Front wheel came off my Street Rod not 20 miles from the shop! Need advise.

[arlan]

Let me tell you what happened. First a little background. I have a 1946 Mercury Street Rod. A couple months ago I took in over to a shop here in Escondido as I was getting a wheel rub on sharp turns and want to get it taken care of. I ended up deciding to have air ride installed front and rear and in the rear they custom built 4 bar suspension. Randy Clark of Hot Rods and Custom Stuff gave me an estimate of $6000. 00 which I though was high but I went ahead and put it in the shop. They also fixed a leaking rear main and put new bearings in the steering column. When I picked the car up almost two weeks later the bill was $11,000. 00 and change. I was shocked but didn't feel I could do anything about it so I bit the bullet and paid them.



I had two complaints. First the turning radius was so bad that I couldn't park with out swinging way wide or backing at least once. The other was that the wheel spacers they installed were not centered and I wanted that taken care of, so I took the car in last Wednesday. Thursday they called me to pick it up. Yesterday, Sunday I was coming back from Home Depot when I thought something felt funny. I got out and looked for a flat or something but everything looked OK so I proceed down the road until I got about a block from the house when something felt really funny. I pulled over and found the right front wheel out about 3/4" out from the hub. When I jacked the car up and removed the wheel I found only one stud in the hub, the other four were down inside. With it being Sunday and Monday being a holiday I knew I wouldn't be able to get a hold of anyone at Hod Rods until Tuesday so I resigned myself to the fact that my car would sit there until Tuesday. Well, this morning I decided to see what I could do about getting it home the short distance it had to travel.



Here is what had happened. To get the wheel rub to stop they installed wheel spacers and in doing so had to replace the lug nut studs with longer ones. I pondered all night why the studs had fallen out of the hole as the are pressed in right? Wrong, not these! When I bought the hub back to the house I discovered that the studs were to small for the hole in the hub and some moron had attempted to tack weld steel to cast and it sure as hell didn't work, the welds popped and I'm not sure how everything went from there but the whole mess came unglued. Two of the studs were damaged beyond repair and the other 3 I was able to clean up, wrap some electrical tape around the area that presses into the hub to hold them in place. All 5 lug nuts were junked out but I came up with 3 new ones ( a locking set I had left over from my Stealth) and got the car home. I have custom TSW Chrome Aluminum Wheels on the car and you never see the lugs not until you remove the cap.



Here is my dilemma. What should I do. I mean about the thing they did. I will do the repair work my self but I feel they owe me more than an apology and a repair. I was thinking they should pay me the difference between the estimate and the actual cost. More of a token of good faith than the money. Does that sound reasonable or am I being an ass. I am good at being an ass and would like to avoid it if I'm wrong here. I have also considered taking legal action but I really hate to do something like that. I'm not fond of lawyers and the court system but I feel I have been wronged. Hell, Saturday I was about to make a 200 mile freeway trip. If this would have happened on the freeway people could have been killed or seriously injured. Should I threaten to take take thim to court for say "reckless endangerment" and tell my story to every street rodder that will listen or give him a chance to buy my silence. I really don't have the faintist idea on how to proced with a court case. Any advice would be greatly apprecaited.



Thanks for listening.

Arlan

 

[B.G. Smith]

I wouldn't threaten them, I would promise them. If you know a lawyer, you need to talk to him before you go back to the rod place. Sounds like you got stiffed good. bg

 

[arlan]

B. G.



Thanks for the reply. I probably should not have said "threaten". I would just like to give them a chance to make it right, and I am not talking about the cost of the job. That is not a factor. I just feel that a check in the amount of their profit would be the most appropriate apology they could make and leave them with a lesson learned instead of taking legal action. The shop put the wrong studs in the hub and they knew they were doing so. Peoples lives were put at risk because someone was to lazy or in to much of a hurry to drive back to Napa and get the correct parts.



Again, am I wrong in feeling this way?



Arlan

 

[BK]

Arlan,



Thank god no one was hurt and you were smart enough to feel and listen to what the rod was telling you.



You do need to give them a chance to fix it and make it right.

Document it all to death, photos and notes.

If they can't perform the work paid for, your only course is a lawyer.



You never know, there could be one really crappy worker in the place that they are looking for one more good reason to fire... . you might just have it.



Bring it to the shop and be professional, but firm and I would say how close you were to going on a long family ride, than give them a chance.



The workman ship was shotty, but unless you can prove that the shop owner directed a less knowledgable workers to do the shotty work, it's hard to prove willfull, criminal neglect.

Your only recourse would have been if someone had gotten hurt, then willfull or not... . their @#$@ work would have been responsible,,, BUT THANKFULLY NOT, and you were smart enough...



I would insist on seeing the work being done and shown the proper repairs before you take it back again.

Thats one big bill you paid, thats far from quality work that that bill should have represented.



I know how you feel, the one time I let someone work on my 1st 4x4 pet, my Yota... to try some front axle tube straighting... When I went todo my yearly hub service, I found that they had broken 1/2 of the bolts holding the front hubs on... . I easily used and ez-out to get the broken studs out and got new bolts. . all fixed... but I could have been stuck somewhere cause of a hub shooting off.

No where as bad as your experiance, but the @#$@# work is all around.

 

[Doc Tinker]

In Michigan, the shop can only charge 10% over the original estimate, which must be written, without notifying the owner of the increase, before continuing work. Here, you would been able to take the bill to arbitration and possibly get the repair facility license revoked.



I'd be concerned about the rest of the work that was done on the rod. Hopefully they will take care of the situation and get rid of the loser that did the unsafe work.



Again... in Michigan, the shop would have to employ at least one certified mechanic who would be required to inspect the work of any non-certified employees. If that repair was done in Michigan, the arbitator would know that the work wasn't inspected and the facility would have to make restitution and pay a fine.



I used to think this law, in Michignan, was a pain, but I can see where it has some benefit, especially in a case like this.



Too bad you're not in Michigan, huh?



Doc

 

[Power Wagon]

Any shop that's doing that kind of business has liability insurance. They owe you for the repairs and parts to make it right, including anything that was ruined (wheels, hubs, etc).



Some shops fix things out of thier own pockets unless it's really expensive... in fact, that's most. Don't talk to the mechanic, talk to the owner. Go in with evidence, and a clear statement of the problem. You deserve to get what you paid for, and have it all done properly.

 

[swamp rat]

As mentioned above, document as much as possible with pics, estimates, invoices, and the like. Next do give the shop at least one chance to make things right. After that, all bets are off. I would avoid a lawyer like the plague and go the Small CLaims court route depending on what the linits of small claims are in Kalifornia. Some locales have much higher limits than others up to $10k. It doesn't cost much money to file as compared to having an attorney do the PW for you. Here in Gnashville, it is less than $75 and the time to actually go downtown and fill out the forms. Best of all you won't have to split the money awarded with a bottom dweller! You might not get quite as much on the front end, but the amount would still be preferable than sharing 1/3 of the gross proceeds for services rendered bya professional.

 

[fmj]

Arland, I know how you feel. These rod shops are really getting independent because their business is really good now. I'd go after them to right everything. If they don't, post back here and let us know. I'm always willing to let other rodders out here know of a crap rod shop. I had a friend that had expensive flames put on his car (cameleon from House of Colors) and then they shot the clear and screwed up the whole car. They made it right, but screwed him around on the time it took. Because he had already paid them for the origional work, they would always work on someone else's car that was paying them. Not to worry, there are at least two hundred guys from Pleasenton to San Diego that know about this. They're going to tell others. There were at least two paint jobs that were going to this shop when we were talking at Pleasenton last week and now they're look elsewhere. It was a topic of conversation at the Labor Day Cruise in OC this weekend also. Hot rodding is a small comunity so these shops need to do things right. Sorry you had to go thru this.

 

[arlan]

Thanks for all the replies and advise. They came out to the house and picked up the rotors. They are replacing both with new ones and installing 1/2" instead of 7/16' studs to get the correct fit. Randy was very apologetic and has fired the guy that installed the under size studs. They will be coming out to the house and installing the rotors tomorrow although I was planning to do it myself. Thanks again... Arlan

 

[BK]

Great to hear!!. .

Hope you can be home for the work, have them give you a tour of all the other work, while inspecting it...

 

[Doc Tinker]

Good show Arlan - how about posting a picture of your rod.



Doc

 

[arlan]

I'll give it as shot. I have tried to post images since the last board change and haven't gotten it to work. I guess the image size has been to large.



#ad

 

[Bob Wagner]

Arlan...

WW She's a beauty



Order me one in Black

 

[arlan]

Bob... Thanks. I was going to paint it black, and still have the black paint on a shelf in the shop. By the was I painted the car myself in my garage. It's OK for a first paint job, but has a few small mistakes. . Arlan

 

[Doc Tinker]

Nice rod there Arlan. Sure would have been a shame if the crappy work the shop did had wrecked it. Glad to hear you're getting the details worked out and they're making it right for you.



Doc

 

[BK]

very sweet...



Black would be nice too,

but it does deserve red





Bob



__________________

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All towing options, Flame Red ,

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[HEMI®Dart]

WOW



Very nice car Arlan!

 

[fmj]

Nice ride!!!! Are you going to Run to the Sun in Havasu, AZ? I'll keep my eyes out for your car at some of the shows. The only ones I make down in your area are Temecheula (sp?), Del Mar next year. Glad everything worked out for you.

 

[Chris N5CWM]

What a relief!

I'm glad to hear the shop stood behind their

work! Even better that they came out to your

house to make things right!



It's neat to read these kind of stories

and find out they turned out OK.



Enjoy your ride. It sure is cool! Do you

plan on doing the Power Tour with it?



-Chris