Originally Posted by DRJDVM's '69 (Post 282476)

I think Stuart summed up the way I feel..... this kind of stuff happens in EVERY business out there....and it always will.......

Happens in my job all the time....... we see a pet, provide an estimate for whats needed...... the owner declines, and takes it somewhere else based solely on $$.....I've even had people get on the cell phone right in the room and start calling around for a better price :).... then they try and negotiate with me. Not going to happen... I've also had to "fix" other vets crappy work.... I've seen some real disasters. I've seen pet die after taking it somewhere cheaper...pets that I KNOW I could have saved......

Sometimes clients will pressure you with time or ask you to cut corners or keep the cost down dramatically. As a business owner, sometimes you have to just say NO..... the end result will be a reflection of your work no matter what. Others looking at the car wont know that the owner wanted you do do $10k of work with a $2k budget in record time. Sometimes you have to walk away and say "no thanks". I try to work some aspects of the cost, but I draw the line and say....."I wont do that....if thats what you want, you need to take the pet and the record and find another vet". The ones that I've cut corners on ALWAYS end up being the worst situations..... things dont go well and the owners gets pissed.....not my fault, but guess who get left holding the bag? The owners arent going to go and tell their friends that the reason the dog died was because they were so frickin cheap and would let me do what was really needed.... they are going to tell their friends that it died at our hospital under my care.......

I'm also the first to admit that I got suckered into going with a lower bid for some work on my Cuda. I contacted alot of shops and got prices all over the place. I found a guy that talked a good game and was working on another members car...his price was good (better than most of the guys I contacted), so I went with him.....HUGE MISTAKE....his work was terrible and I ended up paying 2x as much just to undo his work and start from scratch on several aspects of the car. I regret that decision more than you will ever know....especially since I did exactly what I rip some of my client for.... I focused more on the final $$ rather than the value of the $$. For that I beat myself up over and over.... I learned my lesson and wont make that mistake again. Thats not say I wont try to keep my budget under control, but I'm not going to let the $$ be the biggest factor again. He did **** work but ultimately I have no one to blame but myself.

But high $$ doesnt always mean high value.... thats where the consumer has to do their homework.

I would also like to comment on BentFab...... I just met Mark at his shop a couple of weeks ago and was more than impressed on the work he had going on in the shop. 2 of the 3 project he had were in bare metal and everything was pristine......very nice CRAFTSMENSHIP.... I was very impressed and would have no doubts about letting him work on my cars. I have no doubt that any shortcuts made on the project mentioned above, have alot more "backstory" than meets the eye... I highly doubt that they were ther result of Marks decisions.

The issue also comes into play when there is more than one shop doing the work. One shop may do fantastic metal work and then the paint shop does a crappy job...so the first shop gets dragged into the "that car is a POS"

Originally Posted by bentfab (Post 282455)

Well Well Randy,

Nice of you to open your mouth with out even calling me? In my opinion I would call the shop or customer first before going public.

1st: Why don't you man up and instead of calling it a shop in Chatsworth call it Bent Custom and Performance.

2nd: This car was a headache from day one. I was sub-contracted and was always put in a rush !!! (There was never a clear picture from day one and I always asked what are the plans for this car? ) Considering the backhalf was done a year before the front half and that wasn't on my watch.

3rd: Do not point fingers either ( I have never touched spray foam in my life) That was the paint shop who ground down the metal to much because they don't know how or what the fu$@ they are doing!!! I wasn't the one who did any final assembly and God knows the monkeys that put it together had any clue what they were doing."there was about 5 gallons of mud to shape the engine bay" If I'm not mistaken before the cars engine bay was started I think there was the same amount of bondo in it when YOU did the job. So don't go calling the kettle black.

4th: "when car traveled down the shocks would bind on the housing in fact just from trailering the camaro the shock adjusters were worn away, The top and bottom bolts were mount 90 degrees from each other and when the traveled the shock rods would bend, He also messed up the axle seals." There you go again. As for the shock adjusters The paint shop fu## those up because they never assembled the car properly or asked for any help !! Plus they wanted the car to sit lower than the way it was designed. Mater of fact since they screwed those up I even bought new shock nuts (Funny there still sitting in my shop).

5th: "He clearance for the wipers but they hit and would not work." There were a few conversations about this? If we can make them work great if not then at least get them on and we will finish it up after SEMA. And if any of you guys on hear know windshield wiper systems aren't easy to figure out when there custom. Especially when the contractor tells you to put the Hydroboost and master at a 90 degree under the dash (Which in my opinion was stupid,but I was just doing my job). Also put all the electronics,new Vintage air, all the coil packs, and a manually operated throttle cable. O' don't let me forget to remind everyone. This was a 4 week job that should have been a 6 to 12 month job.

6th: "The firewall had holes into the interior so his fix was to fill them with foam spray but that still had some leaks" Are you refurring to "his fix" as me ? Because his is not me. I don't have that kind of mentality. Sorry but there you go pointing fingers in the wrong direction again.

7th: "the best part was the hood would not close since he made a custom radiator cover and it was a little to high and hit the hood." Well if you look at the origanal metal pic in Hot Rod and the final paint pic they are different. May...be.. the painter cut and fudged it then slapped on a ton of bondo painted it and called it a day. Pointing fingers again

8th: I could stand here and defend my self all day. But what good is that going to do? I'm just stating the facts. I have pics to prove it all day.

9th: It's a shame that Randy had to post this up when he dam well knows how all this came about. [COLOR="red"][COLOR="Black"][B]Some one else was calling the shots not me !!! The given amount of time that I had to do all this would make most of you go insane or tell the person to go some where else. There were alot of unfinished aspects of this car that never got finalized or were covered up by people that are'nt professinal or understand what the were doing.

There are a few of you guys on here that know me and have met me in person. I even have done work for you or are currently doing work for you. I think I can vogue for all of you that I'm not the person or builder that Randy is pointing fingers at or accusing me of wrong doing.



Mark

Originally Posted by ironworks (Post 282465)

Todd, I think you are a good example of a guy who learned his lesson on your engine and went to a guy for your 2nd engine that was not the lowest bidder I'm sure. And really at the end of the day, it is alot of the same parts, Meaning a big block is a Big block, yeah yeah I know, not quite, but bare with me. But the way this new one runs and the operates is miles different from the old one, let alone the assemble and parts selection and just overall knowledge.

I use the example of My moms cooking, You don't know your mom is a bad cook when your a little kid, until you eat somewhere else and have something to compare it to. Somethings you just take for granted until you find out you did not have all the info. OR you just never learn.

Originally Posted by Vegas69 (Post 282502)

I'd definitely agree Rodger. To my defense, at that point I had no intention of racing the car. (Back in 2006ish)He definitely was ultra competitive price wise but had a good reputation when I plunked down the money. That's about the time the place went to crap. You are absolutely correct, the difference between my current builder Jason Pettis and the old yahoo is in two different galaxies. The performance...:D :D Jason is definitely not even close to the cheapest, but he's very reasonable in my book. The dude is just a genious when it comes to engines and machine work. His knowledge is priceless. If I wanted a chassis built, I'd call you. For aftermarket suspension, I'll call DSE. For restoration and parts, I'll call my boy Frank. Wheels is Forgeline. Interior and stereo is Findlay Customs. Transmissions it Classic Chevy . None are the cheapest but I know exactly what I'm paying for, Quality.

Originally Posted by 1984 camaro (Post 282491)

Well mark you justed opened your mouth I did not point the finger at you.

Then where was your finger pointing ?

Mark the shocks are mounted up over the axle They hit and thats that now knowing you had this problem early on this should have addressed before the paint shop,

Look at the pics before the paint shop got it. Dose'nt look like it was hitting to me? Also I would be hard pressed to say that any of this work looks like sh@@ to me.

Let' not forget I back halfed this car and minni tubbed it when it was painted. You ask anyone how easy that is. You can post all the pics you want and say anything till your heart is content, but I was never the general contractor for this build. The final product and how it was finished had nothing to do with me or how it was exacuted. I just did what I could do in the amount of time that was given especialy with the daily changes during the build.

Mark