Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

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Furi
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Vehicle: 1990 L300
Location: Queens, NY

Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by Furi »

Purchased my Delica in February and had a pretty awful experience. Reports I was given of the maintenance done on the car were pretty inaccurate and trying to get the claimed work done was a nerve wrecking experience and never completed. There are plenty of other dealers with good reviews but In short; if you absolutely want/have to buy from them, for whatever reason, have the car inspected by another shop thoroughly to make sure all the work that is claimed to be done has actually been completed, and that includes even the most routine as oil, filter, etc. Doing this when buying a car is generally a good idea; doubly true in this case. And don't take the car out of the lot until all changes are complete; specially if you don't live in the area.
izack98
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by izack98 »

Furi, thanks for the heads up letting us know about a possible issue with a Silk Road Auto's. However, I'm not willing to discount a business based on such a vague description of the issue. You allude to a problem you had with them but don't give much detail. To provide everyone with a fair opportunity to form an opinion could you please give details of your experience.
Furi
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Vehicle: 1990 L300
Location: Queens, NY

Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by Furi »

Hi izack98, What details are you exactly looking for? I flew in for the car and was there for 5 days, planned for 2, so tried to just share my general takeaway. And I hope you don't discount any biz by reading just one review.
runner1
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by runner1 »

Thought this was worth sharing.
expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/161909-WARNING!-“US-Legal”-JDM-70-80-series-Land-Cruisers-and-Hiace-Delica-vans-(Craigslist)
runner1
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by runner1 »

"Article from Expeditionportal", which is very interesting.

"The van in the picture was sold as a 1990 to a customer in the US, but if you run the VIN you will see that it is actually a 1992 model. I actually considered purchasing this van last year and had no clue that was the VIN on the window! The VIN (P25W-0614687 mitsubishi.epc-data.com/) is correct as these are the Japanese government export markings. This is the only time a VIN has ever been on publicly shown by Silk Road Autos, as this was obviously an oversight. You can see the advertised age with screengrab below of the "1990" 1992 Delica on the dealer’s website (link was removed). If you want to verify the accuracy of the free VIN websites, you can check vehicle details on a JDM dealer website with posted VINs like mendelsgarage.com/. After months of asking, I was only given the VIN to my vehicle on the day it was ready for delivery (Silk Road Autos’ owner Karim Quarishi stated that I didn't need it until getting to the border). I know this should have been a red flag, but as I mentioned in the original post… JDM lust!"

For the full article,

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/t ... raigslist)
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silkroad
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by silkroad »

izack98 wrote:Furi, thanks for the heads up letting us know about a possible issue with a Silk Road Auto's. However, I'm not willing to discount a business based on such a vague description of the issue. You allude to a problem you had with them but don't give much detail. To provide everyone with a fair opportunity to form an opinion could you please give details of your experience.
Very long story:-

Someone sent me a note regarding this post last night and I thought I would respond. Car buying is rarely a smooth and flawless exprience especially one that is 25 years old. I was expecting this post from this user as I was told repeatedly it was coming. It is absolutely true that he had a bad experience but so did we. In fact, it was the nastiest experience I have ever had since I started this. There was frustrations, miss understanding, some mistakes and miss trust on both sides. One thing he has left here which is really important is that HE DID DO A PRE-PURCHASE INSPECTION by CVI. The inspection, unfortunately, revealed the delica had a leak in the master break cylinder and another small issue. Both of the issues were remedied immediately.

Things got bad and then worse when this gentleman got into his van and said good buy, shook my hand and well wishes were exchanged. At this point I noticed that when he started the delica the glow plug relay starting clicking. All Delica owners would know about that click you hear at the back. Usually and not always there is just two clicks and then you can start the delica. However, sometimes there is more or is random. When I heard this clicking I told the buyer to wait until we check what this was. Most of the time it is the glow plug module and we had spare ones. So we replaced this but it continued to act strange. Since he was just leaving for New York, I told him that he should ignore this for now. We will send him the proper parts when he gets there and by then I would be able to get hold of my mechanic who had just left and went overseas. He refused and it was very late in the evening. I called the apprentice who came and played with a few things but the clicking continued to be random. Again, I asked him that we would have no issues fixing this issue but he didn't need to stay for this as all the fixes are very simple. He said he won't leave until this is fixed which would mean he would need to stay another night here. He stayed for a third night, I believe and in the meantime it was day time in Japan so i contacted the mechanic who was staying there for two weeks before moving on. The mechanic told me it was actually the sensor on top of the cylinder head or some where as I am not a mechanic. In the morning we changed the sensor which is 2 minutes job or less and the clicking stopped.

After this was fixed the situation got even wierder. At CVI when he inspected the vehicle the mechanic noted that the timing belt tensioner looked old. He didn't say anything about timing belt not changed but simply said it verbally that the tensioners looked old. The buyer insisted that since he already stayed another night he wanted to change the timing belt again as if the tensioners looked old it would mean we never changed the timing belt. On his inspection and repair sheet it simply said 'timing belt changed". Again, we couldn't contacted the mechanic and after several frustrating hours of trying to convince the buyer that tensioners were very cheap and it is not worth not replacing it when doing the timing belt. In fact, I showed him exactly how much we buy them for. So, if the timing belt was changed, the tenshioners would have been changed and it is always done. At the end I got so frustrated and left office. I told the apprentice to replace and everything the buyer asks for. This is true. Replace every and anything that the buyer asks for. He spent the whole day with him doing this and doing that and when I returned they were still busy with the delica.

There was also an error the mechanic made. if a vehicle comes with timing belt that has just been changed we won't change it again. He would then place a note saying timing belt changed at so and so mileage. However, he simply noted timing belt changed. But, he did take a picture of the actual sticker which he always does. The reason is the sticker on the engine can either be wash off when we wash the engine or the engine degreaser can actually remove the writing from it. So, he just takes picture to be sure. After the buyer left he sent me that picture and said the timing belt had been changed only around 4-5 km ago. But, in this case they always inspect it.

I don't blame this buyer and I admit his experience wasn't pleasant and neither was ours. But, he didn't note that he did do a pre-purchase inspection and the only two things the inspector noticed were remedied within hours. when he was about to leave, I stopped him and asked him to wait till we fix the clicking issue, I put the apprentice at his disposal for an entire day and told him to replace everything he asks for. I paid for the extra nights he stayed.

It is a very long story and not a good one. Selling car is never a flawless experience especially when they are 25 years old. Every buyer, every single time is advised that they can take vehicles to a third party for a pre-purchase inspections. Sometimes the inspection reveals nothing, sometimes the inspector may note things that my mechanic doesn't agree with and sometimes they may find issues that either happened after the vehicle was serviced or were missed by my mechanic. But, the idea that I would advertise having things done to the vehicle that hasn't been done is hurtful. People are too smart and I would have to be an idiot to try and deceive anyone. It is like shooting yourself in the foot and while I am not too smart I do know that type of business won't keep me here for over 12 years and counting. I have sold thousand of vehicles all across north america and while there is no doubt we have unsatisfied customers out there, only those with a vengeance would register on forums like this and write something of such sort. And, in most cases we are actually threatened with this.
Silk Road Autos (http://www.silkroadautos.com)- we have what you are looking for and for the price that you can afford
silkroad
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by silkroad »

runner1 wrote:"Article from Expeditionportal", which is very interesting.

"The van in the picture was sold as a 1990 to a customer in the US, but if you run the VIN you will see that it is actually a 1992 model. I actually considered purchasing this van last year and had no clue that was the VIN on the window! The VIN (P25W-0614687 mitsubishi.epc-data.com/) is correct as these are the Japanese government export markings. This is the only time a VIN has ever been on publicly shown by Silk Road Autos, as this was obviously an oversight. You can see the advertised age with screengrab below of the "1990" 1992 Delica on the dealer’s website (link was removed). If you want to verify the accuracy of the free VIN websites, you can check vehicle details on a JDM dealer website with posted VINs like mendelsgarage.com/. After months of asking, I was only given the VIN to my vehicle on the day it was ready for delivery (Silk Road Autos’ owner Karim Quarishi stated that I didn't need it until getting to the border). I know this should have been a red flag, but as I mentioned in the original post… JDM lust!"

For the full article,

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/t ... raigslist)
We are currently asking the moderator of this board to remove this thread by this user as it is a complete lie. This person never purchased any vehicle from us. he had a deposit on one of our delicas but backed out. Since this was posted, he has changed his story about actually buying the delica but just placing a deposit on it. Therefore, until that is sorted out, i would appreciate if you would remove it or at least read through his posts so you can see for yourself that it is a complete lie. You are free to share this with anyone any where but would be nice to wait and see if it is actually true or is just a smear. Read though his entire posts and his responses and then make up your own mind.
Silk Road Autos (http://www.silkroadautos.com)- we have what you are looking for and for the price that you can afford
Furi
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by Furi »

In lieu of the dealers comments above I would update my review and would recommend to avoid this dealer at all cost. Up to now I chucked up everything to misunderstandings, bad business practices, etc. and given them the benefit of the doubt at every step, to include my original feedback here. But I see now that the dealer is not above misstating facts outright which goes far beyond potentially being simply a badly operated business.

There are many inaccurate statements but to mention a few; He didn't hear the clicking noise, I did and brought to his attention. And he didn't keep me there to make sure everything was fixed. In fact he kept telling me that the random clicking noise before starting was normal, (it wasn't based on my own research and the mechanic present) and I was being paranoid and tried getting me to leave many times without fixing the problem. Mind you I was traveling cross US through the rockies in the middle of winter to US East Coast. Pretty much everything he claims he did voluntarily was requested and sometimes insisted on due to the dealers resistance.

And the dealer clearly doesn't understand that he is not running a non-profit org. If a buyer shows up with money in hand expecting the product they are purchasing to be as previously described; the dealer as a business can't complain about how bad their experience was in their efforts to try to bring the product up to par. Dealers comments with this regards is very telling!

And the list of things that needed replacement after two rounds of inspections(CVI and a consequent inspection by the dealer requested by me due to more issues popping up) are listed below. These were documented to be serviced and replaced in the originally provided report I was sent.

- Brake master cylinder leak (at one point dealer told me that I was overreacting about driving across the Rockies in a ~2 Ton car with a potential leak in the cylinder and could have just checked the fluid once in a while. That's the kind of attitude you can expect.)
- Non functioning Rear break lights. Indicator behind pedal replaced.
- Fuel filter (mechanic said they don't replace those until last minute in case the car sits on the lot. it was identified during inspection.)
- Timing belt tensioners (have pix of the old tensioner)
- Steering wheel boots.
- Glow plug temp sensor.
- 1 Glow plug
- Oil filter (have pix of the old oil filter)
- Oil
- Air Filter
- Broken muffler

Below Item couldn't be obtained and I couldn't wait any longer so the dealer said will send it to me. Never did!!
- Transmission(rear engine) mount.

There are plenty of other good dealers in the area so save yourself a lot of potential headache and avoid this dealer!
silkroad
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Re: Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by silkroad »

Sometimes we expect posts like this and in your case it was quite clear that it was coming as you were holding us hostage to it. If we didn't do what you thought was right, we would get this. When you did an independent mechanical inspection which I helped you with by the way. I took an entire day off to drive the car with you to this shop to be inspected. If I had to hide something like you claim why would I take a day off to help you choose a mechanic of your choice over 27 km away and then drive there with you? I trusted my mechanic and and I trusted the work we had done. Unfortunately, this shop did find a couple of issues which we looked after within 2 hours of returning. Post the inspection paper from this shop here and see if they found the same issues you claim to have found. If you don't then all of the issues you have noted were of your imagination. My mechanic was wrong, CVI, an independent mechanical shop you choose to inspect the vehicle at, was wrong but you were right.

You were telling me how you could have died driving across rocky mountains with a leaky break master cylinder and that is when I responded that you were exaggerating. The leak was only a wetness as the fluid level had not even been affected. Your claim of dying driving over the rocky mountains because there was a slight, I repeat a slight wetness in one of the seal of the break master cylinder was one part of your extreme paranoia which made our life a living hell for the duration you were here.

And, then the ungratefulness. I had to do nothing. The independent mechanic only noted two problems and one of them was negligible and a 2 minutes job. The second was potentially a big job which was the wetness in the seal of the break master cylinder. We fixed both within hours. I didn't have to do any of the other stuff you claim were not done. I paid for the extra days you stayed and changed all the things that "you thought" were wrong and this is what I get. Ironically I was afraid of posts like this and little did I know.

If you don't know much about cars and you don't trust the dealer then trust an independent mechanic you have chosen. You only trusted your paranoia and nothing else.
Silk Road Autos (http://www.silkroadautos.com)- we have what you are looking for and for the price that you can afford
Furi
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Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by Furi »

How awful!! The third party inspection..... I flew to vancouver and arrived at the dealer on a thursday. I had made arrangements to have the car inspected on thursday afternoon by a shop that was 6.3 km away. Once I mentioned the name of the shop to the dealer he was a bit uncomfortable as the shop according to him was a "competitor". In good faith I offered to take the car to another place; but I didn't know of any other shops close by. He recommended CVI. I called CVI and they were super busy. I explained my situation that I didn't have a lot of time and was in town long enough to purchase the car and they were gracious enough and agreed to squeeze me in the following day in the afternoon. So I delayed my plans to make the arrangement work. Now the dealer states this and the 27km he had to drive as a favor and something that I should be grateful for. This is the kind of behavior u can expect from this dealer.

Similar to above the dealers other comments are full of half truths, misinformation, and half baked conclusions based on exaggerations.

All of the items that I noted previously as needing replacement was not identified by me. They were identified by either CVI during the third party inspection, or the subsequent inspection done by the dealers own mechanic based on their own checklist. The same checklist I was emailed that documented all those parts as either serviced or replaced to begin with. To be clear the dealer now claims that the subsequent inspection/service by his own mechanic never happened and I'm simply making them up.

Attached are a few photo's of the "imaginary" things that needed replacing.

The only item still in my imagination is the Transmission Mount that based on the dealers own checklist and identified by the dealers own mechanic needed replacing, but wasn't since they didn't have the part and I couldn't wait any longer. By that time I've been there for 5 days having to take 3 more vacation days that I didn't have. Dealer said would send it to me; he never did after multiple requests.

And maybe this dealer expects posts like these once in a while because he runs a shady business that cuts corners, skimps on parts and will swindle his customers if given a chance. Why don't other reputable dealers/shops in the area receive posts like these? Maybe because they do the work they claim they have done, don't cut corners and don't call their customers paranoid or delusional.

Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this dealer. Pun Intended!
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silkroad
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Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by silkroad »

Well, I told you I am not going to send you transmission mounts. I will never be held hostage to your going online and bashing me. If my mechanic found all these problems and he fixed them then why the hell are you complaining? You threatened me with this if I didn't send you the transmission mounts and I can't give in.

I will not send you transmission mounts or any other parts period. I don't like you and never did. You are not a nice person at all so do what you need to do.

If you had the slightest decency you would have shared with everyone here as to what CVI found with our vehicle. Post a picture of the actual inspection report from CVI here. You surely have a lot of time on your hand. you didn't even mention the fact the vehicle was independently inspected in your initial post. I had to remind everyone. If they only found a break master cylinder leak and one other issue I don't remember what it was and you proceeded to purchase the vehicle based on that inspection then the rest is not true. It was nothing more than your being paranoid. You took advantage of the fact my mechanic was away and I couldn't get to him. So you had my apprentice by the ear.
Silk Road Autos (http://www.silkroadautos.com)- we have what you are looking for and for the price that you can afford
Furi
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Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by Furi »

Good lord. Check out this logic... The dealer didn't send me the part he was suppose to before, and now he won't send it to me because I mentioned it in this thread and bcz "He doesn't like me" and he can't give in to blackmail! So either way the dealer will breach the agreement with no fault of his own! :)

Does the dealer realize how ridiculous he sounds? Are all his contracts and agreements contingent on the dealer liking his customer? Does the dealer disclose that information to all customers that walk in? Is that written in his contract/agreements in lemon juice? How ridiculous!!!

And I was not clear after 8 months and multiple requests and hearing all sort of bogus excuses and insults that I wasn't going to receive the part the dealer promised me; and I was going to belittle myself further and request parts from a business/person that has shown to have zero integrity or any respect for others; so I thank the dealer for setting me straight on that point!!!!

And I don't know why the dealer continues to harp on the third party inspection. Its not in dispute. And if he wanted to shame me he could have posted the third party report, along with the first inspection/service report he sent me before the purchase documenting all the services complete, and the second inspection/service report by his own mechanic documenting the problems that were suppose to be serviced/fixed per his first inspection/service report. Dealer has copies of all 3 reports. If he hasn't lost them.

But the dealer is right. I have wasted way too much of my time dealing and responding to the half truths, misdirects, insults and the nonsense he spews out. And I'm sure it won't stop. I think there is enough information on this thread for the reader to make up their own mind.
silkroad
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Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by silkroad »

You don't need to wait for parts as long time ago I told you, I wasn't going to send them and ever will. Furthermore, you were not asking for parts, you were demanding or else you would go online and spew this out. That isn't how we work. Your paranoia was a pain in our neck when you visited us here and will continue to be. But, no parts and no service.
Silk Road Autos (http://www.silkroadautos.com)- we have what you are looking for and for the price that you can afford
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Bad experience with Silk Road Autos

Post by Growlerbearnz »

Furi wrote:I think there is enough information on this thread for the reader to make up their own mind.
Agreed. It feels like everyone's said what they wanted to say, and this topic is as resolved as it'll ever be. I'm going to leave it as it stands in case we start going downhill.

I believe this is where I say "Sorry"?
Nothing says "poor workmanship" more than wrinkles in the duct tape.
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