How do I alert others about my experience?, (Scott Burnett/Kahiko Customs & Restoration) Options

[Cairo94507]

So next week will be 1 year since I pulled my car from Scotty's shop, (KAHIKO CUSTOMS & RESTORATION, Scott Burnett, 106H Roxbury Industrial, Charles City, VA 23030) and I am still missing parts Scott has still never found in his shop....

Though Scott has admitted he owes me money, and I have asked him to send what he said he owed me, I have never seen a single penny.

I paid Scott $29,600 and traded him my 3.0 running motor ($7,500 value?) for work- not an insignificant amount. I have copies of the checks, pictures of the motor, an invoice from Scott showing work I was charged for, etc. I have avoided posting a lot of the pictures of the condition in which I found my car when I picked it up after Scott had it for 61 months, but I can. Trust me, Kent has now got over 350 hours into getting the chassis ready for paint.

I am aware of two other member who experienced similar trouble with Scott and pulled their cars from his shop as well.

When I first began dealings with Scott he seemed to be a solid dude who had done some great work in the past. However after he injured his back, maybe 1.5 years into my build, it seemed like everything changed dramatically and he never got back to what he may have once been.

I want to post about my experience so anyone searching for a shop in the near future can make an informed decision regarding their shop selection. How would you go about that? Where would you post that- specifically, what other car forums should I alert, if any? Looking for helpful suggestions. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[Cairo94507]

Wow. I have emailed Scott multiple times and after not hearing from him in a reasonable time, 2 weeks generally, I would call or text him. Scott would tell me of course he got my email, he gets all of my emails, but is very busy and typically only checks emails weekly, etc. So then I email him and wait a month for a reply and when I get no reply, because he always gets my emails, I believe he is just done dragging this painful event out. So I posted what I posted out of frustration that I could not even get Scott to acknowledge his work on my car was not quite up to par. Then of course he says he never got this particular email because he is just to busy to check his emails (related to business). No matter what, I am always wrong.

Here is my last email to Scott, June 25th, that received no reply:


EMAIL:
Thanks for the reply Scott.

Just so you know, though I am disappointed with a lot of the work done to my chassis and the 61 months my car sat with probably only 1 year worth of actual work, (granted you injured yourself and had health issues) I still wish you no ill will. I occasionally get upset when I look at the car and the work done, which I believe was generally of a lesser quality than promised, and certainly not the type of work one sees on a concours car or even close. Thankfully, my chassis is now perfect and ready for color after about 350 hours of work. I know you no longer go to 914World, but if you go to my thread you will see the work done by Kent. I believe you will appreciate and agree it is quality work, the level I expected from day 1.

Off the top of my head, the replacement late model doors you vouched for as in near perfect condition, needing only to be stripped and requiring very minor metal work to metal finish - $300 for the doors, (I was fine with that assuming they were as represented) $315 to remove from the donor car and strip, then $525 to correct damage/rust to just one of the doors. So, $1,140 and the end result was doors that are not of sufficient quality to use as they were badly rusted/rotted. I can send you pictures as you have requested, although you should remember the condition of those doors. I never remember your qualifying the doors you had as the best available on the east coast.

I really would like to end all of this. Forcing me to post photos of your work and what you charged me, I do not believe will benefit you or your shop. Despite your not having an on-line presence any more, people still shop for restoration shops on-line. The doors above is but one example of what I am referring too. I am still willing to resolve all of this. If, and only if, I do not have to go through all of the pictures and post them, (it just upsets me) or send them to you, I will call this settled at $7,500 - and you can make payments if necessary. That means for what you did, you got a running 3.0 motor, and $22,100 cash. If you do not think that is more than fair, then I will go ahead and do what you have asked.

I do appreciate your willingness to continue sending me my parts. I would have preferred they were together at pickup, but I am glad you are finding and shipping them. Were you able to find my stub axles? For the $400 you are charging me for the steering rack and the $30 shipping, I will send you a steering rack to replace the incorrect one you sent even though you told me, when Mark offered to ship it back, tell Mikey914 (Mark) to keep it as you had a lot of them.

I know you are very busy, but please let me know what you think.

END OF EMAIL

So, that was my last email to Scott that got no reply. I believe I was more than fair and also pointing him to the pictures posted in Part 2 of my build would surely answer his questions as to why I felt he owed me money. I didn't know what else to do with this at that point. I really wanted to recover some of my loss and also alert others that they may want to beware of Scott as this seems to be somewhat of a pattern, at least with the World and Dorkiphus members I have been in touch with.