Troubles...

[Steve1968LS2]

These are the times that try men's souls... the ending stretch of a project.

Been working hard to get the car done by the Good Guys Del Mar show and things were looking good. To help get stuff done I decided to trade cash for time and hire an electrician to tidy up the wiring in the car.

Now keep in mind that things like the headlights, turn signals and such worked before the rebuild and mainly required the reconnection of wires. I also wanted a 12v plug added (for a cell phone, etc), the wire ran to the switch for the electric trunk latch, horn button on the dash, wires ran to the various (already installed) sensors, and the gauge wiring cleaned up. Found a guy that charged a very reasonable $30 and hour to do the work and got him busy. That was three weeks ago.

He would come into the shop for a few hours each day, skipping some days. After awhile I got a bill for $405 (13.5 hours). At this point nothing worked, but I did see some new wires and I know electrical can be a pain. Last friday, when I was on vacation, I got a call from him saying that "I'm trying to hook up the speedo and the instructions reference a yellow wire, I can't find one??". I suggest he call Stewart Warner's tech line and ask (what am I supposed to do, he's the electrician and I'm not even there..) Turns out he didn't read all the instructions and there was an addendum about the yellow wire. hmmm.

So Friday he tells the guys at the shop that he want's to be paid again. How much? How about another $900 (30 hours). **** goes out to inspect the work for me and NOTHING works except the gauge lights. No turn signals, no brake lights, the headlights come one in high beam only and are very dim, no horn and worst of all not even the trunk latch was finished (it's a one wire deal, not even a ground wire). **** tells the guy that he needs to speak to me and that I'm not going to be happy. He was right.

Met the guy at the shop yesterday and proceeds to tell me I need to give him $900 more. I say "so, I supposed to give you $1300 and almost nothing works???" He says "well, that's the hours I have in it" and I ask "so how much more $$$ to finish, $1000? $2000?" and he says "I don't know"

So after 43 hours of working on my car he not only hasn't finished anything he doesn't even have a clue what more needs to be done. I asked why the easiest thing on the car, the trunk latch, doesn't even work and he says "It has a bad ground".. that's BS since we tested it during install by toucing the red wire to the battery.. was grounded fine. Then the excuses started (all my fault of course)

"It's wrong to ground the battery to the roll cage, the ground need to be ran to the starter"

"The switch panel is all wrong" (even though it worked fine before.. It's just switches)

"I was just doing what you wanted"

Uh, no... I told him how the car was wired and gave him carte blanch to do whatever he needed to make it work. If an old way to sound the horn was bad then he could come up with a better way. I'm NOT the electrician, I leave technical decisions to the "professionals". I should make it clear that the guy didn't work for Best Of Show, I hired him independently.

So, I'm mad and now behind schedual. I was going to pay him $600 but the more I looked at the work the madder I got. The final straw was later in the day when we started the car. I noticed the speedometer was acting erratic (car sitting still, engine running). When I reved the car the speedo moved! The guy hooked the tach wire to the speedo!!! Those wires even came marked from Speartech.. lol

Anyways, I hate being a jerk and not paying but I hate shelling out tons of cash for nothing. He has $405 and I might pay him another $200 or $400. I know the guy was there "putting in the time", but I think it was just over his head and he was unorganized. My angry side tells me to say "bite me, sue me in court if you want anymore $" but I hate being like that. I think I will have another electrician assess his work and give me an opinion. If it's all junk that needs to be redone he gets nothing, if there was good and proper work done he will get some. I want to be fair without getting screwed. Oh the drama...

So here I am, a week and a half to get my car done enough for Good Guys and I am missing basic fuctions like working fans, brake lights and head lights. argh!!!!!!!

Anyone know a GOOD electrician in SoCal? lol

The only good news is that he guys at Best Of Show had been doing great work on thier projects and I did make some progress when I worked on the car yesterday.

[Rick Dorion]

Wow. Persevere, Steve. I too would struggle about payment for services rendered vs hours put in. I'm hard pressed to understand what he did for all those hours, myself. But, I'd probably give him $200 to cover gas, etc and cut my losses. Best wishes on the completion. I love your car.

[Steve1968LS2]

Wow. Persevere, Steve. I too would struggle about payment for services rendered vs hours put in. I'm hard pressed to understand what he did for all those hours, myself. But, I'd probably give him $200 to cover gas, etc and cut my losses. Best wishes on the completion. I love your car.

I'm torn because I know he put in hours, but there are no results... I don't know why he didn't tackle one thing, like the trunk latch, and got that to work before starting something else. It's like he hopped around from task to task without completing anything. The last thing I want to do is screw someone out of labor, but I have very little to show for the $405 paid not to mention the $900 additional he wants.

[paul67]

Did not take me that long and I did not what i was doing, just read the wiring instructions, and had help from this site , see posts for hidden wiper etc rs lights. I think if you have not already fitted 1 is to buy a kit and rip the old wiring out, from what you saying its costing that would been the cheapest and fastest. For that price if you'd have put me up would have been cheaper for me to fly from the UK and do it.

[BRIAN]

That is a crazy price to wire a car. Wiring is not one of my strong points and I can get it done in a day and a 1/2.


For that price buy an aftermarket harness kit and with all the deletes you will knock it out in a day. Even if you pay someone it will be cheaper in the long run as there is less work in diagnosing problems. Most are simple start at the accy and run the wires to the box. Than tape them up. It is simpler than you could imagine. American, Francis, etc are have such good labeling that it is almost impossible to screw it up. I think Autowire even sells a already done quick harness which has even more done for you. Otherwise you are going to end up with patchwork. Can't seeing you want that on a car of that level. Plenty of sponsors on here to step up? Big exposure car.

By the way if it is electric speedo it's entire wiring and ground systen has to be islolated. Can't share any wires with any other gauges or you will have feedback. Even run the sensor wire away from the rest of the bundle.


Good luck and I simply wouldn't pay him. Too many people in this business who think they are professionals and expect that level of pay but are lost at what they do or are full of excuses that cost you money. I can think of one that did the same to me. Just walk away.


Brian

[trapin]

Steve...do NOT pay him that $900. Too many crooks in this world...and this guy is a crook who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Give him $100 for gas money and FIRE HIM RIGHT ON THE SPOT. If he wants to take you to court...than go to court. It's no big deal...just Small Claims Court. Even if you lose, no way you pay the $900. The judge will likely lower the price to as much as half of that.

[MarkM66]

Hours don't mean sh#t if something isn't getting accomplished. Are you paying for his "on the job training?"

That A-hole has some nerve to even expect that kind of money, for doing nothing.

[baz67]

I agree with Tony here. Give him some "good will" money and be done with it. If he does take you to court the judge will ask him a simple question. "Do you have a signed contract/work order? No? Sorry. I rule in favor of the rag writer that cannot spell schedule correctly."

[Rolling_Thunder]

I agree - dont pay him the $900 The shop I work at is in Southern CA - We are pretty busy - If you NEED somewhere shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

$30.00/hr? damn... thats some pretty cheap labor... most places I know in SoCal seem to charger between $75-$100/hr for electrical work...


I managed to wire my car with basic functions in two days... 23 hours with a painless kit (not one of those plug it in ones... they didnt offer one for my Mopar at the time so I used a universal one)

Steve - does the car need to be DONE for the show ? or does it just need basic functions ? What exactly needs to be done ? everything ? does it run ? just wiring accessories ?

[ZZ430]

Hours don't mean sh#t if something isn't getting accomplished. Are you paying for his "on the job training?"

That A-hole has some nerve to even expect that kind of money, for doing nothing.

Exactly!

I'm in the business. I do everything including wiring. I could wire 2 cars in that time.

That is totally ridiculous.

Results are all that matter, not how much time a low-ball artist had in it.

[72NovaSS]

I agree with Tony here. Give him some "good will" money and be done with it. If he does take you to court the judge will ask him a simple question. "Do you have a signed contract/work order? No? Sorry. I rule in favor of the rag writer that cannot spell schedule correctly."

Haha I like you sarcazm Baz!

Steve, pay him for gas, a bag of chips, and a soda for the drive back to his house and fire him. Nothing more nothing less.

[Steve1968LS2]

I agree - dont pay him the $900 The shop I work at is in Southern CA - We are pretty busy - If you NEED somewhere shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

$30.00/hr? damn... thats some pretty cheap labor... most places I know in SoCal seem to charger between $75-$100/hr for electrical work...


I managed to wire my car with basic functions in two days... 23 hours with a painless kit (not one of those plug it in ones... they didnt offer one for my Mopar at the time so I used a universal one)

Steve - does the car need to be DONE for the show ? or does it just need basic functions ? What exactly needs to be done ? everything ? does it run ? just wiring accessories ?

Basic functions.. headlights, side markers, tail lights, brake lights.. Oh, and for the cooling fan to activate at temp.. or at least be able to force them on.

My car is fairly simple, no ac, heat, dome light, stereo or any of that jazz.. the engine is completely wired and fine thanks to the harness from Speartech.

So, you think he could of been done in 43.5 hours? lol

[Steve1968LS2]

I agree with Tony here. Give him some "good will" money and be done with it. If he does take you to court the judge will ask him a simple question. "Do you have a signed contract/work order? No? Sorry. I rule in favor of the rag writer that cannot spell schedule correctly."

Hell, I can't speell "spell" correctly ;)

Thank god for spell-checker..

[Rolling_Thunder]

Basic functions.. headlights, side markers, tail lights, brake lights.. Oh, and for the cooling fan to activate at temp.. or at least be able to force them on.

My car is fairly simple, no ac, heat, dome light, stereo or any of that jazz.. the engine is completely wired and fine thanks to the harness from Speartech.

So, you think he could of been done in 43.5 hours? lol

Yes - yes - yes.... 43.5 hours... thats a joke.

[bookends]

Steve I feel for you, this guy needs to be fired before he burns your car to the ground! I know a great electrician, only he's in Ga.

[LMDGUY]

WOW.. i wouldnt pay him full price, like they said some "goodwill money" if he couldnt wire up the speedo correctly i dont think you want him to wire up the rest of the car.

[aonghus]

It should take someone who has a basic idea of automotive electrical systems, maybe 40 hours to do the job beginning to end. Hell, I wired my car before I took it apart in 30 hours with a painless kit. Everything worked.

[Steve1968LS2]

It should take someone who has a basic idea of automotive electrical systems, maybe 40 hours to do the job beginning to end. Hell, I wired my car before I took it apart in 30 hours with a painless kit. Everything worked.

That's why I was so shocked.. I would have gladly paided the $1300 if even most of the stuff was done.. Heck, I would have paid $2000 if everthing was done, working and done nicely. I don't even have brake lights or headlights.. lol

Oh well, live and learn. I'm sure the guy thinks I am ripping him off. He was pretty much an excuse machine and had zero remorse that after 43 hours nothing was done to a working stage.

[ironworks]

Well you could bring it to bakersfield and have some hillbillies work on it. My electrical guy could get it all fixed for ya this week. So you could still make Del Mar. Just a thought. But we don't work for free.

I never heard back from you when I returned your call a few weeks ago about Johns Nova.

Good luck

Rodger

[Steve1968LS2]

Well you could bring it to bakersfield and have some hillbillies work on it. My electrical guy could get it all fixed for ya this week. So you could still make Del Mar. Just a thought. But we don't work for free.

I never heard back from you when I returned your call a few weeks ago about Johns Nova.

Good luck

Rodger

That cause I talked to John and he 411'd me on the Nova. I made sure to get your shops website into the story.. does that get me a discount? lol

And I fully to expect to pay for work done, I just expect a certain amount of stuff to get done for a certain $$$ amount