Rocket Restorations....My Experience
Going to be giving Matt a call here in a minute but wanted to respond to this. The above comment is better than I could have put it, we went way above and beyond what he wanted to pay for the job. We even gave him the first gallon of paint free that we had laying around. Want to say for the record when the car was picked up it is the only time we have ever let a car go from here without the customer paying, Matt said he would send us a check and never did. We work on a time plus materials basis and make that very clear to all of our customers. Whatever it costs to get the work done is what we do. We offered to fix some of the issues and he said he would not take it back here. We didn't make a dime on this car because of all the extra work we did and the fact we went above and beyond the original parameters of what he wanted. Let me go through the list here of problems:
- The deck lid was fiberglass and didn't fit at all, the reason it was modified was because we had to do all that to make it fit at all. We told him the trim wouldn't fit and that was because of the poor quality of the trunk lid.
- The car is a 67 Dart which had no trim clips from the factory. The ones we put in the car was where they should have been. If it had existing holes in the rear window they were not the factory original holes.
- The rear window didn't fit because Matt did all the welding on it that he didn't want us to fix his work so we didn't.
- This was very much a budget paint job and he kept on saying he "didn't want a show car" and it "didn't have to be perfect", think we did a pretty good job on the paint for the budget.
- The car was bent when it got to us and he did not want to put it on a frame machine. This will effect fit and finish on a completed car.
- Matt installed the 1/4 panel himself then has us fix the work. We put a aftermarket quarter panel skin on it and the lines are just not that great on them. We can only get the lines on the car as good as the metal we put on the car.
We don't need to get into a pissing match on this stuff but we will defend our reputation when it is put into question. Communication was not good between the customer and our shop on this one and that is probably our fault. Read the previous replies to this post for references to our reputation. Bottom line is Matt wants to get the leftover paint from the project and since he has the car with an outstanding balance on his account we will not release the paint until the account has been settled. It doesn't matter if the balance is $10,000 or $500 it is still an amount owed to us. We stand by our work.
Ugh, I really didn't want to respond anymore since I just spoke to Tom over the phone and wanted this just done. Unfortunately, I feel that I have to respond as some of this is simply not true.
1. I acknowledge some things took longer than you charged. The relocation kit for example, I was told was T***r's first time installing a relocation kit. And it did take longer than I was charged.
Also, you were sent a check (which corresponds to the emails above) after I picked up the car. And it was an amount that you and I agreed to after I discussed how much time I anticipated spending on the rear frame rails (which also corresponds to the emails above).
Thanks for the first gallon of paint free. I guess in the end, you didn't give it to me for free, afterall, you've got the extra... I also helped pay for the second painting of the left side of the car.
Not sure what extra work you did on the car that I was not charged for, other than the relocation kit just mentioned.
2. The deck lid is AAR. The trim does fit.... It is installed on the car with no troubles.
3. I don't think I said factory holes. I said existing holes. I had trim on the car previously, as shown by the holes in the photos. The trim was snug to the gasket. Not sure why new holes were made right next to the existing holes, especially since they were already there, and at the correct height. Seems that could've been fit ahead of time. Factory holes or not, they were at the right spot.
4. The window does fit. Not sure what you mean by welding on the back window. There was welding on the rear cowl piece (not sure what it's called). That wouldn't affect the trim being snug to the car on the c-pillar.
5. I agree it didn't need to be perfect. I'm still not asking for perfect. I was showing pictures of items like the rear frame rails, for example, that are not part of a "paint job".
6. Bent frame is news to me. Where is it bent??
7. Yes, you guys replaced the quarter panel. Not disputing that. Actually, the person that worked on that quarter panel (before the car went to your shop) came from a recommendation from your shop. Remember that? I can give you his name if you like. I never griped about the replaced 1/4. You both explained that it wouldn't be perfect. I get that. It's the other side of the car we repainted for body lines.
During the build, I agree better communication would've helped, but for some items we're discussing I'm not sure it would've. In the end, for closure, I tried to communicate you. The emails are attached.
For the sake of this post, Tom and I spoke this afternoon, and we've come to closure.