Bad Quality Restoration

[ST Man]

As many of you know I have a Samba and that it was recently restored Vintage Kombi by in PE. I have been struggling to decide what to do but a have decided to post this after not being able to drive to Kamp out due to my front wheel bearing dust seals coming loose and scraping against brake retaining springs. When opened up I realised that old grease seals was still in car and new seals I supplied to Vintage kombi was returned to me brand new in their bags.

I am doing this post to warn people of what I went through. After seeing a lawyer for advice this will be very factual with proof being build up over last while if I needed it.

The theme of the restoration was that Vintage Kombi kept on telling me was that the bus is a Samba and that it’s worth R1.2mil thus it must be done right. So I spend and Est. R160 000 with Vintage Kombi and I supplied 90% of the new parts on which I spent another fortune. I purchased new parts for most areas on the bus so this was a clean restoration. I purchased around 40 new steel panels to make sure all rust and side accident damage was repaired.

Summary of why am I writing this and what went so wrong:
1. I hate the fact that I have to explain why things are not correct on the bus. It should have been done correctly. I feel self ashamed about quality on bus.
2. Before bus went to Vintage Kombi I was told how special bus was and how good they are. Jacques created expectations that was not met. He talked a game that he did not deliver.
3. Even though Jacques offered to fix many of the problems others he wanted me to pay to fix their mess ups. He also wanted to charge for over time that he had to put in after THEY were late and quoted supposed fixed rates. He also wanted me to pay for their repairs. Example they messed up a R5000 Wolfsburg headliner and said they can fix it if I pay R2000 for a new local one…WTF…
4. Paint is a mess. I was lied to and that just irritated me. Bus was not polished correctly and has lemon peel all over. First I was told that that is the texture of paint and later after keeping on pressing the issue I was told that polisher never showed up before delivery.
5. Body work has multiple faults. Before restoration theme is it’s a Samba, after problems arise theme change to YES but bus had an accident.
6. Assembly The bus was badly assembled with no washers in most areas. Wire and bent nails was used instead of split pins . I would have done some assembly with pleasure but this is a bit rough now.
7. No dead line was met and no or little planning happens in the facility. After deadlines was not achieved they wanted to charge me overtime for working on Saturdays/Sundays.
8. I got screwed over and lied to so I will warn others.

So in the interest of keeping things factual and fair I will state the following:
1. Yes I played Jacques since December. I realised the bus is a mess but they were still busy with paper work for bus and I did not want things to go sour before my bus was registered in my name.
2. Jacques did offer to fix many of the problems and pay for them. But I don’t think they can do it correctly and I see a complete breakdown of trust between us due to lies and deadlines not being met in the past. The other problem was that I will not pay to get their problems fixed and they only agreed to fix items if I pay and estimated R10000- R15000 more for over time labour, labour they misquoted and new roof liner
3. I have restored cars before myself and have a perfectionist eye. I am not easy as I will press the money for all its worth but I paid a lot and for that I expect a good bus.

Deadlines:
1. Here I was told they will push bus in front as they wanted to do a Samba. It never happened
2. Bus was delivered in last weekend of May 2014 and I was promised that metal work will be done by end of June. End of June nearly nothing was done. One panel had to be ordered but none of the other work was complete. Jacques also promised to order missing part before he left for overseas. Date bus was actually ready to go to paint 24/10 instead of 31/06 as promised
3. At the end September I phoned Jacques and told him I was not happy with progress as it was not as promised and that I will collect bus from them in first week of December regardless of the progress. This would still give them enough time according to their 2-3 month promise. I was promised it will be ready and started planning some trips around the cape.
4. December came and bus was still in paint but they have assembled busses in seven days so I was told not to worry. The bus was delivered on 23/12 half assembled but driveable. This messed up my holiday plans quite a bit. I did enjoy assembling a few parts but the bus was late.
5. Paperwork promised in January only received mid Feb.

Money
1. My first payment was a bit slow but rest were within a few hours to 2 days of invoice.
2. I have stopped last payments due to quality concerns. I made a deal with Jacques that he would pay my registration (R7000) and I will not pay last invoice for just over R2000 to cover some of the est. R40-50K I now have to spend on the bus to get it right. I made deal after starting to play Jacques just to get my papers out of him while knowing that I will do this post
3. Before I restored the bus I was promised fixed price list. I did 30% of the metal work and was still charged over the estimate as “this bus had more work”. Price list for metal work is R55000 including panels. I paid R43200 for labour only on top of the est R40 000 for panels I bought from Jacques and another R10-15k I paid for panels from other suppliers. Thus my total of body work was close to R100 000. The bus arrived with them with all rust cut out and floor structure repaired, and battery tray fitted. Thus I already did Est R10 –R15k worth of work before bus arrived. Some Extra work was done that helps their case but not 60k worth. Unscheduled work that was done :
a. Long side panel
b. One Samba roof
c. B pillar (of which manufacture was already paid).
4. I paid full assembly price and only got half. I was fine with that until Jacques wanted me to pay for over time to fix mistakes and their bad planning and scheduling. If a company’s bad planning causes them to work overtime it’s not the customers problem!!! If assembly is done so bad that I have to redo nearly everything it’s a rip off.
5. Prices changed when problems arose but I had Jacques initial mails and I will not pay more if the can’t make schedules and budget.


Some details of the mistakes that I have picked up while fixing bus.
Paint Rust lower part of a Pillar area was not painted. Already rusted
Chassis not painted on beam running underneath gearbox and surrounding area. They say that the frame holding bus during restoration was in the way BUT really
No paint in all areas where suspension is fastened due to frame. This is just bad mentality
Paint Runs on Front bumper
Paint runs on interior wall behind feet
Paint runs on Wheels
Paint run on Long side panel around rear engine vents
Polished right through to steel on left front window frame
Rear valance painted with brush after welding done. I saw images of car before delivery and noted to them that one hole for the exhaust that was cut during some point must be closed and they said it can be done easily. When I received bus area was not straight and painted with brush
Paint not polished in all areas, lower areas on side and roof around sunroof not polished
Paint not polished very well
Paint on rear bumper not correct right rear corner markings looking like bubble wrap came into contact with wet paint
Engine lid inside painted badly
Paint damage on rear bumper area was touched up but not correct thus area rusting
Steering wheel cracked and just painted correct way is to fill cracks then paint. Cracks can be filled with epoxy
General paint quality has small spots and marks on it. Paint is in my opinion a 5/10 job
Polished right through to on long side panel above side air vents, yes I know abov I state there are paint runs as well……
Paint runs on rear hatch between rear corner window and rear window
Various damage marks on underbelly caused during assembly
Interior vents on dash paint done badly in holes
Body
RUST in front door when opening up to try and fix locks. It sold rust never treated or cleaned
Roof dents on rear of car. This was seen by Jacques before delivery. After I mentioned it after delivery he first said he did not want boy filler on car!!! The dent was most likely caused long before restoration
Dents between samba window 2 and 3 driver side
Rear valance full of dents
Front bumper not straight
Rear Bumper not straight
Right front door no lining up. A new front fender was fitted and a new lower A pillar and B pillar so this should have been correct.
Holes not welded on front bumper
Floor to front seat fire wall join done very badly
Left short side lower replacement panel has a gap to rest of side skin and there is already a crack running.
Holes lower sides where floor/under tray meet not closed up it just very untidy.
Crack in metal in engine bay between stamped chassis number and chassis plate not fixed.
Flat spot on rear right corner in metal. Shaping just done badly.
Assembly
Seals not fitted to door handles this was supplied and will now cause strip and reassemble. Seals were returned to me in sealed in bags. I was told they weren’t fitted due
No Washers on Front rear bumpers/ suspension steering etc. Well very limited use of washers all over which causes damage on assemblies from bolt heads and is just down right dangerous
Different screws fitted to engine latch
Missing bolts on side lock
Missing bolts on rear latch top
Fuel flap not centre and cant lock
Fuel flap stops not drilled into new panel. Parts were supplied and just returned in bag.
Samba trim on nose fit perfect on one side top other side top is very badly
Samba trim on rear corners not fitting correctly. This is blamed on bad quality Samba trim but person that suplied me the trim has a perfeectly fitted set on his own bus.
Various areas wrong screws used Counter sink vs pan head- Safaris, front side window,
Head lights adjustment screws bent beyond repair and now lights cant be adjusted. They were bent on brand new light units to fit in instead of being cut shorter
Battery loose
Fuel filler neck seal not fitted correctly this can cause filler next to break off and fuel to run onto no 4 cylinder
Missing bolts on right front door
Missing bolts on front right window frame
Different sized washed used next to each other
The whole steering box was painted over bolts and silver cap should have been masked
Missing grease nipples on front suspension on 6 places. They didn’t have the right ones in stock.???!!!$$
Roof lining fitted very badly
Roof lining stretched badly in certain areas causing holes in material to be oval and much bigger
Roof lining glue pulling loose
Roof lining not fitted to rear door and front cockpit area
Roof lining not fitted correctly around doors and front area No guidance was given on fitting correctly and no research done. I was told afterwards that this was persons first ever roof lining he had to fit to bus and then told that they can do a new similar one if I paid R2000 more. Why did he then do it in first place?
Sunroof inner must be fitted before roof lining and then glued in this was not done so I will now have to remove rear head liner in centre and then fit sunroof inner.
Neither one of front doors closes correctly
Right Front brakes leaking saw leak on 04/01/2015
New front suspension grease seals was supplied but never fitted just returned to me in their bags. Old grease seals came loose on the way to campout and made a huge noise which caused me to turn around and tow bus to campout.
Seal above driver door for samba window torn and fitted badly
Bolts for door frame different some already rusting after request for stainless bolts.
No split pins used on front suspension. I Removed 4 pieces of wire/bent nails and replaced it with split pins
Brake pipes installed wrong, pipe that links top and bottom brake cylinders was squashed and flattened.
Front Brake Cylinders not rebuild as discussed. After mentioning this I was told that they never rebuild these and only fit new ones. During restoration I asked if they could rebuid and was told yes.
Front passenger door popping open, I adjusted it
gear linkage bolts came loose due to not having locking wire fitted.
Radio face plate fitted outside instead of inside of face plate
Quarter opening side window latches fitted with alu pop rivets that will not last
Quarter opening side window small wind deflectors not fitted which means I will have to strip door frame, strip side window frames insert deflector and rebuild. These parts were supplied and given back to me in a box.
Wiring
No rubber o rings where wiring goes through body so wires will chafe through. When I mentioned this I was told that I did not pay for a concourse restoration
Engine wires loose causing a short that burned a fuse leaving me stranded.
Electrical unit (flasher unit) hanging loose with wires right next to chassis where it can caused shorts. Unit burnt out due to possible short and I replaced it
Some wires not going through correct channels and running underneath bus.

Items I had to reassemble so far
Front suspension
Left and right door Door
Steering
Front brakes with new brake cylinders
Gear lever assembly
Door locks to fit seals that was supplied


Items I assembled over and above reassembly of complete front suspension etc
All interior coat hooks
Sunroof
Jail bars
Seats
Door seals
Wipers
Interior lining between roof lining and lower area


Cost of repairs I am now having to under:
New roof lining, import and fitting R5000 + R2000shipping
Redo body work and repaint R30 000 - R40 000
Brakes R2000
Samba Trim R5000
My time in hundreds of hours to fit washers and reassemble the car.

[Cyndi Kritzinger]

OUCH!

[splitbusahollic]

We are not always right in what we say or do, but we try our best to keep the client happy and rectify our mistakes. Restoration is most likely one of the most criticized occupations out there,(as i have learnt in a short space of time) and understandably so as you the client spend your money , we the restorer try and give you the best value back (sometimes under budget constraints). i have realized that most people's expectations are much higher if they pay to have it done, than it would be had they done the work themselves...or attempted to do , then off load it to someone else as they realize it is a lot more complex than they initially thought. We are in the process of making changes to our business model specifically due to these kind of issues.
Anyone can find fault, even with brand new vehicles, that is the easy part.
i can get very involved in this thread and get all my satisfied clients( this outweighs the unsatisfied ones by far) to give testimonials etc, but i won't go into all that.
i will work through Leon's very itemized factual testimonial and give a sensible reply and also take blame for things if need be and give my reply in due course.
I may add that a bus previously slated on this forum for bad paint etc, just sold within a year of the owner having it for just under 300K without advertising, netting the client almost R80k profit , so you go figure....
The sad part for Me is that i was 100% willing to repair the mistakes at my own cost , including transport , But Leon opted to have it sorted out himself as long as i got the papers for the bus sorted out. He has not answered my calls since the moment he received the papers and i couldn't understand why, as i would definitely still have been willing to discuss and find an amicable solution to the problems, but instead it seems that once he got the papers he could go to town with the whole saga.
There has been no communication breakdown from my side.

[Derek]

Mmmm...

If I had a Split Window restored for myself after years of desiring one...would I sell it?

No need for further comment as this post speaks for itself.

[calooker]

This always amazes me, when one pays for a job to be done right, there is never time to do it right the first time but always time to fix it up later. Fukc do it properly the first time.
I see it this way, hands on experience and quality control, if you lacking in either department you going to have issues.

[FooFunk]

This really concerns me....

[acpaterson]

WOW!

Leon, post some Pictures of the various areas of concern, as they say a picture speak a thousand words. Sorry to hear about the discrepancy, hope you can however get most of these issues resolved.

[Muderick]

.

[John Alves]

Its all about managing expectations, one could look on the bright side, he got 3 567 894 things right.

[brianj]

This is why I like my bus (and other cars) unrestored.

[Barry]

Sad to see this, but this is something I see over and over.
Not going to get more involved in the specifics than saying there is normally fault on both sides (to varying degrees).
I'm not going to suggest that shoddy work should be accepted ( and a few points such as 'bent nails' definitely raise concerns about standards and attention to details) but trying to make a living from doing restorations properly is tough.
Typically the client is very starry-eyed at the start, and may rush past or simply not see some of the warning signs. Often the person doing the job talks a great game which feeds into the early excitement and thus the expectation gap begins to take shape.
The fact is that things turn up in any restoration that cannot be quantified at the outset. It is almost impossible to work to a fixed price. When the customer believes that this will be the case, the 'restorer' is on the back foot as they then need to either work for 'free' or rush things/not do them properly. Once you start down that road, things can get bad really quick. Part of the reason I prefer to no longer do restorations, as many punters do not understand what is involved - when I still do take them on, I work on an estimate, never a fixed price. Even then I still find myself 'eating' hours to get something to a standard I am happy to let out the door with my name on it.
Real, honest and open communication is key, and most do not seem to understand the depth and level that this needs to happen on. And frankly I often have customers who seem to not want the 'hassle' of hearing the details, saying ' just get on with it'. When I hear that I am cautious.
There is NO SUCH THING as a perfect restoration - I will find faults with any car you care to bring me - and the continium from absolute crap to absolute world class is a long one. Sadly there seem to be many many shops who occupy the bottom most rung. Finding the right person to deliver on your dream, at the price/standard you expect is much more complex than simply listening to the guy talk about how good they are and looking at a few pics of work they've done.....

[Derek]

Finding the right person to deliver on your dream, at the price/standard you expect is much more complex than simply listening to the guy talk about how good they are and looking at a few pics of work they've done.....

So true Barry...I'm sure that for every person who ends up with a dream restoration there are five who end with a nightmare scenario as detailed in this post...

[splitbusahollic]

I am about to travel overseas on business and therefore have not had the time to respond to this. I will give a detailed response on my return later in the month.
You should not judge based on a one sided story in any case.......unless your name is Derek of course , our relationship is only growing stronger post by post !

There are many factors involved and i will respond to each allegation made by Leon. I have a huge amount of emails to refer back to as well as other paperwork etc to check through in order to make this accurate and factual.

[Derek]

I'm sure we are all awaiting Jacques response with baited breath

At the end of the day a client unhappy enough to post such a detailed complaint on a public forum after taking legal advice must be a cause for concern...

[ST Man]

HI to all
Someone asked me to post images of what is wrong with the bus. When I post these I will state that some of the issues are nitty gritty nonsense, I know!!! When I restore a car I accept that these will be in there and enjoy fixing things and tinkering on the car. BUT the sheer amount of small problems amounts to a very big problem that I did not expect or want to deal with or paid for…

1. Safari windows: There are rust pitted holes on the bottom of safaris . These were just not repaired and when windows are open will be very visible. The result will be that I will have to strip the whole frame weld and repaint.
2. Roof lining torn and stretched, coming loose and not glued correct. This is one of the tears
3. Badly installed rubber in roof that is also torn on front vertical part.
4. Gearbox support not painted. When bus arrived at vintage Kombi I had bus on a frame while suspension is missing. The frame obstructed this area from being painted. But when frame is taken out surely it must be done. I have same problem in areas around front and rear suspension mounts. This means that I will have to remove engine, gearbox front and rear suspension to fix this problem correctly
5. No washer on front bumper bracket this theme runs throughout bus. The golden nut on steering box had a bent nail through it is stead of split pin. Various other areas did have wire instead of split pins.
6. Unpainted area underneath car around heater see no 4 above.
7. Rust in driver door. You will see that this is not new rust……

I started with these as they were given to Jacques on the 7th on January after receiving the bus on 23 Dec.