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| My brother's "new" 74 Duster https://mail.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33926 |
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| Author: | Reed [ Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:14 pm ] |
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Stopped by Maaco again today. Day six out of the promised 14 day turnaround. Still not in the shop. Now they are saying it will take another week.  Well, I am willing to let them have it since it means I won't be doing the bodywork. I just wish people would give realistic estimates when they give an estimated time of completion.
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| Author: | DusterIdiot [ Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Scotty... |
Quote: I just wish people would give realistic estimates when they give an estimated time of completion.
You just have to pull a Scotty and take how ever long they said and triple it and get the real number. The reason for the wait maybe they have one specific guy that does that old of stuff and have to wait for him to clear his plate...-D.Idiot |
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| Author: | Reed [ Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:13 pm ] |
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I'm hoping they have a Montgomery Scott stashed in the back working away on the old cars that come through. One of the workers drives an old El Camino, so maybe at least one person knows how to do more than replace plastic cladding. |
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| Author: | wjajr [ Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:47 pm ] |
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Ever watch the Tom Hanks movie "Money Pit"? "Two weeks" is the running joke when he asks every contractor working in the house when job will be completed... Complicity? |
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| Author: | Reed [ Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:41 pm ] |
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Yep, that movie is a classic. I appreciated it all the more after my family bought our house back in 99. We'll see when the car finally gets done. When i went in on Monday the counter guy said he would e-mail me pictures. I haven't gotten any. I will give them another weekend and check back with them next Monday. |
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| Author: | DusterIdiot [ Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Round 2 project manager 101... |
Quote: We'll see when the car finally gets done. When i went in on Monday the counter guy said he would e-mail me pictures. I haven't gotten any. I will give them another weekend and check back with them next Monday.
If they blow you off again, you can always resort to "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", and stop by every morning and afternoon before and after work...if they know you are there too often they may move it up to get you off their butt (you are a lawyer, right???? LOL)... Round 2 would be to call on your lunch hour and start getting a little more 'aggressive' about it..."you promised that it would be started last Monday but you haven't started on it"... and call again same time next day...and stop in and put your foot down... It's sad the professionalism has to give way to being an axhole to get someone to move, but if you make them more uncomfortable than the next client they may want to finish and get rid of the pain in the ax sooner...
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| Author: | Reed [ Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:37 pm ] |
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It may come to that, especially considering I paid half the estimated price when I dropped the car off. I always hate bugging people since I know I hate being bothered when I am working on a job, and I respect that often jobs take longer and are more expensive than the first estimate, but I feel like they gave me a pretty gross misrepresentation. When I dropped it off they told me it would be in the shop in a few hours. Six days later and it still hadn't been touched and they added a week to the estimated time to complete. The reason I was given is because the guy the shop wanted to work on the Duster had to finish two 65 Mustangs first. Seems like they would have known about those Mustangs on the day I dropped it off.
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| Author: | Brian [ Fri Feb 28, 2014 11:32 am ] |
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I had Macco do some paint and body work my 67 Dart a few years ago. I was sent there by a guy who had numerous cars done at this shop because he owned a used car lot. Plus he said the Mgr. was a nice guy and he would put a good word in for me so I would get a good deal.  After looking at some of the work they did on his cars I finally agreed to go. The Mgr was a nice guy, and talked about his Dart back in the day. After describing every little detail that I wanted done during the estimate, he came back with a price of $1200. That was the price out the door with the top of the line paint with all my discounts and specials that he hooked me up with. I was told the job would take approx 2 weeks. He called 3 days later and told me it was all done come pick it up. Wow that was fast. I went that evening after work. I looked the car over the best I could before I paid. It was starting to get dark and the car was wet because of the light rain. Everything looked OK. The next day after work I noticed that around the lower passenger fender the paint was a little light and you could see the primer under it. I called the Mgr. and he told me to bring it in. He said he would have the paint guy touch it up. No big deal no problem. After the visit I was told they would call me with a date to drop the car off because the shop was too busy to leave it at the moment. I aggreed. After a few days, then a week or so with no call I stopped in. I was told again the shop was busy and that he would call when they had a spot open for it. Well after months of calling and stopping at the shop and hearing the same B.S. I gave up. The guy totally blew me off. I would never take a car to Macco again just because of this guys customer service and B.S. I have no complaint about the body repair, but the prep and paint work is not the best. I think it turned out OK for a $1200 job. I guess I got what I paid for. If I would do it over again I would spend the money at a reputable restoration shop. I hope your car turns out well. Just thought I would post my experience. Good luck.
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| Author: | Reed [ Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:22 pm ] |
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We will be doing the painting ourselves. I am having them just fix the body damage and get the body smooth. I know this car will never be a show car. It has damage to both rear 1/4s that would cost too much and be to difficult for me to fix myself. I have seen some really piss-poor paint jobs come out of Maaco. At the same time, I had one of my sisters' PT Cruiser painted by them and it has held up good. We got the top-of-the-line paint job a few years back and it is still shiny and decent. The taping job wasn't the best, but otherwise it is OK. |
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| Author: | Reed [ Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:26 am ] |
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Went by Maaco this morining. They said they had nothing to show me today, but by next Wedenesday they would. I don't know if that means it will be done or they will have started on it. I ust keep telling yself that it will be worth it if it looks good in the end. I hate bodywork and can't do it, so I am willing to be patient nd pay someone else to do it.
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| Author: | Reed [ Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:53 pm ] |
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Well, I just called Maaco this afternoon. The word now is that it won't be done until next week. Supposedly I will be getting pictures via e-mail. I won't hold my breath. Let's see. First estimate, $2k and two weeks from dropoff to completion. I made a $1k deposit when I dropped it off. Car dropped off on 2-18-14 initial estimated completion date: 3-4-14 2-24-14 new estimated completion date: 3-11-14 3-7-14 no progress, new tentative completion date: 3-12-14 3-11-14- work started, new estimated completion date roughly 3-19-14 So the estimated time to completion has doubled. That's fine, I know this is a big job and not really what they are used to doing. I just hope that the bill doesn't double along with the estimated time to completion. When I called, the guy on the phone began to get a little whiney at me, "you spoke to {name of employee] about that a little while ago. This is a big job man. I will take some pictures and send them to you." BS. It is my car, I have a written estimate that I have to sign and approve before work begins, plus I gave them $1k already. They better start showing some progress or I will start getting ticked. Maybe I am just being impatient, but the customer service hasn't been the greatest and their estimate was total crap.
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| Author: | Valleyant [ Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:06 pm ] |
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Reed, Unless you are in a big hurry I would just use the fact that they couldn't stay on schedule as leverage "should" they try to up the estimate. I had an experience at Maaco circa 1990. I bought a '69 Road Runner and completed most of the body work and trim removal myself. They did make one partial 1/4 panel from a wheel well molding that I got off of a Satellite at the junkyard and they painted the entire car. I don't remember the timeline but I do remember that they did not stay on schedule....I would drive by every other day to see the car sitting in the same spot for a while. They did however honor their original estimate....I remember this because I got a small loan to have this done. It came out beautiful except for a small blemish on one of the 1/4 panels. They said, "let the paint cure" and bring it back to fix the problem. In my haste I applied the decals and trim and emblems only to find out they resprayed the entire car just to fix the small blemish. Heck if I would have known that I would have left it as is. I was bummed because they masked around all the emblems/decals/trim......Oh well...live and learn..........The car looked good and more importantly ran really good (383 Mag). It the aforementioned 383 helped to ameliorate the situation. LOL Good luck with your bro's car! |
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| Author: | Reed [ Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:29 pm ] |
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Believe me, I will. I got a signed estimate for the price and the work they were supposed to do, and I will be very upset is they screw around with the price. |
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| Author: | Reed [ Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Finally!!!!! |
Got the call today the Duster was done! I had to rent a U-Haul truck and trailer to get the Duster home since my van is in the shop getting some AC work done, but I got the DUster back home and it looks great! The rear 1/4s are dent free, have no rust holes, and have body contours again. I am pretty happy with how it all turned out. This isn't a show car by any stretch of the imagination, but it will be cool when it is done. Now we can FINALY get moving forward on other mechanical things. So here are some pictures:       From this angle you would never know it was a Duster!  Of course, when I got to Maaco the battery was completely dead. Once they got a charger hooked up to it, it would turn over but not start. We futzed around and ultimately determined it was out of gas. So we futzed around some more until we gave up and got a bunch of workers to help push it up onto the trailer. THen I got it home and the battery was dead again and it wouldn't come off the trailer. So I had to charge the battery and put in some gas just to get it unloaded. Of course, by the time all that was done the U-haul shop had closed for the day. They need to have the tow dolly back before 8 aM tomorrow, so I get to drive over to the U-haul store at 7 am tomorrow when they open and ride my bike home. Whee! Still, I am very happy to get this Duster back and looking so nice. I fully expect that much of the rear quarters is bondo, but so what. Like I say, this isn't a show car. |
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| Author: | DadTruck [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
congrats,, progress 
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