My experience with Bumper 2 Bumper was not good. A friend recommended them for their low prices and I decided to give them a try (instead of my usual chrome shop in Escondido). I took parts from my '55 Packard Clipper to them on a Saturday. Napoleon, owner of the business wasn't there so I left them with a guy that was working on a car in the space next door: Two taillight bezels, two bezels for ashtrays and the decorative chrome pieces around the trunk lock. Napoleon called me on Monday with a quote, I said OK, and we agreed on the pickup date. During the conversation he never pointed out that he would have any problems plating any of the parts. I came back on the agreed date and he didn't remember the parts and couldn't find them. When he finally 'found' them, he brought me two headlight buckets for a '29 Packard and said "Here's your Packard parts." I told him they weren't mine, and the search was on again; this time he found my parts - untouched and un-plated. I needed the parts in order to install on the car only a few days later as I was shipping it back east. To his credit, Napoleon put a RUSH on the parts and had them done in 3 days. When I picked them up, I was again disappointed: the ashtray bezels were plated on the wrong side and the trunk lock décor had small pits in the tighter radii of the part. The taillight bezels were done correctly. I had no choice but to pay for the parts and install them on the car that night as I put it on the truck the next morning.
About a month later, the car was back home and I took the parts off the car and back to Napoleon. He refused to do anything with the truck lock décor saying that it was the best he could do considering the small tight radii of the parts. He accepted the ashtray bezels saying he would re-plate them at no charge and call me. Six weeks later, I hadn't heard from him so I called to see if they were ready. The person who answered the phone (not Napoleon) said: "Oh yeah, they've been ready for a while." Because I was heading out of town the next day, I asked my wife to pick up the parts for me, which she did. When I returned home from the trip, I was disappointed for a third time: the bezels had not been touched and were still plated on the wrong side.
The trunk décor and ashtray bezels are now back on the car in the same condition that I received them from Bumper 2 Bumper. Sometime this summer, I will again remove the parts from the car and take them back to my original chrome shop in Escondido where I am absolutely certain I will get the job done correctly on the first try. read more
