Mods For Rods
16728 E Parkview Ave # 101
Fountain HillsAZ85268
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Description
Since 2005 the company has been providing Retail - Antique Automobiles.
Member Reviews
Missed deadlines, shoddy work:
We brought our 1966 Chevelle to Mod Hot Rods for some upgrades and repairs. In the summer, the car is in Minnesota, where I live. In winter, we ship it down to Arizona and my dad drives it all winter. We made sure Mods was fully aware of this situation – which became a factor when we picked it up after they claimed it was ready. We met with the owner of Mods, Shawn Smith when we dropped it off, and gave him a very detailed page of notes outlining exactly what work we wanted them to do.
Mods quoted us a 2-3-weeks to complete the work. A new transmission was the largest part of the project, and he quoted 1-2 days to install that. The car hadn’t even moved from where we dropped it off after 1 week. We were frequently promised photos and updates, but we only got them if we called/emailed repeatedly to ask for them. They gave us due dates, but never met them. We were given a ‘final’ date when everything was expected to be ready. We used that date to schedule the transport back to Minnesota, with a 3-week buffer so my dad could make sure everything was OK, and bring it back to Mods if any issues arose. Well, they did not meet that deadline, but promised it would be ready in another week. They missed that deadline as well. We got them to commit to yet another deadline, and they agreed. When they told us that the car was ready, my dad went to pick it up – but they were still working on it when he arrived! He had to sit and wait for them to finish. On his hour-long drive home, he found that the A/C was not blowing very cold air anymore – this was an entirely new A/C system that worked great when we dropped it off. He also found that the engine was getting very hot in stop-and-go traffic. This had never been an issue with the car before Mods – it had a new radiator with new electric fans, water pump, and thermostat. When he got the car home, he found that the blinkers and marker lights were not working correctly. He also noticed that the clutch was hard to engage smoothly. It did not start to engage until the pedal was almost all the way at the top of its stroke.
By this time, we had barely a week to adequately test drive and identify any potential problems. My dad did manage to get the car back to Mods to look over those items, and they did some re-wiring that was supposed to resolve it. He got the car back, and basically had to put it straight on the transport the next day, or we would lose our deposit.
When it arrived in MN, the clutch would not engage at all. I had to push it off the transport. Being that the car was undriveable in that condition, I had no choice but to have it fixed locally. The transmission had to be removed to find the problem. The hydraulic slave cylinder was destroyed because Mods had failed to measure correctly, and did not install the correct spacer. The transmission shop and the vendor who supplied the transmission and hydraulic clutch kit both confirmed that the lack of a spacer was the cause of the damage and failure of the slave cylinder. That along with readjusting the clutch pedal and replacing the retainer pin for the clutch rod came to a total of over $1000 dollars out of my pocket.
There were many issues with the electrical system – this was the 100% new wiring harness that Mods installed. Somehow, it ended up worse off than the 50-year-old wiring that was in the car when we dropped it off at Mods. Turn signals. Brake lights, turn signals, and dash lights all had problems. The fuel pump came on with the key in the off position – something that should never, ever happen! A/C was barely putting out any cool air, engine overheated in traffic, radiator fans didn’t work - the car was barely usable. I had to take it to an automotive electrical shop, who found a shorted wire in the electrical system, a damaged A/C charge port, a damaged relay and bent connector pins for the cooling fans, and they also had to reattach the A/C drier, which was found hanging by a hose. This all came to over $600 – again out of my pocket.
Through the entire ordeal, I was frequently emailing and calling Mods to keep them informed of the issues that had been caused by their work. I got little to no response to my emails, a brief “thank you for bringing this to our attention.” From Shawn Smith on the first one, and a simple “ok” to other follow up emails. Eventually, they stopped replying at all. We requested reimbursement for the work we had done due to the mistakes Mods made – which has so far been completely ignored. I have sent follow up inquiries, but I have received no response whatsoever.
I feel like I did everything I could upfront to set the expectation for what we wanted Mods to do with our car, and they agreed. I have done everything I could have done to try and resolve these issues amicably, and have been largely ignored completely. This has been a very disappointing and costly experience, and I cannot recommend Mods for any project you might be considering.
I advise you to look elsewhere.
Mods quoted us a 2-3-weeks to complete the work. A new transmission was the largest part of the project, and he quoted 1-2 days to install that. The car hadn’t even moved from where we dropped it off after 1 week. We were frequently promised photos and updates, but we only got them if we called/emailed repeatedly to ask for them. They gave us due dates, but never met them. We were given a ‘final’ date when everything was expected to be ready. We used that date to schedule the transport back to Minnesota, with a 3-week buffer so my dad could make sure everything was OK, and bring it back to Mods if any issues arose. Well, they did not meet that deadline, but promised it would be ready in another week. They missed that deadline as well. We got them to commit to yet another deadline, and they agreed. When they told us that the car was ready, my dad went to pick it up – but they were still working on it when he arrived! He had to sit and wait for them to finish. On his hour-long drive home, he found that the A/C was not blowing very cold air anymore – this was an entirely new A/C system that worked great when we dropped it off. He also found that the engine was getting very hot in stop-and-go traffic. This had never been an issue with the car before Mods – it had a new radiator with new electric fans, water pump, and thermostat. When he got the car home, he found that the blinkers and marker lights were not working correctly. He also noticed that the clutch was hard to engage smoothly. It did not start to engage until the pedal was almost all the way at the top of its stroke.
By this time, we had barely a week to adequately test drive and identify any potential problems. My dad did manage to get the car back to Mods to look over those items, and they did some re-wiring that was supposed to resolve it. He got the car back, and basically had to put it straight on the transport the next day, or we would lose our deposit.
When it arrived in MN, the clutch would not engage at all. I had to push it off the transport. Being that the car was undriveable in that condition, I had no choice but to have it fixed locally. The transmission had to be removed to find the problem. The hydraulic slave cylinder was destroyed because Mods had failed to measure correctly, and did not install the correct spacer. The transmission shop and the vendor who supplied the transmission and hydraulic clutch kit both confirmed that the lack of a spacer was the cause of the damage and failure of the slave cylinder. That along with readjusting the clutch pedal and replacing the retainer pin for the clutch rod came to a total of over $1000 dollars out of my pocket.
There were many issues with the electrical system – this was the 100% new wiring harness that Mods installed. Somehow, it ended up worse off than the 50-year-old wiring that was in the car when we dropped it off at Mods. Turn signals. Brake lights, turn signals, and dash lights all had problems. The fuel pump came on with the key in the off position – something that should never, ever happen! A/C was barely putting out any cool air, engine overheated in traffic, radiator fans didn’t work - the car was barely usable. I had to take it to an automotive electrical shop, who found a shorted wire in the electrical system, a damaged A/C charge port, a damaged relay and bent connector pins for the cooling fans, and they also had to reattach the A/C drier, which was found hanging by a hose. This all came to over $600 – again out of my pocket.
Through the entire ordeal, I was frequently emailing and calling Mods to keep them informed of the issues that had been caused by their work. I got little to no response to my emails, a brief “thank you for bringing this to our attention.” From Shawn Smith on the first one, and a simple “ok” to other follow up emails. Eventually, they stopped replying at all. We requested reimbursement for the work we had done due to the mistakes Mods made – which has so far been completely ignored. I have sent follow up inquiries, but I have received no response whatsoever.
I feel like I did everything I could upfront to set the expectation for what we wanted Mods to do with our car, and they agreed. I have done everything I could have done to try and resolve these issues amicably, and have been largely ignored completely. This has been a very disappointing and costly experience, and I cannot recommend Mods for any project you might be considering.
I advise you to look elsewhere.
