Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:42:16 -0400
Reply-To: benoit <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: benoit <huotb@VIDEOTRON.CA>
Subject: Re: Mechanic VS customer (i need you imput!)
In-Reply-To: <4632E403.4040704@charter.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
One last thing, i'm no 20yo painter, far from that, i have not enough
knowledge as to paint match (pale, darker), that is why i was very
happy with Valspar product, i did one red metalic last year and the
match was almost perfect. But what i have is the ability to "Shoot"
(handle that paint gun), i had no idea i could be as good (comming from
another painter), so with the use of a SATA Digital Gun (850$), the
result is, for me, simply amazing! this paint job as NO dust, no orange
peel what so ever. And of course, no "Paint drip". I had to push over 10
customers farther because of that job, i should not have taken that job,
every time i see a Dove Blue re-painted van in the shop, it's never the
same color, i now know better.
This is also why i don't do partial job. It's is dificult to take good
paint job picture up close, but someone said it's nice from 10 feets,
this paint job is super nice from 1 feet away... i will take out the big
gun today, my Canon Rebel XTI.... and will put one or 2 hi-res pictures
online.
As professional as i can be, as honnest as i can be..... you don't know
me, if that guys piss me off to much, the van will return to it's
original shape! and i won't charge him a dime. I will remove 1000$
(about the paint cost + the labor for painting), and he should not even
try to contact me again, period.
Cheers, Ben
John Rodgers wrote:
> Ben,
>
> What a piece of junk!!!! What a nightmare!
>
> Well, I'm no auto mechanic nor auto painter - BUT - in my day I have
> painted a few airplanes, and there is no way with that much work on
> the body that I would ever have warranted a paint job for a color
> match to existing paint, except by the paint numbers. And if with the
> same paint numbers the colors were off, well --- to bad. If however, a
> full, complete over all paint job with paint from the same number and
> the same stock was done - that would be another story. As you well
> know, there are a lot of factors that affect the way paint looks. Even
> standing with more weight on your left foot than your right foot when
> applying the paint can affect paint appearance when done. This is
> going to be a tough one. I don't think that no matter what, are you
> going to come out on this one. It's going to be a compromise at best,
> and a compromise with which no one is happy,. About the best you can
> do is be the good guy, bite the bullet, and repaint the thing. But
> boy, that is a hard pill to swallow.
>
> Good luck on this one.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
> Chelsea, AL
>
> Benny boy wrote:
>
>> Hi, in life, i restore, fix, repair, find a way of saving a van call
>> Vanagon, not easy sometime! i work hard, 7/7 more than 13 hours a day, i
>> love my job, i love life! i take pride on what i do. This is the only
>> way
>> for me, the full way, the hard way, i'm very honest and it can not be
>> otherwise for me(not good for business!). If one day i get up from
>> bed and i
>> feel like doing something else, i will. But for now, i rebuilt a nice
>> campers van call Vanagon, this van is not only a way to earn my life but
>> also a way of life for me. But in my line of work, i have to deal with a
>> thing call customers! most of the time, they are pretty cool, but!
>> they are
>> not my friend, this is the way things are, sadly.
>>
>> So, in the past 2 weeks, i have been working on a Van, yea, hard, 14
>> days,
>> more than 12hrs per day, 7/7, this is one of the BEST paint job i
>> have did
>> so far, better then my own Red Tornado van, the rust part has been
>> worked
>> carefully. On that job, only 1.5 days are for the paint job part, the
>> rest
>> was removing rust, fixing metal part, welding... anyway, short story:
>> First
>> of all, i had say NO to this cutomer before! yea, it was to rusty... so
>> after i wile he came back and told me, i want YOU to do it, what is your
>> price, i said 5500$ CAD (about 4800USD), so i did the job... painfull.
>>
>> Remember that the pictures you see are only a fraction of the one i
>> took, or
>> the one i could have taken. they don't show all the welding, gluing,
>> grinding...
>>
>> But sadly, when done, something was wrong... the color match! everything
>> else is perfect! the work done, the rust, the paint job is one of my
>> best
>> ever, but the color match is sadly a bit offset.
>>
>> So, look at all those pictures and tell me how to deal with that? i
>> am ready
>> to offer him to re-paint the van (sadly, the color code is the right
>> one,
>> Valspar and Dupond have the same result??? the color is tricky!), but i
>> don't know how i can change the color... even my friend who is a 20yo
>> painter told me that metalic blue is dificult to match!!! and on a
>> 20yo van,
>> it's worse. should i lower the price! i'm ready to remove 1000$,
>> about what
>> the paint cost me (remember, i use high quality paint).
>>
>> The new color is simply... nicer (others have confirm!), i also
>> offered him
>> to paint the inside of the door and door for free to match the exterior.
>> Waithing for an answer, but he is not happy with it!
>>
>> http://www.benplace.com/87_dove_blue.htm
>>
>> Anyway, a long story to tell you how hi feel about me working like a
>> dog and
>> an unsatified cutomer.
>>
>> I want your advices as customers? just remember one thing, this van
>> was a
>> piece of junk... ready for the garbage.
>>
>> Thank you for your time and imput, and thanks for any advices, if i have
>> bored anyone whit this post, i'm sorry.
>>
>> Regards, Ben
>> http://www.benplace.com/vw2.htm
>>
>>
>>
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