[Tim Greer]

I figured I should post an update. I picked up the car about two or so hours ago. I ended up just taking the car and not paying the balance and they agreed (but I'm still in a bad spot, as good as an outcome as that may sound like). I explained the car needed to be reshot, he didn't disagree, but I'm pissed he tried to ignore it hoping I'd settle for the condition it was in. I found two or three significant runs in the paint, parts where a mirror was mounted at one point that bled through the paint, a bunch of scratches and chips all over the car... and, get this, the driver and passenger side windows that were perfect now have BIG, DEEP scratches in them and they're going to need to be replaced!

This guy had it at a stereo shop to do the wiring for the hideaway headlights (he claimed the motors were bad and they'd test them or get them to work -- I had a whole new wiring harness, motors, etc. installed before I took the car to them (I had opened and closed them maybe 4-8 times total before taking the car to them). Anyway, these people were supposed to fix the reverse lights and blinkers as well (the hazard worked fine)). I told him when his own "mechanic" was working on it, that if he couldn't figure out a simple wiring on this car, I would look at it, or have the guy I had do it originally look at it, and to call me and let me know. Two weeks of him not answering the phone or returning my calls, I find it's at that place.

That place was a real shop, had people answering the phone and I could get a hold of them to find out what was going on. When these guys lost my stereo, I got a CD player for the car and asked if it would fit. He said it would, but when he took it to these guys, he told them "Do what you have to to get this working with this CD player". When I talked to the shop, I asked what they were doing, where they were at and what they still needed to do (as usual, I'm told two days they'd have it, and it was 2 weeks), they told me they fixed the headlight motors and the turn signals and backup lights didn't work (yet the hazards did). They said they were going to cut into the dash to put the CD player in and make a wood bezel custom.

I said I never authorized that and don't want anyone cutting into it and wood would like ghetto -- he agreed and said he'd not do that to his classic truck either. By then, all of the electrical was supposed to be done and I told them I didn't want to wait another week or more for a stereo, especially since I don't want anything cut (I was told it would fit, but since it won't after all, I'll decide what to do about that later). I told them to stop work and tell the autobody shop to pick it up. They did and the guy picked it up the next morning. I never heard anything from the autobody shop this entire time, no messages returned just asking where they are at. I left a message after getting pissed off and said "I never authorized or said to cut into the dash, I specifically asked you if it would fit and you said it would--DO NOT tell people to just "do whatever" to MY car!". I knew that'd make him less likely to call because he never wanted to deal with their screw-ups and just preferred to avoid me and make the problem worse by dragging it out.

They said they had to replace the brake cylinders and bleed them a couple of weeks ago and said it was done. Yet, I pick up the car, we agree I don't pay the measly $1,500 balance on this $16K job I've had them do, because of the deep scratches in the windows they put in (this is quite bad, by the way), the fact they lost the original stereo and bezel/face plate, and the fact they never got the scratches out that I knew were too deep. He said it would take two months to reshoot the car and I said I'm not waiting, how about I pay you nothing and take the car away like it is now.

Well, that sounded good enough to be done with these people (I didn't have a choice, I wasn't leaving it sitting there and these guys have no definite plans for when they'll even have a booth!), and yet, as I was driving this home, I found the dash/instrument panel didn't light up, the headlights are not aligned (at least the doors open on the headlights), the brakes either were never fixed or they were never bled (I thought the car wasn't going to stop several times on the way home, in the dark!), and the idle is set really high because the mechanic sucks and doesn't know how to tune it (it ran great when I took it in almost TWO years ago!), and as I was trying to get the gauges to light up, there's a short when I turn it counter-clockwise and the interior under dash light comes on and nothing else.

The wipers didn't go on (luckily it wasn't raining), the reverse lights don't work. When I tried to use the turn signal, either right or left, it takes some good amount of force to get it to switch (even though they don't work, I was hoping 1/2 way home that maybe I just didn't see it and it's better than no signal at all and I was already in the thick of it with no good way to pull over). The car was also surging. I told them to drop the tank and clean it before filling it and they said they would, but I am having my doubts, I don't know if they even drained it, but I doubt they dropped it and did it right, so there's likely crap sucked into the carb jets.

There's more, but I am too annoyed to get into all of the details. The paint looks fine 5 or so feet away, but there's way too many problems with it. I paid for a new paint job, and I get this shoddy quality, right along with all of the mechanical and electrical problems, and all I was able to do was to tell them that I'm not paying the small $1,500 balance. I assumed they fixed the brakes, which could add a few hundred more I'd have to had to pay anyway, which they knew they couldn't tack onto the balance, since I was so far in the hole if I had to have someone else reshoot it. It didn't sound like they'd want to even reshoot it, and even if they did agree, who knows how long it'll be, even if they get the paint booth. No way are these guys going to last anyway, especially with this lack of quality, the huge delays and avoiding customers for weeks and months at a time. People only keep them in business with their cars being there, because people feel trapped since they'd gain more by waiting than by pulling their car out (even if they owed nothing) and having someone else start over.

So, I'm annoyed. I have to take my car back to the mechanic I trust (the guy I TRIED to get the autobody shop to contact, but I think he was bartering trades for work with whomever would accept the offer, so no way would they hire a real good person (or do any actual hiring), which just make things take longer in the end and even more people working on it that really didn't have reason to care about quality). Just scummy business practices. So, I'll have to pay this mechanic to fix all of the issues they've created, tune it, etc. and then get quotes from body shops I can trust to see how much they'd charge to resolve the current issue, prep, repaint and reclear the car (3 coats again, since that's what I paid for and waited for), and then figure out the difference and take these idiots to small claims court.

I'm certain they'll be out of business by then, but I'm going to get the quotes early next week and file a report with the California Bureau of Automotive Repair and get a case started and start the small claims suit. Better to file suit while there's a chance they'll still be in business. I had originally hoped to chalk it up to a bad experience and pay another $500-1,000 more than I planned for the difference it'd take over the final balance to have someone else do it, but with all of these other problems, I just can't accept that big of a loss. I'll be down anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000, depending on what all needs to be done with the mechanical, electrical, new glass, stereo replacement (that doesn't require cutting into the dash), the speakers for the stereo that are also lost, and then the re-paint process (fixing, prepping, painting and re-clear for max clear so I CAN buff out small scratches and have that deep look to the paint). This sucks. Anyway, that's the update (or the situation and the plan). At least I got it back and out of their shop so I can worry about one less thing and the rest of the situation is pretty standard on the resources I have available to satisfy me. Live and learn.