ComplaintsforSterling Autobody Center

• Initial Complaint

  03/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had an old 71 ******* in this shop and they have done questionable work. They didn’t even fix 2 of the main areas that were in the original quote. There is a cross member up front that is still pushed back. The drivers rocker panel was still pushed in. The did very questionable work to that rocker area to make it look better but it is still not correct. They say I owe them another $**** on the car. Original quote was $******. I have paid them $****** so far and have 2 areas that were not touched. With the $**** they say I owe still would bring it to $****** that I will be paying them and still having 2 of the main reason/areas not being touched at all. I have talked with several other professionals classic car restoration places and all of them say I have paid too much for the questionable work that has been done *** **** **** **** ***** ******** *** ****** ***** **** ******** **** *** ** ***. ***** *** ******** **** ******* *** *** *** ******** ****** **** *** ** *** *** ******* *** **** ***** *** ******** ****** **** ******* *** *********** ** **** *** *** ****** ************ ****? I feel like they have taken advantage of me ******* **** * **** ** **** *** *** ********* ***** **** *** *****. I feel they have in some ways ruined the car if things/work was not done correctly. From what I have seen that is a yes. I have tried working with them but I just keep seeing more and more questionable work being done to address the areas they didn’t fix correctly.

  Business response

  04/24/2023

  I personally went to customers house to see the damage.  I took notes of his complaints and went over the car with him.  I told him that i agreed with him that there were some issues that needed to be addressed.  I had a bad employee that did some work on the vehicle that is not up to our standards.  I missed it on final inspection.  I told him that I would pick up the car, fix it for free at our shop and have him inspect it before we delivered it back to him.  

    As far as the claimant's response of wanting 83% of his money back is completely unreasonable.  The amount of work necessary to repair the issues with the car is minimal.  Our company works on a lot of cars without any complaints.  I have admitted to the customer that we did make a mistake and would like to opportunity to fix it.

  Customer response

  04/25/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: it wasn’t just one employee that did **** work in my car. It is all over this car. It is not unreasonable to ask for that much money back being that they ruined the car and all work will have to be redone or properly checked/measured to be sure that all is correct or needs corrected. And the repairs that will need fixed are not minimal at all. Low quality work was done to this car and low quality parts where put on this car. This business is a ****. What is unreasonable is charging your customers top dollar for low quality work and half ****** all the repairs that were done by Sterling restoration. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Jonathan *******

  Customer response

  04/25/2023

  I think it’s funny how rusty has said he isn’t a body work guy and that he doesn’t know much about body work but yet he says the repairs needed on their horrible work is minimal. Rusty also likes to point the finger at other people. Like his tech that did the horrible job on the floor pan and rusty said that it was the previous owners that put out the horrible work. But yet here I am with a ruined car. The tech that did the floor pan didn’t do the horrible job on the cowl or the rear tubs or the taillight panel. 

  Customer response

  04/27/2023

  ***** *** ***** **** ******** *** *** ******* ***** ********* **** **** *** ****** **** *** ******* ** **** **** ********* * **** ** *** ** ***** ** *** * ******** * **** **** ******* *** *** ** **** ** ******** ****** *** **** ** *** ****** **** Definitely some shady stuff going on with this restoration shop and the owners. Wish the BBB would do more of investigating on all of this instead of being the middle man and honestly doing nothing and leaving it up to the consumer to find everything out. But I guess. That is the way this world works. Honesty gets you no where and you have to ***** people over to get ahead. Very sad deal. 
  

  i have someone that knows what they are doing coming tomorrow to look at this car and to give me their professional opinion on the quality of work done to the car. 
  

  maybe I’m the first customer to actually notice the quality of work Sterling is putting out.

  Business response

  05/04/2023

  I have already offered to fix the vehicle to the customers approval.  By the customer trying to discredit my business and make up information does not change the only thing that is reasonable to resolve this issue.  This customer is apparently wants all of his money back not just the amount to repair what needs to be repaired.  That is not reasonable.  Months of work went into this vehicle. The repairs necessary would only take a couple of days of labor to fix.

  Customer response

  05/04/2023

  This car should have been done correctly and it was not. There shouldn’t even be an offer to fix the car correctly. After 2 years and $****** it should have been way further along than it is and work that was done should have been done correctly the first time. I am not making thing up about any of this. This company ruined my car. They had uncertified techs doing the body work and none of it was done correctly. Safety of the vehicle is a major concern right now. As for it taking a couple days to fix as they say let’s me know that if I did let them have the car back that they would just cover the issues up. The floor pan will have to come back out and the front frame flanges will need straightened and possibly replaced from where their uncertified techs cut through the frame and cross members. There is ripped metal from removing old panels that wasn’t addressed before they welded on the new panels. Multiple areas have multiple major issues from their work they did. Obviously these people have no clue about body work and they should not being doing body work at all. I have also been told multiple times by Rusty that he isn’t a body guy and basically knows nothing about but as of now he is an expert I take it. As for them fixing it that is not going to happen. Should have been done correctly the first time. They like to say they will do what ever it takes to fix it even if they have to replace new panels. Just like when I was told that about the driver side rocker being fix. Even if they had to buy a new door is what they told me. They did not buy a new door or even replace the rocker that was part of the original quote. They just **** ***** pulled the rocker out and made it look like it was right. It is not. The new door has a dent and a big wave on the bottom of it. Basically the new door is ruined from their questionable body work/repair. I do not want all my money back. I said I would buy the panels but I definitely want my money back on this hack job body work they did. As for me discrediting you business. Nope. You guys did that yourselves when you took advantage of me and way over charged me for the quality of work that was done. I’m still being nice about this and I haven’t dropped my story or any of the hundreds of pics I have of their questionable work on a review yet. This company ******* me over on this car and they know it. 

  Customer response

  05/10/2023

  $****** is what I want back. I have to have everything you guys did redone. I now have to spend more money on this car because you guys just cut wiring harness, fuel lines and brake lines. You guys also damaged the heater box and it has a fresh hole in it. You guys had this car for 2 flipping yrs and did a hack job on it then charged me $****** for the hack job plus cost me more money to replace the part that you just cut or damaged. I will also have to have the whole car checked for straightness since I never seen this car properly supposed or braced before you guys started cutting the old panels out. The possibility of this car being bent out of shape is there and there is also signs of it being bent. You need to make this right with me. You saying that it would only take 2 days to fix the issues is not even close to what it will take to correct the damages you guys caused. I’m not asking for all my money back but I honestly should be asking for more since what you guys did has had me taking off work and costing me time, money, stress and heartache trying to resolve this hole situation not to mention how it makes me feel knowing you guys ******* me over on my wife’s fathers car. You or any of your tech (certified or uncertified) will touch this car again. NOT HAPPENING ! You had your chance and you blew it. You have until the end of this month to figure out what you want to do about this. After that I will start leaving reviews with pic and videos of everything. I will also have others doing reviews on your company. I will trailer this car to every car show and show the car. I will also tell people everything that they want to know about the car and who did the work on it. Quit dragging this out and make it right with me. 3 weeks. If you can’t bring yourself to make this right with me then I will really start pursuing this to make it right for myself. 

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