caution re: well known detailers

TuxedoTaurus said:
Good to hear it is all coming together! Most importantly is the wife happy?
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yeah thanks! she was really happy with the repair. couldn't believe it, actually, since it looked like nothing was ever wrong in the first place. once she gets the film and i stop fussing over the last few details (finishing the polishing/coating on the exterior gloss pillars, removing the poorly installed DLux on the rubber trim and attacking the headlight cut more), she'll be thrilled.
 
builthatch,

As sad as your story is.... it is ALL TOO TRUE these days. I hate it that you had to go through all that turmoil, and still have the scars to show (as the headlight will never go away). That is something I'd not wish on anyone dude!

I've had some similar problems, (as probably most have) and sometimes you have to just cut and run. I had a guy here stiff me on a couple hundred bucks of microfiber, but throwing his name out there just wasn't me, but trust me HE KNOWS who he is. Thing is, it didn't reflect his ability to detail, (just that he didn't have a problem never following through on a financial decision) and he is a study of the art, and is constantly learning more about the craft no doubt whatsoever. (Although there were a couple that asked and I did tell them privately, because it didn't make sense should they be considering getting in a deal with him.)

Had a bad experience last summer with a local well googled detailer as well, and never mentioned his name or his company, (just my experience that horrific day) yet he's come here on several occasions and viciously attacked me, causing more than one thread to get shut down. Thing is, I said then, and have always stood by the fact (even if he still owes me money) that he does good work, albeit sometimes (not always) expensive all things considered.

Just because someone bartered to get a nice website, spends a lot of time posting blogs, or photos, or hangs out on forums, or Google or Facebook or whatever.... that says nothing about their character and/or the way they do business and ESPECIALLY the way they treat people.

They may be pretending to be a millionaire, servicing the rich and famous.... all the while living in a garden shed in someone's back yard and acting like they own a mansion.

But honestly, if this guy owes you for the damages he did to your property, (AND HE DOES, because you're property suffered) you should work towards a total solution towards that end.

And at the very least leave reviews on any and all sites that would be beneficial to those that may run across him (and his services) should that help someone else down the road.

Of course ymmv and quite often the solution isn't worth the path taken to get there. :laughing: IOW's.... fuhuggetaboutit!!!!!! :rolleyes:
 
cardaddy said:
They may be pretending to be a millionaire, servicing the rich and famous.... all the while living in a garden shed in someone's back yard and acting like they own a mansion.
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sorry man, i never replied to your post.

this guy drives customer cars around and claims they are his! this has occurred on multiple occasions. the lengths he goes to lie by omission and connect the dots of this tales are unrivaled.

i have since learned so much more about this guy on top of the nonsense that i dealt with that i'm ashamed to have ever associated with him and to have ever EVER recommended anyone interface with his shop.

disgusting behavior.

20121124-094410.jpg
 
Wow, i think i share a similar story to yours OP.
I just need the time to type it up lol

Mine is EVEN WORST through!!!
 
builthatch said:
sorry man, i never replied to your post.

this guy drives customer cars around and claims they are his! this has occurred on multiple occasions. the lengths he goes to lie by omission and connect the dots of this tales are unrivaled.

i have since learned so much more about this guy on top of the nonsense that i dealt with that i'm ashamed to have ever associated with him and to have ever EVER recommended anyone interface with his shop.

disgusting behavior.
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Seriously? Drives customer vehicles? OMG!!!!!

What an arse hat!

Having the right insurance is one thing, but unless you're in the business to be doing test drives, or somehow doing auto transport/relocation (which I did for 18 years owning a towing business) I can assure you that your standard detailers "garage keepers" and "liability" coverage doesn't cover driving customers vehicles for your own personal use. :eek:
 
cardaddy said:
Seriously? Drives customer vehicles? OMG!!!!!

What an arse hat!

Having the right insurance is one thing, but unless you're in the business to be doing test drives, or somehow doing auto transport/relocation (which I did for 18 years owning a towing business) I can assure you that your standard detailers "garage keepers" and "liability" coverage doesn't cover driving customers vehicles for your own personal use. :eek:
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yes, as a matter of fact he's been posting pics of his GF in a customer's Aventador at the gas station. the car has been at his shop. he also changed his profile picture to him driving the car.

i am stunned at what i am continuing to find out about this guy.

Sicktred08fsi said:
Is this the guy from Canada that got busted?
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the guy who ripped me off? no. he's in the Northeast US.
 
Sorry about your story Builthatch, really sucks!

That said, I agree with Swan, bring the name out, your story is legit and you were more than fair with the ENTIRE story! Save the next guy all the grief.

Good luck to you and nice of the AG community to step up and offer to help, great people here!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
I jumped in late, but it's always best to call out "companies" like these

Not for hate, not to talk sh!t, but primarily so that business can get their sh!t together and provide real value

When you don't hold someone accountable, nothing changes

If you're charging people good money for a "professional" service and you don't deliver... then you better not be surprised for the consequences
 
thebamboo23 said:
I jumped in late, but it's always best to call out "companies" like these

Not for hate, not to talk sh!t, but primarily so that business can get their sh!t together and provide real value

When you don't hold someone accountable, nothing changes

If you're charging people good money for a "professional" service and you don't deliver... then you better not be surprised for the consequences
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Yeah I hear ya'. But sometimes it's just well enough to leave them alone.

The one I have had dealings with around here I never mentioned either his name or his company. (Only my honest impressions and observations, and one really REALLY bad day I spent at his in-laws place doing a car, as well as the fact that he uses Wal-Mart towels.) And if anyone thinks I'm lying about that, e-mail me and I'll send a copy of the Wal-Mart receipt for supplies I was told to buy yet never reimbursed for.

Since then he has had several threads shut down. First post was a total flame that replied to. From that point one he's attacked me at every turn. One thread was even shut down, my posts deleted (and a couple of his) and the thread put back up!:rolleyes:

Then there is another one (here) that signed up for almost $200 worth of microfiber towels AT WHOLESALE no less! I ordered them, sent him the numbers both before, during and after, and he never followed through. Promised a lot, (even during DetailFest) but never seemed to make it happen.

Hey, everyone has flaws one way or another. Everyone makes mistakes as well. Lord knows I do! :rolleyes: But where I come from... a man is only as good as his word. Where a handshake is as good as a contract for that matter. When a man (or woman) looks you in the eye (or these days on the phone via text, or via e-mail quite often) and says something, then that's a DARNED commitment. I might not always be right, but if I say I'm going to do something (whether I want to do it later or not because of one reason or another) then I do it. If I lose money on the deal then so be it. (I'll know better next time, but I'll not be a chump along the way.) ;)
 
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cardaddy said:
But where I come from... a man is only as good as his word.
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this is exactly my whole point. i can not tolerate lies, particularly lies to my face.

one and done when that happens...forever. dead to me.
 
Sorry if I missed it, because I only briefly read over the thread. I am assuming the company in question, is the company in the comment listed in your signature?
 
.brian. said:
Sorry if I missed it, because I only briefly read over the thread. I am assuming the company in question, is the company in the comment listed in your signature?
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I've been wondering about that.

Otherwise I feel bad for you knowing how you got screwed over and screwed again, adding insult to injury. I'm not a pro detailer, just a shade tree polisher, but *I* feel like I've done someone wrong if I don't get their car to *my* level of satisfaction no matter how much of a sow's ear the car was to begin with. I can't imagine how this guy can live with himself doing people like he does.
 
.brian. said:
Sorry if I missed it, because I only briefly read over the thread. I am assuming the company in question, is the company in the comment listed in your signature?
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that is CORRECT.
 
Cardaddy/Tony

I've never had a thread shut down. The admins are pretty stinking good about shutting down threads that are trolling.

I did not reimburse you for the, what was it, $25...and I never will. You did not follow directions, were late and cost me $150 in labor when you did not do what I told you to. I told you the day that I paid you for your labor that I did not feel you were worth the $150 I was paying you and that you cost me a lot of time and money because you made the choice to not follow specific instructions. -What I instructed was a 3 step with compound, med. cut polish and a finish down with a fine polish. What you did was yellow pad with 101 and then straight to a fine polish...leaving me with haze to clean up. Beyond this, I told you not to work upper areas, but rather, to work only the lower panels because I worked all upper areas that customers see as the most important areas. -What did you do? Work upper areas with the wrong process of course.

Your excuse held no water because you should have called me when you had a question but you didn't. I had a compressor 50' away. We were supposed to go over all the needed equipment for the day before I left for another job, but you were about 30 minutes late if I remember correctly. I had a 1 hour 20 minute drive, without Atlanta traffic(and I had it with leaving 30 minutes late), to navigate and you were late. I had to leave and work with the situation. You did not communicate, pick up phone calls I made to you through the day until I texted you that you to specifically call me. Dude, I have the whole text conversation on my phone. I have your excuse for being late, me telling you that we would have to go into further detail about the project after you show up over the phone because you were late, I have you trying to justify doing your own thing and me telling, no, do it the way I am asking you to and then me telling you to call me(after I called you many times and never got you but you still being able to text me...) -and how did it end? You STILL did it your way after my text messages and the phone conversation where I told you to stop and do it my way.

I shouldn't have been surprised and I should have cut you loose earlier really. You trying to give away 10 minute "engine details" or my constantly having to redirect you to do what I was paying you to do and not what you wanted to do was a regular theme in the short time you worked with me.

You were brought on as a contractor and assistant and worked for me for 2 weeks. In 2 weeks you managed to ignore my instructions so much that I finally had enough and decided to not call you to help anymore. Really, that's a nice way of saying you were fired.

Before you were brought on I told you, and you agreed, to not share any images online of projects you work on for me. What did you do? You took at least one picture and then posted it. You acted like you were above telling people the details of who it was you were talking crap about but inferred everything you needed to to let people know it was my company. To the point that someone else who had nothing to do with the situation used it as ammunition against me. And here, now, you are telling people to pm you. It's laughable that you believe your honorable in all of this.

Walmart towels? lol -dude, I still tell people there is nothing wrong with using Walmart towels as long as the edges are folded away. Do we still use them? No. But not because they don't work safely. We use brand new edgeless towels for every correction job now because we don't have to fold edges. There's no shame in my game. You get hung up small single details that are outside of context and harp on them non-stop. You still harp on Walmart towels and the $25 that I rightly did not pay you for. Are you going to pay me back for the $150 in lost labor? You had the opportunity to come back and work for free to make me whole and you didn't because you had another person paying you for a detail. In our conversation, you admitted that you made poor choices that day, yet you would not man up and make me whole. You can't see the forest for the trees man. This is why I stopped calling you. The actual amount of money does not matter. $150 or $25 is nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the lack of integrity of you not standing behind the choice to do things your way and it costing me money does matter. I'm not even able to freely express my frustration from the situation with you.

Being delusional about the last day you worked for me is on par. Michael, who also worked for me during the time you did, continued working for me that summer, the summer of 2014 and will be back 2015. Tim, a different person, has been with me full-time since September 2013 and is working out wonderfully. He is making good money, can be trusted to do full jobs and listens. I have another guy that worked for me a few years ago coming back soon. None of theses people, nor myself, are perfect. And yet, they are a productive part of the company. You are not a part of it, not because of your choice to not accept work, but because I was done with you. Since then, it has been sour grapes and you hanging onto this.

Focus on your own business and it will probably grow to the point that you don't have time to look for opportunities to share your skewed story of being "ripped off for $25" with Autogeek.
 
What did these guys do to get on your list?

"I DO NOT support or recommend Oakes Detail in West Chester, PA."

Sounds like you have had some bad luck
 
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