american body shop horror story.
 

so i wasnt really sure where to post this

my G35 recently got hit in the side by someone and they ended up paying for the damages, i took my car to a shop in austin texas and they repaired the damages, but i came across a couple problems:

first off they told me it would be a week and it actually took 2 and a half (not a huge deal but it was still an inconvenience)

then when i got the car back i noticed that they had not cleaned the interior at all and it was dirty as hell, it was clean when i took it in because i detailed it before i gave it to them. there is a layer of dust on everything and fingerprints on all the interior trim, they didnt even try to clean up after themselves.

they also broke one of the bose logos on the rear speakers when they were putting the window back on.

there is a huge portion of the finish missing on one of the rims and it was not there before or at least i hadnt noticed it (as we all know us G guys can be pretty meticulous about our vehicles so i think i wouldve noticed it before) they pulled up a picture that was not very well taken from before hand and claimed that it was already there (i know it at least wasnt that bad there but i didnt have enough proof to argue)

there is scratching/blemishes on the passenger fender that i KNOW wasnt there before and i dont know if i can prove it but i know that i had no scratches there

the front right splash guard is missing a bolt an is kind of just hanging there and i know for a fact it wasnt like that before and i can prove it (i may just go get a bolt from home depot)

there is a decent amount of scratching on the rear window that wasnt there before

im not as mad about the rim as i am the other stuff because i know my rims needed to be restored anyways and i was thinking about just getting new ones, but damn! insurance paid them alot of money to fix it and i was really hoping they would take care of my G because this car is basically my baby. they did a good job on the actual bodywork but im going to have to spend a whole night cleaning and i guess trying to polish the damn scratches/blemishes out of my paint (if any of you have advice for this it would be greatly appreciated)

im pretty pissed and i know if i give them a call right now it will end in me yelling at them and acting like a damn fool so i figured i would calm down and see what advice you kind folks may have, sorry for the long winded rant

ill post some pics of the stuff im talking about if anyone cares to see them (also i might add i really dont want to have to take it back to them)

just let them know, "hey, i came to you guys because you were supposed to do good work. at least clean up all the debris you guys left after the repairs. " show them that you took it to get detailed previously.

Contact your insurance company. Tell them the repairs do not meet your satisfaction. They will contact whomever and straighten it out. Been there before on my 3kgt.

well the repairs meet my satisfaction, its the lack of compassion for taking care of my vehicle beyond the repairs that upsets me
i dont know if i feel comfortable leaving it with them after all of this because who knows what could happen.

and also christopherv5 i did the detail work myself so there are no receipts or anything for that.

I had a very similar experience. After the repairs I noticed that others parts of the car got broken or scratched in some way. I contacted the body shop to explain what had happened and they ended up fixing or replacing what got broken in the process. Most shops care about word of mouth and reputation so it wouldn't hurt to at least try. A lot of shops also guarantee their work so getting some things fixed shouldn't be an issue. If they won't fix it for whatever reason I would then contact my insurance and say the shop damaged certain items during the removal/reinstall of parts necessary to complete the repairs.

Contact the shop manager first. 90% of the time, they will just apologize their their guys mistake and fix it.

They should of polished and detailed the whole car before they gave it back..

NO absolutely not. A freshly painted car should NOT be polished or detailed until at least 45-60 days. Adding a LSP to a freshly painted car is the fastest way to ruin the paint.

Interior yes, outside HELL NO.

But they DAMN sure shouldn't have left that mess in the cabin.

well obviously shouldnt be messing with the paint or exterior for a couple months but they should have cleaned my interior and taken care of my car a little better, i mean i payed them a crap load of money to fix everything and waited for a week and a half longer than was told/expected. i was hoping they would go the extra mile for me and they didn't, they went like 2 feet and turned back. the other thing i forgot to mention was that they left me on empty too and messed with my sound system i guess to listen to music while they worked? im pretty damn upset still because i worked really hard to buy this car and its my first actual nice one and they just treated it like trash minus the spot they had to fix.

and im 100% certain the wheel splotch was their doing because the finish seems to have only rubbed away on that spot and in all of my pictures that wheel looks pristine.

im going to call the manager tomorrow and put in my complaint because this is just ridiculous.

will keep you all updated

My question is, why didn't you notice all the issues you're ranting about when you picked up the car? :dunno: Doing a "Walk Around" is common practice when picking up a car from any body shop. The failure is partly yours for accepting your car in the poor condition you posted...Gary

Yea, if it wasn't in acceptable condition, why did you accept it?

Agreed. I just recently had my front bumper repainted and there were scratches in the new paint. Told them and they repainted it.

Also do you have any pictures?

As i said before i did a walk around and i noticed the black botch on the wheel and pointed it out to them, they argued with me about it for almost 30 minutes, they finally pulled up a picture and showed me the spot but i was still unconvinced, as for the other stuff i didnt notice the little scratches until i got the car home and it was in my garage under artificial light, saying that it is my fault is incorrect because these were things that i wasnt able to see in the direct sunlight (it was almost 100 degrees here in texas when i picked it up). I will agree i should have seen the missing bolt on the splash guard. I didnt notice how dirty the interior was because it wasnt until i touched the back panel and looked at my finger that i noticed the sanding dust and then pulled the floor mat up and noticed the dirt in the carpet. Bottom line is that this was my first time going to a body shop and if you want to try and blame it on me for not noticing these things thats great but the fact is that they should have taken care of my car and i shouldnt have had to deal with that in the first place.

Ill post pics in a bit

Your right they should have done better. From what I have learned over the years just about no shop will care about your G as much as you do. To them it's just another car that they have to fix and collect their paycheck at the end of the day. Is it safe to assume you researched good shops before hand? My insurance recommended a shop and they ended up being terrible.