Hot Rods Help with Don Zig Magnetos...

It's been weeks again now and I still haven't gotten anything accomplished with Joe. He is EXTREMELY difficult to get ahold of. All being small miracles I have actually had three conversations with him, weeks apart from each other, each time with him promising to "get right on it" and "he'll make me proud". I asked each time for him to call and keep me updated, which has never happened. It's been at least two weeks since our last conversation and I've been trying to call him every day for the last week with no response. The mailbox is still full so I can't even leave a message. Joe used up my patience a long time ago on this one, BUT HE STILL HAS MY EFFIN' MAGNETO!!!

 

I’m sorry for you Wayne ,
It has been about 6 weeks since your last post .
You might consider just asking for the return of the mag and getting a new repair guy .

Tommy

 

I think he was trying to ask for it back, but the guy won't answer his phone.

 

Been to his shop 4 times over this issue to get things going in the right direction, once I leave, things don't change. Hard to explain what's up

 

Thank you again "dre", I do sincerely appreciate your help and pray that you help me maintain at least some contact with Joe.
I'm at a loss as to what I can do at this point. The bottom line here is that Joe Anderson has in his possession a valuable Vertex magneto of mine (has had since early spring) and I have no way of even attempting to contact him other than his phone, on which the voicemail is full, and he supposedly doesn't know how to clear it out. I have no way of even leaving a message, it just rings 6 or 8 times, tells me the "mailbox is full", and then hangs up. Thus, when I do make a call attempt I can only rely on him to actually answer, and this has only happened twice out of at least 50-60 random attempts over the past two months.
During the conversations I have had, Joe Anderson gave a long list of (lame) excuses and promised to "get on my project right away and get it done". After all this time there simply are no excuses. I asked that if he couldn't follow through with his promise for any reason to please just ship everything back. He pleaded and promised again to "make things right" and he'd "make me proud" so, (along with "dre" having given Joe some credibility) I held out hope and allowed Joe Anderson that chance. What the hell else could I do???
I asked Joe Anderson and reminded him multiple times during each call for him to to PLEASE call me with any questions and/or update me with status and/or let me know when it was done and ready to ship. None of those things have happened. Joe Anderson has been given all of my contact and shipping information multiple times, from both "dre" and myself, and he has given no response whatsoever. At this point in this situation Joe Anderson is no better than a thief, plain and simple. Joe Anderson has had every chance to make things right, as of yet has not done so, and is out of excuses. To say I'm pissed off would be a MAJOR understatement.

 

As my Dad used to say...The road to hell is paved with good intentions. My suggestion would be to see if Dre would take a letter of authorization from you to pick up the unit . Pay Dre to pack it and ship it to you. Hats off to Dre for what he has done so far.

 

I like your suggestion @Charlie Chops 1940 , but I have suspected for a long time that Anderson does not have the mag, I think he sold it.
@WAYNE WILLEY , if you can positively ID your property then I think you would do well to follow this advice. Hopefully the outcome is good.

 

If I had a vertex hopped up I would just send it to you thats how bad I feel for you. Been there and done that what your going through . Absolutely no reason for that shit.

 

Thanks for the thoughts guys, "dre" has already gone above and beyond and I am very thankful for his efforts. I still consider myself lucky for his intervention, he's the only hope I've got with any of this.
Hating to have to, I called and spoke with "dre" just last night and can tell he's at wits end with me bothering him, which I totally understand. He's personally stopped at Joe's shop multiple times on my behalf and tried to get him in motion on this deal. The tough part on my end is that "dre" is the only reliable contact I've been able to establish throughout this nightmare. I can only hope he sticks with me until things are resolved. If and when things ever pan out I intend to send him a nice tip.
FWIW, I actually feel like Joe does still have my mag and knows right where it's sitting. Why he fails and hides from honoring his promise is completely beyond me. In my world real Hot Rodders help each other out, it's just part of the deal. What I do know is this whole ordeal in dealing with Joe Anderson is some unbelievable bull...t.

 

You are a saint Wayne. I know your frustration. Some years back I bought an BBC pump drive timing cover from a guy in Australia who shipped it but ended up charging my credit card twice. By the time I discovered it the time for my credit card company to dispute it had ran out. The guy was well known in Australia and ran a top fuel driving school. He would never answer my e-mails....several Australian mates tried to get a hold of him and he would not discuss it.

I gave up and have this nice $400+ wall-hanger with his name cast on it. I keep hoping to see his name in the news that he has gotten paid back...karma.

Hope this gets worked out for...an intervention or a drive to So-Cal may be the only good outcome. Wait till Fall though, the weather will be cooler and it could be a great trip.

 

That statement is completely uncalled for--- bad business practice- of coarse, but criminal activity-- come on now;
If its Joes desire to send his business down in flames--- nothing anyone can do about it.
Sorry, Ive tried to resolve this and at this time the only way I would get involved now is if Joe called and told me to come and pick it up, and I would send it out

 

OK, I agree, maybe it was out of line. But the fact remains that in 7 months Wayne has not had reliable communication, has not received the services asked for but does have a large number of empty promises.
Plausible explanations could be simple laziness, the mag is lost, or what?
There is an online article about Don Zig, Anderson is mentioned as the "manager" of the business and Don's wife is quoted saying that Don prided himself on returning mags in a couple of days. Naturally that would be for local customers, so there is an exception here. But seven months? Apparently Joe's managerial skills died when Don Zig did.

 

Don Zig weighed in at close to 400#. really could not do much except sit around and answer phones, Joe did all the work under his guidance, there was no one else

 

Understood "dre", and when and if Joe ever does finish and return my mag I may consider retracting that comment, not until.

Joe's list of excuses, unfulfilled promises, and all but non-existent communication are the reason I've gotten pissed off enough to make that comment. He's had this mag since early spring!
The extreme measures I've had to go through to even try to communicate with him (including your efforts) are completely inexcusable. I'm sorry but I just don't care anymore at this point what personal excuses may or may not exist on his end, there has been WAY more than enough time for Joe to get this job done. The whole situation is so far beyond ridiculous it's crazy, and not one bit of it is my (or your) fault. I'll say again that I can't thank you enough "dre" for your efforts with Joe, if it wasn't for your intervention I'm certain I would have had zero contact with Joe at this point and be 100% screwed, so THANK YOU!!!

So, I made another call to Joe this morning and in a small miracle he actually answered the phone! As soon as I gave my name the excuses started again. I politely reminded Joe that we have already covered all of them repeatedly and I'm DONE hearing about it. That part of the conversation could have easily been a recording from our last time on the phone. I begged and pleaded with him (again) to PLEASE just get on the mag and get it done, like he has previously promised. I also asked him (again) to PLEASE stay in contact and keep me updated, like he has previously promised, and reminded him that he has yet to EVER do so. I reminded him (again) that his voice mail is full so no one can even leave a message, and that if he can't figure out how to clear it I guarantee the first 8 year old he sees probably can. He said he would get that taken care of, like he has previously promised.

So "dre" yeah, I'm way fed up at this point and feel it's justified. I'll apologize to you for my comment, and possibly Joe if he ever honors his word. He's had every chance. Til then, well, I'm left still holding my breath...

 

Tip might be in order by now?

 

How come you didn't just ask him to send it back now so you could get it to somebody else?

 

I think you should a: hire a local attorney and b: contact the local sheriff's office-unintended or not-seems to be a theft at this point.

 

Probably cost more than the part is worth. And just my thought if he won't deliver the goods, you think he'd pay the judgement?

 

Mail Joe an empty box with a prepaid shipping label inside. Ask him to put the mag in it and send it back. Joe's a good guy. As someone mentioned earlier he may be a bit overwhelmed.

 

I tried that at one point. Joe's response was that he would move my mag to front center, get it done right away, contact me and then ship it back. This promise was made both times I talked with him, and again today. With the extreme difficulty in ever reaching Joe at all, and since he does not initiate any return contact or updates (like he promises), negotiation has been impossible. Since the mag is in his possession, on the other side of the country, I am totally at his mercy.

 

When I get the mag back, yes.

 

That might be, but he's a helluva long way from proving it to me.

 

What I was implying is he's done you a service...a dinner gift card etc, should not be dependent on a satisfactory outcome. Say you get your mag back and it's all fucked up. Feel me?

Say I ask you to look at a car for me, but decide I'll flip you a bone if I buy it. i have you go back 2-3-4 times, and I decide not to buy the car. Well, if I bought the car I would have made it right with your time, but since I didn't buy the car...thanks for your help.

I dunno, maybe I was raised in a different era/time/whatever.

 

Easy. I think you're just misunderstood.

 

My thinking is to get the part out of Joe's shop, then work on getting it home. Me, personally, I would be pissed enough at this point to pay 3x what the part was worth to do what was right.

 

Don't worry "Budget", I'm not going to hang "dre" out, no matter the final outcome.

Tell you what, you get this mag back in my lap pronto and I'll send you a dinner card.

 

AMAZINGLY I've reached Joe on his phone twice in the last few days, yesterday and last Thursday the 9th. We rehashed the prior conversations, I reminded him again that he had yet to call me with any updates, and I clarified my expectations once again. He claimed he now had the parts he was supposedly waiting for and was working on the mag. I asked him to keep on it until it was done and then let me know right away, and, that I'd like to see him finish it this week. He promised all of the above, again...

 

i worked with 2 similar guys both alcoholics,totally undependable,liars who didnt see the point in turning up for work til last weeks money was spent.

 

Haven't updated here for a bit but we finally got our mag back on Friday, and it's BEAUTIFUL.
I'm still absorbing the fact that it's really here. Short version of the story is that (suddenly) the past few weeks Joe would usually answer his phone if I called somewhere between noon and 2-3pm CST. The voicemail is still full though.
Oddly, once we finally started communicating through a few different calls it was like nothing was ever an issue and things proceeded somewhat normally. I didn't even fully remember until the other day but it was actually JANUARY when we sent the mag to him. Joe was really cool as we started talking more but no matter what the excuses it was a ridiculous amount of hassle to actually get this deal done. The long gap of time where Joe could not be contacted and was completely off the radar was not cool. I firmly believe that if "DRE" hadn't stepped in we'd still be screwed. Thank you again Bruce, it was you who saved the day by getting the connection made. Thanks to the rest of you here too, we're finally off to the races!

 

Boy,,,it does look beautiful,,,doesn’t it !
I’m old school,,,,,,,that is what professional work is supposed to look like .
Now a days,,,,it seems,,,,any crap is acceptable .
In the old days,,,,,,,,someone’s name was in it,,,,with their reputation to boot .
I know it took a very long time,,,,,,at least it turned out well .

Tommy