sent my classic 911 for full respray back in July. got to say - chose painter on price rather then on recommendation. 4 week job agreed after several excuses and arguments over the phone i gave him deadline (today) - 11 weeks in to the job went this morning to collect. spotted some blemishes coming through new paint in few places ( otherwise not a bad job) . he told me its some sort to chemical reaction he never seen before so i left car with him to fix it. still being nice about it, even thou i wanted to rock up somewhere in style next weekend. got home and now started getting in bad mood about it. gonna have a few drinks now and call the cunt and blow his head off i recon. but he still has my car, so don't want to compromise end result! he is a bell end as i have 4 more classics waiting to be painted - i could have kept him busy for next 6 months.... thats my rant about it... mixing another bloody mary now that will teach me how to be tight with money! i am normally not. never again
so guys... quick advise on this one... collected my 911 this Saturday (just gone) . exactly 14 weeks after dropping it off (agreed time for the job was 4 weeks). painter kept on moaning about how much he lost on this job and how he didn't made any money, and none of it was his fault, all to do with everyone else. like bad 80's paint which was on the car and so on. never actually apologised for the massive delay or admitted his incompetence. so i said - fine, whatever. collected my car and drove it home. told him that i will wire final £500 instalment as soon as i get home. got home, arranged wire, started inspecting car: he reassembled it really badly - like passenger door handle was loose and hanging off, one of the electric window switches didn't work as he didn't reconnected it properly, 911 badge on the boot was loose as well. inspecting paintwork- found blister coming through on the r/h wing of the car- quite a big one. this is all same day as i collected the car. sent message to painter - no answer. so i took car down to local paintshop which is now working on one of my other cars and asked for their opinion. they pointed out to several other issues which i didn't spot and told me that some parts of the car needs to be repainted (including the r/h wing) as it is only way to remedy those faults. so i called painter- no answer. i sent him message asking him to call me to discuss feedback i had on his work. mean time i called my bank guy and told him to stop the payment i set up. so- no word from painter at all. getting text from him yesterday midday calling me a lair about final payment transfer and giving me official notice in writing that i have 14 days to settle the bill or he will take me to court. i tried to call him - no answer again, texted him asking him to call me- nothing back. so i thought - fuck it - its only £500 , i dont really have time to go to court, might as well pay him and leave it on his conscience . got home, told missus and she kicked off at me, reminded me of my russian roots and told me not to be a pussy and tell him to fuck off. so thats what i am gonna do. anyone can advise me please on this one. do i have a leg to stand on here or am i wasting my time? i called trading standards and citizens advice bureau and they were equally useless thanks
Easy answer. If he hasn't done the job he was paid to do he's the one wasting time and money attempting to take you to small claims. He won't follow through on any of his shallow threats as he hasn't got a leg to stand on. Remain polite and insist you will pay when the job is complete as agreed. Send him pictures of all the issues and wait. If it was me I'd say fix and I'll pay the remainder or call it quits and you'll pay someone else to sort it out.
thanks. i am going to write him a letter outlining everything i want him to do and will send it recorded delivery. might also get quote locally to remedy his paintwork and include it with my letter. problem is - £500 not gonna be enough to fix his fuckups. maybe i should ask for my full money back from him? any chance of that?
personally i would not take the car near him again , what makes you think he is going to properlly do what he could not do already,,,, get quotes and details of faults from approved other places and tell him to fk off., lesson learned,, ( tbf,, sounds like £500 is not going to break your bank )
If you put the vehicle into his hands again, he will no doubt refuse to let you have it back until you have paid him in full. Which he can do since he will have a lien on the car. So the first bit of advice is: On no account let him get his hands on the car. Second bit of advice is: Don't pay him any more money. Tell him that his work was not up to standard, you therefore owe him nothing. Third bit of advice is: Tell him he is welcome to sue you in the County Court if he wishes but if he does so you will vigorously defend the action and counterclaim against him for his shoddy work. Fourth bit of advice: Don't sue him for your money back unless you are prepared to invest a good deal of time, effort, and money into the case. Incidentally, Citizens' Advice Bureaux exist mainly to help poor citizens who are in desperate straits. Porsche owners wrangling about the quality of respray jobs - not so much.
ok, that is very useful,thanks a lot. one more question- so if i dont offer him to fix the problem, do i have grounds to keep money i owe him? totally agree about not letting him have the car. i think he will do more harm then good to it now after whats happened. do you think it will be better if i send him proper letter or would email/text will be good enough?
1. From your previous post, you have already given him ample opportunity to make good the problems, and there is no need to give him any more chances. 2. Don't use emails or texts or phone calls. Write a letter, print it on paper, send it by recorded post, keep copies of everything. The letter must be carefully and temperately worded, fully detailed, and with dates and sums of money etc given accurately. Write it as though you were in front of a judge explaining each sentence.
If you want a recommendation for a top repairer / paint job, M & A Coachworks, Highgate Road NW5 are the only official Porsche approved repairer in London. I had my 911 partially resprayed when someone drove into it whilst parked and they did an excellent job.
thanks. i have MGA currently being painted by local coachwork company,i will wait and check out final result and hopefully it they are good i will give them 911 to sort
ok,all done. letter composed as per your advise and will be sent recorded today. i forgot how long this job took. 3 pages long letter to go set by step over history of this job (basically me chasing him up) and after checking calendar total was 15 weeks from drop off to collection rather then 14 as i previously thought . have in writing from him that estimate length of time is 4 weeks beginning to end
