I am about to get an 1800 completely restored by Volvo Werks Inc in San Jose. Before making this investment, I am looking for people who have experience in dealing with Wolvo Werks. I would be grateful for any recommendation, feedback or even pictures of restorations. Thanks a lot in advance!

Have you found any good review about Volvo Werks at all so far? All I have seen so far is just bad stuff... I was about to give them a 75 Volvo 164E for restoration... doubtless I am having second thoughts...

Thanks,
Kenny

If you have a question about the company please feel free to come to our shop. We are located at 351 N Autumn Street San Jose California our phone number is 408-292-9783 On Sunday the 1st of August we are having a sort of open house to show off a new auto we have just finished.

We are going to be at the shop from Noon till 4:00 PM Please feel free to come by and have a cup of coffee and look around.

Also at that time you can look at the Multitude of license both state and Federal that we have posted.

We have done hundreds of autos for people over the years, and we do have a few disgruntled clients, it goes with the territory, I am afraid. I believe that one of our biggest problems is getting the work out on a strict time frame. We are working on that, however for years we have taken especial care in doing each restoration in a precise manner, which does not lend itself to quickness. We have just hired on a few new people and with their help maybe we can speed things up a little bit. However we will not sacrifice quality with quickness, we would rather be blamed for being slow than for pushing out junk quickly. We have had one other problem and that stems from the fact that we are a small shop (10 people), and as such we don’t answer the phone by the same person each time a call comes in. It is always who just happened to be by the phone. So sometimes conflicting answers were handed out, depending what the person was doing at that moment when the phone was answered. We have also worked that kink out, by bringing on two more people, one is a full time secretary, the other is a young man to handle customer relations. This solve, serves two purpose, we hope that no more conflicting messages will go out to people and second it keeps the people work in the shop, working in the shop. Again if there are problems we are working at them to correct them and we hope if you are able, you will join us on Sunday the 1st of August at the shop (from Noon to 4:00 PM) for a look around. Also for you who are having problems with engines that you ordered, we were experiencing two problems that caused big delays. We were having problems getting decent cores (B-20s especially ). The second is the machine shop we use and have used for years has been very bogged down with work. We believe those two problems also have been solved. Please phone John for details at 408-292-9783

Hi Kenny,
In the meantime I have ordered my 1800 at Volvowerks. I had talked to two references they had provided me with and (of course) both were quite positive. My impression from the first week of dealing with them is that they know their business, but are pretty chaotic. Promise to call you back and never do, send out contract with wrong specs etc. I think that at the end of the day their work is ok, but you need to be very patient.

Good luck!
Andre

Andre,

Just curious as to what the references said... were they regarding Volvos? what models? Please do keep us updated.... In the mean time (after getting a bit discouraged after reading all the negative posts on Volvo Werks) I started researching my local area (Sacramento, CA) for restoration shops. I found some interesting places... atleast two of the people I talked to were extremely nice, very helpful. One was even European (Britannia Restoration)! Another referred me to someone else who he said is "very honest and his rates are very reasonable and he also gets projects from people with Ferraris and Lamborginis, Porches etc". I later talked to Paul. Seems like a very nice person... I am plannig on visiting these shops soon...

Looking forward to your updates!

Kenny

Kenny,

The references both had Volvos restored by Volvowerks. I believe one was a P1800 and the other was a 122, but I am not 100% sure. In any case, they were quite happy with the work being done. One customer stated that he has not had any problems with his car since the restoration. The other said that the shop is very genereous (e.g. free delivery, extra parts).
After week 2 I can only say, that I am getting more and more comfortable with my decision. They know their business and are very helpful with making decisions on the specs. Apparently they are extremely busy, which means that you should not always expect to be called but rather call yourself, if you want to know, what the status is. I don't know what happened to some of the angry folks here on brickboard, but I enjoy dealing with Volvowerks and I am looking forward to getting a very nice car.

Regards
Andre

Please keep us in the loop as to how things are coming together. I am the one who still has not seen the V8 Bertone... Volvowerks has disconneted their phones and do not reply to e-mails.

If there is another way of reaching them - please post up.

Thanks

Steve

hello

This message if for those of you out there concerned about about doing business with or currently are doing business with VolvoWerks, the Volvo restoration shop in San Jose. I went there after reading there ads on eBay, talked to the owner, a man named Joe, and he seemed to be honest so I plunked down a 50% deposit on a restored 1967 P1800, that was on 30 June. Didn't hear from him for two months, called and got a message saying their line had been disconnected. So today I went to his shop. He was not there, but his son Joe was. He explained that he and his partner are taking over the business from his Dad, but they are experiencing major chaos (more than normal) because they are preparing to move to a larger facility not far from their current location. Anyway, I spoke to Joe Jr. and his partner Chris, and they assured me they were still in business, will remain in business as VolvoWerks, and had every intention of honoring the current outstanding contracts. He explained that his Dad had to step down due a a serious health problem.
He gave me his mobile phone number, and asked that I call back to make an appointment to come see him in the first week of October. I asked why I had not seen any ads on eBay for restorations, and he explained that they had more than sufficient backlog to keep them busy for a few months. I left there feeling a lot less nervous about the situation than before. For those of you who live far from San Jose, I will continue to monitor the situation and post the progress on these forum pages. But all indications today are tht VolvoWerks will continue to perform on their obligations.

Dr.Doom,
I did an e-bay "buy-it-now" on 4/23/04. I now have a half inch of paper in regard to my dealings with Volvowerks. It is rife with my e-mails, letters, and fax's to them with a very poor response. I (thought I) bought a 122 restoration but as you well know, I have nothing. Do you have any idea why they have not restored their phone service if they are not moving? That part really bothers me. I had John Ramsey call me about 3 weeks ago again indicating he would send pictures and fabric samples. When I saw what you wrote on 9/29 it appears they do not have any 122's, that killed me. I live in Orange County California about 375 miles away. I have to ask what many are asking regarding keeping an eye on them. I did not even know they were planing on moving. My name is Jeff and if you can, please keep us informed of your progress or problems. From the internet response I have seen, it appears there are about 25 of us. If you can, you can call me at (800)977-0286 X 657. Thanks.

I received an email from Volvo Werks stating "...expect in the next week to receive a phone call if you have a restoration project here at the shop. During this conversation we will give you an update and also we will go over what is expected on the job. During this conversation please let your service advisor know what you would like, and he in turn will give you some completion dates that we will strive to honor."

I wondered if anyone has heard from them yet. I too used ebay to purchase a restored Volvo in April. It would be a relief to hear that someone has been contacted.

Dr Doom, thanks for any information you are able to share from direct contact with Volvo Werks.

To all of you who are doing business with Volvowerks of San Jose, CA., here is an update.
I visited the shop today to see if they were still there, since all phone numbers that I previously had for them were disconnected. Khris was there (that's how he spells it!) and we talked for a while. I stated that there were a lot of nervous and upset people who had signed contracts with Joe Berschneider and have been patiently waiting for an update to the stauus of their restoration.
I listened as he told me that they were still trying to get themselves organized and get the shop in running order. He did say that the move to the new location was not going to be anytime soon, since the landlord of the new warehouse had another candidate for the lease and had not made a decision. I told Khris that the people who were waiting for cars were getting nervous, some had said they wanted their deposit back, others were at the point where they were going to the authorities to have them investigated for fraud. I told him he needed to get back to his customers and show them if he had obtained their candidate vehicle, where it was, and it what step of the restoration process it was in.
He did take me to the back of the shop and showed me the following:
a white 1967 P1800 which was the donor car for my restoration:
He said there were two P1800's at the body shop, one in for bead-blasting and one in for painting;
He showed me a blue P1800 in the shop which was awaiting wet-sanding to eliminate the orange peel on the paint;
He showed me a 1966 or 67 two-door Volvo 123GT (based on the 122S) that had all trim removed, body had been smoother with putty, and was waiting to go to the bodyshop for bead blasting and paint;
There was also a dark red 1800ES, completely gutted, but awaiting wetsanding and the final coat of paint;
He showed me a lite blue 1800ES that had just come in and will be cleaned up and repainted, but not subjected to a restoration cause that is how the customer wanted it.
Also the mustard yellow (yuck!) 242GT that was parked there when i visited them before has been delivered to the customer.
They are still in a state of complete chaos at the moment, but there are cars there that were not there during my last visit.
Khris was by himself when I visited, no one working at the shop with him. I advised him to contact his customers, the ones who have been waiting for their cars the longest, and communicate with them to tell them where their cars are and what still needs to be done. Also to show fotos of the progress.
I will keep tabs on Volvowerks as best I can. Those of you who have run out of patience, you should pursue whatever remedy you see fit that will make it right for you. For the moment, I will monitor the situation and give them the opportunity to succeed and deliver my restored P1800. The fact that they have the candidate vehicle in their shop is a hopeful sign. I am more interested in getting my car than getting my refund, and as long as I can monitor progress on my car, I will not be engaging in any legal action against them. Not Yet!
Good Luck to All,
Dr Doom

hello Dr.Doom,

My name is Stephan and I live in Sinzig/Germany. I have the same problems with this company as many others in this forum. I signed a contract about two P 1800 in showroomcondition after studying their ads and posotive feedback in ebay in may 2004. I did the deposit and after many calls and e-mails I got some pics of the first car, that should serve as the donor vehicle. I discussed the details with Joe and he promised to me to send me some pics of the second, a 1967! P 1800. Although I gave them lots of telephonecalls and e-mails I never got the pics. Since a few days the telephonenumbers are dead.

Dr. Doom, you are our most important man, because you seem to live near or in San Jose. Your visitation last tuesday and your report of the meeting with Joe jun. and Chris and their explanations of their actual situation and that they want to continue their busyness to fullfill all outstanding contracts may calm down a little bit, I would like to believe it too. But be carefull, there are so many others who are involved in bad business with this shop, that I fear their answers are nothing else than a new excuse to get some more time, perhaps to disappear completely. Otherwise volvowerks could have informed their customers by e-mail about the situation and the delays, that takes about 30 minutes.

So I beg you with all the others, please have a close look to their activities and try to find out more information about them, because a single mobile number is not very much. Perhaps their new address or their private address and phone numbers etc.
Please imform your local instances about this company, because you see your case is not the only one.

And please post all your experiences in this forum.


I fear the worst and hope the best.

Best regards

Stephan

This company was also offering car transport service.I found out about them on ebay.I paid 800 to them on the end of august and my my car never got picked up.They dont even want to give me my money back.
I recomened all of you to file A COMPLAINT AT www.ftc.com LIKE I JUST DID!

To the Volvo community:

I need some help in dealing with Volvowerks and I also want to warn anyone who is planning to do business with Volvowerks.

I signed a restoration contract with Volvowerks on July 16, 2004. The contract said that Volvowerks would purchase a P1800 E for me and restore it to like factory condition in approx. 120 days. By the time of the purchase of the car by Volvowerks, Volvowerks would give a clear title to me. They were very eager to get the contract signed and told me that they had just purchased an 1800 E (1972) in Texas, which they wanted to restore for me.

10 weeks, many phone calls from my side and many unfulfilled promises (about sending me details about the car, about sending me leather and paint samples etc.), I had a discussion with "Chris" and "Bob" about installing an audio system. They asked me to pay 1000 Dollars up front to buy the audio system without being able to tell me what they actually planned to buy. As a payment method they asked to transfer the money via Western Union to a private person named "Richard Lowe", because Volvowerks was "consolidating their bank accounts" and would not be able to receive money into a regular bank account for 4 weeks. By that time I got very nervous about their financial situation and therefore asked them to fax me the title of the car. What they faxed me was a "vehicle transfer and reassignement form" for a Volvo 1800 E from 1970 which they had purchased in California on June 6 2004. When I asked them were the title was, they told me that there was no title but that I would have to apply for a lost title. Not only were they presenting me a car that had nothing to do with the car we had talked about for 10 weeks, they also were not able to present any clear title to me!

That was my last phone conversation with them on September 2, 2004. Since then I have tried to reach them every day and left messages on their answering machine. They have not returned any of my calls and today I discovered that their phone is disconnected.

I am now assuming that they went bankrupt and I am trying to figure out, what to do to get the 7,300 Dollars back that I had already payed. Do you have any idea what to do, who to involve, or how to find out whether this company still exists?

I appreciate any lead! You can reach me at: Alibaba1973@gmx.de

Andre

If you have a question about the company please feel free to come to our shop. We are located at 351 N Autumn Street San Jose California our phone number is 408-292-9783 On Sunday the 1st of August we are having a sort of open house to show off a new auto we have just finished.

We are going to be at the shop from Noon till 4:00 PM Please feel free to come by and have a cup of coffee and look around.

Also at that time you can look at the Multitude of license both state and Federal that we have posted.

We have done hundreds of autos for people over the years, and we do have a few disgruntled clients, it goes with the territory, I am afraid. I believe that one of our biggest problems is getting the work out on a strict time frame. We are working on that, however for years we have taken especial care in doing each restoration in a precise manner, which does not lend itself to quickness. We have just hired on a few new people and with their help maybe we can speed things up a little bit. However we will not sacrifice quality with quickness, we would rather be blamed for being slow than for pushing out junk quickly. We have had one other problem and that stems from the fact that we are a small shop (10 people), and as such we don’t answer the phone by the same person each time a call comes in. It is always who just happened to be by the phone. So sometimes conflicting answers were handed out, depending what the person was doing at that moment when the phone was answered. We have also worked that kink out, by bringing on two more people, one is a full time secretary, the other is a young man to handle customer relations. This solve, serves two purpose, we hope that no more conflicting messages will go out to people and second it keeps the people work in the shop, working in the shop. Again if there are problems we are working at them to correct them and we hope if you are able, you will join us on Sunday the 1st of August at the shop (from Noon to 4:00 PM) for a look around. Also for you who are having problems with engines that you ordered, we were experiencing two problems that caused big delays. We were having problems getting decent cores (B-20s especially ). The second is the machine shop we use and have used for years has been very bogged down with work. We believe those two problems also have been solved. Please phone John for details at 408-292-9783