[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 [email protected]
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: [email protected]

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.

[Rehberg]

OK, This guy is a gypsy. He is all over the internet for ripping people off. Sadly I got suckered in to wiring money from my business account after he held my part hostage. simple center-less grinding second op I needed done. The cops don't care, i think i might have him with mail fraud but that does not get my parts back, they are a customers not mine, nor my money. Did some research on this jerk-off, come to find, from a reputable grind shop in the same area, Houston, that he is a bonafide gypsy operator. He is using a slick web page with no working numbers on his supposed "locations" page. I threatened, along with several other contractors it would seem, to get the law on him and he became beligerant. I see here that others have posted similar complaints with little result. Why can't we contact the supposed companies he cut and pasted on his site and get them to put him down? I got suckered and do feel stupid. First sub-contracted machine shop to burn me.

[Hardmetals]

Same as REHBERG. UMR (Mark Mitchell) is a crook, scam artist, gypsy, etc...
Do not use this company for anything. His web page is deceiving, his shop is a dirty warehouse/storage unit. If you call any of his numbers listed on his web page they are all routed through Houston, no offices just phone lines. We called the number to the closest division listed on his site and he suggested sending our spindle to his Houston facility because his tech's there were more qualified for what we needed.
Here's the low down: He quoted us a fair price and a great turn time but after he had possession of the spindle the price started to go up and up and up and ofcoarse he didn't hit the lead-time. A few weeks into it, he called and stated the job was complete and needed a wire or ACH to release shipment. BAD MISTAKE, we were suckered into sending payment. 3 days later I called for tracking info and that's when he said there was a problem, it didn't ship and that he would call in a few ours and explain everything to me. Never heard from him and he wouldn't return my calls, texts, or emails. Two days later we were forced to call a PI to track him down. Funny thing was is the PI new him and had tracked him down a few months earlier to serve him for a similar case. We eventually got ahold of him and he wasn't anywhere near complete. Luckily we eventually got our spindle after paying double. We ran it for less than 24 hours and it seized up. We sent it to the OEM for evaluation and repair and they basically told us that nothing that was stated or quoted was not performed. We are in the process of starting legal action to hopefully recuperate some funds and damage his supplier base. All of his sub's that he stated performed work will also be included.

Bottom line is DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY for anything.
Hopefully this will save someone out there the headache and pain we went through.