Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Here is a pic of my partially stripped dash that I started to dismantle about six weeks ago after I had spoken to Ian Bond who politely told me that he had a standard elan sprint in stock at a cost of ?240 - which was more than the advertised
Price but I was happy to pay with debit card at the ready .
"I can't take a card - it will have to be bank transfer "
So the transfer was sent a day later .
No e mail receipt so I called him and he confirmed.payment and told me the dash would be sent next day .
That didn't happen and 8 days later I called him and got an answer after 3 attempts .
" sorry - I'm so sorry I've torn my ligaments walking the dog "
I gave him some sympathy and he assured me that he would get it straight out to me .
So six weeks later - he doesn't answer concerned e mails that bring his attention to the fact that he has my money and my Dash .
Telephone calls are never answered.

I know we have a few members here from the Stokenchurch area - surely there's someone who wouldn't mind popping in there and asking to see a Sprint dash, then ask to see it in the light and put in the car boot saying you are collecting it for Mr Orangerover. I'm sure it'll be obvious whether he's done his ligaments or not.

Failing any offers for above send him a letter before action,follow that up with a money online claim, obtain CCJ, escalate to the High Court and send in the High Court bailiffs who will recover your money and their costs too.

Really annoys me to keep hearing bad reports about this vendor. Almost exactly the same experience to mine (and I think some others).
I'm glad I did my own dash as I was just as annoyed with Matty ( who, in turn, deals with this vendor).

Thanyou for your replies .
I have various ways in mind of dealing with Ian Bond .
If anyone else has had a bad experience with this man would they let me know please.
Has anyone managed to resolve after this length of time ?
It's very irritating and I've lost precious driving time to events etc while I've been in limbo .
Can't understand how people like this can carry on in business,
It's what you might expect from doing business in Nigeria But not from a man in middle England renowned for his work .
Such a shame ........

Hi Orangerover

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Afraid to say that I have also suffered the 'Classical Dash' treatment. About 7 years ago my +2's glove box door was split and milky and I needed to get it sorted. I spoke to Classical Dash and agreed that I would send the door to them in the post with the money. A month later I had heard nothing so chased them up. I experienced all that you have described, only ten-fold and with varying, different excuses. A year later I finally got the door back which, mercifully, they had made an excellent job of. My method of finally getting Mr Bond to send it back to me was to e-mail him with the threat of small claims court and then ringing him to make sure he had read the e-mail. I would recommend doing that and if it doesn't work, visit his workshop and sort it out face to face (which I would have done if the small claims court threat didn't work).

Best of luck to you.
Ivan

Yes, I too have waited for a very long time between me giving him the money and getting the dash. Although the experience was bad the dash (when it did finally arrive) was a cracker.



Good luck!!
G

Ian Bond restored the dash on my '65 S2, he did a stunning job, it was less expensive than buying new. I've has a couple of other dashes from him and getting them were like pulling teeth without anesthetic.

Ian isn't a crook, but he's slow and hopelessly inefficient, pity because if he did sort himself out he would be second to none.

Thanks for your replies it helps to build a picture of the situation.
There is hope of one day getting the dash if I keep e mailing him but it is absolutely unfair the way he treats a customer once he has the money .
I will be paying him a visit .

I can't comment on Ian Bond. I bought a new dash from city polishers via Sue Miller. It looked and looks lovely, unfortunately it did not fit and took me ages to make fit. At the time I thought having the old dash refurbished would have been a better idea. Having read this post I have no idea what the best solution is.

Richard Hawkins

I am not one for posting on forums, but reading the previous comments felt it was worth sharing my experience

I am in the process of restoring an S4 elan and just bought a new dash from Ian at Classic Dash, I ordered it Monday, and paid money into bank account and it arrived on Friday as promised.

The workmanship is superb, I would have no issue buying from Ian in the future, I have two old dashboard that I will probably send to Ian to see if they are worthy of refurbishment.

There are very sadly too many cases like this.

I'm sure these dashboards can be made in Britain, but the makers need to up their game, present a proper amount to make sure the fabrication business is economically viable and ask to be paid on completion.

Various resellers confirmed that it was very, very slow to get these dashes made in Britain.

As I was after a LHD dashboard and decided that it was easier to order one from the USA.

I chose Randy Keller of Prestige Autowood In California and I'm pleased to report that this is the best dashboard I have ever seen.

Frogelan wrote:
I chose Randy Keller of Prestige Autowood In California and I'm pleased to report that this is the best dashboard I have ever seen.

Agree. My Elan is under restoration and I chose Prestige Autowood as well. We were fortunate he was about to do a run of Elan dashes. The result was far better than I had hoped.

Regards,
Dan

It is a great pity about the sales side of Classical Dash as the product itself is absolutely first class.

Paul Matty has S1 , 2 . 3, 4 and Sprint dash boards in stock now .

I echo the positive statement about Prestige/Randy in San Jose, super guy and beautiful craftsmanship!