I reached out to Jimmy at Elite Customs in the beginning of March and set an appointment to discuss some work I was requesting and to receive a price for my proposed work. I own and operate a local company that sells high-end 4x4 recreation vehicles. Our company was converting a 4x4 F450 ambulance into a fully built, expo-style adventure truck. I met Jimmy in person on April 14th at Elite Customs and he inspected my vehicle and we discussed the work to be performed. I was requesting a complete paint job, body work to remove all existing ambulance lights, the bodywork cut to allow placement of a window, and the completion of a "super single" conversion (4in lift involving installation of new leaf springs and shocks, removal of existing rear air suspension, new rear suspension fabrication to revert back to leaf sprung rear end, installation of Bushwhacker fender flares, and mounting the 41 inch continental wheels / tires and mounting a new ARB winch bumper). He quoted me a total price of $12,000 to complete the job. I requested a time frame and was told they were unable to provide an exact date but that the job should be completed within 8 weeks. I agreed to the price and requested a written estimate detailing the work to be emailed to me, to which they agreed.
For the first 4 weeks I never received a call or email as discussed. On May 12th, after no word from Elite, I head down in person to check on the status of my vehicle. In a month's time all that had been completed was the removal of decals in preparation for painting and removal of trim and bumpers.
The next day after checking up on my vehicle Dana from Elite calls me requesting half down. We had never discussed this and I was told they needed the funds to purchase paint. I agreed and paid $6,000.
3 more weeks pass with no calls or updates from Elite.
June 5th - I patiently and politely call the front office to ask for an update. Dana answers and I proceed to ask what the status is. Dana instantly became defensive and began to claim the work being completed was well beyond the price I was paying and that I was lucky to even have my vehicle there. When I asked her about a time frame of when the work would be completed (as 7 weeks had already passed and the vehicle was still not even prepped for paint and none of the suspension work had been completed) she rudely said: "Do you want me to hold your f**king hand". I was shocked by the unprofessionalism and the way I had been treated. I immediately drove down to Elite to speak with the owner, Jimmy. Jimmy basically defended his employee's rude behavior; I wasn't going to waste time arguing and requested to only work with Jimmy as Dana was clearly unable to have a reasonable conversation.
Jimmy proceeds to tell me that the job will receive his focus and will be completed within a couple more weeks. At this point, my vehicle had been disassembled and was not drivable and I felt it was in my best interest, after 8 weeks had already passed, to just wait it out a few more weeks and hope to receive my vehicle back soon.
June 22 - Contact Jimmy for and update - Jimmy tells me he is going to have the vehicle painted within the week - and that he will spray some test sprays for me to select the one closest to my requested color.
June 29th - Jimmy contacts me for the first time since dropping the vehicle off. He tells me to come down to the shop to pick the color I want out of a book. I had already sent him the color I wanted 10 weeks prior. I drove down anyway and proceeded to choose the color I considered closest to my original choice. Jimmy never spayed any test sprays and forced me to blindly choose my color out of a book. I discussed my concern and told him that was contradictory to what I had been originally told. Be basically said he didn't have time to look through the book and spray test sprays and that I had to choose. He gave me a generic book containing paint samples of most auto manufacture's paint colors used on production cars. I proceeded to pick what I though resembled my color the closest (a dark metallic grey).
July 6th - In person check-up at Elite - Vehicle still not painted and suspension work still not even touched. Jimmy proceeds to tell me that the vehicle is all prepped for paint but that he tried to move the vehicle into his paint booth only to realize it's too tall to fit. He tells me he is going to ask around town and find a booth it will fit in. I couldn't believe the incompetence but my vehicle was stripped to the bare metal and I had no choice but continue to wait as Jimmy's negligence continued to waste another unknown amount of my time.
July 23 - Jimmy calls me to tell me a permit for his new shop will be signed off on Monday and he will finally begin to paint. I am confused by this new information as it was never discussed prior.
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