Business ProfileforBennett Coachworks, LLC

My experience with this place was 90% miserable. They refuse to give any estimate verbal or in writing. They charged me $500 non refundable, to get on some list to get my car worked on and for a year and a half when I inquired when the car work could start I never got any answer. I had to write a letter to the owner of the company seeking an idea of a start date. When the job was started they wanted a $2500 "non-refundable" payment. My car was drive able and in the shop for a decent paint job and average body work on a 1977 Pontiac that had been garaged for 38 years. This was not a complicated basket case restoration. The pace of the work is very very slow. Other projects seemed to come in and take shop time and my car sat. Minimal work was accomplished on my car the ten weeks it was in the shop. The billing invoices were vague and lacked detail. The job log sheets that were supposed to detail what exactly was being worked on lacked detail and did not list any actual work hours spent on it and amounted to scribbling. They bill you every two weeks and expect you to pay them so work can continue. After only 4 weeks I became very uncomfortable with the high price I was being charged and had to question what exactly I was being charged for. As the job continued at a snails pace with little of the main work barely started I was very concerned. I was charged for "parts" that were never even purchased. Charged about $1300 for "frame dipping." The frame was not removed or touched. They left tools on my glass T tops and seat upholstery without even protecting the glass or seats!! At the ten week point I had been charged about $18,000 and chose to remove the car. You have to pay up to get your car out by law. I requested copies of all invoices and billing and job sheets when removing the car - in parts. Only after I complained to Wis. Dept of Consumer Protection did I mysteriously get additional "documentation" true or not, and a billing audit and slight refund. STAY AWAY!!

The customer was told that there was about a 1 1/2 year wait to get into the work flow at the shop at his original contact.. A non-refundable $500 deposit is required when a customer gets in line...this is the same for everyone. He signed our contract which clearly defines the parameters of the job and our expectations for payment. We are very clear in our descriptions of said contract so that there are no ambiguities. We get $2500 when the car actually comes into the shop. This is not a non-refundable deposit, it is working capital for the first bit of work to be done. The customer said that he wanted a "Street Restoration", his exact words. So that is what we started doing. While the car was driven to the shop, it was by all appearances a tired ride. So that is what we started with.As we got into the project it was obvious that the car had been improperly repaired a number of times in the past. There were patches applied directly over corrosion that then rusted out and that were then "Bondoed" over. The customer was made aware of these issues as they were unveiled. He said that he would procure better door shells from down South and that he would also supply us with new front fenders to replace the ones that were on the car. He then changed his mind and told us to repair what he had.He was in frequent contact with our shop and well aware of progress on his car. He told the staff on several occasions to "just do what is needed". So we continued with the project until he suddenly pulled it. When he pulled it he actually apologized, saying that he did not realize the depth of the work required. He then set about telling all kinds of lies and demanding nearly every cent be returned to him. We did our due diligence, doing the same levels of work that we do on all our projects, big or small. He mistakenly was charged for dipping a frame that was not his, as it was in the same parts batch as his parts. It was a mix up that we caught and we refunded him the money. He also had parts that he had paid for that had not yet arrived when he pulled the project. Those parts were cancelled and he was reimbursed accordingly. We are not a "Production Shop" doing production work. We are a high line restoration shop and that is how all work is completed - to a high standard - even "Street" restorations. We did exactly as he requested, no more, no less. He apparently jumped into this project without understanding what would be involved. We found all kinds of corrosion and poorly repaired corrosion from previous trips to the Body Shop. As we found the issues, he was made aware of them. This included him making several trips to the shop to see what we were talking about. The staff went through the work required with him and, as I said before, were told to do whatever was needed to restore the car. We have been in business for 47+ years at this point. We have won every major Concours de' ******** in North America and many in Europe and Asia. He was getting the same consideration as all those previous customers. The statements he has written down here are an affront and are misleading to the point of being outright lies. He is not representing the issue in anywhere near a truthful manner.In an attempt to solve "his" problem he reversed all of his credit card payments to us. However, when we submitted all of our copious paperwork the bank and the credit card company decided in our favor and returned the money to us. We take pride in our work and we are honest to a fault. It's the only way to do business. Unfortunately an occasional customer would prefer to have us work on their car for free...Sincerely, Bennett Coachworks LLC

Bennett's response is more of the same half truths and lies and delusion. I won't even get into the debate. Their response is an attempt to take the focus off them. They claim to be this and that and have this reputation and do this work every day and cannot provide any estimate? Beware! I drove my car to the shop and they looked it over on two occasions before I even dropped it off for work. I told them exactly what the issues were. As this job proceeded into a nightmare if I thought there was any chance I was going to be treated as a customer rather than a victim of a rip off, I'd of had them continue to do the work. They won't work for you, they work for them. Bennett is correct in that I was at the shop several times as work was being done, trying to keep on top of the job. The shop workers seemed capable of decent work, I do not wish to fault them. Sadly the management and accounting is where I place the blame. I stand by my review and then some. I have no problem paying people to do a job FOR me, I won't pay someone to do a job ON me. I believe they charged me about double for the minimal labor hours that were actually spent on the car. Charged a full time rate for minimal part time work. The way it was going it was looking like they were going to hang on to my car for like a year and end up charging me like $80,000 to $100,000 or more for some average body work and average paint. Ya gotta be kidding. The car was in the shop less than 10 weeks and minimal progress and work was even accomplished and they billed be about $19,000.00. If Bennett would of done the right thing and charged me in any kind of honest and fair respectable way and took some responsibility I would not of even did this BBB review. What do I gain by this review? Bennett had an opportunity to be fair honest and right and offer me some refund but chose not to do that. My experience is that I do not feel like I was a customer of **********************. Rather, I feel like a victim. Don't let it be you.