Buy a nice rust free Yank import - much easier to do, far less hassle and less likely to find a shed load of unexpected work - that's my advice for anyone buying a camper - life with LHD is so much better!!!
The trouble is -eg this one. It was full of furniture as a camper usually is. From underneath it looked like underseal and ok-ish. I wish I had a before photo, there were no holes. I pulled the seatbelt, not all that hard, then I jabbed just my fingers through the slopey panel at the bottom corner and pulled with one hand.
Or buy an Aussie import. As solid as a yank (region dependant, both countries) and the steering wheels on the "right" (in both senses) side!
I have had a read and had a look at the pictures at the start of the thread and am now classing myself as a professional restorer.
horrendous. and i think its an appalling situation that if someone named these rip off bas***ds, purely with the aim of helping others, then it could be them that got royally bummed by the courts.. il never understand that. especially with all the proof their would be of the fact that it was crap work in this case. agreed my bus is going to take much much longer than it would take for a 'professional' to do it, but im going to do it right!! and if i fudge it up, il 'undo' it and try it again... ive all but given up on it being on the road this decade now, but ive done the getting ripped off by monkeys, albeit much less significant than this!! not going there again, so il keep reading my books, and pestering you guys, and im sure il get there eventually! and to be honest, the only others i would even consider letting anywhere near my bus now are the people on here from whom i see nothing but a constant barrage of good work pics and great recommendations from customers...
wasnt done in glasgow by any chance as the one iv took on for my apprentice to gain some expeirance looks almost the same, only problem iv got is the expert got the customers 3k and theres only 1.5k left in her inheritance ( i think my rewards for this one will be in heaven!!!!!) ,,,,, also my apprentice now hates me . the customer has also learned some valuable lessons from this expert 1 why did you change my engine for one of yours ? answer yours was a shagger (good technical answer ) 2 why after fitting the panels below my doors did you stuff tinfoil and fibreglass in the gap ? answer wisnae me the last garage who worked on van must have done it. 3 you must have seen it when you removed the old panels ? answer get out my garage i dont have to speak to you 4 can you give me breakdown of what you have spent my money on? answer no....................is it any wonder the trade gets such a bad name!!!!
my god, just read through this, and however naive or not the lady is the fact is that that work is appalling, its as bad as the welding i first did on my bus with a £70 hobby welder when i'd never welded before and am now putting right! and just to inform those who want the restorer named and shamed, we don't do that on here! instead we ask you to big up the good companies(of which there are plenty) and advise fellow tlbers to use them instead of the charlitans that are lurking out there!
A decent forum should be proud to name and shame where it's evident a company is taking the *******. Only mentioning the good is weak. (This isn't aimed at this thread, I fully understand its not Steve's issue to name these guys).
Am I right in thinking they paid £30k for this work? Surely not? That's crazy money. Even if the work is up to scratch its only a bloody camper! Just think what £30k could buy. Damn that's alot of hard earned cash. Wow
Isn't that a bit like me selling you ice for £100 quid and then when it arrives its turned to water and no good. So you ought to be able to say that razzy guy is not to be trusted - but your rules state you can't say such a thing - leaving everyone else to be ripped off. I say name & shame! You'll always have some people saying good things, some bad, but let the readers make there own mind up.
Would a hanging tree forum thread not just be grudgefest and depressing - terminally off-putting for people starting out (like me recently) to be honest. I think it would kill as many buses as it would stop rip-offs. What would be good would be a definitive Plan of Work at the start of any major work. I've worked on old buildings and if you think a bus is scary...try a 200yr old one-off property. But for buildings you can use plans to chart what needs done , a long list of things needed and to do, specifications to check work against, guide prices, timescales, contracts - then you use all these to get a range of prices and agree terms....you can see when its getting out of whack and reset...or bale early. I refuse to believe it cant be done cost effectively for a production line product and its variants. Its gonna take some going to restore that owners faith in the resto scene. Maybe you've got it covered Zed and its just gonna need time - and she's loaded. But is she seriously keeping going? does she need much in the way of bits that would cut down on labour? I hate to think how that owner feels...she is due some good Karma.
No, but judging from profress / price so far it would have cost that before it was finished, had they continued.
I do agree with Doug, however... as that isnt done here, il respect that, no bother.. but I think a thread for people considering get a bodyshop to resto their bus, to have a set place to tell them what they should do/the processes to work through before leaving their new bus shaped bundle of joy with anyone, would be a very good idea.
It's up to the van owner to seek recompense through the court - if there is enough evidence, as stated there is when I was put firmly back in my box when I asked earlier, then she should have no issue with mounting a case. If the court rules in her favour it's fair to report on that fact here, as it would be in any other medium, and naming that company would be valid. Until that happens, to merely speculate without any independent ruling is absolute folly, especially for a free forum run by volunteers - and you guys know yourselves that there are enough hatchet merchants out there who would happily kill your business over what they deem to be unfair to know that common sense dictates it's not a good idea to do it here.
I also agree that people definitely abuse the name/shame bit because of personal vendetta's, therefore making the whole process pretty pointless anyway.. so i guess il just sit on the fence where i am, getting splinters in my ass and shut up
I think we'd all love to live in a world where we can dish out judgement and pass sentence - but that is the stuff of comic books in reality. I wholly agree here that there looks to be enough evidence on the face of it for people to think that that is viable - if there is good evidence then the small claims court process is an absolute doddle to use (I'm not exaggerating, it really is simple). In fact I'd nominate that, take them to court - because as everyone can see the evidence is straight forward, it should be a veritable walk in the park. Thing is though, as I tried to mention earlier, it might not be that simple - so how about this - this goes to court for judgement, or it doesn't and we get to know exactly why not, given the overriding evidence and all that.
BTW - I get to be the heartless Illegitimate child again who can't see the wood for the trees. OR - I get to be the one who knows what it's like to come very close to watching years of my hard graft and reputation go down the swanny because some arsewhipe/dreamer/blatant liar can't deal with reality - and got said arse taken to court by me and sued. Not every victim is actually a 100% victim, many play their own part in their downfall.
How could naming and shaming land you in court ? The whole internet is full of peoples reviews of companys ,products ,hotels etc ? Especially as she has receipts and pictures to prove it. Disgusting work ,name them before some other poor sod gets ripped.
