Coat Paint Shop in Portland?

[Joachim]

Originally Posted by 10-4

Sad to hear, especially with the expectations that would be set forth from Coat and their amazing work in the past. Getting something done that's less than satisfactory from someone you don't know would be bad enough, but the anticipation of something coming back from Coat to be let down would really stink.

On the flip side I had a Vanilla in my hands today and was shocked at how beautiful it was in person. Really incredible.

Sorry, I didn't mean Coat.

[10-4]

Originally Posted by Joachim

Sorry, I didn't mean Coat. Just another builder. I'm really getting tired of having to send things back to "make it right". If this would happen with companies I deal with on a daily basis, they would lose all my business. Once, fine, we can try to work that out. Second time, I find someone else to give my money too. Premium price should receive premium service. I don't spend my hard earned money to get $*&% in return.

Totally agree. I do understand mistakes happen, and as a small business owner I always appreciate those customers that do give us a second chance when we screw up. But if we screw up twice it's our loss as I wouldn't expect them to come back.

We've been lucky a couple times over the last few years that when we did screw up the customer let us know and allowed the chance to make it right....

[beercan]

ive seen some heavy handed paint jobs from coat

[cat6]

Originally Posted by tiretrax

I'm curious why you want to send it to Portland (do you want a bird on it?)

Haha!

[Stan Lee]

Originally Posted by beercan

ive seen some heavy handed paint jobs from coat

lol

Coat does good work but I think spectrum and JoeB have more experience (and do better work IMO) at the same rate.

[Joachim]

Originally Posted by Stan Lee

lol

Coat does good work but I think spectrum and JoeB have more experience (and do better work IMO) at the same rate.

I got fast feedback from Keith Anderson when I asked about paint. And his work looks great too!

[Stan Lee]

Originally Posted by Joachim

I got fast feedback from Keith Anderson when I asked about paint. And his work looks great too!

I agree- I had a MTB frame/fork painted by him in 1995 and it's still doing well.

[Ahneida Ride]

Consider Fresh Frame in Pennsylvania .

[Sacha White]

Hi All,

Thanks for all of the feedback. Doing a good job and keeping my customers happy is and has always been important to me, so I'm glad that my paint shop's reputation is that we're mostly great... though sometimes not good at all.

What I would like to say is that problems are inevitable. No matter who you're dealing with and no matter the industry. We have our fair share and though we are constantly looking at process, technique, etc., ***** happens and occasionally those mistakes get missed and sent out. What we can do at that point is acknowledge when something is sub-par, take care of the customer by fixing it and put our energy into learning how to avoid the same mistake in the future. That is what we do.

The hairline cracks in the powder clear happened on a small handful of frames right around the same time. Despite all kinds of tests, we have not been able to duplicate it since and it continues to be a mystery to us and our powder supplier.

54ny77, I don't recognize the frame in your photo, or I would contact the owner based on that. If your friend still has the frame and is unhappy with the work, have him call me. I'd like to take care of it.

Thanks,

Sacha

[54ny77]

Sacha, sent you a PM. Thanks for posting, your words are really appreciated. It's great to see a biz owner in this insane bike industry acknowledge issues and attempt to right them in order to make a customer happy. That simple concept seems to be an increasing rarity these days, especially among small firms.

My friend, who's bike was pictured, may contact you via PM here or through your regular biz channels.

[54ny77]

Sacha:

I want to thank you personally for following up on this item directly with the builder and clarifying that the two botched paint jobs were not, in fact, done by Coat, but rather at another firm in Portland called Class Act.

The customer of the bike, who is a friend of mine, was told verbally on more than one occasion by the builder that it was Coat that had done the paint. Normally, we wouldn't think it even necessary to confirm with you (or Coat) that the builder was lying or had incorrect information, as that's a step that one wouldn't think necessary during the course of a custom build process.

I am sorry for dragging your name through the mud here, and must offer an apology for bringing this up as though it was a bad quality control problem of Coat. We unfortunately had no reason or information to believe otherwise. Per your communication from the builder today, your firm never saw this frame.

As mentioned previously, the builder has once again taken back the frame and apparently will address it. Again. Third time might be a charm.

Sorry to the mods that this is posted on the Serotta forum, of all places. I simply wanted to make an important clarification that deserved to be heard, and to express a thank you to Sacha of Vanilla/Coat who took on the issue personally and wanted to right a perceived wrong--if in fact it came from his shop. That's a very good business ethos and should be applauded. Other builders & related business should take note.

[happycampyer]

Several years ago, I bought used Vanilla for my wife. It came with an unpainted fork that, after speaking briefly with Sacha, turned out to be the wrong rake for the frame. I bought a new fork and had it painted by COAT. The frame has two colors set off by pinstripes, so I had to send the frame along with the fork so that COAT could match the colors (4 In total including the pinstripes) as well as the diagonal pattern of the paint on the frame. The result was flawless. And as a complete surprise, the folks at COAT added "ghost" pink-on-pink unicorns on the inside of the fork legs to match the dropouts (the frame is a Gentle Lovers model that has unicorns in the dropouts instead of the traditional "V"). Count me among the very satisfied COAT customers—those cats go to 11.

[pdmtong]

Been a long time since sacha's posted here. nice to have him still around.

[luigi22]

Originally Posted by Sacha White

Hi All,

Thanks for all of the feedback. Doing a good job and keeping my customers happy is and has always been important to me, so I'm glad that my paint shop's reputation is that we're mostly great... though sometimes not good at all.

What I would like to say is that problems are inevitable. No matter who you're dealing with and no matter the industry. We have our fair share and though we are constantly looking at process, technique, etc., ***** happens and occasionally those mistakes get missed and sent out. What we can do at that point is acknowledge when something is sub-par, take care of the customer by fixing it and put our energy into learning how to avoid the same mistake in the future. That is what we do.

The hairline cracks in the powder clear happened on a small handful of frames right around the same time. Despite all kinds of tests, we have not been able to duplicate it since and it continues to be a mystery to us and our powder supplier.

54ny77, I don't recognize the frame in your photo, or I would contact the owner based on that. If your friend still has the frame and is unhappy with the work, have him call me. I'd like to take care of it.

Thanks,

Sacha

class act as always

[cat6]

Originally Posted by Sacha White

Hi All,

Thanks for all of the feedback. Doing a good job and keeping my customers happy is and has always been important to me, so I'm glad that my paint shop's reputation is that we're mostly great... though sometimes not good at all.

What I would like to say is that problems are inevitable. No matter who you're dealing with and no matter the industry. We have our fair share and though we are constantly looking at process, technique, etc., ***** happens and occasionally those mistakes get missed and sent out. What we can do at that point is acknowledge when something is sub-par, take care of the customer by fixing it and put our energy into learning how to avoid the same mistake in the future. That is what we do.

The hairline cracks in the powder clear happened on a small handful of frames right around the same time. Despite all kinds of tests, we have not been able to duplicate it since and it continues to be a mystery to us and our powder supplier.

54ny77, I don't recognize the frame in your photo, or I would contact the owner based on that. If your friend still has the frame and is unhappy with the work, have him call me. I'd like to take care of it.

Thanks,

Sacha

Don't own Vanilla/Speedvagen, kind of want to "hate" at times. How could I? As wildly popular the brand grows, and as long as a waiting list becomes, there's a response....to something that might otherwise die leaving viewers disheartened...bravo to you to have the wherewithal to follow up.