Ty.. Scott has a good list of vendors here I do everything I can to call them first. I judge a vendor on how they handle a situation when something goes wrong. All to many times people use this forum to call someone out only to find out they never tried to resolve it with the vendor in the first place!Look at what happen with Mark Bent .I can't imagine that Mark would do something like this given his reputation on this site. So what happens. The owner calls Mark out. Did he try to resolve this with Mark face to face.?Because if I spent $50,000.00 on anything Im going to pay someone a visit. I would be willing to bet this did'nt happen.. Because if it did we would'nt be reading about it on this forum ,Mark would of done right by this member no question. I have NEVER been screwed by a REPUTABLE vendor. Do your home work!! :soapbox:Now back to Chris sorry

This is why alot of other forums have "Buyer / Seller Ratings " section .A forum to talk about your buying & selling experiences with other forum individuals,vendors,shops,e.t.c.

I'm sure it can drag some sponsors and vendors in mud once in a while,so it may not work out so well for the site, but it would be nice to see honest reviews

The problem is you will never know one way or another who is really telling the truth. There are 3 sides to every story, Customer side, Vendor side and what really happened. The only way a vendor rating would work is if you have a customer rating also. There are just as many crooked customers as crooked vendors. The only way to really know is to do you home work and be involved with the project.

I went to look at the tubs in 08 when i got to chatsworth the rear Axel was out and the tubs were being painted. The tubs are not the problem the shock mounts are. Just looking at the job it looked good. So mark got paid 15,000and all was good. The binding was not seen until the car came home. Now the engine bay per phone with nelson and mark he was to keep it under 15,000 give me weekly invoices and dollars spent. But he did not follow through my first invoice came 4 weeks later And yes again I went to chatsworth to look at the car the engine bay was fresh paint and looked good, But I was told the work was rough. So mark was paid. The cracking stated at sema and buy the time the car got home there was about half a dozen cracks. I did my home work The F-Bomb that mark worked on looked good and hot rod said mark was good. The stainless work mark done was very good plus the tubs were done a year before so I have seen them before the starting of the engine bay. No I did not talk to mark since I was over charged his comments were that he does not run a charity shop. Mark had the windshield removed from the car and it was broken I did not know this until the day before sema, Mark sent a bill for a replacement windshield I told him I will not pay for that. I got a nasty letter back from mark about me as a customer, I have this letter and thinking of posting it. So that's when I called tom and asked to talk to mark that this problem needed to be fixed and mark told tom he will call me but he did not. Mark still has that chance and if can settle this He will get a good review. If you note I did not name him

I've also seen your work and have always been impressed.. sending you over Penny for some line work is high up on my list. Still is.

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Shops will always have a mix of super happy customers.. happy customers and unhappy customers. It's just the nature of the gig since everyone has different expectations and desires.

The key to doing business with any shop is to look for one that has a super majority of thier customers in the "happy" catagory.

With real estate it's "location, location, location".. with picking a shop it's "references, references, references"

Never trust the shop to tell you how good they are.. trust their OVERALL reputation and thier body of work.

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NOTE: arguing out business deals online is nearly useless and even pictures don't tell the whole story (either way).. I suggest both parties talk it out or take it to court.

So let's keep this thread on topic or it will shut down like a European airport downwind from a volcano.. ;)

Greg, Bob and myself visited Marks shop right before RTTC....... as I stated before....and Greg confirmed.... the work we saw all in BARE METAL was pretty impressive in my book. The pix you posted.....look pretty damn impressive to me. If thats "turd, crap metal work", then I'd like to see whats considered "good metal work".

I'd also agree that when you do a complete custom set-up, little stuff is gonna come up... like your shocks hitting. Its impossible to engineer and plan everything out 100%. When the big picture is all done, you go back and fix the small stuff. When the builder is given 4 weeks and a huge deadline like SEMA looming over them, this stuff is gonna happen. What did you expect when you force a 6 month build into 4 weeks? I've seen and heard of quite a few cars that get slapped together for SEMA and then get torn apart and stuff is done "right" after the show. If you put yourself int that situation, then the responsibility is yours.

And I also agree.....take this offline....no one is gonna win here.....

No one will win.This needs to be taken care of in private.

100% with Ned and Tracy....

This is a private matter - and really isn't forum material. Chris' original post is the type that should be posted here because its a learning experience for all of us... and no names were mentioned because he was just trying to build awareness.

The other Bent/Camaro discussion which is a thread jack - is just a pissing contest with factual/un-factual statements that go all directions.

don't post it. At this point both sides have had their say, so anything else needs to be taken to pm's.

Thanks.

Jody

Randy I hope you guys can work this out! No sides taken. Mark has been good to use on this forum.Im sure all will be made good. I agree with Greg and Ned .Lets get back to the real issue here.Don't want to see this thread shut down..:cheers: