Vendor review -- Pardue's Custom (LONG POST)
 

Pardue's Custom
2712 Pardue Hill Rd.
Jonesville, NC 28642

w. (336) 835-4237
m. (336) 244-2232
h. (336) 527-4237

parduescustoms@wmconnect.com

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Project: Full cab makeover, including chopped top, suicide doors, and paint.

Start date: 2-2003
End date: 2-2004*


It seems like so long ago that I bought this old cab to fix up and swap out with the one currently on my truck. In August of 2002, I first talked with Tony Pardue of Pardue's Customs about doing some work on my cab. I sent him some pictures of the cab along with detailed information on what I was trying to accomplish. It was around mid-December when we finally worked out all the details, but he said he'd be busy until January, but then he could start on the cab. I arranged to get the truck down to his shop, and after battling some bad winter weather, it arrived the first week of February, 2003 (Thanks again, Old Rusty C10).

Early on it was clear that Tony was not sticking to the schedule he had committed himself to. We had agreed that he would keep me updated weekly, and that he would take lots of progress pictures with his digital camera and send them to me regularly. He sawed the roof off the cab within the first 6 weeks, but then nothing happened for some time. I understand the hassle of having a customer call all the time for updates, but I think the cab would still be sitting in his shop in sawed-up pieces had I not started calling him regularly. At the 6 month mark (we had agreed that I would have the cab back no later than 7 months) I was deeply concerned that he was so far behind in the work-- I had just lost my job (everything's going to India, folks :( , and might have to relocate for a new position... so I would need my cab to move with me.

Part of what I do is "project management" stuff so I 'took over' in that regard and started doing daily status assessments, organizing To Do lists for Tony, etc. That worked for about 2 weeks, and then he stopped answering his mobile phone or returning voicemail.

When I finally contacted him, he had a laundry list of excuses as to why he had not kept in touch and why he had not progressed-- sick relatives, computer not working, lost phone, dog ate homework, and on and on. Aside from the absurdity of so many excuses, I actually gave him the benefit of the doubt and moved forward.

I had prepaid Tony $1000, and our agreement had been that I would pay the balance on completion of the project.

The first solid indication that he was changing the rules was when Tony said he was going to make my cab his top priority-- working on it nonstop until it was done. But that I would have to send him more money. I communicated my disapproval over changing the payment terms we had previously established, but began sending him regular payments (by USPS money order**). But even with the influx of money, Tony wasn't providing progress information or pictures as agreed. This time he had a broken camera, email virus, he forgot, he had pictures in the camera but it was at home, etc. I now believe this was his way of avoiding the honest answer that he had not been working on the cab.

In January Tony and I had what I would describe as a "knock down, drag out" over the phone. I had accepted a job offer that would have me relocating in February, and so would need the cab to be completed and here before then. Tony committed with his pseudo-religious "I swear to God it will be done by the end of January." Two weeks later he called to push the date out to February 7th. On February 5th he called to push the date to the 12th. (Each of these changes, aside from the obvious "swearing to God" nonsense, required that I trouble Old Rusty C10 to rearrange his schedule yet again.)

The day before the cab was to be picked up, Tony called and attempted to "renegotiate" the amount due. He now claimed that I owed him $700 additional for the glass in the cab. I sent him PDF snapshots of emails and PM's proving that the glass cost had been included in our final agreement oh so many months ago. After quite a bit of yelling on my part, and my indication that we could resolve this in court, he "acquiesced," making it sound as though he was doing me some kind of favor by sticking with the agreed upon amount.

As Old Rusty C10 was preparing to load the cab and bring it to me, Tony called and insisted that I not hold him liable for any damage to the cab while it was being loaded. Sure... whatever. I just wanted my cab back.

The cab arrived yesterday, and 3 of us offloaded it without breaking a sweat (thank you Archimedes!). We rolled the cab into my well-lit garage and, voila...

[more to follow]



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* Job wasn't properly "ended" and so this represents when the cab was returned to me.

** USPS Money Orders offer a great deal of protection from "non performance" by a seller. Since they are official instruments, a seller may be culpable under Postal Fraud regulations for failure to perform. (Tony, are you reading this?)

On to the work...

First, the color is not correct. The color code I requested was 1971 Ford "J" (Grabber Blue, as seen on the Mach I, Pinto, and Maverick). The cab color has too much white in it... so it's more pale blue than it should be.

http://216.97.76.237/khass/temp/temp...7F_overall.jpg

http://216.97.76.237/khass/temp/temp/machone.jpg

Second, much of the paint work redefines the concepts of orange peel and dry spray. The roof appears to have been painted at an extreme angle, and so streaked, dry in some places, and wet in others (see above photo). Perhaps Tony failed to stand on something when painting the roof? I do know that he is very short.

Third, the body lines, jambs, and panel alignment is atrocious. There is a 3/4" gap between it and the glass in the center, but is tight on the edges. The door gap is very inconsistent all the way around, and the door-to-cowl gap is huge. I can't wait to see what the fender gap looks like. (A friend who saw the gap suggested I use it as a brake cooling duct :( ).

http://216.97.76.237/khass/temp/temp..._jambalign.jpg

Next, one of the areas Tony was asked to take particular care in was the drip rail. Because a) my current cab has water/rust damage there, and b) because, with the chopped top and slammed truck it would be easy to see, I wanted to make sure that the drip rail was properly sealed, smooth, and clean. Here's what I got (and it gets worse on the sides of the cab)--

http://216.97.76.237/khass/temp/temp...seamsealer.jpg

Tony's handling of body work is well represented by this shot of the passenger side of the firewall. Those are not cracks, but simply an improperly prepared surface.

http://216.97.76.237/khass/temp/temp...all finish.jpg

In this shot, you can see a stain of some sort bleeding through the paint. He was supposed to shave the brake booster holes. Aside from the bonus semi-shave I got of two of the steering column holes, the color bleeding through is pretty strong in person (marked by arrows in this pic as the camera doesn't pick it up as well as the human eye).

http://216.97.76.237/khass/temp/temp...wallstains.jpg

Tony, if you've read this far, feel free to point out any incorrect statements you feel I've made in this thread. I have documented nearly every conversation, email, and PM we've ever had, as well as all payments made to you. I also have the cab itself as proof of what I would describe as your utter incompetence. I hope anyone who thinks of doing business with you will benefit from this thread, and the information contained, and will be able to make their own decisions based on this and any other information they might have.

As for what I think of you as a bodywork professional, it it isn't obvious, I think you're one of the worst I've ever seen. As for what I think of you as an individual (an "honest, Christian man, as you have promoted yourself")... based on this experience, I find you to be a liar and a cheat, and a man without dignity or shame. We may yet meet again, if I choose to pursue restitution from you through the courts or otherwise.

Man....what a nightmare....I'm pissed off just reading this, I can't begin to imagine your frustration. You should post this in every forum you find, so they wont do it again to someone else.

Thanks for posting this! I have been looking at people around the NC area to do some work for me and this has narrowed my list. I know it is of little consulation but he will be getting none of my business.

I feel every man should have the chance to have his say but you definetly have your ducks in a row. I only hope you can work this issue out without the courts involved. I, like wnc, have been considering individuals in NC so I will be watching this thread

wow
 

Wow thats terrible if you where in Ca.... I send you to my body guy hes a total professional..... and seeing from the pics you have just cause in your dissapointment....

I hope you get this all sorted out and good luck........

Jezzzz that pic of the door overlaping the cowling sighs......

Has he not heard of shims for the love of god.......

...wow...its pretty bad when you can see bad bodywork in pictures..we wish you luck and i'm sure we all thank you for the heads up..

Tony--I, as well as a lot of others are waiting to see how you address these problems. Having met you and taken a liking to you, I don't believe you would leave this man hanging like this. A man is only as good as his word, so I'm sure you will get this straightened out. If it goes to court--YOU BOTH LOSE. If he paid you the full AGREED to amount????????--it would be to your benefit to take the cab back and do it over properly and promptly. I'm sure there are two sides to the story, you need to express yours now.

PS--leave Christianity out of it--I too am a Christian, but that is a lame excuse that is much overused everywhere.

After seeing this mess, Tony for sure wouldn't touch it again if it belonged to me.

I agree, it must look like the worst paint job in the world in person. It looks like it in the pics. The orange peel is ridiculous alone. Doing this kind of work, I dare say you probably don't get many jobs.

That's a total shame. Makes me feel bad even being in same state.

Guys, let me assure you. Everyone in NC is not like this.

Thats is it, I have had it with all of this crap. From the beginning, you haven't given Tony a chance. He had to cover up so much of your screw ups that he couldn't do the job that you requested. Sometimes you get what you ask for!!!!!

First, look at the bottom of the doors, to make it work with your rocker screw ups, Tony had to cut the bottom edge of the door because you were too cheap to do it right.

Second, I enjoyed watching the idiot leaving with your beautiful cab on the back of the Ford Ranger. Sometimes, when you are cheap on little things like delivery, things happen.

DON'T BLAME SOMEONE ELSE FOR YOU BEING A TOTAL IDIOT.

And by the way, I can't wait till the bass hits the first time and your fiberglass falls off the back of the cab because "you think it will stay". Ya, right

Just my two cents

NOW for my two cents.. this is the "idiot" you refer to in your post speaking
you must be the wanna be springer guest who was hanging around in tony pardues shop.( we find out later that you werent even there at any time when the cab was loaded and while we pulled out of the shop, so the best that you can do is comment from the four pictures taken by tony of the truck cab in my ranger bed. you were not privy to any of the conversations etc that i had with tony prior to leaving etc.) when the cab arrived in kennys place of business the following day there was no appreciable damage to it, save the scratches tony and the other guys did while loading it into the truck. there was, however many imperfections in the body work on this truck... the drip rail was as crappily filled as possible, there were more runs in the paint than ive ever seen on anything... hell painting with a wagner power painter would have been a better job, there were holes in the filler from lack of filling or lack of body putty after filling. the tops of the doors did not have gaps equal all the way around. the cowl curve was way off as compared to the windshield frame. there was fish eye all over the cab there was countless marks in filler on the firewall, there was filler flash all around that should have been removed , there was edges along the seams of the cab that were not straight and should have been ground down there were stains in the paint id imagine from not being prepsalled prior to paint.
frankly ive seen better body work on NYC taxi cabs, and kenny would have been better off taking his truck to EARL SCHEIB than having the work done by you people.
By the way your reference to me as an idiot, having not had a cross word with you or any problem with you leads me to think f a quote ( a version of which is posted by one of the other board members in his signature. " Tis better to remain silent and be thought of as an idiot, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt" heres some free friendly advice to you, sir.. i would run not walk to the nearest state run medical facility and sign up as a poster boy for what inbreeding and beastiality causes in the mind .. you are a shining example.

Cag...you seem to have quite the sweet spot for Tony...does tony lube it up and slide it in inch by inch like a gentleman or do you like it when he's jsut rams it home ??
:confused:

lol..... You can see a picture of Cag at the following link. He is right next to Tony :D

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ighlight=cag17

The cab needed to be repainted and be totally redone so what would it have mattered if it was transported in the back of a frigging garbage truck ? The work looks like total Sh*t I would be Ashamed to have my name on that quality of work. Why bother standing up for him ? Can you yourself not say the work that Tony produced looks like Sh*t ?

That is horrible work!!! You have got to be kidding me - do that crap quality of work, keep the customers cab over a year and still charge Kenny full price of...GULP....$4000 dollars. Sorry Kenny, hope it all works out for you.

Quality
 

I closed over 700 repair orders last year for customers and still managed to restore my own truck in six months working just a couple of hours a day and a weekend here and there. Plus repaint a 59 Caddy for the local auto museum.

I took in a custom job in November and delivered the first week of Feburary right on schedule. I even repaired several items that were not paid for by the customer because my name was attached to it and I wouldn't let it go out of the shop looking or running bad.

I sent regular updates to my customer and even delivered the car 200 miles to Dallas when he became ill and couldn't pick it up. Did I make money on it? No, but I did what I said I would do for the price I quoted and I have a customer for life.

The work is garbage there is no excuse for that period. With that said I hope you guys are able to work this out with out to much trouble.

XXL if you get relocated to the North Louisiana area I will be happy to help with your cab.

Re: Quality
 

ya know i got a guy in brooklyn NY that i have followed to two different shops cause he does quality work, and is a great person as well as craftsman. He runs his business like you run yours, 00 and im tickled to death the way he does business.. you hit the nail on the head when you said" I did what i said i would do for the price quoted and i have a customer for life" That is what seperates the gentlemen and great people from the ones who are hacks and shouldnt be in business.You should go very far in whatever you do in life as you have the attitude of success

hmmm
 

I showed my body guy thos pics.... and well in 20 years he has not seen such shoty work he told me....

I hope You can both come to a compromise on this.....

If it comes down to it maybe some boardmembers can help you fix your cab...

I too have done work for others. No way would someone have seen that crappy cab. Let alone ask them for more money.

Hey DavidM, who's your bodyman? :D

im really surprised Tony hasnt come to his own defense. XXL, what is keeping you from driving down there and taking your $4K out of him with your bare hands? i know if i invested that kind of cake in a project i'd definitely end up hurting someone. that's why i love living with an experienced body man.

parduecustom.... what a joke, ive always known you were bad news, for years. From looking at those pics the only work you could quailfy for is a extra on the set of delivrince.

The sad part is the cab was not dipped to remove the inner rust.

I guess that is what I get for speaking in anger!!! Thanks for telling how you people really are. I agree with mothertruckers, there is a lot more that should have been done to the cab to make it a top notch show winner.

rolson1039, I wasn't there when you loaded the cab so don't blame that guy.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad time. Hopefully it will all get worked out.

Based on that part of your original comment, i thought you were there at the shop when i arrived, or were one of the two people tony got to help load the thing in my truck. By your own admission in the prior post you werent even there, which now begs the question how do you know what transpired between me and tony when we loaded this cab. Tony himself told me that he didnt think the cab would move loaded in the back of the truck ( although he and i both knew there would be a couple of scratches loading it in.) When the cab arrived in Walpole it had a couple of scratches on each of the mounting pieces where your stick the bolts for the inner fenders and the front part of them would have to be sanded and repainted and there was a couple of scratches on the lower part of the back of the cab well below the crease of the cab corner, one of which would require a little filling ( caused by my bedliner moving) but the rest were caused when the cab was lowered into the truck. in any event , all were easilly touched up and would not have been visible when properly addressed. I will say that the trucking job i did for Kenny (XXL) showed far less damage than had he paid to have it truck freighted to him. Heck every catalogue for body parts ive ever seen states that minimal damage to fenders and door skin is not covered for shipping and is expected. The cab arrived with no damage due to the 750 or so miles save one mark i think thats damn good. The issues Kenny brought up deal strictly with the quality of the filler work, chop work, priming, prepping, and painting of the cab, none of which i had even the slightest hand in. therefore any comments directed at myself, my son, or the trucking job we did were way out of line. Based on this new information, i sincerely apologize to the guys at tonys shop who helped load as i mistook the remarks made by CAG17 as being made by someone who was physically present at that time. I will ammend my posts to reflect that

rolson1039, I am sorry about the earlier comments. I spoke in anger and should have left it alone. Personally, I wouldn't have carried it that way but it sonds like it worked pretty well minus the few scratches

This is the reason I try my hardest to find a local shop to do any body work I have done.You can pop in anytime to check progress.That is how I do business.My customers can check on their work anytime during working hours.

The original posting here will soon be 24 hrs old and Tony has had ample time to respond EVEN IF HE HAD TO BUY A NEW COMPUTER!
Of course, it would be better if he and XXL would resolve this by phone and out of the public eye. (I sure don't need to know how they do it).
I was contemplating having Tony make repairs to my cab, but if this mess isn't straightened out by tomorrow at this time, I (and I suspect others) will be looking elswhere for bodywork. Tony, ignoring this will not work for your benefit.

Tony was online for a while this morning reading the threads regarding this and never bothered to respond

Aw.... I think it looks pretty good for someone who obviously had his head up his a$$ while he was working on it.

That is some poor quality for sure. My [url]first[/u] paint job turned out much better than that and I had no prior experience when I did it. This guy does this for a living???? Yikes! I'm just glad Kenneth got his cab back so I don't have to hear him *****ing about Tony telling him "2 more weeks..."! ;)

Kenneth
I am sorry that you are not happy but look at this from my view since you would not let me talk on the phone. You spent 4300.00 with me now lets break this down OK first 300.00 with Autoloc hinges now were down to 4000.00 now let take the windshield which was 500.00 and were down to 3500.00 and lets take the 300.00 for the side glass and were down to 3200.00 and let take the Bear Claw latches out at 100.00 and the install kit for them at 70.00 and were down to 3030.00 and lets take out 500.00 on paint and welding supply's out now were at 2530.00 and now let take out the jeep hinges at 50.00 now were at 2480.00 OK now the chop top and when i price the chop top that was just to chop the top that did not include body work at 600.00 now were down to 1880.00 and then let take out the suicide the door at 600.00 a door and that is no body work now that's come to 1200.00 now were at 680.00 for the body work and that was all that I got for body work. To top it off I did the doors twice because you did not like it only opening at 45 degrees so I redid the doors with out charging you any more so they would swing a full 90 degrees. I did not want to talk about the money but since every body else has; I thought I would. I did not make a killing I am going to send you the last money order back and that will leave me doing the body work for a 180.00 if this doesn't make you happy just call me and ill see what i can do as for with all the other board members that have been talking about me like a dog. I forgive you. To let you guys know how the cab was when I got it, I'll say this much: it was in poor shape. I am not going to start a pissing match with any one. As for the time frame, in August of 02 when Kenneth call me I told him 6 weeks to chop the top and it took him 6 mouths to get it to me by that time I had 3 restoration to do. I explained to him it be a couple of mouths before I could touch it and then he added the suicide doors to the list and then I did them twice. I will admit it took me to long and I am sorry for that. To tell you the truth about the color I did just like you asked. I got 1971 grabber blue code j but you know that any paint jobber can mix it a little diff. than the next one. That's all I am going to replay on this.

First off, I love the '69 Stang. Looks like Grabber Blue. I have a '70 Mach in Calypso Coral.

Back to the body shop fellow. The quality of work is obviously very poor. A buddy of mine owns a body shop and I have seen him over-commit time and time again on deliveries and scheduled promises for restorations and custom work. Almost always he uses phrases like “should be ready”, “may be done”, “I'll try”, etc. He continuously pisses off customers of custom type work and restorations by the amount of time it takes (sometimes years). However, his quality of work is second to none but his customers have to hound the hell out of him to get the work completed. Most body shops are not restoration companies and as such they make their money on collision, insurance type work. They take custom and restoration jobs in as "filler" projects when they are slow. Next thing you know the "regular" business picks up and the custom stuff gets shoved to the side because of money. Also, a customer with a wrecked car must have their ride back immediately and insurance companies swing a mighty big stick with body shops. In my opinion, this is simply inexcusable but the fact of life is that many body shops are mom and pop operations that are just slightly ahead (or maybe even behind) of junkyards when it comes to customer service.

thanks Cag 17 you are a true freind

$500 for a windshield? I need to start a glass shop in your area. $600 for a suicide door? $1200 total? Give me a break.

Around here I got a quote of $335 for a windsheild install.That's from 2 different places.Don't forget it is a chopped windsheild he was installing.

My god where do you get your painting supplies from. There is absolutely no way that you spent $500.00 worth of painting supplies on that cab. That work is pathetic and totally unsatisfactory. This post should go to "STICKY" status to let every one know what "CUSTOM" is not and to let everyone know what kind of work Pardues Customs shop produces.

I don't think his complaint was about the pricing. His complaint was about the QUALITY of work recieved. Tony if you agree to do a job for a price, it should be the best quality you can put out.....period. Just because you feel that he is getting a lot of work for the money, that the quality can be lacking? I don't thinks so. Are you telling us, if he had given you anther $4000 the quality would have been better :confused:

tony, regardless of what you made on the deal, it appears you quoted it at $2K, then when more work was asked, you upped the quote to $4K. that's your bad, not Kenny's. i know for a fact i could have done a better job on that cab. regardless of how inexperienced i am, i do take pride in what i do, and i'm not done working on it until its right. i wouldnt want my name anywhere associated with that cobbled up mess. i'd be afraid to see what the chop top and suicide doors look like under the paint and bondo.

After reading Tony's reply...I am reminded of my Pop's saying, excuses are like a$$holes, everybodies got one and they all stink!:(