This is something that happened a bit ago, and I started writing about it then, but finished it up and wanted to post about it.
Back in May of 2020 I decided to have my car, the 1958 VW ragtop, professionally worked on at Doug’s Bugs and Bunnies in Mesa, AZ. I have dealt with them for years and I really like the people there. So, I drove the car down and they looked it over and said they thought it would cost about $7500-$8000 to get the car painted (with some minor body work), do a headliner, and replace the sunroof. After some thought and talking with my wife it was decided that I would have them do the work. So, I talked with them about when would be best to drop the car off and how long it would take. They were busy at the time and asked to wait until July to drop it off. I said that would be fine. So, on July 17, 2020 I towed the car down to them and dropped it off, and they said it would take 4-6 months. I was a little surprised by how long it was going to take, but I said ok.
Well, I called in September to see how things were progressing since it had been a couple months. They hadn’t even started it yet. Apparently, they hadn’t even contacted their paint guy to find out his schedule, and he was backed up. So, the car sat, and sat, and sat until November I believe. So, the car got its body work done and the paint was finally applied sometime around then. The car looked great! The car made its way back to Doug’s and then I went down to pay for that work and find out when the headliner and sunroof was going to be done. They said, well we need to order that stuff now. I was very confused, I had talked to them about what I wanted done, but they hadn’t ordered anything because they wanted to wait to make sure I wanted it done once the paint was done. So, they ordered the stuff. They said it would take a month to get that stuff in. So, by this time I had decided to have them rework the doors as well to make sure they worked correctly and redo the window scrappers on the door windows. That was completed at the end of February. Then I found out the headliner was delay due to covid. It took until May to get the headliner in.
By this time, I had a discussion with the owner, Fish, about the time delay, and if there was anything we could do about compensation. We agreed on a discount toward him working and installing the engine once the car was ready for that. I had taken the engine out myself, but I figured if I had them do it there would be less of a chance of damage being done to the paint, and it there as damage then it would be their fault and not mine. So, that agreement was made, and I dropped the engine off with them in May (I believe). They were able to get to the engine pretty quickly and made sure it all looked good, and they investigated a leak I had been having with my doghouse cooler, and they couldn’t replicate it, but thought they could make sure the problem wouldn’t come back.
The headliner finally arrived at the beginning of June 2021, but the sunroof was missing. So, they had to contact the company and they said it would be at least another month before that came in. During this time, I talked to them about putting in new carpet as well since that was related to the headliner (I was planning on doing it myself, but it was taking so long that I thought I wanted a car that ran and was ready to go once it was finally done). They told me they kept the carpets kits in stock so that wouldn’t be an issue. Well, it was. When it was time to do the carpet kit, they didn’t have one for a 1958 ragtop in stock, and surprise surprise, it was backordered due to covid. So, there was waiting again. I had asked them about doing the carpet back in February as well, but for some reason they didn’t set one aside or make sure that one was on order earlier in the process.
So, the car sat again. Thankfully it was sitting inside this entire time because the car had no windows in it. So, the paint at least was staying out of the sun.
The sunroof and carpet finally came in and they start and they had someone come in to do the headliner. And that is when the next adventure began. The person doing the job wasn’t their top-tier person to help reduce my cost (which was going way up during this process). And he had a terrible time getting part of it to work. I started calling weekly starting in July to get updates (since it had been year with them), and every week it was “Well, the guy is trying something different to see if that will work.” A week before my birthday I called and was told that they thought the car would be ready in a few days. I was overjoyed. I told them my birthday was in a week, and that would be a great present. I called on my birthday and they car wasn’t ready. The headliner still wasn’t in completely. I was able to go down and drive the car though. While there I noticed a number of places where the paint needed to be touched up as well so they said they would take care of that as well. There was one very bad spot in the paint where it is cracked and as a result the car had to be taken back to the paint guys place a reworked. They thought another week or so. I crossed my fingers, but didn’t put much faith in it. By mid-September I was getting fed up, and I called and talked to Fish again, and he told me that they had decided to bring in their top-tier headliner person (not on my dime) and get him to fix the headliner issue. On Monday October 11, 2021 I was told the headliner was in a fixed.
They were going to drive the car again and then detail it and then it would be ready to be picked up. I reminded them to check the RPM gauge and Oil Temp Sensor since they weren’t working correctly when I drove the car on my birthday, and they said they would. Then I asked Fish if it would be possible to have them install a replacement seatbelt on the rear driver side since they could use their lift to get to the bolts more easily than I would be able to at home. Fish said it would be easy and they could do it no problem. And that the car would be ready by the end of the week.
On October 14, 2021 I called to see if I could pick the car up the next day, and I was told that the person replacing the seatbelts damaged the paint and body somewhat while putting in the seatbelts. Somehow, they used incorrect hardware that was too long. I am not sure how that happened, but it delayed the car once again. I am pretty sure the person doing it was in too big of a hurry and didn’t pay attention to what was going on. As a result, the paint and body guy had to come in again to fix it and there was another delay.
I was so frustrated, but I also know that things can happen along they way. I don’t agree with the business practice they followed at times of not ordering things until another step is completed. If it was a money thing (which they never said it was) then I would have paid more upfront to get the parts ordered right away, but that wasn’t the way they chose to handle things.
I finally got the car in December of 2021. It took 15 months, and it had to go back 3 times to get little things fixed like a paint run here and they forgot to put the windshield wiper system back together correctly. The car looks great, and I love driving it, but it took way too long and looking back I probably should have done more work myself and had someone else do the paint. Then I could have had the headliner done by someone else and I could have done the rest of the work. It may or may not have taken 15 months, and it is true that I didn’t have to have a car in pieces around my house, but I am not sure I would take my car back to them to do the work. I realize that the pandemic messed everything up, but the lack of communication, and the seemingly lack of desire to get my car done since I wasn’t bugging them all the time bothered me. And having spent almost $15000 on all the work was well above the initial thought on the cost was going to be.
You should have retrofitted it to an electric! Lol! Assume to see the car again after all these years!
I see Siri correct my awesome to assume. I must have totally botched it typing on my phone! Lol
Love the auto changes that AI does. I think and electric change would be interesting, but not on that car. If I were to come into a little newer one for cheap then maybe I would consider it. It is about a $20k retrofit (and that is doing a bunch of the work myself).