Who has had panel beaters rip them off?
Ill give you an abreviated story of my car.
3years ago i was reccomended to send my car to a custome car restorer to get the prep work on my car done and a spray painter to get the spraying donw. great they came highly reccomended.
$2200 later the car came back all in grey primer and was shipped off to spray painter straight away, 10days later i got the car back (different colour to want i wanted but it has grown on me) first day i got it i caught the bonnet with the leather on my belt and paint came off, (maybe it hasnt cured yet) the assmebly saw more paint chips happening, I pointed fingers to the painter who pointed finger at prep. I got car back together and took it to show him and he said come see me on monday (the prep guy). I went in monday morinng and guess what he had closed his doors.
6months later the rust started to bleed thru the seams around the roof, then the back window, seams split.i was pissed at the quality the sink back in some of the panels was bad.

Today it went in to have it cut back to find out what was going on, gues what a full metal strip down and repray is now gonna cost me $3000 again for a job that was not done right to start with.
the bog was so thivk in plces 12mm but on an avarage of 5mm over the entire car, the prep guy just sprayed spray filler over the entire car and sanded back till it was smooth then sprayed primer over it.

disguisted and pissed off is about the best words you can discribe my feelings about now.

has anyone else has bad experiences with rip off agents out there.

Work that poor should be counted as theft and be a criminal offence. To present yourself as a tradesman and do work of appalling quality is fraud as far as I am concerned

1. Who did the recommendation
2. Has the panel beater also closed
3. I bet the painter is still around, you just have to find him.

So the panel beater stuffed the repairs and the painter painted what had been repaired. I would think that a few enquires within the trade (try doing a phone number search for them by name) would find them. Is it going to do you any good? I doubt it but if you are determined it may be possible to elicit some sort of outcome, what that would be is up to your determination.

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Chris

Everything I like is either
illegal, immoral or fattening.

i had a dodgy job done on my car as well. paid money for it to have a couple of small rust repairs, and then a modest spray job. looked ok when we got it back, but that didn't last too long. a week lated i was heavily rear ended, and we sent the car straight back to them to do the repair, thinking they'd probably still have paint left over etc.

they quoted $1800, and ended up getting a fraction more than that, and told us everything was good to go. when we picked it up, the car was clearly three different shades of the same colour, front to back, where they'd tried to blend it. the seems were a mess. we took it back and got them to try again - better result, still not good.

since then, rust has come through in quite a few spots they didn't repair, just covered over. the paint has faded badly in some spots. the "Repair" they did at the rear was all just bog, and not even a very good bog job. i had someone at a smash repair place i took it to ask me if i did it myself.

similar outcome - guy has since shut up shop, and i'm left with a car that doesn't have too much life left in it before it either falls apart or rusts away.

I concur

That's really shitty man. I hope it all works out for you.

If you want something done right................

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Bob Slattery
Duffman Says A Lot of Things - OH YEAH!!

I said something similar about SG's dodgy engine build:

How many of you guys see Fair trading about these dodgy tradesmen

OK, granted they may not be able to do a whole heap (but they might as well you never know) but a the VERY LEAST they will have your concerns on record and will be building a history and or case against the dodgy tradesmen !!!!

It is no good complaining about dodgy tradesmen if you are not prepared to act, report them, this hopefully will stop other people being taken for a ride

I have had a friend who has reported stuff to fair trading and it is amazing how cooperative a seller or whatever becomes after they get a ring from fair trading. Mostly it is a call to say "Joe Blogs has a concern with how he/she has been dealt with we suggest that you try sorting it out"

But for $#@ sake don't do nothing I can't understand it

rant is over now... Of course if you have all reported your dodgy dealings then I applaud you and hope more will do the same. I can understand how you might want to forget the whole sorry saga but people like this are relying on you doing nothing about it

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Roads need more corners
A Deluxe(CG13DE), 2 Clubbies(998 and 1275) and 2 Morris 1100Ss

The panel beater has closed up, the paint guy did a brilliant job with zero orange peel and really nice shine, no runs, stright from the gun, no bake oven, i was impressed with the finish he got.
But it was the prep guy (panel shop) that stiffed me, he has declared bankrupcey and i cant get a cent from him.
all i can do is warn others if his name come up again.
He came recommended form the mini club, mates of mine and i saw some of the other cars he had done.
what is really wierd is the fact that cutting the whole car back the panels (most of them) are pefect no rust other than a bit of surface rust but no real holes, 2 new door skins and a few other minor jobs need doing but real good otherwise.

see the car was already in primer, i paid him to cut it back and reprime it it had already been to the panel shop so no hassles.yeah he just took my money and run.
I told my mate who recommended him and he said the last few customers were all ripped off, he said he is sure he knew he was on his way out and just took everyone for a ride.

yes its criminal and should not be allowed to happen, but it does, its places like this the word gets around and soon they go out of business without ripping people off.

"may the fleas of a thousand camels infext his pubic hairs and his fingers turn to fish hooks"

not with panel work but with the replacement of the quater vent after thiefs smashed it. I would have done my self but to much uni work. they quoted $250, that also included replacing the headlight switch that had been snapped. i had already done all the pricing, found that mini clinic (what ever there called) had NOS of the window for $88 and the switch for $24. i told the panel beaters this, but was still happy to pay the 250. Went to pick the car up, 3 days after the time they originally said they needed, and they tried to charge an extra 100. he showed me the invoice for the parts that he ahd got from a wreacker = $240, he said that i was lieing about miniclinics price, and that they said they didnt have the parts. i got mini clinic to fax through the quote, and after me abusing the guy at the panel beaters, i got it for the correct price

ps: this panel beater is not normaly dodgy, and they were really nice, and do good quality work, it was the company that sold them the parts that were dodge.

im hearing and seeing more of this as the years go by.
ive been realy lucky with all my repairs.....seems now days you realy need to find a body repairer who is realy interested in repairing your car.
if the guy isent interested in his work well figurers suggest your going to get a crappy job.
i just droped of my mini a fourghtnight ago to get iner sill relaced on drivers side plus the whole door step as well.
went down yestrday to have a lookie and was very impressed indeed.
not only has he taken photos for me as i requested him to do threw all the stages but he has done more than what i asked him to do for the same cost.
he not only did the comlete door step and iner sills plus outer sill but now he did my whole door too as it had a little rust comming threw in the bottom plus he stripped back
the whole section under the side rear window too all the way down as he said it would look crappy if they just sprayed the door step and not the door as it wouldnt match same goes for the section under the rear side window too.

i will post photos of his work when i get my babe back and let you know were he is located too as he is getting a good reputation for working on minis.
most panel beater now days arnt realy panel beaters.....there panel replaces and spray painters...1/2 dont know how to do panel work ....but they know how to ring holden for a new panel and bolt in on and paint it...

b4 anyone pays heaps of $$$$$ for a respray or body work ask around....
go to places....and even better still check on here....because thats why we
have ausmin....so we can all get infomation on minis from people who own them and restore them too because who would know better then all of us???

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started a new project...there goes all my free time....

From the sounds of things I'm glad I did my time as a sheetmetal worker and my brother inlaw was an excellent panelbeater who taught me alot and had access to a spray booth and oven

Unfortunately though until I sellout and move I no longer have a garage or access to a spraybooth and oven

Good to hear of a good experience for a change. Especially one from Melbourne!!

Any chance of telling us who he is now?

Very interested to hear as my mini needs a new coat of paint and I'm very fussy about the results I want.

Thanks,
BC.

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