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Anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

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#21 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

the key words i your post patch patch patch. should be reapir repair and the type of repair should have been stated .patch =grind it and bodo it .repair =cut out and replace rusted areas of sheet metal
 
#22 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

blue89bird said:
It's getting stripped. The quarters are now cut out and should have new ones in next week sometime. Everything is being documented with tons of pictures.
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I'm not sure about the laws in your state but I believe you shot yourself in the foot. Some states require you to give this shop a chance to repair it before you can take it to someone else for repair.
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

TModel66 said:
I'm not sure about the laws in your state but I believe you shot yourself in the foot. Some states require you to give this shop a chance to repair it before you can take it to someone else for repair.
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He didnt do quarters. He should have recommended it but none the less it never happened. Im having the new shop document everything they find thats wrong and produce an estimate to repair it properly.
 
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#24 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

Sorry to hear of the unfortunate situation that you/ve found yourself in, Jason...you are not the first to face this fork in the road.

I had to pull mine out under the cover of darkness to get it out, and thank God that he hadn't done much more than look at it...and this took the better part of six months.

Some excellent suggestions offered so far.

I know that hindsight is 20/20, but a couple of questions linger in my mind. Did you either get some references of his work, or see any past projects that were completed before the work started?
 
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#25 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

Aloha Jason,
My screen name is BOBBIE, If you need to check out my past post for more detail about my case. I hope things work out.

Bobbie
 
#26 · (Edited)
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

If I needed body panels installed I would go to these guys at the AMD Installation Center. All they do is install panels with the goal of not using any filler. They do no body work or paint just install panels. What I think is impressive is they post their prices right on their web site. Plus, since they are part of AMD they have access to every panel you could possibly need. I know this does not help your situation but it looks like a good alternative for future reference.

http://www.theinstallationcenter.com/index.html
 
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#27 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

Bobbie,

I find this thread interesting and have been through the frame off restoration process myself and have delt with sub standard work. I hope that you keep this thread up to date with what happens. Hopefully it will all work out. :thumbsup:


This restoration stuff has always been in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, a persons vision is a little blurry compared to 20/20......


:cool:
Brandan-
 
#28 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

jason, unfortunately this happens quite often. first of all i would take $15,000, out of his lying, theiving, no good *ss, and the other $1000.00 i would take for a retainer and sue him. i have no respect for lyers or theives and if what you say is true, he is both. for $16,000 you should have gotton a car back instead of getting a car back ready to be worked on..im sorry about this rant, but this kinda thing just burns me up!!!:mad:
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Re: anyone here ever sued a body shop for doing crappy work?

Its actually worse...after going through my checkbooks tonight I'm already over 18k and im missing one of my checkbook registers. I'm disgusted with him as well as myself for letting this happen. I'm going to get some professional advise and will update this thread as allowed.
 
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#30 ·
WOW :eek: I guess you should be real happy you didn't have the $$$ for paint too :yes:

Not all body shops work on these "old cars" and finding one is tough. The shop I went to doesn't turn out World of Wheels cars but for what I wanted and paid.... I'm happy.

I went once a week to see progress (and had a few disappointments) but it's all good now and already had my truck back to him 2 times :rolleyes: (new accidents :mad: )

I was going to go with 80% quarters...he talked me out of it and into full quarters saying yes they cost more, but are cheaper to install and $$ is a wash for a better final outcome....that says something right there to me.

All but 5 panels were replaced (rockers,upper/lower valances,and header panel)... Pics here
 
#31 ·
I had a body shop in North Richland Hills put quarter panels on without removing the surface rust or manufacturers decals. Half the plug weld holes on the right outer rocker were not welded up, none of the rust underneath removed sheetmetal was dealt with as asked, several other minor things. I should have sued, recovered the money and have had the work redone properly. With the pictures I had of the terrible work it was an open and shut case. I had to stop payment on my check to get their attention.
Instead I let them pick it up and "fix" everything. What a joke. Hard to believe a quality shop would put out such crappy work. They told me I could pick my car up on a Friday or they would leave it outside-they had a car show there the next day. Wouldn't even put it in a trailer they had sitting around. My cost $5500. I still ended up filling the plug welds they overlooked.
So, I say sue them, recover the money, and get the job done correctly.
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
Upon the advise of a family friend/lawyer, I'm first sending them a demand letter asking for them to either refund me 12k of the 18k I paid them so I can have it properly repaired, or for them to come pick the car up, sand the entire thing down to bare metal and properly repair everything to my satisfaction. I'm going to give them 2 weeks and if I don't get satisfaction I'll be suing them. The real question is if I do small claims (12k limit here) or use an attorney (who's probably going to charge 25/30%) and go for the entire amount.
 
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#33 ·
I am sorry to hear of yet another company that doesn't take pride in their work. I was a napa parts and paint guy and after seeing the difference in a shoddy and professional body shop first hand, i will only recomend one of the 12 in town. For that kind of money you could have bought another car in respectable shape. It should have been returned perfect and painted as well for that price. I dont trust body shops and i dont have money to pay them so i am doing it all myself to make sure it is done right. I hope they are willing to make it right with you or if not you are compensated . We will all be crossing our fingers for you.
 
#35 ·
Originally Posted by bangcamaro
..... I don't trust body shops and i don't have money to pay them so i am doing it all myself to make sure it is done right..... We will all be crossing our fingers for you.
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And the ones u do trust pay craftsmen...and craftsmen pull big money for just that reason...care and attention no short cuts, anything less is not acceptable.
 
#36 ·
blue89bird said:
... The real question is if I do small claims (12k limit here) or use an attorney (who's probably going to charge 25/30%) and go for the entire amount.
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Both ;)

The Judge will need to clearly see where/how/when they screwed up in failing to supply you the finished product you contracted with that body shop for.
Have an attourney help you write the court documents so the Judge can find the information he needs to rule clearly delineated in terms he understands to realize what you lost, you are claiming, and the what the judgement should be based on.
These documents will allow you to present the case to the small claims court (if you decide to go that way) in a less emotional way showing you are not out for vengance in you settlement - just trying to recover your "Losses" and get back to where you should be/would have been had they done the job you have paid them to perform properly.
And - if you do decide (after seeing the amount of work to get this ready for trial to get a positive verdict) to use counsel to represent you that part of the pre-trial prep will be done ...

This will of course cost you a few $$$, but will almost always result in more positive ruling from a court in favor of your claim, as they can/will be able to see you actual losses and decide how to more fully compensate you for those.
 
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#37 ·
Ok,

This is the problem you face.

You agreed to an hourly rate of $75 for them to work on you car. Initially it was estimated at 60-80 hours or a max of $6K.

Your original todo list is vague and does not really specify exactly what was to be done and to what finish level.

You now state you paid them $16K- $18K. So what happened when they burned thru the first 80 hours that compelled you to keep paying them more and more money.

They will say that it was worse then they originally thought and you authorized more work to be done on the car. If not why did you keep writing checks?

Looking at the car and what needed to be done to be ready for paint was never going to happen in 80 hours (one guy for 2 weeks) It would take double or triple that to do it RIGHT. I'm just talking hours not money as the hourly rate is high IMHO but you did agree to to.

So can they prove they did 200 hours work? Maybe yes maybe no but that is the real issue.

Your may be better to fight the hourly rate by stating the quality of the work suffered do to the fact the guys actually working on the car were not the qualified professionals you were led to believe would be working on your project.
 
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Vega$69
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