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      06-06-2018, 09:21 PM   #1
pants
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Sonic MS- Bay Area

Update: these snakes Andrew Fang and Barrett Howard are opening up shop under a new name BESPOKE AUTO DESIGN INC avoid this place at all costs. They will mess up your car, lie and swindle your money.
Where do I start...

So I brought my car into Sonic MS for a small fix. I also got a lot of aftermarket upgrades installed on the car through Sonic MS.

My car was at Sonic MS almost 3.5 months. There was no communication what so ever to me about the car progress. Look through the pics of emails

Picking up my car 2 weeks later of what was promised to me. My car was turned over to me smoking at idle. I asked Andrew about the smoke and he says that is how n54 motors are with downpipes. I had to take it, as I was driving to SoCal that day to meet movers I got new job and had to move. I found and took the car to a well known shop here in SoCal. They called the manufacturer of the turbos to pinpoint the smoking issue, talked to the owner to figure out that Andrew did not upgrade the breather system for the bigger turbos they installed and now it burns oil which causes the smoke. This extra work to fix what Sonic MS did not finish = $3,015.51 (Andrew claims he is not responsible for this)

Below is a laundry list of everything I had to deal with Andrew.

-Invoice states Iconix R40 lug nuts with locks- Not on the car, just standard r40 which are much cheaper than the locked ones. Said he was going to send them to me, said that he is not sending them due to me not deleting the yelp review. = $260.00
- invoice shows 8 spark plugs for a 6 cylinder car, new shop pulled out the spark plugs that were changed to find they are ALL still OEM ones. So I got charged for them and they never went in the car. Because of that the coilpacks started to go. = $592.74
- The tires on the wheels are too large and caused the bumper to crack where it was cut poorly by Sonic MS. After our conversation about the tires, you said you were going to order a size down, but did not and instead shaved down the bumper for tire clearance. This did not work because the tires still hit the bumper and caused damage, even after clearly stating they would make it fit via email. The bumper having to be repaired and rewrapped.= $450.00
- The window washing reservoir was completely removed without telling me for tire clearance and now has a code that can't be coded out. This can only be fixed by putting the washer fluid reservoir in another location which is going to cost more money. This is still not fixed. I'm guessing this will be a few hundred dollars to fix.
- A large portion of the new headlights were sawed off for tire clearance so now a lot of the housing is missing, causing the headlights to wobble badly while driving. I was not consulted before Andrew decided to do this. New housings are = $1,200.00
- The parking sensors were disconnected for the front bumper from the widebody kit. Now, it is not working for the rear bumper, even though I was told they do work. This is now causing a code on the info system. = $100.00 to code out the error for this and the item still does not work.
- The Stoptech big brake kit were not seated by Sonic, they said that it is too dangerous for their tech to do that. But they let me drive home without properly seated brakes.
- Improper cutting to install body kit. Had to buy tools and fix it myself. = $200.00 for tools and materials
-Wheels are the wrong size. Andrew did not measure the depth he needed to make the wheels fit like our discussion via email with photos. Instead, Andrew put dangerous large spacers on the rear wheels and still does not fit and now is not safe because of the huge spacer. These are custom forged wheels he screwed up on. = $3100.00
BC Racing coilover suspension. Andrew put the wrong size suspension struts on my car. He told me he did not want to lower the car until I felt comfortable driving it to cover up his mistake. I tried to get it lowered here in socal, they said whoever ordered and installed the suspension did it wrong and with wrong parts and my car was at the lowest setting.= $1400.00

Grand Total of mistakes taking my car to Sonic MS= $10,318.25 wasted

Andrew and I agreed for me to drive up there with the car to fix:
PDC sensor
Window washer
Wheel locks

Only after I posted this on yelp and BMW forums he decided to contact me about fixing my car after months of no emails or calls to the shop. He was always out or never picked up the phone. The receptionist there actually laughed at me on the phone like it was a joke to them.
Andrew reimbursed me for gas and a hotel for the trip. But, he was only able to fix the window washer code error. He said he was going to send the wheel locks.

So after all this, Andrew Fang decided to not be true on his words. Decided to say he was going to sue for damages to his company and not doing anything more to fix the problems. Some time after that asking to speak with his lawyer etc. No answers for over a month.

I decided to file with BAR (Bureau of Automotive Repair). Turns out there are a lot of other folks dealing with the same problem, Andrew Fang.
The BAR agents went to Sonic and got a date set to try to negotiate the terms etc. for what we are claiming against Andrew and Sonic. Andrew turns up to the meeting, and we come to a conclusion that all the parts that were not the correct ones he would take back and refund me the money. Andrew said that their new manager Matt will be handling this from now on (strange right?). Also, we found out in this cal that Sonic MS does not have a license to do any auto repairs/ installs.

So I get to speak with Matt (sent on Sept 17th) and he tells me that Andrew is with the lawyers drafting up papers etc (on Sept 19th). Matt replies on Sept 21st with "Waiting on a few more details and will update you ASAP. Thank you for your patience and again my apologies for the delay."

Two more follow up emails, Sept 26th and Oct 1st.
Matt replies "Really apologize with the delay regarding this matter. We will be resolving by this Thursday. Thank you for your patience."

Oct 4th No response from Matt or anyone.

Oct 5th Matt replies "The owner just flew in from Asia he is meeting with attorney to draft up all the appropriate documents and as soon as I have them complete I will contact you first as this is top priority."

Then I have yet to hear anything from anyone at that shop regarding any of this. No answer for their number, no answers on email.

Andrew Fang shut down his social media so there is no way to contact this guy. I would highly highly avoid ANDREW FANG or BARRETT HOWARD... These guys will take your money and run. I've heard Andrew left the country now.


It's a real shame that folks are still dealing with these cowards...

Last edited by pants; 11-17-2018 at 11:50 AM..
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      06-06-2018, 09:43 PM   #2
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Small claims court time
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      06-06-2018, 10:09 PM   #3
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Sonic MS is known more for quality work than what you've described, but I totally feel your pain, OP, except for the part about bedding-in the BBK. No shop is ever perfect (even if they claim to be), so things like this can happen to the best of them.

You always have the option to get the B.A.R. involved, or take things to small claims if the resolution options have been exhausted, and you're clearly running out of patience.

My limited interaction with Andrew leads me to believe he's a stand up guy, and wouldn't let something like this tarnish the shop's well established reputation.
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      06-06-2018, 10:18 PM   #4
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Hey nars3000,

I see, thanks for the info on the brakes.

Yeah I thought so as well, but recently it's been pretty stressful to get things sorted out with him. Now he's MIA.
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      06-06-2018, 10:24 PM   #5
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That’s a bummer. Heard really good things about Andrew. Hope it works out so everyone can move on from this nightmare. Best of luck to you!
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      06-06-2018, 10:25 PM   #6
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Me too, thanks aBMWfan. =)
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      06-15-2018, 10:06 AM   #7
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Hi all,

Andrew the shop manager has agreed to fix the outstanding issues.

All is good in the neighborhood. =)
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      06-18-2018, 01:59 PM   #8
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Good to know but why delete the original post? Do members not need to know what the issues were before the shop agreed to fix them after you started this thread?
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      06-18-2018, 11:30 PM   #9
pants
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They asked me to take it down.
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      07-09-2018, 10:56 PM   #10
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I wonder what happened. I am planning to bring my car there but now after seeing this thread I'm not so sure.
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      07-12-2018, 01:19 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterF80M3 View Post
I wonder what happened. I am planning to bring my car there but now after seeing this thread I'm not so sure.
Hey there,

We always back all of our work 100%. Instead of posting on this thread, Andrew contacted Josh directly and fixed everything he was not completely happy with. I can ensure you we only do the highest quality work and always try our best to keep the customer completely satisfied.

Feel free to PM me with any questions you have.

Best,
Anmol
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      10-31-2018, 08:26 PM   #12
pants
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I updated the first post.

This Anmol person is full of s***... I have yet to hear from these scam artists.

Here is the link to their SUSPENDED status:

https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/CB...ubType=Keyword

Last edited by pants; 10-31-2018 at 08:48 PM..
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      10-31-2018, 09:58 PM   #13
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Good luck with your case, OP! Just read through the recent 1-star reviews on Yelp, and the amount of nightmare experiences is horrifying to say the least...

What in the world is going on at Sonic MS??
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      10-31-2018, 10:14 PM   #14
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I would have been mad I would have done everything I could get a refund and even more for all the stress and waste of time.

Last edited by Alpine_F82; 10-31-2018 at 10:23 PM..
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      10-31-2018, 11:21 PM   #15
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They don't even have license on the automotive/repair... that also means the quality of work is at risk 🖕🏼 I also heard many bad things about this shop in Bay Area
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      10-31-2018, 11:22 PM   #16
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When Darwin sold sonic I heard this place went to shit.
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      11-01-2018, 01:44 PM   #17
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Can you work with CC company and get refund?
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      11-01-2018, 02:12 PM   #18
pants
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Yeah Andrew Fang and Barrett Howard are scam artists. They won’t man up to their shitty workmanship. But hey this industry is small and you burn customers you might as well get a new profession.

There’s about 10 other people who are aiming for these two thieves.

Yeah working with cc company now. It’s a waste to do any sort of lawsuit as Andrew left the country like the punk he is.
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      11-01-2018, 06:17 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pants View Post
Yeah Andrew Fang and Barrett Howard are scam artists. They won’t man up to their shitty workmanship. But hey this industry is small and you burn customers you might as well get a new profession.

There’s about 10 other people who are aiming for these two thieves.

Yeah working with cc company now. It’s a waste to do any sort of lawsuit as Andrew left the country like the punk he is.
If the company is dissolved. You're kind of screwed getting any money back even with a lawsuit IMO...
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      11-05-2018, 12:07 PM   #20
pants
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterF80M3 View Post
If the company is dissolved. You're kind of screwed getting any money back even with a lawsuit IMO...
Yeah it’s bs. But hey atleast we can warn anyone from going there to deal with these losers. 👍🏼
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      11-17-2018, 10:04 AM   #21
pants
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PSA!

So apparently these snakes are trying to open up shop under a new name: Bespoke Auto Design Inc.

If anyone is in the Bay Area I advise to avoid that place. Andrew Fang and Barrett Howard will scam you.

🤙🏼✌🏼
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      11-17-2018, 11:19 AM   #22
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You guys should get the word out. It's 2018 and we still have these shady shops being open, I don't understand how people can't sue the crap out of these type of people. I'm glad that you posted that detailed thread and I think you should edit that and include the new places that they are trying to open up to warn other people. Sh*tbags.
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