Never pay anyone to do anything.

Just need to get this out because I know if anyone's going to understand, it's probably you guys/gals. Also, if in this situation, it turns out that *I* am the shiniest and happiest party, I'm sure you'll let me know. 

Because I've got a lot going on with work and home renovations, I decide to pay Threepiece.us do the refinishing of my 19" SSR Vienna Kreis (one of my favorite wheels of all time, I'm weird).  If you're not familiar with the company, everything they do is multipiece wheels... from sales of new/used/rare to rebuilds and restorations. Their prices seemed fair, and even with shipping across the country, they still made the most sense. 

The better part of a grand and two months later (one month longer than quoted), the wheel faces I get back are missing parts, flat silver instead of gloss silver powdercoat, and there are wrinkles in said powdercoat on multiple areas of each wheel. A phone call later they tell me "yeah that happens sometimes" and that they "don't do refunds, but can give me a discount on future products/services." That's not okay. He says he doesn't know what to tell me but I can talk to his supervisor, who will call me back. He never does.

I open a dispute with Discover, who says I have a case. Over the past month and a half the charge reappears on my account, I call them, the charge disappears... then reappears again, I call, and the cycle continues. I get different "case agents" every time and have to explain in layman terms exactly what's going on... if you have ever tried talking serious car talk to non-car people, it's exhausting. During the last round of this happening the case agent tells me Threepiece had responded with "they're old wheels and if the client wanted them to look new he should have bought new wheels."  Before my internal reactor hit critical I was hit with "well from what we can tell they did provide the service so we're closing the case." Uh... what?  

So that brings this three month saga to yesterday. Not sure if anyone has any advice (or wants to commiserate) but the way I see it is that I've got one last-ditch effort. Going to try calling Threepiece once more and trying to reason with them. Not looking forward to it, but I'm still hoping that the "catching flies with honey" approach and being a reasonable human being works out. If that doesn't work I'm taking this to the BBB, Yelp, social media, you name it. Which I'm sure won't get me anywhere but sometimes screaming into the void just feels nice.

...

Oh, and if you're curious about the fate of my poor blighted SSRs, I paid a local shop to strip the powder from the faces, so I can paint them myself... in all that “free time” I totally mentioned having earlier, ha!

Some Pics (defects are on every wheel face, and note the lack of gloss—powder shop who stripped them said they neglected to powder clear over the base silver):

I hate to tell you this, but by opening a dispute with the credit card company you have already poured a bunch of vinegar into the honey. That's an incredibly aggressive move from the vendor's standpoint, and you'll be well known by name at that company by now and not in a good way. I totally get why you're upset but the dispute is the final, nuclear option.

Its unfortunate that Discover won't go to bat for you, I had a similar situation with a vendor and eventually contacted VISA and I had it resolved in one billing cycle with one phone call and a written statement I filled out, scanned, signed, and emailed.  

Edit:  Also, much like the ZOMG I CANT WORK ON MY CARZZ! thread going on, this is worthless without pictures.  

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Thanks Keith. I was worried that would be the case. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with them as it was, I had to try what I could.

Screaming into the void it is then! Here's hoping I can help other enthusiasts to not get hosed like I did.

But he was in the right. I get that disputes are rough for the vendor, but they should have either fixed the wheels for free (with free shipping in both directions) or refunded his money. 

Ebelements, you’re not the shiny person here. The vendor is. If the story as written is true then they have failed completely. Discover is not your final recourse though - is the total amount below the small claims limitations in your area? If so it might be worth it to file. Do you have things in writing? Do you have photos of the problems? I sure hope so. 

I’d also be researching Discovers process for escalations beyond the usual channels. Consumerist, when they were around, used to suggest the “ceo bomb” where you contact responsive higher ups and I wonder if they ever published that info for Discover. 

Is Discover flipping after being contacted by threepiece when the charge reappears, or is threepiece resubmitting the charge like a new sale?

This is the random opinion of someone totally unqualified on the Internet, but the latter sounds like some kind of fraud. But if that was what was going on, I would think that Discover would have flattened them, not just repeated the chargeback.

The "technically they rendered the service, how effectively be damned" thing gives me a tic.

Ransom said:

Is Discover flipping after being contacted by threepiece when the charge reappears, or is threepiece resubmitting the charge like a new sale?

This is the random opinion of someone totally unqualified on the Internet, but the latter sounds like some kind of fraud. But if that was what was going on, I would think that Discover would have flattened them, not just repeated the chargeback.

The "technically they rendered the service, how effectively be damned" thing gives me a tic.

This!

Are they recharging you or is discover doing it?

dculberson said:

But he was in the right. I get that disputes are rough for the vendor, but they should have either fixed the wheels for free (with free shipping in both directions) or refunded his money. 

My point is that, after going there, it's pretty difficult to go back. If you're hoping for a customer service concession after that, it's a pretty long shot because you've basically fired yourself as a customer and you are now a big flashing warning light.

Note that "customer service concession" is a relative thing. For this company, it may be an offer to rework the wheels or offer a refund. Or even just an apology. For other companies, it might be something else. These guys don't seem to be an over the top customer service operation so any concession would likely be pretty small.

Credit card companies are not in the business of quality control. Their rule is "did they do what they were paid for?", and whether it was done well or not is not up to them to judge. You paid for a service, you got a service and that's the end for them. Judgment calls on the quality of the work are better settled in things like small claims court.

The charge coming and going is definitely an odd thing.

In reply to Ransom :

From what I can tell, the charge that would be removed and then resubmitted was from Discover internally, and would happen when one of us responded. They completely mishandled the case—apparently the first case worker even described my issue in the notes as "having paid for a website to be built" despite a long detailed conversation and my having uploaded a PDF of a dozen pictures, the entire email thread, screencaps of their site that show both pricing and mention of "bringing your wheels back to show quality" and just about anything else I could think to provide.

The "how effectively be damned" was what got me, because technically they did NOT provide the service as promised. Why they took over a month to come to that conclusion is beyond me. 

Cancel card, have a new one issued. They will no longer be able to charge the account because they won't have the new card number. 

I had to this recently after a pest control company refused to return my calls about wanting to cancel my service. 

Sorry to hear 

nice to see another SSR owner here. I have had a set of 19inch SSR Vienna Dish on my VIP LS for about 10 years. Love them 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Thanks! Small world, they're going on my '91 LS400.

That's going to look excellent. You are required to post pics.

ebelements said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Thanks! Small world, they're going on my '91 LS400.

I had a 92 LS and then a 99LS 

currently 05 LS

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Here's hoping! The car currently sits on a set of period(-ish) 18" staggered Carlssons. Figured with the air suspension and the fact that it's become less of a daily that I can get away with the 19s and rubberband tires.

There's no worse feeling you can have after paying for a service than "I could have done that better myself...for free."

In reply to ebelements :

That plate is highly approved.

That is rough. That is 100% why I do everything myself. 

GameboyRMH said:

There's no worse feeling you can have after paying for a service than "I could have done that better myself...for free."

Or as I like to say: “I could’ve berkeleyED THAT UP MYSELF! FOR FREE!”

"I can pay a professional to screw it up, or I can screw it up myself for free" indeed.

In reply to ebelements :

I feel your pain. I just went through a similar situation with a set of wheels and tires that were not round. It took two months to resolve and fortunately for me the vendor was helpful.  Even though you may have pissed them off, I would try getting in touch with a higher up person  and explain what the issue is/was and what you expect for compensation, total refund, partial refund,  whatever you think is fair and reasonable. You paid for a service and did not get full value of said service. See what they have for a response.  You are already out the money so if you get something back that is a partial win. Try to be courteous and calm and communicate by email so there is a trail. The norm for today's corporate  world seems to be promise the world and deliver nothing and deliver it with employees that are completely incompetent.  Good luck

Keith Tanner said:

I hate to tell you this, but by opening a dispute with the credit card company you have already poured a bunch of vinegar into the honey. That's an incredibly aggressive move from the vendor's standpoint, and you'll be well known by name at that company by now and not in a good way. I totally get why you're upset but the dispute is the final, nuclear option.

3 sides to every story, but it sounds like the OP gave them an opportunity to make it right. “Discount on future crappy service” is not “making it right.” The response should’ve been “send them back, we’ll pay for shipping, and have our best guy/gal fix our berkeley up.”

...At least that’s how I’d handle it at my shop. YMMV. Sometimes you have to eat E36 M3. Cost of doing business.

THAT SAID: Just because you’re not satisfied doesn’t mean you should get a 100% discount on the service they provided. Seems like there should be some middle ground where they’re not losing money, and if you’re “happy enough” with X% off, everybody is “whole” and parts ways with no hard feelings.

I'm not certain on how this is handled if an issue like this is found by the customer. But we do anodizing and chrome on some of the parts we sell at my employer and I'm fairly certain a finish like that wouldn't have been allowed to leave the building. 

poopshovel again said:

Keith Tanner said:

I hate to tell you this, but by opening a dispute with the credit card company you have already poured a bunch of vinegar into the honey. That's an incredibly aggressive move from the vendor's standpoint, and you'll be well known by name at that company by now and not in a good way. I totally get why you're upset but the dispute is the final, nuclear option.

3 sides to every story, but it sounds like the OP gave them an opportunity to make it right. “Discount on future crappy service” is not “making it right.” The response should’ve been “send them back, we’ll pay for shipping, and have our best guy/gal fix our berkeley up.”

...At least that’s how I’d handle it at my shop. YMMV. Sometimes you have to eat E36 M3. Cost of doing business.

THAT SAID: Just because you’re not satisfied doesn’t mean you should get a 100% discount on the service they provided. Seems like there should be some middle ground where they’re not losing money, and if you’re “happy enough” with X% off, everybody is “whole” and parts ways with no hard feelings.

Agreed, he waited to enter the dispute until after they'd dropped the ball. The story sounds like everything was done right from his end, and I agree that the company should have offered to redo it on their dime. But they didn't, which sets the stage somewhat as to how they prioritize customer service.

The purpose of my statement was not that it was wrong, or that the shop was justified, or any of that. It was to point out what a cc dispute looks like from the other side. I know a lot of people who think it's not a big deal, and they'll file a dispute before they'll ask for an RMA if they don't like the color of something they bought. It's a very aggressive move, and folks should realize that. Going back for another try after that is likely to be a low percentage move. But what the heck, it's worth a phone call or two.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I feel ya. And I agree; It should definitely be saved for fraudulent charges, or an absolute last resort.