ISO Interior shop Recc, Texas (or border state)

Shaark92

Well Known Member
Not a review, yet ...

Polly has been in a dedicated auto upholstery shop awaiting a full interior install to complete her 2 plus year frame-off resto-mod .... since 15 June 20. As of 3 weeks ago, there has been ZERO work done on the car despite having a 30% deposit remitted to order the materials .... back in February.

Now ... we missed first scheduled delivery in March ... due to the stink bug response's delaying final assembly parts arrival ... just to get her rolling on her own power.

Then there was a May delivery in 75% completion; the interior guy and my resto shop owner must have miscommunicated, or the interior guy changed his mind and wanted Polly 100% complete, save for the interior.

Anyhow. at ~95% completion (was still waiting for rear door window channels to install the rear door windows) the interior shop accepted Polly. And there she's sat with zero work on a quoted 4 week duration job.

3 weeks ago, I was told the full interior ahead of Polly would be done in 2 weeks. I presume that means Polly started this week. Today, I'm going to discover if that is true. I've been patient, I think. I haven't harassed the guy ... but neither have I received a single communication from him about exceptions since leaving Polly with him over two months ago.

My resto shop guy urges more patience ... but I need to get this project completed. If I can learn cash flow is a problem for this fellow, since I've already put 30% down, what is the thought here on offering, in good faith, another 20% to get the project active? It seems he may have opted to do "day job" seat covers, delaying work on the full interior jobs because of the business' need/forecast?

This shop has been in business for over 30 years and he's done excellent work. The price isn't "brother n law" but I feel like that's the attention my job is getting; especially without ANY communication.

So ... contingency plan. I don't want to be like an airline passenger who decides to bail out because the flight is an hour late ... like you're going to arrive sooner by leaving THIS flight? But I can't help but feel disrespected when the 4 week job hadn't even been started 6 weeks after leaving the car at the shop, and there's been ZERO communication on why ... never mind providing "the new expected done date."

Dallas, Ft. Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin ... IH 35 ... plus/minus a few hours. Who can do a full interior starting by Mid September?

Thanks!
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
How close is he? Can you arrive unexpectedly then discuss your concerns and what you expect? Ask him what he requires to full fill his obligation within the next day to three days. Pin him down on an absolute completion date and give him an additional day because of your desire to help him succeed. On that last day show up unannounced to take the car away. Then he can jump through hoops to get paid in small increments over the same time period he had over extended his time
 

Shaark92

Well Known Member
Thanks.

I shared with him my concern of no contact and that i simply need to get the job done without further delay.

i offered to throw him some good faith money and he declined. So ... cash flow isn't the problem.

ill keep rolling the acorn but yes i can no notice visit. Ive told my resto shop guy im gonna call the interior guy in two weeks. If he hasn't started, im gonna take my material (did see that) and load up Polly.
 

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
I did upholstery in Dallas Texas while I lived there. I moved back up to Iowa and continue to do so. The easy fix to your problem is to ask the trim supply shops. They know every upholstery guy in 100miles from their supply store. I used to get all of my Materials from SunBelt Fabrics (they went out of business) in Dallas and there would be 10-15 different upholstery shops in and out of there every hour to get supplies. Do a local search in your area and ask who they would recommend. Remember that as places like that have personal relationships with the people in the business. If you call a supply shop and they don't know who to direct you to then they do most of their business online. Mike over at Gilbreath Upholstery Supply here in DesMoines would know a dozen guys to help you. Anyway, find local supply houses and they will help you.
 

ragtp66

Well Known Member
I can say that I spoke to Gina Ciadella about ordering a kit for my Parkwood about a month ago. and she told me she was roughly 4-5 months booked out. Partially due to raw material supply chain issues and partially due to a much busier workload then anticipated.

I can also say that for a living I am in the Swimming Pool Distribution business and this has been the most challenging year I have had in almost 25 yrs in the business. We have horrendous supply chain issues in my line of work also. Pool components, filters, heaters, accessories, chemicals you name it and there are issues. So I can tell you it is not the only industry that has issues. Some of it is raw material shortages, add in having to re-work manufacturing facilities to comply with "social distancing" within the plant or face shutdown from the government. Compound that with employess that are not returning to work because they are (were) making more money to stay at home getting an additional $2400 a month to NOT work. add in that you cannot call a temp agency and have them send you 10- experienced sewing machine operators. The confluence of events has pushed lead times out MONTHS not weeks from normal customary times. Communication is the key to making it through. I work VERY hard to keep my customers products flowing to them as timely as I can. I would go visit the shop that is doing the work and have a talk with him and see what the hold up is. NOONE wants to make the call and give someone bad news, I hate it in my line of work but I try to give my customer 2-3 options of how I can solve their problem before calling. Typically none of options are what they WANT to hear but they are usually understanding and grateful that I was able to give them multiple choices. It is a rough year I personally cannot wait to see it in the rear view mirror. He may very well not have ANY answer to give you. Some of my vendors tell me " we are still working on getting orders out that were placed in May and June" which is a complete non-answer to my question but the point is almost everyone is in the same or a similar situation. Being understanding will go a long way and in all reality if you jump ship and go somewhere else you will be going to the bottom of someone else's list. Wish you luck and hope it all works out for you.
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
I wish you nothing but the best, however I would not give one more penny until the work was completed. If materials for the job are delayed that is out of the business's control, he should have been communicating with you. This happens so often, causes so many unhappy customers, and could be avoided so easily. Communication. Most customers would understand and gladly wait. The total lack of communication says a lot about the business and owner, and it is not good.
 

Shaark92

Well Known Member
I am in the Swimming Pool Distribution business
Interesting. I have a good friend who also builds swimming pools and he told me the same thing.

AFAIK, the materials are all present; carpet & vinyl selected. foam is stock that he keeps on hand ... stitching supply, glue ... et all.

His shop is rated #5 of a couple dozen in the metroplex area ... no bad reviews on yelp.

I just wish he'd have called when he couldn't start on it back in June. I wish he'd have called when he learned the blue vinyl I picked in February was discontinued so I wouldn't have had a pressure repick ... assuming that work was starting and stink bug virus delay was going to affect his ability to finish the job. But you can't finish if you don't start.

Seems to be a hangup about the restoration shop having to pull the door panels to complete assembly. She's missing the rear door windows (channels were not available in June) and about half of the side moldings from the recondition/rechrome shop (same). As I mentioned, we didn't have ALL of the parts to bring a complete car to him back in June. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something about the "industry standard" ... but looks like the insulation/carpet, kick panels, headliner, package tray, seats could all be installed. Door panels built, wrapped and placed in the trunk. I could install the door panels for crying out loud. I'm quite sure my restoration shop can too.

If I wasn't bent on a custom interior, we could order pre-fab and install.

Thanks for the words, y'all. We'll get it done, but she may not be quite broke-in for The Don's re-election, though hopefully I can take her to early vote! :P
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
Good luck. Even before the events of the last year it seems to me things were already far down this road. Poor communications, lead times ect. Most do not do as ragtp66 does. Operators like him will survive the storm. I called a business when the storm went through a couple of weeks ago wanting to donate to them and left a message....no call back...wtf??
 

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Interesting. I have a good friend who also builds swimming pools and he told me the same thing.

AFAIK, the materials are all present; carpet & vinyl selected. foam is stock that he keeps on hand ... stitching supply, glue ... et all.

His shop is rated #5 of a couple dozen in the metroplex area ... no bad reviews on yelp.

I just wish he'd have called when he couldn't start on it back in June. I wish he'd have called when he learned the blue vinyl I picked in February was discontinued so I wouldn't have had a pressure repick ... assuming that work was starting and stink bug virus delay was going to affect his ability to finish the job. But you can't finish if you don't start.

Seems to be a hangup about the restoration shop having to pull the door panels to complete assembly. She's missing the rear door windows (channels were not available in June) and about half of the side moldings from the recondition/rechrome shop (same). As I mentioned, we didn't have ALL of the parts to bring a complete car to him back in June. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something about the "industry standard" ... but looks like the insulation/carpet, kick panels, headliner, package tray, seats could all be installed. Door panels built, wrapped and placed in the trunk. I could install the door panels for crying out loud. I'm quite sure my restoration shop can too.

If I wasn't bent on a custom interior, we could order pre-fab and install.

Thanks for the words, y'all. We'll get it done, but she may not be quite broke-in for The Don's re-election, though hopefully I can take her to early vote! :P
NEVER EVER USE YELP. You must pay to have your positive responses count with negetive responses equally. I know because they call our business and ask us to pay a monthly subscription which "makes all of you responses visable including the positive". Yelp is no different than any other scam where you have to pay to play. You can find our positive "yelps" so long as you know the 5 different buttons exact location on 5 different pages. We have considered taking them to court for hiding our reviews. They claim "its just how they do business", nothing illegal about it. Yet it creates a false material fact the public uses to make purchases of goods and services. That is illegal.
 

59K9

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
I blew both head gaskets in my metanol injected turbo T type regal, made an appointment with the shop that built it for june 1st...he still has the car and it's not done...WTF does making an appointment do if it's ignored...the guy is the leading buick guy and he originally built the car...if this thing didn't have 3 computers and all that voodoo stuff I'd go haul it back...I feel like an idiot, an idiot without my car...Guess I should have been paying more attention when I saw 25 or more GN's and GNX's in his lot...mebbe by Christmas...ho ho ho
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
I am in the process of having the siding replaced on my house. When I started with the contractor I asked about time frames. I asked him how long the job would take. Before he could answer, I told him I wanted him to give me a reasonable time, reasonable to him, not me, including possible delays. I then said before you give me answer, make sure because I am going to hold you to it. So far he is doing great. He's ahead of schedule on most of it. If he did have an issue, I would be cool with it because he has held his word, and communicates any issues he finds, and has made changes I have ask for on the fly.
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
AC contractor was in Saturday morning. Guess what questions he will face if I like the bid?
 

Shaark92

Well Known Member
NEVER EVER USE YELP.

I didn't ... it was part of the search results. I'm at this shop because my restoration shop owner is using him. This is the first full custom interior he's done for my resto shop ...

I've decided I will take my trailer to the interior shop in two weeks. If the car doesn't have measurable progress on it ... I'll take the car and the materials ... get me copies of invoice(s) for the material, deduct that from the deposit and cut me a check. I'll send it immediately with an immediate funding order ... find another shop.

there are several in the area ... the only question is when can I get in? We'll be starting over.
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
I hope you get the progress you are looking for. Unfortunately over my lifetime listening to stories from friends, acquaintances, stories on this board, and my personal experience, unless this is the exception, I think you will need that trailer in 2 weeks. It will be interesting to see what happens. Often in these types of cases there is all of the sudden some minor form of work done. Or there is a sudden burst of communications followed by excuses of why it wasn't and why they didn't communicate, but ultimately, the car will sit at the shop like it did. Hopefully there was a legitimate reason and the shop will now communicate properly and do the work as promised.
 

Junky

Well Known Member
NEVER EVER USE YELP. You must pay to have your positive responses count with negetive responses equally. I know because they call our business and ask us to pay a monthly subscription which "makes all of you responses visable including the positive". Yelp is no different than any other scam where you have to pay to play. You can find our positive "yelps" so long as you know the 5 different buttons exact location on 5 different pages. We have considered taking them to court for hiding our reviews. They claim "its just how they do business", nothing illegal about it. Yet it creates a false material fact the public uses to make purchases of goods and services. That is illegal.

Have you ever considered contacting one of the legal firms that do class action suits? Heck, I would join and all you need is one other company to start the class action. Once the action starts, the others will join in like flies on a screen when mom was cooking a pot roast (fond memories of when I was a kid, and needed flies to feed my turtles).
 

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Have you ever considered contacting one of the legal firms that do class action suits? Heck, I would join and all you need is one other company to start the class action. Once the action starts, the others will join in like flies on a screen when mom was cooking a pot roast (fond memories of when I was a kid, and needed flies to feed my turtles).
The problem is getting other people/businesses to understand how they are presenting information is misleading. I was a federal law clerk and its just now worth our time. To much time, money and effort for something they could flip a switch and change. That would make our claim moot. The courts would throw it out without judgement. They would wait a few months and do it all over again.
 

IMBVSUR?

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
The problem is getting other people/businesses to understand how they are presenting information is misleading. I was a federal law clerk and its just now worth our time. To much time, money and effort for something they could flip a switch and change. That would make our claim moot. The courts would throw it out without judgement. They would wait a few months and do it all over again.

And there is where a lot of the problems for the consumer hits home. Most don't have money to sue and the shops know it. Secondly like Ragtp66 said, you wind up at the rear of the line elsewhere. Even so, my experience in most cases is what you have seen, is what you will continue to get. Better to cut your loses and warn others than stay, pray, wait longer than you would have ever imagined, then ultimately not be happy with the job and regret leaving it there.
 

Shaark92

Well Known Member
Sadly .... it is time to take action.

As of yesterday, the interior shop had STILL yet to start on my car.

So, Monday morning, I am fetching Polly and the materials ... and getting a refund on the deposit minus the invoices on the materials.

4 months sitting in a 3 bay shop ... really two bay, but he crowds it. Will be getting an estimate of cost/delivery from another shop Monday afternoon with Polly present.

I've been "next" to the "bathtub" Plymouth for 4 months. The 4 week estimate to complete seems terribly optimistic. So, @IMBVSUR? I'm cutting my losses on the time. In the commo with the prospect, I referenced the time sitting. Response: can't make money with a car occupying a bay

ABSOLUTELY. Now, I don't want a speed burner job, but 4 weeks should be sufficient for a competent shop. Knowing my Resto Shop has a few outstanding items, at this point, we'll be doing good to have the car before 2021.
 

Junky

Well Known Member
I would suggest a quick stop at the local police department to explain the situation, in the event that the shop owner decides that he is going to hold the car hostage. If it is a small town, there is a good possibility that they might even send an officer there with you to "keep the peace". I have seen some very strange things happen when you attempt to retrieve a vehicle, and the shop owner gets pissed over the removal. I once had to retrieve my tractor that I lent to a friend, and he blew up the engine, and gave it to a local shop to install a new engine. For over a year, the shop didn't get around to it, then they sold the tractor for storage. I engaged the local police, and after some questioning, the police learned who the "new owner" was. I visited that person, to get my tractor back, and saw my tractor with my own eyes. I also had the State Police with me, and they told him that the tractor was considered stolen, and that he shouldn't move it. He disregarded that and brought the tractor back to the shop where he had purchased it, to get his money back, without telling anyone. When the sheriff arrived with the paper work to seize the tractor, he learned that it had been moved back to the shop. Finally had to engage an attorney, and the court ordered the tractor to be given back to me. The shop owner sabotaged the tractor by draining the anti freeze and filling with water, and drained the crankcase and filled that with water. This was in the middle of winter, and if I hadn't checked it immediately upon pick up, it would have frozen. The local police were there when I picked up the tractor, and they observed the water in the engine. I drained the engine and the radiator/block when I got it home. Never pursued the idiot since I avoided any damages.
 
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