taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (12/02/86)
An interesting posting on USENET from someone at National SemiConductor, here in the Bay Area... I had an interesting experience and it served to point out something that I had not considered but should be remembered when using the net. Someone had asked for recommendations for a body shop and there were several. As coincidence had it, my wife made the mistake of allowing our teenage son have the family T-Bird for a school night event and he drove into a barbed wire fence. No problem but a few major scratches. So I went to one of the recommended body shops in Sunnyvale. The slightly older British gent was very personable and very meticulous in his estimate. Just the kind of body man I grew to like in Texas when I had a Jaguar. The estimate was for $300 and so I went with him. Well personality aside the guy doesn't know anything about paint. I should have had a clue when I saw his wife's Jag. This so called body shop has left my car in a state that is unbelieveable and best estimate so far is that it will cost me $4500 to fix and it will never be as good as it was. He painted all kinds of rubber parts, chrome, etc., and didn't fix all the scratches. There are several colors and there's overspray inside on the leather (argh) seats. The point is that the net should not take giving or receiving recommendations lightly. Having a pleasing personality so that people want to see you suc- ceed is not necessarily the best qualification for the job. The Bay Area's intense business climate and dynamic turnover in customers means that it will be difficult to find compentent and high quality workmanship. Let's be careful about recommending someone without having enough technical knowledge about the subject to know whether they are really good or not. I, myself, intend to be much more carefull about receiving or giving such advice.