Guten Parts + Service - ZM Blue Devil

[Andy.B]

I find it incredibly stupid how everyone jumps on the bandwagon about how levent could never do no wrong and that goes for all the other ogs here like luke at gas George graves etc they have all fucked up some point and yet bc they were well known tge issues were juat pretty much swept under the rug...I've dealt with both of them and the are pleasant, but its clear that there was a fuck up here which I'm sure if this was a facee to face interaction this would have never happened. But you guys need to stop pretending that these guys can't fuck up bc they have all slipped at one point.

I don't think anyone is saying that no one made a mistake. The problem here is that a mistake doesn't mean someone is a scammer, out to rip people off at the first opportunity. Those other og's mistakes where all dealt with, and a far as I know, made right. People who fail to make it right, under reasonable circumstances, (cough Vlad cough) are the ones who get run out of the community.

Like I said, this isn't the work of a scammer. This is the result of poor communication and unequal expectations.

[StereoInstaller1]

Yes, this forum is absolutely critical to all of our businesses, and we all know how quickly bad news travels.

I can say that in my own personal experience, I have always come out better for admitting my failures and doing my best to correct my mistakes.
In this case, all I can hope for is that all three of the parties involved can reach an amicable solution, as we all depend on this forum for virtually everything E30 related.

[bradnic]

I just hope no one else gets screwed by Ethan or Levent.

How altruistic. I'm just thankful I don't have to do business with you. I trust Levent, and I'm sure he will/would correct the situation given the chance - he's certainly done so with me. You must have made it very difficult on your end for him to do that.

[jaywood]

We had the same situation with Vlad awhile back (don't get me wrong, Levent, I'm not comparing you to Vlad and his fuck-ups, just stating an example). 99% of this forum was on the guys' nuts and bashed anyone who tried to call him out on mistakes (remember that guy who received those damaged wheels? NOBODY believed him because it was VLAD who sent them to him. He was a GOD on r3v). All I'm getting at is go into these things with somewhat of an open mind. Everyone makes mistakes. Live and learn.

[structured]

I have always found Levent to be friendly and respectful. GPS provides a quality service and genuinely enhances the community of e30 owners. I say that not as a bandwagon fan, but as someone who has done a lot of business with his shop. Over the course of about six years I have bought parts from him, sold parts to him, shipped parts through his shop, and had him and his team install an engine which I built at home. There have been hiccups and there were times when things weren't exactly how I wanted. When things went wrong, I brought the car back and had it fixed. Sometimes I had to pay for those corrections and other times I didn't, depending on what had happened. On the whole, I am happy and I continue to deal with GPS and recommend their shop to others.

Like just about everyone else who is reading the posts above, I don't know Levent's side of this story. All I know is this:

1) When you buy used parts you get used parts. There is no warranty. They will work at the time that you drive off of the lot but, due to the nature of them being used, they may not work a month from now. If you want a guarantee then buy new parts.

2) Regarding the parts which you bought as new but found to be used: According to his statements, Levent truly believes that they installed new parts and has documentation to back that up. You haven't addressed the possibility that another shop swapped them while trying to fix the issues and you didn't realize. From Levent's viewpoint, he can't tell if you or another shop after him swapped those parts later on. Maybe GPS should have assumed the worst (i.e. that they made a mistake), gone with "the customer is always right" on this point, and offered to switch these parts for you. Still, you can easily see how both sides see it differently.

3) If something doesn't work you need to give the shop a chance to diagnose and remedy it themselves. It is tough when you are out of state but that burden is on you, not the shop. I have dealt with many shops which have this same policy. If this is not possible, another option is to take it to a reputable shop which can diagnose and make an impartial determination about what the cause was. Then you can negotiate more fairly with the original shop.

4) In the statement you quoted from Levent above, he offered to order you new parts less the money you already paid if you sent back the used ones. That was a fair offer. Simply refunding is not something that shops do. They installed parts and tested the system at the time it was in their possession. They can't just refund you every time a used part without a warranty stops working. Again, this is a standard policy.

EDIT: One more thing about e30 A/C is that I consistently hear people complain about how inadequate it is. There was a guy doing retrofits a while back and seemed to be using quality parts and doing good work. Still, many of his customers said that their A/C wasn't cold enough. The consensus that I was hearing at that time was that our pumps were made for the older gas which was more efficient. The new gas which is used today is less efficient and therefore the pump would have to work harder to get to the same temperature. Maybe your system wasn't running as cold as you expect from owning newer cars but it was actually running just as cold as everybody else's e30 A/C. Just a thought...

[ChaosTheory]

Every company has it's issues. It's about how they resolve those issues and this doesn't look like it's been resolved in the favor of the customer. I wish you the best of luck and I truly hope this goes in your favor! Good luck

[dreamchasin]

From day 1 Levent has always been there for me to help troubleshoot problems. Even when I didn't buy the parts from him. He'd always answer my calls or messages and do his best. When I needed a part he would look it up for me and send me the info and we'd discuss it, I'd buy it and be on my way. I've always been a pain in the ass and he never turned his back on me. He's easily the best person I've ever dealt with buying parts and I will continue to do so. Thanks L you have a life long customer here.