PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

We all need a little help or parts for our cars from time to time. Let us know who has helped. Please read the sticky before posting.

Moderators: IMOC Moderators, IMOC Committee Members

aussieGT
Posts: 1249
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2010 4:17 am
Location: Staffs/Stoke

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by aussieGT »

Reading this through on many different platforms - Chris, you really haven't done yourself any favours - it reads a bit like you have paid the mechanic around half of what was due, have had problems with the install, will not allow the mech to rectify any faults, now seek to 'take X away from the outstanding money'

Honestly, I can't see this working out in your favour. Like many others have said, you need to follow a procedure here. You have gone against that fair advice. It's not too hard to imagine the mech chasing you for the outstanding in full through small claims.

I feel for you dude, you have been talking about putting whatever engine in your car for a long time, its all gone a bit wrong but you aren't taking the steps in the right direction to get it sorted out.
Buster
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Buster »

markstevieandmads wrote:And Peter gets away with it again then. Bet hes laughing his head off.


So you havent really accomplished anything.

Ok, so you have ranted on for many pages on many sites, but then so did other people and yet you still went with him?


Yes I agree, can't argue with that observation and opinion mate.

I did state why I did eventually go with him but you're right I really shouldn't.


Now imagine, just imagine if all the people that he has lied to, left them with substandard and often dangerous work on their cars and the true specialists that are "sick of putting his truly awful work right" were to all get together and collate all the evidence and hand it to trading standards?
Last edited by Buster on Wed Aug 01, 2018 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Buster
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Buster »

Well, that's my mechanic that has the car at the moment who is fixing Peters multiple bodges and all round mess just off the phone to me.

That's the fuel tank out and he tells me the install on the fuel pump was absolutely shocking, but wait for this one...he is as positive as he can be that the supposed TRE uprated fuel pump that was "fitted" is in fact the cheapest of cheap Chinese copies. He said I would have been better with an old N/A pump as the one that has been fitted by our "specialist" is utter Chinese crap.

Plenty more to come I suspect, £500 so far to put right Peter Giddens "specialist" workmanship.

And people wonder why I would never ever take my car back to him despite this putting me at a disadvantage legally.
markstevieandmads
Posts: 2025
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:18 pm
Location: Swindon, Wilts

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by markstevieandmads »

Keep us up to date with what else he finds. It maybe possible that he has put other uprated pumps in other cars so maybe worth checking too.

What does he trade as? If its sbits then the most that will happen is he will shut up shop and just reopen under a different name. You find a lot of poo garages do this.
If its his own name he trades under then he could well be in more trouble.
kennym
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Middlesbrough

?

Post by kennym »

I really cant be bothered reading this, sorry its like war & pease, apart from the fact there's not much likelyhood of much peace!!..... the OP certainly likes to talk/write/whine,.... he does this to the point that he looses your attention, possibly Peter Gidden fell asleep half way through the original expression of dissatisfaction?

Can anyone who's been brave enough to read all this summarise the story so far into a small paragraph?
androo007
Posts: 2363
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by androo007 »

Buster wrote:Well, that's my mechanic that has the car at the moment who is fixing Peters multiple bodges and all round mess just off the phone to me.

That's the fuel tank out and he tells me the install on the fuel pump was absolutely shocking, but wait for this one...he is as positive as he can be that the supposed TRE uprated fuel pump that was "fitted" is in fact the cheapest of cheap Chinese copies. He said I would have been better with an old N/A pump as the one that has been fitted by our "specialist" is utter Chinese crap.

.


Wow £500 to take a fuel tank out? This one's expensive! Btw, please can you post a pic of the fuel pump? I'd like to see it for interest. I'm sure your mechanic has already provided evidence....
markstevieandmads
Posts: 2025
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:18 pm
Location: Swindon, Wilts

Re: ?

Post by markstevieandmads »

kennym wrote:I really cant be bothered reading this, sorry its like war & pease, apart from the fact there's not much likelyhood of much peace!!..... the OP certainly likes to talk/write/whine,.... he does this to the point that he looses your attention, possibly Peter Gidden fell asleep half way through the original expression of dissatisfaction?

Can anyone who's been brave enough to read all this summarise the story so far into a small paragraph?


Not a problem....

Op wanted someone to do a turbo conversion. We all gave opinions and said to avoid said mechanic. Op went with said mechanic anyway. Car is poo. Op whines all over the internet about it.... we all laugh

Pretty much the gist of it
Buster
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Buster »

markstevieandmads wrote:Keep us up to date with what else he finds. It maybe possible that he has put other uprated pumps in other cars so maybe worth checking too.

What does he trade as? If its sbits then the most that will happen is he will shut up shop and just reopen under a different name. You find a lot of poo garages do this.
If its his own name he trades under then he could well be in more trouble.


Will do.
User avatar
Peter Gidden
IMOC Affiliated Trackday Organiser
Posts: 10506
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 9:49 am
Location: South Yorkshire

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Peter Gidden »

I;ll respond to the more detailed issues once moderators have cleaned the thread up - only OP and trader to post, but for now here's my intitial response.

Except for a few minor parts including plug leads, throttle cable and gear cables, the major engine/gearbox/driveshafts/hubs assembly was sourced by the customer, from IIRC, a salvage yard in Nottingham. The story I was told was that it was in a write off, and therefore could not be test driven. It was delivered to me in a beaten up old van, with no means to remove the engine, but to be fair, they had remembered to unhitch their caravan before leaving.

The conversion was no different from all the others I have done. Clutch hydraulics remained untouched since they are same parts and don't need replacing. The customer wanted me to re-use the coolant so I drained 9 litres out of his old engine, and refilled just over 9 litres into the new engine. It bled normally. The loom had been butchered by the previous owner – the alternator charge cable was more than 3 foot longer than it needed to be, all the plastics had been removed and the engine bay fan supply wire was fed by the reverse light supply! There were multiple Scotchloks all of which were removed. It took a day to get the car's wiring working correctly. All of this was reported to the customer with photos to back up the text.

Car was run up to temperature several times in the workshop before being test driven for 2 journeys of around 5 miles each to confirm all was well.

It was then taken for MOT. Round trip of around 24 miles including some motorway and sitting in town centre traffic. At the MOT garage it was idling for around 15 minutes with no problems. It passed with only one advisory for a sill.

The following morning I took he car out to set up the secondhand Blitz DSBC supplied by the customer. Repeated hard 3rd and 4th gear pulls for around 30 minutes revealed the boost controller would not build any boost above stock 13psi. Car ran perfectly. I returned to the workshop, checked all connections and returned to the road for another 10 minutes of hard pulls. No change, so returned to workshop. Further investigation revealed the solenoids were not responding correctly when pressure was applied to the boost sensor.

So car had been out on at least 5 occasions. It had encountered stationary traffic, high speed motorways, repeated hard pulls and performed perfectly. It had been started and run up to temperature on at least 4 or 6 occasions in the workshop, again without fault.

After I had collected the customer from the station, we went out for a test drive together for about 20 minutes. Again the car performed without fault. The only complaint was some minor exhaust smoke at idle and tyres rubbing the rear arches. The smoke was most likely turbo, but we agreed it was nothing to do with me as I didn't supply the turbo or the engine. The tyre rubbing was sorted by simply removing the spacers that the car had arrived with.

I also pointed out one other issue – a leaky driveshaft oil seal that I had already reported on the phone, and the customer had declined to have replaced.

As far as I was concerned, here we have a car that was no different to all the others. A completed turbo conversion and running correctly in all respects except for a couple of minor issues : a smoky turbo and a faulty boost controller – both parts supplied by the customer.

Now we come to paying the bill. Bit of background – the customer had added on all sorts of other work whilst it was with me e.g. new struts, top mounts, discs, pads, gauge faces, boost gauge etc. so to enable him to track costs, I had been emailing him 2 detailed WIP (work in progress) statements – one for the conversion for which I had quoted £1000 max., and one for all the other work requested. He was well aware of the totals as only a few days ago he had declined to have the leaky driveshaft oil seal replaced due to going over budget.

The day prior to collection I emailed him 2 fully itemised invoices – exactly as per the WIP (work in progress) statements – one for the conversion for £980 and one for all the other work. The second invoice totalled £1800 for which he had already paid two instalments of £400, leaving around £1000 outstanding. So added together with £120 owing for a couple of cash paid parts, total was about £2100.

Now, bear in mind that:

a) the customer had received regular statements
b) the customer knew the balance owed a few days prior
c) the customer had viewed the invoices sufficiently and found a £20 ARB bush kit inadvertently charged for twice

So, back to paying the bill… Invoices were added together, total announced same as were in the emails sent the day before. And guess what! He couldn't pay it! He claimed he'd made a mistake and didn't realise how much he owed, and only had £1250 available. Really? And I was born on Pluto. He phoned his Mum (or was certainly talking to his phone), and she refused to help. I got an hour's worth of excuses – it was the drugs messing with his head (not sure whether prescription or from the gym), just moved house, bad back, long day travelling etc. Then we go through the aggression stage, and when that didn't work back to the sympathy claim. Blah, blah, blah.

To cut a long story short, the smell of BS was getting overpowering so I simply advised him that without full payment the car was going nowhere and he was welcome to a lift back to the station.

There was no way I was going to be able to sue a resident of Scotland, whose only earned income is a bit of undeclared "work in the gym", so the car was going nowhere.

In desperation, he offered me his Rolex watch as security on the basis he would pay me the balance within 14 days. I accepted. And we left the workshop in separate cars. It was bang on 6pm.

I had a call an hour later to say the car was overheating and the clutch wasn't working properly – it supposedly had an intermittent fault. But he confirmed there was no fluid leaking from underneath, and no steam rising from the radiator cap. I told him to get the car recovered to me. He said he would call me back.

I had a message at 10pm to say he was home. So 4 hours to drive 250 miles. Sounds about right.

Another message Sunday evening saying car now completely broken down.

Called him Monday. Advised him car has full return-to-base warranty on all my work, plus all parts supplied by me guaranteed. Told him if he came down with car I'd work on it while he waited. He advised me car mysteriously driving much better (it was completely broken down the night before!)

Suggested he went for a drive a good 15-20 miles from home and phone the RAC. If they find car in a condition that can't be driven, they'll relay to garage of his choice. He agreed and said would call me back.

He did call back. To say instead of doing what I suggested, he decided to call them, and they want £500 to transport car. Doh!

And that's where we are at.

I have no idea if the car has any faults. But I do know it was fine down here. I also know he doesn't want to pay his bill and I know he was really pi$$ed he didn't get his own way. I know he was not happy about the smoky turbo and faulty boost controller, and I know he avoided getting the car back to me.

Furthermore, when the car suffered simultaneous sudden clutch failure and overheating (that's REALLY unlucky) only an hour away from my workshop, most people would have called out the RAC, returned to the workshop and given me loads of abuse on the phone? But instead, he drove the full 250 miles home.

This is the 43rd turbo conversion I've done and I've never experienced anything like this – car working perfectly for 70+ miles of mixed driving, and then suddenly developing all sorts of issues.

But then I've never had anyone travel 250 miles to collect their car with no means and no intention of paying their bill…
Buster
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 3:47 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Buster »

......
Last edited by Buster on Wed Aug 01, 2018 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kennym
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Middlesbrough

Re: ?

Post by kennym »

markstevieandmads wrote:
kennym wrote:I really cant be bothered reading this, sorry its like war & pease, apart from the fact there's not much likelyhood of much peace!!..... the OP certainly likes to talk/write/whine,.... he does this to the point that he looses your attention, possibly Peter Gidden fell asleep half way through the original expression of dissatisfaction?

Can anyone who's been brave enough to read all this summarise the story so far into a small paragraph?


Not a problem....

Op wanted someone to do a turbo conversion. We all gave opinions and said to avoid said mechanic. Op went with said mechanic anyway. Car is poo. Op whines all over the internet about it.... we all laugh

Pretty much the gist of it


Awesome that made laugh,......please add me to the collective "WE"
kennym
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Middlesbrough

Lol

Post by kennym »

How brilliant is this?

Whens the film coming out? All we need is an Author Daley character to play with Peter and a gay Scottish steroid head to play the OP (he keeps calling Peter luv & sweetheart)

We could all chirp up in the background like those to mupets statler & Waldorf.

Any ideas for a title?
User avatar
Charged
IMOC Committee
Posts: 8897
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: Herts

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Charged »

Locking thread, moderators to discuss.. this may not happen quickly as there isn't many of us active these days..

Peter Gidden, please could you also answer the half a dozen or so other threads in TF or are you just planning on replying to this one?

Thanks.
If you can't see the angle, you're in trouble.
User avatar
Charged
IMOC Committee
Posts: 8897
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: Herts

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Charged »

Thread unlocked at Peter Gidden's request.

Peter, may I politely request that you reply to the other threads in this forum section as well rather than just this one.

I note your request to 'prune' the thread. As mentioned, this is under discussion by the very small active mod team but we wait more input so it's staying as is for now.
If you can't see the angle, you're in trouble.
kennym
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Middlesbrough

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by kennym »

MOD EDIT - please stop posting comments which serve no purpose.
kennym
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Middlesbrough

?

Post by kennym »

So a serious reply/observation.

It seams to me that Peter cant turn from specialist to fool, even if it has taken many years.

What I would say which might not please everyone is that over 15 years I've see the IMOC member turn from very clued up enthusiast/Racer/engineer/pioneer into plain enthusiast, the amount of technically apt people who actually know rather than think they know has dramatically declined.

I think to some extent some of Peters customers might have a misunderstanding of what can be done for what price, if a poor clip has been supplied the converters job is not to put all the bad stuff wrong first (though if he had any pride he'd want to & advise the customer)

I did see a while back one of Peters customers take a rotten accident damaged car that had been sat for several years (a sows ear) who then wanted Peter to turn it into his dream car (a silk purse) this is unreasonable although in this case it did look like there was some poor workmanship as well.

I think as in most cases there is fault on both sides, the OP should pay his debits & stop whining about the poor decisions he made against all advice.

Peter should make right any issues (if indeed they are real & not just a way to get out of the OP's obligation to man up & pay his way in life)

Would it not be beneficial for Peter to offer a collection for this vehicle, surly the £400 or so collection fee would be recouped in the partial restoration of reputation?
markstevieandmads
Posts: 2025
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:18 pm
Location: Swindon, Wilts

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by markstevieandmads »

I think peter should be responding to the other negative threads too. There seems to be too many unanswered feedback here.

I also wonder if the mod team should be thinking bout banning this trader if its proved how bad his workmanship really is.
SonicSW20
Posts: 3681
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:54 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by SonicSW20 »

Is Peter still an IMOC staff member? Seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest.

forums/viewtopic.php?t=179182

Image
androo007
Posts: 2363
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by androo007 »

1. Where's the conflict?

2. I'd wait to see what happens. Even I can smell an overwhelming whaft of bullsh!t from the O.P. Something isn't right here, I think we can all see that.

3. If you're not directly involved or had personal experience then I'd suggest there's no need to comment (hense removal of my own comments in this thread). Remember guys, it's inncocent until proven guilty.
User avatar
Charged
IMOC Committee
Posts: 8897
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: Herts

Re: PETER GIDDEN, the "SPECIALIST". :(

Post by Charged »

Gazza_DJ wrote:Is Peter still an IMOC staff member? Seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest.


No he isn't, that needs updating.
If you can't see the angle, you're in trouble.
Locked

Return to “Trader Feedback”