[gnhm3]

Hey everyone, this review is WAY WAY overdue and I just need to let everyone know about these scam artists running a vehicle wrap business in North Hollywood , CA .

I was referred to DBX back in August through a forum member I was buying a front lip off of. His brother in law was Arthur Hakobyan the owner of the shop. I asked Arthur if he could match a price from 90210 WRAP and wrap my car Matte White for $1700. After some back and forth he agreed.

I don't want this to be a long review, but the truth of the matter is I can write 10 pages easily on these guys.

When I went to go pickup the car at 11 pm like he told me, it was not even close to done. I walk up to a group of 3 guys around 20-21 years of age smoking weed wrapping my car ( I have pics to prove this) . They would take constant breaks and hit bowls of Marijuana and proceed to wrap my car. I have nothing against smoking, but not when you are performing a job on my $70k car.

They finish the job at 4am and I can easily count 10-15 spots on the car that are bubbling, peeling and just look like shit. I bring up these points to Arthur but at 4am didn't have the energy to argue.

After many months of back and forth I finally get Arthur to agree to fix the bubbling parts of my car. I agree to meet him at his shop Sunday at 11am. I show up to his shop ( which is a 30 mile roundtrip) with a friend to give me a ride home and Arthur is nowhere to be found. After 50 calls to him, I get a call an hour later when I am 5 minutes from home saying he partied hard the night before and that he couldn't wake up. Not even an apology or nothing.

After going back and forth again, Arthur calls me "cheap" for paying $1700 for a wrap and says what do you expect from a $1700 wrap. He keeps acting like it's not his fault at all and it was my fault. I was at a loss for words. The owner who hired 21 year olds who were high to wrap my car was blaming me. UNBELIEVABLE.

I decide to give Arthur one more chance after getting a call from his assistant BEGGING me not write a bad review. I bring my car there and they have it for 2 weeks. Same thing. I get it back and it looks the same. Peeling and bubbling along the fenders, side grills, and both front/rear bumper. He said he would fix it later but I got so mad that I said take it off.

He did an even shittier job taking it off. He left tiny pieces of the vinyl at all edges of the car which were impossible for me to remove. When I confronted him about it he said " you do it bro, i'm tired ". I got so mad that I just stormed off before smashing one of his cars.

This is just 10% of what I have gone through with Arthur. Constant phone calls being ignored, texts being answered 6 hours later, being lied to is only a taste of what I went through with this JOKE of a company.


Please feel free to email me at gnhm33@yahoo.com to hear the full story or request pics of the crappy work. I will gladly show you.

My main goal of this review is to warn EVERYONE about Diamond Black Exteriors so please reply to this thread if possible with a comment and type "Diamond Black Exteriors" at the end so I can get this review to the top of google to warn everyone about this scam artist.

Thanks for listening.

Edit here's just a sample of their work:

[bender rodriguez]

Post pics of bad work here.

Honestly this sounds like most audio/tint/alarm and custom shops.

[StevenY.]

That's really some BS, the fact that he thinks it's okay to perform a poor wrap because it was "cheap" is just amazing.

[Revlis]

Really shitty, though it might be a bit of "you get what you pay for". Know it doesn't help any and yeah you have every right to be pissed. But did you shop around different vinyl places, find places in the area, then find reviews for these places?

With anything on a $70K car, as you pointed out, budget shopping is not a good way to go. Suck it up, lesson learned, and find a premium place to do your wrap, seriously you didn't skimp on your car purchase, don't skimp on the details. It'll show for one, but yeah, you'll get what you pay for.

So go get it done right, have it kick ass, cruise outta there with a perfect job done, post some pics and be stoked!

[e92oholic]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ritz

Post pics of bad work here.

Honestly this sounds like most audio/tint/alarm and custom shops.

Yeah seriously they all suck. I really just want to open my own shop and do things right. Was just talking about it yesterday

[bender rodriguez]

Google has zero reviews and yelp has 4 with one really bad. 2 of the good reviews seem fake too.

So many punks in this type of work. I think a ton of this type of work comes from high school kids ricing out their cars. Then moving into opening up a shop or working at one of these. They pretty much learn and goof off doing cars.

It is a wonder someone that said "What do you expect for 1700" and "Im tired you do it"

Even owns a business

[techietaichi]

I've actually been kicking around getting my car wrapped. Hope I don't have to deal with BS like this. The man agreed to do have the work done, so he should've done it right rather than trying to justify his shitty work for what he thought was short money. What an a-hole!

Diamond Black Exteriors = asshats

[iBoost]

wow what a piece of shit. post the full story and pics, it was a good read.

[BMV///M3]

Call the BBB. Can't believe he called you cheap. I'd be irate, especially if it was my M. Did u get your $ back or some of it?

[Amini77]

You should have gone to a more reputable place. No offense to anyone but I wouldn't take my car to some shop in NoHo for obvious reasons..I made sure not to look for a car to buy anywhere in the San Fernando Valley + Glendale (not sure if that's included in SFV)

[nukezero]

I feel ya man, but why in the world did you take your $70k brand new car to some back-end alley shop to wrap this kind of stuff and pay a fortune for.

By the way, it sounds like from your description that his attitude was horrible to begin with. So whether you paid $1700 or $3200, they'll still be smoking weed and doing it.

Next time, I would research a lot of shops first, get some reviews and feedback from owners, before you embark on such risky jobs like this. LA is shady as hell and DTLA is no exception. I would take your car to Beverly Hills or Orange county shops to do the work. I think most LA shops are shady as hell.

[Turb0Surge]

It's crap like this that makes me do all the maintenance, wrapping, and tinting myself. Freaking a$$hat amateurs have no respect for people or their property.

Also, rule of thumb for work like this- don't pay before the job is finished. If the job is not to your satisfaction, don't pay until it is.

[apme123]

Arthur Hakobyan, sounds like another Armo to me. Don't ever do business with an Armenian they cheat and lie non stop. They drive expensive cars and live on wellfare lol. They usually get their money in illegal ways, medical fraud, credit card fraud, other kind of fraud or drug sales. I am not saying all Armenians are bad, I have some honest Armenian friends, but they are the 1%, the rest of the 99% are crooks.

[aram0492]

Originally Posted by apme123

Arthur Hakobyan, sounds like another Armo to me. Don't ever do business with an Armenian they cheat and lie non stop. They drive expensive cars and live on wellfare lol. They usually get their money in illegal ways, medical fraud, credit card fraud, other kind of fraud or drug sales. I am not saying all Armenians are bad, I have some honest Armenian friends, but they are the 1%, the rest of the 99% are crooks.

Hey apme123 fuck you. I'm Armenian and unfortunately there are bad apples in our culture just like everyone else's, it's definitely not 99%. Maybe the other way around 1% but not 99. I've had great experience with most and shitty ones with two shops. Flaws are everywhere and you don't fucking generalize hate towards someone's race like that.

[Amini77]

Post this up on Yelp, OP

Originally Posted by aram0492

Hey apme123 fuck you. I'm Armenian and unfortunately there are bad apples in our culture just like everyone else's, it's definitely not 99%. Maybe the other way around 1% but not 99. I've had great experience with most and shitty ones with two shops. Flaws are everywhere and you don't fucking generalize hate towards someone's race like that.

+1 on generalization and it isn't good put it out there like apme123 did. I'm Persian but I still generalize my ethnicity and all it's surrounding countries because even though not all of them are bad... there are a lot of bad apples in the whole middle eastern culture..and they tend to be mostly in the valley. I've met a handful of honest Armenians and Persians but majority of them I meet here (in the valley) are the bad ones. I feel I should mention my best friend is Armenian and he comes from an honest family which gives me a chance to step back and open my eyes again and realize they all aren't like that. As for the Persians, my family isn't like that so I try not to generalize all Persians either. But whenever I do business with people from that culture I'm always a little more skeptical and precautions. I keep in mind that their probably feeling the same way towards me if I mention where I'm from so I don't want them to generalize me so I try to make a good first impression. But the way Aurthor handled his business, even from the start, sounded completely unprofessional (being an understatement) and just downright like a bad person. Which is sad because it adds to the epitome of the typical middle eastern scumbag. Anyways bro, save your breath you can't change prejudice people.

[GmoBmw]

This post just got super racist.

Wrapping involved using blades against the body of the car, last thing I would cheap out on, I would have not let them touch the car after I saw the work the first time, lots of damage could be done.

[deluxe 247]

Why would he need the car for 2 weeks!?
Diamond Black Exteriors = terrible

[07lilredwagon]

If getting a wrap, go to a sign shop specializing in vehicle wraps...talk to the owner, look at a portfolio, see what else is in the shop being wrapped. its a big job and to do it right requires trim and door handle removal, lights and markers removal, ect...

If spending that kind of money regardless of car value, dont cut corners in either your approach, research, and visiting more than one shop.

Here are some questions to ask:

what kind of vinyl are you using? (3M and other premium 5+ outdoor durable vinyls are good)

who will be installing it? (meet them..talk to them)

How long will it take?

What are your payment procedures?

Will it be done inside? (dust sucks)

Do you remove headlights and tail lights, ect?

do you seal edges?

Can I see other examples of your work?

Can I call a customer to see what their experience was like?

If you get a yes to all of these, or feel comfortable with the responses, then you are at a good shop...but always drive away, go get a coffee, and come back after the excitement has gone away a little before you commit.

I have done partial wraps with a reputable sign shop and believe me, you need training, experience and management....

JP

[BMWChap]

Originally Posted by 07lilredwagon

If getting a wrap, go to a sign shop specializing in vehicle wraps...

This is exactly what you should do ..

[techietaichi]

Originally Posted by GmoBmw

This post just got super racist.

Right? BOO!

[Turb0Surge]

Originally Posted by apme123

Arthur Hakobyan, sounds like another Armo to me. Don't ever do business with an Armenian they cheat and lie non stop. They drive expensive cars and live on wellfare lol. They usually get their money in illegal ways, medical fraud, credit card fraud, other kind of fraud or drug sales. I am not saying all Armenians are bad, I have some honest Armenian friends, but they are the 1%, the rest of the 99% are crooks.

Lol racist post is racist. Haha.