67 Butternut Build

[sjaroslo]

This feels like a good time to delve a little deeper into my experience with Prodigy. While I am absolutely pleased with the end results, I will acknowledge, as I think will Frank, that everything was not entirely peaches and cream all of the time on the build. I do want to say, first and foremost, that nothing has changed my feelings about Frank as a person and as a carbuilder. I honestly believe that he conducts himself with the utmost respect for his customer and their property, and from having had the pleasure of hanging out with him several times and in various venues, I can attest that he is above all an honest, forthright gentleman. I don't believe for a minute some of the accusations that have been levied his way. I can say that we conducted this transaction on the basis of a telephone call and an Excel spreadsheet! The prices that Frank quoted me in December of 2010 are the prices that he charged me when the progress billings came through. He is a man of integrity and he is sincere, and his adherence to his quoted prices is a large source of pride for him, which I appreciated.



Where the major source of any tension between us stemmed from was the timeline. I don't know if it is obvious from the pictures, but my build started right around the time that Frank was changing shops, and was going through quite a few personal issues with a staff member, and that all cascaded on to my build. It started out in Apopka but transitioned to Sanford. So, my expectations were set early that we were probably looking at 6 to 8 months, and it turned in to 18.... Although I shipped the car in December to fill the slot, it wasn't touched until April of 2011, so that colored my opinion on how things were progressing throughout the build. In retrospect, I think that if the expectation of an 18 month build had been set upfront, I would have been much less nervous and overly annoying. In the end, I put a lot of pressure on him to wrap up the work and get the car on a carrier, and he did, and I've been very happy. Of course he didn't know at the time everything that was in front of him, and I probably could have been a little more understanding and patient, but in the end all's well.

I think it has been said before here that I think Frank became somewhat a victim of his own success, and his business practices hadn't caught up to the level of sophistication and the volume of projects that are moving through his shop, and I think that is the area he most needs to concentrate on. And I believe that he has and continues to improve, and I am here to endorse him 100%. I have several more thousands of dollars in parts ordered through him, and I look forward to still sucking him dry of information, help and guidance moving forward. And the same goes for you on the forum, as well, as you'll see that I have a crapload of work still ahead of me, and little idea on what to do first!