I hereby want to file a complaint against Cooks Upholstery and Classic Restoration.
After working on the repair of my classic car for over six months and being paid in full at the beginning of this period the following items are still unfinished:
- color of replaced leather seat cover is different from the rest of the car
- rear bumper and overriders are missing, supposedly being re-chromed out of state
- car key is missing
In March 2017 I brought my 1951 classic Bentley to Cooks Upholstery after the rear bumper and a a bodywork had been damaged in a parking lot. The AAA policy of the gentleman who had accidentally damaged my car paid for the body repair. I was familiar with Cooks and the owner Craig Lynch from a previous repair at the same car when they had done a good job. At this time the owner's club had recommended this shop.
When I brought the car in early May I asked Mr Lynch as well to redo the worn leather upholstery of my back seat and paid for this by check. I was a bit surprised that I was asked to pay the full amount right away, the last time this had not been the case. Both my check and the AAA check were cashed right away.
When I left the car there I asked Mr Lynch to store my car inside, he assured me that this would be he case. I left the car with Mr Lynch and handed him the key.
After about a month I had visitors and asked the insurance for a rental car, which they granted. I had at this time a very hard time to get Mr Lynch, or anybody, to answer the phone and the insurance adjuster requested progress reports that Mr Lynch did not deliver. When I reached him he said he had to send the bumper out of state for the chrome finish. At some point I returned the rental car because the time allotment for this type of repair was over. About two and a half months after drop off I drove by Cooks upholstery ( I live 40 miles away) because I became concerned. This was in particular because neither I or the insurance received updates and I was unable to reach anybody at the shop.
My car was sitting outside. The battery was flat. Next to it outside were two Bentleys, one without a rear window, another one without any windows. During this visit I watched as well how employees removed a large amount of dust from a Ferrari. The bodywork on my car had been repaired but the bumper was still missing. The repair was ok, not more, a slightly off color paint and a slightly off brush size had been used for the pin striping. As I said, ok, not great. For the sake of getting this over with I did not say anything about the quality of the repair.
However, I became angry and more concerned and asked Mr. Lynch to store my car inside and and proceed with the repair. He said that the only item missing was the bumper which had still not been returned from the out of state shop. To facilitate communication he gave me his cell phone number.
About three weeks later I received a call from Mr Lynch that I could pick the car up. Two days later I was able to take the afternoon off, alerted Mr Lynch that I would be coming and took an Uber to Cook's. However, in the Uber I received a phone call from Mr Lynch that he had been unable to finish the car. It was too late for me to turn around so I went there.
On arrival I noticed that the color of the replaced leather seat was off. Mr Lynch said that I should bring the car back to him to dye the leather to match. This was after he had had the car at his shop for over four months. In addition, it turned out that he had lost the car key. Mr Lynch showed me a bumper that he had just received but said that they had sent him the wrong bumper. He promised that it would just be another week or so until the bumper would arrive.
I took the car home with the spare key. The (original) paint had aged considerably so I assume the car had been outside for a significant amount of the time. I was able to buff most of it out.
This was over three months ago, as of December. Since then I have received sporadic responses to my texts that Mr Lynch has been unable to locate the key and that the bumper and overriders have still not arrived. This "repair" has now dragged on for about seven months. Excuses from Mr Lynch included a wedding he had to attend, a visit to the Monterey car shows, and a car that had fallen off the jack on his foot.
In the interim I met the owner of one of the windowless Bentleys that had sat outside next to my car. This car turned out to be someones prized possession and the owner was almost in tears when we talked. More concerned, I found as well that Cook's upholstery holds a F rating with the Redwood City Better Business Bureau.
The adjuster from AAA told me he could not do anything, that everything had been paid in March and recommended that I should report Cook's Upholstery to the BAR.
After working on the repair of my classic car for over six months and being paid in full at the beginning of this period the following items are still unfinished:
- color of replaced leather seat cover is different from the rest of the car
- rear bumper and overriders are missing, supposedly being re-chromed out of state
Cooks Upholstery & Classic Restoration Reviews
I hereby want to file a complaint against Cooks Upholstery and Classic Restoration.
After working on the repair of my classic car for over six months and being paid in full at the beginning of this period the following items are still unfinished:
- color of replaced leather seat cover is different from the rest of the car
- rear bumper and overriders are missing, supposedly being re-chromed out of state
- car key is missing
In March 2017 I brought my 1951 classic Bentley to Cooks Upholstery after the rear bumper and a a bodywork had been damaged in a parking lot. The AAA policy of the gentleman who had accidentally damaged my car paid for the body repair. I was familiar with Cooks and the owner Craig Lynch from a previous repair at the same car when they had done a good job. At this time the owner's club had recommended this shop.
When I brought the car in early May I asked Mr Lynch as well to redo the worn leather upholstery of my back seat and paid for this by check. I was a bit surprised that I was asked to pay the full amount right away, the last time this had not been the case. Both my check and the AAA check were cashed right away.
When I left the car there I asked Mr Lynch to store my car inside, he assured me that this would be he case. I left the car with Mr Lynch and handed him the key.
After about a month I had visitors and asked the insurance for a rental car, which they granted. I had at this time a very hard time to get Mr Lynch, or anybody, to answer the phone and the insurance adjuster requested progress reports that Mr Lynch did not deliver. When I reached him he said he had to send the bumper out of state for the chrome finish. At some point I returned the rental car because the time allotment for this type of repair was over. About two and a half months after drop off I drove by Cooks upholstery ( I live 40 miles away) because I became concerned. This was in particular because neither I or the insurance received updates and I was unable to reach anybody at the shop.
My car was sitting outside. The battery was flat. Next to it outside were two Bentleys, one without a rear window, another one without any windows. During this visit I watched as well how employees removed a large amount of dust from a Ferrari. The bodywork on my car had been repaired but the bumper was still missing. The repair was ok, not more, a slightly off color paint and a slightly off brush size had been used for the pin striping. As I said, ok, not great. For the sake of getting this over with I did not say anything about the quality of the repair.
However, I became angry and more concerned and asked Mr. Lynch to store my car inside and and proceed with the repair. He said that the only item missing was the bumper which had still not been returned from the out of state shop. To facilitate communication he gave me his cell phone number.
About three weeks later I received a call from Mr Lynch that I could pick the car up. Two days later I was able to take the afternoon off, alerted Mr Lynch that I would be coming and took an Uber to Cook's. However, in the Uber I received a phone call from Mr Lynch that he had been unable to finish the car. It was too late for me to turn around so I went there.
On arrival I noticed that the color of the replaced leather seat was off. Mr Lynch said that I should bring the car back to him to dye the leather to match. This was after he had had the car at his shop for over four months. In addition, it turned out that he had lost the car key. Mr Lynch showed me a bumper that he had just received but said that they had sent him the wrong bumper. He promised that it would just be another week or so until the bumper would arrive.
I took the car home with the spare key. The (original) paint had aged considerably so I assume the car had been outside for a significant amount of the time. I was able to buff most of it out.
This was over three months ago, as of December. Since then I have received sporadic responses to my texts that Mr Lynch has been unable to locate the key and that the bumper and overriders have still not arrived. This "repair" has now dragged on for about seven months. Excuses from Mr Lynch included a wedding he had to attend, a visit to the Monterey car shows, and a car that had fallen off the jack on his foot.
In the interim I met the owner of one of the windowless Bentleys that had sat outside next to my car. This car turned out to be someones prized possession and the owner was almost in tears when we talked. More concerned, I found as well that Cook's upholstery holds a F rating with the Redwood City Better Business Bureau.
The adjuster from AAA told me he could not do anything, that everything had been paid in March and recommended that I should report Cook's Upholstery to the BAR.
After working on the repair of my classic car for over six months and being paid in full at the beginning of this period the following items are still unfinished:
- color of replaced leather seat cover is different from the rest of the car
- rear bumper and overriders are missing, supposedly being re-chromed out of state
- car key is missing Sincerely