Warning! Avoid this Phoenix Custom Paint Shop

The whole story, with pictures is here: http://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/phoenix-custom-auto-paint-warning/
Here's the summary:
Terrific Paint and Customs in Phoenix, AZ. Runs a Craigslist ad to find business. Run by Mark Behlke.

DON'T use this guy!
The worst of it:
* The interior paint. How can you have me pick up my car, 5 months late, when just about every panel in the interior has something wrong?
- LONG runs with clear over the top. How can you shoot clear and polish runs?
- The interior needs to be repainted or at least sanded and buffed extensively
* The battery won’t come out of the box he built. It's jammed in there!
* the door edges are not finished. They’re super rough, especially on the driver’s door and have chips
* Paint in general has too many flaws.
- I know I paid for driver quality paint, but there are 20-30 blemishes in the paint of all varieties
+ deep scratches
+ burn thru
+ bubbling/lifting – the driver’s side fenders were redone
+ peeling off in several spots
* Body work
- the front fenders both look practically untouched, were redone and now the color doesn't match and there's NEW dents
- Over-spray all over the new front suspension parts

I could go on about how he claims it's MY FAULT it ended up this way or how my 3 week paint job took 7 months to come back looking like hell, but I'd bore you.

I'm probably an idiot and definitely never should have went with an untested painter or should have at least checked references. Lesson learned:
- you get what you pay for. I shoulda either waited, or paid more for a good painter... or just scuffed and painted in my garage

Don't use Terrific Paint and Custom in Phoenix Arizona

PM or email with any questions, I don't want this to happen to anyone else.

 

Looks like you got taken to the cleaners and I hope someone can help you repair that mess. Thats some pretty sorry work. I also wonder if he's on the HAMB. Words out!

 

The biggest thing that stands out is the different color front, but dont kid yourself theres 20-30 "blemishes" on show car paint jobs. You should have done more homework.

 

put it all together and make a sign for the roof and tell the guy its his new advertisement for his work, set it out front of his shop.

 

If you weren't happy with the job provided why did you pay him?

 

If you had a written contract to do the work, take him to SMALL CLAIMS COURT WITH YOUR PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Damn the luck . Happened to me once , went to court & got $$$$$ back .
GOOD LUCK ....live & learn.
"AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"

 

I have seen the car it truly is a horrible job! I really don't understand how the painter could feel good about what he did. In my opinion the car is worse off now then when it was delivered to him for the paint job.

 

Playing the devils advocate for a minute. Did you ever use the phrase " I'm in no hurry..."? I have found that to be an invitation for the shop to work on everything else in the world but the project you brought in.

As for the lousy results. Yep probably should have checked them out. The one line that sticks out is "I know I paid for driver quality paint...". Man that is so open to interpretation. Means a lot of things to different people.

Don't get me wrong, I'm on your side, but sometime we bring this stuff on ourselves by not being specific about what we want or using price as our only criteria for picking a shop (never a good idea).

Hope you get some restitution.

 

Wondered what was taking so long getting that thing back together! Sorry to here of your woes... You might try Matt Howard at Deluxe Customs to "unmess" your situation. Possibly Craig Smith too.

 

Yeah! Take the case to Judge Judy's court room out in L.A. I want to see what happens...

 

sorry to hear. Make sure you have your bases covered and take him to small claims court. sand the car back down to rid of the the runs and fix the blemishes and take it elsewhere for repaint. It is fixable so keep your head up

 

Happened to me a couple monts ago with different painter, took it back and complained and had the truck redone and back in 7 days, went there everyday to keep on him tho.

 

Man that sucks.......So what did this bandwagon pro charge for his fine craftsmanship?

I ran into a local case were a guy paid a kid for a "cheap" paint job. $2,500 and six months later his 41 Caddy was tiger striped with black spray bomb with, various items lost and damaged. The sad part is it's a decent car and while I did not see it before I was told it was OE paint with some surface rust.

 

I'll agree that the paint has a lot wrong with it but $1800 is in the price range of MAACO and E. Scheib. If he furnished the paint and materials there wasn't much left for labor. Of course he set the price so that was his fault but to me an $1800 price quote should have set off alarms in your head. Worst case, you got slightly less than you paid for.

 

I cut the following directly from your post:

Lesson learned:
- you get what you pay for. I shoulda either waited, or paid more for a good painter

 

I had the same thing happen to me on a paint job back a few years ago. I had a local painter mess up the first paint job and took it back and he repainted it a second time and it came out worse the second time so I took it to small claims court and got all my money back. Took a little time to get the money, but I got it back and had it repainted and it turned out fine. I took the car with me to court and the judge came out and looked at it and then made the judgement against him. Good luck to you just get everything in order for the judge!!

 

Looks like your paint guy has a relative in Texas that does upholstery where I had mine done. It was 1 month past the due date as was promised. The best was when he decided to move his shop and not inform me. My heart dropped when I showed up and the place was cleared out. Part of my interior has been back once and another part of it will be going back this week.

I'll start another thread as to not clutter yours.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, just wanted to let you know you're not alone.

 

Wow, I've had better results at "One Day Paint & Body" and it was under $1K.

 

OUCH!
I would be going to court to get my money back for sure!
All the judge needs to see is that mismatched fender, yikes!
Sorry man, that really sucks.

 

how did the guy explain the 2 tone pant job?

front clip that dont match the back 2/3rds of the car?

 

Wow I just don't know what to say.

You would have been better off to send it to me, I don't paint worth a crap either.

I know this doesn't sound nice and it certainly isn't going to get the OPs paint sorted out but one should avoid professionals advertising on craigs list.

 

Thanks to everyone for their sympathy and even for the hard words indicating, "you shoulda known better" because I should have. But to Ebbsspeed who said, "do I have anything to bitch about?", I'd like to see your reaction if something like this happened to you. You obviously didn't read the story and don't know the details.

Other detailed mistakes for people to learn from, hopefully, as mentioned in replies here:
- don't say, "I'm not in a hurry"
- get a contract detailing what "Driver quality" means, or don't say, "Driver quality"
- Do your homework - at least Google the company's name and CALL THE REFERENCES!

Why'd I pay him? Cause you have to before you start a claim in court, which I'm considering. I paid him $2500, not $1800. And, probably another stupid move, cause I was hoping he'd make all this right.

Thank again for spreading the word and the compassion. All the best on your projects!

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I bet if Pike hadn't paid him he would not have gotten his car back. It's called a mechanics lien, and I bet this "painter" knows about them too.

 

'Zactly! Now is the time to get the word out, suck it up and fix what's bad. Small claims court can do it's slow grind and maybe help, but getting the car up and happy is the best way to make life good again. Lesson learned. Sorry to hear that happened to you dude. I have seen Craig fix some pretty nasty stuff, but I do know he is working a full time gig again bending neon, so time might be an issue.

 

Craig did an amazing job on that purple and white car he built.

 

2800 doesnt sound that bad for even a low-level paint job. paint and clear runs VERY expensive. It cost us over 1000 in paint supplies to do our car its original color and clear it. nothing fancy. On top of that, materials to prep it and fix any dents and dings and the price goes up from there....not including labor costs...this is strictly supplies. we did all of our work on our car ourselves and we've watched how much its costs to fix it to paint it. I guess you get what you pay for and if he was adhering towards your budget, then i can understand where dents and dings dont get fixed (but he shouldve consulted with you about that). as for the paint...there is not excuse for poor paint quality and mismatched color

 

Dents get painted over all the time on cheep paint jobs, because of the labor, but paint chips and scratches are a quick fix with a DA, blend them out...and the paint, every one has a paint match problem once in a while, but what the fuck they could have tinted it and blended half way down the car and cleared for at least a street paint job. And the dash.. well it needs a block and reshoot..Small claims will see it your way. Good luck.

 

wow! i'm wondering how that guy sleeps at night knowing he took your hard earned money for that paint job. looks like a chimpanzee painted it with his feet! i couldn't image any reputable shop even letting that car out of the building looking like that, let alone making the customer pay for it. i don't know, maybe it's just me, but, i wouldn't even want the customer to see it! i wish you the best of luck recovering your money, cause your going to need it to get that car right again.

 

I've seen the pix...horrible job ! The man should have never let it out of his shop in that condition. It should never be just about "the money"...it's about the man who does the job and the pride he takes in his craftsmanship. When I was just a young guy starting out in the World, my late-Dad told me:

"Son, whatever you do in life make sure you always put your heart & soul into it and do it to the very B-E-S-T of your ability. Always have enough self-pride that if your name is attached to it, those who come in contact with you will always know that you do quality work. AND, if you're getting paid for it, DO IT EVEN BETTER THAN THAT ! "

Some who call themselves "Professionals" just like to hear themselves use the word. If they took lessons from my Dad they'd know what being a Pro really meant.

Jonnie King www.legends.thewwbc.net