Als Snowmobile

Head gasket leaked antifreeze into the bottom case from a top end rebuild done by an *** in saratoga named John C----o,causing the engine to hydraulic and broke the block.Ordered one from al's.Salesman told me that the 09 eng. they had would work.NOT THE SAME.Had to change the rotor and some other things,which they sent to me,but had to send my 08 parts in return at my expense.He also told me that they would give me a full core credit on my blown eng.which made no sense to me, since I had told him that the block had a big hole thru it,but that's what he said.Didn't even give me half of the core charge back.Had it installed by a ski doo dealer.Eng. made top end noise on first fire up,had to have new cylinders,pistons and rings done.No help from al's on the cost after 3 calls.This happened in 2012

i took my ski-doo to al's for the rebuild of a seizure ($1800). i picked it up, rode it about 10mi and noticed it was leaking oil.

i brought it back to the shop and it turned out that they didn't reconnect the oil intake line?! they reattached and off i went. the sled melted down again within 200mi at about 50mph in fluffy snow (almost ideal operating conditions for that machine). i took the sled back to them and they said it suffered a "four corners" seizure, but couldn't determine the cause.

they said they'd meet me in the middle no the rebuild. what that meant is, they gave me $200 off the parts. the work still cost me an additional $1400. this was at the end of a season.

early the next season, the machine seized again. in retrospect, i think the block was probably defective before ever taking it to al's. that said, given their position as a leader in rebuilds, they should have identified that in their work process.

i wouldn't have submitted this complaint, but i saw that others have had similar problems with them.

I don't see this as an equal forum, only for complaints. Not really fair to Al's or perspective customers.

I have been dealing with Al's for all my snowmobile life, 30+ years. I have utmost respect, they try their best and do a good job in doing so. I pulled up to Al's with an unexpected torn track which would have put a damper on the entire weekend with friends.

They had me back on the trail withing 3 hours and the guys stayed late to accomplish this, thank you again guys! I would HIGHLY recommend Al's to anyone!!!!

Steven Dukette, Troy, VT

originally thinking i would have a reliable snowmobile to ride for a few seasons, i made the mistake of assuming a newly rebuilt motor i bought from a big company was the solution.aparently not? after purchasing a rebuilt motor from al's for $800 and also paying $500 to have it istalled i got a grand total of 30 miles before the motor had another issue and the sled was unusable.

this was last february. after speeking to someone at al's i was told to bring the motor back assuming they would be going good for it.also wanna add that al's snowmobile shop is about 8 hours away for my house. so obviously wasn't cheap or easy to get the time to drive for 8 hours to take care of a problem i should never had. also was wrong to assume that al's would fix the motor that blew 30 miles into it.

three weeks after dropping off the sled they called me asking how i wanted to pay for the second " rebuild"

seriously.. so for another $400 dollars i got my motor back again under the assumption it would last a few years. again i was wrong. the person at al's blamed everything from water in the gas to the initial instalation.

so i took my sled to a polaris dealership they changed my jets in carbs drained my gas and set sled to factory specs. for another $300 that is. after riding it for thirty miles again the motor has blown.. i cannot say enough bad things about this place.

I am a carpenter and could not imagine trying to charge someone to fix the same thing i supposibly just got paid to do to begin with.

after seeing other complaints I wanted to write because i had bought a motor at al's with similliar results. it only lasted the first season and cylinder was seized.

i took the motor out at my own cost had the symptoms diagnosed at a proffesional shop where the discovered that inferior parts and a combination of poor mechanics was the cause of the meltdown. as with the other complaint i was also told by the manager at al's it was the fault of my mechanic and my carbs and my gas. not their fault i spent my money on their engine.

i was told that seriously.. never would sugest going to al's for any reason unless your into getting RIPPED OFF!

BUYER BE WARE!! AL'S SNOWMOBILE SHOP RIPPED US OFF!

FIRST SENT WRONG PART, WE SHIPPED BACK IMEDIATLY AT OUR COST. NEVER GOT REPLACEMENT PART, CALLED THEM BACK THEY WANTED THE BAD PART, SENT THEM THAT AT OUR COST. ALL THIS OVER A MONTH AGO CALLED THEM YESTERDAY THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T RECEIVE THE OLD PART AND WOULD ONLY GIVE A STORE CREDIT OF 30. I PAID THEM 44.97 I CALLED BACK THIS A.M.

AND NOW TOLD THEY RECEIVED AN EMPTY BOX!

THEY REFUSE TO SEND OUR BAD PART BACK AND REFUND MY MONEY! AL'S SNOWMOBILE RIPPED US OFF!