After reading all of the horror stories with Tilley in this thread: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=486681 , I want to post my dealings with him. I thought I was the only one. As everyone knows, he's very knowledgeable, polite, easy to talk to (when you get a hold of him), and does great work. However, back in January, I decided to get a 3.5 swap along with a paint job for my 95 Maxima. He originally estimated 2-3 weeks MAX for all the work to be completed. At the end of the third week, he didn't even have the 3.5 motor. I would call him weekly, to get an update on my car. Everytime he would tell me next week it'll be ready. He did run into a problem where the motor was flood damaged, but he didn't figure that out until after he got the motor completely assembled and installed in my car. I can understand that causing a delay, but it doesn't take 2 months to find out. After 3 months, he stopped answer my calls. I probably went an entire month without hearing from him. At that point, I was completely sick of the whole ordeal. I was so frustrated, angry, and just could not believe the mess I was in. I was out of a car and the amount of money I paid him. I was ready to take legal action. I actually had to go out and buy a POS second car because I had no way of getting around any longer. Anyways, I figured he was just ignoring my phone number now. So I tried calling from different phone numbers, including a different area code. All of which failed. Then I had my friend that lives in PA give him a call. He answers, after ignoring my phone calls not even a minute later. And like always, he said the car will be ready next week. Next week comes, he tells me the car will be done that weekend. I can't even begin to describe how happy I was. I just wanted my car back. That weekend comes, and as expected, the car was not ready. To cut a long story short, this went on for about another month. Finally at the end of April, I got my car back. But it still wasn't completely finished. I had to go back in 2 or 3 weeks to get the Stillen kit installed. Why that had to wait until after the 3.5 swap, I'll never know.

Moral of the story, he does good work, but runs a horrible business. And it looks like his business ethics haven't improved. After having to go through this, I would NOT recommend dealing with Tilley. I paid for a service, and I expect it done to satisfaction in the agreed time frame. That was not accomplished. Good luck to those that are stuck dealing with him.

 

Sadly, this isn't the first story like this that I've heard. While I agree Tilley has been a huge asset to our community, business is business. It's sad because he has the potential to do great business, but something along the way just isn't working. He shouldn't get involved with projects if he knows he can't finish them in a timely manner.

 

He's had my motor for over NINE months!!!!! ^@!%$$*&! Havent spoken to him in about 4 months. Save the details for another day another thread, but totally unacceptable.

 

^^^that's just ridiculous. Not sure if you have his cell phone, but I always had a MUCH better chance at reaching hiim then his shop. I'll give that to you if you need it.

 

I don't know why you guys have such a hard time getting a hold of him. I've gotten NUMEROUS things done from him as has my buddy and we've NEVER had a bad experience. Yes occasionally it does take a bit longer to get the job done but I'm always patient with him because the end result is awesome. I don't have a hard time at all contacting him via phone he sometimes misses a call or two of mine but always picks up. Even when I'm at his shop he picks up ALL his calls.

I remember seeing your car and the issues he was having with it. Trust me his intent was not to scam you, make you wait, or rip you off.

I got my engine swap, tranny installed, brakes installed, whole paint job, headers, SAFC II, etc, etc, etc, done from him all without ANY issues.

He even warrantied his paint job for something that was partially my fault. Took 3 weeks to get it done but the end result was flawless. Again it does bother me to see people are having these issues but I just don't understand why some people are having these issues and others are not.

When did you drop off your car to him?

 

He's done some good work for me too, but he's been ridiculously hard for me to reach as well for the past week and a half...

 

Trust me I was patient, I waited over 4 months to get my car back. I didn't say one word about this either until now. Quite frankly, I don't think patience is working anymore, seeing how so many other people can't even get a hold of him for several months after paying him. There's no excuse for that.

I believe you that he wasn't trying to scam me, and I would back that statement, at least for my case. I just feel he could have gotten it done quicker. Yes I know it was a lot of work under one receipt, but it does not take 4 months. Basically, while waiting for one thing, he could have been working on something else. For example, he didn't even touch the Stillen kit until everything else was done. While waiting for another engine from the junkyard, or as he put it, "waiting to get in touch with the junkyard" the kit could have been completed. Or even the paint job. Then after all that wait, he didn't even get a replacement engine from the junkyard. He said he was going to rebuild the engine. Then after a certain period of time, he ended up using an engine he ordered for another customer.

I’m not mocking the quality of his work. I thought the paint job he did was excellent, however the paint quality wasn’t as great as the paint chipped off the front Stillen lip very easily. I scraped the front lip and I would imagine the lip was bent a little which made the paint chip on the front of the lip. I’ve scraped the same lip much worse in the past with no paint chipping.

Speaking of warranty, when I went back to have the Stillen kit installed, I mentioned to him a rattling noise that I would hear in first gear. He just brushed it off as an exhaust rattle and wouldn’t do anything about it. Had I not been in a rush to get back home, I would have made a bigger deal about it. Keep in mind I live 2 hours away and wasn’t exactly easy to go back to him. I sold the car soon after and so I’m not sure if the new owner ever had that fixed by Rob.

As to why some reach him and others don’t, I’m not really sure. I get the feeling that he chooses who he wants to speak to or deal with. As I said earlier, he didn’t answer my calls, but immediately after, answered my friends call. That may very well be a cell phone with bad reception as he would always claim. Also, from his point of view, you are an outstanding customer with repeat business. Of course he’ll answer your calls.

Lastly, to answer your question, the car was dropped off on 1/17/06.

 

Sounds like he might just need someone to manage the nitty gritty...

 

hmm, I have had a hard time getting a hold of him in the past but I have talked to him a few times and he has awnsered many of my questions. I am still planning on having him build my 3.5 for me, but I guess I might end up having turbo95 do it if he's up for it.... Mathel? what do you say...

 

well.....you kno where i stand as for as recommending Tilley. He does good work like people say...but other then that....
as far as his intent to scam. prolly not, but with all the problems getting in contact, in the eyes of the customer they are scammed. If you've waited over 10 months and havent heard from him for over half a year, isnt that being scammed already? What if you had 2 sets of pistons, cash, and a set of fully built VQ30 heads invested already? there's so much more to my story then people kno.