Hey Fella's, just got off the horn with my good buddy Matt. He runs a small custom shop in the Orlando area. His work is nothing short of amazing. Problem is, a recent customer gave him absolutely no credit at all, for the beautiful job on their Shoebox Ford. We have this cheesy little publication called the Cruisin Times, and the car was shown, but no mention of Matt or his shop. Paint scheme was two tone tan and green. Will try and post some pics of the finished product later. Anybody else ever get this treatment? I remember a story about a guy in Cleveland area, whom did a hand built, ground up resto on a 20's Mercedes boattail. Damn thing went to Pebble Beach and won. Owner never gave him any credit for doing the work. Ended up in court and the shop won.
Happens all the time.. tell him to **** it up and get back to business.. word will get around who did the car.. Dave
The major publications give the owners multi page tech sheets to fill out. Even if they are filled out with all the correct info on who did what, doesn't mean that the shop or anyone else that did any of the work is going to get published credit. The writer and editor have all the control in what makes it into the story. The owner lying and saying he did all the work and that getting published is a different story.
If you read the magazine-car owner experiences here you'll realize mags generally do a poor job of do***enting the car, and there's a good chance the customer told them exactly who did the paint. (doh- Denise beat me, damn slow typing!) Either that or maybe your buddy rubbed the customer the wrong way. I've seen numerous customers that would privately tell you about their "body shop hell", but were very nice to the shop owner during the work. Just hoping niceness would help get their car out of the body shop hell it had sunk into. If the car blew cost and time estimates badly it could be the case.
Yep, happens with a lot of customers. I even did a resto on my fathers MGB and when it was finished he was telling people at the shows that he did all of the work, my mom said people even wanted him to do work on their cars but he gave them the excuse that he was to busy and never directed them to me, when I heard this I REALLY chewed out my father for that and now he is handing out my business cards like he should have in the first place.
Good work is its own reward........... Yeah , it ****s. but your buddy Matt was a hired gun. The owner wrote the check and his responsibility ended there unless other arrangements were made.He is under no obligation to acknowledge the hired hands. Denise is correct. If the owner presents himself as the bodywork/painter thats another story altogether. I try to always acknowledge those that work with me because I'm so appreciative of their efforts, but sometimes it doesn't come out that way. I've been on both sides of this one. Its unfortunate that common courtesy isn't all that common.
yup happens all the time, I have had customers get cars not only in magazines, but in books and on TV and they took all credit for the work, I wouldn't be upset too much if that one customer had ever paid his bills on time, one car didn't mention the shop on TV but I know the owner he said it got edited and I beleive him, straight shooter with no bill paying probs, even had one local guy, buy a car of mine that was a former mutil magazine car, he went to local shows less than 50 miles from me and was telling everyone he built the car....he was too fat to barely check his own oil!!!
I've had cars featured in magazines since back in 1976. The magazines used to be really bad about writing whatever they pleased about a car no matter how well you fill out the tech sheet. I have been fourtunate enough to have a car that has been featured on TV, three videos and in three magazines and one hard-back book in the last 10 months. I each case, I gave the photgrapher a 17 page synopsis about the car, complete with a CD of the entire build. Literally writing the article for them. I also asked to proof the article before going to publication. In todays electronic world, that has worked out well. The articles that Street Rodder Magazine and HomeTown HotRods published were right on the mark. Giving credit where credit was due. Wheels magazine in Sweden is in a foreign language, but the pictures look good and from what I can read, the article appears to be good giving the proper credit too. In defense of the magazines, some car owners become blowhards and start bragging about how they did this, or how they did that and forget that what they tell the photgrapher/writer is what will get printed. Then, whatever is printed becomes the fault of the magazine. Thats horse****...
i knew of a *builder* that complained about the same thing. the owner was very diplomatic about it, would'nt say publicly how he felt about the work, but had to have a lot of things re-done. he was satisfied with one aspect of the job, but it wasn't enough to overcome what he didn't like. that's why he wouldn't say who did what...
When you strike up a conversation with someone like that and start talking about the details, more often than not what they're saying sounds good to them, but real builders standing their listening will be nodding their head and thinking wtf. There's always two sides to a story. If they were that unhappy, though, I would want to spare someone else of the same experience. I won't mind sharing who did the bodywork on my car, but I'll have to tell them their "storage service" was even better. (ie. They'll get a good job done, it'll just take them 4-5 years to do it!)
WOW, sounds like you're in my head right now. I'm sitting on the fence right now about a couple of things on Big Olds regarding this same thing. If something is redone, you give credit to the guy that fixed it right? What about if one person started something but another person finished it? Where do you draw the line? I'm thinking about leaving a couple of things out on purpose just so no one gets their ******* in a bunch.
Unless it were in a contract, I never heard of credit being a requirement. He did get paid, right? That is usually an exchange of labor for money. On the other side of the coin....I have advertised every way possible, over the last 35 years, but 99% of my work comes from recommendations, or noticeable work, that will make people ask who did it. I try to make sure that any job I do is a quality job, I don't rely on any one job to promote my biz. Too risky
I do some writing for a magazine (late model GM performance) and I'd say it's in***bent on the owner to point out who did what, that's the opportunity of the owner to get some nice publicity. On the other hand, sometimes shops are the ones that bring the article opportunity to the owner.
Is that the car on the cover of the Cruisin Times? The mag I picked up at Old Town? Man that is a nice car!
Due? Credit?? The only "due" at my shop is the bill when ya pick your car up ...and NO "credit" Hey, 'expect' nothing...and you'll never be disappointed Any credit or due I get for work after the fact(and after I get paid) is nothing more than a compliment Don't get me wrong---I DO like compliments/credit/accolades. Makes me proud. But as far as credit in a magazine or the like......big whoop. Been there, done that and that kind of stuff almost never pays anything. Nice..... but it don't put food on my table or beer in my cooler. Do I have a bad at***ude?
Yeah, you got an at***ude, and its a good one. I think your work is top drawer, and if you lived closer you'd be spraying all my stuff!
I got one of my projects(not owned by me) in the June Issue of Custom cl***ic Trucks.Was really surprised they gave my shop all the credit they did as I know it does not happen that way all the time.Win some loose some and this time I guess i was a winner.. Mike
I believe that the builder does the work for a paycheck. If the owner wishes to credit him for the work, cool. But the builder has already received his due.
What i like is, when you do something for someone and when they are at a show or a cruise in and telling all that "they did this and that" and i manage to make eye contact with them, and the way they start stammering and the color of red their face turns. As was posted before, "If you do a good job people will find you"
Actually if i pay to get work done then ive payed and i really dont have to give credit to anyone.. Treat me good and i will treat me bad then **** you your not mentioned but im not lying about me doing it my self.. I dont take credit for something i didnt do my self but id get amnesia on who did it.. So lets look at this from another angle. I have my car painted by a great shop.. they do a hell of a job and they are mentioned on my sign at detroit autorama then all of a sudden dont want to even speak to me unless spoken to first ? They were just starting out and they made the deal and set the price and i payed cash.. So now if they are gonna act like that do i just go about my business and say nothing or do i say dont take it there cause next year they wont know you exist. ??????? Dave
as long as the owner thinks he can pull it off, 9 outta 10 times they will take the credit. i was ten feet away from a car i did, and i heard the owner tellin some guy how he did the all the mods on it. it ****s but i guess its part of the game.
Taking a customer to court for laying claim on their work? That seems bogus to me. What's the best outcome out of that, cease and desist? If someone gives me credit after the fact and it gets me another job, awesome. Other than that I could really care less. I'm in it for turning a pile into something fascinating, not for getting my name in a magazine. Seems like your friend needs to get his priorities straight.
i've had several cars i built pictured in magazines after i sold them with the caption owned and built by ........... not like i just did the frame work, or body work but built the whole car as in frame, body, interior, electrical, etc. the first one kinda pissed me of but then i realised i made my money and really don't care what they say once they own it. it'd be nice to get credit everytime but i guess that's life
Happens to me all the time...I don't have a real shop so it doesn't bug me much (bugs my friends more for some reason) For instance...I built a car a few years ago and sold it in primer. Then while at Paso I stood there as some kid told me how the shop he worked at did all the work on the car and how they built the skirts....I let him ramble for a bit before I explained to him who the real builder of the car was....he left in a hurry. I got a laugh out of it! Usually in magazines I see the info wrong on who built stuff too...info like "the owner just finished building this truck" and it's something I built 10 years ago cracks me up. But again it's not my business so I guess it doesn't matter. Now if that's how I make a living I guess I would want to see my name somewhere...but then again...if I was doing it for a living I would build a really great car and drive the **** out of it so everyone would see it....and when they asked who did the work it would be correct
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