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Well, here’s my bladder repair story.
Over the winter of 07-08, I was building my current pavement sprint car. And naturally, I wanted to keep everything low so I wanted a pavement style tank and bladder. But, as always, money was tight and I couldn’t afford a new one.
At the Indy swap meet that winter, I bought a used tank and bladder from an USAC team that will remain nameless. The shell had some damage but they swore to me that the bladder was good. The bladder was inside the shell so it was hard to examine, but I will admit it was cheap enough to take a chance……..so I thought.
I had gotten a contingency award to Saldana that fall from the HOSS series, so I ordered a new shell. I put it all together and filled it with water to check for leaks. To my dismay, in a short period of time, there was water on the floor. Upon disassembly, it appeared to me that it was leaking around the lower plate.
I was browsing the internet, and on Hoseheads, there was a company advertising bladder repair. I gave them a call and the lady (whose name I can’t remember) who answered the phone stated that they could certainly repair it and they had only one bladder in all the years they had been doing this that they couldn’t repair. But they did have a four to six week lead time. I explained to her that time was short and I hoped she could hurry it along. She stated that she would have a better idea after they received the bladder. So I shipped it down to them and once they received it, I called them. The lady stated that they could repair it but it would be four to six weeks. And the repair would cost between $400-$450.
I agreed and patiently waited. Four weeks passed and I hadn’t heard anything so on the fifth week I called. I was told it had fuel in it being tested and if it passed the test, it would be shipped the following day. I called the next day and was told it did not pass.
I called again the next week and was told it failed again. This went on for twelve weeks, me calling every week and I was told every week that the repair kept failing the test.
Finally, just when I was ready to give up, they told me it passed the test and they would be shipping it out. They charged my credit card $450 plus another charge later for shipping. I started to get nervous when they told me that they had to ship it from the local drug store because UPS did not pick up at their location and that was why there was a separate charge for shipping. I got more nervous when the credit card receipt for the repair had the name MAA Tech on it and that wasn’t the name that was advertised on Hoseheads.
I installed the bladder in the shell and put ten gallons of alcohol in it. Almost immediately, there was fuel on the floor. Upon disassembly, I could tell it was leaking in the same place as before. At this point, my first race was only days away.
I called down and was told they would fix it. But even if I would ship it Next Day Air down, they couldn’t promise me that they could fix it in a timely manner.
In a desperate move, I called Saldana and after much groveling, they sold me a bladder at a discount. I then shipped the original bladder back down to the repair company and asked them to repair it or refund my credit card.
I called them several times. They finally stopped taking my calls. Finally, the number wouldn’t ring through. The ad disappeared from Hoseheads.
Here it is three years later. I have never gotten my bladder back. I have never received a refund. The phone number I had no longer works.
So, if you managed to read this whole thing, the gist of it is, be careful! I will share with you all the address I used to ship the bladder to. It was:
MAA Tech
807 Thomas St.
Stamps, Arkansas 71860
If you see an address like this, STAY AWAY!
Tom Paterson
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