I’ve had an ongoing issue with Hurricane Diesel in Spokane Valley, WA since the middle of July 2016. I will try to give the briefest description possible concerning the issues I’ve had with them.
I have a 1999 Ford F350 with a 7.3-liter diesel engine, that had a motor blow up do to negligence from a shop in Oregon. After speaking on the phone with Hurricane Diesel, on numerous occasions, looking at their BBB report and online reviews, I concluded they were a reputable repair facility and would be a good company to have work on my truck.
I had my truck brought in on a roll-back tow truck to their location at 17204 E. Sprague avenue in Spokane Valley, WA in mid-July of 2016. I arrived just before my truck and spoke with Scotty, the service writer. I elaborated on the backstory and that there were likely items that I was charged for at the last shop that were not actually done, including:
-ceramic coatings on the exhaust manifold, turbo system components, cylinder heads, valves, etc.
-port & polish work on the heads
-fire rings done incorrectly
I informed Scotty I would be on the road for the next 2 ½ months and would be returning at the end of September. I asked if there would be any issues with everything being done, the truck being broke in, the break-in oil being changed out, new exhaust lift kit being removed, swapping leave springs, swapping tires, as well as several other things, he said “absolutely not”. There were quite a few trucks there when I had mine dropped off, but I was assured there would be more than enough time to handle it.
I called Hurricane every two weeks to check on progress, which there was none, up until the last two weeks of the agreed upon delivery date, then it was essentially every day. At this point I was completely out of patience and asked to speak to the owner, Kyle, who seemed to actually care, assuring me things would get done. I started working with Jon, another service writer, who promised me it would all be done in the remaining two weeks. I stated I didn’t see how that would be possible, they hadn’t don’t any work on the truck to that point and had no idea on what had failed. At this point, I began to take items off the ‘to do list’. Jon told me they could still make the timeline work, as long as I cut certain things out of the motor build. I told him I was not willing to do that, as I didn’t want a partially rebuilt motor, that it wouldn’t be good for either of us if something broke. Jon proceeded to try and make me feel as though it was my fault of the timeline wasn’t met, as I wasn’t willing to cut corners on the build. I was very clear from day 1 about having a complete rebuild, as well as the work that I had paid the former shop to do, being done, if it wasn’t already completed. I knew it would cost more, but I wanted it done and Scotty stated before I brought the truck in, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Somewhere past the 3-month mark (I’m not sure exactly when, as it was not disclosed), they started to work on the motor. They originally pulled the cylinder heads to check and test them. Another month or two after that they finally pulled the motor. For some reason, they pulled the cab off my truck (which is not necessary to do in order to remove the motor), cutting all of the wires that were attached, not marking any of them. Which now allows moisture to get into them, corrodes them, etc. They also disassembled the emergency brake cable, master power plug that attaches all the power to the cab. I’ve spoken with numerous shop’s that have stated there was absolutely no reason to take the cab off and they are willing to send correspondence stating this.
Originally, the owner of the shop I shipped the motor to was going to fly out from Pennsylvania to do the install, so I wasn’t forced to ship the truck to his shop. But with all of the wiring issues, rusted components, exposed lines, etc. I will have no choice but to ship the truck to his shop. If Hurricane had actually covered the lines to keep the moisture, bugs, animals, etc. out of the plumbing, there would be no need to repair the damage, drain all the contaminated fluids and pull the coolers in order to flush any foreign objects or debris from them. I’m not sure how much it will be to ship the truck and have all the extra work done, but I know it’ll be in the thousands. The $10,000 John Wood high performance transmission that was custom built for the truck, has a completely rusted torque converter, no word yet on how detrimental that will be.
Once the heads were pulled, it was discovered that the work I hired the previous shop to do wasn’t completed, yet I was charged. One of the main issues was the heads had not been ported and polished. Hurricane stated they had an individual that could do it and he did all their porting and polishing. After several weeks, it was discovered that the machine shop they worked with didn’t do 7.3’s, so they found another shop that did. I was quoted $800 on the phone, but was charged $1,000. When I offered to play them the recorded conversation, Jon stated he would not accept that.
With all the driving I do, with my truck for work (80,000 – 100,000 a year) a longer than normal warranty was discussed, as I didn’t want to have a warranty for only a month. They said that wouldn’t be an issue. After several months, the porting & polishing being completed and me giving them a substantial deposit, I was told there would be no warranty and if I did want a warranty, I would have to talk to the shop that did the work. I told them I didn’t pay the other shop for the work, I paid Hurricane. They would not budge. They told me the reason they wouldn’t warranty it was because “the work wasn’t necessary”, even though they have a third party shop they work with that does this type of work every day for them, they install numerous aftermarket turbos, exhaust systems, injectors, etc. they wouldn’t warranty the work their vendor did. That indicates to me that something didn’t go right, something broke, etc., why else would you refuse to warranty work you took money for?
I received a phone call in October that my truck had been broken into and my stereo system had been stripped. I was told not to worry, that Hurricane would replace everything. I went to the shop to look things over and see how bad it was. They busted out my back window to gain access and stripped everything except the door speakers. I was told that two other vehicles were broken into…both were customer work trucks. Scotty stated that they went through the papers in the glovebox and then put them all back in order. I asked him if they were all put back in order, how do they know they were gone through? He didn’t answer me. Then he stated that his car was parked there with thousands of dollars in stereo equipment in it, but no one touched it. I made the comment this all seemed a bit odd. I have several family members in law enforcement, I explained to them what had happened, the fact only two other vehicles were broke into and that I had one of the oldest vehicles on the lot and they proceeded to say they thought it was an inside job. They claimed they called the police and filed a report, but I’ve asked on numerous occasions for a copy of the police report, but I’ve been completely ignored. I walked around the truck to see if my driving lights and light bar were still there, which they were.
Hurricane claims they bought all the replacement items to rebuild my stereo and it was all taken down to Aspen Sound, the company that did the original work. Scotty wanted to have Hurricane do the work, but I refused, citing they were an auto repair facility and not a car stereo store and there would be no warranty on the work they did, whereas Aspen offers a lifetime warranty on their wiring. It now appears that Hurricane has taken back the $1,000+ amp that was stolen and refuses to answer my questions about it.
Fast forward to the day I picked my truck up from Hurricane on February 17th. I walked in and the owner handed me a box with a lightbar in it. I asked him what it was for, he stated it was to replace mine. I said I’m confused. He told me my lightbar had been stolen when my stereo was in October. I responded, that was not the case, as I had come to check on the truck after that. He suddenly changed his story to say that it happened two weeks prior. I asked him why I wasn’t informed that my items had been stolen and they passed the blame to Scotty, who had supposedly quit. I asked if my driving lights were stolen as well and his response was “I was going to ask you if you had driving lights”, which I highly doubt. I told him what they were, stated I had the receipts from where I bought them and he said it was not necessary. EIGHT weeks after Hurricane claimed my driving lights were stolen, they ordered in a pair, which was not the pair that was stolen, they were even DOT approved driving lights. When I told Jon, the service writer, about it, he claimed I told him those were the ones that I had. My driving lights had 6 LED’s each, these had 4, they were a cheaper, not DOT approved and they weren’t even made when I bought my other lights, so how could I have said those were what I had? He told me “you can take them or leave them I won’t be buying you another set of lights Glen”.
When I brought my truck in, I wanted my Odyssey batteries tested, as they had been sitting for a while. I asked on numerous occasions, probably 20 times, if they batteries were tested, each time I was told no. At a certain point I was told that they were taken to a shop and put on a ‘Christie charger’, tested and they failed. They wrote in big yellow paint pen lettering on top of my newer $700 batteries that they were bad. I asked them what shop did the testing and they refused to tell me. Fast forward again a few months and I asked them to be taken to a battery store that was manufacture certified service center, they agreed. The shop charged & tested them and said they were both good. So it appears as though Hurricane claimed to have had them charged at a qualified facility, but did not, then wrote in permanent paint pen on top of the warranty card on the battery that they were bad. I asked if they were going to clean the batteries without destroying the warranty info and they said they would. I was later told that they did clean them, I then requested photographic proof that they were clean and not damaged. I have asked around a dozen times, yet the only picture they have sent only shows half of the batteries. I’ve asked repeatedly for new pics showing the entire battery, but they continue to ignore me.
I have aftermarket connecting rods in my motor, for added strength and durability. The previous shop apparently failed to adjust the oil squirters to accommodate the larger rods and they were damaged. I asked Hurricane to adjust them. They stated they had never done that before and they would charge me $420. I spoke with some of the largest performance diesel shops in the country to get an idea of what it would take to do the work and the most common answer was to use a screwdriver to manipulate it a bit and it would take 30 seconds to a couple of minutes for each of the 8 squirters. Each shop told me they didn’t charge, as it was just part of putting the motor together. When I mentioned what the other shops do, including the shop that manufacturers the aftermarket connecting rods, I was told that I should take my truck to them.
I have an aftermarket turbo system that was custom built to fit the truck, literally the only one of its kind in existence. There was one component I was interested in removing, but wasn’t sure of the expense involved to remove it. Jon told me I should just leave it as is, because Hurricane had no experience in fabricating anything like that and they wouldn’t want to ‘practice’ on my truck. I agreed. Later, I was told that was one of the reasons they wouldn’t warranty their work, because I went against their advice of removing it. I reminded them it was Jon that told me to not do it, as they had no one that could do that kind of work. They just ignored me. I have that conversation recorded.
When I decided to have the motor shipped to another builder, Hurricane was spreading parts across 2 pallets, instead of putting the components inside the motor, where they belong, to save space. The shop that was preparing to receive the motor told me how to do it and said it would all easily stack on one pallet, as they have done it this way for many, many years and never had a problem. I asked Hurricane on numerous occasions for an inventory of what was going on the pallet and for pictures of it, to protect both of us. I told the owner I needed everything it would take to build the motor and run it on a stand, with him being the owner, I thought that Kyle wouldn’t have any issues with this request. I was told by Jon “I assure you, everything will be on the pallet”. As I left to follow my truck home, they were still collecting items for my motor to place on the pallet.
When the pallet arrived in Pennsylvania, it was a mess. I was sent pics of the plastic wrap not even being secured to the pallet, which allows the items on the pallet to shift and fall. There were several items just sitting on top of the motor and several missing. Without the inventory list that was requested, we had no way of knowing what was missing. The owner of the shop inventoried what was there and what wasn’t. There were numerous items that were missing that made building the motor impossible. After I was basically accused me of stealing items, it was discovered they failed to put most of those items on the pallet and yet others that were stolen, including a $2,000+ turbo, an $800 turbine diverter valve and all the plumbing, which was custom built. When I asked about when it was stolen, they couldn’t give me an answer, except to say ‘probably when the stereo was stolen”, which was 5 months prior, yet they didn’t even notice. That also tells you how often they worked on my motor. When I inquired about what they were going to do, they said they’d replace the turbo and diverter valve. I asked about the rest of it, as this was a custom built kit, Jon replied by saying it was a junk system and pipes and they wouldn’t be replacing that. I told him the system was new and I had all the receipts showing that it was custom. I also asked him if it was ‘junk’, why did they ceramic coat the pipes? I still have yet to receive a response. Hurricane was still ‘finding’ parts 2 months after the pallet had been received by the other shop. They stated they would not pay to ship the other parts, even though it was their fault those parts weren’t on the pallet I paid to ship. They told me to issue a call-tag, which tells the carrier, in this case UPS Freight, there is an item waiting for pick up. I told them I needed to know what was on the pallet, so we could put on the Bill of Lading the number of items and weight, but they refused to reply to the numerous emails. In fact, the only time I would typically get a response was when I would send multiple emails days or weeks after the original…they flat out ignore me. I have a court submissible tracking program that I’ve been using with Hurricane for the last several months, so I now that they’ve received and opened it. The last email they sent me said they would not put anything on a pallet, I told Jon to look at the email he sent me on April 19th requesting a call tag and I’ve not received any responses since.
When I went to pick up my truck, I was told they would only accept cash. I asked why that was and was told they didn’t trust me. I told them there was nothing posted that said it was a cash only establishment and that they had no issue taking the $5,000 deposit via my card.
I informed the shop that I would be video recording and I not only recorded my truck, it’s condition, contents, etc., I also recorded my interaction with the shop employees and owner. I was able to document discrepancies in what I was told, as well as flat out lies.
While Hurricane had my truck, I was unable to use it for work. Whereas I would normally tow a trailer and sleep in the back of the truck, I was forced to buy airfare, rent hotel rooms, rent trucks, etc. which cost thousands of dollars. I was very clear that I needed my truck ASAP and explained the added expenses that would incur without it. Once they passed the first few deadlines, then it was promised before Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Year’s, etc. until I ultimately demanded my truck back.
I asked for pictures of work done, among other things on so many occasions, I lost count and they would just ignore me. Then, before I would give them the balance they claimed I owed, I refused to pay it until pictures were sent. Even then, they weren’t the pictures I was requesting.
Hurricane claims I looked at the pallet that was sent to Pennsylvania and they have me on camera doing so, therefore I cannot claim that anything is missing. They were, in fact, still loading the pallet. I’ve told them on numerous occasions that I am not a mechanic, how could I possibly know if every engine component, nut, bolt, etc. was on a pallet. The simple fact that the owner of the shop didn’t notice that major engine components like a camshaft, oil pump and turbo were missing should be a good indicator of the incompetence level at Hurricane Diesel, yet they are refusing to answer my questions, send me pictures showing my items are not damaged, replace what was stolen on their property (after they stated they would), produce a police report to verify that law enforcement did an investigation, give me a list of everything that was stolen and a list of everything that is still there and available to ship to the new engine builder that has been patiently waiting since February to do this build.
I apologize if things are out of sequence, several storylines required that in order to try and streamline this a bit more. For the record, I have recorded most of, if not all of the phone conversations. I also have phone records, emails, most with a court submissible tracking program, as well as pictures and videos. The shop that has the motor now, I’m sure would not have an issue writing something stating that it was the worst packaging of an engine on a pallet they’ve ever seen as well as the shop that received it.
To date, I have sent 100 emails and it’s a similar situation with phone calls…minimal to no response. I recently gave Hurricane a 1 star rating on Google and Facebook, but with no description of the issues. Since giving those reviews, Hurricane has refused to reply to any of the emails I’ve sent or disclose any information about my engine or truck components, even though I’ve asked them on numerous occasions.
At this point, there is at least $10,000+ in bad repaiers, damage, stolen items, missing parts, etc. that Hurricane refuses to compensate me for. I tried for month's to resolve this profesionally, but they have refused, as well as lied and gone back on their word several times. I hope no one else has to go through what I have had to.
Hurricane Diesel Performance and Repair Reviews
I’ve had an ongoing issue with Hurricane Diesel in Spokane Valley, WA since the middle of July 2016. I will try to give the briefest description possible concerning the issues I’ve had with them.
I have a 1999 Ford F350 with a 7.3-liter diesel engine, that had a motor blow up do to negligence from a shop in Oregon. After speaking on the phone with Hurricane Diesel, on numerous occasions, looking at their BBB report and online reviews, I concluded they were a reputable repair facility and would be a good company to have work on my truck.
I had my truck brought in on a roll-back tow truck to their location at 17204 E. Sprague avenue in Spokane Valley, WA in mid-July of 2016. I arrived just before my truck and spoke with Scotty, the service writer. I elaborated on the backstory and that there were likely items that I was charged for at the last shop that were not actually done, including:
-ceramic coatings on the exhaust manifold, turbo system components, cylinder heads, valves, etc.
-port & polish work on the heads
-fire rings done incorrectly
I informed Scotty I would be on the road for the next 2 ½ months and would be returning at the end of September. I asked if there would be any issues with everything being done, the truck being broke in, the break-in oil being changed out, new exhaust lift kit being removed, swapping leave springs, swapping tires, as well as several other things, he said “absolutely not”. There were quite a few trucks there when I had mine dropped off, but I was assured there would be more than enough time to handle it.
I called Hurricane every two weeks to check on progress, which there was none, up until the last two weeks of the agreed upon delivery date, then it was essentially every day. At this point I was completely out of patience and asked to speak to the owner, Kyle, who seemed to actually care, assuring me things would get done. I started working with Jon, another service writer, who promised me it would all be done in the remaining two weeks. I stated I didn’t see how that would be possible, they hadn’t don’t any work on the truck to that point and had no idea on what had failed. At this point, I began to take items off the ‘to do list’. Jon told me they could still make the timeline work, as long as I cut certain things out of the motor build. I told him I was not willing to do that, as I didn’t want a partially rebuilt motor, that it wouldn’t be good for either of us if something broke. Jon proceeded to try and make me feel as though it was my fault of the timeline wasn’t met, as I wasn’t willing to cut corners on the build. I was very clear from day 1 about having a complete rebuild, as well as the work that I had paid the former shop to do, being done, if it wasn’t already completed. I knew it would cost more, but I wanted it done and Scotty stated before I brought the truck in, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Somewhere past the 3-month mark (I’m not sure exactly when, as it was not disclosed), they started to work on the motor. They originally pulled the cylinder heads to check and test them. Another month or two after that they finally pulled the motor. For some reason, they pulled the cab off my truck (which is not necessary to do in order to remove the motor), cutting all of the wires that were attached, not marking any of them. Which now allows moisture to get into them, corrodes them, etc. They also disassembled the emergency brake cable, master power plug that attaches all the power to the cab. I’ve spoken with numerous shop’s that have stated there was absolutely no reason to take the cab off and they are willing to send correspondence stating this.
Originally, the owner of the shop I shipped the motor to was going to fly out from Pennsylvania to do the install, so I wasn’t forced to ship the truck to his shop. But with all of the wiring issues, rusted components, exposed lines, etc. I will have no choice but to ship the truck to his shop. If Hurricane had actually covered the lines to keep the moisture, bugs, animals, etc. out of the plumbing, there would be no need to repair the damage, drain all the contaminated fluids and pull the coolers in order to flush any foreign objects or debris from them. I’m not sure how much it will be to ship the truck and have all the extra work done, but I know it’ll be in the thousands. The $10,000 John Wood high performance transmission that was custom built for the truck, has a completely rusted torque converter, no word yet on how detrimental that will be.
Once the heads were pulled, it was discovered that the work I hired the previous shop to do wasn’t completed, yet I was charged. One of the main issues was the heads had not been ported and polished. Hurricane stated they had an individual that could do it and he did all their porting and polishing. After several weeks, it was discovered that the machine shop they worked with didn’t do 7.3’s, so they found another shop that did. I was quoted $800 on the phone, but was charged $1,000. When I offered to play them the recorded conversation, Jon stated he would not accept that.
With all the driving I do, with my truck for work (80,000 – 100,000 a year) a longer than normal warranty was discussed, as I didn’t want to have a warranty for only a month. They said that wouldn’t be an issue. After several months, the porting & polishing being completed and me giving them a substantial deposit, I was told there would be no warranty and if I did want a warranty, I would have to talk to the shop that did the work. I told them I didn’t pay the other shop for the work, I paid Hurricane. They would not budge. They told me the reason they wouldn’t warranty it was because “the work wasn’t necessary”, even though they have a third party shop they work with that does this type of work every day for them, they install numerous aftermarket turbos, exhaust systems, injectors, etc. they wouldn’t warranty the work their vendor did. That indicates to me that something didn’t go right, something broke, etc., why else would you refuse to warranty work you took money for?
I received a phone call in October that my truck had been broken into and my stereo system had been stripped. I was told not to worry, that Hurricane would replace everything. I went to the shop to look things over and see how bad it was. They busted out my back window to gain access and stripped everything except the door speakers. I was told that two other vehicles were broken into…both were customer work trucks. Scotty stated that they went through the papers in the glovebox and then put them all back in order. I asked him if they were all put back in order, how do they know they were gone through? He didn’t answer me. Then he stated that his car was parked there with thousands of dollars in stereo equipment in it, but no one touched it. I made the comment this all seemed a bit odd. I have several family members in law enforcement, I explained to them what had happened, the fact only two other vehicles were broke into and that I had one of the oldest vehicles on the lot and they proceeded to say they thought it was an inside job. They claimed they called the police and filed a report, but I’ve asked on numerous occasions for a copy of the police report, but I’ve been completely ignored. I walked around the truck to see if my driving lights and light bar were still there, which they were.
Hurricane claims they bought all the replacement items to rebuild my stereo and it was all taken down to Aspen Sound, the company that did the original work. Scotty wanted to have Hurricane do the work, but I refused, citing they were an auto repair facility and not a car stereo store and there would be no warranty on the work they did, whereas Aspen offers a lifetime warranty on their wiring. It now appears that Hurricane has taken back the $1,000+ amp that was stolen and refuses to answer my questions about it.
Fast forward to the day I picked my truck up from Hurricane on February 17th. I walked in and the owner handed me a box with a lightbar in it. I asked him what it was for, he stated it was to replace mine. I said I’m confused. He told me my lightbar had been stolen when my stereo was in October. I responded, that was not the case, as I had come to check on the truck after that. He suddenly changed his story to say that it happened two weeks prior. I asked him why I wasn’t informed that my items had been stolen and they passed the blame to Scotty, who had supposedly quit. I asked if my driving lights were stolen as well and his response was “I was going to ask you if you had driving lights”, which I highly doubt. I told him what they were, stated I had the receipts from where I bought them and he said it was not necessary. EIGHT weeks after Hurricane claimed my driving lights were stolen, they ordered in a pair, which was not the pair that was stolen, they were even DOT approved driving lights. When I told Jon, the service writer, about it, he claimed I told him those were the ones that I had. My driving lights had 6 LED’s each, these had 4, they were a cheaper, not DOT approved and they weren’t even made when I bought my other lights, so how could I have said those were what I had? He told me “you can take them or leave them I won’t be buying you another set of lights Glen”.
When I brought my truck in, I wanted my Odyssey batteries tested, as they had been sitting for a while. I asked on numerous occasions, probably 20 times, if they batteries were tested, each time I was told no. At a certain point I was told that they were taken to a shop and put on a ‘Christie charger’, tested and they failed. They wrote in big yellow paint pen lettering on top of my newer $700 batteries that they were bad. I asked them what shop did the testing and they refused to tell me. Fast forward again a few months and I asked them to be taken to a battery store that was manufacture certified service center, they agreed. The shop charged & tested them and said they were both good. So it appears as though Hurricane claimed to have had them charged at a qualified facility, but did not, then wrote in permanent paint pen on top of the warranty card on the battery that they were bad. I asked if they were going to clean the batteries without destroying the warranty info and they said they would. I was later told that they did clean them, I then requested photographic proof that they were clean and not damaged. I have asked around a dozen times, yet the only picture they have sent only shows half of the batteries. I’ve asked repeatedly for new pics showing the entire battery, but they continue to ignore me.
I have aftermarket connecting rods in my motor, for added strength and durability. The previous shop apparently failed to adjust the oil squirters to accommodate the larger rods and they were damaged. I asked Hurricane to adjust them. They stated they had never done that before and they would charge me $420. I spoke with some of the largest performance diesel shops in the country to get an idea of what it would take to do the work and the most common answer was to use a screwdriver to manipulate it a bit and it would take 30 seconds to a couple of minutes for each of the 8 squirters. Each shop told me they didn’t charge, as it was just part of putting the motor together. When I mentioned what the other shops do, including the shop that manufacturers the aftermarket connecting rods, I was told that I should take my truck to them.
I have an aftermarket turbo system that was custom built to fit the truck, literally the only one of its kind in existence. There was one component I was interested in removing, but wasn’t sure of the expense involved to remove it. Jon told me I should just leave it as is, because Hurricane had no experience in fabricating anything like that and they wouldn’t want to ‘practice’ on my truck. I agreed. Later, I was told that was one of the reasons they wouldn’t warranty their work, because I went against their advice of removing it. I reminded them it was Jon that told me to not do it, as they had no one that could do that kind of work. They just ignored me. I have that conversation recorded.
When I decided to have the motor shipped to another builder, Hurricane was spreading parts across 2 pallets, instead of putting the components inside the motor, where they belong, to save space. The shop that was preparing to receive the motor told me how to do it and said it would all easily stack on one pallet, as they have done it this way for many, many years and never had a problem. I asked Hurricane on numerous occasions for an inventory of what was going on the pallet and for pictures of it, to protect both of us. I told the owner I needed everything it would take to build the motor and run it on a stand, with him being the owner, I thought that Kyle wouldn’t have any issues with this request. I was told by Jon “I assure you, everything will be on the pallet”. As I left to follow my truck home, they were still collecting items for my motor to place on the pallet.
When the pallet arrived in Pennsylvania, it was a mess. I was sent pics of the plastic wrap not even being secured to the pallet, which allows the items on the pallet to shift and fall. There were several items just sitting on top of the motor and several missing. Without the inventory list that was requested, we had no way of knowing what was missing. The owner of the shop inventoried what was there and what wasn’t. There were numerous items that were missing that made building the motor impossible. After I was basically accused me of stealing items, it was discovered they failed to put most of those items on the pallet and yet others that were stolen, including a $2,000+ turbo, an $800 turbine diverter valve and all the plumbing, which was custom built. When I asked about when it was stolen, they couldn’t give me an answer, except to say ‘probably when the stereo was stolen”, which was 5 months prior, yet they didn’t even notice. That also tells you how often they worked on my motor. When I inquired about what they were going to do, they said they’d replace the turbo and diverter valve. I asked about the rest of it, as this was a custom built kit, Jon replied by saying it was a junk system and pipes and they wouldn’t be replacing that. I told him the system was new and I had all the receipts showing that it was custom. I also asked him if it was ‘junk’, why did they ceramic coat the pipes? I still have yet to receive a response. Hurricane was still ‘finding’ parts 2 months after the pallet had been received by the other shop. They stated they would not pay to ship the other parts, even though it was their fault those parts weren’t on the pallet I paid to ship. They told me to issue a call-tag, which tells the carrier, in this case UPS Freight, there is an item waiting for pick up. I told them I needed to know what was on the pallet, so we could put on the Bill of Lading the number of items and weight, but they refused to reply to the numerous emails. In fact, the only time I would typically get a response was when I would send multiple emails days or weeks after the original…they flat out ignore me. I have a court submissible tracking program that I’ve been using with Hurricane for the last several months, so I now that they’ve received and opened it. The last email they sent me said they would not put anything on a pallet, I told Jon to look at the email he sent me on April 19th requesting a call tag and I’ve not received any responses since.
When I went to pick up my truck, I was told they would only accept cash. I asked why that was and was told they didn’t trust me. I told them there was nothing posted that said it was a cash only establishment and that they had no issue taking the $5,000 deposit via my card.
I informed the shop that I would be video recording and I not only recorded my truck, it’s condition, contents, etc., I also recorded my interaction with the shop employees and owner. I was able to document discrepancies in what I was told, as well as flat out lies.
While Hurricane had my truck, I was unable to use it for work. Whereas I would normally tow a trailer and sleep in the back of the truck, I was forced to buy airfare, rent hotel rooms, rent trucks, etc. which cost thousands of dollars. I was very clear that I needed my truck ASAP and explained the added expenses that would incur without it. Once they passed the first few deadlines, then it was promised before Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Year’s, etc. until I ultimately demanded my truck back.
I asked for pictures of work done, among other things on so many occasions, I lost count and they would just ignore me. Then, before I would give them the balance they claimed I owed, I refused to pay it until pictures were sent. Even then, they weren’t the pictures I was requesting.
Hurricane claims I looked at the pallet that was sent to Pennsylvania and they have me on camera doing so, therefore I cannot claim that anything is missing. They were, in fact, still loading the pallet. I’ve told them on numerous occasions that I am not a mechanic, how could I possibly know if every engine component, nut, bolt, etc. was on a pallet. The simple fact that the owner of the shop didn’t notice that major engine components like a camshaft, oil pump and turbo were missing should be a good indicator of the incompetence level at Hurricane Diesel, yet they are refusing to answer my questions, send me pictures showing my items are not damaged, replace what was stolen on their property (after they stated they would), produce a police report to verify that law enforcement did an investigation, give me a list of everything that was stolen and a list of everything that is still there and available to ship to the new engine builder that has been patiently waiting since February to do this build.
I apologize if things are out of sequence, several storylines required that in order to try and streamline this a bit more. For the record, I have recorded most of, if not all of the phone conversations. I also have phone records, emails, most with a court submissible tracking program, as well as pictures and videos. The shop that has the motor now, I’m sure would not have an issue writing something stating that it was the worst packaging of an engine on a pallet they’ve ever seen as well as the shop that received it.
To date, I have sent 100 emails and it’s a similar situation with phone calls…minimal to no response. I recently gave Hurricane a 1 star rating on Google and Facebook, but with no description of the issues. Since giving those reviews, Hurricane has refused to reply to any of the emails I’ve sent or disclose any information about my engine or truck components, even though I’ve asked them on numerous occasions.
At this point, there is at least $10,000+ in bad repaiers, damage, stolen items, missing parts, etc. that Hurricane refuses to compensate me for. I tried for month's to resolve this profesionally, but they have refused, as well as lied and gone back on their word several times. I hope no one else has to go through what I have had to.