Scott
Sorry about your horrible experience.
(1) when working with obscure stuff like old car radios, modern car stereo expertise likely doesn’t imply expertise in what you want to get done. Just like the bodyshop you chose, which was expert in hot rods and 356’s, but not in E9’s. In the case of your body work, the shop really seemed ignorant of many BMW restoration basics, and you ended up having to teach them how to do their jobs (w the support of the forum). Thus I would NOT CALL Benny and expert in any relevant sense.
Was the Autosound shop you selected highly experienced in vintage Becker systems and mating them to modern electronics? Or were they just a well known shop for modern Autosound conversions?
(2) you seem like a SEMI-hands-on guy. Most professional shops hate guys like us (I’m one of them), because we think we know what works and we think we know how the solution should be, and we like to tell people how to do things and we in general like to stick our noses into other people’s jobs . But often we are actually pretty ignorant and our involvement makes other people’s jobs harder.
Most prefer a customer come it with a clear request and expectation for what the completed project should do, but then step back and let them:
(a) figure out what parts and expertise THEY need to meet your expectations, and plan THEIR project to meet your needs
(b) get the parts required by THEIR plan. This means they are responsible to get the right stuff and stand behind them. Also, Shops depend on parts markups to make a living.
(c) do the work as THEY have planned, where they bring you in for decisions and consultation as needed.
When you bring a box of YOUR parts to a pro and tell them 1/5th of what they actually need to implement your design .... how motivated or enabled do you think they will be to get it all sorted out? After all, it is YOUR box of parts (on which they make no margin), and YOUR technical know-how that says YOUR stuff will do what it’s supposed to.
This is why I have taken the time to learn how to do stuff myself. And when I bring my parts and ideas to a professional, I try to put myself in their shoes:
(1) I write up a detailed list of my expectations for the finished project. This includes all the parts I want to bring.
(2) We review this to make sure they are ok with it. I clarify whether they are willing to re-engineer out any mistakes I’ve made in planning/parts, at my expense
Usually, they will say, “no guarantees this will work because you are bringing your own parts and you want us to do it your way.” If that is not ok with me the. I ask them to suggest an alternative where they will take full responsibility for the outcome.
(3) I offer to pay them the margin they would have made had they sourced the parts
(4) I make it 100% clear that if they think my plan and/or parts won’t do the job, then it’s my fault/responsibility
Of course, maybe you just got unlucky and locked a crappy shop.
PS: your rear windows don’t worn because they screwed up putting your car back together. Because they go down, just not up, it is probably not installing the switches and harness plugs correctly in the console.
Good luck
John
John, I truly appreciate your input. But in this case, your comments are not inline with my conversations with this shop. I fully appreciate how a shop might not appreciate a customer bringing a box of parts to install, especially if they sell those very same parts and make money on them. That is not the case here. This shop does not typically install Becker period correct stereos, and they were glad I did the extensive research necessary to get all the needed parts. I discussed this very issue with the shop and laughed about it together. Frankly, I don't think there is a shop in all of Idaho that is "highly experienced in vintage Becker systems and mating them to modern electronics." I did confirm with the Becker folks that the install should be straightforward for any car radio shop; no special experience was needed I confirmed.
Before making the appointment and driving there, I was clear on the end goal, and sent them detailed images of all the parts so they would know. We then had several discussions about this over the phone. He asked for more pictures, which I sent. They knew exactly what the expectations were going in, and agreed happily to do the work needed to achieve those goals.
However, I discovered when I was there that they were extremely busy; I heard him telling another customer that they were up 70% over last MONTH. I made the appointment over 6 weeks ago; this was the first appointment. They said it should take only 1.5 hours to do the install, but when I got there they said they reserved 5 hours to do the work. I just think they took on more work than they were capable of at that time. They should have told me they couldn't do the work, or didn't want to do the work. That's not on me to make that call.
Initially, I tried to find someone local to do the install, as I thought it couldn't be that hard. The guy I found here locally worked at an auto repair shop and asked me specifically to source the parts, as he didn't want to do the necessary research. I decided then to bring it to an "auto radio expert" who installed my stereo in my couple several years ago since he was familiar with the set up, or so I thought.
Perhaps in larger cities your approach may work well, but I have found when you live in the sticks like I do, getting things done is not as easy as you'd might expect. I do sincerely appreciate all the great feedback here. It was especially valuable with my mini restoration.
On that front, I have NO regrets having Benny do the work on MY BABY. I think he did a great job, with the help of this forum and my extensive efforts in sourcing the needed parts. If I had it to do all over again, I would have done the same, but wouldn't have posted updates as often here in this forum. I was just super excited about the entire process and wanted to share, and get input.
The other coupe Benny is restoring is turning out great from my perspective, with the help of
@sfdon on the engine. See the updates here:
https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/bennyz-rod-shop-restoration.29868/page-10#post-307691.
Benny does lots more than just hot rods and 356's. Before jumping to any conclusions about his work, let me send you an update when the car is ready, which I think will be fairly soon. It is now in Boise getting the interior done. The other alternative for me would have been sending MY BABY to one of the few shops that specialize in coupe restorations, and spend $75k+ and take ~2 years. That was not an option for me, and like I said, I am VERY happy for the result for the price and time it took to complete. Please keep the comments about my mini-restoration constructive and put them in this forum
https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/my-baby-is-done-thanks-for-all-your-help.29200/page-15#post-303405 rather than here.
Thanks again for your input. I do appreciate it. Glad to hear that the window issue is likely easily resolved, I hope.
