Shout out for Randy Gross!

[JayJay]

So often these days we encounter poor quality, poor attitude and poor service when we look for things to be done. I know I'm not the first, nor I hope will be the last, to recognize that none of the above apply to work I had Randy Gross do for me.

I am doing a body-off restoration of my unmolested 1930 Town Sedan and am heavily into the chassis right now. I knew I needed to convert the old stamped steel drums to cast iron, and when I pulled the front hubs I found the backing plates totally packed with grease. I also noticed that the front roller tracks were heavily gouged, which means that they needed to be removed and new/repaired re-riveted into place. I don't have a press big enough to swage lug bolts, nor am I skilled enough at riveting to feel confident, so I decided to have my backing plates rebuilt and all four drums replaced. Based upon reputation, I decided to contact Randy Gross to see if he was interested.

Randy was a delight to speak with on the phone, very helpful. It turns out that my family got together in Southern California for Thanksgiving, and when I asked, Randy very graciously offered to let me drop off my brakes as I drove through (those things are heavy - shipping is not inconsequential). When I dropped them off on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend Randy apologized that he could not turn them around that day, and noted that he had a job in front of me for the following weekend. That was fine, I'm nowhere near ready for them.

The Friday before the weekend Randy was going to do my job he had an unexpected delay that required that he put me off for a week. His wife called me to tell me of the delay. I thought this was an excellent customer service touch, he knew I was not pressed for time but had the courtesy to let me know anyhow. He did get to the job the following weekend (last weekend, December 16-17) and called me last Monday morning to let me know the brakes were on their way to me UPS and would arrive Wednesday. Which they did, no muss, no fuss. One corner to a package, well padded, taped and banded. Very professional.

I unpacked them today and they are gorgeous. Hubs blasted and new drums and lugs installed, new bonded service brakes and e-brake, nicely blasted and painted backing plate, and all internals new. He even enclosed a pint of drum brake grease (the green can Sta-Lube stuff that you can't get any more).

Invoice was in the shipment - none of this "pay me before you inspect the work" stuff. And I thought that the charges were very reasonable. Considerably less than if I had bought the parts and had the work done locally.

All in all, a totally pleasant experience. If you need brakes or any of the other things Randy provides (please see attached business card) I don't think you can go wrong.