Unfortunate start to my resto

[Rev-It-Up]

What a story!  I'm sorry to hear about the troubles R/T!  We had our chally in the body shop for 2 years when he said he could have it done in about 3 months!  What is it about body shops?!?!  We  have decided to do our own body work on the duster....save money and learn something along the way.

[R/T hedkace]

Thanks everyone of you for the support, and advice   I've been stressing to put it mildly, (lets just say my frequent watering holes have been visited MUCH more frequent this week      
 All your words have helped me big time.
 This guy also told me that I brought him a Barracuda fender. WTF   I told him check again, he emailed me back saying" you know what you're right".........no sh!t I am, though he said he already ordred me 2 new fenders from Year One, without my permission.
Man I can't wait to get out there tommorrow. I'm going to do my best to keep it professional   but if they want to take the other route I'm all for it. There will be no more games played. I've already been insulted, and taken advantage of, so fairs fair in my book      
I'll keep ya informed.   Thanks again all  

[moparnut]

I think it a problem with being a a specialized field,hard to get competition with the same price like commodities.Plus most body shop owners dont have a set of checks and balances and no one to report to if they are dishonest,except their maker one day but then it will be too late,lol.Unfortunaly in this day and age most people are looking to get rich on every job and not looking to give value and honest work,of course there are exceptions to every rule but you will find this more often then not.Its all about a persons word,a handshake should be enuf,without our word we are nothing,Ok i'll quit preaching but in my Job,come heck or high water I'll do what i say,whether I lose money doing so or not,the alternative is unthinkable to me.

[MyMopar]

I'm curious as to how this will work out.  Did you pick the car up today and did you pay anything?  Did you bring some muscle with you to just take back what is yours? 
I don't understand that whole $x amount per hour.  As mentioned before, who checks to see they are actually doing a fair share of hours work? 
As an example, most dealerships have a book that estimates the amount of time it will take to do a repair.  They open up the Dodge book, look under engine/valvetrain and see the book says 1.75 hours to replace leaking valve cover gasket.  So they quote you 2 hours to do the job and all is good.  If it takes the guy 50 minutes to do the job, you still pay the 2 hour rate, if it take the guy 5 hours to do it becuase he is using a swiss army knife for his tools, you pay the 2 hours.  However, if your stuff is old and rusted and this snaps and that was hard to take off it took us 3.25 hours, you pay the 3.25 hours rate.
All this is fine with me, but I think bodymen need the same type of guide/pricing book.  X amount to do "standard" qtr replacement, "minor" replacment, "major" replacement.  This way when the body guy quotes you X amount and says it is for "major" repair and you look and say the frame is straight, all the body panels are intact, some have minor rust and you call this major replacement, you can look elsewhere.  It seems that anyone can get into bodywork and make some money, but hardly anyone knows what they are doing.

[torredcuda]

If you didn`t agree on an estimate you may not be responsible for paying anything,check out the laws.There are estimating books for body shops as that is how they estimate collision work and agree on a price with the insurance company.Resto work is very different as there is always hidden rust,extra detail work but you can still get a reasonably close estimate.There are some shops that are strictly by the hour and don`t give estimates,you pay for however long it takes.Did this shop have any good references?

[moparclown]

hey hedkace that really sucks but i can hook you up with a real good bodyman up my way.Hes doing that aar right now but if you want i can check on his schedule.

[Rev-It-Up]

Any news Hedkace?

[70RTdroptop]

Why is it that the bad body shops seem to outnumber the good ones by about 10 to 1? What a damn shame that you had to run into that crap! Nobody needs that kind of headache.

[Steve]

Folks, the one thing I've learned about body shops is that no one will do the work like you will. No one.

[R/T hedkace]

Thanks again everyone for showing concern. Much appreciated 
A quick update. Got my R/T back home. I'm $937.50 lighter now    I TRIED to explain to him in person (as professional as humanly possible) again that what we discussed, and shook hands on numerous occasions is not what happened. He said he doesn't remember that        I tried to get it through his head, to which he replies that he does not want to get into a debate with me. If I cannot afford it my car does not belong here at all.  I explained money was not the main issue, it was the trust that was broken (speaking of broken, I got many wonderful cracks in my front windshield now thanks to this place 
On top of all this we almost lose it off the back of the flatbed when the front strap came off, anf the whole car went sliding almost off the side  Does the fun ever end     

                          WWW.AMERICAN-CLASSIC.COM 

[Rev-It-Up]

How frustrating!  At least you got her back.  What exactly did they do for the $937.50? 

[Moparmatt]

Check your state law, I know in NJ, verbal contracts are legally binding.

If you wanted to try, you could take him to small claims court, or file a complaint with the BBB.

And, do you have pictures of the unbroken windsheild when you brought it to him, and the broken one as it was leaving? That plus a BBB complaint might set him back on the straight and narrow.

[Cuda Cody]

 

That's how I feelabout it.

[Rev-It-Up]

That's how I feelabout it.

Cody, you really need to work on expressing yourself! 

[R/T hedkace]

much appreciation for all the advice 

How frustrating!  At least you got her back.  What exactly did they do for the $937.50? 

My invoice says(Restoration labor to dissasemble vhicle as needed,mount on rotisserie and scrape undercoating in order to establish estimate)
What a bunch of BS  none of that was authorized, and I had over 80 percent of the undercoating done already, so WTF??

Massachusetts Auto repair law
Auto Sales and Repair
Automobile Consumer Rights Summaries
Auto Repairs
Mass. Gen. Law Chapter 93A
940 Code of Mass. Regs. 5.00
All work not performed in a workmanlike manner must be repaired at no charge.

On request, you must be given a written repair estimate. If repairs are going to cost more than $10 above the estimate, the shop must get your permission to go ahead at the higher price before doing the work. Your authorization may be verbal if all disclosures are made to you. No charges are allowed for unauthorized work.

Repair shops cannot represent that certain repairs are necessary or desirable when such is not the case.

You have a right to get back any parts replaced by the repair shop. If covered by a warranty or rebuilding arrangement, you may view the parts, but may not be able to keep them.

Posted on: Today at 12:50:30 pmPosted by: C O D Y 
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I couldn't have said it better myself