Have I dropped a Bolok?
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2024 8:13 am
Ok.
Some of you will know I had a worrying prognosis last Autumn, ongoing etc yadda yadda yadda.
I/we decided a bucket-list holiday was in order, and I’ve spent several weeks in the southern hemisphere. Lovely
However, before I left I decided to arrange a ‘ refresh’ of my wife’s Honda s2000. It’s her summer car ( Octavia vrs through winter), has now covered over 200,000 miles and was beginning to look a little tired. We had long decided it would see her out, and have had the engine rebuilt by TGM ( the southern acknowledged expert) twice, at considerable cost. I don’t mind spending money on it.
So I canvassed/ talked/ visited several car painters before settling on one, some 30 miles from home.
The remit was to sort the rust , beginning to bubble through the rear arch’s ( esp nearside where the car was badly damaged when we bought it about 15 years ago) the rear tips of the sills, then a full external respray in the same yellow, ignoring engine bay, boot, door shuts etc.
Fairly straightforward I thought, and hoped/ expected it would be completed on my return.
Knowing my dates of travel ( & provisional return which was variable) I was suprised to be asked for £1000 deposit before he would start work, just hours before I left. No such ‘ demand’ had been made, prior.
The timing is interesting, in that he texted @3pm Thursday, when I was leaving Friday. I replied I would come over immediately, the reply that they were finishing for Xmas at that moment. So, reluctantly I sent the £1000 ( bank transfer so provable) before I left- in truth a little unsettled
Within 48 hrs I received a further cash call for another £1000. I asked why, was told that they had cracked on.
I asked for photos, and received several of the car, part stripped. Doors off, seats out, rear lights off, rear plastic bumper off ( it just clips on). That was it -all that had been done, yet they were claiming £2000.
So, I said ‘stop’ immediately, await my return,so they seemingly reassembled & pushed it outside….
The rust hasn’t even been looked it ( judging by the road dirt still attached). On close inspection ( Monday, 10 am - no one in!) all he seems to have done is strip the rear lights/ locks - I’ve no idea why the doors came off?
Does that look like £2000 work, to you? I need to price his ‘ labours’ because it’s about to get mucky.
I’ve a figure in my head - I’d welcome thoughts here on the hours spent. He was charging me £69 per hour ( although I was led verbally to believe a lower sum for these simpler works)
Car is locked, and I can’t get in. We are told we aren’t getting the keys till I’ve paid in full .
So, have I lost the plot? Is the sum reasonable & I'm out of touch? If no, what would you value his ‘endeavours’ at?
Don’t take the piss, please- I’m getting enough of that ‘ at home’.
Some of you will know I had a worrying prognosis last Autumn, ongoing etc yadda yadda yadda.
I/we decided a bucket-list holiday was in order, and I’ve spent several weeks in the southern hemisphere. Lovely
However, before I left I decided to arrange a ‘ refresh’ of my wife’s Honda s2000. It’s her summer car ( Octavia vrs through winter), has now covered over 200,000 miles and was beginning to look a little tired. We had long decided it would see her out, and have had the engine rebuilt by TGM ( the southern acknowledged expert) twice, at considerable cost. I don’t mind spending money on it.
So I canvassed/ talked/ visited several car painters before settling on one, some 30 miles from home.
The remit was to sort the rust , beginning to bubble through the rear arch’s ( esp nearside where the car was badly damaged when we bought it about 15 years ago) the rear tips of the sills, then a full external respray in the same yellow, ignoring engine bay, boot, door shuts etc.
Fairly straightforward I thought, and hoped/ expected it would be completed on my return.
Knowing my dates of travel ( & provisional return which was variable) I was suprised to be asked for £1000 deposit before he would start work, just hours before I left. No such ‘ demand’ had been made, prior.
The timing is interesting, in that he texted @3pm Thursday, when I was leaving Friday. I replied I would come over immediately, the reply that they were finishing for Xmas at that moment. So, reluctantly I sent the £1000 ( bank transfer so provable) before I left- in truth a little unsettled
Within 48 hrs I received a further cash call for another £1000. I asked why, was told that they had cracked on.
I asked for photos, and received several of the car, part stripped. Doors off, seats out, rear lights off, rear plastic bumper off ( it just clips on). That was it -all that had been done, yet they were claiming £2000.
So, I said ‘stop’ immediately, await my return,so they seemingly reassembled & pushed it outside….
The rust hasn’t even been looked it ( judging by the road dirt still attached). On close inspection ( Monday, 10 am - no one in!) all he seems to have done is strip the rear lights/ locks - I’ve no idea why the doors came off?
Does that look like £2000 work, to you? I need to price his ‘ labours’ because it’s about to get mucky.
I’ve a figure in my head - I’d welcome thoughts here on the hours spent. He was charging me £69 per hour ( although I was led verbally to believe a lower sum for these simpler works)
Car is locked, and I can’t get in. We are told we aren’t getting the keys till I’ve paid in full .
So, have I lost the plot? Is the sum reasonable & I'm out of touch? If no, what would you value his ‘endeavours’ at?
Don’t take the piss, please- I’m getting enough of that ‘ at home’.