So just how long do you give your mechanic a pass before getting irritated?

[73TXRallye440]

I tell ya, I searched high and low, talked to many folks locally here about getting just the right 'mopar' guy to work on my charger. He is a one man operation that does full blown restorations out in his shop out back and does repair work in between the big restos. Well, I have an overheating issue with my charger, and took it to him. He found out I have a hot spot and tore it down. (left head 100 degrees hotter than right head). Well, Ive called a few times, emailed a few times, etc and just get weird responses. How long do you let it go before you get irritated? (because I think im at that point) Should I just point blank ask him to give me a firm date of completion or how would you handle it?

[67_Dodge_Charger]

Some just need a little nudge to get the work done.  Of course you might push him too far.  I am sure you will get it back and it will be working with no problems.

[73TXRallye440]

Some just need a little nudge to get the work done.  Of course you might push him too far.  I am sure you will get it back and it will be working with no problems.

Yea, I dropped it off March 23, just thinking its time to get it running/repaired.

[68X426]

Loyalty has to be earned. So does a paycheck.

He hasn't delivered. Yeah, it's time to move on. 

[c00nhunterjoe]

3 months is way too long for an overheating problem, one week tops if it needed machine work. i would have been pissed after 3 days of no answer

[ChgrSteve67]

I would go down to see where he is at with the progress and ask him point blank when he expects to be done with the car?
Take a case of beer with you.

When things sit around for long periods of time pieces and parts tend to get lost or used for something else.

[ZSmithersCharges]

Get it out of there asap... as said before you were asking about something mechanical and the problem area was pin pointed not a full resto.  Take it somewhere else, screw giving this hobo good beer he doesnt deserve it.  and +1232989058 on the the longer it sits the more that gets lost and or used on someone elses car.

[69bronzeT5]

I would go down to see where he is at with the progress and ask him point blank when he expects to be done with the car?

[73TXRallye440]

yea, this may get sticky. I hate pulling it out not complete yet, but I guess I have no option. Gonna suck paying him for tearing it down and not fixing it.

[danmc77]

No doubt 5 months is way too long.  you need to get down there in person and either get it out of there of tell him it needs to be done within the next week.

[jb666]

Sometimes putting guys like this under a "deadline" backfires. They like to work at their own pace, and do incredible work... But, put a date over their head and things could change (especially the way they'll treat your future business).

Good luck 

[451-74Charger]

I had my body man (best friend) work on my Chevette
Took 2 yrs to get to paint (was in primer when we dropped it off).
The only way I got it completed was to go down there and offer to help.
I think the idea of company motivates some of these mechanics and bodymen (after all I always work better with company)

[moparstuart]

I had my body man (best friend) work on my Chevette
Took 2 yrs to get to paint (was in primer when we dropped it off).
The only way I got it completed was to go down there and offer to help.
I think the idea of company motivates some of these mechanics and bodymen (after all I always work better with company)

plus if he is a well known mopar mechanic  , you can learn some skills 

[ZSmithersCharges]

yea, this may get sticky. I hate pulling it out not complete yet, but I guess I have no option. Gonna suck paying him for tearing it down and not fixing it.

Well go down there and tell him that.  Just put it nicely and say "Listen I don't want to have to haul this car out of here unfinished but this is taking longer than I had expected.  I trust you do good work and everyone I've asked seems to think the same its just I have got to have my car back so, If there is anything I can do to help you finish it let me know.  Otherwise, if its not done within another month or so I'm going to have to take it somewhere else."  That should respectfully get the point through that you need a deadline and at the same time address the asking him if he needs or wants help on it question.  But point blank guys I know your all kind hearted and want to wish this guys really a good mechanic but 5 months is just a ridiculous amount of time.  I used to work at Nissan and those cars are much more complicated... guess how long we had to have issues like these done in?  3 days tops.  It really should have been done the first week.  I understand sourcing parts for these cars may be difficult but shipping only takes a week so two weeks tops really.  And if hes having any other problems he should COMMUNICATE them with the customer.. not just leave him hanging while he finds better things to do.  I'm sure the guys a wonderful mechanic but for a first time customer where he is supposed to leave a good impression he sure has struck out. 

[chargergirl]

Way too long. If he's a part timer company might work like suggested. Going in and asking him what the problem/hold up seems to be, but be ready to tow the car if needed right then and there. Take a trailer with you. Stay nice, understanding, keep your cool. I was trying to get electronic fencing installed for my dogs. Called one company and they guy called back and said he would call later. Gave him a pass on the holiday weekend. Called him again, never called back. Saw him out and about and got an estimate...never called and never showed up to give better estimate like HE said he would. I called another company within a month. Got estimate and made date to install fence. Called the guy to verify, other company, that he would be there to install, he said yeah. THE DAY BEFORE THE SECOND COMPANY WAS TO INSTALL THE FENCE I GET A CALL FROM THE FIRST GUY!!!! Sorry I haven't called you back. I said that was ok, not a problem, I totally understand. When he asked when I wanted him to come out like he should have 2 MONTHS PRIOR. I said don't worry about it, I'm having the fence installed tomorrow. I appreciate you calling me back. Have a great day! He was speechless and I hung up. Happy note fence that was installed was half price, works great, and I don't have to worry about bad service later on.

[b5blue]

Really I think it depends on how you have handled it. If you just dropped the car off and kinda left it open, haven't checked in once a week asking about it, and haven't approached him yet, than just go ask about it. Just stop by a ask to be put on the front burner nicely and see what happens. Sometimes guys just get tied up in cars people need back right away. They really put pressure on a good mechanic so they can get back on the road.Chuck waited 4-5 years for me to bring in my 440 for machine work (my Mopar guy). We outlined a ball park time line of 45 days for me to be worked into his flow and be somewhere on the build, I was very careful to contact him for updates and establish an exact day and time to re-contact him next. The 45-60 day time line turned into 4-5 months but we stayed in touch, every time I contacted him I asked if he wanted any money, I kept my calls brief, and as we got closer to me NEEDING the short block to let my son have the beater to go to USF for school, I stressed my time line. By us working together all went well. He did a fine job and by not pushing him and letting make big money on others he didn't charge me anything near what I expected and was very helpful when I came back for initial fire-up, cam break-in, and tune. We have a great working relation and trust with each other now. Work it out, a good MoPar guy is great back up if you handle it right, he may think you don't care and he's giving you free storage.   

[danmc77]

Sometimes putting guys like this under a "deadline" backfires. They like to work at their own pace, and do incredible work... But, put a date over their head and things could change (especially the way they'll treat your future business).

Good luck  

Lol, are you serious?  Who the hell would give this guy future business after letting the car sit for 5 months for a mechanical issue?  We're not talking about body work or restoration, this is a mechanical issue - either the guy can fix it or he can't.

I think that also feeds into the common misconception that we have to work around a business' timeline, desire to do the job, and satify them.  In reality, THEY have to satisfy our wants and needs as a CUSTOMER.  That is the only way a company is going to get my return business.  It's the other line of thought that keeps these a-holes in business - people just keep giving them $ and business even though they suck.  As consumers, we need to have a backbone and put our foot down when something is clearly unreasonable.

[danmc77]

BTW - no way in heck I would offer ANY body man or mechanic my help if I'm paying him good $.  What the heck am I paying $ for if I'm doing half the work - I would have just done the thing myself and saved.  

Listen, IMO, it doesn;t matter someone's knowledge or ability to produce excellent work if they only work on it when THEY want to.  They have no business doing work part-time if they can't fit it into their personal schedule - it's really a dick move, IMO, to let someone sit like this.  BTW - there's plenty of other talented mechanics out there that can handle a simple mechanical issue in a matter of days - no need to spend extra time and $ on someone who is a "Mopar guru" if he doesn't have any desire at all to actually do the job.

[b5blue]

I've got more friends who are mechanics than not, yeah if we were taking about someone's daily your darn right. But in this economy right now it depends on the initial approach from him, there's cars at my friends shops that have sat allot longer than 6 months and nobody is pissed about anything.We have guys here dealing with over heat all the time and still struggling. Until he approaches the guy everything is assumption.(He could have pulled the car out 4 months ago if he wanted) The guy may have been looking for a few days with nothing to do so he could actually take his time and enjoy working on a classic with out having to charge up the wazoo.    

[draftingmonkey]

He is a one man operation that does full blown restorations out in his shop out back and does repair work in between the big restos.

In my opinion you answered yourself in your post.  How often have you stopped by since you dropped your car off?  Maybe he has been buried under restos full time.  Like others have asked did you have a firm date or just assumed that he would be done quickly? 
When dealing with someone doing work on my cars I have found that a weekly (or as often as you have a chance) visit to say howdy, how are things going, keeps you in touch with how busy he may be and keeps your work at the front of his mind.   Just something to think about.

[danmc77]

The guy may have been looking for a few days with nothing to do so he could actually take his time and enjoy working on a classic with out having to charge up the wazoo.    

I'm not trying to be a dick, but who the heck cares if the guy might want to enjoy working on a classic when it suits him - HE'S GETTING PAID to do a job, not pursue his hobby.  I'm sure this is not the case w/ this guy, but your comment should NEVER be a reason to unreasonably delay working on a customer's car.  Maybe the guy PAYING for the job would like to pursue his hobby too - and drive his car at least one day this summer.  

[TylerCharger69]

It sounds like he has too many irons in the fire and yours keeps getting put on the back burner.  Sometimes we sell ourselves for more than we can handle and things start to pile up.  It's hard to tell a customer you have to turn them away because of being overwhelmed.   That, to me, is an indication of someone a lot of people trust.  Yes....he is taking too long.....does he mean to?....Probably not, but if he has put himself in an overwhelming position, then he DOES need to turn customers away so he can play catch-up.  Perhaps he should hire some people temporary to get things cleaned up.  From what I understand through this particular topic,  he must be running out of room in his shop!!!  Like was posted before....maybe tell him you are willing to help out....and keep on him, kindly of course, and then maybe...MAYBE....it'll get done quickly!!!

[no318]

Just remember.  GOOD, FAST & CHEAP, you can pick TWO........

[elanmars]

I don't know how to handle my situation, I dropped the car off to a friend of a friend (that's how I got the recommendation), to do some minor body work, have car primed and painted. Was told 2-3 weeks was more than enough time, to not worry about it, it'll be all good. Half up front, half when it's done. Got a really good price on it too.

anyway, it's turning into week 6 now and he's gotten worse in "answering". I'm not the type of person to call every day, I've called once a week to see how progress is going and I was able to see the car the first two weeks because I had the time. Then he started to be hard to get ahold of but if my friend called, he would answer right away...and I called tuesday, no answer...left a message on wednesday to see what was up....still haven't gotten a call back.

he does good work and what I had seen so far was pretty cool but what should I say at this point? I told him I needed the car by a certain time frame because it's my DAILY driver and there's a few things I have to do (AC and sound deadener) before my baby is born (september 30th). I've already started school and it's made it difficult in the household to be juggling cars. It's a little aggravating/frustrating....

[The70RT]

Bottom line.....no work no money. Don't learn the hard way. You guys need to get your cars before someting hideous happens. Who cares what else they have going on it's your car and they are stringing you guys along. it's like either shit or get off the pot.......or maybe quit smoking it too.

[b5blue]

Go see the car 

[ZSmithersCharges]

Bottom line.....no work no money. Don't learn the hard way. You guys need to get your cars before someting hideous happens. Who cares what else they have going on it's your car and they are stringing you guys along. it's like either shit or get off the pot.......or maybe quit smoking it too.

+1

No mercy or understanding for these people because they obviously didnt understand you when you said you wanted your car done in a timely manner.  I'm sick of people dressing it up to be anything more than what it is.  And what it is is him not doing the work, which correct me if im wrong... is what you paid him to do? And now he doesnt even have the courtesy to let you know whats going on if there is a hold up? Avoiding is what it sounds like.  This guy is NOT trustworthy, what will you do if you get your car back and he did shotty work or messed something bigger up doing it? Get a lawyer? Good luck getting your money out of him you have no receipt and no contract.  Get your car as I said earlier before he decides that your parts would look better or should I say pay better on another customers car. 

[Silver R/T]

when having someone work on your car you need to have timeframe when it'll get done

[68charger383]

Go down in person at closing. Talk to the guy and without whining and ask about why its taking so long, remind him its been 5 months and going on 6.

Tell him you brought him the car right before the summer to fix the overheating issue so you could hit the car show/cruising season. However, that will be over in two months and you will need to put the car back in the garage until next year.

[elanmars]

I've learned the hard way and lost a lot of money. Well-it's a lot of money for ME, who is still in school and has a child. I took the car to another shop, a reputable one around here and they pointed out a lot of shoddy work. DAMMIT.

the easy way out is just to sell the car but I just can't do it. After all this crap, I'm going to soldier on and not give up on this. I don't know why I had to be so stupid and not do a contract, I kept thinking for once, be positive and not so negative, this guy has a decent reputation blah blah blah...WRONG. Always assume the worst and expect the worst.

[RusTy/SE]

I tell ya, I searched high and low, talked to many folks locally here about getting just the right 'mopar' guy to work on my charger. He is a one man operation that does full blown restorations out in his shop out back and does repair work in between the big restos. Well, I have an overheating issue with my charger, and took it to him. He found out I have a hot spot and tore it down. (left head 100 degrees hotter than right head). Well, Ive called a few times, emailed a few times, etc and just get weird responses. How long do you let it go before you get irritated? (because I think im at that point) Should I just point blank ask him to give me a firm date of completion or how would you handle it?

One sentence in your original post gives me a bad feeling. It's very much time for a face to face discussion.

[resq302]

Sometimes dealing with a one man operation is good.  With our 70 el camino SS 396, we had to have the engine rebuilt and this guy came highly recommended by our friend who has been using him for 25 yrs.  Well, dad and I went down to him with the engine and our friend who intruduced the two of us and dad and I were blown away by Nicks shop.  All he does is rebuild engines to your specs that you want or to the horsepower you want out of the motor.  If I remember correctly, our engine was done in like 1-2 weeks.  Super fast turn around and the elky's engine runs better than my charger and has more power even with a stock resto/rebuild on the elkys engine. 

I have also learned the hard way too about going through friends.  The engine that is in my charger took almost 4 mos or so to get done from what I remember.  Granted, this guy did it on the side and knows Mopars in and out which is why I went to him.  He also farmed out the machine work and such to different people as opposed to the guy who rebuilt our elky engine.  Nick did everything in house at his shop.  Hell, he even designed a machine so you set the block up in a jig and the one machine was able to bore, deck, and align bore everything without having to set the block back up in another machine.  To me, that in itself is huge because this way there is no room for error as it is all perfectly lined up with each other since you don't need to be moving the block from machine to machine.  All I know is that when my engine needs to be done, its going to to Nicks machine down in the Brunswick area in NJ!

[Cooter]

Coming from a Mechanic/Restorer's point of view here, some of you don't understand and are throwing out strong opinions without knowing WTF is going on...FIRST thing would be to find out WHY it IS taking so long, THEN post a thread bashing this poor guy..You don't even know WHY yet...


Bottom line is this..Plain and simple..If your ass can't do this type work BY YOURSELF, then you are gonna have to go down this road sooner or later...I'm not defending this guy, as he might be a deadbeat. But to put deadlines on restoration work? You all know how restoration/engine work on the side goes...IT'S SLOW WORK...It just seems funny to me that while YOU doing the work it's ok to do it part time, but when you are paying someone else who does it part time, same as you, all of a sudden, it needs a deadline...

This guy from what I gather does this sh*t ON THE SIDE...You want professional work that is done on a timeline, then take it places like MCR where the average restoration costs like $80K...THEN, you can bi*ch when it isn't done on time...Till then, this guy don't NEED your money, you came to him....Remember that when you begin to bi*ch to him about timelines...
I'd Really like to know WHY it has taken so long...I bet apples to oranges, it is something you'd have never suspected..

Sorry for the rant, but this type of sh*t sets me off..I would work on some of your cars once and never again after some of the opinions here..

[RECHRGD]

If you choose to use people who "do it on the side" it's a crap shoot.  Just because someone knows how to perform a certain task well does not necessarily make them someone that has good business or people skills.  Bob

[elanmars]

Unfortunately for me, the guy I took my car first to, that's what he does. It's not a on-the-side thing, except I found out through his lying that he was doing work for other shops too, from that dude's dad-apparently he owes a lot of money. My car was the only one he had, before I dropped mine off he was finishing another one and he wanted to do one at a time. My last straw came when he had told me the car was all set and done and he just needed a couple of days to do the final paint. I call a few days later, no response. Txt messages, all that other stuff-ignored. It's not like I was hounding him, I was just curious how MY car was coming along after I've paid him a good amount (not all, but a good amount, at the time I didn't know he was owing money and all that) and I only gave a second call a few days after. I am way too patient. Unfortunately.

I figured, oh well, he's busy I guess, even though I had a bad feeling-what can I do if the guy isn't answering? and I didn't have a chance to swing by. After a week, I got a chance to go check it out....and the car had NOTHING done in 3 weeks. That's just BS. That was my last straw. And my biggest, most stupid mistake that I'll always regret, is not making a contract. Almost $2000 I flushed down the toilet. That's a lot of money for me and it's very frustrating and infuriating. I understand doing a bit of metal work and paint isn't done in just a few days-in fact, his initial "oh it'll be at most 3 weeks, don't worry", I thought in my head "I'll make a contingency plan for 2 months just in case". 3 weeks turned to 4 1/2 months.

I wish I had the time to learn, the space, the tools and know how to do it myself. And for 4 1/2 months, he still did a very slap dash, sloppy job according to the shop I have it at now.

[CDN72SE]

73TXRallye440 I just read through the post, so what happened in your situation? Did you pull he car out, has the work been done?

[68X426]

If you are out $2k, then it's time for small claims court.

Even without a contract, a solid documentation and date line has a reasonable chance of compensation.

[elanmars]

If you are out $2k, then it's time for small claims court.

Even without a contract, a solid documentation and date line has a reasonable chance of compensation.

yeah I really do need to see about that-I also have photo documentation of the slow process if that might help me any? and I have people that were there with me when not only did I pay him-but when we did the verbal contract and money transactions.

[HeavyFuel]

Coming from a Mechanic/Restorer's point of view here, some of you don't understand and are throwing out strong opinions without knowing WTF is going on...FIRST thing would be to find out WHY it IS taking so long, THEN post a thread bashing this poor guy..You don't even know WHY yet...


Bottom line is this..Plain and simple..If your ass can't do this type work BY YOURSELF, then you are gonna have to go down this road sooner or later...I'm not defending this guy, as he might be a deadbeat. But to put deadlines on restoration work? You all know how restoration/engine work on the side goes...IT'S SLOW WORK...It just seems funny to me that while YOU doing the work it's ok to do it part time, but when you are paying someone else who does it part time, same as you, all of a sudden, it needs a deadline...

This guy from what I gather does this sh*t ON THE SIDE...You want professional work that is done on a timeline, then take it places like MCR where the average restoration costs like $80K...THEN, you can bi*ch when it isn't done on time...Till then, this guy don't NEED your money, you came to him....Remember that when you begin to bi*ch to him about timelines...
I'd Really like to know WHY it has taken so long...I bet apples to oranges, it is something you'd have never suspected..

Sorry for the rant, but this type of sh*t sets me off..I would work on some of your cars once and never again after some of the opinions here..

Are you serious?

Restorations, or any other kind of work, do need deadlines.

My car has been at a guy's shop since June 2006 getting body and paint.    If a guy doing work can't get the job done in an agreed upon time, he shouldn't except the work.  Why in God's green earth should a guy have an open end on time, just because he's doing it "on the side".  That's BS.  Yeah, we need people to do some work on our cars because we can't do it ourselves, but if the "shop" can't get it done, they can always refuse the work.  To accept the job and then take forever to complete it is crap. 

I'm not getting any younger, and my car has been getting body work and paint for 3.5 years.  And it wasn't a basket case.  It's MY car, what gives him the right keep it, without working on it? 

Shame on me for giving the guy this long, but every time I go to talk to the guy, it's always, "Yeah, we're getting on it, just need to get this one other thing done, then yours is getting lots of attention.  Hey, trust me, it'll be worth the wait and super nice when I get done"

So I leave the car with him, like an idiot.  In June it'll be 4 years.

I'm not getting on you, Cooter.  But people need to be accountable.

[b5blue]

4 years to paint!  Are you crapping me? You are a very level headed guy......I'd have blown all gaskets before 1 year! 

[RECHRGD]

Are you serious?

Restorations, or any other kind of work, do need deadlines.

My car has been at a guy's shop since June 2006 getting body and paint.    If a guy doing work can't get the job done in an agreed upon time, he shouldn't except the work.  Why in God's green earth should a guy have an open end on time, just because he's doing it "on the side".  That's BS.  Yeah, we need people to do some work on our cars because we can't do it ourselves, but if the "shop" can't get it done, they can always refuse the work.  To accept the job and then take forever to complete it is crap. 

I'm not getting any younger, and my car has been getting body work and paint for 3.5 years.  And it wasn't a basket case.  It's MY car, what gives him the right keep it, without working on it? 

Shame on me for giving the guy this long, but every time I go to talk to the guy, it's always, "Yeah, we're getting on it, just need to get this one other thing done, then yours is getting lots of attention.  Hey, trust me, it'll be worth the wait and super nice when I get done"

So I leave the car with him, like an idiot.  In June it'll be 4 years.

I'm not getting on you, Cooter.  But people need to be accountable.

HeavyFuel----Get your car out of there!!!!  I hope you didn't give this guy a bunch of up front money.  Didn't you get some type of time estimate when you were negotiating with him?  Four years is just ridicules.  Almost half of a decade!  You could have gone to a trade school and learned how to do it yourself in half that time.  Bob

[HeavyFuel]

Rechrgd....yeah, I know I should get it out of there.  But it's not too easy to find places in my area to do good work.  And the work he's gotten done is nice.....it's just taking forever.  Plus I would owe him $$ for what he's done so far, and then I'd just have to turn around and have somebody else finish it for more $$.  He said that he would stick to the price that we talked about years ago...because he understands that he has been jacking me around.  I gave him a couple grand start up when I dropped off the car.

[chargergirl]

I think the time for contracts have hit...sit him down...say I understand this new revalation...now give me a date for the completion...write it down as a contract and have him sign it...if you like the work he's doing...push his hand a bit.