Has anyone here sued a bad painter?

snaggletooth

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Looks like I may haver to take a bad painter to court. My Busa rolled off the kick stand last year and I finally scraped up enough cash to have it painted.

I provided the paint shop the color and reducer from Color Rite ($150) (07 busa black) and asked them what it would cost to clean up the light rash and re-spray the left lower and nose fairings. The guy charged me $200. He said that I was getting a great deal beacuse he was providing the clear and hardener. At first I thought I was getting a smoking deal but after considering that I was providing the color and reducer, the $350 total cost seemed fair but nothing to write home about.

I told the guy several times that I expected the fairings to be "like brand new" or I would return them. I also advised him that if he couldn't make them "like new" not to take on the job. He assured me that he could make them like new but couldn't guarrante the color match because I was supplying the color. That's fair I thought and handed him $200, the fairings, and my paint (1-pint color and 1-Qt reducer).

A couple of weeks later I get the fairings back. The ass hat gave them to me full of pollishing compound. After cleaning them up I find a bunch of flaws (lots of orage peel, chips, and dimples). I returned them and gave him what paint was left over.

Yesterday (month later) I call and he says I can come and pick them up. At first glance the nose fairing looked good but the ass hat failed to remove the screens and painted them. The lower fairing turned totaly blue in the light. I asked what the heck is up with that. He said that he had to scrape the bottom of the paint can to get enought to re-paint the lower fairing and ended up getting to much flake in the paint. "the thing looked like a carnival ride!" Now I'm wonering if there was that much flake in the bottom of the can, does that mean the nose fairing is lacking in the right amount of flake?

I told him that he would have to keep it and fix it, it ws no good for me to use. Then he tried to tell me where I could get the paint localy at a reduced cost. I was so pissed I told him that it was his problem and walked away with the nose fairing.

While at home I had a chance to give the nose fairing a good inspection. It has a few dimples, some orange peel under the chin area, a light run, a lot of un-finished pollishing, and of course the painted screens.

When I'm done with my work week I'm going back to demand a full refund ($200)! I guess I'll eat the cost of the color ($150) and the cost for new screens. I don't care how much time / labor and clear this crappy painter has spent on my fairings. I plan to sue him for the cost of the screens, Color Right paint, plus the $200 labor charge if he doesn't refund my $200 payment.

Has anyone out there gone through this BS besides me, S/T?
 
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cant say I have had to deal with that. Had a few things painted at the local shop but I have a friend who works there so he gives me a good deal on stuff and it has always turned out good.

Sorry to hear your having troubles and I hope it all works out for ya in the end.
 
got a few questions:
* any of the conditions you both agreed to in writing?
* did you actually examine or ask for references from past satisfied customers?
* how much will a lawyer cost you?
 
This seems like small claims to me, no lawyer needed.


Do you have a receipt saying what was going to be repaired an painted??? Quality work is to be expected, receipt doesn't need to say it's going to be repaired free of paint defects, thats the way it's supposed to be done.

After the first repair, if you were happy with the color and only unhappy with the defects you may have a good argument, cause he should have repaired it, you shouldn't have needed to supply more materials to fix what he should have done right the first time.

Bad move to supply the paint or any materials, he can say you supplied poor quality materials an blame it on your paint, not a good idea to do that when getting your work done by someone else.

If you have no receipt you have got nothing to argue, sue or complain about, if you have no receipt take it as a lesson learned an move on..

jmo


don't throw the screens away the paint can come off I am almost sure that. there a ton stuff that you could probably dip them in an get them back the way they were
 
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i was gonna sue my painter, i had issues with his work quality, decided against it. the time i would have to take off work to fight it would negate the money he had to pay me back.

doing my best to wreck his business though. everyone i talk to gets an earful of how and why i hate the guy and his shop
 
XXXchromeXXXX come to mind for some reason.


If it's not in writing,it's going to be hard to prove.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.
 
I do have a receipt. It doesn't say much, just $200 to paint 2-fairings. However I do have a good witness. He was right there when the guy agreed to "like new" quality. He was the one who guided me to this shop. I can't blame him, he said he received good work from them in the past.

It's only $25 to file a small claims case where I'm at. The first attempt was a perfect match in color. That's why I ponied up the big bucks for the color right paint (quality paint and perfect color match) . If the nuckle head didn't screw up the first attempt he wouldn't of had to use what was left over in the can anyway. I'm told that a good painter could have fixed the flaws without having to spray everything all over agin.

I have to much invested in this ($350) to just walk away without recovering anything. This could end up costing me $700 or more in the end just to get a single solid color on two stinking fairings, S/T
 
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I'm new to the forum but what about posting your location to see if a fellow orgster can refer u to a truly good painter near u and sue the "ass hat" for the cost to make it right??? Jmo.
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I would chalk it up to lesson learned. Unless you pay big bucks for the work the quality will suffer.

As far as the screens I could see the counter argument of, "I was paid to paint the fairing, not for dissasembly and prep".

As far as orange peel.. hell brand new I can see orange peel on a bike... same with cars. You have to pay alot more if you want perfection.

Sorry I don't mean to sound down on you.
 
I hope my fairings come out ok. They should be done tomorrow or Monday. They have been there 2 weeks so they better have done good :please:
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You get what you pay for. I doubt you will get your money back from this guy and taking him to court won't give you anything but empty pockets and a head ache. I would suggest just buying new parts.
 
Not to add a monkeywrench into to it but FWIW Colorite colors are not always right. I called about their 2003 40th Anniv Orange and even they said there's a couple diff versions of that.

Best bet, when in budget is to just shoot the whole bike, or buy OEM (prepainted) fairings if you want stock look.

Good luck with your case.
 
You get what you pay for. I doubt you will get your money back from this guy and taking him to court won't give you anything but empty pockets and a head ache. I would suggest just buying new parts.

Those are my thoughts exactly. You can get a brand new lower fairing in a perfect color match with decals for around $350. The color on busas is VERY hard to make match .
 
How bout some pics? Seriously, It will never look as good as factory, ever. There will always be orange peel fish eyes, dust, you name it. Only a multi-million dollar facility will be able to to a great job like you are excepting. Trust me. I've had ALOT of paint work done. You get what you pay for. Suck it up and leave the guy alone.
 
How bout some pics? Seriously, It will never look as good as factory, ever. There will always be orange peel fish eyes, dust, you name it. Only a multi-million dollar facility will be able to to a great job like you are excepting. Trust me. I've had ALOT of paint work done. You get what you pay for. Suck it up and leave the guy alone.

:rofl: ive had a paint job done in a barn with a hay floor, 0 flaws. factory isnt flawless and a mediocre painter with a nice booth can do better than factory. you dont always get what you pay for either. painting is a talent. ive seen some of the nicest and most high tech shops turn out some shoddy work and guys with 20 years of painting in a garage do better.
 
:rofl: ive had a paint job done in a barn with a hay floor, 0 flaws. factory isnt flawless and a mediocre painter with a nice booth can do better than factory. you dont always get what you pay for either. painting is a talent. ive seen some of the nicest and most high tech shops turn out some shoddy work and guys with 20 years of painting in a garage do better.


So we should assume any clown with a spray gun in a barn with cow ****ting all over the place can put out a paint job with "0 flaws" ...... please.... ??? 1 in a million if you have good eye sight.
 
So we should assume any clown with a spray gun in a barn with cow ****ting all over the place can put out a paint job with "0 flaws" ...... please.... ??? 1 in a million if you have good eye sight.

if thats what i said then i guess, does good eyesight come with reading comprehension?

hey man i dont want to argue with you about this either, but to tell someone they will never get a job as good as factory is misinformation.

and like i said the first time. a good painter makes the quality of the job, not the equipment or the materials. you can have the best of everything and an in experienced or just lazy painter and have a very poor job.
 
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Well, I asked for the members thoughst and I got them. I'm very suprised of haw many here have a very low expectation of what should be expected from an established (one that has been in business in the same location for many years) body shop. I have read a lot of "you paid for what you got & chalk it up to a lesson learned."

Sorry to thoese type of fellows, but just laying down and letting a guy bone me is not my way. I have seen other body shop paint jobs that were very close too, if not perfect, in my time. Too bad none of the good work I have seen was done where I live now.

Sure a factory paint job may have a few minor blems if you closely inspect a full fairing bike from front fender to rear (although I have never seen a single paint blem any new bike that I have purchased) but this is way beyond a few minor belms here or there.

Upon the first attempt the Color Right paint was "a perfect match." There was no problem with the paint, only the painter. If this was too big of a job for him he should of either stated that there will be some blems or turned down the job. My expectations were made very clear before he accepted the work. Besides, I would have accepted a few minor flaws (I would realy like to ride the bike again soon) but what ge gave me was total crap. Did I forget to mention that this is a "single color paint job on two fairings," Not the whole bike done in a multi-color ultra candy extra pearl super flake fantasy paint job.

Too all that plan to have a part or even a whole bike painted soon, Dont Drink The Low Standard Kool Aid! If the painter says he can do a specified level of quality, hold him to it! If the paint job doesn't at least come close to as advertised, just don't put your tail between your legs and wish you paid more thinking, I got what I paid for. Nor should you let the crap painter off the hook by turning the other cheek and calling it a lesson learned. What lesson is learned anyway, how to get punked and not fight back?

Don't believe anyone who says "A competant painter can't do a flalwless job, nor very close to it." That kind of thought is a big slap in the face of very painter worth his salt. I'm not talking about the specialty high dollor guys, Just regular professionals that have pride in their work! This isn't majic, it takes skill, not voodoo!

BTW, please let us all know where I can find an OEM nose or side fairing with decal for $350? I replaced a side fairing over a year ago and it cost $450 with decal. I did a lot of shopping first, I thought that was a good deal.
 
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Ive got a set of fairings sittin in boxes in the basement, I think i went to your painters brother. :banghead:

Walk away, time is money, thats what i did. If ya buy a new nose, it will have screens installed already, made that mistake too. If you do need new screens, ive got a set. PM me if your interested:thumbsup:
 
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