black paint, body shops, ranting

Duckman · 03-22-05, 10:25

Grrrrr...

Back in Novermber, I was rear-ended. pretty hard too. damage was around $3500CDN. I took it to one of our more reputable (or so I have heard) body shops, Craftsman Collision. got the car back after 2 weeks. My trunk doesn't close as nicely anymore, but that's not a big deal.. it still closes tight, so whatever. But finally last week, after never getting a proper chance to wash the car (i know, i know) I noticed my bumper was really dull. I took a close look at it and saw that it had obviously been "polished" in a hurry and by a moron. It literally looked like flat black paint. i looked over my car some more and noticed that my passenger side rear quarter panel had been repainted and there was now overspray all over the door, and of course, the entire quarter panel was hologrammed to hell. Now, sure, I could've tried to fix the problem with my PC... but I shouldn't have to. Craftsman claims to have a "lifetime warranty" for their work, so I took them up on it. I went in yesterday and had them fix the crap they did to my car. When I went to pick it up, I noticed there were some new scratches on my driver's side rear door. They weren't there in the morning, so I spoke to the manager about this. He said: "Oh yaaa.. hmm. well, those look like they're from something falling on the car" so I said "Well, they weren't there when I brought the car to you" to which he replied "Well, bring it back in and we'll try to buff them out. But I'm not re-painting your door!" so I looked at him and said "These scratches were not there before. " and he repeated "Well, you'll have to bring it back so we can buff it out. my detail guys are not here today". Ya, Like hell I'm ever coming back to these retards.

So I get up this morning and drive in to work. I park outside, and today is a beautiful sunny day, so I had a real good look of the car. My bumper isn't flat black anymore (though, it's not super clear either) but when I went over to the passenger side of the car I just couldn't believe it. Instead of just the quarter panel being hologrammed, THE WHOLE DAMN SIDE WAS!!!!

I felt the paint, and it was clear that they did a half-assed wash job and then "polished" right away.. no proper prep work from these (expletive laden phrase) not only that, but I saw just how poorly the paint was matched. The black paint that ford uses (at least on the focus and mustang) is a bit milky. It's got a white hue to it. The paint that the body shop used is much blacker (I like it better, but still... it's the wrong tone). So now everything from the rear doors forward is whitish and the rear panels are black as black can be. Why can't black paint just be black paint... why does each manufacturer need their own special blend? bastards!!!

This just makes me want to sell it even more than before. I'm so pissed off.

Sorry, no pics of the damage. yet

Denzil · 03-22-05, 10:40

Sorry to hear your story man.

Sounds like another horror story to me. I personally try to avoid dealerships at all costs. When it comes to REAL detailing, they don't know what the hell they are doing or whether the people they hire are qualified detailers.

Duckman · 03-22-05, 10:47

Thanks Denzil. This wasn't a dealership though. this was the "#1 rated body shop in BC" or some crap like that. Never again will I go to them. Not only that, but since it was an insurance claim, I'll be bringing up my unhappiness with ICBC.

I have pics now, but they're huge, so I'm just gonna resize them and then I'll post

Deep_Freeze · 03-22-05, 11:34

Actually, I have been in your situation recently. I had a local body shop work on my car after I was ran off the road by an 18 wheeler. They had to repaint the front driver side fender, bumper, and hood. They didn't do well at all on it the first time, ended up taking the car back 2 more times. They finally got it mostly right, black is real hard for them, of course I had to get my PC out just to make it look to my satisfaction.

I know you say the paint on yours doesn't match, but at a certain point I had to just do it myself, cause they just didn't have the ability to be able to do it.

The second time I got it back was by far the worse though, spider webbing and scratches were real severe, I was like, "I'm not going to accept this", lol. The third time it was good enough that I knew I could fix it with my PC, so didn't worry about it.

Duckman · 03-22-05, 01:09

I have pics!

close up. you can see a scratch on the right going down and to the left:

here's more scratches they added:

This one is through the paint... looks like someone dug something into it hard:

Some of the hologramming:

and more:

HOLY CRAP! MY EYES!!!! AHHHHHHH

some holograms and the difference in paint:

Black240SX · 03-22-05, 01:28

That's awful!

I've taken my car to Craftsman Collision before and was not impressed either.

For the mismatched colour, it is true that black is difficult for them. If they aren't able to match the colour, the insurance will pay for the whole car to be repainted.

hadboosttroy · 03-22-05, 02:02

wow thats some of the worst color matching ive ever seen

Axe · 03-22-05, 02:49

That is really bad, and to be honest I wouldn't accept that. I would be insisting that it was re-done. However, I would insist that my insurance company know that I will not be using that sprayer, and that they (the sprayer) needs to foot the bill for the new re-spray. I have had experience of this, and as long as you are prepared to stand your ground, you will get it done and get it done to your satisfaction too.

You have my sympathy's that is a mess.

Duckman · 03-22-05, 03:40

Ya, I've spoken with my insurance claim adjuster from the accident and informed him of not only the terrible job originally, but also of the crap job they did to "fix" it. He's forwarded it on the the "Material Damages Supervisor" for review and we'll be getting this fixed.

What really pisses me off is when I first went to the body shop to get the bad job fixed, i told him I was trying to sell it, so I needed it to look perfect. when i picked it up yesterday, he says to me "Good luck selling it!" before I actually saw the damage. What an ***.

YorkshireLass · 03-22-05, 04:54

Hi Duckman

I have such sympathy for you - I am in a similar situation following a shunt in my car (also black), and have gained slightly mismatched paint along with swirls and scratches (I am guessing the latter might be from grit on a waterblade of some sort?) similar to yours, courtesy of the bodyshop (dealership).

I have been absolutely livid about all these faults, but I have to say your pics are astonishing compared to my car!

I was going to avoid going back to them like the plague, and tackle the damage myself with my new PC, but now the paint has started peeling off the repainted panel, so I'm going to have to go back.

I wish you all the best getting this sorted.

Charlotte

Denzil · 03-22-05, 07:24

Oh a body shop... my bad. You'd think that body shops would be more sensitive to your car's body and paint...

Man those images burn my eyes... That is such a horrible job that they have done. I hope it gets fixed accordingly. Just remember, the customer is always right.

Don M · 03-23-05, 03:56

Quote:

Originally posted by hadboosttroy
wow thats some of the worst color matching ive ever seen

There is NOTHING "matching" about that. The insurance guys should send Guido and Bruno over to the shop to do some "knee cap matching."