What's the deal with THIS car guy?

[sofadoc]

I don't do cars, and my customers know that. But one of my regulars drove her Surburban up to my shop the other day just to show me what it looked like after she picked it up from the auto trim shop.
He replaced the seat panel that wears out after getting in and out a couple gazillion times. For $175, this is what it looked like:




Not bad, right? BUT, this is what the armrest looked like:



She asked him "Why didn't you do the armrest?"
He said "Oh, I don't do armrests"
The job that he did on the seat indicates to me that he has the skillset to do armrests as well, so why not?

BTW: For $20, I made her a snap-on slipcover :

[scottymc]

I would not be happy with the seams not lining up on the seat , but thats me. I'd be  happy with $175, can't see why he would be unable to do the armrest it's a much easier job. 

[stitcher_guy]

Some armrests (in his defense, but very little defense) are injection molded into the cover, and the foam is secured up in there to the point the cover won't come off without major damage to the foam. But you can cover over the existing (bad idea, IMO), or yank off the cover, clean up what foam remains and the reblock the structure with new foam.

LOLOL...That's a good one "I don't do armrests." That's like a plastic surgeon who only does butt tucks on the right side, not the left. Too goofy.

Me personally, on that seat considering how bad the entire face is, I'd have tried to have the customer reface the whole thing. If their budget wouldn't allow in leather, swap over to the factory matched vinyl. I'm sure the 'burban has enough miles and is old enough that it's not going to affect the trade-in value in any way. And it would look a lot better.

[Cheryl]

The sewing looks nice... but  doesn't line up, and honestly??  It doesn't look like any work was done to  the foam core that supports the edge of the  seat.  for $175??   

As for the  arm rest --   did she contract for that?  Or just the  driver seat repair?

just my thoughts..

[sofadoc]

As for the  arm rest --   did she contract for that?  Or just the  driver seat repair?

She gave him "carte blanche" to do whatever was necessary. The old surburban belongs to her husband, who only uses it as his "Deerhuntingmobile". The couple are VERY prominent local citizens. Money has never been a problem when I've dealt with them. She wouldn't have batted an eyelash if he had recovered the entire seat, and charged her several hundred dollars.

It doesn't look like any work was done to  the foam core that supports the edge of the  seat. 

You're right! Nothing was done internally to shore up the deteriorated seat foam.

[Backwoods]

Looks like someone wanted a patch job and that is what they got. I hate patch work jobs they always end up costing you money.

[Grebo]

I would suspect  that she is being less than honest with you.  ::)

[Mojo]

My OCD would never allow that seam to be off like that. I would go out of my
mind looking at it every time I got into that vehicle.

:)

Chris

[TimsTrim]

Lot's of unanswered questions before making final judgement. Was the insert job done with leather ? If so the price seems about right. If he used vinyl instead it's  high, at least based on what I charge. (Just done one this morning, same seat , same panels, in vinyl, $100) As to the armrest, he should have asked her if she wanted it done and if so he should have done it. Those are the injected foam type and I do , do them, by patterning a new cover and sliding it on over the old cover. Those arms can be a b**** to get on and off especially if you drop the clip down inside. I don't do stuff without the customer's consent. I would have brought it up with her and done it if she said "go ahead", if she said no, it does not get done. And yes, it's criminal that he could not or did not line up the two french seams. If you know anything about match marks and sewing, it's not hard to do.

[sofadoc]

Timstrim: The replacement insert was done in vinyl. The customer wanted the armrest done as well, and would've been happy to pay extra for it. She had no complaints about the seams not lining up, so I'm sure that she would've accepted ANY type of slipcover for the armrest (she was thrilled with quickie one that I made for her). But, he flatly stated "I don't do armrests!". This woman has been a regular customer of mine for many years. I know her well enough to believe her side of the story.
After reading these replies, it re-affirms my decision NOT to recommend him for auto upholstery.

[baileyuph]

How much time, material isn't much, is estimated to do the armrest, anyone?

Two hours?  These type task will eat up the clock and maybe the upholsterer doesn't feel comfortable charging the customer what it would take for him to do the armrest.

If so, it sounds like he misjudged this customer.

I have spent considerable time dealing with armrest like this to get the filler and the cover looking appropriate.  I see not only cover work, foam repair, plus designing a cover that can be installed  and zipped on (or possibly velcro)

Doyle

[TimsTrim]

I obviously don't know what part of the world this shop is in, but around these parts that would be a hosing. Upon further looking at the pic it would seem he did not use Monticello vinyl either. I keep some of that color on the shelf all the time as well as the various grays and tans. Almost all of them are available in "generic" form so are cheap to keep on hand. A heads up for anyone working on these GM trucks. The armrest is held on by a clip that has an O ring on it. Go to your local GM dealer and get a few of the clips ,'cause you are going to lose them now and then. You can acrefull work your way into the backside of the armrest bracket and remove the clip without taking the backrest cover off or part way off. The O ring has to go back on or the armrest will not stay put.

[TimsTrim]

You are about right on the time DB. I don't remove the old cover but make the new one to slide over it and yes, I use Velcro. But even with that method I will burn about an hour plus material , so in my shop that's $60 labor and if the material is on hand , maybe $10 more.