Do not take your car (new or old) to Bright Auto Upholstery, unless you want to go through the seven gates of hell.
Here's my story of woe:
On March 20, I took Blackie, my fully and beautifully restored '67 Volvo 122 Amazon to Bright Auto Upholstery on SE 6th to have the headliner and carpeting installed. They had done small jobs for me in the past and did pretty good work. The only downside is they're a bit on the pricey side, but I don't mind paying for good, honest work.
Well, that all changed in the past few months.
First off, they let Blackie sit there for a full week before they even touched the car. What pissed me off was that I was on a tight timeline in order to finish her up before the IPD 50 Years of Volvos in May, and told them this. They finally did the work after much of my nagging, and it only took them 2 days (even though they had the car for two weeks!). Bottom line: they could have managed that one better so I could have other shops do work on it too. Total price was $900 for both. Yes, very steep indeed!
They were nice enough to drive Blackie up the street to the Line Up Shop for alignment. The Line Up Shop finished their work in a few hours, and I was summoned there to pick up the car.
I get to the Line Up Shop and proceed to take her down to Yuri's place for final buffing, and discovered three dimples in an otherwise-perfect roof. Yes, that perfect paint job was now ruined. I call the manager of Bright Auto Upholstery (Mike), and ask him WTF??? He tells me, "Oh yeah, I was going to call you about that, but I got busy."
Evidently, they put one of their new guys on the job, and while he was installing screws and brackets ??? to hold the headliner rods on, he either let the drill bit go too far and hit the outer sheet metal from the inside, or used screws that were too long. Long story short, they F'd up my beautiful paint job. Luckily Yuri was in the neighborhood, and stopped by to take a look at it.
Yuri quotes me $600 to repair it, which would include metal repair, a complete reshoot of the roof, and color sanding/buffing. Mike says no problem, he'll pay it. Two weeks later, Yuri tells me it ended up being $800 due to the increased cost of paint and supplies, and way more labor than he first thought, thanks to the damage caused by Bright Auto Upholstery's "not so bright" employee.
I pay Yuri his money, and go back to Mike from Bright Auto Upholstery to collect my $800. He calls Yuri a "shyster" and says he won't pay a dime. I try to explain that the $600 was just a quote, and sometimes stuff costs more, especially with body work and paint. He says no way, and wants to see a materials break down and hourly labor accounting.
No problem... Yuri writes one up, and even includes the paint/materials cost list from Industrial Finishes. I give all this documentation to Mike, and he still says he won't pay it. I tell him that he needs to talk to Yuri, and give him the number. He never calls. But he does tell me I have to watch out for "those Russians" because "they'll try to take you for a ride every time". WTF dude??? How dare you say that! I've known Yuri for over a decade and he has NEVER taken advantage of people... if anything Mike, you're the damn shyster and you're trying to take me for a damn ride!!!
Three weeks ago (if you're doing the math, that's 3 months I've been waiting for my money), I finally give up and tell Mike at Bright Auto Upholstery to pay me the $600 and I'll deal with Yuri for the other $200. He says no problem, takes my mailing address and says he'll send payment. Two weeks go by, still no check. Last week I call Mike again, and he says the check came back and he must have written the address wrong. Yeah right... he must have thought I just fell off the pineapple truck yesterday. I tell him I'll be right over to pick it up in person.
I go there, and sure enough there it is. It sucks because on the way over I'm preparing myself for a big argument, possible incarceration due to me kicking Mike in the throat, and what happens...? he hands me the check. It looks legit, signed to me, for $600.
All's well that ends well, right? Not so. Here's the tally:
- Bodywork on what WAS a perfectly straight 122 roof
- Respray on what WAS a PERFECT paint job (Yuri did an incredible job redoing the roof)
- Numerous phone calls and in-person trips to Bright Auto Upholstery and Yuri's shop
- Having to find another upholstery shop because I will NEVER, EVER, EVER take my cars there again, and will steer everyone I know away from them.
And I highly recommend you don't take your business there either. Consider yourself warned. read more