I decided that my 2003 STI needed a refresh of the suspension, having previously spent money at Litchfield on a stage 1 upgrade, I telephoned Ian Litchfield to enquire about the handling upgrades advertised on his website for my model year. Only to be told that he couldn't help me as my car was too old!! I asked if parts supply was an issue and his astonishing reply was "no, the bolts would take too long to undo". Seems to me that Mr Litchfield has forgotten his roots and is only interested in 70k GTR's. Shame on you Litchfield. It also might be an idea to update your website!!

 

Hmm, surprising.

So where are you going to take it to now Powerstation?

 

So you joined here and used your first post to slag off a dealer / garage. Interesting.

I guess they are doing well enough that they don't need the business from older models, interesting decision to make and their loss but there are plenty of other places you could use, PowerStation for instance are just up the road and used to do all that sort of work for Lichfield's anyway.

That said stuff like that can cost your business as if you were thinking of buying a GTR and saw a nice one they had you'd probably now give it a miss as you may question what the after sales may be like. He could have just said the labour costs would be increased as a lot of the nuts and bolts may be seized.

 

Competitor??? No! Annoyed Scooby owner, Yes!

I suppose I expected more from them. I still view my car as a decent car. I still get comments on how it looks as it is a 2 owner car with under 50k miles on the clock. It is their prerogative to refuse the business but I think they should update the website.

I'll have a look at Powerstation.

 

Don't blame him lol. 99% of my work is on vehicles up to 3 years old. When I do a job for mates on old cars it's nasty. You quote a job then spend twice the time because of rusty bolts or seized brakes etc.

Seriously though, be surprised if that's exactly how the phone conversation went. Probably more along the lines of their website upgrades not relating price wise use to the ball ache of a rusty ok Scoob.

 

Honestly, it is exactly how it went. Wouldn't do the work. No discussion of potential additional costs, just cant do it. That is my point really, the website states MY02-07 it doesn't say 03 need not apply. The advert actually says "failing or old suspension" not something you would associate with a new car!

 

Looked at Powerstation website, will be calling them. Thanks

 

Curtis at Powerstation top man when it comes to suspension setup.

 

Thanks all, sorry it was a grumpy first thread.

 

My experience with Litchfield a couple of years ago with my Bilstein's was awful and would never go back


He'll have his people on here who will defend him

 

Come on , what bolts are seized?

I am sure they have an impact gun that can undo them, time=money.

As others have said, you just joined here and your first post is to slag off a business?

There are other places apart from powerstation that you could try too you know?

E.g. Tracktive Solutions, RCM, Scoobyclinic, Chevron to name a few.

 

Er...yes, your opinion fpan is that I am slagging off a business. My viewpoint is that I am sharing a negative experience. I thought that forums where a means of sharing experiences good or bad?? Sorry I didnt use my first post with a heart warming story about lost kittens and fluffy clouds.

I suppose I also expected a sympathetic ear and some recommendations of other suppliers, which I have recieved and I thank you for.

 

love it

 

cuppa tea + keyboard

 

Chevron gets my vote, no job too big or small

 

Litchfield has a mechanical mind. Too bad he forgets to wind it up every morning.
He has more faces than Mount Rushmore. He is living proof that man can live without a brain!

 

Sounds like someone who's starting to believe his own hype.

 

Chevron seem to be getting some good reviews lately.

 

Years ago when Litchfield were still viewing Subaru owners as am important market I spoke to Iain as I was interested in buying a car he had for sale, I offered to pay a deposit over the phone as I wanted to buy the car but I was waiting for the buyer of my car to pick it up and pay in full.

He said no deposit was necessary and that he'd hold the car for me until I was ready to view the car and pay for it, once I had the money in hand I rang Iain to arrange to come up to him to be told that he'd sold the car.

That was his perogative as we only had a verbal contract but his attitude was bloody awful from the off, I'd rather deal with a company that values it's customer base rather than looking down on them.

 

The OP is perfectly within his rights to share his experience, as posted on another thread, Tuners can't expect just to get good reviews especially if they start to get a little too big for their boots.

Mr litchfield sounds like a very popular chap and i'm sure he's a lovely bloke.

Now then can we hear more about these kittens please.

 

I had my 05MY T20 booked in with him last October for a service but rang to put it off (in plenty of time I should add) as I'd subsequently decided to strip and repaint some rear suspension parts while the car was off the road over the winter which would have meant another visit this spring to have the alignment done again.

I told them I'd wait and have it all done in one go this year.

There aren't any 'seized and rusted' fastenings left on my suspension now, but I'm wondering if he'll still refuse to do mine when I ring him to book it in later this month.

I can understand why he was reluctant to do the OPs if it's going to take hours to strip it down which the customer won't want to pay for, but it will be a shame if he's thinking of giving up on Subarus altogether.

 

Any mechanic that refused to do a job over rusted bolts better get out of the business thats just comical,ask yourself this:How much cars that drive on these UK roads with are weather that has not got a rusted bolt or two?.SJ.

 

It seems he can afford to though. Litchfield has always been a straight off the forecourt tuning company. They don't seem to be failing either so it seems to be a sound business model for them.

 

It's working for now,once you forget your grass roots it's hard to get them back,and the way things are going in are economy how much middle class workers can pull out X amount of coinage for a brand new GTR,Subaru etc...not many and as they are the biggest working class,we will just wait and see how good there business plan is for the future,just imaging MCDonald's turning away pound coins we only except tenner's now I wonder how long there business would last,Lol.SJ.

 

I don't think there are (m)/any sellers willing to hold a car for a potential buyer.

It would be worse if a dealer took a buyer's deposit, the buyer's circumstances changed and the dealer kept the deposit.

On the other hand, if a seller took a deposit that is refundable due to the buyer's circumstances changing, he would have wasted his time and could have sold the car to someone else.

Since no money has been exchanged there is no harm and the first to pay the full amount gets the car.

I am not defending Licho here, I asked him (for fun) a couple of years ago how much he would part-ex my car and he gave me half of what it could be sold as private, that was taking the **** really.

 

I phoned him earlier in the month for a quote about corner weighting and wheel alignment and his e-mail reply was logical, explaining that it’s difficult to give an accurate price as each car requires different time to the next but quoted me 2-3h for it which I thought was not bad compared with other places.

 

That is not a realistic comparison at all. Litch is a specialist and a single place where as McDonalds is a franchise that is designed to deal with the masses cheap.

There doesn't have to be many as it's just one company.

 

There seems to be an irrational defense in this community for the popular traders/tuners. It's not the first time I've seen a poster slated for daring to be critical of a trader/tuner.

There are more than enough skilled tuners and stocked suppliers for us as a customer-base to demand a top level of service, rather than making allowances because a particular party is established within the community.

Poor attitude from Litchfield if what was said is true, but there are plenty of alternatives.

 

Thanks for all your support guys.

 

Business is business and no one can run a successful one by sh1tting on there customers end of,it don't bother me too much about bad specialist traders/mechanics etc...as i have been around the Subaru fold for 13 years now so I have got all the specialist traders/mechanics I would ever need that I trust to the utmost for there skill customer service and commitment etc...,and you never hear a bad customer report about any of them.To the OP you have been treat bad but you don't have to ever spend your money with them,move on to bettertrust me there out there,that's how the system works mate,vote with your wallet or not,if you get my drift.SJ.