Body Shop Story

[nmxdaven]

Well, a few months ago my hood had a run in with a tree branch in a bad storm, so I needed it repaired. We went to a local body shop called Walton's body shop and paint here in Houston. He orders a replacement hood as well as the plastic part that fits in the fender well that got damaged a bit before.

A week later he calls and the hood is in. I drop it off and it gets fitted. I drive home happy with the new work. I decided to pop the hood to have a look at it when I get back in my driveway, just to check on the work myself. All checks out. Then the time comes to close the hood and what do you know, it won't close.

I drive the car back to his shop with it still partially open, tell him the problem and he says he will "fix" it for me. We go out to take a look and he notices that the hood isnt even aligned with the rest of the body work. (There was, and still is, a inch wide gap on the left where the hood meets the rest of the bodywork, while the right is slightly too close.)

Then an amazing thing happened. He just takes the hood, in what I can best describe as the "Bear Wrestling" maneuver, and just twists the crap out of it. Yes there are several locations that could have been adjusted with a screw driver or some other space age tool to help align the hood, but he just takes the brute force and stupidity approach and goes to town. In the mean time, I'm watching on, and I hear allot of crackling and such as he beats the crap out of it, and then repeatedly slams it down to try and get it to engage. finally after about 2 mins of hand to hand hood combat, he sees the problem. The pin on the hood that fits into the lock mechanism is bend to the side. He then goes inside and what do I see him carry out, but a 10 pound sledge.

He then goes about, and bare with the technical nature of this name, the "Beat the crap out of the hood pin" maneuver. The whole car is shaking and the hood is just deforming more and more as he delicately aligns the pin. I couldn't say a word and just drove home to survey the damage. Thats when I noticed they buffed through the hood at several locations as well, AND the wheel well piece is obviously from a different year model and has 2 extra bolt holes, making it unable to align with the rest of the fender.

If anyone in the Houston area is thinking of this body shop, do yourself a favor and just destroy the car yourself. I'm still figuring out what I'm going to do about this. Luckily I took plenty of before and afters of both the origonal work, and the "Repairs."

[Scottwax]

Why did you allow him to beat on the car like that? Also, you should have checked the car out more closely before you drove away from his shop when you initially picked it up.

Give him one chance to fix the car correctly, then if there are still problems, seriously consider suing him. My brother ended up having to do that and ended up with $10k ($4k to his lawyer though).

[nmxdaven]

Originally Posted by Scottwax

Why did you allow him to beat on the car like that? Also, you should have checked the car out more closely before you drove away from his shop when you initially picked it up.

Give him one chance to fix the car correctly, then if there are still problems, seriously consider suing him. My brother ended up having to do that and ended up with $10k ($4k to his lawyer though).

Honestly I didn't know what to say. Either shock, cowardice or both. But I heavily document my vehicle both before and after any shop work thankfully. Yes I should have checked it more closely on pickup though.

Honestly I'm real worried about taking it back to him. If he treats it like that in front of me what would he do when I'm gone. Is there anything I should do in particular to protect myself?

[Scottwax]

Take pictures prior to taking it back. Good pictures too. Make sure you have good lighting. What really helped my brother in his law suit were the pictures I had taken of the sloppy paint and body work done to his truck. The pictures clearly showed the runs, sags, fisheyes, sanding marks under the paint, rotary swirls, heavy overspray, paint mis-match, etc.

[howareb]

Originally Posted by Scottwax

Take pictures prior to taking it back. Good pictures too. Make sure you have good lighting. What really helped my brother in his law suit were the pictures I had taken of the sloppy paint and body work done to his truck. The pictures clearly showed the runs, sags, fisheyes, sanding marks under the paint, rotary swirls, heavy overspray, paint mis-match, etc.

Also to add to Scott's advice about the pictures, also make sure that the pictures are not digital. My friend had this issue with one of his renters where he had to sue for damages, the judge ended up dismissing his case because he use digital photography. His concern was that my fried could have "doctored up" the picture.

Some courts will take digital pictures, but why take a chance. Pick up an analog disposable and save yourself the extra headache.

[Frito Bandito]

Originally Posted by Scottwax

Why did you allow him to beat on the car like that? Also, you should have checked the car out more closely before you drove away from his shop when you initially picked it up.

Give him one chance to fix the car correctly, then if there are still problems, seriously consider suing him. My brother ended up having to do that and ended up with $10k ($4k to his lawyer though).

+1

Go back and tell him you are unhappy with the work. Point out the places they burned through the paint on the hood and the fender well liner that doesn't fit. If he doesn't fix it right sue him, you should be set if you have documentation already.

Good luck!

[jimmie jam]

sorry to say but sometimes you have to trust your gut. you should have stopped him THE SECOND you noted what he had in mind. unfortunately learning is most often a painfull excerience. i feel for you and hope that you can find someone to fix the problem correctly. he does not seem like the right "boy" for the job. good luck.