(This is a duplicate of my post on Dad's Truck Build, but I think it is important to include it here as I want others in this area to know.) There is a saying that "You get what you pay for." Well, apparently I did - I paid low dollar for the labor and I got low quality results.

I've attached 3 photos, 2 of which Jannie Olds of Bar None Upholstery sent me last night, and the other one I took. Jannie's shots were apparently under fluorescent lighting as the colors are off and not consistent. But, they do show the overall look of the seats. I will confess that when they came in I was so taken aback that I literally didn't know what to say. Especially since she had told me earlier in the day that they were "gorgeous!" When I finally was able to talk about it I asked my wife to look at them and to tell me the truth, and what she said only reinforced my belief that they were awful.

After a fitful night we went down to get them this morning. When we could see them in daylight they were pitiful:

• Wrinkled: As you can see from the pictures, there were wrinkles in many places on the vinyl
• Irregular: When looking at the seats squarely you can see that the top of the seatback was higher on one side than the other. And the pleats in the seating area were of differing widths. Also, the vinyl pieces that cross the fabric from side-to-side in the seat back aren't rectangular, aren't the same size, and are in at an angle.
• Mistakes: There were several places where the vinyl had been stiched and the stiches removed - leaving the holes
• Mis-colored: The welting on the arm rests was of different colored material than the vinyl of the arm rests or of the welting on the seats

I could go on and on, but I won't as hope you get the point. Anyway, I told her that I was very disappointed, that it wasn't what I expected in any way - to which she said seats like that are hard to do. I had already paid her $240 of the $290 she wanted to do the job, so I asked her if I owed her the other $50 and she said I did. So I paid her, loaded them up and drove straight to Massey's Auto Trim as I wasn't going to let those seats even come into my shop.

At Massey's I talked with Tim Lewis and his wife at length. They showed me the seats on a '65 Impala SS they are just finishing and to say they are perfect would be an understatement. And, they have a '23 Ford waiting its turn on what is certainly going to be a big restoration. In fact, they have so much work waiting that they won't be able to get to mine for about a month. But, that's ok as their price of $950 inc materials is fair. And, I don't have to pay until I'm satisfied.

The third picture is of one of the seats in the sunshine, and is included to give a better idea of the actual colors. I put the console lid that I'd painted on the seat and it was a very close match. In fact, Tim agreed that the colors were a good match. (And, he was very complimentary of my paint job on the console lid.) Tim had a sample of the original 1981 Bronco fabric and it looked identical to the fabric I'd picked for the seats - until you put it on the seat. The original was much more red and what we picked was maroon. But, the gray was identical, so the seats should look factory.

I seem to be learning lots of lessons while restoring this truck.

 

I hate learning lessons that way, but have learned that way more times than I can count. Hopefully no one will make that mistake with that shop. I would have not let that pass either.

 

I find it hard to believe that an upholstery place would send work like that out, and expect payment. Judging what Massy's did for me and what I've seen come out of there shop, you should be pleased.

 

Yes, it is hard to fathom why someone would let that out the door. Especially when I told her repeatedly that I wasn't in a hurry, to take her time. And, she heard me say that I'm spending a lot of money on the body work, so she knows it isn't a beater truck.

Hopefully people will read about this and give her a miss. Ron/CigarXTC had asked about taking his motorcycle seat to her, so I hope he reads this. And a couple from church had asked about having their boat seats rebuilt, so I had suggested her. But I've subsequently sent them an urgent text message warning them off. I don't like doing it, but when people do shoddy work others need to know.

As for Massey's, I sure hope you are right. If it turns out anything like the work I saw it will be great. But we won't know for a month or more as they are back logged a bit - which would seem to be a good sign that they do good work.

 

I would of recommended the one here in Owasso on main and 76th. Sorry to see it look like that.

 

Thanks. I'm confident there are many that could do a good job, but Massey's has a very good rep from what I've found, so am happy having gone with them.

 

Sorry those came out the way they did. It sounds like you have them with the right people now.

Do you have a link to your restoration thread?

 

Thanks. I do hope the seats are with the right people. As for the thread, here 'tis: Dad's Truck Build. But, I hope you are looking for a sleep-aid instead of the pain pills they have you on as this will cause your eyes to glaze over in a hurry.

 

whew. that is ***. Surprised she had you pay the balance. I'd be reporting that to the BBB.

Bar-None Upholstery Business Review in Porter, OK - Eastern Oklahoma BBB#

Massey's has a good rating with the BBB, and has been in business since 1947, so hopefully they will get things done right for you.

Massey's Trim Shop Business Review in Tulsa, OK - Eastern Oklahoma BBB

Im not in a hurry to get my moto seat redone so i'll sit back and wait to see some results.

 

Yes, I was surprised she wanted the balance. But I'm not sure I want to report her to the BBB as she did the work, just poorly. In any event I did fill out a report on Angie's List, the only one on her, which wasn't favorable. And, she is supposed to get a copy of it.

Anyway, thanks for the links. Never dealt with any BBB before.

 

Ron the BBB is not a good way to judge business. Contrary to popular belief the BBB is not ay type of government affiliated watchdog service. They are a business that takes money from businesses to be members and refers work out to those businesses. I get solicited by them twice a yr. Since they take money from businesses and the businesses are the way they make money what do you think would be the end result of a dispute arbitrated? The bigger the business the bigger the paycheck for them. All they do is offer to arbitrate a dispute if customer wages one. The member business isn't even obligated to participate in the dispute and all the BBB can do at that point is list the complaint as pending since the other side of the argument hasn't weighed in with their 0.02. The couldn't slander the business w/o a arbitrating the grievance.

I know this shyster of guy that runs the biggest gutter business in the Tulsa area and he has been a BBB member for yrs and even has their elite status membership (whatever it is called). He constantly has a stack of go backs and re do's on his desk that resembles the DFW yellow pages as far as size of the stack of paper goes. He never goes back and handles any of them. He just simply throws that stack of paper out every 6 mos and lets it stack up again only to repeat the process. At one time he had a lot of complaints filed with the BBB due to his lack of customer service or desire to take care of his customers. He never arbitrated a single one of them. Finally he got with the BBB and wrote them a check for $3,500.00. That took care of his issues and he went back up to an "A" rating once again.

The BBB is a business plain and simple. Like the rest of us they are in business to make as much money as possible.