The downfall of MRC..What really happened.
#1
11-19-2008 | 09:33 PM
The downfall of MRC..What really happened.
What really happened...
As some of you might be aware, I have made the descision to close MRC Motorsports for good, sometime this winter. I will go into detail as to the factors that made my descision.
1) My parter- My partner Matt is my head tech as you know, and his dad owns the property and building which MRC operates out of. Matt also works a full time job, and I have been asking him for the past 2 years to leave it to become full time at MRC.He never did, and works at a snail's pace as many of you have experienced.
He simply does not understand that TIME is MONEY, and when it takes 3-5 times longer to complete a job than is should, you start loosing profit margin. I have argued with him till I am blue in the face, made threats to close down the shop in the past, and everything remained the same.i have had to hire several different mechanics to pick up his slack. He does great work, just is really really slow. He will show up at the shop at 7-8pm, and proceed to take a 45 minute crap, smoke 3-4 cigarettes, and BS on the computer for an hour before even beginning to do the tasks I have left him to do for the night. He will often stay till 4-6 am and by his own procrastination , turn 2 hours of work into an all night or sometimes 3 day project. I simply give up, and have had it with customers harrassing me as to why their cars are not done and it took 3 weeks to do a 2 day job, and I loose money in the process..
2) Economic stress- As many of you know the industry is turning to crap, and with the bankrupting of some major aftermarket parts suppliers, it only seems it will get worse. Nopi is done, NHRA is done, HIN is dying, the entire scene is not where it used to be, and people have begun to tighten their belts for the worsening recession..
3) Warranty disasters- As many of you know, we had issues with engines we paid rediculous amounts of money for. Causing us to have to eat warrant jobs that we should not have. This is always a backwards step and cost us 3 times the money to repair.
4) The final straw-THEFT.. I actually caught my partner's dad (frank) stealing money from my jacket on 2 seperate occasions.
On the Monday after our Dyno Day I was at the shop, and I gave oliver off so I was there alone. I was in my showroom doing some paperwork and laid my jacket on the couch.I had about $300 in the pocket of it. My partner's dad does work out of the building also and was the only one there with me that day.I had to leave around 2pm to take my wife to the doctor's office, and since it was about 65degrees out that day, I forgot my jacket.
When I returned later that evening, my jacket was gone. I figured Frank had put my jacket somewhere, or possibly thought it was his and put it on.So I asked My partner if his dad had put my jacket somewhere, to which he said he saw it on the couch, but never touched it.
Now Frank is a real dick, and has been known to throw things out on me before, so I figured he may have done so, and not known there was money in the pocket. I honestly did not think he would have stolen my jacket and the money.
Fast foward 2 weeks later, Im at the shop, and have another jacket on with about $900 in cash in the pocket from a job we just finished. i was in the office with my friend Dan, who is a retired cop.I ordered lunch and paid for it and put the money back in my pocket and zipped the pocket, and placed my jacket on my file cabinet and proceeded to eat lunch. We finish up, Dan leaves and I proceed to finish tuning the car I was tuning.
While I am on the Dyno, Frank shows up and goes in the office, closes the door and comes out about 4-5 minutes later and tells my tech Oliver, who was with me in the garage, he was leaving and had some "paperwork" to do. Now in the 5 years I knew Frank, I never heard him leave to do "paperwork".
When i went to get my jacket, the pocket was opened and the $900 was GONE... Let me say this, no one entered the building except for Frank since I last had the money and he was now present 2 times that I was missing money/property. IMHO Guilty...
Now prior to accusing him, I call my buddy Dan to ask him if he noticed if i put the money back in my pocket, and if he was maybe messing with me. But he was not. So I proceed to call My partner and accuse his dad of stealing from me/us (MRC). He said he would ask his dad, I told him did he really think his father would admit to stealing money from his business/partner?
I say screw it and call the cops, who arrive shortly and begin taking down the story. They state that Frank is 100% a suspect and would be questioned. All of a sudden Matt and Frank show up, frank is franticly going in and out of the building and acting funny.The cop stops him and asks him if he saw my money, to which he stated that he did move my jacket to get in the file cabinet for something. EVEN MORE GUILTY IMHO.
While Frank is outside, the cop tells me he thinks Frank is lying, and I agree. The cop goes out and talks with Frank who dnies taking it but agrees to take the $900 off our rent next month. The cop asks if he is sure we want the report, cause it would be a 3rd degree theft charge and Frank most likely would get arrested, or if we wished he could hold off and let me, Matt and Frank talk it out.. I agree to hold off on the report, and hope Frank comes clean.
I go out and talk to Frank, who had both hands in his pockets and wont look me in the eye the whole time.He never acted upset that I was accusing him of stealing from me, which I found odd. Being a cop for 10 years, I knew he did it and was lying to me.I told Matt and Frank to **** themselves and if i was not a cop and would not loose my job for doing so, I would have knocked Frank out on the spot..I then did the right thing to do and left.
Later that evening Matt mysteriously found the money, behind a garbage can on the floor of a room I was never in all day, but I noticed Frank was in 2 times while the cops were there. Now Im no ****ing idiot, and knew that Matt finding the money, means his dad came clean to him and planted it and told him where it was..
This ordeal was the last straw, I have not been back to the shop since, and will only return when Frank is not there to do some small things and get squared away for my departure..
Now the good thing is I own the Dyno outright myself and will be removing it and either going on my own or taking on a new partner at a different location in the future if i decide to stay in the industry. If not I will concentrate on being a father to my children and husband to my wife and chock up thie whole ordeal as a learning business.
I would like to thank all of my friends and customers who have stuck with us throught the years. It will sadden me greatly to leave all of you guys behind as fond memories if I do..
As some of you might be aware, I have made the descision to close MRC Motorsports for good, sometime this winter. I will go into detail as to the factors that made my descision.
1) My parter- My partner Matt is my head tech as you know, and his dad owns the property and building which MRC operates out of. Matt also works a full time job, and I have been asking him for the past 2 years to leave it to become full time at MRC.He never did, and works at a snail's pace as many of you have experienced.
He simply does not understand that TIME is MONEY, and when it takes 3-5 times longer to complete a job than is should, you start loosing profit margin. I have argued with him till I am blue in the face, made threats to close down the shop in the past, and everything remained the same.i have had to hire several different mechanics to pick up his slack. He does great work, just is really really slow. He will show up at the shop at 7-8pm, and proceed to take a 45 minute crap, smoke 3-4 cigarettes, and BS on the computer for an hour before even beginning to do the tasks I have left him to do for the night. He will often stay till 4-6 am and by his own procrastination , turn 2 hours of work into an all night or sometimes 3 day project. I simply give up, and have had it with customers harrassing me as to why their cars are not done and it took 3 weeks to do a 2 day job, and I loose money in the process..
2) Economic stress- As many of you know the industry is turning to crap, and with the bankrupting of some major aftermarket parts suppliers, it only seems it will get worse. Nopi is done, NHRA is done, HIN is dying, the entire scene is not where it used to be, and people have begun to tighten their belts for the worsening recession..
3) Warranty disasters- As many of you know, we had issues with engines we paid rediculous amounts of money for. Causing us to have to eat warrant jobs that we should not have. This is always a backwards step and cost us 3 times the money to repair.
4) The final straw-THEFT.. I actually caught my partner's dad (frank) stealing money from my jacket on 2 seperate occasions.
On the Monday after our Dyno Day I was at the shop, and I gave oliver off so I was there alone. I was in my showroom doing some paperwork and laid my jacket on the couch.I had about $300 in the pocket of it. My partner's dad does work out of the building also and was the only one there with me that day.I had to leave around 2pm to take my wife to the doctor's office, and since it was about 65degrees out that day, I forgot my jacket.
When I returned later that evening, my jacket was gone. I figured Frank had put my jacket somewhere, or possibly thought it was his and put it on.So I asked My partner if his dad had put my jacket somewhere, to which he said he saw it on the couch, but never touched it.
Now Frank is a real dick, and has been known to throw things out on me before, so I figured he may have done so, and not known there was money in the pocket. I honestly did not think he would have stolen my jacket and the money.
Fast foward 2 weeks later, Im at the shop, and have another jacket on with about $900 in cash in the pocket from a job we just finished. i was in the office with my friend Dan, who is a retired cop.I ordered lunch and paid for it and put the money back in my pocket and zipped the pocket, and placed my jacket on my file cabinet and proceeded to eat lunch. We finish up, Dan leaves and I proceed to finish tuning the car I was tuning.
While I am on the Dyno, Frank shows up and goes in the office, closes the door and comes out about 4-5 minutes later and tells my tech Oliver, who was with me in the garage, he was leaving and had some "paperwork" to do. Now in the 5 years I knew Frank, I never heard him leave to do "paperwork".
When i went to get my jacket, the pocket was opened and the $900 was GONE... Let me say this, no one entered the building except for Frank since I last had the money and he was now present 2 times that I was missing money/property. IMHO Guilty...
Now prior to accusing him, I call my buddy Dan to ask him if he noticed if i put the money back in my pocket, and if he was maybe messing with me. But he was not. So I proceed to call My partner and accuse his dad of stealing from me/us (MRC). He said he would ask his dad, I told him did he really think his father would admit to stealing money from his business/partner?
I say screw it and call the cops, who arrive shortly and begin taking down the story. They state that Frank is 100% a suspect and would be questioned. All of a sudden Matt and Frank show up, frank is franticly going in and out of the building and acting funny.The cop stops him and asks him if he saw my money, to which he stated that he did move my jacket to get in the file cabinet for something. EVEN MORE GUILTY IMHO.
While Frank is outside, the cop tells me he thinks Frank is lying, and I agree. The cop goes out and talks with Frank who dnies taking it but agrees to take the $900 off our rent next month. The cop asks if he is sure we want the report, cause it would be a 3rd degree theft charge and Frank most likely would get arrested, or if we wished he could hold off and let me, Matt and Frank talk it out.. I agree to hold off on the report, and hope Frank comes clean.
I go out and talk to Frank, who had both hands in his pockets and wont look me in the eye the whole time.He never acted upset that I was accusing him of stealing from me, which I found odd. Being a cop for 10 years, I knew he did it and was lying to me.I told Matt and Frank to **** themselves and if i was not a cop and would not loose my job for doing so, I would have knocked Frank out on the spot..I then did the right thing to do and left.
Later that evening Matt mysteriously found the money, behind a garbage can on the floor of a room I was never in all day, but I noticed Frank was in 2 times while the cops were there. Now Im no ****ing idiot, and knew that Matt finding the money, means his dad came clean to him and planted it and told him where it was..
This ordeal was the last straw, I have not been back to the shop since, and will only return when Frank is not there to do some small things and get squared away for my departure..
Now the good thing is I own the Dyno outright myself and will be removing it and either going on my own or taking on a new partner at a different location in the future if i decide to stay in the industry. If not I will concentrate on being a father to my children and husband to my wife and chock up thie whole ordeal as a learning business.
I would like to thank all of my friends and customers who have stuck with us throught the years. It will sadden me greatly to leave all of you guys behind as fond memories if I do..
#3
11-19-2008 | 10:00 PM
Originally Posted by express705
intresting stuff, but doesnt seem like a reason to close up shop.
i wish you well in your adventures.
i wish you well in your adventures.
Best of luck Julian. I hope everything works out for the best.
#4
11-19-2008 | 10:12 PM
thank you.
I will be closing this one as it appears to be "For Your Information" thread.
The G35 community wishes you the best of luck.
If there is reason for me to re-open, please feel free to PM me.
EDIT: re-opened against my better judgement. let's keep this thread positive.
I will be closing this one as it appears to be "For Your Information" thread.
The G35 community wishes you the best of luck.
If there is reason for me to re-open, please feel free to PM me.
EDIT: re-opened against my better judgement. let's keep this thread positive.
Last edited by drsifu1; 11-19-2008 at 10:21 PM.
#7
11-19-2008 | 10:39 PM
Guest
Posts: n/a
What happens to all the past customers? What if they ever need some updating? You still gonna be doing some work on them I figure?
Trending Topics
#14
11-20-2008 | 10:47 AM
Most likely Im gonna take my Dyno and go mobile, from shop to shop that dont have dynos, letting them use it to tune, and doing tuning myself. My dyno is small enough that i can load it into a van and go to your location..
