Incompetent Chrome Plating in Atlanta

[Paul Phillips]

I have just been thru a fiasco with an incompetent chrome plater in Atlanta area.  A 'major player' in this market who screwed up the work, lost some parts, and refused to make it good. Their answer to 2 lost parts, scratches in the sublayers, unfilled defects, etc was a confrontational attitude, a partial refund and it was 'my problem'. They totally refused to stand behind their work.

In keeping with forum guidelines, I will not name names, but if you are in this area or thinking of doing business with someone here, I am willing to offer a perspective and hopefully help others avoid the same problems. Please PM me if you want to discuss further.

The better news is I have found a couple other providers in TN with better attitude, better prices, and hopefully better results. I can report on that outcome in a couple more weeks.

Thanks
Paul

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune.  Those of us who have restored cars ans used the services
of outside shops like this could write a book.  I've been burned a few times myself.  The best
thing to do is ask for feedback on the forum about the firm you are thinking of using BEFORE
you jump in feet first.

You don't mention the firms in TN you are considering, but it may be worth your while to do
so.

The best I found in the south is Graves Plating in AL.  Their work is top notch.  They are not
cheap (no GOOD chrome plater is).  A reputable plater will want to see the pieces and access
the work involved before giving you a quote.  Info on Graves:
http://www.gravesplating.com/services.html

Suggestion: Before leaving your pieces with ANY plater, take LOTS of pictures so you both
know what was left as sometimes things get "lost" during the process.  The good platers have
a tracking system for this but anybody can have an accident.  Prptect yourself.

Mike

[Paul Phillips]

Thanks Mike
I had good feedback from locals on this ATL provider, hve know the guy through local shows and cruise-ins, have mutual friends with him, etc. so I thought it would be OK.  I strongly suspect what happened is they got behind on orders and were rushing to push things out the door.  Add that to a lack of a good quality control system and results could be anything.  What was ridiculous is they totally refused to make good on their work, instead just refunding the fee for the unacceptable parts and telling me they never wanted to do work for me again.  I was not being 'picky', the defects were obvious from 10 ft away.

I completely agree about documenting the parts before sending them.  I had photos of everything I sent out, along with an itemized list.  The plater took photos of the parts as they arrived.  It was fairly easy with their photos & mine to prove they got everything in the front door.  They admitted I did not get the parts back.  What they really did not like was the price of replacing the parts they lost!  Maybe it will teach them something, but I doubt it, as I got a lot of 'attitude' with that 2nd refund check.

Graves is a good plater and I would definitely consider them if I was in a different situation.  Since I did get several $1000's of parts back acceptably plated, I needed to find other(s) whose process matched what I had in color.  For those who aren't into the details, there is a range from slightly yellow to slightly blue that comes out of plating shops, depending on the brightening chemicals they use.  Graves tends to the yellow cast, while what I had was to the blue side.  As long as you do a whole car with one provider, there are no issues.  I needed to get the rework and remaining parts done by platers whose part color matched my 'good' parts.

I will be happy to sing praises of the guys I am now working with as soon as I get parts back.  I just don't want to jump ahead of facts.  What I can say is both were extremely pleasant and professional to work with, were open to showing me their facilities and examples of their work, had positive recos from several online forums, had been in business for 40+ years, etc.  I should get all the steel parts back in about 10 days, and should get a partial batch of the pot metal ones (more urgent stuff like trunk hinges & door lock hardware that would pace reassembly) in 2 weeks.  Look for a followup post at that time.

There are a lot of good platers out there and a lot of bad ones.  Price is not solely the determinant of 'good' - my problem plater was not the cheapest show in town, and I have seen quotes from others with good reputation that were lower.  I think the better thing to seek in recommendations is to understand how they will handle problems.  This is a skill business where every part is different and presents different challenges.  Even the best guys have processing problems.  The really good ones find and fix them before giving the customer a part back.  The good ones also make good on something that may slip thru their quality monitoring.  The bad ones just push it out the door without quality, or don't stand behind their work.

Caveat Emptor definitely applies.

Paul

[INTMD8]

Paul, in reference to possible color differences you mentioned above, would that be the difference in hexavalent and trivalent or is it possible to say, have different tones with a hexavalent process for example?

[Paul Phillips]

Jim
I am not skilled enough in the chemistry of the process to answer this question - sorry.

Paul

[Caddy Wizard]

Paul,


I am not an expert on this, but perhaps the color difference might also be attributed to the process, even if the chemicals are the same.  As you know, the copper is the base or filler or primer, the nickel plating gives it the silver color, and the chrome is there to protect the nickel (and is mostly clear/translucent).  If the nickel is thicker or thinner, it might allow less or more of the copper base shine through and to affect the final color. 

I am guessing that is like painting a car.  If you use gray primer under a color top coat you will get one look, use a whiter primer and the final appearance will look different.  On Pecos Bill, the paint for the body all was mixed at one time, even though the front of the car was painted first and then the rest of the car was painted later.  But the two paint jobs used different color sealer coats under the paint, such that there was a slight difference in tint from the front clip to the rest of the car.  I am guessing that a similar thing can happen with triple chrome plating...


Art

[Paul Phillips]

I am pleased to report that I have now received back parts from both of the alternate sources in TN and am completely happy with the results.

I used Knox Custom Chrome (Knoxville) who specializes in plating steel, brass or copper, and S&H (Madison) who specialize in pot metal, but can handle all metals too.  Both did excellent restoration/repair within their specialty areas, delivered when promised, and were very pleasant folks to work with. Pricing was at least as good and mostly much better than the incompetent guys. 

I would definitely recommend both these sources. I would also recommend, where possible, that you visit a plating company, to meet the key people and discuss your needs and expectations before giving them work. I was able to do that with both companies here and it not only provided confidence up front, it certainly didn't hurt to be able to talk to someone you 'know' when checking status or planning to pick up the finished work.

Sorry for reviving an old topic, but I wanted to provide continuity on the story.

Paul

[wrench]

Sometimes a visit to the plater is just an opportunity for them to lie to your face instead of over the phone. I will let you guys know about my plating fiasco. I go to the shop, over the counter the guy says "4 weeks". I am in no rush, so I say 'OK", well when I called on the parts, they were like "4 weeks"...I felt like that scene in 'O Brother, Where Art Thou" ..."geographical oddity, 2 weeks from everywhere"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4r4U-y5WJs

[Paul Phillips]

Jim
Sorry you had that problem. Maybe it was just my fortune this time around, but I have actually met some guys here that I like, we have conversations about a wide range of topics, not just my parts, etc. It has been a really positive experience. Hopefully it will go better for you next time.

Paul

[wrench]

It's not a problem yet...we'll see if i ever get the pieces back. I have dealt with this over the years...it's just the way it goes with some vendors. Don't even ask about the interior shop guy...