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Old 10-25-2014, 08:58 PM
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Flash68 Flash68 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GregWeld View Post
Personally -- I think the shop owner is a crook.
Yep. Pretty clear to me too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grnova View Post

Now when I talked to the shop Owner and tried to ask why I was being charged an hourly rate instead of my budget. I was told that he does not remember talking about a "budget". And was also informed that a new shop manager was brought on and that I should talk to him. So I called the shop manager and he was told to send out the invoices and that he really knew nothing about the agreement I had with the shop owner.
Up front you did a pretty good job of laying things out -- budget, expectations, monthly invoices. You were already ahead of how most people engage a shop and start things out.

Your crucial mistake was nothing in writing... it does not have to be some uncomfortable legal document that no one wants to sign. A punchlist, an email listing the goals in some amount of detail, something referring to the hourly rate... to be helpful (later) it can still be very casual and non-confrontational.

Where I think you really went wrong was what I bolded and underlined above..... you should have stopped right there and said - politely of course - NO I did not have a conversation with your newly hired shop manager --- I had this conversation about budget and expectations with YOU.... the OWNER!

When you need to get things accomplished or remedied, you never go DOWN the food chain... you go UP it. And you were already at it. Sorry, but this is a bad sign in my eyes. It is fixable though.

I do not know who your last conversation was with --- it sounds like the new shop manager --- but the next one and everyone here on out needs to be with the owner.

Best of luck to you in this sh!tty deal. Many of us have been there in one way or another.
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