If you have ever been victim to auto repair fraud and had your vehicle held hostage for ransom payment, you will relate to this story.
Originally, I contracted with Greg Tope to build a custom 1967 Corvette restomod. A rare, six-figure custom car project. The car was delivered to his shop at the time, Performance Car Craft along with all parts necessary to complete the work. The car sat in their shop for serveral months without any work performed. When we emailed and called to inquire about the progress status, we would always receive the same excuses from Scott & John Meimberg, the purported new owners of Performance Car Craft. In reality, we learned that Scott & his father were acquiring the business from Greg Tope sometime in 2014 (about the same time we delivered our car) The problems began during this transition.
Scott misrepresented himself to us for several months that he was only the "scheduling manager". In reality, he was acquring or, had acquired the business from Greg Tope. We started receiving invoices for work that was not completed or, completed unsatisfactorily. The invoices were attempts to satisfy us that they were actually working on the car. In reality, no progress was being made.
After failed promisses and repeated excuses from the new owners, we demanded remibursement for the delays and transport of the vehicle to their shop only to sit for a year without any substantive progress. Scott refused to complete the work or reimburse us for the time and expense lost. After several emails of demands, Scott demanded that we immediately remove the vehicle and parts from his shop that was over 2K miles away from us. He threatened ridiculous storage fees and held our car and, parts ransom for a final invoice payment for work never performed. He refused to release our vehicle unless we agreed to pay an invoice for work they never performed. Unfortunately, the State of Alabama does not regulate automotive repair facilities and therefore, consumers can only attempt to resolve disputes directly or via civil litigation. Thus, we were forced to pay the ransom and get our car moved to a nearby storage facility. Scott was to place our vehicle and all of our parts into a trailer inside the storage facility. Unfortunately, we learned several months later after cataloging the parts, that he did not return all of parts. Several orignial corvette parts that were in his possession byway of photographic evidence and cataloged upon arrival to Performance Car Craft, were missing.
We made written demand for return of all the parts on several occasions and only recently did he return 2 of the missing items. Ironically, he was able to locate only a couple of the missing parts that were in his possession. He charged us to ship the missing parts that he attempted to convert. These missing parts are original and new. The estimated cost of replacement of these parts are approxmiately $3500. This costs coupled with the ransom payment he forced us to pay to retreive the car equates to over $5K in specific damages. The consequential damages of transporting the vehicle, parts, delays, liquidated damages, estimated are well over $10K. All of our correspondence and photographic evidence of the parts cataloged are well documented and witnessed. The previous owner, Mr. Greg Tope has attempted to assist us as much as possible however, he had no control over the business after the sale to the Meinbergs. Finally, we have made written demand for reimbursement to this shop and they have ignored our requests to settle this matter. This summation of a car builder that overstates their abilities and ultimately, defrauds customers for work never performed is a typical occurance in the custom car builder industry. Performance Car Craft, Scott & John Meinberg are not the only irreputable car builders in the industry. There are many. Customers must do extensive research and read reviews.
This report is intended to assist others with information about specific experiences we encountered with this shop. More and more defrauded customers of custom car builds are starting to document their experiences with shoddy, unprofessional builders. Often, reviews and postings are the only remaining recourse for most customers as litigation is not feasible and most States do not regulate the auto repair industry. Therefore, if our documented experience can prevent another customer from losing time and money, then our review of this irreputable shop was worth the time posting.
Performance Car Craft Reviews
This is another custom car builder BEWARE ALERT!
If you have ever been victim to auto repair fraud and had your vehicle held hostage for ransom payment, you will relate to this story.
Originally, I contracted with Greg Tope to build a custom 1967 Corvette restomod. A rare, six-figure custom car project. The car was delivered to his shop at the time, Performance Car Craft along with all parts necessary to complete the work. The car sat in their shop for serveral months without any work performed. When we emailed and called to inquire about the progress status, we would always receive the same excuses from Scott & John Meimberg, the purported new owners of Performance Car Craft. In reality, we learned that Scott & his father were acquiring the business from Greg Tope sometime in 2014 (about the same time we delivered our car) The problems began during this transition.
Scott misrepresented himself to us for several months that he was only the "scheduling manager". In reality, he was acquring or, had acquired the business from Greg Tope. We started receiving invoices for work that was not completed or, completed unsatisfactorily. The invoices were attempts to satisfy us that they were actually working on the car. In reality, no progress was being made.
After failed promisses and repeated excuses from the new owners, we demanded remibursement for the delays and transport of the vehicle to their shop only to sit for a year without any substantive progress. Scott refused to complete the work or reimburse us for the time and expense lost. After several emails of demands, Scott demanded that we immediately remove the vehicle and parts from his shop that was over 2K miles away from us. He threatened ridiculous storage fees and held our car and, parts ransom for a final invoice payment for work never performed. He refused to release our vehicle unless we agreed to pay an invoice for work they never performed. Unfortunately, the State of Alabama does not regulate automotive repair facilities and therefore, consumers can only attempt to resolve disputes directly or via civil litigation. Thus, we were forced to pay the ransom and get our car moved to a nearby storage facility. Scott was to place our vehicle and all of our parts into a trailer inside the storage facility. Unfortunately, we learned several months later after cataloging the parts, that he did not return all of parts. Several orignial corvette parts that were in his possession byway of photographic evidence and cataloged upon arrival to Performance Car Craft, were missing.
We made written demand for return of all the parts on several occasions and only recently did he return 2 of the missing items. Ironically, he was able to locate only a couple of the missing parts that were in his possession. He charged us to ship the missing parts that he attempted to convert. These missing parts are original and new. The estimated cost of replacement of these parts are approxmiately $3500. This costs coupled with the ransom payment he forced us to pay to retreive the car equates to over $5K in specific damages. The consequential damages of transporting the vehicle, parts, delays, liquidated damages, estimated are well over $10K. All of our correspondence and photographic evidence of the parts cataloged are well documented and witnessed. The previous owner, Mr. Greg Tope has attempted to assist us as much as possible however, he had no control over the business after the sale to the Meinbergs. Finally, we have made written demand for reimbursement to this shop and they have ignored our requests to settle this matter. This summation of a car builder that overstates their abilities and ultimately, defrauds customers for work never performed is a typical occurance in the custom car builder industry. Performance Car Craft, Scott & John Meinberg are not the only irreputable car builders in the industry. There are many. Customers must do extensive research and read reviews.
This report is intended to assist others with information about specific experiences we encountered with this shop. More and more defrauded customers of custom car builds are starting to document their experiences with shoddy, unprofessional builders. Often, reviews and postings are the only remaining recourse for most customers as litigation is not feasible and most States do not regulate the auto repair industry. Therefore, if our documented experience can prevent another customer from losing time and money, then our review of this irreputable shop was worth the time posting.