Complaint and Warning about Howell's Sheet Metal in TX!!

btt

 

Hals / Howells that is one in the same here in TX. Announciation and pronounciation...tomato/tomatoe

Man I hate like hell to do this. I would ususally make him go through all of the FNG hell status but....dammit. Jeez ok, Tim is right if you need something he is pretty good with a piece of tin and a welder. And he can actually kind of relate to customer service. At least on stuff that goes like 320 or so.

God I feel so dirty.

 

For stock replacment A stuff, Try George Moir. Good guys to deal with.

Can ship larger stuff Greyhound real quick.

Canuck

 

This is the second time a thread has popped up about Howell's service or lack there of. I talked to Ryan about doing 28-29 CCPU corners 6-1/2" longer than stock. Said he could do it. THEN, I ordered through another dealer that buys tons of stuff from Howell and has leverage. Same price direct or through dealer. Excellent parts, good fit and fair price.

 

I ordered some repair panles for my 33 coupe (Rear pan below deck lid, rocker panels and qtr repair panels) from Howells via their eBay shop 09-04.

All parts were listed as in-stock and ready to ship....yep youve guessed it I had to pay via Paypal in advance (which I have no problem with if they shipped within a week or so!)

They took 8 weeks to actually ship them, it took less time for them to come via slow boat to the UK!

Lots of Emails, several phone messages and not a SINGLE reply!

Good parts, but quite possibly the WORST service I have ever had....and thats from someone used to bad service living in England!

Never again!
Cheers
Dave B

 

Hate to say it...well maybe not, but the three times I ordered from them they always came through for me.

 

Denis, do you have the number for the guys you ordered through?

 

Levis, were you ordering straight parts that he had stocked on the shelf? Or custom work ?

 

I second that notion.... you can walk in with cash in hand and they'll ignore you and answer the phone when you get to ask a question!

 

sounds like the shop may be intimidated by orders of the custom variety...i wonder if its a tool and die used to stamp out common shelf stock panels and to much work for em to make "adjustments" to the tool to stamp out a 6" longer part.....any how ill keep my eyes out for any guys in my area dealing in your era of tin..i just sold some 33 and 34 ford parts and panels to a guy in wv and ok, so they are not uncommon up here in MI..just uncommon to be rust free..and as for the customer service issue ..this hobby is growing ever bigger by the day...the days of having "the only shop that makes 'em" is bout gone. Im sorry to hear that you had such a bad dealing with a fab shop..if i knew how to make em id be glad to snag the cash

 

Just think, everytime you call this guy and whine on the phone that is time he is NOT getting to work on your stuff. He also knows if you REALLY want his product you will wait. A tooling shop ain't like a drive through, if you want custom shit then you can expect to wait. But on the other hand rudeness on the phone is not cool.

 

I wouldnt call that whining. He gave him a time frame and missed it.

 

I deal with this shit all the time. The best method I have found is get two guys making it.

Give them both the same deadline.

One of them will always miss the deadline. When they show up with the parts late, tell them "sorry dude, You didn't deliver on xx/xx so I had someone else make them"

Nothing speaks more to asshole vendors than hitting them in the labor/materials wallet.

And, if you ever get stuck using them again (which happens to me on occasion) they know you don't fuck around - and if they can't make your parts on time, they will tell you right off. It's business as usual for a lot of these guys to take on more than they can handle and then borrow from peter to pay paul, so to speak.

I had to do that to a guy on a 3000$ part. He took 3 months instead of 3 weeks.

I ended up buying it from him as an "extra" for 800 bucks.

 

well said, being a parts guy for high end car dealership here in WASH. it's always best to relay to your customer the truth about supply problems , backorders, etc. customers i have spkoken to in the past always are very understanding when you tell them and estimated time span if possible or that if you don't know , try to get a answer. But always first and most listen to what the customer is saying , let him or her vent there fustrations. then decided what you can do for them. Now a discount , maybe or maybe not i'm not the vender. But how about free freight to my door. or maybe hey what can you do for me next time. always be be kind ! just my thoughts!

 

Hey, Man- Have you done any business w/ been in contact w/ the place this newb's whining about? No? Then you don't know both sides of the story. No one asked you how you'd run a business. With OVER 900 posts since LAST JUNE ( the construction trades' busiest time of the year here in MI, I might add) it's quite apparent how you run your business. If you don't know s**t about the shop in question, S.T.F.U. and quit makin' the rest us guy's from MI look like DOUCHEBAGS...

 

It was stock patches

 

I've had problems with them as well. Took about 2 mos to get a bunch of Model A stuff I had ordered. Got no responses from emails (I got them on ebay, didn't know it was these guys) and the parts weren't even very close to fitting.

BUT he was making custom parts for you. The way these patch panel places work is from a stamp that they have to do a run of to make it worth while. Custom parts are another story. I'm even surprised he agreed to it. I waited 2 mos for off the shelf parts, for you to wait 2 mos for a custom order isn't asking all that much.

I do agree the truth should have been told, that is just bad business. If a deadline can't be met, its up to him to make contact and give a reasonl. I have never had a customer call me wondering why his/her car wasn't done yet. If I am going to miss a deadline, they know the minute after I do.

For you to call and demand a discount if the parts were finished is way out of line and I honestly would have hung up on you as well. However, to demand a refund if they weren't done is well within your limits.

 

It is a small world! How the heck are ya? Still trying to go straight fast??? I forgot you got bit by the hot rod bug.
Thanks for going out on a broken limb for me! This place would be the last place to look for work, but I am like yall, into traditional home grown stuff. I just make my money on the gold chainer cars!
Give me a holler and come out to the shop for a visit sometime. I live a little further from society now, but thats how I like it. I might even feed ya at the Cotton Gin if ya ask me nice enough!

Tim @ www.irrationalmetalworks.com

 

Who are you talking to dude ? Hope your not talking to me because. what was posted by others i read,and just commenting on being given a run-around. and "S.T.F.U " back at you..... and by the way your acting like one now !

 

I'm going through the same shit with these people for a set of wheel tubs for my 29 Sedan.Every week I call and they say "in a few days for sure".

 

Best thing to do in a case like this is recover what you can and help them with their backlog by staying away. Really hate to see Texans behaving this way; it goes against the culture.

 

I think he is talking about Von Rigg Fink....

 

T.R.Betruger ..you look like a duche bag all on your own. you dont need me to do that job for you now do you? pay attention junior! get with the freakin program

 

bad buisness is bad buisness period! duchebag!

 

read before you feel like you know WTF is going on in this post..please

 

I think mr betruger has L.D.S..get over your self..new be or not looks like alot of people on this thread would dissagree with you. looks to me like this buisness has alot of catching up on customer service.. and it looks like Betruger needs to S.T.F. U!!!!

 

IMO you are making michiganders look like duchebags...duchebag asshat..wheres that bunny with the pancake on its head?

 

oh and BTW stay on subject...K? here we are on a buisness who fucked over a HAMBer..get with it!

 

Whatever was intended by this post was accomplished I think?

 

dubbs, It's Bingo, F hal's , I'll give you a hand, can't be that hard.