Recently there was a thread titled "Resto Problem" which was linked to the Team Chevelle website. One of our customers posted on that site and this Yenko site accusing us of switching his original 1111437 distributor with a restamped version when it came into our shop for rebuild and restoration. I have posted a response about this issue in great detail on the Yenko site stating that we did not do any such thing and that when we received Mr. Carlton's distributor it was a restamped 1111437 unit. It is because of this situation and the fact that I have several employees in my shop, I have implemented a new policy at my company.
Memo:
Effective immediately, all distributors that come into our shop for restoration will be evaluated and inspected as soon as they are logged into our system. If there are no special instructions with the job as was the case with Mr. Carlton’s distributor, we will contact every customer if there is an issue regarding the authenticity of a distributor. We will ask the customer if he knew that his distributor was a restamped unit and if he or she wants it returned before we start the restoration process.
In the past, if there were no special instructions that came with a job, we restored the distributor; shrink wrapped the part and packaged it up for shipping. The invoice was mailed to the customer along with a calibration report on the distributor set up. When payment is received for our services, the part is shipped back to the customer. This has worked well for many years without any problems, but with all of the fraud in the restoration world today, we must take extra measures to assure that something like this never happens again.
I must also point out that many customers do ask us to verify if their distributor is real and to call them if a problem arises. We have provided this service for years but the customer had to request a certification in their special instructions to us. All distributors will be now be evaluated before any work begins.
After reviewing our records, Camaro Hi-Performance has restored well over 1100 distributors during the past ten years. As we know it only takes one incident like this to damage the reputation of a vendor in the industry. Not to mention all of the anxiety added to the customer and his confidence in the vendors that he uses.
All distributors will now be disassembled and the assigned work order number will be engraved into the aluminum housing under the point plate where it will not be seen. This number will coincide with the job number on the customer invoice along with a date. When the job is finished, the status of the distributor will be evaluated on the customer invoice. If we received a reproduction distributor, reproduction will be written on the customer’s invoice. If the distributor is an authentic unit, this will be stated on the invoice. If we restore a restamped distributor, we will write restamp on the customer invoice.
By implementing a detailed protocol into our work order system, a paper trail and traceability for all distributors that come into our shop will be documented in great detail not allowing this to ever happen again.
We will also continue to restore reproduction and restamped distributors for customers who ask us to restore them. Many in the hobby do not have unlimited funds to purchase $2000.00 distributors and are comfortable with installing a reproduction unit. As stated above, any and all distributors will be verified as to what they are on the customer’s invoice.
We do thank all of the patrons who use our services. We work very hard to provide the best restoration services at a reasonable cost to our customer base. This situation was very unfortunate for all parties involved but as we look to the future, it is our belief that implementing these procedures is necessary to avoid any future issues like this.
Thank you,
Jerry MacNeish
Camaro Hi-Performance, Inc.
