I had a body shop quote me for some work about 9 months to a year ago.

After recieving the car back there were multiple issues with their work. The cars floors were installed wrong and the subframe didn't fit. I called them and brought it back to them and they said they would fix it and I told them do not hydraulicly jack my subframe. Well after I left thats exactly what they did and put a dent in the subframe and bent out a mount in the floor to make it fit.

The seam sealer they put in did not dry anywhere and I had to scrap it all off and they gave me a tube to seal it with, so I did the work I was quoted for.

The floors not only were wrong to fit the subframe they were moved up about 2 inches from previous location because they set the pans inside eachother.

They quoted me for stripping all the grease and oil and grim off of what parts of the floors were not replaced and spray por15 on it. They did not scrape any of the floor or thin the por15 so it piled in globs under the car. I called them and told them and so I brought the car back for a 3rd time now which is about a 20 min drive on the trailer for them to only scrap the trans tunnel with a putty knife and put paint on it. THere is still 2/3's of the undercarriage that needs to be done and some areas rusting already. They also wasted about 200 dollars worth of por15.

THey installed a new dash which looked good until I installed the window and the window sits uneven its about a half inch higher on the driver side almost flush with the pillar. They also did not finish some welds were the trunk pan comes and meets the tail pan and frame rails.

I am fed up with this shop and I overpaid them by at least 3 grand. They gaurantee their work for life. I do not want them to touch the car again and I was wondering what approach you guys would take? At this point I am ready to take them to small claims court.

Man, sorry to hear this. How in the world do people like this stay in business.

I would report them to the BBC and take them to court.

Brian

Legally do you think I have enough to get them?? Should I have another shop quote me for the same work and take a statement from them? Or should I confront them and ask for reimbursment.

I guess the dilemma is I want my money and I want this to not happen to anyone else.

Rad..Did the shop give you an itemized written estimate of the work
to be performed? You will need some form of written documentation
from them when you go to court.Also did you sign an authorization to repair that included all the work to be performed by the shop?
If you have all this I would call the Buearu (sp) of Automotive Repair
in your state.
Bob

Be glad they did not attempt body work and paint. It sounds like you would would have a real fiasco then. Do as stated above.

Ya I am really glad. My friend had some stuff painted by them and I could have done a better job with a squirt bottle.

Yes I do have an itemized list along with a signature. I lost mine but they were kind enough to fax it back over.

[BI don't know where you live, but most states have a limit to qualify for small claim court. Might want tocheck it out. A lawyer can get expensive fast.[/B]

I had a body shop quote me for some work about 9 months to a year ago.

After recieving the car back there were multiple issues with their work. The cars floors were installed wrong and the subframe didn't fit. I called them and brought it back to them and they said they would fix it and I told them do not hydraulicly jack my subframe. Well after I left thats exactly what they did and put a dent in the subframe and bent out a mount in the floor to make it fit.

The seam sealer they put in did not dry anywhere and I had to scrap it all off and they gave me a tube to seal it with, so I did the work I was quoted for.

The floors not only were wrong to fit the subframe they were moved up about 2 inches from previous location because they set the pans inside eachother.

They quoted me for stripping all the grease and oil and grim off of what parts of the floors were not replaced and spray por15 on it. They did not scrape any of the floor or thin the por15 so it piled in globs under the car. I called them and told them and so I brought the car back for a 3rd time now which is about a 20 min drive on the trailer for them to only scrap the trans tunnel with a putty knife and put paint on it. THere is still 2/3's of the undercarriage that needs to be done and some areas rusting already. They also wasted about 200 dollars worth of por15.

THey installed a new dash which looked good until I installed the window and the window sits uneven its about a half inch higher on the driver side almost flush with the pillar. They also did not finish some welds were the trunk pan comes and meets the tail pan and frame rails.

I am fed up with this shop and I overpaid them by at least 3 grand. They gaurantee their work for life. I do not want them to touch the car again and I was wondering what approach you guys would take? At this point I am ready to take them to small claims court.
what did you pay to have them do the entire car????
that would help us with our opinions.

well at first they quoted me 3500 and i ended up paying close to 9 grand.

I know small claims court is like 700-1500 in my state i believe. I do not need a lawyer. My uncle is a judge and knows alot of lawyers.

Another intersting fact for you guys is this shop claims the specialize in antique and muscle car restoration. They are turning a couple out a month full paint and everything. I wonder what corners they are cutting on those if any and if not why was mine done so poorly.

He said he paid at least over 3k for the work !!!

Sorry to hear about all of the problems. It stinks to pay good money for a product or service, and not receive it.:(

I had similar issues, which is why I learned to do it all myself. Learn to weld, learn to paint, and then you are not held captive by high prices and crummy workmanship. You'd be way ahead in the long run. Welding courses are taught at several tech schools and community colleges. Painting can be learned with lots of practice, with the emphasis on "lots".:D

Hey you got some pictures the we can see and learn from.

Good luck it does bite when someone say one thing and dose the complete opposite.

Skip

I was just going to say, if you plan on taking action, make sure you have plenty of pictures of the "work" they've done on your car and all the documentation, receipts, etc. for the contracted work.

I'd say there's a couple courses of action you can take here. You could leave the car as it is and take them to court to sue for breach of contract--basically they failed to satisfactorily perform the duties you agreed upon. As you've already taken the car back to "fix" the issue and still didn't receive was was agreed upon, another option is to take the car to another shop, have them do the work, and then take the original shop to court and sue them for reimbursement of expenses to remedy the problems they created and "could not" fix. Definitely check with your uncle and see what he says about your best course of action. Those are just mere possibilities I listed above.

Unless the shop comes with HIGH recommendations, I'd be wary of where you take it from now on. I've heard Lucas-restorations does really good work www.lucas-restorations.com. I'm taking BelAirBob's que, if for no other reason, than I can't afford to have someone do it. My first paint job might not be great, but I'll learn from it. If I don't like it, I'll just strip the car again and do it over.

This shop that I have been workign with now does unbelievable work win shows all the time especially for paint placed first in good guys two years ago.

Very very very very nice people and very fair. The shop is Mustangs and More in Merriam, KS. I HIGHLY recommend them. Don't go for paint though if you want to fork out a good hunk of cash.

Bumpin this back up.

I just brought the car to another body shop that does good work and have been dealing with them a bit lately. They looked at the car and said the floors were messed up and needed recoating and that the upper dash was messed up.

I then contacted the shop Lindan in Merriam Kansas that did the work wrong and told them and that the paint they used on undercoating was not what I gave them because I gave them por15 and underneath the paint was sticky and greasy. They said it was and didn't know where over a gallon of my por15 went claiming they returned it. We arranged that they would go look at it right down the street. They agreed to pay for the messed up dash but not the floors and will not return my money on my pain supplies.

They said they didn't charge me for undercoating although there was 7 hours of paint on my bill which they claim was just priming the quarters and roof in first coat.... right. Just to give you an idea my quote was original 3700 and by the end of the job they told me over 6 grand and didn't do anything right. They aslo messed up my floors by installing them wrong and I asked for that money back sense i had to pay an extra 1500 to get fixed what they messed up. Not counting 4 trips back to the shop having to get seam sealer replaced, subframe put on because floor missalignment, missed welds in the trunk area and floors that they only scraped and painted the trans tunnel instead of the whole carriage.

When i brought up money for the floors they said "old cars aren't and exact science and they never fit right." Therefore they hydraulic jacked my frame to make it fit after I said not to and put a dent in the subframe and almost pulled the metal clip in the floor out of its hanger. I asked how so many cars were built in 67 then by gm and how come they all worked and why I had a nova subframe that fit my car before without a problem??

I am debating sueing them because I have tried to make everything right so many times but they still won't agree to make things fair. Saying they did a lot of freework which i guess free in their minds is replacing and fixing what they did wrong because I paid for all the claim they did free. I have witnesses, I have reciepts for paints, I have an invoice that I know I can prove that what they quoted me for was what they didn't do. THE INVOICE SAYS LIFE TIME GAURANTEE YET THEY WONT FIX IT.

I will post pictures of the before and after soon just need to find a free site to do it. Everything is fixed and looks amazing

I am debating sueing them because I have tried to make everything right so many times but they still won't agree to make things fair

I think you said it all right there!

The only way to get the bad taste out of your mouth is too sue and wash down some nice beverage after winning. Make them learn from their mistakes and overcharge for improper work so it doesn't happen to the next guy.

The only way to get the bad taste out of your mouth is too sue and wash down some nice beverage after winning. Make them learn from their mistakes and overcharge for improper work so it doesn't happen to the next guy.

I hear the frustration, but the harsh reality is that mounting a lawsuit costs big bucks. Lawyers do not come cheap, and if you lost, you'd have paid your legal expenses, plus maybe the defendants'. Even if you won, the amount awarded would likely only be up to what you paid,that is unless you suffered personal injury as a result of negligence during the repair, and could prove it. Sounds like the total legal expenses might exceed the total amount paid to them. Not taking up for the shop at all, but people always say "sue them", only to find that they themselves can actually come out even worse once lawyers get their cut. Figure at least $10K to file suit hoping you would win.

I was hosed pretty well on an Ebay car. Totally defrauded of several thousand dollars.Car was described one way,and was completely misrepresented. I ended up selling it, taking a large loss. Because the deal occurred over state lines and was an online purchase, it was a federal issue, meaning that I needed to take it to the California Supreme Court. The lawyer was straight with me, and gave me his fee schedule. He recommended against filing suit,because although I might have won, there was no guarantee that the defendant had the ability to pay,and even then, the fees and settlement amount would still not balance out. I'd have been in the hole.

Just food for thought.

try www.photobucket.com or I think flikr.com is free and www.snapfish.com I know Photobucket is free, that is the one that I use...

I hear the frustration, but the harsh reality is that mounting a lawsuit costs big bucks. Lawyers do not come cheap, and if you lost, you'd have paid your legal expenses, plus maybe the defendants'. Even if you won, the amount won would likely only be up to what you paid,unless you suffered personal injury as a result of negligence during the repair. Sounds like legal expenses might exceed the total amount of the money you paid them. Not taking up for the shop at all, but people always say "sue them", only to find that they themselves can actually come out even worse once lawyers get their cut. Figure at least $10K to file suit hoping you would win.

I was hosed pretty well on an Ebay car. Totally defrauded of several thousand dollars. Because the deal occurred over state lines and was online, it was a federal issue, meaning that I needed to take it ot the Ca Supreme Court. The lawyer was straight with me, and gave me the fee schedule. He recommended against filing suit,because I might have won, but there is no guarantee the defendant had the ability to pay,and even then, the fees and settlement amount would not balance out. I'd have been in the hole.

Just food for thought.


That is not a happy story. i didn't think about how badly that could have gone for me when I bought mine over eBay...

ouch. I've bought two cars on e-bay. The 69 cougar was great. The Camaro was so so, and it was described by the dad of Troy Trepanier, owner of Rad Rides of Manteno, Ill. You would figure he would have been able to describe a car better than he did.
Anyway many many moons ago I was in the situation where I had paid a guy to paint one of my cars and bondo started to bubble at a bunch of places. He wouldn't redo the car so I took it somewhere else and had them fix some of the affected area's. Took the guy to small claims, had the 2nd shop as witness and still lost the case! Go figure.
That was 20+ years ago. Now I just do all my own work.

I feel his pain. Tough situation to be in.:sad:

I would take them to the peoples court.

In this case Peoples court might be good idea, as in nobody really wins in people's court. In real court the real winners are the lawyers. I think the most effective course of action here is to TELL everyone you know how bad this went for you.

Jeff

May I ask why this business was not reported to the Motor Vehicle Dept? All legit businesses must be registered or a license cannot be obtained. Advice regarding course of legal action can be obtained from this department. Failure to adhere to legislated guidelines established to protect the consumer can be investigated but must be initiated by the violated party.

As mentioned before, I'd check the limit on small claims. It certainly won't equal your total cost, but it's probably the best way to recover money without having to dish all of it over to an attorney anyway.

I think the max in my state is $5K...but not sure.

Jim

Michigans max for small claims court is $3k

Real unfortunate story! Its a shame so called "professionals" cant do the job especially after you spent your hard earned dollar. But like others said on here "thats why im learning/learned to do all my own work" because not only can i not afford to pay anybody else but atleast i know all the work thats being done on my car. I sure hope that everything works out for you!

Unfortunately you won't be going to small claims court.
It will be cheaper for you to just move on and have a good body shop fix this.
Unfortunately, part of the problem rest with us as consumers when we try to save a buck. I am not trying to make you feel bad, but your homework was incomplete. We have all made bad decisions trying to save a buck. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. An original quote of $3500 is an entirely different restoration then a $9000 one. They might have been good at the $3500 job and suck for the detail oriented buyer, which obviously you became. Especially, if their scope of the job changed entirely also. Obviously, that did also. There is probably a lesson that they learned also. You will never hear about that lesson though!!

What sucks is two close friends of mine know the owners and recommended me there. Thats the only reason I went. I guess I will have a discussion with my friends too and let them know how the shop worked out for me. They have been friends with the owners for years and always claimed the did great work. Well I got screwed not sure how many others did too.