[COBALT]

You know, after reading this thread I have to say I'm seriously dissapointed not only in the situation, but in some of the board members who choose to ignore an obvious lack of professionalism on Tony's part, and others who aren't mentioning the problems this board has had with Tony in the past, and the comlete shocker that Kenneth (being as smart as he claims to be) would agree on letting Tony do the work in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. Kenneth and I do NOT see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I can truly understand his frustration with this situation. Furthermore, I think I understand why Tony did what he did. I'm just amazed that these two members decided to do business together.

Tony:

First, let me say it should be obvious at this point that you aren't working as a professional at what you're doing. No offense to you personally, Tony, but a person who provides a service or a product to a customer is represented by the quality of that service or product. You have provided a poor product and service to a customer. That's not good advertising. Neither is yourwebsite (see below).

Second, an indicator which leads me to believe you don't have adequate experience is the cost. Anyone who plans a project like this drafts a budget and provides an estimate based on time (a schedule with tasks and how long they'll take) and materials. The more experienced you are the closer the estimate will be to the final bill. Tony's bill was 2 TIMES the original estimate. Do you honestly expect Kenneth to accept that? Your break-down of cost in your first reply to this thread tells me you're making 1000 trips to the store to buy his matierals at retail cost. Anyone who operates a body shop and does a lot of business knows how to get the best materials at the best price. You don't seem to be concerned with that.

Third, there is simply no excuse for allowing the situation to get this far. It sounds suspiciously like you got in over your head, and refused to admit that and allowed the situation to fester. This could have all been called off at the first sign that you couldn't handle the job, and I bet Kenneth would have been understanding (annoyed, but he would have been LESS mad than he his now that's for damn sure).

Now Kenneth:

Did you ask Tony for references before agreeing to this project? If so did Tony provide any truthful ones to you? ...and if so did you follow up by contacting those references and looking at other costomers' work before striking an agreement with Tony? Is ANY of this in writing?

I see that Tony's website has plenty of pictures, but exactly ZERO details about what he specifically did for these projects. Furthermore, how is a potential customer supposed to take Tony seriously when he fails represent himself in a professional way? His site is riddled with spelling and punctuation errors, and contains an obvious attempt at filling it with the same set of pictures over and over again (some broken links). I wouldn't have much confidence in Tony's ability to complete a job based on what I see on this site. I'm surprised that Kenneth agreed to this project in the first place.

Everything about this situation sucks!

I think both of you had a hand to play, and I think I smell something rotten with this thread. Tony has made some board members mad before based on what he's said and done. He's also been banned before because of those things... That's why I find it so surprising that Kenneth chose to do business with him.

Does this surprise anyone else but me? I think Kenneth ultimately made a bad business decision.