I was referred to California Bolt Company through a friend of mine who had used them once before and with a good success.
Typically, I use another plating company for all my Zinc and Cadmium plating needs, but this time around they were backlogged 3-4 weeks so I decided to give California Bolt Company a try. What happened next was a nightmare.
I was under a deadline to have a classic car restoration completed by Christmas, so the turn around time of one week that I was quoted was ideal. I shipped over two batches of hardware and one ash tray. Each batch consisted of a plastic baggy full of nuts, bolts and washers and weighed about 2-4 pounds ea. This would be considered a BATCH run and most companies will allow you to submit up to 10-15 pounds before increasing the price by an additional 20%. My hardware was dropped off and sat on the owners desk for 4-5 days while he claimed he was too busy making a "personal" move. From then on, I called him every day and asked him for a status update on my parts.in every case, the owner promised to return my calls with an update and in every case, he never did, thus the reason for me having to call back every day the following day.
Every conversation ended with some sort of "personal" excuse why my parts weren't done. Finally, 3 weeks later, I received my parts. The quality of the plating was beyond terrible. The worse part is that California Bolt Company charged me over $400.00. I asked the owner what basis he had for overcharging me and what discount he was willing to make up for a terrible plating job and for not delivering the job when he promised. His response was "none" and I could pay for my parts or leave them behind, which for me, I had no choice but to pay for them.
I left with my parts and drove them several miles down the road to my usual plating company and they quoted me $107.00 to do the exact some lot of parts. They also commented that it was one of the worst plating jobs they had seen in their 25 years of business.
The owner of California Bolt Company is full of lame excuses and drags his personal life into the business. Not once did he step up and offer any discounts to me for his failure to perform in a professional and businesslike manner, nor did he even offer to deliver the parts to me.
California Bolt Company appears to be a Mom and Pop run shop.in these times, I really want to see businesses like these succeed, especially when all the work is now sent to China. What I expect from a Mom and Pop business like California Bolt Company isn't necessarily the lowest price, but to receive good old fashion SERVICE and knowing that the owners are going to bend over backwards and will do all they can to make their customers happy and to keep their business, not to price gouge their customers and tell them to F-off.
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