision he made to take it for a joyride. The problem is way beyond this and your joyride is a reflection of your unethical conduct and lack of conscience. It amazes me that you've managed to drive 400 km. Did it not occur to you after 100 km that what you are doing is entirely messed up? After 200? 300? You kept going and it's hugely concerning. I don't even think there should be a second chance. At least anyone who's even thinking of going to hour shop should be made aware of all your history of inappropriate behavior.

from the sounds of it, meme's car isn't the only one you've put a lot of mileage on..

And he did this to a "friend"/ fellow rs member. Can only imagine if it was a random customer with no connection what would have happened.

I dont understand the need to floss in someone else's car more-so a customer's car MORE-SO a very well known locally car. It's horror stories like these that deter me from ever taking my car to a shop. Very unprofessional. If anything the name of your shop completely contradicts how your customers are treated.

Just also wanted to comment on the dash cam thing: As much as I want to monitor every little thing that happens when my car is in the shop, I think body shops *should* disable dash cams as a company policy.

There are privacy issues galore as well as misunderstandings that come from customers who have no clue what they're talking about. If you need to record your mechanic, you need a new mechanic.

This, what a strange comment to make for someone with VIP status. I guess he isn't LOLing anymore

Let us not forget that at least twice the owner wanted to bring a customers car to a car meet and asked if he could. It shouldn't have been a thought to begin with. And having to "store" the car in another location just gives him the opportunity to drive the car, probably not because there was no room at the shop.

I brought my car to a reputable shop here in Edmonton to do some bodywork. They work on high end cars all the time and heard really good reviews from them.
When I got my car back, I noticed I was burning a lot more oil than I normally did and a few days later the turbo went.
They disabled my dashcam when they worked on it, but didnt notice I had a rear dash cam.
When i reviewed it, they took my car out at 11PM for very spirited drives down the former airport service roads where the shop was.
I confronted the shop owner and he denied it. I showed him the video and he noticed it was one of his employees that took the car out. He was terminated right away. They paid for the damages.

I didnt even think it was the shops fault when it first happened. But i just happened to review the footage because I remembered I had a rear cam. The shop owner told me that this is uncharacteristic of his employee. I guess you can never be too sure of shit like this.

Wow, that's a crazy story

Dude.....WTF?!?!

New to the business.....acting like this you will not BE in business.
Your a shit owner with no business sense and frankly deserve a thrashing. This is a BUSINESS not your own personal rental car company. Grow the fuck up.

It's definitely hard for me to read this. Both of my experiences were good and exactly what I expected; hence my praise for VIP. Work was done as agreed, for the price agreed, in a timely fashion, and to a satisfactory level. That's all I can ask from any business. I'd like to think we have become acquaintances since. I previously had no reason to ever doubt VIP at all.

Tahla, my dude, it takes a great deal of courage to admit your errors in judgement publicly after being called out pretty hard. It also sounds like you aren't making excuses for your behavior as well. Considering the circumstances, that is also a wise move. Own your errors and learn from them. The backlash from this thread alone will hurt your business for a while. How you conduct yourself from here on out will dictate the future of your business. Transparency is always key for any business. Once that dissipates, so does the trust. And here we are.

I know you have Cmann's car there and I'd like to think that my recommendation of your shop was a factor in him bringing his car to you. We are good friends and I would feel partially responsible if something of a negative nature came to light with his car in your possession. All I ask is that you don't put me in that position. Mixing business with pleasure can cause unwanted static when shit hits the fan and I don't need that in my life at all.

I don't feel the need to throw you under the bus at all. You got caught and now you're owing it. Nothing more can be done now. Recovery takes time. Learn from this, grow, and move forward.

I didn't even think about the legal portion of it. LOL I just don't like my privacy invaded, nor do I want people hearing my personal conversation. My conversations with staff members are mine. :)

Starlite Autobody that as been in the industry for a very long time is 2 blocks away. Handles quite a few RS cars, and the owner is an OG rs member.

It bothers me that this thread has devolved into a witch hunt of sorts, but I've been an active member of this forum long enough that I'm not surprised of this overreactive passive aggressiveness.

If every business owner who made a few questionable judgment calls should close up shop as some members have suggested, there probably wouldn't be many businesses left. I think TS has realized just how much he has to lose after this ordeal and how he comes out of this will be the basis of how I'm going to judge his character.

I'm note sure i would call these circumstances questionable calls.
Its more of a complete fuck up, if you ask me

By RS standards, this thread is not even close to a "witch hunt". If anything, people are probably going easier on him because he's an RS member.

Until it happens to you.

I would hardly call it a witch hunt. I didn't post my ordeal up initially because I trusted (wrongly) that it was a one-off experience and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Since some RS members had vouched for him, I chalked it up as a lesson learnt and continued on my way with nary a drama.

When I found out that it wasn't a one-off, I don't ever want any RS member or enthusiast for that matter, have their pride and joy thrashed and abused without their consent - hence my post.

I'm not sure what you constitute simply as a "questionable call" but joyriding customers' cars on multiple occasions - and lying and manipulating the truth to do so - is hardly something done in an innocent, naivety way.

Time to lightenup the mood here lol.. re: dashcams. Burrard Acura techs...forgot to disable dashcam...caught drooling over the TL Type S 6spd manual... hilarious.

How right you are. LOL. We'll see in a couple days. Hoping to get my car back tomorrow if all goes well.

Couldn't agree more. Good that he owned up to it, just needs to get over it, learn from it, never let it happen again.

I have some issue with the quality of work performed as well, especially since they were 50% more expensive than what I was quoted by another shop. I had my Miata hardtop color changed from red to black. Upon first inspection, it looked good. However, a couple of mouldings were misplaced by an employee but later found. Unfortunately I didn't realize at the time that there were still a couple more moulding corner pieces that were missing. The hard top lay unused in the garage for several months installed on my car which was still in storage. When it came time to take the car out again and I saw it more clearly in the sun, I noticed several, very visible spots that looked like a rotary sander had been used on it but was not properly prepped before paint. I am no bodyman, but there are at least two very distinct spots on the hardtop that are in this condition. I will post pictures later. The inside of the hardtop where the window rolls up into was unpainted as well. The owner told me upon first picking it up that I could bring it back at a later date to have this addressed. I have not taken the time to have this taken care of yet, but feel that it should've been taken care of before I picked it up. /$0.02