I think this post will cause a lot of arguments & i may possibly lose a few friends but its all true. Im not one for getting involved in arguments but ive got to make people aware of whats been going on recently. My swb has been with a zed specialist and very good friend Lee Dent. He got it back on the road, which wasnt easy. The car was missing a few major parts including a prop shaft. I managed to find one on facebook, a z1 lightweight prop so i was really happy to find that. i dropped it at Lee Dents not long after receiving it in the post. About 4 months later, after a lot of crap with the swb it was finally ready so i collected it & dropped my lwb off with Lee at the same time. I was really happy with the swb but on inspecting it a few days later i discovered the Z1 prop shaft wasnt on the car but a standard one was. So i messaged Lee to find out why & he told me it was rattling & would get it fixed for me & said he was sorry he forgot to tell me. I told him not to worry just put it in the boot of the lwb & ill sort it over winter. I thought it was a bit strange as he messaged me about all the other issues when they occurred but not the prop which is a pretty major problem. Shortly after this i became aware of a rumour circulating that my prop was on someone elses car. At first i thought it was nonsense as lee was a good friend & wouldnt do that to me. But then i started to get more details & i became suspicious. I found out whos car it was supposedly on but i couldn't challenge Lee as my lwb was still with him. i got that back last week (prop wasnt in the boot like id asked for but he said that he would get it fixed for me again) so i started to dig more. i heard that Lee has asked Jimmer to make him a prop for a swb manual na. I contacted Jimmer & he confirmed this & he sent me the message Lee sent him asking for one asap as he had "borrowed" one from a customer. You dont borrow other peoples parts. So Lee is trying to replace my ali prop with a steel one. however Lee never sent jimmer payment for the prop so it was never sent. Then i got in contact with the guy who has my prop on his car & explained the situation. I asked him to look under his car & see what prop was on it. The next day he phoned me back & said he has a silver prop on his car & he took a video of it. Its my prop!! This guy knew nothing about it, as far as he was concerned his prop was a brand new steel prop so weve both been conned here.

This whole situation has left me absolutely gutted & even though ive known for a few weeks now im still in shock. Ive always thought of Lee as a good friend but cant get past what hes done. I even paid him in full for the work he did on my lwb even though i was 99% sure he had stolen from me. Ive got a lot of good friends on here who are also good friends with Lee. I know you guys will be in as much shock as me & i hope you believe me. Ive got no reason to make this up. Ive always been happy with Lees work and i know he worked hard getting my swb back on the road. i dont know why hes done this but i cant let him get away with this. If it happened again to someone else i wouldnt forgive myself.

I dont want any smart arse comments please.

Edited October 12, 20178 yr by t.mogsy

If Callum's here, as Lee's occasional employee then what light can he shine on Tom's issue?

 

Was just about to ask that Si.

So update so far is that we now have six members who have had problems with LA Autos

 

Tom with missing Z1 Prop

Gray with bad customer service and over charging

Jaikai with bad engine build and dodgy gaskets

Mondo with threats and drifting his car at high speeds while in his garage for work

Jimmer with unpaid parts

Mikey Bean with a customer who had a gearbox destroyed.

 

Any more problems then we would like to know guys. Still no comment from Lee Dent and he must know of this thread by now.

 

There are others Gary

Hi Folks , I don't post on here often . I cant comment on other peoples experiences but on a personal note I have to say that I have always found Lee to be exceptionally good , He has always gone above and beyond for me and I have always found his labour charges to be very reasonable. I am aware that he has had a lot on recently with regards to personal issues and although no excuse I can understand why people may have an off day and potentially miss things etc (were only human) I am also aware he has had staff issues with a few people coming and going which cant help. Luckily I work for a public organisation and am able to take time off if I am struggling in any way but as a trader I imagine this is very different. I encourage anyone reading this who any positives to say as far as Lee is concerned to do so as I imagine the positives outway any negatives . This thread all seems to be about the negatives , Please also bear in mind that it is in traders interest to discredit others for business (especially with a shrinking community such as this)

Me & my dad have our own business, sometimes work goes quiet sometimes we're manic, in both situations it can be very stressful. I also have a young family so I'm working all day, sometimes at night & weekends too, then I've got to come home & sort the kids out so my personal life can be just as busy. But it's never driven me to steal from one of my customers. I know there's positives about Lee I've said that all along but what he's done is the lowest of the low. It's all his own fault, nothing to do with other traders, they didn't make him steal or do bodge jobs.

I find the whole f@@kin situation sad and frustrating. I looked long and hard on the forum 2 years ago as to who would look after my pride and joy and was pleased ato see many, many people recommend Lee. Lee was closest to me and I ventured forth nervously wondering how it would pan out. We subsequently became friends and Lee has worked on my TT and my shortie as well as my numerous family cars since. Never once in 2 years to date has anyone contacted me and advised on any issue I may have needed to be made aware of, not one. Despite my obvious faith in Lee and my recommending him on social media/forum as a midlands based Zed mechanic at every occasion. I personally don’t know of any untoward practices at L A Autos and I do not have any complaints other than Lees renowned lack of communication, but i am now informed. I feel desperately sorry for anyone who has had their car unfairly treated in any circumstances by a trusted mechanic and I totally understand the current mood and comments being made by chaps who have points to raise, I only wish these issues had been brought out into the open before now and addressed, with Lee being given an opportunity to respond.

Lee has plenty of opportunity to respond and this thread being in public domain is open for him to do so.

 

I'm sure Lee has many customers who are lucky to never have any issues and even though I've personally has an issue

I can also say that Lee went out his way for me too and fixed my mother in-laws car when it broke down on the way to Lee's.

 

Unfortunately; the Bad stuff tends to stick in peoples minds more than the good.

 

My issue happened over two years ago and I dismissed it and never even knew the extent until last month.

 

I actually posted about it over a month ago but I did not name names and insurance settled and there was no benefit in doing anything.

 

I find the whole f@@kin situation sad and frustrating. I looked long and hard on the forum 2 years ago as to who would look after my pride and joy and was pleased ato see many, many people recommend Lee. Lee was closest to me and I ventured forth nervously wondering how it would pan out. We subsequently became friends and Lee has worked on my TT and my shortie as well as my numerous family cars since. Never once in 2 years to date has anyone contacted me and advised on any issue I may have needed to be made aware of, not one. Despite my obvious faith in Lee and my recommending him on social media/forum as a midlands based Zed mechanic at every occasion. I personally don’t know of any untoward practices at L A Autos and I do not have any complaints other than Lees renowned lack of communication, but i am now informed. I feel desperately sorry for anyone who has had their car unfairly treated in any circumstances by a trusted mechanic and I totally understand the current mood and comments being made by chaps who have points to raise, I only wish these issues had been brought out into the open before now and addressed, with Lee being given an opportunity to respond.

Can someone please explain to me Lee needing to replace a customer's (and good friend!) propshaft because he borrowed it is anything other than theft and terrible business practice?

 

Or how charging another customer for a brand new prop and then fitting a stolen secondhand one is somehow ok?

 

Or how lying to the first customer on multiple occasions about where his prop actually is is just an oversight?

 

Explain please! It makes no odds to me whether Lee's in business or not, so i gain nothing from all of this. I'll ignore the fact he's slated me for about 3 months now and ignored my attempts to smooth things over...

 

This boils down to one thing and one thing only: he's stolen, conned, lied to and betrayed a fair few people and, rather than come on here himself, his employee is responding instead!!

 

Tom asked him where his prop was. Rather than tell the truth, Lee lied. There's your bottom line right there!

Hi Folks , I don't post on here often . I cant comment on other peoples experiences but on a personal note I have to say that I have always found Lee to be exceptionally good , He has always gone above and beyond for me and I have always found his labour charges to be very reasonable. I am aware that he has had a lot on recently with regards to personal issues and although no excuse I can understand why people may have an off day and potentially miss things etc (were only human) I am also aware he has had staff issues with a few people coming and going which cant help. Luckily I work for a public organisation and am able to take time off if I am struggling in any way but as a trader I imagine this is very different. I encourage anyone reading this who any positives to say as far as Lee is concerned to do so as I imagine the positives outway any negatives . This thread all seems to be about the negatives , Please also bear in mind that it is in traders interest to discredit others for business (especially with a shrinking community such as this)

 

All posts are welcome Keymeister the good the bad and the ugly.

Keep to the facts guys.

Or how charging another customer for a brand new prop and then fitting a stolen secondhand one is somehow ok?

 

That alone is tantamount to fraud as well as theft if that's the case.

Guys, I think you all need to box a bit smarter here. There's obviously an issue, there's a group of you with some serious concerns and allegations. Just remember that shouting your mouth off on a public forum and making these allegations may not help you to secure a proper result. Get together and take legal action, box smart. Anyone not directly involved doesn't need to say anything but offer their condolences.

I had a similar issue some years back with a different garage and reached a satisfactory outcome. That is all I'm going to say on the subject.

sorry to hear these problems its a real shame such things should happen amongst friends, its hard going down here in deepest southwest to keep a Z on the road we used to have a good community down ere but I am the only one left now, I've been let down by so called Z specialists and am paying for it now, I hope some kind of arrangement can be reached we need a strong Z community and a reliable list of TRUSTED Z specialists.

 

dan

sorry to hear these problems its a real shame such things should happen amongst friends, its hard going down here in deepest southwest to keep a Z on the road we used to have a good community down ere but I am the only one left now, I've been let down by so called Z specialists and am paying for it now, I hope some kind of arrangement can be reached we need a strong Z community and a reliable list of TRUSTED Z specialists.

 

dan

 

There's loads of Z32s in the southwest mate, Cornwall less so but there's a few in Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire and Loads in Dorset. They just aren't that active on here.

No there aren't 'loads' in Somerset or Devon. A handful at best.

I don't want to get in too deep with this one guys but I can only say that I have had good experience with LA Autos. I'm in East Anglia and the recommended options for me was Lee or Jimmer in Bristol, with about 10 miles difference in journey for me, a couple of locals recommended Lee so I went for that option. The work that he done on my car I am more than happy with, not had any issues that I am aware of yet. He went over and above with the work that he did for me. I will state that when my car was there a wing got damaged and me and Lee talked about it and he fairly paid for the repair.

I don't doubt that others have issues and I don't know enough to comment on, I just wanted to say my bit that I haven't had any problems with him and yes okay communications can sometimes take their time but we can all get a bit too occupied at times.

 

In an ideal world I hope all can be rectified and everyone gets what they need/owed/expected but I know its not an ideal world

 

Darren

I've used Lee a number of times for work on my Z and I've had zero issues, I've even had parts stored in his unit for months and collected them after deciding not to fit them. I find all this news very saddening as Lee has been nothing but helpful and forth coming about work on my car.

 

I hope things can be resolved for those effected, but a reputation that must of taken years to build is in tatters in such a short space of time, because of silly mistakes and and poor judgement.

 

Shame.

 

B00m

Hi Folks , I don't post on here often . I cant comment on other peoples experiences but on a personal note I have to say that I have always found Lee to be exceptionally good , He has always gone above and beyond for me and I have always found his labour charges to be very reasonable. I am aware that he has had a lot on recently with regards to personal issues and although no excuse I can understand why people may have an off day and potentially miss things etc (were only human) I am also aware he has had staff issues with a few people coming and going which cant help. Luckily I work for a public organisation and am able to take time off if I am struggling in any way but as a trader I imagine this is very different. I encourage anyone reading this who any positives to say as far as Lee is concerned to do so as I imagine the positives outway any negatives . This thread all seems to be about the negatives , Please also bear in mind that it is in traders interest to discredit others for business (especially with a shrinking community such as this)

 

I fear you've missed the point here. This thread wasn't started by a rival trader - it was started by a customer who's had his property stolen and fitted to someone else's car!

 

Not just a random customer either. Someone who has been nothing but loyal to Lee and even leapt to his defence when he's been called out on his actions. His reward for this loyalty? Having his property stolen.

 

You and others may well have had good work done by him, but that absolutely doesn't change what's happened here. It's a bit like saying that, despite all the people he murdered, Harold Shipman was a pretty good doctor....

 

Any personal issues Lee may or may not have had are irrelevant in this. This is solely about theft and deceit. He didn't "miss" anything as he knowingly fitted Tom's propshaft to someone else's car (this has been absolutely confirmed by the owner of the other Zed, by the way - as stated in the opening post) and then, when questioned by Tom, opted to lie.

 

This thread may well seem to be overarchingly negative when it comes to Lee Dent but, when you steal and deceive a friend and loyal customer, negativity is usually what happens....

No there aren't 'loads' in Somerset or Devon. A handful at best.

 

In fairness a handful is loads these days, plus I didn't say there were loads in Somerset or Devon Si, I said a few. I can think of at least two in Torquay alone.

for your imformation reguarding ian smith that wasnt agreed that lee would keep one of his cars as payment... also it cost him his marriage when his wife discovered 1000s of pounds worth of car parts stashed away in the house that he had spent her money on . ian smith done nothing but turning up every day at the garage dropping more parts off to be fitted and when he was asked about payment reguarding the work carried out he said you can f**k off take me to court ill pay you 5 pound aweek . also not forgeting the multiple peoples cars as lees garage he tryed rooting threw and countless parts that went missing while he was around

 

CJH300zx, good evening. Thank you for your comments regarding Ian - as I have said many times, there are two sides to every story.

 

Now judging by your location; and the references from others in this thread, may I deduce you are Callum, and that you might work at LA Autos?

 

Whilst I might appear to question you, I am only thinking that, so far, you're the only person from LA Autos to come on the forum to respond. As one of this club's committee, I am only interested in the truth; and in the best interests of all our members. So even though the reading might look grim for Lee, he remains more than welcome to come online and respond to the allegations against him. I dropped Lee an e-mail yesterday, but am yet to see a reply.

 

In the interest of fairness, the door is still currently open!

 

Richard

Personal problems aside,I have owned my business for years and we have plenty of customers,but one thing I/we don't do is steal,ignore...not bad communicant I said ignore,deceive,lie or any other disrespectful way treat them,you need your customers to push your business forward, or is this just my mantalerty?? , I don't see how me or anyone else is bad mouthing this trader we are just saying how it is, WE never asked for this to happen! they made it happen to us!!

There are things that has happened to me that I don't want to elaborate on,we are just stating the facts that have happened.

Edited October 13, 20178 yr by gray

WTF? Is that even legal!?

 

How come Ian didn't pay?

 

Time to set a few records and rumours about me straight I think.

 

I was never going to return to this forum, but in light of what is being maliciously said about me, and the libel that is being written, I thought that before my solicitor gets the information I will reply to some of the vicious nasty items that have been said about me.

 

Sorry Si, I'm starting with your comment because you were the first to comment and not that your post was vicious or nasty at all mate.

 

Ian did pay my friend, Ian paid every cent that Lee Dent asked for for working on my Zed.

It was 3 Zed's I had stolen Gary.

Lee was never going to take a Zed in payment Tony, he insisted on cash which was paid to him.

To be fair I'm not sure Ian is completely innocent in that situation. & what Lee sold the cars for didn't cover the bill he owed. But Ian dissappeared so we didn't get to hear his side of things but I heard he had done it before to another garage. I heard this off a few people. But I don't know what to think any more.

 

Do you think Ian dissappear ingredients might have had something to do with the breakdown he had following this and other things that were going on at the time Tom?

 

How can you listen to one side of a story and come to the conclusion I am guilty?

 

Let me see if I can answer any of your accusations.

 

Please could you give me the name of the "other garage" that I am supposed to have done something too? Let's have everything out in the open and see where it leads.

 

You see, I have only ever had my Zed worked on by 1 other garage, the rest was carried out by Lee Dent at L.A. Autos or Keith KJZ32, but Keith was not a garage, and I hope Keith would state that he was always paid well for what he did to my Zed as these were closer to my home.

 

 

 

The other garage was Zedworld and JeffTT. I had only just purchased my Zed and I wanted it checking out, serviced and MOT'd, between booking my car in with Zedworld and me driving down there, I ordered a new stereo to go in my Zed. The radio arrived before I made the trip, so I put it in the car and took it with me, I did this because I wanted Zedworld to be able to see exactly what I had when I asked them if they could fit it for me.

 

Upon arrival at Zedworld (my first ever visit) I told Jeff about the stereo I had purchased, I asked if a) he was able to fit it, and b) if he could fit it the same day, or did he want me to book the car in again to have the stereo fitted at another time, and c) how much fitting it was going to cost me, neither of these questions were answerable without seeing the unit and fitting instructions, hence me taking it with me.

 

Jeff told me he could fit it that same day, gave me a price on top of the quote for the other work, and did it all that day. Now if Jeff is saying that I took extra work down there for him to do, why did he quote for the work and say he could do it? I think this is really petty, and this is the only other garage I took my Zed for for work.

 

Let's see if JeffTT can answer to this if indeed it is Jeff who has told other people I took extra work down for him to do.

 

Lee Dents bill was paid in full Tom, but a bit like your prop shaft all knowledge was denied or not answered.

 

Lee got a cob on with me because I threatened police action if he didn't give me my cars back, because all communications were ended by Lee Dent, I could not speak to him at all, sounds sort of familiar hey?

 

Tom, you knew me, did I ever give you any reason to doubt that I would not pay for services I had used?

Hi Ian, I can answer your question very easily, I have said nothing about you at all, you were a pleasure to have as a customer and you and your son were good fun to have around. I did not know why you later decided to use Lee instead of me but hey that is your choice and have no problem with that.

As far as payments for work or parts your were 1st class and no issues at all, so there you have it, someone is stirring stuff up and we can all guess who !

 

Jeff

Edited October 13, 20178 yr by JeffTT

Hi Ian, I can answer your question very easily, I have said nothing about you at all, you were a pleasure to have as a customer and you and your son were good fun to have around. I did not know why you later decided to use Lee instead of me but hey that is your choice and have no problem with that.

As far as payments for work or parts your were 1st class and no issues at all, so there you have it, someone is stirring stuff up and we can all guess who !

 

Jeff

 

Thank you very much Jeff, I didn't think for one minute you would have had anything that nasty to say about me or any of my family.

 

I only stopped using your services because you were winding things down, and Lee had been recommended to me. You and Jamie made us so welcome when we visited you, and you always had a good word for my children which was very much appreciated. Hope you are getting on well Jeff.

 

Ian