Chrome disaster

[gasoline_24]

I sent off all of my chrome to be replated about 3 weeks ago.  It came back last Monday, but I was out of town on vacation and picked it up from my office on Saturday as soon as I got to town.  I was so excited to open it up and see what it looked like.     I should have waited until tomorrow as once I got the package I was very disappointed.      I paid a little over $1100 to get these items replated, but only about 5 are even useable.     The vent window pieces are not fully chromed.  They quit about 6 inches from the bottom.  I know this will not show, but this is just an example of the horrible work that was done on these.  The door handles look good from the top, but there are grooves in the bottom side.  this place came recommended by members on this board, but I am very disappointed.  I am not going to give a name yet as I have not had the opportunity to contact the company to see what if anything they plan to do to fix this.  I am going to take some pics and post them later so I can get opinions if I expect too much or if this is just bad work.  I explained to the guy I spoke with that I wanted a concours quality plating and he indicated that is the quality they put out.  This is not even driver quality.  I would have been better off just using what I already had before the replating.   

[BigBlockSam]

hi

 man that sucks . i've had trouble with chromer's in the past but when i showed them the parts they always stood behind there work . took the stuff back and did the best they could to make me happy . so don't freak out yet . just show them where they messed up. hopefully everything will be ok. Rene

[gasoline_24]

Thanks for the support.  My only problem is there is nobody local so I had to send it away.  I am hoping they will fix this.  However, I am unsure some of this can be fixed as it appears they ruined the parts by grinding on them.  I am trying to keep an open mind.

[Mike DC (formerly miked)]

   
I have a local old-school chrome place right it town. 


The more time goes by and the more I hear about other people's troubles with plating businesses, the more thankful I am for that place.  The work usually isn't perfect, but they almost always do something driver-tolerable and they've never ruined any of my pieces.  That seems to be getting rare in the plating business. 

 

[Chatt69chgr]

We definitely want to know where the place is so we don't send anything there.  I hope it wasn't Tri City plating as I plan on taking my stuff there.

[y3chargerrt]

I had my vent windows done at Pauls a few years back. It cost $950.00 back then.They completely disassembled them and chromed each piece and polished the stainless. I still have to reassemble them but the look 100%.

[gasoline_24]

It wasn't Paul's and it wasn't Tri-City.  That is where I sent my bumpers.  I will let you know how those come out.  They do not do the pot metal pieces though.  I took them by the body shop today to get someone elses opinion and he pointed out more flaws that I hadn't noticed.  He thinks several of the pieces are ruined and even if I sent them back there is nothing they can do to fix them.  I plan on calling the plater tomorrow to see what he thinks he can do.   

[Mike DC (formerly miked)]

 
Even if they seem to be working with you, I would still take a bunch of clear photos of the visible damage on the parts and email it to them something during this process. 

It will encourage them to take your gripes seriously. 


And you never know what really went on, either.  The top boss of the business might not have been entirely aware of what his employees were letting slide.  You might get lucky, and the boss might jump a lot higher to rectify this when he sees exactly what you got.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Is anyone else thinking this? ---

Next time I give something to a plater, I'm gonna take good pics of its condition before I handed it over to them. 

[gasoline_24]

Yeah I have pics, but I didn't take enough to verify what they looked like before they were sent.

[The70RT]

Tell them to make it right or everyone will know that they screwed you....if that matters to them at all. 

[gasoline_24]

I finally got ahold of the chrome place today and he asked me to mark the pieces and send them back.  I will be sending them out tomorrow to get them redone.  It will be interesting to see if he can fix them and if he asks for more money.

[charger2fast4u]

sorry about your luck with them. do you have any pictures of what they came back looking like? i'm interested in seeing how bad they are.

[gasoline_24]

They should have arrived  back at the platers today.  I anticipate a call tomorrow to discuss this with the owner.  Hopefully he is willing to take care of it.  He did say that he wants to take care of the situation.  I didn't make any threats about outing him on here so I think he may be a stand up guy.  Time will tell.  I have some pics, but they don't show because of reflections.

[BigBlockSam]

good luck 

[hutch]

you got any before and after photos?

 

[NMike]

any update?

[Rolling_Thunder]

vent window frames suck to rechrome....     trust me...   I've disassembled plenty....         I go with Verne's Chrome - luckily he is just down the street from our shop here in southern CA...     Bob (co-owner) also happens to be a customer of ours....        he does pretty good work...   i have always been pleased...         sorry for your misfortune - but i'm sure it will be worked out   

[gasoline_24]

I spoke with the guy the other day and he is going to refund my cost for the tail panel c trim and the console lights.  I will use that to buy aftermarket ones from PG or BEA.  He is also going to redo the outside door handles.  I am going to just use the vent window frames as they will not be visable.  It will probably eat at me.  He offered to redo them, but wanted the initial cost plus 30 for each.  I didn't want to argue too much with him.

[gasoline_24]

Just an update.  So I was trying to work this out with Superior Chrome plating and did not use their name until now, but it has become clear that I am getting the run around on this and want to make sure nobody else makes this same mistake.  They agreed to fix three pieces:  outside door handles and th vent window chrome that was nicked.  Those came back and look the same as when I sent them.  They did knock down the sharp edges off of the nick, but it is still visible which tells me they just buffed it out instead of redoing the work.  These came back to me on Wed.  When I got the box they kept the tail panel trim, console lights, a/c control panel, shifter knob, and vent window frames.  I thought this was just an oversight as the guy told me they were moving and that led to some of the 2 month delay getting these back to me.  However when I called him today he said that he thought that our agreement was for him to fix the three items and I would buy replacements for the other pieces.  I did tell him I could buy the tail panel trim and the console lights, but that I need the other parts back and I would just make them work.  After I explain all of this to him he said well I am out tomorrow and I will call you on Monday.  This is his pattern of not dealing with this.  I called the credit card company and am disputing the claim.  Doubt this gets me anywhere and I am now probably out $1,100 for the chroming plus the cost to replace the parts he lost or kept.  STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.

[69*F5*SE]

Sorry to hear. That's very unfortunate. At least you've sent out the warning, that's cool.  Ted