I feel sick, im still shaking from disbelief....

i am getting the hood painted just befor the hershey show, dropped it off yesterday, they said i could pick it up friday. So today I drive by for a sneak peek. I walk into the office and ask if i could take a look. Woman says paint shop is not here it is two blocks away, and she says no problem... I am next to the getto. the paint shop is inside the getto. google earth if you dont believe me.

caroline and bank st. baltimore md 21231

anyway, i drive by to notice my car, with the front hood missing sitting on the side of the road.

i park and run over to take a look...

my subwoofer is sitting there out in the open, next to my battery jumper box, new cv axle, and polished fuches wheel with brand new rubber on it. I couldnt believe it, there was nobody around. Then i try the door handle and sure enough it is open, my tech tips, bosh fuel injection, and chiltons were on the seat. My cd player face was in the glove with my cds.




I go inside the building and find nobody, just the smell of paint, i call out hello.... nothing, i walk into an adjascent building and there are 4 guys sitting at a table talking, none of which speak english. I am angry, they cannot help me.

I walked outside nobody followed me, and i cleaned out my car, took the spare, left only the tireboard and 2 seats. then i locked it and left.

what would you do??

That sucks. Bring somebody with you when you pick up the car. Let them drive off with it. I would be talking to the shop manager about the potential loss that you almost suffered due to thier policy. Ask for a price reduction as you had to spend your time taking care of what is his responisbility.

People just don't give a shit if it isn't theirs. Drive it home till they are done with the hood.

you could paint it yourself
and then paint it again
by the third time around you should be able to get it mostly right
and by doing it this way not only do you save money, you get high from the fumes, you learn how to block sand, wet sand and apply clear coat that looks textured, and then you learn to polish.....
don't ask me how i know
and i would do it all over again!
heck i might have to
i would rather this than entrust my car to a shop

Thats all ya got to say I am sold!

Holy crap. You are lucky that you still have a car. I almost moved into an apartment in the greek neighborhood right across from the projects there. Girl I like lived in fells, and it sounded like fun. In the end, I just did not feel safe, and so I walked.

Still got the girl though.

Zach

the fact you were able to completely clean that car out and nobody gave a damn tells me all I need to hear - do as another said, drive the car home. In fact, do it and don't tell them... let them call you with the bad news that your car is stolen. Let them a stew in their own for a bit...

WOW! I agree, steal your own car and see what happens. I bet you got a good price on the paint, though Caveat emptor.

But hey, there is a silver lining here.

if the car is in Baltimore, that means that the engine swap went well and the car is back on the road.

Zach

Hey I had to look to see who wrote this to see if it was ME!!

are you sure you want these guys painting it???

wouldn't it be funny to swap another teener in it's place (minus a hood). let them figure that out

I love the steal your own car idea.

Are you saying you dropped the car off at one location and they moved??? When did you do that? I am confused.

company name is "Fells Point Body and Fender"

yes i did get a good price.... but imagine finding your car like a sitting duck.

the shop address is 419 s caroline st. the next 2 address are part of the shop i think, there are garage doors everywhere. but my car was at the corner of bank and central ave. 2 blocks away from the drop off location. This is what they call there paint shop.

Yes the swap is almost done... still a few zipties here and there and an ocasional vacume hose flopping around, but i will have it done tommorow if my car is still there.

i called the place they were closing 5pm i demanded my car be brought inside and some woman said everyone was gone for the day, so i said it must be done, she called me back 30min later said it was done

i drove by to check.

now what to do tommorow when i pick it up. i cant just act like everything is o.k.

they did me wrong

I say have a holy fuching explosive rant! Go on and on! It doesn't matter what you say just dial up some REAL ANGER. Those people are morons. Plain and simple. You need to do them a favor and let them know that.

And tell them that the car was the same color as the hood when you dropped it off!
They need to paint to match! for free!

Aaaah now I'm pissed. What would I do? Isn't all the stuff that was in the car when you dropped it off, gone?

I have a friend who's a civil engineer his company makes big bucks. He bought a 62 chev 4x4 1/2 ton pickup from the original owner Cranfils Gap Firedept. For I think 1500.00. It doesn't have a square foot of straight sheetmetal. I think my friend was born in 62. His dad, him and I hunted together for about 33 years. The truck was rough but ran. He started sanding it in his driveway and his wife decided she didn't want the neighbors thinking they were like that. He found a guy who showed him a 60 chev he said he painted. My friend gave him 500.00 to start. He then bought two parts trucks. Then he bought a case of undercoat. Then he gave the guy some more money and after about a year the guy left the area and disappeared leaving the truck setting out side untouched and the parts trucks gone. My young friends father said the truck was worth 12500.00 fixed up. I told him it probably was if they spent 20k on it. I ended up with the truck at my house I guess forever, it is completely apart as he decided he wanted me to redo it. He thought I needed something to do I guess. For about 10.00 a hour. My son and I completely dissassembled it in about three days. I trailered it home free. I sent him a bill for 400.00. He decided to leave his company and start his own which is doing very well. He was doing most of the work at the company he worked at and his new company ended up with most of the other company's employees. He decided he wanted to wait till he got all his trucks and office stuff purchased, he got a big loan which I'm sure he has paid.He is very honest. I've known him and his dad since he was 12. Our last conversation went like this. He said do 3000.00 worth and lets see where it's gotten to. After we took it apart it sat in my shop 4 months, I had to move it out of my shop because it was in my way. The body is off the frame. It was a year till he decided to work on it again. I haven't touched it. He said he lost 3500.00 with the first bodyshop. Part of the problem is vehicles are really not important to him. I guess it was a novelty and his dad thought he could get it rebuilt for 2500.00.
This guys surveyors won't show up for less than 500.00.

The jist of this is a cheap job can get very expensive.

Ya know,

When I take my car into the dealer for service, there is a great big sign that says "Please Remove Valuables from Car Before Service" and "Not Responsible For Lost Or Stolen Items".

And, this dealer is in the swanky upscale part of town. So, I grab my phone, CD face, and my book of car wash tickets.

Yeah, cheap lesson. Don't leave stuff in your car when somebody else has the keys.

And, after bodywork, check your car over. Sometimes they swap a full spare for a cheap emergency spare. Do this BEFORE paying them.

It's also good practice to grab your valuables from the car after an accident and before the tow truck takes it away.

Ken

Same here...got me on the second line.

Rich