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View Full Version : Beware of Rivsu Imports


living4surf
11-19-2014, 11:38 AM
This is my experience there were a few other small problems but this is the one that has made it so i refuse to work with them. this is just a warning you can believe me or not.



When i was first looking to purchase my skyline Rivsu Imports posted pretty much exactly what I was looking other than it had an automatic transmission. After contacting them about it through Facebook I was told they could do the conversion for $500 including parts and labor which was a great deal so I went ahead and paid them a deposit after asking a series of other questions on Facebook and email. One of those questions being whether the conversion would be done once it arrives in Florida or if it was going to be done before it left Japan, and was told it would be done after they received it at the Florida facility and that the parts would arrive shortly after the car. I had them invoice me for the rest of the car and the conversion separately, so it would be right in my records, but was told to not pay for the conversion because they weren't sure on the price of the parts yet but it would be about $800 for the parts (later on this would change to $700). Ok weird that the price went up figured someone made a mistake before I bought the car or now but I let it go since the price was still decent. shortly before my car was to arrive I was in the area for work and stopped by to meet everyone in person and was told again that the parts should be here about a month after the car, but they had a couple things coming in before that and maybe it would be sooner. Also talked about whether they were doing it or if i was going to do the work, which i said depended on what the labor cost would roughly come out to since i could do the work myself it's just a struggle to find the time and to do it without a lift. I ended up waiting a couple months for the parts to arrive after a received my car, and when i saw the parts shipment had arrived on Facebook I asked if my conversion was included in the shipment where i was told yes, but i sent over an email also just to make sure. I was told they were ready, but they didn't have a mechanic anymore to do the conversion if i was planning on having them do it. I told them it was fine i would just do it myself, so I made the trip up there the next week (about 2.5 hour drive one way) when I got there no one knew I was coming apparently even though I emailed saying i was actually going to be there two days earlier than i actually made it which I got a response to, but no big deal people forget to pass along messages. The real problem came in that they told me they could not sell me the parts without doing the work because they couldn't check to see condition until it was running in a car or some nonsense they also said they didn’t know what they were supposed to charge me which i told them i had been quoted $700 for just the parts. At this point i was pretty annoyed that i just made a trip there to get the parts which i was told were ready to find out they wouldn't even sell them to me. Well James (general manager) gets on the phone with Steve and comes back and said that they had a mechanic starting in two weeks but he was going to start working odd hours right away and that they were going to do the whole conversion for $700 parts and labor. I then had a couple minute conversation with James about if he was sure because I had been told $700 for just parts he assured me that it would be 700 for everything and that they wouldn't be happy until i was in my 5 speed car, and apologized several times for the confusion and making the trip for nothing. At the same time we talked about their grand opening they were hosting and I said that i would come up if i could drop the car off at the same time but that it was a long drive just to come up for that. James told me he would message me and let me know once he talked to his mechanic and Steve. two days later i got a message on Facebook saying that if i wanted i could drop the car off at the grand opening but that the mechanic would still wouldn't be working full time so if I needed a 2-3 day turn around to wait until the beginning of November. It’s a long drive and with work i probably wouldn't be able to get it the same week i dropped it off anyways so i went ahead and dropped it off at the Grand Opening.

About a week and a half later i hadn't heard from anyone there so i messaged James and he replied saying that it hadn't been worked on and that there were two cars ahead of me. I was trying to get the car ready for simply clean so i told him on the phone that if they couldn't get it done by the 12th or first thing on the morning of the 13th that i needed to come pick up my car and the parts if they wanted to sell them alone or just my car if they wouldn't sell the parts. On this call he again told me that it was $700 for parts and labor, and that he would talk to the mechanic and let me know if they could meet the deadline i needed. He messaged me the later saying they could get it done. On the 12th i called to make sure i could get it first thing the next morning and was told that the bushing on the drive shaft was bad and they were trying to source one and that it would not be ready. At this point i was pretty annoyed they had the car for almost three weeks and no one checked the parts over until they went to install them, but they got a replacement and the car was ready in the afternoon on the 14th (didn't give me enough time to get what i wanted to get done for simply clean but at least i was going to have my car back)

I get to Rivsu and they were just finishing up the car I go to pay and am told its going to be just over $1400, so I ask why when i was told it would be $700 the person didn't know and went and got James who tells me that he told me it was $700 but that was a mistake and that he corrected himself and said it would be at the very least $1000 as the $700 was for parts only which was absolutely never said, and we even had a conversation about it because that was not the original quote and how they were including labor now. Now i was furious not over the price but because that's not i was told when they made me come up there then wouldn't sell me the parts. James called Steve came back and said that's the price left with no choice since they had my car I paid them and went to leave. Their mechanic brought the car around and told me that they had not replaced the cluster surround with the manual one since they didn't have it. he also goes on to explain how he couldn't figure out how to wire the reverse lights and that if he does figure it out later he would let me know.

I left as angry as i have ever been go home and write to Steve about it who tells me that he can’t help it if his employees made mistakes and that their quotes don't matter if he doesn't agree to it and that what was said by his general manager is between me and him and not his company. And his only offer was to give them back the car that they just had for 20 days they would return it to stock and refund me. Obviously I'm not going to give them back my car after I had been lied to since who knows what would of happened then.

Needless to say I will be Using a new importer in February when I'm going to be picking up a silvia and making sure everyone i know is aware that they can’t stick to a promise, lie, are so increasingly disorganized or whatever they want to claim happened here, and they also don’t have a mechanic that can do something as simple as a complete 5 speed conversion.

Vandrel
11-19-2014, 02:08 PM
Don't let the door hit you on the way out there.

For those wondering you can refer to the attached PDF documents I've added here regarding his "issue".


Also, I'll point out the following errors in your statement.

I had them invoice me for the rest of the car and the conversion separately, so it would be right in my records, but was told to not pay for the conversion because they weren't sure on the price of the parts yet but it would be about $800 for the parts (later on this would change to $700). Ok weird that the price went up figured someone made a mistake before I bought the car or now but I let it go since the price was still decent.


The real problem came in that they told me they could not sell me the parts without doing the work because they couldn't check to see condition until it was running in a car or some nonsense they also said they didn’t know what they were supposed to charge me which i told them i had been quoted $700 for just the parts.

We didn't sell you the parts because they arrived and we had not had a chance to check their condition. No one said we have to check the condition of them AFTER your install, I made it very clear to James and the rest of them that we're not selling those parts before we've had a chance to verify they are in acceptable condition. At any rate, you were offered a refund under my condition (we'll return your car to auto and take back our 5 speed parts and then refund you) which you chose to decline because you wanted to keep the 5 speed parts.

You wanted the parts at cost with free labor. I explained to you it doesn't work that way and gave you an ultimatum. It was your decision to keep the parts and not come back. James misspoke on one face to face conversation with you and you tried to take advantage of that even though he turned right around and corrected himself after I corrected him. Asking us 10 times for a price to see if someone will make a mistake and let you walk out without paying the full price doesn't work and you got yourself into a pickle trying to pull a fast one over on me.

Blast this on as many forums as you'd like. You were made well aware of the price of the parts and the labor being separate. You were told to bring the car back and we'll return it to it's original auto configuration and take back our parts to return your money.

Hell, if I had to do it all over again and I found this first, http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2011917 , I would never had sold you a car.


Cheers

5280VertDET
11-19-2014, 02:23 PM
Not taking sides here, but...

This whole thing would have been avoided if this had been agreed upon by both parties on paper.

Contact and documents people! You never know who you are really dealing with; either direction of the deal.

KiLLeR2001
11-19-2014, 04:29 PM
Steve and his company Rivsu are as legit as they come.

Sounds like the customer assumed parts and labor inclusive when he was told price of parts PLUS labor.

Now if you paid for a proper manual conversion and it wasn't done correctly, that is another issue. But if you refuse to bring the car back to Rivsu to fix any issues you may be having with the car, then you really have nothing else to complain about.

I'll be looking to buy a GT-R in the future and Rivsu is where I will go!

Farzam
11-19-2014, 10:28 PM
Lol...$700...lol...

delado
11-19-2014, 11:03 PM
Ehhh, I believe Robbie. He's a stand up dude. He has no reason to make this up really. Whatever I guess. I wouldn't go through anyone except GTR-Garage.

Dboyizmlg
11-19-2014, 11:46 PM
Off topic here, but yeah GTR-garage has the best deals on JDM vehicles!
Kunio sources out the best skylines for us, period!

g14novak
12-03-2014, 06:25 AM
We didn't sell you the parts because they arrived and we had not had a chance to check their condition. No one said we have to check the condition of them AFTER your install, I made it very clear to James and the rest of them that we're not selling those parts before we've had a chance to verify they are in acceptable condition.

Seems pretty shady to me. No importer is going to pay importing fees to bring in questionably bad parts to sell (except tigerjapanese, but look at their reputation because of it). How were you going to test them if he declined your offer? Install it in another rb car? But instead you used his car as a guinea pig. What if the trans was bad? You going to charge him labor to pull it back out too?

Ultimately, your employee made an offer to resolve the situation and you should have backed your employee, not thrown him under the bus. Now both of you have egg on your face because of the situation.

Btw, good job bring up a fs thread from 2010 on another forum that is not related to this. Dont think we will believe you for a second that you were going to hold the sale of a car and thousands in your pocket over someone's bike rack in 2010. Your just getting more egg on you and your company.

Was looking into this company and their importing recently. Definitely going to go with GTR Garage now.

Vandrel
12-03-2014, 10:14 AM
Try reading again, I said parts were not yet inspected, never said they needed to be tested. I refuse to sell anything that has yet to be inspected.

If you would have taken the time to read everything maybe you wouldn't look like a jack ass. I don't run a restaurant, this isn't McDonald's, you don't get to have it your way because someone messes up. I run a car dealership and if one of my employees says they will give you something for free in error doesn't mean it's going to happen, especially after they corrected themselves and I did as well after the mistake. Again, try reading.

Are you telling me that if you went to a Ford dealership and a new sales guy on the floor talked to you about a truck and mistakenly said the truck is free instead of saying the truck is $35,000 that you expect them to honor that mistake even after they correct it and state the price before closing the sale and handing you the keys? Let's be realistic here.

Does no one find it funny that the OP asked over 10 times to nearly every employee he could about the price even after being told before he bought the car and after what the price was? Why keep asking unless you're trying to be slick and wait for someone to mess up? People make mistakes but mistakes are corrected and it doesn't mean you get to walk out the door with free shit after being told the correct price multiple times.

Feel free to go purchase from GTR Garage, nothing wrong with that. But you're also comparing apples and oranges. GTR Garage is not a importer nor are they a licensed dealer, they are an exporter and will ship you a car. Where as my company is all of the above. I really don't care if someone purchases from another place, that's their choice to do so. I don't just sell to anyone, if you're an asshat and give my company grief, be rude to my employees or give them problems then chances are I'm not going to sell you a car or anything for that matter.

Cheers

living4surf
12-03-2014, 11:37 AM
g14novak

i didnt even read steve's reply since we have gone back and forth several times arguing via email and some other public places i see no reason to argue with him any more, so i didnt see the thread from nasioc and just to clear that up since it was never done publicly on nasioc.

i sold him a roof rack when he paid i had to leave the country for a little over a week and a half for work. left the rack with a friend of mine to ship out for me and assumed he did. when i landed back in the country got some emails from him saying he hadnt revived it and a email from pay pal saying he filed a complaint. i called my friend right away to find out he didnt ship it so immediatly emailed him back appoligizing and letting him know i would personally get it shipped right away. picked up the rack from my friend to find out he lost the key to the lock system and i spent a day looking for it before giving up and giving the guy his money back. i feel bad for the whole situation it wasn't my fault entirely, but it was someone i trusted with the work and he messed up so of course i took full responsibility for the rack not getting to him.

that is the only legitimate negative feedback i have from all the stuff i have sold/bought over the years, and even that was taken care of in the end.

Nissan2nr22
09-24-2015, 11:17 AM
1) Don't let the door hit you on the way out there.

2) Asking us 10 times for a price to see if someone will make a mistake and let you walk out without paying the full price doesn't work and you got yourself into a pickle trying to pull a fast one over on me.

3) Blast this on as many forums as you'd like.

4) Hell, if I had to do it all over again and I found this first, http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2011917 , I would never had sold you a car.

1) Immature

2) I know for a fact from knowing him for a good amount of time that he wouldn't try to take advantage of someone, been in the car scene for quite some time now and know everyone in south florida that builds these cars, works on them, drifts them, restores them and Robbie is by far one of the only people who will never take shortcuts or CHEAP OUT on his builds and products, so saying that he tried to trick his way into getting free stuff automatically triggers my senses and tells me you're bullshitting to the max.

3) Immature, don't you run a shop? Take some advice from the other big shops, their replies are "I'm sorry for your inconvenience if there's something we can do please call us on our work line at 800####" instead you show childish immaturity.

4) Nice try on that scam post, any mad child could've posted that or troll, if you notice there's no proof listed, no follow up, no closure nothing, anyone could do this to anyone.

zombiewolf513
09-24-2015, 12:04 PM
Sounds like you're mistaking a quote for a contract OP.

You were quoted! And often times, you pay more than you were quoted because there was more involved than originally anticipated, and you shouldn't expect ANYONE to do that labor or pay for those parts from their end. Besides that $1400 for an auto to manual conversion with labor sounds beyond reasonable to me. Costed me $2600 just to replace a transmission on a fuckin Denali.

Rivsu is a dealership and shop, which is very expensive and difficult to even start, let alone maintain in business. They aren't where they are because they're screwing people left and right. The cost of something is the cost of something, regardless of what you were quoted.

Plus, if you didn't think the mechanic could do the conversion and it were so simple, you should have done it yourself.

As for rivsu, the swap + parts should have been estimated on the sales contract regardless of what anyone "says," because that is the final agreement. Nor is it wise to come on Zilvia and continue this dispute (especially with an unprofessional personal account) unless all you're saying is "hey, I'm willing to work with you on this, if you aren't up to it then I'm sorry things didn't work out like you anticipated, and I wish you all the best with your future importing". Sucks for you that this is now all public ledger.

As to whoever said something like,"your employee said $x, so you should honor that." Youre wrong, that employee isn't paying for the insurance, the bonding, the building, the salaries, and whathaveyou. It's ultimately up to the people running the business that choose what the terms of sale are

RB25GUY
09-25-2015, 12:34 PM
Even at 1400 that is still cheap if you are any sorts of mechanically inclined you would know it would be more then 700 bucks you cant even buy a transmission for 700 let alone clutch pedal, clutch, parts and labor ive heard nothing but good things from Risvu as an importer are great and awesome customer service....i haven't heard anything bad about them. i wouldn't even consider this a determining factor to not buy from them employees make mistakes deal with it.

Vandrel
09-25-2015, 02:59 PM
Immature


What you call immature is me being very frank. I'm not here to hold anyone's hand and tell them everything is going to be alright after (if you read my attachments) we attempted to resolve the issue professionally and he resulted to a social media bashing campaign (here and elsewhere) to deter people from doing business with us because he didn't get his way. This isn't McDonalds.


All this situation did was force us to not be so relaxed when dealing with customers and instead tighten up our administrative side so that everyone signs and agrees to everything before anything happens. Problem solved :)

I'm glad the guy is your friend and you've known him for many years but it doesn't change the facts of what happened. We offered to resolve the issue by giving him a gift card for $100 and returning his car to the condition it was in by also returning the parts to us but he didn't like that offer because he wanted to keep the parts and his car 5 speed and get his money back. It is what it is.

We've had a plethora of happy customers both with car sales and performance work since this issue happened and we've also just hired our 4th performance technician this week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxv7KeciJ1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFX2tHnTxzQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk3Ee0BacLo