Post
by advmaxx » Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:00 am
Hey all, I just had a NIGHTMARE experience with a plater in Southern California and I have to pass along the info to help folks avoid major problems.
I was referred to Alumin-Art Plating in Ontario by a friend of mine who had used their services in the past. My friend is a well known and well respected Honda mechanic and motorcycle restorer here in SoCal. I brought all my parts for zinc plating. These are all the parts from a 1963 CB77 that don't get painted or chromed.
Long story short, when I arrived to pick up my parts I found they were incorrectly plated in a very shiny zinc plating. Upon closer inspection, the new plating was flaking off in my hands. Mostly from the spokes, but also from about 50 percent of the other parts. Upon even closer inspection, I found parts in my lot that didn't even belong to me: 2 tops from swivel casters and AN 8-FOOT LENGTH OF HEAVY CHAIN.
Very obviously no one had inspected anything. These guys don't care one bit about the quality of their work, they don't care about their customer's property.
They wanted to re-plate everything, but there was no way I was going to give my parts back to them. Then they told me I had to leave everything so they could strip it before I took it, as there were some good parts in there and if they refunded my money I'd be getting those parts plated for free. I demanded my money back, got it and took my parts as is. One of the guys there, his name is Jerry (I'm told his parents own the place) actually got upset at me. No apologies, no explanations. He acted as though I did something wrong. When I pointed out the 8 feet of chain I found mixed in with my parts, he said "Oh yeah, that's mine. I told my guy to put it in there." This seemed to be a reasonable explanation to him. I was, and still am absolutely flabbergasted.
When I got my parts home, I found I was missing several parts including a single front spoke, rear bearing retainer, one seat bolt, an air cleaner bracket, etc.
I didn't give them a list of parts when I dropped it off, nor was I asked to provide one, so when I called to talk to them about the missing parts they said there was nothing they could do. I admit this was my mistake, but judging from their behavior I doubt this would have helped me.
I told my friend who originally recommended them, and he admitted he hadn't used them in about 5 years. Although I'm not holding him responsible for their actions, I told him he should never refer them to anyone else, he agreed.
The only way this could have been a worse experience is if they had lost everything.
AVOID THIS PLATER!!!
ALUMIN-ART IN ONTARIO CALIFORNIA WILL WASTE YOUR TIME, LOSE YOUR PARTS AND COST YOU MONEY!!!
