truck jail

[mrsmothers]

Well my truck is in jail. I dropped it off a week before thanksgiving for some wireing to be done. I was told that they would start working on it the next week and yep its about to be x mas and they havent even looked at it. I miss my truck

[KEL]

I knon just how you feel.
The contractor was going to have my new garage built by the end of August.
They started pouring yesterday - in the snow.

[big_al_71]

I hate it when people do that why not just tell you to drop it off a day or two before they are ready to work on it....

[allengator]

because they HAVE you... they know you arent going anywhere...

Something comes along to make a fast buck on, they jump on it...

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Some of us are lucky. We have other vehicles to drive to work, carry the kids around, etc. But when you take your truck somewhere to have somebody do something on it
(I try to NEVER do this, but it happens when I am smart enough to know my limitations), they know the score. Usually other customers that are paying the same dough
get the first-in-line benefit of the, "....Well, he really doesn't need his truck for a while" attitude.

Recognizing this fact, I was cool with the 10-week truck painting schedule on the '72 back in '04. The deal was for $5,000.
No real body work. No bondo or rust on the clip, cab or bed.

After 16 weeks, when I visited, there were a few sanding marks all over it, and some plastic separating the interior from the outside.
At about 20 weeks, there was a little more done when I took the guy working on it $500 in an empty beer can as a bribe...
.....hidden from the shop owner who was telling me that the State Farm Insurance work came first.

At 50 weeks, I got the truck back. They had called me and suggested that I have new glass put in the windshield....
Their glass guy was coming up the next day and after that, my truck would be ready. I said "yes".

The next evening I picked up the truck. Nicely painted.

When I turned west toward the house, the light shown on the windshield and glossy new paint.
All covered in clear overspray. From a State Farm Insurance job, I assume!!!!

I turned around and went back. They'd gone home for the day. I didn't take it back for the "fix".
I didn't have another year to wait.

The truck is gone. But not forgotten. That's one reason I'll be riding around in primer for a while on this one.
Here's the '72:

[wwotr]

When I took my Truck in for Body Work, I was told up front that any "Insurance Jobs" would take precidence over mine.
I was cool with that.
So on a 4 week promise, I picked my Truck up 2 1/2 Months later.
But I came in 3X a week to take pictures, and the Estimate that I did NOT get in writting, went up by $1500.00

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

Some of us are lucky. We have other vehicles to drive to work, carry the kids around, etc. But when you take your truck somewhere to have somebody do something on it
(I try to NEVER do this, but it happens when I am smart enough to know my limitations), they know the score. Usually other customers that are paying the same dough
get the first-in-line benefit of the, "....Well, he really doesn't need his truck for a while" attitude.

Recognizing this fact, I was cool with the 10-week truck painting schedule on the '72 back in '04. The deal was for $5,000.
No real body work. No bondo or rust on the clip, cab or bed.

After 16 weeks, when I visited, there were a few sanding marks all over it, and some plastic separating the interior from the outside.
At about 20 weeks, there was a little more done when I took the guy working on it $500 in an empty beer can as a bribe...
.....hidden from the shop owner who was telling me that the State Farm Insurance work came first.

At 50 weeks, I got the truck back. They had called me and suggested that I have new glass put in the windshield....
Their glass guy was coming up the next day and after that, my truck would be ready. I said "yes".

The next evening I picked up the truck. Nicely painted.

When I turned west toward the house, the light shown on the windshield and glossy new paint.
All covered in clear overspray. From a State Farm Insurance job, I assume!!!!

I turned around and went back. They'd gone home for the day. I didn't take it back for the "fix".
I didn't have another year to wait.

The truck is gone. But not forgotten. That's one reason I'll be riding around in primer for a while on this one.
Here's the '72:

[72shortstep]

Im going to have to agree with PanelDeland, contracts are the way to go. That way the price, time, and finished product all have to be done the way the contract states. I would take pictures of the shop owner signing it too and have witnesses, then you can blow up the pictures and attach them to the truck as a reminder

[BraveDave]

There's an easy way around this. You have to call and bug the living "you-know-way" out of them. Don't get irate, don't be rude, just call them twice a day and be nice and polite. At some point, they won't take your calls anymore. Then you have to drop by and "check" on their progress. Sooner or later, they will get tired of "Andy Griffith" dropping by and they will finish the work just to get rid of you!

[justtime520]

Holy smokes magwakeenercew2jh. Your post made me depressed. Im gonna have to do the paint myself now just to avoid crying in the shower singing "I will survive" for 20 weeks. Uhm

[allengator]

Originally Posted by justtime520

Holy smokes magwakeenercew2jh. Your post made me depressed. Im gonna have to do the paint myself now just to avoid crying in the shower singing "I will survive" for 20 weeks. Uhm

THAT is the whole reason I want to learn to do it all myself!

I dont mind paying for good service... its just so hard to find!!!!

[71sierragrande]

Thats the very reason people like to do most of the work themselves. Whenever something comes up that I cant do myself, I think of a reason why I dont need it(I guess thats not possible with wiring though). All these horror stories are what has convinced me to paint my truck myself, too.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Why is it that people comit and do not do the work ontime??? Just like paint jail..

[Putter]

What kind of wiring work? You know it's less than 3 hours from your town to mine.....straight across I-20. And it wouldn't take a month if you stand there and watch/help!!!

[leddzepp]

"Two weeks"

[mrsmothers]

I did a motor swap just put a new 350 in it and the old harness was tosted so its needs a new one wired up.

[PanelDeland]

Just an observation here but :IF" you make a contract with penalties for failure to complete on time,your work will nearly always get done.Don't forget to also specify exactly the quality and scope of the work.General contractors in the building trades do it all the time.They seldom have a problem getting their work on time.

[treveiger]

Id rather have a amuter paint job by me then take it to someone and have them just keep it in there shop until they have no work and then start slowly working on it and stop once they get busy again. At least i can have my truck and slowly fix my mistakes as time goes on and enjoy my truck.

[67chevylongbed]

My brothers project has been in the body shop for a year and they have hardly touched it, not even ready to be sprayed yet. They told him when he dropped it off he would have it back in 2 months lol...

[rusty baker]

I took mine in once for A frame bushings. He said a week. Six weeks later, I picked it up. It had never moved from the spot where I parked it. I didn't tell him that I was coming after it. He never called me to tell me it was gone.

[57larry]

you are never going to learn if you don't try it yourself, plus you'll save money

[glider_6969]

I know what you guys feel,, my painter had my truck for about 5 months, didn't touch it until the last two weeks,, I wasn't very happy about the wait but at least the work came out good. I got it back just in time to put it away for the winter.

[Boog]

Originally Posted by rusty baker

I took mine in once for A frame bushings. He said a week. Six weeks later, I picked it up. It had never moved from the spot where I parked it. I didn't tell him that I was coming after it. He never called me to tell me it was gone.

Now don't that make you feel real good about leaving your pride n joy at some shop for some work. He didn't care about your truck or your business. Not even enough to call you when he saw it was gone.

Same thing happened to me. My wife's car needed something done to it and a shop owner "friend" said he'd get right on ours as we didn't have a spare at the time. Several weeks went by and I pulled it away from his place on a weekend and never heard a word from him. He came in buying parts and visiting, as usual, like nothing even happened.

Like was said they're after the quickest, easiest buck and the larger jobs take a backseat. When pressured they can manage to hit it with some sandpaper and primer and bill you for their work when they're needing some cash, generally around the end of the month.
Of course this is not the case with ALL shops but very true for many. Unfortunately not everyone can do everything to their vehicles and sometimes have to depend on shops. Good luck with yours.

[Splash4195]

Wow horrible experiences!

I have a body that owns his own body shop that does unreal work. Extremely high end vechicles. He did my dad's 32 douce coupe said it would take a month had it back in two weeks. Unreal paint job. I asked why it only took 2 weeks. He stated, "Plan for the worst hope for the best."

Which reminds me I need to drop off my race body work so he can paint it for my race bike.

[mrsmothers]

Well I got it out of jail it only cost me 286 in parts and 800 in labor........ and it took them two days to get running kinda funny since they had it since around thanksgiving

[NORMSCOLORADO]

wow quite the experiences with shops im glad i am skilled enough to do my own! as soon as i get the drive train situated i plan on hitting the bodywork hard! lol