Rechromed parts for my Hudson Pickup :(

[auburnseeker]

I purchased some rechromed parts for my Hudson Pickup through a vendor I found on Ebay that had them.  There aren't alot of guys selling Rechromed parts for 46-47 Hudsons.  He had a pair of vent frames which looked good in the photos so I told him I would take them.  I didn't buy them on ebay as he had some more parts that I needed so he had them coming back from the chrome shop and I had to wait for them.   They came in and he fired me an invocie of 530 for the 5 pieces with shipping.    I was excited to get them and never got pictures of them before he shipped or I paid for them.  

  This has been a real up and down week with my Building project and some on and off problems with getting my Hudson together and dealing with the 2 parties that are trying to buy my shop and other house.  Those 2 sales will provide the financial end of my building project.  Without them the building project is in Limbo not to mention the monumental task of moving everything to this location from them.  (imagine moving your house and business with inventory as well as small car collection all to a new location that isn't ready for it before you have the money to build anything at that location. )

  Well I opened the box of goodies up and should have known by the way the rest of the week has been going I was going to be disappointed.  

  The vent frames aren't horrible,  I could probably live with them but the rest of the chrome is terrible.   Especially when compared to the pieces he currently has listed on ebay.  Who chromes over pits like this.  Especially on highly visible parts.  I can see someone missing in a little spot on the underside of a piece.  I know the chrome from new wasn't perfect and I don't have a concourse show truck, but this is unacceptable.  The pieces look worse in person.  Lots of grinder marks and waviness besides all the pits plus more you don't see. 

  I sell parts and I would sell these myself if I ha them in my inventory as rough but shiney and clearly let the buyer know these would be good if yours are missing for a kind of rough driver or a beater but that's it. 

  Tomorrow when I simmer down a bit I'll email the seller and see what they want to do.  

  My wife who isn't a car person (atleast by choice)  glanced at the one piece and said who does work like that it's terrible. 

[Annie G]

Wow!  While the chrome work looks good, it's terrible that they left it looking like that.  In the description, did he state that the rust holes, etc would be filled/repaired before chroming?  did he have before photos of these items?  did you pay with a CC or Paypal?  I hope you will be able to get your money back as I don't know anyone who would put those parts on their car.  Good luck!

[poci1957]

Sorry to see that, I have never understood how any chrome plater with eyesight could hand something like that to a customer thinking they would accept it

[K8096]

Send them back & demand a refund.  

[auburnseeker]

I'm hoping to deal with the vendor directly but yes I did pay with pay pal so I have some coverage their.  

 

I've always wondered how a plater could produce work like this and ever expect to stay in business for more than a week or two.  I do stianless restoration and polishing as well as some aluminum polishing for customers and would be embarrassed to even let a customer see work this quality much less give it to them. 

[Xander Wildeisen]

There has been talk on another post about paint, chrome is another tough one. We all know that the only way to fix the pits, is to fill them in and prep the surface. Again, and again, and again. What bothers me about some of this stuff. If you plate a bumper and it looks bad, you redo it. Some of these pot metal parts are hard to find. And once you lose the detail in some of these pieces, it is just a paper weight. The hood ornament on your truck has a lot of fine line details on the side. I have never seen one of those re-plated that has not lost the detail in it. Another tough job where skill and quality shows. A restored/custom car with top notch bright work really stands out.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Another thing, Hold the vent frames up to the ones on your truck. Make sure that they have not been "sprung" (spread apart). It really sucks when setting the vent glass, and the frame wants to keep pulling away from the glass/rubber setting tape, because it has been spread apart. Tracing out the shape of the pieces on cardboard before sending them out can help as a pattern. Some times you have to re-shape them, and hope you do not crack the chrome. All the fun things we get to deal with putting cars/trucks together. One little trick you can use to avoid problems with wing window frames, is to get rid of them.  

[auburnseeker]

I was lucky enough to get a pretty clean hood ornament.  It does have a few pits in the grooved area but I think I may clean them up and shoot that area with an argent color then leave the rest polished chrome rather than take a chance on having it ruined.  I found some one with some pieces close to home but they haven't been real responsive in getting back to me.   We'll see. Sad part is before I got in the parts business,  the town 20 miles away had a Hudson dealership that turned into a gas / service station and when they needed room,  they backed the truck up and threw out all the new Hudson parts int toe truck then to the landfill.   I know of atleast one 90 year old Hudson parts hoarder with a load of stuff but he isn't really ready to sell any of it and only leaks a few items on the market at a time.  I think he has a big barn full of stuff.  I never had a Hudson though when I spoke with him.  Maybe my truck would be a way to get an in. 

[mercer09]

wo mentioning names-there is a plater in VA that does work like yours-he is downright cheap and that is why.

around for years and listed in Hemmings.......................

[auburnseeker]

I checked the frames against mine and they don't appear sprung,  but mine are actually cleaner just duller chrome.  These must have been really crappy parts they started with. 

[auburnseeker]

I figured the cheap price was because they were being done south of the boarder as they came from close to their.  The parts he was selling on ebay looked pretty good. 

[Matt Harwood]

The plaiting is fine. It's the PREP that sucked on those parts. Here in Cleveland, there's a large chrome shop that does mostly industrial work, but as a dumb kid who needed some parts plated, I looked up chrome platers in the phone book. I took a pair of simple valve covers there and they said they'd do them. Two weeks later, I got my parts back--bright shiny chrome over some very badly scratched and scuffed metal. They dipped them and chromed them, but there was exactly zero prep beyond running the parts across a belt sander with 60 grit paper on it. I paid $40 for two valve covers to be plated and got exactly what I paid for.

 

I bet your conversation with the vendor is even more infuriating. Guys who send out that kind of stuff hide behind anger and bluster and like tell you that you're the idiot. They don't issue refunds. You're going to have to go the hard way. I hope I'm wrong, but I bet he gives you a hard time for complaining and tries to hide behind some bogus "no returns" policy.

[auburnseeker]

I just wrote the seller.  We'll see.  Here is a copy of the email. 

 

 

"Good evening Glen;

  The parts came in Yesterday. 

  If  I pay the return shipping, can I send them back for a refund?  

  I sell parts for a living so I understand dealing with customers and expectations.  These were for my own personal truck and the quality is terrible.   Other than being shinier than what's on my truck they are probably in worse shape than what I have.  I can't believe someone would actually plate right over all the holes left from the pits.   I would have a talk with your plater as I can't imagine any customer would find these acceptable.  I wasn't expecting concourse quality but huge unfilled pits right in the middle of the parts is unacceptable. 

  Please let me know and I'll get them wrapped up and back out.  

  Thanks for your help,  Randy"

[auburnseeker]

I just heard back from the seller.  Here is his response.

Yes, you can send everything back for a refund.  Sorry you were unhappy with the parts.  Best, Glen

 

Seems he is going to do the right thing.  

[Annie G]

I'm glad you took the time to ask for a refund.  Offering to pay the shipping is generous, considering the poor quality of the parts you got.

[jackofalltrades70]

The plater may have been told to "strip and rechrome".  A quality shop would not do that because their name would be "tarnished". A lower end shop could have said ok with a signed paper from the ownr requesting such work.

 

imho

Matt

[Matt Harwood]

That's great news. That's really rare in this business. I have a big pile of parts bought on eBay that were not as advertised, all with sellers claiming, "No backs!"

 

Hope you can find some better replacements.