East Coast Chevy Incorporated

4/22/[redacted] recently bought a ' [redacted] conversion that is really a [redacted] with some changes to make it look like a [redacted] (he knows that), which is not restored but just paintedHe brought the car to us and after starting to work on it we realized that, as a result of this conversion, many past changes had to be corrected and made safeHe did initially give a $budget, but when we found this out I told him what we were dealing with and he said that if need be we could go over budget, which is verbal permission (this was before knowing about a funeral)Like any shop that works on classic cars we work by the hour and never to a set price, as there are many unexpected problems and costs which may arise when working on older cars, and he was aware of thisOne such problem was the incompatibility of certain parts which he had bought, which we returned to himThe final job we did on his car was to remove a barrel carburetor and manifoldStopping halfway through this process would leave the car un-drivable, so we felt obligated to finishAlthough no official cost estimate was given during this job I did at one time give an offhand, unofficial estimate of his bill (believing that we were under budget), but after adding in all the parts (including some which at the time I did not know had been used), labor, and tax the bill was $He was willing to pay this amount and seemed to believe it was a fair price for the work we had done, but he only had $to pay towards itWe were willing to give him time to pay off the additional $700, but standard company policy is that we hold the car until the bill is paid (we usually add storage costs but offered to leave them off out of respect)Since this car was a hobby car and not daily transportation holding it should not have been an issue (especially without our standard storage costs)Although we are all very sorry for his loss we were only acting on company policy, which has been long established and which he should have been familiarwith.Sincerely,Don O Mechanical Shop

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Although Ted W [redacted] would like to believe he and his crew did the right thing, the problem remains that it was a call that should have been made by the owner of the car, myself After I had learned of my Sons death, I took the time to collaborate with them about my financial strain at that time and they reassured me "Not only will we be on budget, we might be a little under" Now, I do not care if it shouldn't have been said, the point here is, that it was said by an employee of the companyI am not arguing the job that was doneWhen a budget is made, and work is added, it is the responsibility of the company to point out that it would exceed the budgetIn this case, not only was it not pointed out, but Don stated, "Not only will we be on budget, we might be a little under" If that statement wasn't true, it should not have been said Also, when I called that Monday the 30th of March, most of the work was already completed according to Don O**, therefore, when a budget amount was stressed by me and he said we would be on budget, I had no reason to believe otherwiseThat being said, not only did I have to pay the entire amount (trying to avoid storage charges), Don also asked for $more because he used a fan shroud from his personal collection and was making me pay for this as wellin the form of a check written out to him, not the companyIn reviewing the response from Ted W [redacted] , he mentioned a fan shroud that I had brought in and the truth was that they ordered the wrong one and it was mentioned on the receiptThey also charged me for the shipping and return fees which they were at fault for ordering the wrong part initially Also, while Ted mentioned about me bringing in the fan shroud, the truth is, Don O [redacted] ordered it from [redacted] catalog, obviosly ordering the wrong one, proving that Ted and his mechanics (Don O**) aren't on the same page with whats going on here with my car.The check made out to Don O [redacted] cashed a few days ago, and a copy will also appear in the papers I am starting to collect if this case needs to go to court I am not a difficult person to get along with but I feel that I was vulnerable at that time and was taken advantage of by East coast ChevyWhen I tried to make arrangements, they were unwilling to work with me and would keep my car hostage until the entire bill was paid in fullKnowing that they could charge storage costs, I had to find a way to pay for it, even though I had not agreed to the over budget amountEast Coast Chevy has done work for me in the past and had stuck to the budget with no problems, until nowAll I am asking for is the unbudgeted amount of $returned to me Regards, [redacted]

5/4/Don O [redacted] comments: “He received & liked the work he was charged for.” “l told him we would not charge storage.” I have reviewed this job with Don & BenAs they proceeded thru the process of repairing his car [redacted] ok'd various things that increased the time spent of the jobThe car didn't come in to replace the radiator but needed one and he wanted it, so he purchased one (on his own)He wanted new front shocks even though Don told him that his would pass inspectionHe had purchased the wrong intake manifold and we sold him one that was more appropriate for a street driven stock car, this alone represents almost $The fan shroud he brought in was wrong and had to be exchangedWe installed stock type seat belts that had to be altered because the bucket seats installed in his car were installed wrong (the car was originally a bench seat car and the buckets were added by someone else)The car had wiring issues that had to be addressed such as battery cablesThe problem here revolves around a multitude of problems the car had beyond what it was brought in for, The men who worked on the car were so focused on fixing all the problems it had that when it finally came to doing the job it was brought in for his budget was already in troubleDon never totaled out the bill until the end, any opinion he gave on the total of the bill at any given moment was a forced guess, a guess I would have preferred he had not given but a guess never the lessSo what would you have had us do? Hand the man a bill for $and tell him to call a tow truckThey just couldn’t do thatSo they finished what they had to so he could drive the car homeThe irony is he had a roll back come to pick up the car anyway because: “there are too many potholes”Had he towed the car home in an unfinished state as he has stated, I’m quite sure I’d still be here writing something to you on that subjectThe only mistake we made was taking this job in the first placeSincerely, Ted W

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I have two witnesses that heard the amount of the budget was $3000. My friend [redacted] who dropped me off on 3/17 with the car and my Wife on 3/30 on the phone both times with Don O** stating that the budget was firm at $3000 due to the untimely passing of my son. Don O** reassured me that the work that was already completed was at $2500 and he did not see a problem  with the budget, in fact he stated the budget might wind up be under $3000. Don O** never rec'd verbal or written authority to go over that amount. Whether the car was completed or not, he never gave me the choice to decide if I wanted it completed by going over budget. I would have had it towed home if that were the case. I picked the vehicle up because Don stated that they have a storage charge which would have increase the already over budget price. I feel that the statements that Don's response letter he made were not true and unfounded. I also have the phone bill from 3/30 stating two calls were made to the shop and my wife was present for our conversation. 
Regards,
[redacted]

5/4/2015
Don O** comments:
“He received & liked the work he was charged for.” “l told him we would not charge storage.”
I have reviewed this job with Don & Ben. As they proceeded thru the process of repairing his car [redacted] ok'd various things that increased the time spent of the job. The car didn't come in to replace the radiator but needed one and he wanted it, so he purchased one (on his own). He wanted new front shocks even though Don told him that his would pass inspection. He had purchased the wrong intake manifold and we sold him one that was more appropriate for a street driven stock car, this alone represents almost $300. The fan shroud he brought in was wrong and had to be exchanged. We installed stock type seat belts that had to be altered because the bucket seats installed in his car were installed wrong (the car was originally a bench seat car and the buckets were added by someone else). The car had wiring issues that had to be addressed such as battery cables. The problem here revolves around a multitude of problems the car had beyond what it was brought in for, The men who worked on the car were so focused on fixing all the problems it had that when it finally came to doing the job it was brought in for his budget was already in trouble. Don never totaled out the bill until the end, any opinion he gave on the total of the bill at any given moment was a forced guess, a guess I would have preferred he had not given but a guess never the less.
So what would you have had us do?  Hand the man a bill for $3000. and tell him to call a tow truck. They just couldn’t do that. So they finished what they had to so he could drive the car home. The irony is he had a roll back come to pick up the car anyway because: “there are too many potholes”. Had he towed the car home in an unfinished state as he has stated, I’m quite sure I’d still be here writing something to you on that subject. The only mistake we made was taking this job in the first place.
Sincerely,
Ted W.

4/22/2015[redacted] recently bought a '68 [redacted] conversion that is really a [redacted] with some changes to make it look like a [redacted] (he knows that), which is not restored but just painted. He brought the car to us and after starting to work on it we realized that, as a result of this conversion, many...

past changes had to be corrected and made safe. He did initially give a $3000 budget, but when we found this out I told him what we were dealing with and he said that if need be we could go over budget, which is verbal permission (this was before knowing about a funeral). Like any shop that works on classic cars we work by the hour and never to a set price, as there are many unexpected problems and costs which may arise when working on older cars, and he was aware of this. One such problem was the incompatibility of certain parts which he had bought, which we returned to him. The final job we did on his car was to remove a 2 barrel carburetor and manifold. Stopping halfway through this process would leave the car un-drivable, so we felt obligated to finish. Although no official cost estimate was given during this job I did at one time give an offhand, unofficial estimate of his bill (believing that we were under budget), but after adding in all the parts (including some which at the time I did not know had been used), labor, and tax the bill was $4300. He was willing to pay this amount and seemed to believe it was a fair price for the work we had done, but he only had $3600 to pay towards it. We were willing to give him time to pay off the additional $700, but standard company policy is that we hold the car until the bill is paid (we usually add storage costs but offered to leave them off out of respect). Since this car was a hobby car and not daily transportation holding it should not have been an issue (especially without our standard storage costs). Although we are all very sorry for his loss we were only acting on company policy, which has been long established and which he should have been familiarwith.Sincerely,Don O
Mechanical Shop

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Although Ted W[redacted] would like to believe he and his crew did the right thing, the problem remains that it was a call that should have been made by the owner of the car, myself.
After I had learned of my Sons death, I took the time to collaborate with them about my financial strain at that time and they reassured me "Not only will we be on budget, we might be a little under".
Now, I do not care if it shouldn't have been said, the point here is, that it was said by an employee of the company. I am not arguing the job that was done. When a budget is made, and work is added, it is the responsibility of the company to point out that it would exceed the budget. In this case, not only was it not pointed out, but Don stated, "Not only will we be on budget, we might be a little under" If that statement wasn't true, it should not have been said.  Also, when I called that Monday the 30th of March, most of the work was already completed according to Don O**, therefore,  when a budget amount was stressed by me and he said we would be on budget, I had no reason to believe otherwise.
That being said, not only did I have to pay the entire amount (trying to avoid storage charges), Don also asked for $20 more because he used a fan shroud from his personal collection and was making me pay for this as well. in the form of a check written out to him, not the company. In reviewing the response from Ted W[redacted], he mentioned  a fan shroud that I had brought in and the truth was that they ordered the wrong one and it was mentioned on the receipt. They also charged me for the shipping and return fees which they were at fault for ordering the wrong part initially.  Also, while Ted mentioned about me bringing in the fan shroud, the truth is, Don O** ordered it from [redacted] catalog, obviosly ordering the wrong one, proving that Ted and his mechanics (Don O**) aren't on the same page with whats going on here with my car.The check made out to Don O** cashed a few days ago, and a copy will also appear in the papers I am starting to collect if this case needs to go to court. 
I am not a difficult person to get along with but I feel that I was vulnerable at that time and was taken advantage of by East coast Chevy. When I tried to make arrangements, they were unwilling to work with me and would keep my car hostage until the entire bill was paid in full. Knowing that they could charge storage costs, I had to find a way to pay for it, even though I had not agreed to the over budget amount.
East Coast Chevy has done work for me in the past and had stuck to the budget with no problems, until now. All I am asking for is the unbudgeted amount of $1300 returned to me.
Regards,
[redacted]