a question for my station wagon buddies

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Lounge' started by 59 wagon man, Dec 11, 2015.

  1. 59 wagon man

    59 wagon man Well-Known Member

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    so last year when i went on the hot rod power tour in my 2005 dodge magnum r/t i felt like a soccer dad behind my buddy in his 65 mustang. people would wave to him and then finally if they saw the windsheild deacl for the power tour they would wave at me . so i decided to get a 70's style mopar shaker hood scoop for the car. well when i gave my daughter i happened to have it and she is thrilled with the car as it is ,so the shaker was going on the 2007 magnum srt8 . so i decide that it is worth it to me to pay the owner to do the install of the hood scoop and cut the hood for it and i stick to what i do for a living . well i pick it up today and after getting home realize he cut the hood trim ring in several spots by accident. he says it's nothing structural and the body shop can fix it for no charge. i say b.s. body shop needs to supply bondo which is no biggie but it thens takes time to finish it so either it costs me a favor, bodyshop slips the cost in somewhere else or he eats it. i say the guy who built the system and i paid to install it should have fixed it before he told me it was done so my question is
    1- who should pay or fix it?
    2- how on earth do you guys who hire other people to fix your cars deal with the idiots?
    ``a- i just had a new interior installed in the 59 chevy and i am very disappointed. a well known company somehow forgot to tell me i have to buy special trim for the door panels which after the panels are installed i find out are several hundred dollars more .
    b - the guy who did the install screwed up the carpet and the headliner (excess glue all over the carpet and ripped the new headliner at the sunvisor holes)
    sorry just had to vent . seems as though whatever can go wrong is going wrong thanks to Mr Murphy
     
  2. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    Well as one buddy to another I'd say the hood scoop should be finished and need nothing if that's what you paid for.
    The other things are just part of what we end up with now days. No one seeems proud of their work or honest about what's needed to finish a job. They'd rather sell the main parts and make it look like a good deal and then add on later.
    Since I used to do my own work whether I knew how or not, and now can't do it or afford it, I do without.
    I've never been one to compete to make a show winner. I've done my own work because to me these cars are a hobby. My hobby was playing with the cars, not writting checks.
    I do realize some people don't have the time, place, or know how so need others to do the work. This is where the problems come in.
    That's my answer and I'm stickin to it!:bigsmile:
     
  3. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    As someone who works (well, not lately) on others' cars to keep them running, I see what you went through in this way:
    1) If I did that shoddy a job on a repair, you know for a fact the car's coming back, and it will be fixed properly, or they'll never come back;
    2) I always treat a customer's car as if it were my own. The point is not pulling a paycheck but saying 'so what if s#!t's messed up, it's Beer O'clock and I'm out the door,' your @$$ better be staying late or coming in on the weekend to straighten it out in order to not only earn that paycheck, but to earn the trust of the customer;
    3) Shop owners who either do not inspect the vehicles themselves or have a trustworthy manager to verify the job's done right deserves to go out of business;
    4) Customers are always going to want the most work for the least amount of money paid, but any owner worth their salt knows how to show and give the best value to the customer, and not have knuckleheads working for them who are s#!tting on the work because the worker doesn't care.

    If your installs were billed out close to the initial estimate's cost, you haven't asked for discounts on the estimate, and you got shoddy work, you and your wagon need to be back at that shop to address that carpeting. I won't comment on the work on the door panels; however, you didn't say if you or the shop sourced the panels. Whoever did snag the parts is the one responsible for ensuring all the parts are there for the shop to install. A Fisher body manual for 1959 will confirm all you need for a factory appearance, but if you go custom, the required parts have to be spelled out in the estimate, and generally, if you agree with the estimate, you sign it.
     
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  4. PineBox

    PineBox Well-Known Member

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  5. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    Around our area in Florida there were several good upholsterers................ unless they were drunk or it was after a party with funny pain killers.
    Back where I am from there are still a few old guys doing it like they did many years ago. These are the types to find. Word of mouth usually helps decide on auto repair, paint, and upholstery.
    Orlando seems to have several good shops.
     
  6. Krash Kadillak

    Krash Kadillak Well-Known Member

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    Got some pics?
     
  7. Fat Tedy

    Fat Tedy Island Red Neck

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    Hard one to call on the magnum...... did the guy miss his mistakes before you picked up or maybe hoped you the customer would not notice..??? Either way if I understand your post correctly it sounds like who ever is offering the repair at no cost. You said that they said and I quote..." he says it's nothing structural and the body shop can fix it for no charge " sounds like he's indirectly saying he will eat the repair cost.... still upsetting I'll admit. as for the 59, I don't really know what to say.

    Personally and no offence to reputable mechanics.... but IMO 9.5 out of 10 mechanics are thieves, flat out land fill and crab bait candidates! I avoid them as much as I can and have junked cars in the past because of..... ya just know you are gona get ripped off so cheaper to buy another beater if I can't fix it myself...... I really have a strong hate for trans shops but that's another rant.

    Yet every now and then I've had no choice but to bend over and get [​IMG] ( CENCORED) for the team with my honey's old GM mini van AFTER the warranty expired. I learned fast may years ago that a mechanic wants you to pay before you get the car..... screw that, I demand to test drive and inspect before payment and if they have a problem with that...just go postal in front of other customers.... they really shut the **** up then mainly because if you ask to test drive or inspect priout topayment, they get rude.. Never trust online reviews after all YOU and ME, we both can have a hundred friends post online we invented brain surgery.

    Did I mention, I HATE mechanics?:stirthepot:
     
  8. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    Don't hold back Tedy. Tell us exactly how you feel about automotive technicians.:stirthepot:
    Up until lately I did all of my own work or had my son do it. :(So I went and bought a four wheeled computer then paid another $3400 in case it goes off line while I'm stranded in the middle of Death Valley or downtown Tampa.
    First real trip and the front end pulls badly to right. We have two tire shops in our little town for front end work. One is rumored crooks and I've dealt with the other for years. So now my one year old car with 21,000 miles on it needs the tie rod ends replaced because they are worn out. Okay I'm not a brain sturgeon or real mechanic but the car pulls to the right. It does not shimmy, shake, wander, or do those other things when the parts are worn.
    I take it to the dealer where I got it. They swap tires around even though I've read many times you can't swap sides because the belts have a brain and it's set the cords in a special pattern. Who am I to argue with genius's ? Newer tyres don't have a brain. Maybe they're tires!
    I'll admit it no longer pulls to the right or any other direction and does not wiggle all over. What it does do is make that rump rump rump sound some semi tires make as they travel 99 MPH down the road tossing tread all over the highway. There is also a bump feeling like a wheel out of balance now.
    So far 23,000 miles and just local driving but suposedly the tires are okay. Don't need a computer to figure this out.............. Yet the alignment thingie is computer operated.
    Maybe I need new tie rod ends, four new tires, a front end alignment, wheel balance, or just drive it till something breaks. After all it's already a year old and may be worn out. It was built in Canada! The dash tire computer says I have plenty of air. The oil computer says I have half life left in my oil, there is no alternator light so I'll wait till the battery dies. The heat thing shows 1/2 and all ten speakers work.
    The MPG thingie shows 29.9. city. That should make me happy yet I just saw a Pinto add on here that shows they got 34 MPG without a computer and using regular gas.

    If this is progress I'm cunfused. I neeed 59 wagonman or Tedy's mechanic.:yikes:
     
  9. PineBox

    PineBox Well-Known Member

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    The Pinto probably didn't have A/C, power windows/locks, air bags, cupholders and TEN speakers.


    BTW, our 04 PT Cruiser and our 04 Ram are money pits too.
    Walter P. Chrysler and the Dodge brothers must be spinning in their respective graves because of what their brands have become.
     
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  10. fannie

    fannie Well-Known Member

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    I may be confused, the shop who cut your hood have offered to repair the cuts. Are you upset about the time that the car will be tied up or that you may have to pay for some of these repairs?

    As for the poor job on the headliner and carpet install, I would take the car back to that shop and have the manager or owner have a look at the job that they did. Explain how you feel about their (so called) finished job and how disappointed you are with it. Ask them what can be done to make this job right? That's if you haven't already done this. Your next step will depend on how they respond. If you can remain calm and if they are someone who wants to remain in business then I'm sure they will want to fix this problem. If you haven't told them how upset you are about the finished product they may not know about the slack job that was done.

    I had the paint touched up on my Jimmy. A few weeks after the job the paint started to come off. I had followed his care instructions to the tee. I took the Jimmy back and asked him what went wrong, why was the paint going off? He had a couple of ideas that could have caused the problem and offered to repaint it using a different technique. So the Jimmy was painted again. But again the paint came off the truck and I was REALLY disappointed. I remained calm and went back.
    He began by telling me that the rocker panels of the time period of my truck was made of a particular type of metal that was for some reason resisting the primer/paint??? It made no sense to me. But what I replied to him was, I believed he was a good painter, that he has been in this business for a long time, that folks keep come to him for a reason and I believed that he could find the answer to this problem. I also suggested he contact his paint supplier to see if they could help to fix this problem. There had to be an answer somewhere. I also felt he shouldn't have to cover all the costs, and I wasn't paying any more and I expected my truck to be painted properly.
    A few days later he called me. He had contacted his supplier and it turned out that the primer, that he had been using for sometime, had changed. The supplier suggested a different primer. The truck was repainted again and it took. The supplier also helped to cover the cost.

    Good luck, I hope to can help them come to a reasonable solution to your problem.
     
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  11. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    Good answers fannie. Let's all try to make our buddy happy!:bouncy:
     
  12. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Tedy, I became a mechanic/diagnostic technician PRECISELY because of dishonest shops, and getting ripped off by them. Of the three I've worked for, none of them ripped anyone off; if they had I would've quit. I once worked for a fly-by-night car lot, and let me tell you, I felt like a heel, like I had sold my soul. If a customer's car comes back for whatever reason (and not all comebacks are the mechanic's fault, but we cover all comebacks), we do right by the customer, but we strive to ensure there are no comebacks in the first place. 'We' refers to whatever of the three shops I worked for.
     
  13. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    I once worked for a fly-by-night car lot, and let me tell you, I felt like a heel, like I had sold my soul.

    Our youngest son worked for a "buy here pay here" place like that. I was shocked by the things he was told to do. The owner bought used speedometers with lower miles on them to swap with high mileage vehicles on the lot and more things like that.
    Son told the guy to take this job and shove it!
     

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