Beware of Rivsu Imports

[living4surf]

This is my experience there were a few other small problems but this is the one that has made it so i refuse to work with them. this is just a warning you can believe me or not.



When i was first looking to purchase my skyline Rivsu Imports posted pretty much exactly what I was looking other than it had an automatic transmission. After contacting them about it through Facebook I was told they could do the conversion for $500 including parts and labor which was a great deal so I went ahead and paid them a deposit after asking a series of other questions on Facebook and email. One of those questions being whether the conversion would be done once it arrives in Florida or if it was going to be done before it left Japan, and was told it would be done after they received it at the Florida facility and that the parts would arrive shortly after the car. I had them invoice me for the rest of the car and the conversion separately, so it would be right in my records, but was told to not pay for the conversion because they weren't sure on the price of the parts yet but it would be about $800 for the parts (later on this would change to $700). Ok weird that the price went up figured someone made a mistake before I bought the car or now but I let it go since the price was still decent. shortly before my car was to arrive I was in the area for work and stopped by to meet everyone in person and was told again that the parts should be here about a month after the car, but they had a couple things coming in before that and maybe it would be sooner. Also talked about whether they were doing it or if i was going to do the work, which i said depended on what the labor cost would roughly come out to since i could do the work myself it's just a struggle to find the time and to do it without a lift. I ended up waiting a couple months for the parts to arrive after a received my car, and when i saw the parts shipment had arrived on Facebook I asked if my conversion was included in the shipment where i was told yes, but i sent over an email also just to make sure. I was told they were ready, but they didn't have a mechanic anymore to do the conversion if i was planning on having them do it. I told them it was fine i would just do it myself, so I made the trip up there the next week (about 2.5 hour drive one way) when I got there no one knew I was coming apparently even though I emailed saying i was actually going to be there two days earlier than i actually made it which I got a response to, but no big deal people forget to pass along messages. The real problem came in that they told me they could not sell me the parts without doing the work because they couldn't check to see condition until it was running in a car or some nonsense they also said they didn’t know what they were supposed to charge me which i told them i had been quoted $700 for just the parts. At this point i was pretty annoyed that i just made a trip there to get the parts which i was told were ready to find out they wouldn't even sell them to me. Well James (general manager) gets on the phone with Steve and comes back and said that they had a mechanic starting in two weeks but he was going to start working odd hours right away and that they were going to do the whole conversion for $700 parts and labor. I then had a couple minute conversation with James about if he was sure because I had been told $700 for just parts he assured me that it would be 700 for everything and that they wouldn't be happy until i was in my 5 speed car, and apologized several times for the confusion and making the trip for nothing. At the same time we talked about their grand opening they were hosting and I said that i would come up if i could drop the car off at the same time but that it was a long drive just to come up for that. James told me he would message me and let me know once he talked to his mechanic and Steve. two days later i got a message on Facebook saying that if i wanted i could drop the car off at the grand opening but that the mechanic would still wouldn't be working full time so if I needed a 2-3 day turn around to wait until the beginning of November. It’s a long drive and with work i probably wouldn't be able to get it the same week i dropped it off anyways so i went ahead and dropped it off at the Grand Opening.

About a week and a half later i hadn't heard from anyone there so i messaged James and he replied saying that it hadn't been worked on and that there were two cars ahead of me. I was trying to get the car ready for simply clean so i told him on the phone that if they couldn't get it done by the 12th or first thing on the morning of the 13th that i needed to come pick up my car and the parts if they wanted to sell them alone or just my car if they wouldn't sell the parts. On this call he again told me that it was $700 for parts and labor, and that he would talk to the mechanic and let me know if they could meet the deadline i needed. He messaged me the later saying they could get it done. On the 12th i called to make sure i could get it first thing the next morning and was told that the bushing on the drive shaft was bad and they were trying to source one and that it would not be ready. At this point i was pretty annoyed they had the car for almost three weeks and no one checked the parts over until they went to install them, but they got a replacement and the car was ready in the afternoon on the 14th (didn't give me enough time to get what i wanted to get done for simply clean but at least i was going to have my car back)

I get to Rivsu and they were just finishing up the car I go to pay and am told its going to be just over $1400, so I ask why when i was told it would be $700 the person didn't know and went and got James who tells me that he told me it was $700 but that was a mistake and that he corrected himself and said it would be at the very least $1000 as the $700 was for parts only which was absolutely never said, and we even had a conversation about it because that was not the original quote and how they were including labor now. Now i was furious not over the price but because that's not i was told when they made me come up there then wouldn't sell me the parts. James called Steve came back and said that's the price left with no choice since they had my car I paid them and went to leave. Their mechanic brought the car around and told me that they had not replaced the cluster surround with the manual one since they didn't have it. he also goes on to explain how he couldn't figure out how to wire the reverse lights and that if he does figure it out later he would let me know.

I left as angry as i have ever been go home and write to Steve about it who tells me that he can’t help it if his employees made mistakes and that their quotes don't matter if he doesn't agree to it and that what was said by his general manager is between me and him and not his company. And his only offer was to give them back the car that they just had for 20 days they would return it to stock and refund me. Obviously I'm not going to give them back my car after I had been lied to since who knows what would of happened then.

Needless to say I will be Using a new importer in February when I'm going to be picking up a silvia and making sure everyone i know is aware that they can’t stick to a promise, lie, are so increasingly disorganized or whatever they want to claim happened here, and they also don’t have a mechanic that can do something as simple as a complete 5 speed conversion.