Hot Rods Is the Cadillac High Performance Website a scam now?

Placed an order last December 2 for some expensive parts. After a couple weeks, I called and talked to a rather clueless lady who said she would check and call me back. She didn't. After about 3 days I called again and she told me they were waiting on a part to finish the order and then it had to go through inspection. She said they would call or email me. They didn't. Called several more times over a few days and always got a recording to leave a message. Left one but didn't leave any others. Called again and tried extension 3 instead of 6. A guy actually answered the phone and said he would check. He called me back and said my order was ready to ship. That was 3 weeks ago. Didn't call them again until all the holiday stuff was over. Called again yesterday 1/6............no one answers the phone, only the recording. Sent an email to their "customer service dept"......no reply.
The guy I did talk to before Christmas told me he was located in St Louis and they were shorthanded that day due to snow. Their web site says their location is 501 W Hanover St New Baden Il 62265.
I looked that up on Google Maps and it looks like an old gas station that is now some kind of Tractor sales store.

Anybody know anything about this company https://cadillachighperformance.com/

 

looks like a road trips in order. you don't seem to be too far away.

 

Looks like 250 miles one way. Found two different addresses for them. The one I posted above looks like a former gas station or small store that became a car dealer and now it has some tractors parked outside. The other address is 431 W Hanover St and it looks like an old metal building. Found another phone number 618 588 5360 but apparently its no longer in service. Things ain't lookin good..........

 

I'd be calling my credit card company NOW

 

Hopefully you paid with a credit card. You can call your credit card company in file a claim to get your money back.

 

That building at 501 W Hanover St looks like it was a farm equipment shop when Google Maps took the last photo. That could have been taken five years ago though.
A look on Ebay shows that they have nothing in their Ebay store now. That might be telling right there.
Also 4 negative feedbacks on not getting items in the last year but real positive feedback on the Teflon tape sales.
Hopefully for your sake they just decided to take a long holiday vacation and are back to work.

Also I have run into some outfits that don't make certain parts until they actually get an order for said part or get enough orders for a run or there is only one guy in the shop that makes that part. Had that issue on the drag link on my T bucket way back in the Mid 70's when I ordered it from MAS in Dallas. finally got the "OH______ is the only one who makes those and he took a month off" sure enough a week and a half later the part showed up after ______ got back off vacation.

 

Called a couple more times today and actually got an answer from the lady who knows nothing. She told me to hold and went and handed the phone to the owner of the company. He assured me that they have been covered up and that betwwen snow and the holidays they have gotten behind. He is supposed to call me later today and tell me something.
I ordered thru Paypal, so I think I'm in good shape as far as a refund goes, but I guess I'll find out .

 

True. But there's a certain window of opportunity where what's called a chargeback can be done. More than 30 though less than 90 days (or whatever it is). After that, it's tough titties. Check with the card issuer. Don't wait too long, find out what the rules are before using the card.

 

Just got a call back from CHP and they "assured me" that it was a production problem and that I will have my heads within two weeks. Don't know whether this is something they normally stock and sell off the shelf or if they purchase from their supplier on an as needed basis. Apparently they get the raw machined casting and then assemble it based on the customers needs. They had these among other items "on sale" at Thanksgiving for 20% off which was a sizeable savings. So maybe they sold more than just a few. I tried to be tolerant of the holidays, snows, and vacations, but when you can't get ahold of anyone and no one calls you back...........you get pissed. The guy who called back said they were going to be working double shifts to get caught up. Hopefully they show up in 2 weeks. Thanks for the replys everyone.

 

Paypal has a longer window. I had really good luck with them in the past. Had a guy ship me a hyd hose machine. He made a POS crate to hold the top heavy machine and it beat the crate to pieces in the 1800 mile trip. $2000 purchase including shipping. The sheetmetal cover was bent and a couple of other small parts damaged. Found a supplier that would sell me the parts and ship em for about $100. Guy who sold it to me was a real a**hole. I told him if he'd buy the parts, I'd replace them. He tried to say we damaged it picking the pallet up with a forklift in a level paved parking lot and backing up 5 feet. No way did it get damaged during the 1800 mile trip.Got to be more about the guys attitude than the money. Contacted Paypal and they resolved the problem. Turns out that they have a rule about "high dollar" items. At the time "high dollar" was about $700. They don't do partials.....all or nothing on high dollar stuff. They refunded my entire $2k. I told them the guy would have to pay the return shipping cause I knew it was going to be expensive, but I was willing to make a crate for it. They said I was under no obligation to return the item and they would deal with him.
I emailed him again and told him I would send it back, but I never heard back from him. So I use Paypal whenever I have to do any large money purchase. Might be worth it to some of the others here who purchase things on line.

 

I’ve held my breath after ordering parts that the seller doesn’t stock but rather buys or makes once the order is received. I hate doing that but sometimes there’s not an option. Communication is really important in those cases. You should encourage those guys to keep you informed so their reputation doesn’t get tarnished.


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"They said I was under no obligation to return the item and they would deal with him."
Guess he show you, huh?
Penny wise & pound stupit.

 

I asked them if they were going to make him reimburse them and they wouldn't say......only said that they had ways to deal with him. So I guess one way or another they got him.

Had another guy that I bought a CD jukebox from......one of those CD players that plays 50 CDs. Said he had just professionally refurbished it. It arrived and didn't work. Contacted him the day it arrived and told him it was DOA. He seemed like a nice guy and asked me to try something. It didn't help. Took picture of inside the unit showing it was dumping the disc and jambing.
Then he pointed out that his ad said he had a " no return" policy
Then I pointed out that his no return policy was trumped by eBay's policy that "no returns" doesn't apply if the item doesn't function properly or is damaged.

I figure the guy wasn't really trying to cheat anyone, but probably not really making much. He would probably lose money . He wanted me to pay to ship it back and let him test it. Told him that isn't how the return process works. All this back and forth took a couple weeks and in the mean time I bought a better one. Like I said, I think he was a nice guy but really naive. I offered to send him my original unit which was much nicer than his for no cost other than shipping.......along with returning his unit. Figured if he could repair it he could end up a few dollars ahead for his efforts.
The point here is to make sure all the HAMBers know that "no returns" doesn't apply to misrepresented,damaged, or non-functioning" purchases on eBay.

 

I’m having an identical issue. Ordered intake and carb on 11/17. Was told every excuse in the book including some of the same ones as you. My order was lost and overlooked, power outage and snow, then the supplier was backed up and then they shipped it to an address three states away from me. Since then they have said they would overnight the parts. That was on 1/3. Now they have ghosted me since I’ve started PayPal dispute. After some digging I found that almost all their parts are outsourced from a place called cad co. The heads you ordered are actually on back order because cad co is behind. CHP is nothing more then an internet middle man and they have been doing this sort of thing to people all over. I hope you get your money back. Good luck.

 

I was told that they were "now" on order as of last Tuesday and should receive them in two weeks. Also told by the owner they were going to start working 2 shifts. Next day I got a call from an employee in the evening. So apparently they are working overtime to get things straightened out. The price on the aluminum heads is a really good deal compared to the regular price, so I'm "being patient" a while longer. Having worked in manufacturing I know that you can sometimes be at the mercy of your supplier.
When I worked for the government,at one time I was a "procurement specialist"......ergo a "buyer". Had a lot of parts to procure and many of them were ordered thru the governments own supply system. I had a contract for funds that was expiring at years end. My contact at the Federal Supply System (SPCC) kept lying to me and telling me a certain part was on order. Middle of November I contacted someone else and found that the order had never been placed.
Contacted my local sources and found that no one could manufacture the gears that I needed because they didn't have the right machines. Don't remember how I made contact with this company, but they were making the same part dimensionally out of a different spec material for the Air Force. I was really under the gun to get these gears before the funding expired. Guy was great to deal with. He had material red eyed from California. They sent wrong material. He red eyed some more......busted his butt to help me out. Before we shut down for Christmas, the parts arrived , the contract was satisfied, and my butt pucker was relaxed. Later, a long term lucrative order came across my desk. Instead of contacting my local sources, I made a point of contacting that company and giving them the opportunity to bid. They ended up with a nice job that they could provide parts for years to come.
Lots of other stories, but I know what its like to be at the mercy of suppliers. I wish they had just said up front that there was going to be a back order problem. Anyway, I'm giving them an opportunity to get this done and I will post the results here.

 

I’m having a similar problem... to a much larger scale!

Just so we’re speaking about the same group of individuals the contact to said company as follows:

Cadillac High Performance

431 W Hanover St

New Baden, IL 62265

Saint Clair County.

618-588-5360

Last February I contacted Cadillac High Performance in New Baden IL in an effort of building me a semi modified street build engine. Nothing race or high compression here, we’re talking about a basic build!!

At that time I spoke with Paul Lane (I believe his last name to be) he walked me up the long ladder of accessories and I effectively said yes to a 12,000 or so build.

So with the green light a deposit of 5,000+ dollars went to their company and 3 months or so later Mel (the secretary whom you speak so highly of) sent over an invoice.. YOUR ENGINE IS READY TO SHIP invoice! So at this point I’m psyched, the engine did well on the break-in and I’m ahead of schedule right? WRONG.

Months went by and the engine was not ready picked up yet? What’s going on!?

Within this process, Melanie Marie passed me back to Paul Lane , Paul Lane passed me to another individual Issac Duckett ... the so called owner that never returns any calls.

So at this point it’s now August or September.. Melanie Marie , Paul Lane and Issac Duckett all were dodging my calls! with no number left I started scouring the web.

My heart sank as I stated to assume the worst, sOoo many addresses and soO many numbers associated with this business in multiple states! Some go to cell phones and some to dead end lines.

So my next move was to look them up on Facebook! I noticed they post there somewhat regularly and have quite a few race cars! Get this, they blow up and rebuild back on the track but weeks later!! Absolutely amazing but here I am waiting for almost a year now without an engine.

So, as I should, start to tell the world of my experience on Facebook and social media. My messenger instantly goes off!! And sure enough it’s Mr. Issac Duckett ! .

One excuse after another, but he promised to get me my engine in a timely fashion... back in OCTOBER!! Week after week has gone by, with issues of the engine that had supposedly been dyno’d over a half a year before hand. Issues with the heads and even issues with the electrical systems of the shop! I’ve heard it all, now there’s ice on the ground and they can’t ship, he’s in SEMA, Issac is in Florida .. now the business is closed because of ice in New Baden IL. So as I step back outside into the web on this I came across your post. I’m sorry to inform you this is not coming to any end soon, if you look up yelp and yellow pages on this company you’ll see my reviews and even photos of correspondence thus far.

Even my payments 12,000 dollars or so, which is my biggest heart breaker of all.

 

$12,000 and its been close to a year? I'm not sure there is much you can do after that much time has passed. I sure as hell would try though, BBB, law enforcement, lawyer or even Nick, the guy who doesn't ask questions. $12,000.....man- o -man I have gotten into trouble for a lot less than that.

 

Hire a lawyer and have him send them a letter.

 

For that amount of money I would probably take out a out a warrant . Sounds like wire fraud if he has taken your money through the mail or internet and not supplied the engine for that long. They told me my head's should be in in two weeks .It was two weeks Tuesday, so I plan to call them next Monday.

Have you done an ID search on any of the individuals you mentioned?

 

No shit. Out 12k and I’d be making a trip to pay someone a visit.


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Yep, if I had 12K to send for an engine, I'd have enough for airfare as well.

 

3 weeks ago when he called you back and stated that your order was "ready to ship" he crossed the threshold from disorganized into liar. You have more patience than I do.

 

Call your credit card company and do a charge back. You can forget about ever getting the parts. It's not gonna happen. They are trying to string you along until you are past the point of being able to do a charge back. It is obviously their business model: Make promises until the customer can no longer do anything about it.

 

With all due respect, I wouldn't be handing anybody $12k, or even $5k without thoroughly checking them out and then doing business hand to hand. Good luck, though.

 

Airfare , paying a visit?? It does absolutely no good in today’s commerce. One phone call to the cops and now you’re the bad guy.

Understand it has been one excuse after another. He’s never in one place and now he’s selling his services and from another #.

I’ve hired a lawyer.


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payments via checks.


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Searched the company owner Issac Duckett. He’s all over the place, scams stemming back pretty far.

Not many of the real reputable caddy performance guys are easy to find. So for the younger crowd like myself, we are quick to judge someone for the better based on a half decent landing page.




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I would say this guy and his company need to be on the buyer beware list with the Hoffman group.

 

My eleven year old granddaughter could turn out a convincing web page in pretty much no time at all. Experience is what you get when you don't have any experience. But, really, you just sent some guy you found on the 'net 12K?

 

This is not about me, this is about awareness no?

Please read my earlier comments how this arose. The situation had many factors, the site was just a tip of the oL iceberg.

Do yourself a favor and call them up, scope out the site, speak to the reps and if you granddaughter is still capable of all that including the web, congrats.

They’re convincing, just as this thread’s author, this is my experience and a warning to those that might contact them for services or parts.


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