98-mongooSSe

iTrader: (2)

I know this isn't directly about appearance & detailing, but that was my intention when starting this project & since this is the busiest forum, I need as many opinions as I can get. I hope the moderators will let it stand atleast just for a little bit.

So here's the story....
My carbon fiber fuel rail covers were getting a little worn (see pictures in signature below), so I decided to send them off to get re-covered along with my induction lid. I looked around forever to find a local place to do it & couldn't get any leads except for a place called Fantasy Coachworks that sends things off to a place in Florida to get redone. When I went in, I showed the guy who runs Fantasy, my covers (that were real CF be begin with) & told him that I wanted them recovered to in real carbon fiber to match & to have the induction lid done the same way.

He then showed me a sample of what they do & four of the samples were obviously real carbon fiber in different colors, but the one in the darkest color was a fake rendition. I told him, I wanted them done in darkest color, but that it had to be REAL carbon fiber (no kidding we went over this about 10 times to make sure that he knew what I was talking about). He assured me that it would be done like I wanted & we wrote up the order for a $150 deposit to send the pieces off for an estimate of what the whole project would end up costing me.

This is where I screwed up, but didn't know until now.....The reciept that I got said "Wrap three pieces, supplied by customer, $150 deposit."
It doesn't specifically say, "in real carbon fiber", but again we had gone over this for 10 minutes to get it staright. Besides, the pieces that I brought in were the example of what I expected in return. Why would anyone take real carbon fiber covers & wrap them in a cheesy fake covering? It just wouldn't make sense.

I was called a about 2 weeks later saying the total cost was going to be $125 for each fuel rail cover & $145 for the induction lid which he said included everything (tax shipping etc.). I told them to go ahead & do it& that I'd check back with them weekly to see the progress.

So today, 1 1/2 months later I go in to pick up the pieces & they are wrapped in a fake plastic veneer. At first he trys to tell me that it is real carbon fiber until I flip one of the covers over & break off a piece of it to show him it isn't a woven material like real carbon fiber is. At this point he goes to get the sample that we looked at & it is plain as day the differences in material between the real stuff & the fake sample that I specifically told him last time I wanted to make sure I did not get.
He doesn't care at all & simply says that this is what I ordered. No matter what I throw at him for an explanation, his only responce is: "I don't know what to tell you buddy."

On top of all this, he now says that I now owe him $150 per piece & $73 for shipping. (Keep in mind that nothing was overnight shipped anywhere & the total weight was about 2 lbs. for all three pieces) So with tax etc, he expected me to pay a total of $553 (that includes the deposit) to get my own parts back! He didn't bother to tell me about the price increase on the phone when he called to say they were ready either.

So long story short, he will not give me my parts back until I pay him what he says I owe no matter what the finished product turned out to be or what verbal agreement we had. It was all I could do at this point not to take MY parts back & dare him to try & keep me there, but getting the cops called was not going to help my situation.

Help me out guys, what can I do here? I'm already out the $150 deposit & the cost of the fuel rail covers were $225 when they were new plus another $110 for the lid. Surely he can't get away with screwing me like this can he?

Shay

*98Formula*

iTrader: (2)

Well you may have some ground to stand on. The problem is everything you guys agreed to was verbally. If its not on paper and signed then it was never said in the eyes of the law. The best thing you can do is try to get in with the upper management of the company. Not the lowly peon managers im talking the big boys. Explain to them this is what I was told and it is not what I got. Use the examples he showed you as a reference to what you where expecting. Do not get in a pissing contest with them or you will never get the parts back. I find something that works well is to say you know what. Keep my 150 dollar deposit I don't want the parts back. I very highly doubt they will come after you in court for 500 bucks when it didn't cost them ****. Just keep your cool and kill them with patience. You can probably buy the same parts you had before the screw up for less than what they want anyways.
Hope this helps you a little bit. I would not pay anything until you speak with upper management and once again keep your cool.

bmfcamaro

iTrader: (1)

verbal agreements do stand up in court. i would take them to court no doubt if they keep giving you this type of response.

98-mongooSSe

iTrader: (2)

I definitely know the deposit is gone, I just want my parts back. Bascially I feel like he holding them for whatever ransom he decides I owe. I want to go about it the right & legal way, but I'm just worried that by the time it gets resolved my parts will be gone.

Keeping my cool will be even tougher next time I go in there. It's just sad in this society that people can get screwed & nobody will really do a damn thing about it.

Shay

*98Formula*

iTrader: (2)

Like I said go in there with the attitude like you don't care about the parts anymore. Let upper management know that your receipt said this price this is what you agreed to paid but when you came in to pickup your stuff you where given a totally different price. Tell them if they want to hold your parts fine but your not paying for something that is not done right and you are not paying 1 penny more than what your where quoted. Simply because you where quoted a price for real carbon fiber and got cheap imitation crap in return. Time to play hardball in a calm way. Im telling you man if you do this it will make them think is getting an extra 100 - 150 bucks worth it.

linegtdt52

iTrader: (12)

Hey dude ask him where you signed off on the SELECTED piece of carbon fiber. If you didnt have any papers to show what you wanted done how the hell was he suppose to know what you wanted done. And ask him why they "wrapped" the carbon fiber. Sounds like he got the best of you. I work for a dealership and according to the law if you didnt sign off on the work order, then you didnt approve it.

RollTideTA

They do stand up. I believe a small claims Judge would hear the two versions of your story and I would bet money that he would side with you. I mean if it was like you ordered, why wouldn't you want the items? Also the price went up AFTER you had put down a deposit... that is just the sign of shady business and a Judge will see right through that.

Go back their, ask them for your parts back or to recover them in real carbon fiber if they want anymore money from you. They already have 150 for nothing. Then, if they refuse find the highest person there and tell him that you will be taking them to small claims court since they didn't hold up their end of the deal to get your parts and deposit back.

98-mongooSSe

iTrader: (2)

Well here's an up-date. I went in there today to actaully pay for the work done & later dispute the charge on my credit card. He gave me the same work order to sign for the parts from yesterday except that this time on the bottom of it was written "Customer agrees to all prices & services completed in advance."

I scratched it out on the paper & told him that I wouldn't sign it if that was written on there & then he told me that I now wouldn't get my parts back until I paid cash for them. As I tried to argue my point with him, he calls the cop for "an irrate customer disturbence". I went outside & waited for the police to arrive & told them my story. The first words out of the officers mouth were "Well your first mistake was doing business with this place."

I really thought at this point things were going to turn in my favor, but they didn't. The cop said that the owner has the right to refuse any form or payment &once again it's back to being a civil matter.

So I cut my losses & filed complaints with the BBB & Attorney General as soon as I got back home. No sooner than I hung up the phone with the BBB, this jackass has the nerve to call me & tell me that he will take $75 off the bill in order to get the matter resolved, but that it has to be paid in cash within 5 days or he's going to sell my parts!!!!!

I told him that while the price increase was extremely poor business practice, I would have paid it if he simply would have done the work correctly, but since I'm still going to have to have them redone eventually anyway, I had no interest in paying him one more penny. He didn't argue anything more about it being done correctly this time around & said that's is all he is prepared to do.

So now I'm in the process of killing his company name while I wait for the proper channels to hopefully get something worked out. I've told this story on 5 different local message boards so far, created a letter for the dealership that I work at to add to their aftermarket accessories book on why not to do business with this company & I'm also going to take out an ad in the paper explaining the same thing. My brother works for an local performance parts distributer that is going to help & one of my buddys has a very reputiable wheel shop in town to help out too.

Considering that I help 20+ customers a day in my dealership's service department & we sell approx. 200 cars a month there, word should spread rather quickly.

I did again ask him for the work order with my signature that said I agreed to the "hydro-cladding process" instead of wrapping my parts in carbon fiber like they were already & he had nothing to say. The guy has no leg to stand on if I can just get someone with an honest opinion to take notice of it, but the way things have gone so far, I won't be holding my breath.

Shay