Re: [T3] Body shop problems - any recourse?

[Marc Weber <arcady@well.com>]

<x-flowed>If he hasn't returned your calls since April, first go by and make 
sure the guy is still in business! Maybe the president of the car 
club can help you with that. But you need to get the cash and the car 
away from this guy ASAP. If he's done partial work or makes it 
difficult to get car and $$ back in any way, you may need to seek 
legal advice.

Back in college I had a body shop try to screw me this way before, 
kept my Squareback more than a year for a windows-out paint job 
promised in three months, and I'm not sure ever would have finished 
if I hadn't pushed them hard. In the end I had to nearly steal the 
car back using legal means. It ended fairly happily for me in that I 
paid only for materials and the work got done, but it was an 
unbelievable nightmare.

Best of luck.
- Marc
'68 Squareback

> I'm having some problems with the body shop we sent our '68 Fastback to, and
> I'm trying to figure out what options I have.  The main problem is a
> complete lack of communication and follow through by the body shop.  We
> dropped the car and $1200 for materials off February 14th, and not wanting
> to micro-manage, I didn't pester the guy doing the work.  Unfortunately we
> haven't seen the car since we dropped the car off, and I haven't been able
> to get the guy on the phone (answering machine is always full) since around
> mid-April.  Now I don't mind if there hasn't been alot of progress on the
> car, since I know a restoration job like this will take a back seat to more
> lucerative collision repair.   My issue is the inability to get the guy on
> the phone, and when I can leave a message, the guy doesn't call back.  This
> shop came highly recommended from the president of the car club I'm in, who
> had his '92 GLI painted there.
>
> I haven't seen the car in so long that I'm kind of losing interest in the
> project.  I do have another body shop lined up to get the work done, so I'm
> ready to just go down and pick up the car.  We're looking at buying a house,
> so this distraction isn't appreciated.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Jim
> '68 Fastback...I think.
>
>
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