[Dave Wanichek]

i agree with mike...get a lawyer...and keep us posted

[trs13]

I would call a Lawyer they have gone beyond the scope of work with out authorization. I have never had a good expierence swaping services, so now if I like a customers work i hire them and pay them and I now expect the same.

Tom Sexton

[Geeto 67]

I was kinda hoping to get what people think of these shop practices, and hope that soembody had a similar expirence they wanted to share (not that the get a lawyer comments aren't appreciated).

I have a funny feeling that the shop charged him the time in chasing down parts. I used to work for a corvette resto shop and we never did this (I have never even heard of it being done), the time involved in locating a part was the cost of doing business. We are waiting on the paperwork from the shop to see where exactly these 900+ hours went.

[cblandin]

Sadly, here are the ways this ends:

1. Your friend hires a lawyer and begins litigation. Lawyers are expensive (I dropped $5K last year on one related to child custody items). At best your friend "wins" which means he gets a judgement against shop. This "judgement" is a piece of paper that tells the shop to give your friend his car, or money, or something along those lines. The shop then "ignores" the piece of paper - it is JUST A PIECE OF PAPER (albeit a nice official pretty one). At which point your friend has to pursue the issue which means more work, more litigaiton, etc. Ultimately he MAY see some level of restitution out of the deal, but my guess is that it is unlikely, and in the meantime...his lawyer gets to buy a big new boat with all the money he has received.

2. Your friend comes to an agreement (in writing) with the shop owner declaring they are essentially "even". Neither party litigates, and your friend walks away with a hard lessoned learned...and half a Trans Am.

3. Both parties sue/countersue each other. Ultimately, neither one pays the other, and both parties' lawyers get to buy boats.

In my experience, it doesn't matter if you hire a high dollar lawyer or a cheap lawyer. The law is generally pretty clear on these things and most of the "work" they do is nothing more than secretarial in nature (which is why their legal assistants/secretaries do most of it anyway).

Have your friend go with option 2....

Just my .02...

[Geeto 67]

Originally Posted by cblandin

Sadly, here are the ways this ends:

1. Your friend hires a lawyer and begins litigation. Lawyers are expensive (I dropped $5K last year on one related to child custody items). At best your friend "wins" which means he gets a judgement against shop. This "judgement" is a piece of paper that tells the shop to give your friend his car, or money, or something along those lines. The shop then "ignores" the piece of paper - it is JUST A PIECE OF PAPER (albeit a nice official pretty one). At which point your friend has to pursue the issue which means more work, more litigaiton, etc. Ultimately he MAY see some level of restitution out of the deal, but my guess is that it is unlikely, and in the meantime...his lawyer gets to buy a big new boat with all the money he has received.

2. Your friend comes to an agreement (in writing) with the shop owner declaring they are essentially "even". Neither party litigates, and your friend walks away with a hard lessoned learned...and half a Trans Am.

3. Both parties sue/countersue each other. Ultimately, neither one pays the other, and both parties' lawyers get to buy boats.

In my experience, it doesn't matter if you hire a high dollar lawyer or a cheap lawyer. The law is generally pretty clear on these things and most of the "work" they do is nothing more than secretarial in nature (which is why their legal assistants/secretaries do most of it anyway).

Have your friend go with option 2....

Just my .02...

We tried #2 on saturday, the shop owner refused since he put a ton of money into the car he want's some of it back. He was pretty pissy about the whole thing. I've never heard of a shop putting any of its own money into a car in such a large quantity without owner approval. This whole thing is crazy.

[matt1970pon]

you should get some guys from here to stop by the shop,and say Hi to the @sshole,that would be fun but wouldn't help much.sounds like your freind has all the paperwork on the work he has done and the shop has none.I would get a lawyer quick.I have a feeling the shop is going to make up paperwork.I wouldn't give him a chance.I do it fast,it might tell the $sshole your friend isn't messing around.If he still doesn't come to a compromise I would smear his name everywhere.Us car guys stick together,not just pontiac guys all musclecar owners,thats what makes are hobby great.It would destroy the shop.

[Brad B. Hillebrand]

Originally Posted by Geeto 67

I was kinda hoping to get what people think of these shop practices, and hope that soembody had a similar expirence they wanted to share (not that the get a lawyer comments aren't appreciated).

I have a funny feeling that the shop charged him the time in chasing down parts. I used to work for a corvette resto shop and we never did this (I have never even heard of it being done), the time involved in locating a part was the cost of doing business. We are waiting on the paperwork from the shop to see where exactly these 900+ hours went.

I think the shop practices are very poor and the big deal here is where are the logs showing how many hours were spent on the car and for what exactly. You should have the logs by now and by not having them suggests the shop dosen't have them. If not then the shop is trying to scam your friend. You cannot determine cost without labor and can't determine labor costs without the logs. The shop should have listings of the parts too and their cost. Waiting for logs is not acceptable and you can bring action now w/o them and state that in your claim. Who's to say the guys won't just make up the hours and put that into a document?

The guy is attempting to pull a scam it seems. I would call it a day, forget about the car and the floor work and get a lawyer. Forget about all the hassel and trying to get logs that could be fake. Let the judge or trail determine the shops actions.

With the shop leaving the car in it's current condition, saying that 900 hours are used w/o proof and doing work not authorized this will end up in court anyway. Get a jump start on him.

Brad

[mrrat1]

Any way to post some pics of the car before, during, present. The guy should be in the con game not resto, I can't believe the hours. Live in NJ also would like to know the shop. If close would like to go check it out & the car!! Is it still in the shop??....Dave K

[mrrat1]

Curious if there is an update...Dave K.