This is going to seem like dejavu all over again but it really is a new thread title with just one word added:

Who do you guys use? My car has NEVER been washed or detailed by anybody other than myself in the 3+ years I've owned it but I think it's time I gave it a treat. I just don't buff out things like minor scratches and swirls too well and end up causing more damage than what I started with. I'm looking for somebody who does a good job and doesn't leave excess wax and turn the wheel arches white. If you know what I mean.
Long Beach, Lakewood, Cerritos area would work.

Thanks,

Ken

 

Contact OctaneGuy. He's the best.

 

Thanks for the tip Waterway but you missed the key word...RELIABLE.

Next? Anybody?

 

how is he not reliable?

 

Hey Ken, wish I could help since we live not far from each other but you've seen my Cooper and how dirty it can be.
Anyway, have you tried asking Fabrizio if he knows of anyone?

Juan

 

Unfortunately, efcmini, has chosen to take a misunderstanding public. You said you got over things, but apparently you haven't. I admit I called you a little late (20 minutes before the appointment) that I was running late, but I did call you, and I did PM you after we talked that I was running late and what time I would be arriving, and I did call you when I was within 10 minutes of arriving as my PM stated.

The misunderstanding was that you said you were going to be waiting at home for me, and that part I honestly didn't hear, because the first time we talked I asked if you could return back to work since you said you just left, you didn't say what you were going to be doing. You just grumbled that you had already left.

Although you cancelled on me as I arrived because you were upset, I offered to knock $100 off the $150 detail I was going to charge, heck I even said I'd do it for free cause I was already there.

And I will once again state for the record, everybody who knows me, knows I rely on my TMobile Sidekick for my communication for my wireless email and PM replies, so don't make assumptions about when an email or forum post is made. Not everyone sits in front of a computer at home to communicate with others.

Finally calling me a bullsh*tter and "unreliable" over a misunderstanding is your choice. But keep it up in public and you can talk to my lawyer.

Richard

 

Cancelled when you arrived???? What?? You mean like if you buy a hooker over the internet or newspaper, and she turns up, and you're like "Hey, you aint the one in the picture!" kind of cancelled???

You can't do that to hookers!

And you definitely can't do that to Richard!!!

That just aint right man.

Especially if Richard offered a 66% discount. Hell I wish the hookers would do that.

People are strange.

 

This thread seems to have been orchestrated to be able to make that dig at Richard.

As a lot of forum members could attest to, Richard does excellent work and knocks himself out to serve the MINI community.

 

DiD, Well stated and I agree 100%. Richard your work speakes for itself and don't waste your time on those owners that feel the need to take out their BS on you. You AND your work ethic and your support are one of the many reasons I joined C3 and am proud of what we have accomplished for the less fortunate. Enough said.

 

Matt,

You need a girlfriend

 

Wow! Unreliable is definitely NOT a word I would even associate with OctaneGuy. He's the #1 guy I'd want in my corner if things ever got tough for me, and has gone waaaaaaaaay over and beyond anything resembling "fair and honest dealings" when it comes to people I've referred him to (and me, for that matter!).

You're the guy who takes it out on the poor pizza delivery boy, aren't you.

 

Like Octaneguy and hookers, I also have a job where I drive to meet clients all over the LA area. I'm almost always running a little late...traffic, and other stuff happens.

It sounds like Richard bent over backwards to make things right...I can't believe this thread even exists. A full detail for $50??? Have you seen the work this guy does??? $150 is already cheap for how good he is. You missed out, man.

 

OctaneGuy's work and work ethic speaks for itself. He is the best.

 

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the support. Your comments mean a great deal to me.

Yesterday (Sunday), I worked for an awesome customer restoring a 1992 500e Mercedes. If you don't know what that is, as I certainly didn't, it's one of about 1400 made between 1992 and 1994. They were handbuilt in Germany and was a joint effort between Porsche and Mercedes. They dropped a 350HP (380ft lbs torque) engine inside of an old style Mercedes body with executive style seating, and Porsche tuned the suspension so it drives unbelievably. They sold for around $90K back in 1992. This one was flatbedded in from St. Louis.

I scheduled the meeting for 7AM since I knew it would take all day, and I woke up with the shock of my life--a phone call at 7:50. Suddenly deja vu all over again---the sound of Cancel!! rang through my mind.

I overslept because I spent 3 hours at the top of Angeles Crest Highway freezing my bum off in 33deg foggy/rainy weather ensuring a club member got her MINI towed back safely, then I drove her home, had dinner together, comforted her over her MINI......anyways, had a super long Saturday. So I was out like a bat, by the time I got home at 11PM.

Anyways back to my story, I had never meet the customer, Brooke before, but I did meet his wife Dana at a parking lot about 1.5 months earlier when I first inspected this car.

Brooke had researched Autopia and saw my 1965 Mustang Restoration, and he said I was the guy that could restore this car. He told me last night, that he was so eager and excited for the detail, he woke up at every hour from 3AM like a kid at Christmas eve.

So anyways, yes I arrived late, but what did he do when I got there? He went out and bought me breakfast, asked me if there was anything I needed, and offered his home to me. When lunch time came around, he bought me lunch too--he was meeting a friend for lunch. Both he and his wife are very passionate car people, and their hospitality was bar none. I really enjoyed working on their car in part because of their enthusiasm but also because they were such fantastic, and genuine people.

When I mentioned my ordeal earlier this week with efcmini, they were shocked. They couldn't believe how anyone could be that way if they really cared about their car. Their car looked 10 times better when I finished, and all day the neighbors kept coming out and asking me questions about what I was doing. So I started at 9AM, and finished at 11PM, with no breaks. 14 hours, and it was completely worth it, because I know the owners will take care of the finish that I restored, and they just treated me so well, I enjoyed working for them.

One more tidbit, while cleaning up last night, I pulled out my Octane to wipe the sweat and oil off my face. After I got home, I got an email from Brooke, telling me that his wife knows my brother, because he was telling her about the Octane I pulled out, apparently she asked him to develop a product many years ago, and the guy they had lunch with today, was my brothers roommate from college. Even more funny, we discovered we practically grew up in the same neighborhod just blocks away. What a small world!

 

Who do I use? I only use OctaneGuy. I'll wait till the waters part again for him if need be (and I don't give a hoot why I would have to wait) [in so many more ways then one].

I'm the club member he comforted in the 33deg weather up on Angelest Crest Hwy when my MINI broke down. Mind you , he didn't have to be the absolute wonderful guy he is and stay with me all that time but he did. He could of easily said he couldn't stay but he didn't, and I don't think he would ever do that to me or anyone else.


And WHY have you waited 3+ years to treat your MINI right? You don't deserve to be a MINI owner, go get a Honda and leave us alone.

 

those things are/were perhaps the greatest luxury daily driver sleeper ever made.

 

Yes, that's why the owner (A former Porsche 993 owner--but got stolen) loves his 500e so much.

Here it is fully restored after 14 hours of work. And yes this car IS 14 years old. That would mean 1 hour per year!

Done all with Meguiar's products and photographed the next day!





Wheels have some curb rash from the previous owner, nothing I can do about that


This is how the finish looked before I began


Finish was completely swirled out


Bad touch up paint had to be wetsanded smooth


Process involved wetsanding with 2500 Meguiar's Unit Grit papers, buffed with W7006 pad and M85
Test spot proved that much of the swirls could be solved with just a PC and M80. Some areas showed
the clear coat was peeling on the edges which caused me to be extra careful. There were numerous etchings,
water spot marks, scratches, touch up blobs that all had to be removed. On the hood and sides and roof, I used the rotary buffer with various pads, then followed with PC for final finishing and waxing. 1 coat of #7 followed by two coats of M21 finished it off.

 

Amazing Job as always OctaneGuy!!!

 

Can I just say that I have not visited this thread since I started it and unbelievably did not get any email notices to my inbox saying there were replies like I do with all other threads that I have contributed to. So allow me to field all of the cr*p that has been sent in.

First of all Richard, you will note that I have NOT publicly put you down or called you names. If I have, show it to me. No, show all of us. And you wanna contact a lawyer?! Grow up man.

Start with my original thread titled: Good detailer in Long Beach area?

Show me anything negatives in there please.

Now go to the start of this thread, which I genuinely did start by way of finding somebody other than you. I simply added "reliable". YOU know what you did to my day last week Richard. You know. None of these others know, but you do. I'd say you have gotten some good mileage out of these two threads that I started and how ironic is that?

I sent you pm's (they were pm's for God's sake) explaining how you effed me over and you tried to bs your way around them. You know it was bs, and I know it was bs. The rest of these people should never have been involved.

Now as far as the discounting of the price goes...PLEASE! I don't know about any of the rest of you but I consider myself a stand up guy and if he would have worked on my car, even after begging me to like he did on the phone, and lowering and lowering his price as he did so, he would have got NOT ONE PENNY LESS than the price we agreed upon. And Richard, what you don't recall is that you quoted me $200 for the car you were supposed to do that day not $150. I was going to slap the full $200 in your hand in spite of the fact that I knew you'd forgotten. The MCS was to be done the following day and that was the $150 quote.

Now to the rest of you who have contributed to this thread and have decided that I am the bad guy in all of this...Please go out and get yourselves a life! And to the ones who really would have jumped at his "50%", "66%", "FREE" prices...you should be ashamed of yourselves. You do not know me and you do not know how bad this Mr. Do-Gooder screwed not only my day up, but my son's. No doubt he had legitimate excuses but he never conveyed them to me through a phone call, which is all it would have taken. I had made two appointments with him, one car at 10 am Thursday and the other car for 10 am Friday. He called me at 9:40 on the Thursday to say he was running a little late and would be at my house in less than an hour. Not a problem. The next I heard ANYTHING from him...Noon, at which time he said he was on his way (whatever that meant). THAT was when I cancelled him. He NEVER arrived at my house. All of his snivelling about discounting the price was done via a voice mail that he left for me AFTER I had cancelled him.

No doubt Richard has done good, no GREAT jobs for quite a lot of people. All I was saying, and am still saying, is that he didn't do me right. Far from it. Comments like: "When I mentioned my ordeal earlier this week with efcmini, they were shocked. They couldn't believe how anyone could be that way if they really cared about their car" are completley missing the point. The point was not whether I wanted my car detailed. The point was that I was disrespected. My time was considered to be worth less than his. Does anybody not get this? It's mind boggling to me that you don't.

As I say, he has gotten a lot of mileage, new customers, slaps on the back, 3 cheers pip pip hooray, etc. So I think he did okay. Me? Well not that any of you would believe it but I really was the victim in all of this. Richard, no need to get a lawyer involved, really there isn't. Oh and if you'll check the dates and the times of when I started this thread and when I posted, "I'm over it", you'll find something quite interesting. On 4/21 at 8:49 am on the SoCal Mini Spottings thread I posted:

<<Wow!! It seems like everybody on here has seen Octaneguy recently...except me...and I had an appointment

It's okay Richard I'm over it now.>>

That was meant as lighthearted as could be and I meant it. This thread was started the afternoon before when in all honesty I wasn't "over it" yet as it had only just happened. Do you get that?!

The rest of you can just take a chill pill or three and get on with your busy little lives. Or don't.


Ken

 

Thanks for your side of the story Ken.

It's always good to have 2 sides to any story, because then you feel good that you have all the gossip.

Cheers.

 

Yes that's quite unbelievable, which really shows how serious you were looking for a good reliable detailer. The fact you haven't been checking says it all.

Calling me UNRELIABLE over an incident that was a misunderstanding is in pretty poor taste to me. I know you thought it would be very funny to make a public jab at me didn't you?

Hmmm, here's the funny thing. Are you some sort of ultra god that makes your day any more important than anyone elses? I called AAA yesterday to get my MINI windshield replaced. They told me I have two options. 8AM to 12noon or 12noon to 5pm. Uhm, that's a pretty large gap. I should have told you I would be there anytime between 10AM and 2PM. That would have worked perfectly! Heck I haven't even gotten a phone call when these glass guys are showing up. It's 11:38am and still no sign of them.

Yes you sent me a PM, and I'm very tempted at posting it. I was and continued to be very polite and professional, despite you insulting me every step of the way.

I remember this very well. You asked me to work on your MINI. I quoted you $150. Then you asked me to work on your wifes black M3. I told you that price was only for the MINI, and I probably would have to charge $200 for it. You grumbled that it was a convertible, was in good condition, etc.. I said I'd take a look at it. Me being the nice guy, I was all planning to do it for $150, since you had two cars, I would have given you a multi car discount. But of course, you never listened to me. Oh and please, stop it with the "begging". I felt bad about being late, and I'd loaded up my MINI, and was 10 minutes from you. Despite your temper tantrum, I continued to drive within 5 minutes of you and I stopped to get off the freeway. I left the message for you about the price discount. Of course you didn't answer the phone. You let it go to voice mail. What was I to do? I did the smart thing, I high tailed it out of there because my brain told me you were NOT the kind of customer I want to be working with.

WOW. So now I ruined your son's day? OMG. Who else's day did I ruin?? Your wifes cause you told her that her car was going to get detailed but didn't? HAHA, hilarious. You are really coming to light now Ken. Keep it up, your personality is going win over a lot of people!

I never conveyed it huh? Wow. Interesting. I never said I would be there in an hour. But just the same, you never told me you were going to go home and wait. Strange that we both missed that huh?

Funny you call 11:30 as noon. I call that 11:30 and I call 12 as noon.
As for the price discount, sure I told you the discount after you cancelled and why not? I saw the traffic going back to my house, and it was twice as bad, I didn't want to drive back for the next two hours--which is what I did. So I offered you a discount just to make it so my day wasn't a complete waste. And btw, you think I wasted your day, you wasted my morning, packing my car, and driving out to you, rushing my breakfast with my son so I could take him to daycare, so I could get to 10 minutes of your house and have you cancel on me?

Man, you are a sorry excuse for a human being. I have no qualms about saying that about you. You seem to think you have some god given right to be an *** to everybody on NAM. I feel sorry for ANYONE that comes into contact with you.

Obviously in your state of mind, it's not surprising that this is something you just don't understand. Wow, your time was worth less? Interesting. I guess you are right. I wouldn't give you the time of day now that I know what kind of person you are.

But given the fact I devote as much time as possible to my customers cars, working within their schedules, and always ensuring that I've done the best job possible, I'd say I value their time very much, by trying to inconvenience them the least. However, it's obvious from your statements that it's not about the job being done, it's about your time being valued greater than my own, which I respect, but unfortunately, it's been costly to you. Since I work for far less $$ than I deserve, I guess I'm always going to be a little pee on to you since obviously my time MUST be worth less to you.

Boy Ken, you sure do offer a lot to the MINI community. I wish you lots of luck.

 

I agree 100% Richard!

Good luck Ken........you are going to need it now......

 

Isn't it time to lock this thread?