Paint Jail Q's

[1976camaroguy]

Just curious if you guys that experienced cars in paint jail, when you finally got your car did you have to get a little huffy with them or exert some leverage?

I'm not talking about you guys that had an understanding with the shop that the job would take 8 months to a year for example, and they worked on the car diligently and everybody was cool.

I'm talking about the folks that dropped a car off, given a deadline. Deadline keeps getting missed. No progress for long periods of time, dragging ass, cars coming in and going out before yours. Every time you talk to them they tell you your car is next, and they will be getting it done in two weeks etc. etc.

My 71 camaro has been in paint jail since October of last year, they didn't really start working on it until mid-jan. But since then it's been a slow crawl.

I check on it every week, and they always tell me my car is going to get finished soon. About three weeks ago I was told the car was getting moved to a bay and they are starting heavy on it and will have it done in two weeks. But they needed a 2k down payment for supplies.

I gave them a cashiers check for 2k and worked on it for about 3 days and it got pushed to the side again

Last week I left a voicemail and told them I wasn't happy and this is taking too long. Said I was under the impression the car was going to become the main focus when I paid the money.

I get a call back and he apologized for dropping the ball, but they got busy with insurance jobs, but promised my car was going in and was going to get finished in a couple of weeks.

Checked on it wed, they had the front cap off, but the car was still parked in a different bay and they had a different insurance job in the bay working on it. All that needs to be done is the front cap worked, fenders are 80%. needs to be primed and whole car blocked and then it's ready for paint. I'm that close.

But I can't get straight answers out of them and I feel it will be oct before it's done, for a job that should have only took three weeks max.

Having said all of this, I made a document with a timeline of everything since I dropped it off. This includes the state the car was in each time I checked on it and what we were told. Each date was noted from 10/16/14 to 5/20/15.

I also stated that since they can't give me a commitment I will pick a date. I said I will be there to pick up my car on 6/11/14 whether it's done or not. Lastly I signed it and gave it to them.

I'm in a bad spot, because of course I have already heard it from a lot of people telling me to go get my car now.

Unless you've been in this scenario it's not that easy. The car is almost done. If I pulled it, I would have to find another shop.

It will be crap shoot if they will get it done on time. They will most likely want to strip the car and not go over someone else's work. I can't afford to take a hit on this one, and then pay for another paint job.

Car is 75% done, it's almost there. I just can't get a commitment on these jokers to finish it.

But I will say one thing, I will make sure everyone knows how they operate when it's all said and done.

I'm pretty sure he took my 2k down payment and used it to finance the insurance jobs he's working on.