Chris-
After having been kicked around a bit myself I have come to an approach to
handling situations similar to this. I choose to believe that people are
incompetent, but rarely malicious. We can hope that the guy has the best of
intentions and sincerely meant to do the work for you. Every time you
called I am sure he felt some guilt, just not enough to get off his dead *ss
and get the work done, for whatever reason. You can also assume that
whatever money you gave him long ago is long gone (up his nose or into
whatever other nasty habits and personal problems he may have).
At this point you've several options. It sounds like the first thing is to
get the car out of his possession and into yours. This should be pretty
simple if he really is a decent but incompetent person. Call him and tell
him you're frustrated at the slow progress, you want to have the car while
there is still a summer to drive it in, and are coming over with a flatbed
to pick it up. At this point accept no promises or assurances. Arrange to
be their early in the morning.
When you get there, be sure to bring your dad and a few of his friends to
help you. It helps to have a group of people with you for psychological
intimidation (if your mom came along too that would really put him at a
disadvantage and make him feel lower that the belly on a nematode). Be
VERY careful and remain as friendly and positive with the fellow as possible
(no matter how much you'd like to tell him what you really think) and make
sure the rest of the guys do as well.
Get the car and paperwork, get it to a shop or someone who will and can get
the work done, and get this stuff behind you as soon as possible so you can
start enjoying the Alpine. If the shop find lots of major things wrong and
he really misrepresented the car, then start thinking about small claims
court and legal letters, but I'd steer clear of it till then.
In short, go get the car and start enjoying it !
-Patrick
SV, Richmond, CA
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