Bigfoot928

I ...

yardpro

No

Rob Edwards

Not unreasonable at all. Metro DFW is 6.5 million people, I have to imagine there's multiple machine shops that could do what you need done, within driving distance, without 8 months of hassle and the weight of unfinished business on your mind.

wpgshark

I think that the machine shop is being abusive, unless those large jobs of which they talk were started before you brought your business in and the same jobs continue today, the machine shop is not scheduling professionally.

They should be doing the work in the order that it comes in, the couple of hours of work you need is not going to make any appreciable difference on the finish time of a large project whether it is done before or after.

Pick up your parts, explain why and either do it yourself or go to someone that will treat you like the paying customer that you are.

If it's a freebee or near freebee please disregard everything above

soontobered84

My idea of a good relationship with a machine shop is that they would do it while I wait. But that's just me.

Hell no, you're not being unreasonable. Now if they had to order in a metric ton of unobtainium (which everybody knows is only available between noon and 2pm on February 29th of a leap year), then you might be unreasonable.

dr bob

Best is to visit with them and share your situation, including the intended good will. Since you haven't let them know that time is getting more important to you now, they have used the opportunity to take care of what appears to them to be more pressing customer needs. If they can't get the work dome in a more immediate fashion, thank them and get your parts. Ask if they know a place that's more in tune with the size of project you are doing, perhaps they will point you somewhere that will be better for you in the long run.

Most service busineses run on the 'squeaky wheel' method of setting priorities. You haven't squeaked yet. Might be a good time to try it.


My too sense.

upstownal

I have scary nightmares every time I hear a story like this. Some years back I took a cylinder head to a machinist who we used when I did marine engines and asked if he could change the valves/guides and spruce it up, no immediate need but still needed in a reasonable length of time.

It was similar to your timeline, dropped it off in Jan/Feb and waited...and waited..and waited..with the occasional stop by with coffee and donuts to see the progress...finally I decided over Thanksgiving dinner that I needed the head back, wanted to finish the car for the next spring and went to reclaim it only to find out the place burnt to the ground overnight, all that was left of my original 1958 Fiat 500 cylinder head was a pile of melted aluminum..

Tom in Austin

My old Marketing buddy used to say, you can have cheap, fast or good, pick any two. Finding people you like to work with is one of life's continuing challenges ... I build a little furniture from time to time and just found some guys who make cabinet drawers cheap, fast and good, what a delight!

Kiss enough frogs and you'll eventually find a prince, or just decide to make a different trade off on the three attributes.

9two8

It seem,s these days that politeness and tolerance are looked upon as being a weakness in a person, and often , but not always, are rewarded with being taken advantage of.
Personally I would ask for your item,s / parts back ( politely) and find some other place that is recommended by others, or do it yourself...., " Life.s too short"

hacker-pschorr

If the machine shops down there are anything like the ones around here, they are swamped.

Sadly the "small jobs" always get pushed back as larger and regular accounts keep coming through the door.

These are people too, working their X hours per day with X +1 work coming in. Finishing your job may require someone to stay late, work off the clock, on Saturday etc....

I know it's easy to say: "It should be first in / first out" but in reality it doesn't work that way. The machine shops I work with (some are family, others long time friends) they have regular accounts they make / modify parts far. When that work comes in everything else is pushed to the side. For the shops around here, that "regular" work is enough to keep them busy for 2+ shifts per day with weekend work shifts.

Sadly a lot of this has to do with a lack of qualified machinists. I'm not sure what we are going to do with this hobby in 10+ years what most of the current crop starts to retire.

GlenL

Less experience than most but my lessons have told me that if they don't agree to a two-week turn then go somewhere else. Being a "nice guy" and saying "in a few months" turns into never as they prioritize the "two weeks" guys ahead of you.

Ask for a decent turn time and then wait to work on it while its on _your_ shelf.

karl ruiter

Keep in mind also that , unless they have specifically stated otherwise in writing, all that waiting you are doing is not going to save you any money. Personally I am ok waiting sometimes if making it easy for them would save me money. But my experience is that I tell them I'm not in a rush it turns into never and then, if I finally do get the work done, it is the normal price.

Charles Parkinson

+1 dr bob

Randy V

Take your parts and leave, telling them you are never coming back. Go through their files and remove all traces of your previous visits.

Then come back a month later with a new name like nothing ever happened

Jim Devine

Regular job shop machine shops don't really like doing one off car stuff.
See if you can find something like a small engine machine shop- they should
have everything it would take to do what you need done.

The delay that you went through was their way of telling you they really didn't want the job, but would use it as a filler which never happened.