Universal Machine Repair - Bad Experience

[PMF]

I wanted to post this because we had (and are having) a very bad experience with Universal Machine Repair, umrservices.com, Universal Metal Refinery, in Houston Texas.

Unfortunately our CNC Lathe turret hit the chuck while being manually indexed so it needed alignment and we requested new ground pins to be installed. We shipped the turret to Universal Machine Repair. We were supposed to receive a quote on materials and repair time. We never received anything from them. They say they repaired everything by completely rebuilding the turret, with new bearings, motor repair, grinding the lead screws, the list goes on.

We asked for a itemized bill and it totaled over $30,000. That included a $6,000 discount, and a $7000.00 expediting fee. In the bill it claimed to have repaired Fanuc drives. It is difficult to repair something they were never sent. They claimed many repairs that were not necessary.
Brand new parts have been ordered from the manufacturer for under $14,000.

Currently the BBB gives them an F. On other sites UMR has, they claim membership in the NTMA. I called and checked on the NTMA website. They are not members.

Others it seems have had similar experiences. They have a nice website, but Google Earth their address.

We wish we had done more checking before sending our parts out for repair.

[underthetire]

30K for a turret repair? What?

I've never sent a turret out for repair unless it was a duplomatic turret. Even those were only about 6K for a rebuild.

[PMF]

In retrospect, we now know it could have been fixed on site. Almost $13K; to quote them: "repair turret to OEM specs replace seals, bearings, gears, grind chrome & grind, repair funuc drives etc."

[txcncman]

If you have not, please be sure to file a complaint directly with NTMA. NTMA has lawyers and falsely claiming membership is probably enough for the lawyers to go after them. Won't help you, but will help others later.

[PMF]

Thank you txcncman! That is a great suggestion. I will do that today.

[PMF]

Thought I would share this link. More victims of UMR.

Universal machine repair??

[zipzit]

2 Websites are registered to: (Administrative Contact)
UMR (Universal Machine Repair)
Mark Mitchell ****************@aol.com)
+1.7134456120
Fax: +1.7134456120
6616 Mayfair
Houston,, TX 77087
US
http://universalmetalrefinery.com and www.umrservices.com

a third web site, is registered to UNIVERSALMACHINEREPAIR.NET

Administrative Contact:
Mitchell, Mark ballscrewrepair@aol.com
14338 Angel Meadow Court
Sugar Land, TX 77478
US
832-725-1041

with a registrar of: Registrant:
IBR Services
14338 Angel Meadow Court
Sugar Land, TX 77478
US


(Hmmm... how many company names do you need?... but if the Sugar Land address is correct, the guy does live in a pretty nice house...)

Same address different phone # shown on an auction site selling equipment...)

DEALER/SELLER CONTACT INFORMATION
Dealer: UNIVERSAL MACHINE REPAIR
Contact: MARK MITCHELL
Address: 6616 MAYFAIR STREET STE B
City: HOUSTON
State: TX
Zip: 77087
Phone: (281) 302-5413 <----- I see this # listed on other web sites as well...
Fax: (281) 302-6309
Email: universalmr@comcast.net

A profile of the company dated 11/26/2011 indicated the owner of the company is Mark Mitchell, and the principal is Bryan Matthews. (ref: http://www.corporationwiki.com/Texas...achine-repair/.....)

From their multiple web sites, you'd think this is a large, very professional company. Very nice web sites.

[txcncman]

From their multiple web sites, you'd think this is a large, very professional company. Very nice web sites.

Or, they are very professional con artists.