Vendor review -- Pardue's Custom (LONG POST)

[rolson1039]

Originally posted by cag17

Second, I enjoyed watching the idiot leaving with your beautiful cab on the back of the Ford Ranger. Sometimes, when you are cheap on little things like delivery, things happen.

Based on that part of your original comment, i thought you were there at the shop when i arrived, or were one of the two people tony got to help load the thing in my truck. By your own admission in the prior post you werent even there, which now begs the question how do you know what transpired between me and tony when we loaded this cab. Tony himself told me that he didnt think the cab would move loaded in the back of the truck ( although he and i both knew there would be a couple of scratches loading it in.) When the cab arrived in Walpole it had a couple of scratches on each of the mounting pieces where your stick the bolts for the inner fenders and the front part of them would have to be sanded and repainted and there was a couple of scratches on the lower part of the back of the cab well below the crease of the cab corner, one of which would require a little filling ( caused by my bedliner moving) but the rest were caused when the cab was lowered into the truck. in any event , all were easilly touched up and would not have been visible when properly addressed. I will say that the trucking job i did for Kenny (XXL) showed far less damage than had he paid to have it truck freighted to him. Heck every catalogue for body parts ive ever seen states that minimal damage to fenders and door skin is not covered for shipping and is expected. The cab arrived with no damage due to the 750 or so miles save one mark i think thats damn good. The issues Kenny brought up deal strictly with the quality of the filler work, chop work, priming, prepping, and painting of the cab, none of which i had even the slightest hand in. therefore any comments directed at myself, my son, or the trucking job we did were way out of line. Based on this new information, i sincerely apologize to the guys at tonys shop who helped load as i mistook the remarks made by CAG17 as being made by someone who was physically present at that time. I will ammend my posts to reflect that

[cag17]

rolson1039, I am sorry about the earlier comments. I spoke in anger and should have left it alone. Personally, I wouldn't have carried it that way but it sonds like it worked pretty well minus the few scratches

[smokekiki]

This is the reason I try my hardest to find a local shop to do any body work I have done.You can pop in anytime to check progress.That is how I do business.My customers can check on their work anytime during working hours.

[smitty62]

The original posting here will soon be 24 hrs old and Tony has had ample time to respond EVEN IF HE HAD TO BUY A NEW COMPUTER!
Of course, it would be better if he and XXL would resolve this by phone and out of the public eye. (I sure don't need to know how they do it).
I was contemplating having Tony make repairs to my cab, but if this mess isn't straightened out by tomorrow at this time, I (and I suspect others) will be looking elswhere for bodywork. Tony, ignoring this will not work for your benefit.

[dubie]

Tony was online for a while this morning reading the threads regarding this and never bothered to respond

[Slammed67]

Aw.... I think it looks pretty good for someone who obviously had his head up his a$$ while he was working on it.

That is some poor quality for sure. My [url]first[/u] paint job turned out much better than that and I had no prior experience when I did it. This guy does this for a living???? Yikes! I'm just glad Kenneth got his cab back so I don't have to hear him *****ing about Tony telling him "2 more weeks..."!

[Pardue'sCustoms]

Kenneth
I am sorry that you are not happy but look at this from my view since you would not let me talk on the phone. You spent 4300.00 with me now lets break this down OK first 300.00 with Autoloc hinges now were down to 4000.00 now let take the windshield which was 500.00 and were down to 3500.00 and lets take the 300.00 for the side glass and were down to 3200.00 and let take the Bear Claw latches out at 100.00 and the install kit for them at 70.00 and were down to 3030.00 and lets take out 500.00 on paint and welding supply's out now were at 2530.00 and now let take out the jeep hinges at 50.00 now were at 2480.00 OK now the chop top and when i price the chop top that was just to chop the top that did not include body work at 600.00 now were down to 1880.00 and then let take out the suicide the door at 600.00 a door and that is no body work now that's come to 1200.00 now were at 680.00 for the body work and that was all that I got for body work. To top it off I did the doors twice because you did not like it only opening at 45 degrees so I redid the doors with out charging you any more so they would swing a full 90 degrees. I did not want to talk about the money but since every body else has; I thought I would. I did not make a killing I am going to send you the last money order back and that will leave me doing the body work for a 180.00 if this doesn't make you happy just call me and ill see what i can do as for with all the other board members that have been talking about me like a dog. I forgive you. To let you guys know how the cab was when I got it, I'll say this much: it was in poor shape. I am not going to start a pissing match with any one. As for the time frame, in August of 02 when Kenneth call me I told him 6 weeks to chop the top and it took him 6 mouths to get it to me by that time I had 3 restoration to do. I explained to him it be a couple of mouths before I could touch it and then he added the suicide doors to the list and then I did them twice. I will admit it took me to long and I am sorry for that. To tell you the truth about the color I did just like you asked. I got 1971 grabber blue code j but you know that any paint jobber can mix it a little diff. than the next one. That's all I am going to replay on this.

[mocwon]

First off, I love the '69 Stang. Looks like Grabber Blue. I have a '70 Mach in Calypso Coral.

Back to the body shop fellow. The quality of work is obviously very poor. A buddy of mine owns a body shop and I have seen him over-commit time and time again on deliveries and scheduled promises for restorations and custom work. Almost always he uses phrases like “should be ready”, “may be done”, “I'll try”, etc. He continuously pisses off customers of custom type work and restorations by the amount of time it takes (sometimes years). However, his quality of work is second to none but his customers have to hound the hell out of him to get the work completed. Most body shops are not restoration companies and as such they make their money on collision, insurance type work. They take custom and restoration jobs in as "filler" projects when they are slow. Next thing you know the "regular" business picks up and the custom stuff gets shoved to the side because of money. Also, a customer with a wrecked car must have their ride back immediately and insurance companies swing a mighty big stick with body shops. In my opinion, this is simply inexcusable but the fact of life is that many body shops are mom and pop operations that are just slightly ahead (or maybe even behind) of junkyards when it comes to customer service.

[Pardue'sCustoms]

thanks Cag 17 you are a true freind

[fine69]

$500 for a windshield? I need to start a glass shop in your area. $600 for a suicide door? $1200 total? Give me a break.

[smokekiki]

Around here I got a quote of $335 for a windsheild install.That's from 2 different places.Don't forget it is a chopped windsheild he was installing.

[67Fleetsidedream]

take out 500.00 on paint and welding supply's

My god where do you get your painting supplies from. There is absolutely no way that you spent $500.00 worth of painting supplies on that cab. That work is pathetic and totally unsatisfactory. This post should go to "STICKY" status to let every one know what "CUSTOM" is not and to let everyone know what kind of work Pardues Customs shop produces.

[68 Suburban]

Originally posted by Pardue'sCustoms
Kenneth
I am sorry that you are not happy but look at this from my view since you would not let me talk on the phone. ........That's all I am going to replay on this.

I don't think his complaint was about the pricing. His complaint was about the QUALITY of work recieved. Tony if you agree to do a job for a price, it should be the best quality you can put out.....period. Just because you feel that he is getting a lot of work for the money, that the quality can be lacking? I don't thinks so. Are you telling us, if he had given you anther $4000 the quality would have been better

[1FaastC10]

tony, regardless of what you made on the deal, it appears you quoted it at $2K, then when more work was asked, you upped the quote to $4K. that's your bad, not Kenny's. i know for a fact i could have done a better job on that cab. regardless of how inexperienced i am, i do take pride in what i do, and i'm not done working on it until its right. i wouldnt want my name anywhere associated with that cobbled up mess. i'd be afraid to see what the chop top and suicide doors look like under the paint and bondo.

[krue]

After reading Tony's reply...I am reminded of my Pop's saying, excuses are like a$$holes, everybodies got one and they all stink!

[68 Suburban]

I guess I could accept Tony's excuses better if he did NOT do some of the work because the money was not there. But he DID do the work and the quality was not there. So if more money was spent, there would be better quality?

[swervin ervin]

Well, from reading Tony's reply to this tells me exactly what happened. He gave a quote. Things were added and he raised the price. This is fine. He couldn't be expected to do more stuff for the same price of an original agreed to price. But, just by what he said, telling the price of everything and so forth, tells me he seen he had under quoted and seen he wasn't going to make as much money as he thought. So the quality of the work suffered. He hurried through it to keep from losing his ass.

I am in business for myself, not auto work, but Carpentry. If I bid a job and we both agree to the price, no way can I go back and add money to it. If I see I under bid, it's my fault. I can't expect the customer to cover me not bidding enough. If they add stuff in the middle of the job, sure I tell them real quick what the extra cost will be.

But, and this is a big but, if the job goes as planned with nothing added and I lose money because of my stupidity, it's my loss. I still do the job right and do it to my best ability. Why, because I have a reputation to uphold. Word of mouth advertising from satisfied customers means more to me than losing money on one job. Besides, I couldn't sleep at night if I made a mess of someones truck the way Tony did. Just no excuse for it, unless he can't do any better. If this is the case, it's time for you to find another line of work, because the one you are doing now sucks big time.

[smitty62]

Tony-you might appreciate your "true friends" coming to your defense, but believe me, they did you no favors. Instead they only made the situation worse by an incompetent and irrational defense totally off the subject. Refunding any or all of XXL's money is just not going to get it-the only way out of this as I see it is for you and XXL to agree to returning the cab to Elkin and doing it over properly and at your expense.
If this is done to everyone's satisfaction, then it's XXL's duty to come back to this forum and state so accordingly. Yes, you will lose a lot of money and that's unfortunate, but it's better than the alternative if I can see in the future at all. You see, money is not the real issue here--your reputation is, and you can not buy your reputation back. Maybe you're independently wealthy and can afford to react the way you are--I think not.

[dtlilly]

1. I also think this should be made a sticky.

2. I've been in the home improvement industry running my own business for over 10 years, and I've taken my licks like a man. There are jobs I made a lot of money on, while there are jobs I lost money on. I sometimes had to take a deep loss, just to make a customer happy. You know what?, I took the loss, because they ended up being better advertising than the $3000- $5000 I would spend every month anyway. I shut my business down late last year because I was tired of all the problems with labor and home owners, but I still recieve requests for work to be done, because people know I DO what I said I could get done, and at the price I quoted them.

3. The work done to that cab was extensive, much like tearing out a kitchen, moving out several walls, pouring new footings ect, and rebuilding it all. I can't for the life in me, understand how you could deliver that cab to Kenny, and call the job complete. I would, (and have), tore all the work done by my labor apart, and redone it all to make it the way it should look. I did this many times, because I cared more for MY NAME more than money in the bank.

4. The small offer to refund a portion of the last payment, to me, seams like a kick in the teeth to a board member already on his back. It will cost Kenny much more than your tolken offer to repair and repaint this project to his intended specifications. I hope Kenny decides on legal action, and doing so puts your company out of business. You want to do work like that, go to work for Maaco.

5. I make a call to the board administrators to ban Tony Pardues Customs from this board. I also request that his cheerleading crew also be banned. This board was generated and maintained by hard working people for the benifit of all Chevy truck loving citizens. The obvious disrespect and contempt displayed should not be tolerated by the membership, nor the honorable people that allow people like this to do business here.

[rolson1039]

Originally posted by swervin ervin
Well, from reading Tony's reply to this tells me exactly what happened. He gave a quote. Things were added and he raised the price. This is fine. He couldn't be expected to do more stuff for the same price of an original agreed to price. But, just by what he said, telling the price of everything and so forth, tells me he seen he had under quoted and seen he wasn't going to make as much money as he thought. So the quality of the work suffered. He hurried through it to keep from losing his ass.

I am in business for myself, not auto work, but Carpentry. If I bid a job and we both agree to the price, no way can I go back and add money to it. If I see I under bid, it's my fault. I can't expect the customer to cover me not bidding enough. If they add stuff in the middle of the job, sure I tell them real quick what the extra cost will be.

But, and this is a big but, if the job goes as planned with nothing added and I lose money because of my stupidity, it's my loss. I still do the job right and do it to my best ability. Why, because I have a reputation to uphold. Word of mouth advertising from satisfied customers means more to me than losing money on one job. Besides, I couldn't sleep at night if I made a mess of someones truck the way Tony did. Just no excuse for it, unless he can't do any better. If this is the case, it's time for you to find another line of work, because the one you are doing now sucks big time.

Swervin and DTlily i do handyman work up here in NJ and i do alot of kitchen/ bathroom rehabs, as my main job. Reading your reply here says alot about you! It is nice to see people with a good work ethic as you have. I do business like you do and i have yet to have a complaint. Keep up the good work!

[dubie]

I too have been in the construction business and share the sentiments of all the points stated above.
"I Do The Job Right The First Time " That is a direct quote from your web page Tony at http://www.parduescustombodyshop.fre...com/about.html
If you make such a bold statement you should be able to stand behind it which you obviously haven't in Ken's case. He would have been better off taking a sawsall to his own roof and doing the job himself.
When I was in construction, if we didn't do the job to spec or to our customers liking, we would tear it all out and do it over until it was to their liking. I have been out of that business for 8 years now and still have people calling me to do jobs on the side for them. Its all about workmanship and standing behind your product. Tradespeople are very proud people, and are extremely talented in their field. I suggest, just from Kens example, that you stick to insurance wrecks. The owner can't expect a flawless job when a car comes back after a wreck, but a customer that is paying good money for a custom body job, should expect a top notch job. There is no way in hell I would be able to sleep at night, knowing I turned out a product that wasn't up to the standards of job at hand.
Oh and for this
" ....all the other board members that have been talking about me like a dog. I forgive you..... "
I don't think any of us give a rats azz if you forgive us, we just want you to make good on the way you screwed Ken.

[phantom dually]

Bottom line here is that if a man quotes a job at $4000 or at $40,000 the quality work that the guy expects from you should be done. Alot of time people screw up and do good to break even on a quote. Your name is on the job so do it right!! Tony in your opinion, what is the quality of the work you have done?? If you didnt want to do the job and fix the needed repairs to make it right then the best thing to do would have been to call the customer and say Hey I messed up and the price will be $$ more or please pickup your truck as I cant do the quality of work in which you are wanting from this job for the price you want to pay.

[COBALT]

You know, after reading this thread I have to say I'm seriously dissapointed not only in the situation, but in some of the board members who choose to ignore an obvious lack of professionalism on Tony's part, and others who aren't mentioning the problems this board has had with Tony in the past, and the comlete shocker that Kenneth (being as smart as he claims to be) would agree on letting Tony do the work in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. Kenneth and I do NOT see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I can truly understand his frustration with this situation. Furthermore, I think I understand why Tony did what he did. I'm just amazed that these two members decided to do business together.

Tony:

First, let me say it should be obvious at this point that you aren't working as a professional at what you're doing. No offense to you personally, Tony, but a person who provides a service or a product to a customer is represented by the quality of that service or product. You have provided a poor product and service to a customer. That's not good advertising. Neither is yourwebsite (see below).

Second, an indicator which leads me to believe you don't have adequate experience is the cost. Anyone who plans a project like this drafts a budget and provides an estimate based on time (a schedule with tasks and how long they'll take) and materials. The more experienced you are the closer the estimate will be to the final bill. Tony's bill was 2 TIMES the original estimate. Do you honestly expect Kenneth to accept that? Your break-down of cost in your first reply to this thread tells me you're making 1000 trips to the store to buy his matierals at retail cost. Anyone who operates a body shop and does a lot of business knows how to get the best materials at the best price. You don't seem to be concerned with that.

Third, there is simply no excuse for allowing the situation to get this far. It sounds suspiciously like you got in over your head, and refused to admit that and allowed the situation to fester. This could have all been called off at the first sign that you couldn't handle the job, and I bet Kenneth would have been understanding (annoyed, but he would have been LESS mad than he his now that's for damn sure).

Now Kenneth:

Did you ask Tony for references before agreeing to this project? If so did Tony provide any truthful ones to you? ...and if so did you follow up by contacting those references and looking at other costomers' work before striking an agreement with Tony? Is ANY of this in writing?

I see that Tony's website has plenty of pictures, but exactly ZERO details about what he specifically did for these projects. Furthermore, how is a potential customer supposed to take Tony seriously when he fails represent himself in a professional way? His site is riddled with spelling and punctuation errors, and contains an obvious attempt at filling it with the same set of pictures over and over again (some broken links). I wouldn't have much confidence in Tony's ability to complete a job based on what I see on this site. I'm surprised that Kenneth agreed to this project in the first place.

Everything about this situation sucks!

I think both of you had a hand to play, and I think I smell something rotten with this thread. Tony has made some board members mad before based on what he's said and done. He's also been banned before because of those things... That's why I find it so surprising that Kenneth chose to do business with him.

Does this surprise anyone else but me? I think Kenneth ultimately made a bad business decision.

[rolson1039]

Im going to open my mouth once again. Bear in mind that being the truck driver on this trip i saw this cab before and after.
i will say that any cutting and repair of the roof line except at the drip rail looked good. the main issues i saw were unproperly finishing things.. no body putty seam sealer fish eye, paint quality etc as ive outlined in the prior posts here. any welding or filling he did on the back of the roof etc where he did the chop ( kenny explained to me that the way this was done it allows him to use the stock rear window) was nice work as far as i saw its in other areas where he skimped that the problem arises. Also the quality of the paint job was kinda poor i saw any runs and drips in it ( tony said he hadnt wet sanded it and im not sure , not bein experienced in the ways of body work if that would have come out perfect without retouching it) Also the paint scraped rather easily.. im not certain if it was properly dried at that time. the paint did appear to be one stage and frankly i do think that that kind of stuff is inadequate to use i prefer the PPG finishes i see two stage... i will also say that i do think that kenny got robbed in as much as the quality of the finish of the filler too. As to the color the color is not as bad as the color looks in the pictures in kennys shop.. the lighting kinda stinks in there for photo quality...it is , however not the color of the car he posted the pictures of
As to tony forgiving me for what i say, i dont need forgiveness, as i speak the truth, and as a man of God as you claim you are, you should stand up and come to grips with the truth and admit where you are wrong.That is the Christian thing to do.
also would you PLEASE post the pics of the cab in my truck like ive asked no less than three times thus far!

[dtlilly]

With the exception of blaming Ken of bringing the work to him, I agre 100% with you Cobalt, ken walked in to a den full of wolves, (Native American reference intended). I also have had a bad feeling here too, back when Tony Pardue was looking for someone here to develop a company logo for him for free. But it all comes down to, "can you produce what you promoise". I'm sure Ken believed Tony could, and he wanted to spend money with a fellow board member instead of a yocall yocall.

Now we have this problem. Trust me, I have been confronted with problems with un-satisfied customers. Hell, just look at the orange peel, pin holes, on his un-correct color paint. I've been there personally on peoples homes, where they show me on the contract where I messed up. You know what I did? I never made excuses....I redid what ever made that customer happy. You know why? Because I am a man of my word.

To make things clear enough for everyone to understand...I NEVER accept payment until the customer is 100% satisfied with the workmanship completed on their home, period. There are too many people ready to take a customers money, do a half-ass job, then expect their payment. I was raised better than that, and I see that Tony Pardue has no home training. You can blame the customer for bringing the work top them, or you can fault the contractor that did the work