heck with the regular 4x4 raptor - get the 6x6 Velociraptor!

[Tonecapone]

Hit google and type in Hennescrewed and you'll have plenty of entertainment

Here's why:
excerpts taken from other auto forums when I googled:



Ninety-eight percent of his customers love him, John Hennessey says. But a few hate him and some have sued...According to a lawsuit filed in Salt Lake City, Utah resident Taig Stewart sent his Viper GTS to Hennessey last May for an engine upgrade to 1100 hp along with several other modifications. For that he wire-transferred $142,500 to Hennessey. The lawsuit states the parties agreed the car would be done by mid-July 2001. As of press time the car was still sitting under a tarp in Hennessey’s shop in Houston. Or most of the car, anyway. Stewart’s suit claims Hennessey sold the car’s engine, transmission, wheels, tires and hood. The suit seeks return of the money, the Viper and “no less than $1 million” in punitive damages.

Hennessey claims he’s just slow in getting the work done.



Stewart is not the first unsatisfied customer. The longer we dug the more dissatisfaction we found. Here’s a sampling:

On Nov. 14 a New Jersey court entered a final judgement of $133,674 against Hennessey on behalf of Viper owner Gary Dan for a botched conversion.

William Walters said he is out over $22,000 after shipping his Corvette to Hennessey for a head and cam package that was never done; he did have five rods bent and a head gasket damaged on the dyno in Hennessey’s shop during an experiment Hennessey tried with nitrous oxide.

Jerry Johnson said he had to file suit in Placer County Court in California to straighten out registration and engine computer problems on a Viper he bought from Hennessey. n Jon Belinkie said he loves the changes made to his Viper but had to sue in his home state of Maryland, then register the judgement in Texas, to recover overcharges Hennessey made on his American Express card.

Rick Ryan said he had to hound Hennessey for eight months by long distance from Marietta, Georgia, to put the proper wing and stripes on his Viper.

Mark Lublin said he sent his Viper cylinder heads to Hennessey for new valves but when the heads came back he found the “new” valves were actually used; a cam that was delivered to Lublin in a Hennessey box turned out to be a stock Chrysler cam. Lublin was finally refunded $5,715 from American Express but only after nine months of disputing the charge; and he got no money from Hennessey.

Bruce Iannatuono said he ordered $8,500 worth of Hennessey parts for his mechanic in Baltimore to install but was only able to use two-thirds of what was shipped, and then only after haranguing Hennessey for six months on an order that was originally promised in five weeks.



He's also quick to glaze over/ignore his past scamming. I remember reading an interview where he had some pity story about how his shop was failing and God gave him another chance because he's so damn special. A while back he was on this forum, and his response to every question about his shady practices was 'check out how fast my cars are.' He was actually known for drunk online tirades, mostly on other forums.

Not to bash anyone but Hennessey does not sound like a reliable resource. He wouldn't touch my lawnmower much less my truck .
Tone

 

[SZDZMTR]

Wow, i did not think that Hennessey was so "famous" on other forums like this one. Coming from a viper forum i knew his rotten reputation but this just blows my mind. How the hell does he stay in business. Is it a rob Peter to pay Paul type of scenario?

 

[39Mustang]

Anyone who pays $300k for a botched Raptor should have their money taken away from them! There will be a professional athlete or famous actor even a big name musician who can easily afford this and will order one because they are so uninformed about Hennessey and the Hot Rod aftermarket arena. Its a Raptor with 2 extra wheels that's it. The Mercedes is so far superior in every way those at Mercedes and in Austria where its built are rolling around the floor laughing. WTF does Hennessey know about off-roading anyway! If you wanted a super custom 4x4 and money was no object I'd go to these off-road racing teams who actually run Baja and other truck racing because that is what they do for a living unlike the idiot in Texas who thinks he invented super fast sports cars. Son, Carroll Shelby was doing that before you were born

 

[mahabali]

Guys a ****... Met him in the late 90s when he was just starting doing vipers, he was a **** then and still is. ****** over lots of guys in the Viper club. How he is still in business boggles my mind.

 

[raptor36]

Guys a ****... Met him in the late 90s when he was just starting doing vipers, he was a **** then and still is. ****** over lots of guys in the Viper club. How he is still in business boggles my mind.

Maybe he gives good ******** leaving his customers with botched vehicles and "genie toes"

 

[Craigy]

The way he stays in business is by ******* over clients so hard that it'd be hard not to make money.

His business model for Vipers was:
a) build press car and wine and dine press who write glowing review that you read
b) sell you some venom upgrade for your viper with ridiculous markup
c) take your viper from you
d) sell all the parts off your viper
e) spend all of the money you paid him plus all the money he got from selling your parts on hookers and blow
f) keep your viper sitting stripped for months until you ask about it and complain
g) sell some other ******* on a venom pack for his viper
h) sell the parts off of that other *******'s viper so he can finance your build
i) upsell you on some more expensive venom pack of whatever is on his shelf
j) finally put your car back together with said off the shelf performance parts
k) deliver you a car with lots of problems
l) repeat ad infinitum

 

[Deleted member 12951]

I am not disagreeing with these statements as I have a friend who knows John and had his raptor done there, to eventually regret it. But Shelby does not give you back the take-off parts and ends up selling them. Seen them listed on eBay. How is this different with Hennessey and why don't a bunch of people give Shelby a bad name for the same practice?

Granted Shelby clearly shows that they keep the take off parts in their brochure shown with the price.
http://www.shelby.com/images/pdf/2013raptor.pdf

 

[2014RubyRed]

Maybe it's because Shelby actually does what they say they are gonna do, in a timely manner, and then your vehicle doesn't spontaneously combust at a rest area some where. My guess is that Shelby tells you what they are going to do with your old parts and then actually sells you "Shelby" parts that are installed by actual "Shelby" employees that are covered by an actual "Shelby" warranty.

All of that costs money and is worth it if you get what you paid for.......

 

[Ironhorse07]

From what I read from the viper guys who actually went to his shop after he had the car for 2 years is he was selling parts that were not being replaced also. Hoods, rims stuff like that.

 

[Craigy]

I am not disagreeing with these statements as I have a friend who knows John and had his raptor done there, to eventually regret it. But Shelby does not give you back the take-off parts and ends up selling them. Seen them listed on eBay. How is this different with Hennessey and why don't a bunch of people give Shelby a bad name for the same practice?

Granted Shelby clearly shows that they keep the take off parts in their brochure shown with the price.
http://www.shelby.com/images/pdf/2013raptor.pdf

Shelby doesn't part your car out and let it rot for months (years). Once you drop off your car, you're simply ******. There's no going back. You're bent over with half a car until John Hennessey decides to un-**** you. Other companies sell certain parts off your car that get replaced, but this typically doesn't happen until after you get your car back.

From what I read from the viper guys who actually went to his shop after he had the car for 2 years is he was selling parts that were not being replaced also. Hoods, rims stuff like that.

Exactly. Literally parting cars out for quick cash, to be reassembled with the OEM parts of the next Viper that comes through the door. Shit like seats get sold out of the car, despite not actually upgrading any seats. So you send your new Viper over to John and you get back seats that someone else farted in, just so John could have some quick money for ****** or whatever in the meantime.