Golden Beetle Car Company (Page 1 of 3)

Lisa,

Sorry to hear about your troubles with your Beetle!

Regarding the Golden Beetle Car Company...I have heard of them...but until your post above, I had not heard anything about them as far as the quality of their work.

I am not sure what sort of Beetle & quality level you agreed to purchase from them...but one of the statements on their website says, "You Get To Build It Just the Way You Want".

Since from your posting is sounds like you wanted carburetors instead of fuel injection...right there is one BIG detail that should have been specified in the beginning.  That being the case...I would not be surprised if some other details you wanted in your Beetle were not discussed as well.

Of course for $22,700...you should have gotten a 1st class rebuild/restoration...that anybody would have been proud of...and you certainly should have been able to drive it for a heck of a lot longer than 50 miles before having any maintenance issues.

Good luck...and thanks for your post!

- Nick

$22,700 is an insane amount of money to pay for a beetle!

Lisa, Post this over at the Samba, in the buyer/sellers feed back, if you haven't already. That site has a very large audience and you may be able to get more help there. Getting ripped off stinks. Collect all your paperwork and any email comunication and talk to any legal representitives you can, as to what recourse you may have. If it was purchased over the intenet, that may be internet fraud, If you ordered and were promised one thing and have it in writting, but received another, that is fraud. The best of luck resolving this. Please keep us posted on this.
David

Contact the Attorney General for the state, they are always interested in these issues.

It results in a powerful letterhead to the company you have issues with, and you might get better results than just placing them on a list with the BBB

CD

Oh man, this is not looking good. I bet there are more out there left with this huge inconvenience!

Great detail Kevin, too bad the detail wasn't praise in the completion of your father's Beetle.
I don't know how this Peter could sleep at night doing this to people. He is aware and has to
be swimming in responses to the schoddy work going on there.

There are witnesses to some of my resto attempts in the garage and often ask what I would
charge to do one for them. I always respond that they couldn't afford me. Maybe they can.

I do know I wouldn't have a clear mind if I was ripping people off and doing such bad work
to boot!

Give us a follow up Kevin, I know I am interested in this outcome. I wanna know just where
it went all wrong for this company. Wonder if it's always been this way for him?

Sad, just sad.

Dennis C~

Last edited by Oldbugss (2007-06-08 03:32:48)

Hey guys,
    I see a few folks responded to my plea for help on what to do about this situation. I am new to this site so I am still learning. Yes, the GBC web site looks great and if you are a potential customer the service is very responsive too. But once they had our car everything changed. No responses to e-mails, many delays, changing stories on why the restoration was taking so long, etc etc. Now we have our car back, but it is barely more than just put back together. Hood and deck lids don't line up right, many basic functions do not work, very shoddy work in general. The person who started this thread has also had a bad experience with GBC and I was wondering if any of you guys had any ideas on how to find out if there were anymore dissatisfied customers out there. Also a couple of you have used terms that I don't know like, GEX and 009. Could someone give me a insight on what those terms mean? I live in Louisville KY and thought when we got our bug back it would be smooth sailing. But we still have issues even after spending $12000 at GBC. If anyone has any ideas, recommendations or information where I may get our bug completed the way it should have been please feel free to contact me directly at my provided e-mail address. Thanks for all the help you guys have given me so far and I'll keep you posted on how this all unfolds.

Thanks,
Kevin
88carfan
88carfan@insightbb.com

Hiya Kevin,

About that 009...............

The 009 is a distributor which, at one time, was a popular alternative to the stock distributors.  The 009 was (and still is) very widely used in racing applications where speed is needed quickly.  Think drags.  It does not work well (in spite of all the racing hype) for daily driving.  In racing use the driver revs the engine while standing on the brakes.  If one does not rev the engine the 009 produces an initial acceleration lag, known widely in the VW community as the "flat spot".  If, at every stop light you want to lay rubber, then the 009 is for you.  Otherwise, the stock distributor which uses a vacuum advance to overcome the flat spot is correct for daily driving use.

And.........This flat spot will occur with any carburetor being used but is notoriously pronounced when used with the 34PICT3.  GBC has combined the 009 and 34PICT3.  This is a combination that most (not all - there are a few diehards out there who insist that this combination can work) in the VW community recognize as being inefficient.  Certainly, the trend away from using the 009 in the past few years is indicative of this line of thought.

GEX is an engine rebuilding company in Baldwin Park, California.  They are well-known for putting together a rather shoddy product.  How do they then stay in business?  Unfortunately, the same way the GBC is staying in business.  They use a lot of glitzy ads to lure in folks who don't know about their modus operandi.

It was mentioned previously in this thread that a good alternative for you might be posting over at the Samba.  I can't agree more.  Many. many VW types post and frequent that site.  You will be talking to hundreds over there.  There are quite a few folks over there from the SE US and they may have some good suggestions concerning local resources and rebuilders to properly finish out your car.  Whatever you do from this point on,  I'd suggest that you document thoroughly and be sure to ask questions.  A lot of questions and not all to the same person.  Gather some references and different points of view.  Get a good grip on the issue at hand before you break out the wallet.