Beware!! Another Engine Shop Nightmare
 

here we go again, this ******* in Wilmington ,NC named Marc Prinz of custom performance machine is a crook, liar and cheat. i sent him my 2 500 hp engines, talked with him numerous times and sent alot of money for these to be made 540ci/650 hp. this started in nov. it is now july, he does not answer the phone, makes up excuses, i hired a PI to go there and check to see what the f is going on, still no calls, finally went down yesterday and retreived all of my parts, he did not have some of the stock parts( said he scrapped them, i know it is a lie) and most of the new parts that i paid for he did not have, says he will send them to me, obviously another lie since the phones are off. long story short, stay away from anything with his name on it, he says he is moving back to the New York, Jersey area so you guys up there BEWARE OF THIS IDIOT!!! the horror story cont. because now i see all the garbage parts that he gave me and that is not what i paid for. i hope he has a good lawyer, so hold on *******, its gonna get rough.

Just out of curiosity...how did you end up going with him to begin with?

sorry, i left that part out--he was advertising here on OSO

Brother I feel your pain. Just went through the same crap with a worm by the name Greg Porcello of Porcello racing engines in Hattisburg, Miss. Everyone get the name.......
Read my post in this forum. I would, like you I'm sure, would like to beat the crap out of someone so un-professional. I had found that there is not alot that you can do without costing alot more money and time to fight it. 2 yrs and 15 grand in my case. Even if you win a money judgement in court, he can just "not" pay and a lean will go out on him. Better Buisness B. will not help once it goes into litigation. Then when it is over with, its buisness as usual for him. I have been looking and asking if there is something I can do to put the word out on this guy legally and save someone else. I am not a vindictive person but after this worm and his lawyer raked me over the coals and bad mouthed everyone and their buisnesses that actually fixed my engines, I feel I owe him one. You find out or anyone else knows if any more can be done......let me know.
You are right, your troubles have just begun. Good luck.

Sorry to hear about this crap, I heard of the guy.....selling motors on ebay..

well, i am going after him, anything i can do to make his life miserable, everyone keep an eye out for him, i have the engines at a shop local to me, they are good guys , just more drag racers than boaters, but i can walk them through anything tech,. i also found a bunch of people with compassion to me at the parts manufacuers that are willing to let me return these chaep parts for better quality stuff and just pay the diff.--he got most of this stuff from cp engine products, those guys would not help me, they did not want to hear, stay away from them too.

Good luck. I also kept alot of records, receipts and emails. (85 no less) In the end this a hole Greg Porcello had the gall to sue ME for 2,500 dollars. Then in court bad mouthed everyone from bad components (3 times over) and mechanics that eventually fixed everything. Whats really bad used the names of several people on this board that I got him in contact with to assist him, against me. Mind you he was just dropping names like he knew them. They were not involved in the case.
You make your guys life miserable I want to know. I owe this guy for the 2 1/2 years of trouble he has caused me. You have a case.
Good luck.

Bleachers, please give me an email at your earliest convenience. I was burned this week by the same gentlemen. I like to put together his lies and then go get his ass!

Bleachers my phone number is 504-247-5141 and my name is Tony!

Be Aware Of A LYER, CROOK, & THEIF -CUSTOM MACHINE INC. MARK PRINCE

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I am posting this message because this site has brought great knowledge, deals on parts, and friends to my life. It is sad to say that a business on this advertising on this site fell extremely short of the services that he was advertising and unfortunately the service that I paid for and did not receive!!! This is exactly what happened with this deal gone bad! The owners name and company name is:

Mark Prinz
Custom Performance Marine & Machine Co., Inc.
349 Military Cutoff Rd.
Wilmington, NC. 28405
910-431-0330
910-452-0942 fax
email, [email protected]

First, let me give you the brief setting:
Back in January of 2008 I shipped Mark 2 beautifully powder coated red World Blocks for Mark to complete as turn-key 555ci/700 HP Engines. He asked for half the payment up front and the second half of the payment once the motors are finished. Being the nice guy that I am, I sent him 85% payment up front (extremely poor decision on my part)! Six months later he closes his doors, keeps my $$$, and ships back to me only short blocks. So, I basically paid 12k$ for 2 555 ci/700hp rotating assemblies and very little machining. BAD DEAL!!!!

I have all six months of all corresponding emails between Mark Prince and myself. He has lied for six moths! Good luck and don’t let it happen to you!!!

Give me a phone call when you get time, 504-247-5141.

I forwarded the info to Nikki. Seems that felony fraud based on bank transfers, business license, and state insurance requirement deficiencies and such are the things to look into. Additionally notifying the State Attorney Generals Office through the local D.A. creates an investigation based upon the sheer amount of money and the possibility that he has done this before lending credence to a conspiracy with intent to defraud. If this could go from a civil case to a criminal case IE. conspiracy to commit felony theft, failure to report income to the IRS, (send a form 1099 to the IRS as sub contractor pay showing what you paid him as gross wages for a contracted job). While this might take a little time, potential tax fraud has serious teeth.

If the data base has no EIN it would be because the business is not a legal entity and has paid no taxes, it would follow then that the legality of the business is in question within the state in which it operates. If you can find out if any of these other individuals paid by wire transfer and have the documentation, the Feds will certainly be interested based upon the amount. I'll let you know when Nikki gets back to me.

This is the last email that I recieved from this CROOK!

Tony,
as you know things have not been good here. My health problems have crippled the company, which has forced me to shut down. We had all intentions to finish all remaining jobs in house, but with the un-ability to physically do the jobs, and un-quailified people to take over, and finances now totally depleted, I had no other choice. The shop filed bankrupcy Weds. and proceeding information will be mailed to all customers, clinets, vendors & suppliers owed. I really wanted to finish your engines, but without the remaining balance owed, i could not gather the parts to do so. We were lacking the 5k to finish them to our specs. So without having your current builds tied up in bankrupcy court/proceedings, I had Brian send them out as to where they were at. I was hoping four weeks ago I was going to feel better, come in and finish them, but all customers are tired of waiting for that to happen. I'am deeply sorry for the problems we have caused all of our customers.



Mark

This business is not a legal entity in North Carolina. It is not registered with the Sectary of State Commercial Division and is not a North Carolina Corporation. Hence it has no EIN number. This is a starting point to file grand theft charges against this guy, taking his benign civil case to a criminal case with repercussions. The Sectary of State Corporate Division should be notified ASAP that this guy is conducting business under an alleged illegal and non registered Corporation and using the front for grand theft.



http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/cor...s/CSearch.aspx



This guys attorney may be fictitious as well. Criminal charges need to be brought against this guy now to forestall any bankruptcy's and such. If it ain't legal it cant bankrupt in federal court where these things occur. He's about to head out and get lost.



Gotta get back to work, let me know!

I was ripped off by him about 6 yrs ago on a pair of small block motors. This guy sets up some very elaborate scams. Pretends to be multiple parties and all other such sorts of BS. Got some of my money back when I sent SOMEONE to see him. The trick, is tracking him down.

Good luck!

i have everything, including a that he has ever e-mailed me, including all the lies on parts lists--the shop that has the engines now has said that he assembled my heads, but all the guides are worn out, machined the cylinders incorrectly for what he was installing and never clearenced like he said he did.

http://www.ncdoj.com/default_contact...tionid=general



Above is the attorney general website.

Just to verify the non existence of this company, I called and spoke to an individual in the Sec of State Commercial Division. Again this company does not exist. On the Attorney General website is a "Internet Fraud" investigation, I believe this applies. Additionally a form to down load is available to fill and begin an investigation. It has to be faxed or mailed so I would think time is important. Additionally I would go to Off Shore and if the advertisement is there copy and print it as needed in the event he removes it an the investigator needs to see it as supporting documentation.

Also if you could get in touch with these other guys on the QT and register multiple complaints the investigation might proceed real fast considering he most likely has not paid any state or local or federal taxes either and the amount is large.

Hope it helps.



TG

GO GET HIM GUYS!!
Good Luck

Good Luck. Carma is a *****. Some day this guy will get what he has coming to him. I hope you get the satisfaction of doing it.

anyone who has had something done by him, maybe better think about having it double checked before install, just before i picked up my pieces, he said he just got done sending out 3 engines for a 45ft sonic. who ever you are, dont throttle to hard, they are probably gonna grenade

I`m sure that`s just another lie . . .

My sceenario about the same as yours. Saw his advertising on OSO and EBAY and let him sell me a bill of goods. Took my boat to hime last September and got it back in April. Was supposed to get forged JE Pistons, already had good blocks and cranks and he used them but didn't balance them like he was suppose to. I got new heads but the valve job was substandard as were the parts in the heads. Also was suppose to get Isky tool room springs, crower hydraulic rollers, etc. Long story short, 1 engine was never right. Decided to use another shop to look into his work and found he had put KB pistons in my blocks, no balancing, federal moguly lifters, etc. He had sold some of my parts but I got most back. If you want quality engine job I suggest MER Performance Marine in Little River, SC. He is a straight shooter as far as I'm concerned, and his work is meticulous.

well, thats it, my engines are complete from local shop and they are being painted tonight, hope to have dressed and installed this weekend, i will post some photos at later date

Well I'm Going To Say A Few Things, In Defense, Just For The Hell Of It. I'm Not Going Into To A Pissing Match, Because There Has Been A Great Deal Of Mis-fortune In My Life For The Last 10-12 Months, And Yes, Some Seeminly Good People Have Gotten Wrapped Up In A **** Storm That Has Stemmed From My Health Problems. My Creditability Is Very ****ty Right Now, And Only Time Will Tell Whats In The Future. Point Is, There Was Never Any "scam Or Theifery Intended" I'm Going To List My Side Of Things For Those Who Care Or Care Not. This Will Be My Only Post, So Anyone Who Wishes To Run His Or Hers Mouth You Can Either Call Someone Who Gives A ****, Or Come See Me In Person At 349 Military Cutoff Rd. Wilmington, Nc. As Anyone Who Really Knows Me, I Fuggin' Welcome Comfrontation. (1) Bleachers, This Was A Terrible Deal, Job Was Booked Right Before I Went In Under Medical Attention For My Problems. He Sent In Two Stock 502's In Which We Were To Build Tw0 540/650's Out Of. He Paid Us Over Time, 95% Complete. When I Finally Got Back On My Feet A Few Weeks Ago He Demaned His Engines Back In The State They Were In. At This Time We Barely Had Any New Componets In House. He Showed Up A Few Weeks Ago, Demanded To Have The Builds Stopped, And Opted To Take His Stuff In The State They Were In. This Was A Terrible Thing, And We Are Currently Trying To Work With Him For Some Sort Of Resolution, Or Something Viable To Show Good Faith. Even Though He Cancelled The Build, I Feel With 4 To 6 More Weeks Of Lead Time We Could Have Made Him Happy, But That Will Never Be Known Now. People Claim They Were Getting Junk Parts, But They Are Not Being Fair On Whats Fact. Fact, Bleachers Send In Two Severly Over-heated, Water Logged 502's. And For 6k Each He Was Getting Two Cracked Heads Replaced And Some Nice Mild 540-600hp Builds. No, He Was Not Getting Crower Cranks And Carrilo Rods, As We Were Not Building Pro-stock Engines, Just Some Decent Street Style Performance Bbc's. Nonetheless, We Are Trying To Work With Bleachers For A Decent Ending.. (2) My Friend 31 Scarab. We Were Building Him Two 555-700hp,s Again, Waaaaaay Over Due Delivery. Customer Was Flipping, Rightfully So, As He Had 12k Tied Up In The Builds. These Were A Little For Serious Builds, Coated Mahle Pistons, H-beam Rods, And Internal Balance 4340 Cranks. Also, Pro-action Alumn. Heads. Again, My Health Probs. Ate Up All My Funds, Sapped The Business Dry. Nobodys Fault, And I'm Not Looking For Sypathy, Its The Hand I Was Dealt. Was Really Trying To Finish 31 Scarabs Engines. Unfortunetly He Owed A Subtantial Amount Of Cash To Finish The Builds. Can't Blame Him As Did Not Want To Send Anymore Money. Expalined He Would Pay When The Engines Were Done And In His Possession. Can't Blame Him. I Bs'ed Him Around For Another Month In Hope I Could Find Some Cash, Finish, And Then Re-coup When He Paided Final Balance. Did'nt Happen... After Calls And Messages That He Was Very Pissed, And Also Wanted His Stuff In Its Current State, I Instructed One Of My Guys To Send His Stuff. I Went In For Surgery On 7-3-08 And I Belive On That Day, My Guys Sent Him His 2 Complete Short Blocks And Bare Alumn. Heads. Unfortunetly, I Still Have The Roller Cams And Some Other Parts That Were Failed To Be Sent. Again, We Are Trying Gravley To Produce Some Sort Of Resolution With 31 Scarab, As My Intentions Were Not To "ruin His Life" I Hope We Can Come To Some Sort Of Deal. It Was A Way Over Due Job, That I Could Not Complete Without Final Payment, But I Don't Blame Him After Waiting So Very Long, I Hope We Can Rectify Something... (3) Scarabman's Post "about Small Blocks 6-years Ago" Step Off *****. Your A Go-damn Lair And Never Meet Me. I Was Not Even In The Marine Engine Buss 2 Years Ago Let Alone 6. So Crawl Back Under The Rock You Were Hiding From. Your A Nobody, And Stop Trying To Be A Somebody On My Dime. "you Came Down With A Heavy To Get Your Money" Believe Me, If You Would Of Came Down Here Popping Off Some **** Like That You Would Have Never Made It Back To Nj, And Thats A Fact Jack. (4) Last But Not Least My Buddy Danny Kelly, Heavy Hauler. Make Up Your Mind Buddy. It Sucks The Way That Went Down, But I Offered To Fix What Went Wrong After The Boat Ran Hot From The Water Pump Problems, As My Bro. And I Spent All Day ****ing Around With It At Your House. That ****ing Boat Came In To Me, Back In Oct. Blown The **** Up From Water In The Engines From That ****ed Up Exhaust. Yes, You Got God Damn Keith Black Pistons And Speed Pro Lifters Which You Say Are Junk, What The **** Ever. If The Parts That Were In It Were So ****ing Great Why The Hell Was It So ****ed Up After The Engines Were Supposed To Have Been Just Built Before You Bought It?? I Hope Your New Mechanic Gets It Right For You, I Really Do. Yes You Spent 17k With Be In R&ring Both Engines, Rebuilding Both, Machining Both, Fixing Your Outdrivre Cables, Fixing One Outdrives Shifter Fork, And Them I Offered To Rectify The Problem After Over Heating, But You Did Not Want To Wait For Be To Overcome All The Other Stuff I Had At Hand. I Don't Fault You There, But I'm A One Man Band, And I Could Not Do It Right Then And There. Your Best Accusation Was On The Valve Job, After The Heads Came In Machined From Dart, Whatever, I'm Glad You Got A New Mechanic. Even After You Said I Keep Your "good Parts" I Paided The Freight And Sent You The Junk Back, And After I Credited You $1500 For All The **** For Good Measure. But Everyone Always Forgets The Good, Just Want To Run Off About The Bad. And For The Comment, "well At Least He's Gone Now" Naaaay, I'm Like The ****ing Roach After The Nuclear Blast. I Ain't Going ****ing Nowhere. I'm A ****ing Good Engine Builder And A ****ing Great Machinst, Who Doesn't Believe Me Or Does'nt Care, Fugg'em. I Had Some Major Misfortune This Year, But I Will Bounce Back. Again I'm Sorry For Those Caught Up, And I Will Do My Best To Make Things Right To The Best That I Possibly Can. And For Those That Hate Me That Don't Even Know Me.. Fugg You, You'll Never Get Out Of My Rooster Tail Anyway! Mark

Based on advice I just received, I have no choice but to respond to the previous posting by Mark because (1) it contains a number of factual assertions which are patently untrue with respect to the dealings with Bleachers; and (2) rather than call me today to attempt to resolve the issues between us as you promised, you chose instead to make an inaccurate posting on this public website. I will refrain in this posting from publicly reciting the curent situation between us, and without saying anything further, I recommend that you call me first thing in the morning.

patenly untrue?? uh,... ok... We will talk in the morning.

You are a phucking scumbag. :mad::mad:

So what were you doing approx 6 yrs ago??? You and youre POS brother? Yeah, you were under a differnet business name at the time. I forget what it was.

I never said I came down with a heavy, I said I sent someone to see you. Maybe you gave OSO first hand knowledge that I did not?????????????????

Make up your mind. Your excuse is you are a "one man band", then you are blaming your "guys" for not doing stuff you instructed them to. which is it? Do you have guys, or are you a one man band, or a lieing POS?????????????

There is a guy named 45 sonic on the board Ut Oh111 and you guys better do this thing quick or he will skip town boys!! gt on your high horse and get it done fast Hope all works out my engine is at the shop now!
-Mike

Just pay the $14,000.00 its taking to make my boat right after I paid you $17,000.00 to make it right in the first place and I've got no biotch whatsoever. All you ever had to do for me was what you said you would do. You know the money was never the issue with me. If your word's no good, you know where that leaves you. I saw your machine work and your parts selection on my engines after you were finished, and after I spent another couple thousand replacing electrical items I didn't need that you said were the problem with the engines after you were finished, so I don't have a feather to put in your cap, and yes the new mechanic was correct in his diagnosis of everything you claimed you did, but did not, and he's got the measurements and notes to back up his findings. You had already sold some of my old parts before I ever agreed to a credit for anything, and isn't it funny if my old stuff was junk like you claim, that you offered a credit and that you sold some of it. Mark, you are just making things worse than they already were, and all the while I thought I was the only one you had sh?t on, but now I see you have the patent on it. You're health problems could be your payback for your wrong doing, not your excuse.

Not before you settle up with these people. Try this, Sell your tools, machines, boats, home, cars, and your shop. Pay up and start over. Do this and you will bounce back, Stop blaming others for your misfortunes. Your acting like the reason they got ripped is because they didn't give you more money to ponder away. It's all about poor me, me, me. Wake up! Dollar to a donut you aren't man enough to sell and pay-up. But you will use these people's money to pay your doctor bills. Again me, me, me.



http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...20/PMU1112.jpg

Seems more like your customers funds, it's not yours until you've earned it.

Maybe you can use the rest of that post as an advertisement when you "get back on your feet".

I think he is sunk ANA who would go there now how will he make the money to pay back these people. SOL sounds like.
-Mike

He's not done yet Sick, when he get's on wel-fare we will all get to help him.

Hey VV haha great give him more money for nothing in return
-Mike

Mark,

You are a lier, you told me you put my engines on a dyno and got 685HP, that's bull at best 575. I did get them and they do run, they are not what I paid for. Only when it took forever to get them from you (until after I came there to visit you) you told me it was your son that was sick. Sick way to buy time. You also told me that you use to build boat engines in NY or north Jersey. You still have not given me build sheets thats probably because the parts belong to some of these other guys. Now I have to spend more money to get the power I want.

Mark I have two businesses, they do well, you do not seem to understand the diff between sales and profit or you don't care which makes you scum and probably someone the IRS would like to talk to. By the way your pretty small to be talking like such a bad a.. I think your just an a..
Hey maybe your health problems is what you deserve for ripping off all these people that work hard for there money.

Since the first post on OSO Mark has been saying he wiil make this deal correct with the remaining parts and cash. Mark, I need you to get my issues setttled tomorrow. I will keep OSO posted with the outcome as soon as possibly. Hopefully tomorrow!!!

Someone must have stuck that roostertail up his butt and he is having a hard time typing.

If you got 575 horsepower, you got more than anyone else got. Of course his dyno is a phantom dyno. He tells you he has it when he is reeling you in, but when it's time to dyno, he has a metal stand with a radiator and a tach, and if the motor will start, you get the Arkansas guarantee. If it breaks you get both pieces. My motors were out of balance so bad, that when I did get them to a shop with a dyno, it shook the dyno loose from the floor. You're not really a liar, if you believe your own lies. Also, when he got my boat it would go into gear just fine on both sides. When I went to pick it up, since he had not water tested it like he was supposed to, nor dyno'd the engines like he was supposed to, I made him start it up and put it in gear. One outdrive wouldn't go into gear. He had to pull the outdrive off (he had had trouble with it when he put it back he confessed) and he had to put a shift fork in that I bought at an outdrive shop up the street from his shop. It took about 2 hours, and to hear him tell it, even though I paid him $17,000.00 and got 2 sorry engine jobs that didn't have 1/2 of the quality parts I paid for and both out of balance, and 1 with a dead miss, and about $14,000.00 more to make them right, I should thank him and never say anything because he put the shift fork in the outdrive. Well thank you Mark. I'm forever in your debt. And last but not least, he did send back my old parts that he had given an allowance of $1700.00 for, less 1 dominator carb and 1 Dart dominator intake, so in his eyes that makes us even. I hate it for the others he sucked in, but I wouldn't get my hopes up about ever getting even. I think he operates on the strategy of "He was a stranger and I took him in."

They were only crate engines when I got them and they were not balanced. However a very honest talented man Art Lilly and his mechanic Alan made those engines run the way they should have. The 575 was just a calculation might be as low as 550. Mark did give me some bulls...t dyno that showed 685hp. Oh and the cards leaked.

Your engines were just in front of mine so you might have gotten the parts you were expecting, as he used my money to do your engines. I guess there was a lapse in front money from others when my work was finally under way, so he told me he was putting one thing in my motors but he used brands that cost half as much as the stuff he promised. When he decided I should buy new heads instead of use what I had, he needed another 4 grand up front for them. Said he buys bare heads and then puts better valves and components in them than the assembled Dart or World come with. Now that we find the valve jobs in disarray, with 3-4 thousands guide clearance and cheap valves in the heads, he claims they are brand new assembled heads from Dart or World, I forget which, and that they must have japped up the heads. On the balancing, he says he might have made a mathematical error when calculating the bob weights. After pressing him on the KB pistons instead of the JE's I was to get he says the KB's are just as good. He still claims I got Eagle rods, but they are not. I had good Manley rods but he went out of his way to change the rods to a length that would allow him to use the cheap off the shelf KB piston, instead of having to pay for the custom JE piston to correspond with my Manley rod length. I would have gladly paid more to have it done right the first time. He confessed the valves weren't Faria or Manley like he said originally along with the roller lifters which were to be Isky or Crower, but I got Federal Mogul/Speed Pro instead, and the cam grinder reccomended aginst the cheaper Federal Mogul. He did put the cams in the motors that he said he would but there could be an ulterior reason for that, as a check with the cam grinder has my cams purchased months before I became his customer, and he did put 2 Edelbrock intakes and 2 new 850 Holley carbs, but I guess that was because he had already sold one of my carbs and intakes without telling me and felt he had to do something to cover that over prior to my agreeing to a parts credit on my old parts. To make a long story short, I would have probably been none the wiser had both motors run right from the start, but when the one motor had a dead miss from day one and he steered me in a direction away from the basic engines to the electrical system, and with every change of electrical part nothing improved, I finally bacame distrustful of him and sought a second opinion. Once we removed the bad engine and put it on the dyno, things went down hill fast from there and with each new find on disassembly of that engine came a new set of lies from Mark to try and cover his tracks as to why I didn't get what I was promised.