Roush crate engine/Chesnut-World Products outcome

[john chesnut]

John Chesnut here. I own a small Kit Car company, Dragon Motor Cars. I recently joined the forum as I am currently building one of my dream cars, the 427 Cobra. I plan to offer the car as a kit soon.
While checking out the forum I read the thread, Roush Crate Engines by Chris L. I made a posting about a negative experience I had with a 427 Motown engine that I had bought from World Products. As many of you know my posting caused quite a stir.
Charlie of World Products saw my posting and understandably was not happy about negative comments about his company and product. Charlie acknowledged that there had problems at World Products before his arrival but that stringent quality controls and a new attitude towards customer service had been instilled in 2005.
I won't go into the details of the thread, you can read Chris's thread for that.
I believed that Charlie was sincere. I offered to give his company a chance to earn my respect and a way to show Club members that World Products engines were now up to par and that their customer service was better. To do this I proposed that the take my engine back and exchange it for a Ford engine that I would put into my new Cobra. The exchange would be $ for $. I had spent $9000 for the original engine.
This was a sincere offer on my part. I didn't need an engine as I already had the engine/trans combo that I was going to put in the Cobra. I also had the Motown 427 complete with accessories, through trans just sitting around. I would have had to invest about 5K to use the World Products Ford.
At this point Charlie and I took our discussions private. For the past 2 weeks we have tried to work out a satisfactory resolution. I porposely have not made any threats of possible action if Bill Mitchell did not stand behind his engine. I wanted to give him every opportunity to do the "right thing"
Through out this process, Charlie has treated me with respect. He could have ignored me and he could have tried to discredit my claims. He did not do this. He, acknowledged in the thread and privately that there were problems with the company at the time that I bought my engine. Bill Mitchell acknowledged that the customer service manager that I had dealt with was a "rough customer". He acknowledged that their business had been in chaos and had a big turn over of staff and engine builders. Bill Mitchell jr acknowledged to Charlie that he accepted my statements as facts.
Bill was not willing to exchange engines $ for $ but instead offered a discount on a new engine of my choice. I explained that I didn't need an engine and countered by suggesting that he refund me money, at the same % he had offered as a discount, on the engine that I had already purchased from him. His response was that he would never pay a cash refund.
The fact is that my engines problems were in the past. But despite lip service I don't see any change at World Products. I am left wondering how many people are in the same boat as me.
I will let every one know what I think of World Products and their service. I will do this on my web sites and on literature that I pass out for my cars.
My advice is "buyers beware!" Make sure that when you purchase an engine that you understand what the warrant really is. Who provides it and what the terms are. Make sure you understand if the engine "combo" is dynoed or if the actual engine you are purchasing is dynoed. If you buy a crate engine with a used block make sure that there is a paper trail for that block. In the case of Chevy engines the engine ID number is removed when the block is decked. With out that number on a receipt in some states you can be denied registration! (Happened to me with another engine.) The machine shop can record the number and restamp the block. Make sure you get refrences for a company that you want to deal with and I wouldn't make payment with out having recourse. What if you dont receive it, its defective, or not as specified. Pay with a credit card where you can dispute a payment.
I build my cars for fun. $9000 is alot of money for me. I bought the Motown engine based on advertising claims. Having to deal with a defective engine and a company that doesn't stand behind their product is frustrating and definetly not fun.
Now this matter is behind me and I am focused on creating the ultimate handling Cobra. John