At 08:12 PM 3/30/97 -0500, James A. Dirmeyer wrote:
>Okay here's the problem. I took my wife's 76B into the body shop at the
>beginning of November. Work to be done was replacing the floor panels,
>repair a few dents, and a nice paint job. I had stripped the car
>completely down in order to make the paint job easier. We were told that
>the job would take about 3 weeks. 5 months later the car is just primered
>and still needs a little more hand work before painting. It seems that the
>shop has been busy with insurance work and my car gets worked on maybe a
>few hours out of the week if that. I haven't complained yet but I stop by
>occasionally to see the progress when I'm in the area. Several times the
>owner has told me that he wishes he hadn't taken on the job and this is the
>reason why they don't restore more cars. I'm thinking that it would have
>been nice to know that before I brought it in. I don't want to make waves
>because the work done so far has been really nice, but it is my wifes car
>and she is starting to get a little frustrated.
>
>Should I demand that they finish my car pronto or should I just wait for
>them?
>
>
>Ok I'm no lawyer, but having been around the block a time or two I would
say that unless you have a contract staing that they would do the work in a
specific amount of time you will have to do some checking into your state's
consumer protection laws. There should be a state agency you can call or a
comsumer advocacy organization that should be able to advise you. In my
experience 5 months to do what you were told was three weeks work would
seem to be excessive, but who knows.
In situations like this I usually try buttering the person up but play very
firm with my position. You could also offer to pay for the work done and
take the car elsewhere, or even hint that your lawyer will be contacting
him. Good luck, let us know how it worked out!!
Ross Overcash, 74B, NAMGBR 2-1172, Ayer, MA.
http://www.tiac.com/users/jroverca
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