Fantom Works - rip off artist

[Scott2]

Originally Posted by 78chevstepside

I happen to like the show . They always tell you the man hours and parts cost . Thinking I dont work for free why should anyone else . Thinking the employees must not get paid well. I have done the math in man hours . Thinking he charges less the 50 dollars and hour . Chevrolet charges let's say hundred dollars a hour . Fantom seems to be about cars . Not a drama like other car shows .

I have to agree _ I like it too and appreciate the info on costs and and hours and the focus on basic operations and safety

But first, remember that it's TV. They are trying to create some drama or other hook to get you to keep coming back just so you will watch the commercials. The guy may or may not be a dick, but he appears to really know cars and regardless of the "surprise" - staged or not - when he presents the invoice and the car, I would guess that every customer has a written estimate and most likely a contract or signed work order (same thing), and has been paying Fantom regularly for the work all along, plus signing off on change orders, plus there are laws about how much work can be done without approval, so no real surprise. Yes, they make it look like he pushes extra work on people and he may - but what do the car dealers and most repair shops also do routinely? Of course they leave out a lot in the interest of making it interesting, fit in as many commercials as they can and still hit the time limit.

Back to the show, I like the safety focus and I like seeing how they diagnose and fix problems. How many knot heads do you know that skip repairs and maintenance on brakes, suspension, steering, electronics, etc and spend their money on new parts or wheels? None of that is inexpensive and when you get cars that come in that have all of that worn out plus rust and crappy previous repairs, it's going to add up fast.

Who knows how much of it is real or not but I still like it. I wish other shows would share a little more info on costs.

[el_fantasma]

Interesting responses to my revival of the thread. Thought people would have seen or been interested in the 67 K10 rebuild. As Coley says, "all good".

[71sierragrande]

Originally Posted by el_fantasma

Interesting responses to my revival of the thread. Thought people would have seen or been interested in the 67 K10 rebuild. As Coley says, "all good".

Well, as you can see, most people can't stand the guy. Judging by past shows, I'm sure he turned a $20,000 truck into a $30,000 truck for the low price of $100,000

[Palf70Step]

I have known a few folks that had their vehicle done by him and they think highly of his work. He is particular about what he does and lets you know up front what he will do. Yes, his bedside manner is lacking according to them.

[Dieselwrencher]

I watch the show and can understand why he can be arrogant a bit if you've ever worked in a resto/body shop. I've never seen any of their work but it does look nice. I've seen some errors but that could be in the video department and editing.

I really like Iron Resurrection, Kindigit's show, but Roadkill is sweet. I'd love to have their budget and be able to do those trips!

[WyattTX]

These shows in general annoy me greatly, because they contain a lot pre scripted drama, instead of educational content. If "Reality" TV were real, it would be remarkably boring. I belive us forum members, give better entertainment, and information than those TV shows ever will.

[midniteblues]

dont mind fantom works, yhea the fella is a bit of a dweeb and almost every build ends up costing $$$$$ but he is also gung hoe about fixing the cars right.
They also show some of their own mistakes which to me puts this show down too earth.
It is tv and most tv BLOWS anymore.

One show i enjoy is the garage squad, they certainly dont do top notch work but at least they help the owners dust off the cob webs and get'm back out on the roads.

[Axle]

On the flip side, at least with his high costs, those of you who work in the buisness should thank him. How many times somebody come in wanting something they saw on tv for impossibly low prices? Think of it as a dose of the other extreme, at least not everybody thinks they can get their rust bucket on barret jackson and make a million bucks on it by only spending 5. A little shake in the pants, that yeah, it cost you 60 grand to make a 20 grand car. Face it, we are into cars because we like cars, not because we can flip our ride of the day for 3x what we paid.

Yeah, the guy is to the point, but thats another good thing. People need some get back to reality blunt talk sometimes.

Alex.

[Grumpy old man]

Well... I've never seen this tv show so I'm not commenting on them , But I have owned a restoration shop and I can tell you having a good location in a clean well maintained large building that the landlord will even allow a restoration shop is not cheap ! Add in the wages for guys who do know what they are doing with their own tools , Insurance, utilities , advertising , heavy shop equipment , etc,etc and just opening the doors every morning costs you money ! good days , rainy days , sleet and snow every day is more $ and all those costs keep adding up until the customer walks thru the door so each and every customer needs to understand your there to provide a service for a fee and it ain't gonna be cheap . Hiring guys with 20 + years of experience and a good full roll around set of tools aren't cheap , Hiring guys who Have a drivers license without 2 DUI's or a drug arrest and a clean drug screen (insurance company requires) is tough ! Hiring just sober semi intelligent people who show up on time everyday can be a chore. And then after you train someone for years they quit and open their own shop a block away under bidding you to get the work and take with them all your contacts and hard to find part suppliers info with them . it's the reason many shop owners split up the work load and don't teach every employee every aspect of the process ...Sad but true . So when you walk into the nice fancy building with the best equipment and putting out nice work consider the fact of what all is involved just for the guy to open the door everyday .Then consider the guy who drops off his project and 1/2 way thru has money problems himself and can't pay to finish the project ,So it sits in indoor clean dry space until he can either pay up or haul it out of your shop after it's been sitting in free dry storage for months and every square foot of indoor space costs money . It's not easy or cheap . Employee theft can really cut into your bottom line and I'm just talking about the small stuff . I was out riding my Harley one night and drove past an employees house where he was working on his own project so I turned around and pulled into his garage ,Got off the bike and there staring me in the face was about $2,000.00 worth of my chrome hardware and a few specialty tools that had been "misplaced " at the shop after being with us for many years he lost his job that night . So to the guys complaining about what it costs to have a truck restored by a good shop .

Nothings stopping you from doing it all yourself .

[GR8-68]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Well... I've never seen this tv show so I'm not commenting on them , But I have owned a restoration shop and I can tell you having a good location in a clean well maintained large building that the landlord will even allow a restoration shop is not cheap ! Add in the wages for guys who do know what they are doing with their own tools , Insurance, utilities , advertising , heavy shop equipment , etc,etc and just opening the doors every morning costs you money ! good days , rainy days , sleet and snow every day is more $ and all those costs keep adding up until the customer walks thru the door so each and every customer needs to understand your there to provide a service for a fee and it ain't gonna be cheap . Hiring guys with 20 + years of experience and a good full roll around set of tools aren't cheap , Hiring guys who Have a drivers license without 2 DUI's or a drug arrest and a clean drug screen (insurance company requires) is tough ! Hiring just sober semi intelligent people who show up on time everyday can be a chore. And then after you train someone for years they quit and open their own shop a block away under bidding you to get the work and take with them all your contacts and hard to find part suppliers info with them . it's the reason many shop owners split up the work load and don't teach every employee every aspect of the process ...Sad but true . So when you walk into the nice fancy building with the best equipment and putting out nice work consider the fact of what all is involved just for the guy to open the door everyday .Then consider the guy who drops off his project and 1/2 way thru has money problems himself and can't pay to finish the project ,So it sits in indoor clean dry space until he can either pay up or haul it out of your shop after it's been sitting in free dry storage for months and every square foot of indoor space costs money . It's not easy or cheap . Employee theft can really cut into your bottom line and I'm just talking about the small stuff . I was out riding my Harley one night and drove past an employees house where he was working on his own project so I turned around and pulled into his garage ,Got off the bike and there staring me in the face was about $2,000.00 worth of my chrome hardware and a few specialty tools that had been "misplaced " at the shop after being with us for many years he lost his job that night . So to the guys complaining about what it costs to have a truck restored by a good shop .

Nothings stopping you from doing it all yourself .

Very well said

[Jesse Z]

Originally Posted by 83swb

What pissed me off was listening to him saying that they do everything top-notch and going on about what had been done wrong, THEN noticing something that THEY did wrong.

I think it was a 50's Chevy pickup that they got in with door gap issues due to a hackjob of a floor replacement. Then they totally butchered the floor instead of just cutting out the old, bracing the cab, and putting in new pans.

Did you notice the HORRIBLE hood fit they left on that pickup? Must have been a 1-1/2" gap.

[special-K]

If a person doesn't want to pay all the bucks to "have" a restoration done they need to "do" it themselves. That's where it all started, build them out of love with no labor cost involved nor consideration of what your time is worth, only the cost of parts, and no idea how much you could even sell it for. And it ain't gettin' done on the couch watching TV.