Would you accept this for $900

Below are photos of a beam i got installed by a well known Sydney VW shop. I was informed that this was the best beam and best option. I also paid for them to install it as my time is tight and i assumed they would do a perfect job.

Once this beam was in my RHS wheel was right under the edge of the guard while my LHS wheel was tucked in. There was a difference of about 1inch. The rubbers on the trailing arms were frayed.

I was alarmed.

After closer inspection the driver side of the beam was badly beaten as were other parts of the beam. The black paint was also painted over the grease that had built up on this beam.

After taking the car to a different VW shop to get my windows put in, they too were alarmed and disappointed by the condition of the beam.

I removed this beam myself to put in another beam bought from a different VW shop. On doing so i found that the beam was DRY!!! No grease!!! Also, the nipple on the top driver side was not there and this was because the steering box was positioned there, so they thought 'o well, stuff greasing it, we'd have to make a new nipple hole'

On removing the beam it was clear that it was warped. Once i installed the new beam myself, the wheels were in the correct position.

What do you guys think of these pics?????

cant see the pics

Really? Can anybody else see them? I copied to IMG code from photobucket as i did with all the photos under 'members ride'...can you see those?

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=67295

Wow! You must have upset someone as not even your photos are allowed😠 It would be nice to be able to have the oppotunity to comment but no photos sort of puts a downer on things.

Ha! Can you see the ones under 'members ride' ancientbugger?

Can you see this one???

I can see all the ones in Members Rides and I can see that last one, but all the others say the image has been deleted or moved!

i can see those. um thats a pretty poor job to come out of a Professional shop, i would want a full refund.

I see them now! To me it looks like a quick job rather than a good one. A little bit of attention to detail and it shouldn't have been too much of a drama to get right and satisfy the customer but that's a sign of the times. Take it back but good luck.

The best they could do me was $450 out of $900. I lost out on the labor, plus was back charged $100 because he used 'cut down steering arms' (the beam was 2inch narrowed) and torsion bars. I needed to use those on the new beam i got and installed, but he thought it fair to back charge me for them...

Average chop chop.

you payed labour for a professional job not a backyard job, thats poor. good luck with the rest of the car love the work your doing to it.

yeh, pretty annoyed...

he also supplied seat belts and installed them. One on the buckles (the push in bit) is red and the other is orange, its very easy to tell...On this he said it was the suppliers fault and he'd need to send them back and was unsure how long that would take...I didn't bother because i don't trust him, plus his upset he had to refund the beam. Hopefully he doesn't re-use that beam on someone else's bug.

Its hard to see from the photos how bashed it was...i'll bite my tongue

thats why i get my beams done through custom vee dub.

nick

name and shame!

Mick - Craig told me about this one. Pretty poor if you ask me. You've done the right thing, and at least got some money back. Re the belts - I got mine done by a certified seat belt installer. That way they have everything in stock, and will really guarantee the work - and not piss in your pocket.

I cant believe the pictures,thats just crap you should show them to the department of fair trading or someone,or else these people will do it again???

Fair trading I reckon, stick it into em as much as you can.

Im with Costa...name em and shame em.....
Good work gets advertised...so should bad! I hate bad workmanship and bad customer service-Wayne🙂

also from your picture it looks as though they have shortened from only one end then moved the supports, the weld looks nasty 🙁 talk to Dyno at Custom Vee Dubs, he did mine and I can guarantee that he did not need a grinder to tidy up 🙂

I was going to explore the fair trading front but was a little concerned for my car at future shows etc. Even if they saw it on the street, or they need is a key-scrapppppeeee, right down the side-. Maybe sounds paranoid but then again it happens.

mmmm interesting workmanship but I have a few questions for you:

1. What did you pay for ? Was it a full reco ?

2. Did you supply the core or did they do it outright for you ?

3. Is this the same shop that told you it was not legal to have a single adjuster ?

4. Was the $900 that you paid to cover just the beam or was that what they cost you for a drive in / drive out service with them supplying the narrow beam outright and the labour to fit it to your bug ? On the invoice did they itemise what you were getting or just a single line ?

5. Did you have a good look at the leaves before you re-used them ? and where the tie rods shortened correctly ?

name and shame!

HOLD OFF....this has got us (AVD) into trouble before whether it was justified or not. PM Brad (buggy brad), Jim (benettonvw) or Andrew (vanderaj) before you name any business as they are the head admins who have to deal with the legal ramifications of legal defamation suits directly.

The ice can be pretty thin when in these situations - wouldn't take much to be "bye bye AVD"....such is the legal situation nowadays.
Al

dont name it on here, upload the pics to a web hosting site like photobucket.
go to an international VW website and link the pictures. make a post etc...
as you are linking the pictures NEVER say what you think of the job they have done but ask for a thought or two from the fellow dubbers regarding the quality.
post a link here of the post you have created, actually get a mate to post and link to avoid direct connection etc blah blah...
the post that was created on the international site includes the business name so all aussieveedubbers can avoid the less than avaerage death job that was done.
god bless international lack of laws and stuff
i think we all should know as a matter of safety

either that or just maybe pm for the name of the business

nah, anybody including the dodgy business owner can ask for the name and connect you to the business, then shit goes down

Buggy Brad wrote:mmmm interesting workmanship but I have a few questions for you:

1. What did you pay for ? Was it a full reco ?

2. Did you supply the core or did they do it outright for you ?

3. Is this the same shop that told you it was not legal to have a single adjuster ?

4. Was the $900 that you paid to cover just the beam or was that what they cost you for a drive in / drive out service with them supplying the narrow beam outright and the labour to fit it to your bug ? On the invoice did they itemise what you were getting or just a single line ?

5. Did you have a good look at the leaves before you re-used them ? and where the tie rods shortened correctly ?

I paid for supply and installation. $550 for the beam, $350 for labor. They did not re-use my beam, it was a beam he supplied all on his own. The leaves were checked by the VW shop i bought the new beam from (the one i installed myself). The tie Rods seem to work ok, but ill get them checked.

Yes it was the guy who told me one adjuster was illegal.

Dasdubber wrote:

name and shame!

HOLD OFF....this has got us (AVD) into trouble before whether it was justified or not. PM Brad (buggy brad), Jim (benettonvw) or Andrew (vanderaj) before you name any business as they are the head admins who have to deal with the legal ramifications of legal defamation suits directly.

The ice can be pretty thin when in these situations - wouldn't take much to be "bye bye AVD"....such is the legal situation nowadays.
Al

I have to agree with Alan, i don't want to create issues, rather i recommend people view whats getting installed before it goes in and don't be worried about speaking up. My car was at the shop for 2 weeks and i hadn't the time to check everything before they did it. Should of known better, but then again, you pay good money for a good job, you shoudln't expect supervision.

geez head back man and talk to them about this..
it is pretty average yeah..

Buggy Brad wrote:mmmm interesting workmanship but I have a few questions for you:

1. What did you pay for ? Was it a full reco ?

2. Did you supply the core or did they do it outright for you ?

3. Is this the same shop that told you it was not legal to have a single adjuster ?

4. Was the $900 that you paid to cover just the beam or was that what they cost you for a drive in / drive out service with them supplying the narrow beam outright and the labour to fit it to your bug ? On the invoice did they itemise what you were getting or just a single line ?

5. Did you have a good look at the leaves before you re-used them ? and where the tie rods shortened correctly ?

Spoken like a true business owner. I agree , bad workmanship is the pits, but also some products imported are worse.
Was it an imported beam that they purchased from a wholesaler here?
What other parts are in the $900?
Wheel alignment, Balljoints, tie rod ends???

The list goes on!

ps SHAME EM if they deserve it!!

The beam came off another beetle is what i was led to believe. So, he cut down an original German beam.

Tie rods were extra😠

yeah man thats a shame ,a free lesson though on the bright side at least your out and the car is sweet , imagine if they where doing the body work ahhhhhh at least u learnt a lesson for free, got some money back ,got the beam sorted and move on.
Word will get round about these pricks and karma slowly works its magic,
good luck cant wait to see her finished ..

Cheers Kroozzn63, can't wait for Nats, fingers crossed with REGO.

please dont name any business as it creates MAJOR headaches for heaps of people

Mick058 wrote:

Buggy Brad wrote:mmmm interesting workmanship but I have a few questions for you:

1. What did you pay for ? Was it a full reco ?

2. Did you supply the core or did they do it outright for you ?

3. Is this the same shop that told you it was not legal to have a single adjuster ?

4. Was the $900 that you paid to cover just the beam or was that what they cost you for a drive in / drive out service with them supplying the narrow beam outright and the labour to fit it to your bug ? On the invoice did they itemise what you were getting or just a single line ?

5. Did you have a good look at the leaves before you re-used them ? and where the tie rods shortened correctly ?

I paid for supply and installation. $550 for the beam, $350 for labor. They did not re-use my beam, it was a beam he supplied all on his own. The leaves were checked by the VW shop i bought the new beam from (the one i installed myself). The tie Rods seem to work ok, but ill get them checked.

Yes it was the guy who told me one adjuster was illegal.

Fair enough then, cause the core they used looks like it has been flogged with a hammer more than once.

I am guessing they didn't charge you for new beam seals on the invoice cause if they did I would be pissed. Also wondering if the $550 was just for the beam narrow and then they swapped your old arms, seals etc over from your current beam ?

Either way as you said I would have expected them to at least give you an option to replace the beam seals as they are cheap and a PITA to do once the arms are in.

Good luck with your new beam.

No they didn't charge for new beam seals, would of thought they'd mention it though, but then again it had no grease in it, so why would you need good seals ay...

Yes, i believe my original arms were used.

Always two sides to a story !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw this beetle being worked on at the shop that did the beam replacement along with all the other work they did covering some $3000.00 worth.

I spoke to the owner of the shop today as my car is there getting more work done to it at present. I too have a narrowed beam done by them and have had no problems with it at all.

The owner of the shop is not a forum member so I said I would relay the other side of the story.

Mick was informed after hours of discussion on two seperate visits that the beam was a second hand german beam NOT a new after market left hand drive thin wall american beam.

The job was to supply the beam fit it and wheel align the 4 wheels. The beam was supplied outright as the beam that was being removed from the car was cut and turned on one of the tubes and the other had on adjuster welded in an illegal manner.

At no time did the owner of the shop tell Mick that it was illegal to have only one adjuster in a beam. He was advised that the ride would be very uncomfortable if there was only one adjuster fitted.

Some 6 weeks after Mick took the car the owner of the the shop was told that he was not happy with the beam and that he has purchased a new beam from another shop and did not want a second hand beam anymore instead he has a new american beam fitted, at which point the Mick was offered a refund on the beam once the beam was returned. Mick was also told by the owner of the shop that the labour would not be refunded as it was Mick that made the desicion to fit a second hand beam. The beam was not returned as it was given to Mick so a deduction of $100.00 was made to cover the torsion leaves and steering arms being retained by Mick to use in his american beam.

The owner of the shop that did this work would like to make it publicly know that he nor any of his staff would ever take to damaging any persons car even if they were a disgruntle, un truthfull person. As far as the shop owner is concerned they have been upfront with Mick and only did what Micks budget at the time allowed. The reason this car came to the shop at a moments notice was due to the fact that he already had been quoted a lot more by other vw shops in his area, a point that Mick made only too often in conversation time and time again.

My two cents worth is that if you are unhappy with a situation try to work it out with the party involved or relivant goverment department. If you have nothing to hide take it all the way. Department like the Department of Fair Trading take the time to investgate both sides of the story unlike many members of this and many other forums.

Mick if you did not get a refund and was simply told where to go I would definately be pissed as any other person would. Doing post like this does not really achieve anything in my opinion but fuel a fire that could ultimately end up with some one being burnt. I realise the shop has not been named but the vw scene is a small community and it does not take much to put two and two together.

As i have stated i am a customer of this shop and am only trying to air the other side to this story. It is for all to make up there own mind as to what is a fair or unfair situation.

Happy cruising all.

This post was to inform people to be cautious of who they trust their car to and to view things before they get installed. I have not named the shop, or all of the 4 issues i have with the work carried out, some of it dangerous.

The photos speak for themselves, the message you relay above in part is not true. I have no interest in arguing with you.

Happy cruising and good luck with you and the shop.

Ok, I have clossed the thread as there is nothing more to be gained from leaving it open. We have now heard from both parties in a manner of speaking and as pointed out there is two sides.

I have left it up so people can read and view and take what they will from the points within.

If anyone has an issue with my actions feel free to contact me to discuss.