Let the truth be known!! - The BMW 3 Series (E30) Lounge

Jordan has made some derogatory remarks toward Terry Sayther BMW, and we at ATRT for Truth and Justice feel there are 2 sides to every story. We invite you to read the unedited responses from several employees who worked first-hand, and side-by-side, with Jordan, and can dispel rumors, and what appear to be lies, flowing from the mouth of Jordan Sarette.

Terry Sayther is a pillar in the BMW community, and we feel it is unfair to allow Jordon to tarnish the reputation he and his employees have worked many years to achieve. Please feel free to read and judge for yourself. All of these emails are posted with the full permission of Terry Sayther and his employees, and remain un-edited (except for spelling, punctuation, and grammar).

But first, here is the original post made by Jordan, to the general community:

The short of it is Terry is an [Oops!], we didn't get along well, neither of us liked one another for numerous reasons, and it was a dead end job with no benefits and absolutely no where to go from where I was at.

I moved on, and am much happier for it.

And for the record, I MADE Terry fire me. He treated me and everyone else that worked there like [Oops!] around the clock. He is a grumpy old man, and without his alcohol and drugs to cope he can't. Simple as that. Picture me, 50 years older and more bitter. I would have QUIT LONG PRIOR to him telling me "You need to find a new job" If I could have afforded to.

I do not miss working for Terry. I miss a lot of my co workers who were genuine, fine human beings. I commend Terry's wife for sticking with him. It is no doubt painfully hard for her. I have a much better career now, working with a great bunch of people, making nearly 2x what I was for Terry. I have potential to go somewhere with this job.. whereas at Terry's it was a dead end, I was already $1.50/hr away from the "pay cap", there are NO benefits, no paid holidays, no incentives. Just another job by the hour.

Everyone (I mean everyone) that I ran into for the month and a half or so between jobs that asked me where I worked (and I disclosed without ANY hint of bitterness/emotion) "Terry Sayther Auto" all said "Oh man that guy is a [Oops!]/[Oops!]/[Oops!] sucker etc" Terry is renowned all over Austin for being a worthless person. All the other independent shops I went around to all had nothing good to say about him either. One actually apologized for my employment there. Made my day... He doesn't need any of my help spreading that because everyone already knows.

[Oops!] some of the customers I took with me were unbelievably grateful not to have to BEG him to work on their cars anymore.

End of Jordan’s original post.

And now, here are some of the responses to Jordan’s diatribe:

Email #1:

-Thanks for your email! That Jordan---he's something! He has certainly been a learning experience for us. We're still doing over the jobs he did here and we probably will be for some time.
Would you be willing to post some of my employee’s replies to his account of his employment here? I think their replies would be more effective than mine in representing the reality of his difficult time with us.
He did say some true things---we did NOT get along; for him it was indeed a dead end job; and there was absolutely nowhere to go from where he was at [due to his bad attitude and lack of mechanical skills]. Finally, he DID make me fire him---by intentionally making my job more difficult wherever he could.
If you're willing to post some replies, I'll ask if any of my guys would like to respond. Thanks a lot,

Terry

"'Kay, Love Ya, Bye!"
-Homer
Terry & Debbie Sayther

Email #2:

I don't really want to reply to the [Oops!] that he posted regarding TSA. I
know he's a jackass & people with that type of perspective don't really
warrant a response from me. However, he's blatantly misrepresented our
company by his statements on R3V. He did make Terry fire him - through his
incompetence, even after repeated warnings regarding his close minded
attitude & unwillingness to ask for help when he didn't know what he was
doing. YES, this was a dead end job for him, because he is not a
professional & was never willing to learn. Some people wanted him fired
within the 1st week of his being here. I tried to give him a chance & get
him to open his eyes to how "normal" people work together & rely on each
other to learn & progress in life & career. It was a waste of effort on my
part unfortunately, & there is no question about the nature of his
termination here - HE WAS FIRED BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE THE SKILLS...

Regards,

Rhett Hubertus
Used Parts Manager
Terry Sayther Automotive

Email #3

Hello,
My name is Duncan Harris and I work at TSA---I am Terry and Debbie's son. I have worked for them for 4 years now, and I am one of those "genuine" co workers. I have been on many MINI sales and race support trips to Mexico, Florida, Las Vegas (all paid for by the shop)--also Bentley training sessions, schools taught by the IAIBMWSP-- some of the many "non-existent" perks of working at this shop. I feel like Jordan may have made it further at our shop if he was willing to learn from some of the very talented mechanics that I work with (two of whom have been working on Lambos, Alfas, and BMWs longer than Jordan has been alive).

Jordan is a person who is so caught up with himself that he is not willing to learn from anybody. During the first week of his working with us, one of those "genuine" co-workers that Jordan was working with, told Terry that Jordan was not going to work out in the long run, and the rest of us felt the same way. In fact, there is not a single person at this shop that is not happy that Jordan is gone. While he worked here, he was saved by people finding his mistakes and correcting them on multiple occasions. Here are just a few!.....#1 a hose clamp that was between the block and b+ of the alternator on a race car (slight fire hazard); #2 on our shop race car Jordan did not feel it necessary to torque down the oil pan bolts.

I have learned so much from working at this shop, and you can never assume that just because you read something on the internet that you can do it in real life. I hope you get a life, Jordan.

Thanks-- Duncan Harris,
A very happy worker at TSA

Email #4

Please include this in the notes from Terry Sayther Auto--Thanks, for keeping us posted about this-- I think a couple of more employees might send something as well---Debbie

Jordon Sarette's diatribe against us here at Terry Sayther Automotive is a pretty unfortunate and accurate testimony on what I observe to be his attitude about the world in general: cynical, arrogant, self-serving, and self-promoting. Jordan came to us as a self-described "project specialist, an E-30 specialist"...we thought he could be our hands-on guy. In fact, his talents were exaggerated--but we like to have people that we can train, and had hopes we could still work together. Terry and I run this business as a family, and Terry's philosophy is to let people make their own job as much as possible. Jordan did not display the skills to work on his own, and lacks the basic people skills to work well with others. Our major concern was two-fold: 1) if he did not know how to do something, he would not ask, and he would not research it...he would just do it wrong, and 2) when the job returned, he would not accept responsibility for his own work. We could not afford to train him, as we could not afford to repair cars that might leave our shop improperly repaired. Jordan was never a member of this team.

Terry has run an independent BMW shop here in Austin since 1978, and yes, he is very specific about how he wants work done. He wants it done the way BMW wants it done. We have employees that have worked for us for 10 plus years, several of them, and we regularly send technicians to every educational opportunity we can find. There is no such thing as a "pay cap" here, as long as you are learning, part of the team, and contributing. Terry IS stubborn and you can't MAKE him do anything...unless he knows it is the thing to do. And, for the record Jordan, you were NOT "let go", you were FIRED. Our first employee EVER to have that distinction. Jordan chose not to be part of company dinners at our house, water park trip, Christmas party, birthday celebrations, etc...he remained an outsider by his own choice.

Terry and I started an independent association of BMW shops called the IAIBMWSP ten years ago, there are over 200 members worldwide to date, and we consider each and every one of those shops as part of our extended family, our friends. Terry has been BMW CCA's Senior Technical Advisor for almost 20 years....a "worthless person", Jordan calls Terry??? Other shops "APOLOGIZED FOR MY EMPLOYMENT THERE"? Did you note that no other shop here in Austin jumped at the chance at hiring Mr. Sarette?? You have to have some skills in this community of professionals, a willingness to learn, some humility--in other words, you have to want to be part of it all. Jordan lives in his own world.

I find Jordan's attacks on Terry's personal state--references to drug/alcohol dependence--and to own my relationship with my husband of more than 16 years insulting, and puerile. I am here because Terry is one of the most innovative and imaginative people I have ever met, and he makes this shop and my life breathe. Resorting to this kind of personal slander is the worst, and I hope any future employers (including his multi-million dollar turbo rebuilder boss) think again about where this kid's head might be. When one's first response to not succeeding at something is to lash out harshly at those around you, something might not be right. Also, when you can brag about "taking some customers with me" you might also consider the implications on non-competition clauses and slander suits....but that is another story for another time.

In short, I am sorry to feel the need to defend our shop and our employees against someone who was with us for such a short time. But I want other BMW fanatics, other members of our extended BMW family, to know that Jordan is NOT representative of our profession, our professionalism, our work ethic, our family. He was a misfit from the beginning to the end. It is a relief to not have to worry about his work, his attitude, and his interaction with our customer base. I wish him the best, but the best is not going to come to him unless he learns some basic skills, at work and with the world.

Thanks for your time--Debbie Stuart
"kay, love ya, bye"
Terry and Debbie
Terry Sayther Automotive