Another One Bites The Dust

[Alan Lui]

spent whole of today, just finished nearly 10pm, working on the front seats of a nissan 350. only done 30,000 miles seats already badly worn.....

client wanted the seats refinishing and the colour changing to to some parts colour matched to the red gear gaitor. ok said I no problem

wish I hadn't......

partly done, thought i'd check as something was niggling me, although it looked ok, so checked what i had laid down, and yep it wasn't sticking, oh PANTS..! no adhesion....

clean it off and re-clean and prepare the surface again, no still no adhesion... looking a bit closer to the areas that hadn't been coloured by me, and its peeling here too.... someones been here before.....
right need to decide whats my choices..?

1. completely strip the surface from the leather... no not going that far. been there before found that what was causing the problem had soaked right through the leather, no stripped completely knackered.
2. go into hiding pretend I never met the client before in my life.... errrm, hard one but nah...
3. call the client get him to come over, explain the problem.

yep number 3. so he comes over really wants the the colour doing as its looking exactly what he pictured.. but its not going to work. not by me anyway...so i now have to remove the red and try to refinish the seat again back to black so when it gets scratched it doesn't show through so much. as it was originally.

finally done

being dropped off tomorrow, so a whole day lost, plus materials and no charge as i haven't produced what said i would.... but at least his seats look better now.

 

[Robert Bailey]

His seats look great, and you'll get some great referrals, not just for the work done but for your integrity.

 

[Alan Lui]

thanks Rob, but i wanted the cash.....

 

[Lee Breen]

Really interesting Alan, looking to get into leather soon.

Thanks for posting.

 

[K.O. (Shorty) Glanville]

Someone once said, "ya gotta know when ta hold 'em, know when ta fold 'em, know when ta run".............

As much as we want to do the very best for our customers, sometimes the ones that we held, come and bite us due to no fault of our own.

Did he tell you prior to taking the seats that someone else had attempted the same thing??

If he didn't, I would not place much emphasis on that persons integrity.

I hope he doesn't try to blame the fault on you down the track.

Great work & PR in any case Alan.

 

[Alan Lui]

no he's only had the car 6 weeks, whether or not someone wants to try it on (and that's anyone who does leather) can happen at anytime by any one of the customers we work for, (anyone can wreck leather using inappropriate products and bad use of item) who knows it's one of those risks we take, people are people, and some are lower than others.....

his plan is to have the seats reupholstered next year as he really wants the red panels, he cannot do now as he's just laid out for a new exhaust upgrade....

 

[Jared Long]

Blimey glad my 370z has cloth seats and not leather if thats what happens after 30,000 miles

 

[Alan Lui]

I think something happened to the seats prior, either some electrics or some other fault, and they have sourced a secondhand seat instead of paying out to have them repaired, and had it bodged, so they can sell it, its a bit too excessive for that kind of damage.... thats my guess anyway, unless one of the two previous owners worn sandpaper pants

 

[Stuart Byrne]

Alan I have a new customer with an astin dbs he is rather large to say the least, the car is under two years old and he has had two seats already, Astin Martin have told him you can't replace or renew parts of the seat....I wonder why lol in about 6 months his seat will need some attention I reckon as unfortunately his back side does not fit nicely into the molded seat so I will send him over to you

 

[Andrew Evans]

I love the way you write Alan, you sound so chilled and relaxed and make it sound like anyone can do what you do, But in reality you are one of the most skilled leather technicians out there and this job for most of us even with experience of leather repairs would be a nightmare.

Don't get me wrong cleaning leather is a great add on to my business and I have done some re colouring but then I have seen the skill levels that Alan puts into his work and his modesty.
I also know the thousands of pounds in training you have spent on your trade, cleaning leather is one thing repairing it to your standard of workmanship is another well done mate.

 

[Alan Lui]

aww thanks Andy, i think I love you...

Stuart, by all means direct him directly to me at shirley templeton@norwich.com think I might have moved by then though

 

[Andrew Evans]

Doesn't mean I want to pick out curtains or soft furnishings with you Al

 

[Alan Lui]

your packed.......