Tend to think the inverse of the mates system has been applied with my jobs, hardly been bumping my work to the front of the queue.
ET: Engine (Twin) Waiting for work to be completed
- Thread starter eglijim
- Start date
Our complaint came after being promised an engine for start of season (after cutting short the previous season to give extra time) I (my then company) sponsored a series in BHR that covered a whole season so I could save the cost of 1 and a half entry fees.And then did not get engine untill 3 race days were over
Well at least it got me to do my own engines after that..
Well at least it got me to do my own engines after that..
It is the sort of malpractice that gets exposed on television programmes like Watchdog and Rouge Traders, surely in excess of 10 years waiting time is totally unacceptable, depending on circumstances you could end up losing your parts altogether. I had to get a little forceful with a well known painter of Vincent parts (sadly no longer with us) after he had two of my fuel tanks for a long time, in the end I snapped and said don't bother, I will come and collect them, hey presto, with that they were done, I wonder who else had their completion date put back to accommodate me. There seems little point in extolling the virtues of someones skills if you never get to experience the fruits of their labours.
Old UK term, GUNNERS
Perhaps those with parts in the custody of such a business should reflect on the quality of storage, quality of record-keeping, identification and correlation of parts with owners, the honesty of the business, the likelihood of ever getting the work done, and, if the work is ever done, the size of the bill (when the hours worked on your parts are unknown and unrecorded) ?
The death of another specialist some years ago with a similar reputation led to a succession of owners visiting the premises, claiming parts that they said belonged to them from the shelves of unlabelled parts, with at least one owner finding that he was too late. His were no longer there.
May I suggest that retrieving your parts into your own keeping and making other arrangements would be a good idea? If your turn in the workshop queue ever arrives, you could always take them back.....
The death of another specialist some years ago with a similar reputation led to a succession of owners visiting the premises, claiming parts that they said belonged to them from the shelves of unlabelled parts, with at least one owner finding that he was too late. His were no longer there.
May I suggest that retrieving your parts into your own keeping and making other arrangements would be a good idea? If your turn in the workshop queue ever arrives, you could always take them back.....
Jim,
I used to value Bob's friendship as much as I admire his outstanding engineering abilities, but, and its a massive but, friends do not tell you items are finished, get paid in full and then months later get embarrassed when you turn up to find one item is part finished and the others were installed on someone else's bike after you paid up. Friends just do not do that to each other (well not the other real friends I have).
Friends do not absolutely promise to your face that they will finish (more) work that is already paid for and then haven't done it several months later - it's couldn't care less, friends just don't do that to each other.
My patience is now exhausted, I went up at end Nov (yet another one of many visits) to remove everything of mine and he promised "all to be be finished in 5 weeks with progress reports" - here we are 10 weeks later (have not been up there only due to illness), no reports ('what a surprize' - not!!) and his attention will have been completely diverted by working on your bike and probably other engineering 'mission impossible' challenges that have just passed under his nose since my visit.
While my parts have been 'in progress', I know of at least 4 engines that I have seen in scruffy pieces that have subsequently made it out the door in one completed piece, probably due to the owners being able to visit more than I and complain face to face.
Rapcom
Even Bob used to joke, "If you want the job doing properly leave it here, if you want the job doing leave it somewhere else".
Thank goodness that deep down Bob is 1000% honest and can remember where everything (and everybody's everything) is, but he is his own worst business enemy (and always has been, sadly), people have only suffered his errant ways because of his outstanding abilities. But now that age and his health is catching up with him he is making just too many mistakes (on my stuff at least!) AND I WANT MY BL**DY PAID FOR PARTS BACK - before I die!!!!!
When he inevitably passes on with backdated work still on the shelves, the burden will unfortunately fall on to the shoulders of another true and honest mutual friend (who also knows most of what I have up there at least) to sort out, which is very unfair.
When I shake this virus off I shall sally forth and retrieve my components, a long standing highly valued friendship will have been driven firmly on to the rocks, very sadly.
I used to value Bob's friendship as much as I admire his outstanding engineering abilities, but, and its a massive but, friends do not tell you items are finished, get paid in full and then months later get embarrassed when you turn up to find one item is part finished and the others were installed on someone else's bike after you paid up. Friends just do not do that to each other (well not the other real friends I have).
Friends do not absolutely promise to your face that they will finish (more) work that is already paid for and then haven't done it several months later - it's couldn't care less, friends just don't do that to each other.
My patience is now exhausted, I went up at end Nov (yet another one of many visits) to remove everything of mine and he promised "all to be be finished in 5 weeks with progress reports" - here we are 10 weeks later (have not been up there only due to illness), no reports ('what a surprize' - not!!) and his attention will have been completely diverted by working on your bike and probably other engineering 'mission impossible' challenges that have just passed under his nose since my visit.
While my parts have been 'in progress', I know of at least 4 engines that I have seen in scruffy pieces that have subsequently made it out the door in one completed piece, probably due to the owners being able to visit more than I and complain face to face.
Rapcom
Even Bob used to joke, "If you want the job doing properly leave it here, if you want the job doing leave it somewhere else".
Thank goodness that deep down Bob is 1000% honest and can remember where everything (and everybody's everything) is, but he is his own worst business enemy (and always has been, sadly), people have only suffered his errant ways because of his outstanding abilities. But now that age and his health is catching up with him he is making just too many mistakes (on my stuff at least!) AND I WANT MY BL**DY PAID FOR PARTS BACK - before I die!!!!!
When he inevitably passes on with backdated work still on the shelves, the burden will unfortunately fall on to the shoulders of another true and honest mutual friend (who also knows most of what I have up there at least) to sort out, which is very unfair.
When I shake this virus off I shall sally forth and retrieve my components, a long standing highly valued friendship will have been driven firmly on to the rocks, very sadly.
I fully sympathize with you, but I can see the issue from both sides. I have had jobs given to me that have been far more time consuming and troublesome than they are worth. Though it is nice to return badly damaged machines back to the road, I have to look very closely at what jobs I am prepared to do now for this very reason, as I know from my experience that it is all too easy to look at things with rose colored spectacles on. The reality is that some engine cases in particular should be used as door stops, especially when new ones are available. To carry out major re-work on badly damaged cases is really a job for an owner/machinist. Similarly to custom build bike specials like Norvin's, Egli's, or similar hybrid bikes is also very time consuming, which is why most owners do this themselves. I don't believe anyone who runs a workshop and a customer wishing to have this kind of work done can ever fully grasp the time and effort to build such a machine.........The hours lost in the "Trial and error" process of building these kind of machines makes the job very inefficient. Perhaps this is why they take so long, because you can only spend so much time verses quicker "Turn around jobs" that are far less hassle and better cash flow. It sounds harsh, but although I am far younger than Bob, I still know from over 30 years of restoration that this is how it is. It is a double edged sword really. Cheers.................Greg.
Greg A friend use to do Vincent repairs now retired, he said a good percentage of the jobs he was given were job from owners he called Eddy the experts they had started found to hard and brought round for him to fix they went to the back of the workshop !