Mikesspeedshop NC-Shock Rebuilder BEWARE

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steward614

Junior Member
Greetings all. As we look to have our shocks rebuilt from time to time I wanted to share my story.


Back in Feb I reached out to Mike Baetlett. Several emails here on FordBarn and then personal contact to Mike Baetlett. After getting details I was told that I should send my cores in for evaluation and that it should take approximately 3 weeks and at which time we can set up payment. I sent 7 cores in on March 1st delivered to him on March 4th. I emailed him six times over the course of seven weeks to get a status report, with no solid update.


"Yes i did,Im dealing with 10 people at once.Once I get into them more,Ill get back with you.Mike"



Finally He calls 4/15 and says I have three cores out of seven that may work for my needs. And the he may have another core to sub in at a cost. Okay fine. And asks for a deposit. I was not home to send a deposit that day.



On the NEXT morning of 4/16 I get a text message from him saying "im going to send your cores back...as I have paying customers waiting on there stuff..."


SO Im thinking Ive already been told may lies from this guy who's to say if Ill get them back. I prepared a label and emailed it to him.



Yesterday I got the box back. I did receive six cores, of which four are mine and one is missing Here is the kicker, only one 28-31 ford Core was open!! He must have xray vision. So i'm out cores and shipping both ways.



Moral of the story is I wanted to share my experience and offer this advice please be-careful that your repair tech is organized and does what he says as my experience with Mike was just the opposite.
 
John Holland in Valley City, Ohio is the go-to guy for shocks.
knowledgeable and affordable.
(330) 483-3896
ship them in USPS flat rate boxes to reduce the cost.
 
The ever irrepressible Mikespeedshop.nc is still posting. The latest 01-27-2019

He replied to a Werner post setting us right on orientation/installation of shocks.

He did not mention if he's referring to stolen shocks. Or if veracity is a necessary prerequisite to good will.

Joe K
 
steward614 said:
Back in Feb I reached out to Mike Baetlett. Several emails here on FordBarn and then personal contact to Mike Baetlett.
Click to expand...


Sorry this to hear this happened to you. Can I ask why you decided to use him? Someone suggested him?
 
As with many things in life, you are sometimes better off if you do the job yourself. There are some good instructive articles in the MAFCA Model A restoration books. At least if a guy takes them apart and inspects them then he will know whether they are usable or not. I'm done sending stuff to people who I don't know personally for repairs.

Some yokels just see if they can turn them. If they can't then they don't even bother to take them apart. Those that don't send stuff back are just thieves.
 
I`m not sticking up for the guy. but guys like myself that rebuild them, can look at a shock and see without taking them apart, that they are not rebuild able. even then some that you think are good looking cores turn out to be only good for the cover and the valve. when you take them apart. before you send in your cores take a real good look at that.
I`m set up for it and it is a lot of work taking them apart.
 
rotorwrench said:
As with many things in life, you are sometimes better off if you do the job yourself.


Those that don't send stuff back are just thieves.
Click to expand...





Please allow me to offer a perspective from the other side of the fence for you to at least think about.


Amongst other things, I am in the gas tank repair business. People send me gas tanks wanting them to be restored. We receive them, unpackage and begin the process. To get to the point where we can do the first internal inspection puts us at about 2 hours of labor plus expendables into the process. Probably 1 out of 10 tanks that we receive are not worth restoring due to too much internal rust or someone has used an acid that was not neutralized that has eaten the metal away. At that point the customer is contacted with the news. Would anyone care to guess how often the tank owner says "Let me see if I can find another one." yet we never hear from them again? At that point, guess who does not get paid for their efforts??

Case more specifically, is someone that posted on that other thread did that very thing to me and chose to buy a tank elsewhere that supposedly did not need to be restored. Then about 6 months elapsed without any more communication nor an offer to pay their bill however then decided they wanted their tank back. This person became upset when I explained their tank was scrapped. He felt his rusted-out tank was worth $150 as-is, so I can show where I finally PayPal-ed this person the amount that he asked for just to make him happy. No offer to pay his bill for what we had done, ...and to beat it all, he ordered a 28/29 radiator from me, and when Brassworks had it ready to ship to him, he would not answer his e-mails nor pay for his radiator order.


While I am not condoning nor defending this shock absorber rebuilder's actions, please understand that us vendors too have been unfairly stiffed by more than a few Fordbarn members. How many hobbyists do you think have ordered parts incorrectly and returned them for a full refund after threatening negative feedback? How many have ordered items such as a wood kit to use as a template and then returned them to a vendor?? There used to be a saying that 'The Customer is always Right!' however expectations and entitlement-mentality has changed that mindset immensely. Adding to that, rarely do you see a post here about vendors who met or exceeded the customer's expectations however when a customer does not have his expectations met, they turn to social media to cast a cloud over the vendors credibility as a form of retaliation.
 
One final question, did you call him to ask about the cores you received? I would at least give him a chance to address the issue.
 
Brent well said , same in New Zealand , BUT 99% are more than happy here to be helped & understand , just the odd arsehole after 50 years of Model A,s still get calls thanking us , some pay more than their invoice in appreciation, Winter is coming BUT speedweek is getting closer ,
 
Lets get the record straight.Shocks were sent to me rhat were in extremely bad condition. I made efforts to see if i could rebuild them.Only one out of 6 was rebuildable.I did not have good cores to use for rebuilding.I returned all your shocks and did not charge you a dime.Sometimes shocks aren't rebuildable.
 
I have used Mike , great service , perhaps a little abrupt in his communication. But a bit of patience on my part got exactly what i asked for and a great functioning product. If you are patient ...plus ... he is your guy.
I was reading on a Houdaile shock rebuild site that only one in 6 is rebuildable as Mike says, many have ovaled body’s and are just plain flogged out.
There is a thread on cyberspace about rebuilding these shocks but it escapes me right now.
 
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