Very long story so I'll shorten it to this:

My experience was a quote from the owner of $5-$7-k to media blast and paint my barracuda.

They had it 6 months, did not pay their media blast guy, so sent it to a hack that sandblasted the car without my permission, warped all the body panels, then called me in to "talk."

The shop manager and owner had a meeting with me in their office and tried telling me that it would cost $20-k to do it right, and they would not admit they warped the panels by sandblasting.

I told them that I want the car out of the shop by Sat, and I'll pick it up.
They agreed to have the sand out and etch prime the whole car.

I called friday to verify it would be ready, and i got a song and dance but they finally assured me it would be ready.

I get there to pick it up and it was etch primed, but they sprayed primer over the sand after half-A wiping it down with a rag, and the whole car, rockers, doors, cowl was still full of sand.

I was furious, but the men were not there and they left the owners wife there to deal with me.

I was respectful to her and did not want to show my anger towards a woman so I told her I was taking my vehicle under protest and asked her husband (owner) to call me.

He never called, so I called him.

They put someone else on the phone, and told me he must have stepped out.
I finally got the shop manager on the phone whom I proceeded to tear a new one over the phone.

I told him what I thought of their business practices.

I am not the lawsuit type, but I made it really clear to him that I would tell everyone in the Mopar hobby to stay away from that shop.

They are real big on trying to advertize in every car related forum and avenue they can get their name in, but my local car club kicked them off of our site after I told them what they did to me.

The day I was leaving with my car, I had a guy that was dropping off his 67 barracuda 383 fastback for a restoration.
I gave the guy my phone # and told him to call me.
We talked and I told him the story, and he was shocked, but he said he was going to take his chances because the shop looked so nice.

He never called me back, and I'm just wondering how his story turned out.

I spent 30 hours blowing, vacuuming sand out of the car and still did not get it all out.
This set my project back two years because the second body shop had it for another 1.5 years.
Not to mention the extra money I had to pay for all the body work.

Cudos to precision collision on McFarland road in Alpharetta, Ga road for fixing, painting,striping, clearing the car, and treating me right.

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Just because you are not "paranoid" doesn't mean they aren't coming for you.

wow sorry to hear that cudaspaz is this the same person from fabo if so i never heard the problems but the car turned out great not that ill ever use a shop in GA but thanks for the heads up all the same nice to know who to stay away from in this hobby. Justin

Yep, same guy.

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Just because you are not "paranoid" doesn't mean they aren't coming for you.

Hey!! I sent you an email regarding Flashback Motorworks. Consider yourself lucky. Wait till you read whats happening to us. Its unbelievable. Take care!!

Did not get an email, what's up?

Oh, nevermind, I got it.

No suprize to me.

Ihave had heard stories from three other people in situations similar to yours.

I did not pursue them legally because I did not need the stress.

Thankfully I got out of it with a loss of $1-k and a 47 Old's coupe that was worth some money, but I did get it for free so I did not stress over that much.
Like I said I could have pursued them, but did not need any more stress in my life dragged into my family with young kids.

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Just because you are not "paranoid" doesn't mean they aren't coming for you.

Maaaann, sorry to hear that. Try small claims court I heard it's a fairly simple process.
But, I feel you on the stress thing.

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<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/2992308402_5481afb26e_t.jpg">

This place is bad news! I got three quotes from them and brought my classic to them based on what they told me it would cost. Once they got my vehicle into their shop and totally torn apart they started hitting me with all these charges they never disclosed up front! They are doubling the costs they told me!! Now they are holding my car ransom until I pay them all the additional money they are demanding knowing they have my classic and can't do anything about it. They are ruining me financially and all the owner said was "you are trying to take money out of my pocket!" They don't care about their customers, only how much they can milk them for. There are many other restorers out there, use them, not Flashback Motorworks! If you want to know more about this business email me at green6676@yahoo.com before you do anything with them. I have notified the BBB and the Governors office of consumer affairs. This business will tell you anything up front to get your car in, then beware!!

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Goat Fan

That is bad news. Unless you got a firm quote in writing, you're very likely headed for a messy battle with a not-very-satisfactory outcome.
Car restoration always, always, always takes much more money and time than we initially reckon; even the best shops don't give quotes for restoration work on old cars, they give estimates. That's because within minutes of the first wrench being applied to the job, complications begin showing up: Rust-welded fasteners, fatigued metal, hidden rust, additional worn parts not initially visible, and so on. Unless these guys have X-ray vision and super mental powers, there is no way they (or anyone else) can possibly predict the true extent of the work and parts required until the job has begun. That's just the way it works, and the shop guy is telling the truth when he says that by demanding he do twenty hours' work for two hours' pay, you are taking money out of his pocket.

Now, that said, there are reasonable and proper business practices that have to be followed. The work to be done should be defined as clearly as possible on the written work order ("Restore car" is no good; it's a blank cheque. "Remove all rust; straighten, undercoat and repaint car" is better). The terms of the written estimate have to be spelt out clearly in writing. There should be an agreed dollar or percentage amount beyond the written estimate, above which the shop will get your authorisation before proceeding. But the key point to take away here is that it needs to be written, not verbal. If you gave 'em the car based on nothing but verbal words, that was your (very large) error. I made the same error ten years ago; it cost me an enormous amount of money, time, and hassle to get it straightened out. If that is in fact what happened in your case — you didn't get a specific written estimate on a formal work order — then blaming the shop is outta line.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Well, I was smart enough to get the first part of my work in writing which was $1-k to have the car media blasted and the body evaluated.

They ended up screwing up the body panels by having some schmuck sand blast the car and warp the panels, then I got the bait and switch talk.

Yeah, I could have taken them to small claims but why bother with all that BS?

I just yanked my car out of there with no further obligation on my part.

I have heard many more stories about this place and had a few more people contact me with their current sour deals with these guys and they seem to still be at the old game.

It makes me wonder if the guy wakes up every moring and asks "How many more people can I rip off today?"

I was planning on having every detail, every step in writing, but I took it slow with the first part of the process and got screwed right off the bat and decided to pull out while I still had other options.
I think maybe, just maybe they planned it this way because they thought they could not get one over on me and decided to boot my project one way or another.

Who knows, I'm just glad to be rid of those guys.

I'm still wondering what happened to the guy that just brought in his 67 383 fastback barracuda the day I was getting mine out of there.

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Just because you are not "paranoid" doesn't mean they aren't coming for you.

While generally I agree with you, They gave me figures up front, the body will cost this much, the engine will cost this much (This was the only variable as obviously it could take additional parts) and the total job will cost this much. That being said, I gave them the car to work on. I visited weekly and asked if there were any problems, the answer was always "no we are on track". The body was in excellent shape, only needed a few screw holes filled. What Flashback Motorworks didn't tell me was once they had the car apart they would charge an hourly rate for everything, making the prices they gave me up front meaningless! They also failed to tell me that they did this. If they would have told me up front that this job might cost double, then I would have done things differently! They totally led me to believe I could get this job done for "around" a certain price, which to me doesn't sound like double!! Now they still want lots more money to put it back together, again holding it ransome. I have only budgeted a certain amount, certainly not double their orginal figure. If they had only been honest in their dealing up front we would not be in this situation! Now they refuse to answer calls, emails or even respond to on site visits. This is not a way to do business or treat customers. So bottom line is, had Flashback Motorworks been honest in their up front dealings we would not be having this conversation! But as it is, I certainly cannot recommend them to anyone!

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Goat Fan

While generally I agree with you, They gave me figures up front, the body will cost this much, the engine will cost this much (This was the only variable as obviously it could take additional parts) and the total job will cost this much. That being said, I gave them the car to work on. I visited weekly and asked if there were any problems, the answer was always "no we are on track". The body was in excellent shape, only needed a few screw holes filled. What Flashback Motorworks didn't tell me was once they had the car apart they would charge an hourly rate for everything, making the prices they gave me up front meaningless! They also failed to tell me that they did this. If they would have told me up front that this job might cost double, then I would have done things differently! They totally led me to believe I could get this job done for "around" a certain price, which to me doesn't sound like double!! Now they still want lots more money to put it back together, again holding it ransome. I have only budgeted a certain amount, certainly not double their orginal figure. If they had only been honest in their dealing up front we would not be in this situation! Now they refuse to answer calls, emails or even respond to on site visits. This is not a way to do business or treat customers. So bottom line is, had Flashback Motorworks been honest in their up front dealings we would not be having this conversation! But as it is, I certainly cannot recommend them to anyone!

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Goat Fan