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Helm Upholstery

4.7 (36 reviews)
Closed 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

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30 minutes

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100%

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This is Helms initial response claiming he needs more information.

I inquired about getting a massage chair cover/cushion fixed. I was instructed to send pictures to the cell number provide, which I did. I also explained in the text message that is was a single piece that zips off the massage chair. I asked if he could quote it. Helms response was "no because I can't really tell what I'm quoting I know it's a massage chair but it's not enough information so I cannot give you a quote sorry". As a service business myself, if I actually know I can do the job, I would request the information needed to complete the job. Instead, Helm seemed to imply he could do the job, yet he didn't have enough information. Therefore, I responded explaining again that it was a thin head cushion and back seat cover for the massage chair and that it zipped off in one piece. Also and obviously, I would just bring it into him if he requested it. Strangely, he changed his tune and responded saying sorry I can't do your job (even before getting more information he insinuated he needed). I sent him a response saying "I thought you said you didn't have enough information? Nothing has changed, but now you just can't do it?" I mentioned to him that he should be clear and direct from the beginning. If he cannot do the job, just say you cannot do it. Don't tell your customers you can't do it and in the same breath say you need more information. As a customer, I feel im wasting my time if I believe you can do the job and I just need to provide more information, but you have no intention on fixing it. My feeling is, he just couldn't do the job, but he also could not come out and just say it. He said totally contradicted himself. I don't know why? Finally, after I sent him the final message this is his literal response: "." He literally sent me a period as a response. This was rude in my opinion, so it prompted me to scroll through his customer reviews, just to be sure I wasn't being over sensitive. Not surprisingly, I located a very disgruntled customer. I understand that we all have different experiences and perspectives, however, I was shocked to see Helms response to this unsatisfied customer. He told the customer verbatim "don't be so high and mighty you ignorant nothing better to do than write bullshit responses on yelp!" Again, these are Helms exact words. I will also say that in the past seven years, he has had about 28 positive reviews so he must be good at some things. I just think that I experienced less than professional service. I also feel he wasted unnecessary time. For me, if you can't do the job, just say it upfront instead of saying you need more information only to change your mind, saying I can't do the job only after the customer is ready to provide that information you insinuated you needed. As an experienced and successful service business owner myself, I feel the responsibility to share my experience so our community know who we're working with. We should not only support our local business owners, but we should hold them account as well. Helm seems to do a good job, based on his 29 reviews stemming back 7 years. If he refutes any of these details I can post screen shots of everything mentioned in this post, including the disgruntled post I mentioned. Other than that, I hope Helm can evaluate this interaction and hopefully make some adjustments on how he responds to jobs he's not willing or can't take. Response to Helm's reply: As you could see by Helms reply how unprofessional he is. I will now attach all of the screenshots of our conversations. The public can be the judge of what type of person and business you'll be dealing with. Keep in mind, we never spoke verbally over the phone, so both of our opinions are purely from the messaging system. He says I was being an arrogant. A**H*** as you can see by his response. I guess he was upset because I questioned his contradicting response. Everything is explained in detail in my original post, most of it is verbatim. Now you'll see the actual screenshots of our conversation. I did not want to post the screenshots initially because I wanted to see if he would handle the response professionally. I was surprised that he feels comfortable enough cursing in his response so I'm posting the screenshots so customers can make their own judgement about his character.

This is the after pic. He transformed our sagging sofa into an entirely brand new one. Simply amazing work.
Bryan D.

This is the best (and only) place you need to consider bringing anything that needs upholstering. Brett's work is simply outstanding and unmatched. He's a real artisan and has transformed multiple spaces in our home. It's crazy how amazing his work is. Highly, highly recommend Helm's Upholstery.

shawn c.

We recently had Helm Upholstery redo the front bow of our boat. We have a 1984 bahner jet boat so the wood was really tired and had dry rot. We used our existing upholstery and he rebuilt the wood frame for us and reupholstered it. Amazing job, great to work with. Craftsmanship is outstanding, will definitely use again!

Custom red leather interior.
Juan F.

I am very satisfied with going to helm upholstery in Tracy CA. I got to look at many options to customize my rides interior and decided with what you see in pictures. I love how it came out. I highly recommend getting your car or furniture done here. My convertible looks even better than before.

Bottom, proud of hia work, puts his name on it!
Carol P.

Yey! Im so happy to have given a Tracy small business a chance. I had doubts becuse he didnt have many reviews on yelp. We had 4 barstool seats that needed to be recovered. I was impressed at how honest Bret was. He didnt have to tell me that I might be able to find replacement cushions online. So I looked, but his price was so reasonable I didnt want to bother with online. He even thought to turn the wood over so we had fresh wood to scew the seat back on the stool! He clearly does nice work, is proud of his work and is experienced from what I saw. He was doing boat upholstery and a car headliner when I was there. He's our go to upholsterer now! Boat next!

Before
Lexy N.

Very professional, friendly, FAST, clean work space, very organized!!! I called on a Friday about getting 4 dining chairs repaired. He immediately told me he had a project he was working on but he will gladly take a look and see what he can do. I was really excepting for the chairs to take at least a week but I got a call Tuesday saying they were ready. Not only did he repair the cushions but he fixed other things he saw wrong, added a nice detail (totally wasn't expecting that) even shared some good tips for care. I would definitely recommend, the total experience was great

Michael G.

Bret did an excellent Job on my dune buggy custom back seat. He surpassed my expectations and even helped with lining up the seat belts and making some extra cut outs!! Highly recommend for any kind of upholstery work! Now I have a 4 seater thanks Bret see you for my next project soon!!! Happy Customer Mike

We had Bret work on a couple pieces to restitch on our swim deck from constant walking in and out of our boat. He did such a great job that we decided to have him work on reupholstering all our cushions and carpet for our boat. He did such an amazing job and we are very happy with the outcome. He is very great at communicating and walked us through each step of the process. He had great ideas on the new layout which we trusted and had him work his magic! We definitely recommend Helm Upholstery. You will not be disappointed. You can tell he is very passionate with the work he does and it shows. He only works on one project at a time so he's fully committed on your project which we respected.

The tan seat is my ripped and broken down seat from my pickup. The black is the after photo. Springs rebuilt,  new padding, and new cover.

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1 year ago

Great person to work with at Helm Upholstery ! Great service and workmanship on 1995 Dodge Dakota headliner.

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9 years ago

Great work. Very fast. 5 stars all the way around. Bret does very good work and covered my boat seat in about a day.

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Review Highlights - Helm Upholstery

We had Bret work on a couple pieces to restitch on our swim deck from constant walking in and out of our boat.

Mentioned in 17 reviews

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Prime Interiors - After picture of Tesla seats after Frankie repaired.

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Frankie came out today to repair a ghastly tear in the driver's seat of a 2011 Acura. He…read moreimmediately shared that the issue had been the driver using a seat warmer. Frankie was friendly, professional and efficient. The repair looks good and I'll save this vendor for any future needs.

Can't really say I recommend it. I had some scratches on my front and rear seat and wasn't happy…read morewith the color match and I did not expect a spray paint job that I could have done myself. On the blue section, and there was some over-spray and it has a yellowish green tint. It took him a few quick minutes to mix some dye and he didn't really spot check for match. I asked if he could match it better but he said it could make it worse. There was also over-spray. Frankie just blocks off the untouched spot by holding a piece of cardboard. It wasn't precision and care. Also, deep scratches could be sanded, smoothed and polished to match, but he doesn't go to this level of service. He just applies putty over it and lets you know it will leave a lump. However, the match on black was very good, almost perfect. But it felt rough due to the over-spray. Overall, I had expected a more precise hand polishing process and care for matching, but it was just quick spray paint. Deep scratches really didn't get resolved. The car is now a collectors item. I was hoping for a level of quality that matches the prestige. EDIT In response to the owner; I do not use Yelp much and do not write many reviews. But they are bad experiences that are memorable enough to share and I provided evidence (invoices and pictures) to support it. The owner's lack of accountability in his response should be a concern. I've had someone asking about his work the past few weeks (2025: 9 years later) and it prompted me to help this person and update the review and even tone it down a tad for the owner's benefit. 1 and 2. The pictures uploaded appear the same quality as the original but resized. Don't believe otherwise as the owner leads you to believe. Many of you have uploaded pictures and know this is is a lie. I believe Yelp will also dispute the owner on the quality of their site. 3. As for repairing scratches, I had no issues and mearly shared the level of service ($350 - in 2016 dollars) for the community, but the owner has a problem with me sharing it. 4. The car was just as pristine in 2016 as today 2025, 1,500 miles later. I have the invoices on the work, dated before Frankie's job. In fact, I should probably write a review on it since the owner seems to have a problem with me not writing good reviews, especially if it is redundant to many other good reviews. 5. The owner is lying about the date of the job and timing of my review. The job was done on 2/6/2016. My review was dated 5/7/2016. I moved away from the area June 2016 and was very busy with preparing for the move and finishing up my life there. 6. The owner claimed he could make it right, but as he mentioned during the job, he did not want to fix the mismatch. I had no reason to contact him further. I moved to a different area a few months later and had more important concerns than the owner's job and was fine with just writing a review. The owner needs to own it.

Rick's Auto Upholstery - Rick's attention to details is exceptional!  This the front of his shop!  He has already put me on the schedule to work on my Honda S2000!

Rick's Auto Upholstery

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If you're looking for an honest, skilled, and genuinely helpful auto upholstery shop in San…read moreLeandro, I highly recommend Rick's Auto Upholstery. I first reached out to Rick on Yelp and he actually responded even though the shop was closed and it was his day off. He told me to stop by for a quote, and when I came in he took the time to look over everything carefully and explain my options. My Honda S2000 convertible top is shrinking and the rear glass had fallen off, which is not an easy job. Rick offered to glue the glass back in at a very fair price, but he was very honest and said he couldn't guarantee it would hold because the top is shrinking. What really impressed me was that he said if the glue repair doesn't work, he would credit the cost of that repair toward a full top replacement. That level of honesty and fairness is hard to find. He also looked at my seats and told me that if I bring in seat covers, he can wrap them for me, and he gave me a fantastic quote for that work as well. Rick was extremely patient and let me ask a ton of questions without ever making me feel rushed. You can tell he really knows his craft and cares about doing things the right way. I also saw some of the other cars he was working on and the quality of his work looked excellent. He is busy (for good reason), but he was still able to fit me into his schedule about two weeks out. I'm really excited to have him work on my S2000 and get the car looking brand new again. It's not easy to find honest shops anymore, but Rick is definitely one of the good ones.

I put custom seat covers on my car once. It was the worst day(s) of my life and I'm convinced it…read moresingle-handedly gave me carpal tunnel. And I'm a hand doctor so you can trust me. Rick gave me a good price and put them on in a few hours at his shop. Nice guy. Apparently he drives race cars too which is pretty neat. Seat covers are a get-what-you-pay-for item. Buy accordingly.

Helm Upholstery - autoupholstery - Updated May 2026

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