Antiques vending company.

Hello all,

Has anyone here dealt with Antiques Vending Company? If so I would like to hear your experiences in detail. I looked at their web site in detail. I was impressed to say the least. Most impressive was the lexstensive section on refrigeration. As some of you who have read in my earlier post I am doing all the restoration on my F.L. Jacobs 26 myself, save or the refrigeration. Antiques Vending will restore just my unit to "better than original" for $449.95.

I had a short conversation with the owner Alan Huffman. Seemed like a personable guy. He said to box it up and send it to him. He quoted about a month turn around time which is fine. I am not near the stage where I would send it out (don't wan't a restored compressor sitting for a year).

As you folks will get to know, I may very well be the most anal retentive person on the list. I am sure I have some good competiion here. I am always driven to to everythign I am involved in the correct way. I will surely be painting all my logos, no decals for me.

I am already drilling out spot welds and getting at rot, making templates for new sheet metal in places that require it.

Anyway, would like your experiences with Antiques Vending Co.

Thanks all.

Joe

[loman4ec]

I have not used them myself but I have only heard good things about the company. Another company that restores our cooling systems is Global Compressors. Eric does great work and is resonable. He also stops in here from time to time. He is a really nice guy and does great work.

[Ltransam]

Joe;
           Glad your here.Great Bunch of People here
  . I have delt with Alan and he's great to work with .Alan with-out even knowing me sent & lent me an orignal tap handel's so my machine shop could make copy some + he cromed the one's I made for him + mine for free .Now he's cromeing some other part's for a Atlas cooler .I have never had him do a compressure deck But I have seen his work .Like Josh said Eric is also great to work with .

                                     Ltransam

[sodaworks]

Welcome aboard Joe,
  I recently sold Alan a Rare DP cooler. Alan is really a nice person and a pleasure to do business with.  '>

[sodaworks]

I would also like to add that I bought a new compressor from global and it was Top Quality!!!

[BrianB]

Alan from Antique Vending is a great guy. He is however very busy. I tried out his refrigeration repair service for my Westinghouse WC-44SK. I didn't go with the cosmetic stuff, I can do that myself. I just wanted a cooling system that was 100%. Well, I don't like saying negative things about people and try my hardest to give them the benefit of the doubt because everything doesn't always work perfectly.

In short, he said there was a 7-10 day turn around for my deck, it took over three weeks. I sent the refrigeration deck to him in a custom built wooden crate. I received my "fixed" unit back in a saggy cardboard box wrapped only around the side and top with bubble wrap. The deck itself was bent from being dropped, certainly by UPS. The wiring on the deck was sloppy. All of the connections used crimped butt splices covered up with heat shrink. No problem, right? Welp, the heat shrink wasn't shrunk into place and looked to me like it was the wrong size to begin with. The harness used was obviously not for that specific deck but would work. It had about 2-3 feet of wire plus 2 female connectors that didn't need to be there and could have been cut out to create a better appearance and a much cleaner job. I'm not tryin' to toot my own horn but I'm an Electronics Technician by trade and I know Q/A and what is acceptable and this wiring job wasn't.

Above all of that. It turned out the deck was wired incorrectly. I ended up having to make 3 phone calls to Alan to let him know what was up. He gave me advice and was nice enough to ship a new harness and t-stat. I figured out the wiring problem in a few minutes and had the deck up and running.

In conclusion, Alan bent over backwards to help me out and I appreciated it. He is a great guy and has a wealth of knowledge and I'm not trying to knock that. But.......I was very disappointed in the job he did for me on my refrigeration deck. I know I didn't want the "chocolate covered cherry" but I did want a functional deck that wasn't all bent up and had clean wiring.

I currently have my Cavalier 55D deck at Global Compressors in Conroe,Texas in Eric's hands and am really excited in seeing the finished product.

Thanks for everyones input! Ecspecially you Brian! When I talked to Alan on the phone he seemed in a rush? AsI said before I am super anal about quaility! I would go balistic if I recieved my unit back in less than exactly pefect shape. I too am building a custum bullet proof shipping container. I cannot believe it was sent back to you in flimsy carboard as it was! Unacceptable!!!!!!

Everyone here on the list seems to like Eric at Global Compressors. All I ask is a quality job! A restoration in the truest sense, with great attention to detail.

Keep the input coming on Antiques Vending.....good.....bad or indiferent.

Thanks all,

Joe

[loman4ec]

While I have never used either service I have contacted Eric several times for questions. Even though I have never spent a dime in his shop every time we have talked for over 20 min about my questions. That to me shows how professional he is. Also Eric often stops by here to help the members on the board with their questions about their refrigeration. He doesn't help to try to gain customers he is just a nice guy who likes to help. I have also heard his work is top notch. If I was sending my refrigeration system out to be rebuilt it would without a doubt go to Global.

[halehouse]

If you are going to contact them, do it by phone. Don't email. I emailed a few (2 or 3) times last spring about getting my Vendo redone with the "cherry restoration" and I think it took about 4-5 months to hear back. In that time I had already had a local company do the job.

[MoonDawg]

Quote (VMC117BMB @ Oct. 01 2005,9:49)

WC-44SK. I didn't go with the cosmetic stuff, I can do that myself. I just wanted a cooling system that was 100%.

I don't know Alan but I feel I should comment. Re-wiring should be done AFTER the compressor components have been sandblasted and painted.  Maybe your wires were so bad he had to install a used harness to at least get the unit running until you could restore it?
Was new wiring discussed in advance?