Apollo_Auto
03-27-2010, 05:13 PM
So this actually happened back in the fall but I`m just getting around to posting it :). I`ve got about 25+ more cars to post that I just haven`t got around to yet (get around to that soon), but this was a funny story so I thought I`d share.
I got a call from a client (very good client at that) and he asked me if I could go to the Audi dealership to clean his R8 (aka "The Storm Trooper") and he also told me to "take a look at the paint" after it was cleaned. I didn`t know exactly what that meant, but I said, "OK." When I arrived at the dealership I was greeted by 2 managers and they asked me, "Where will it be best for you to clean the car?" "Anywhere inside is fine by me," I replied. After some minutes of scrambling around to make room for me in one of the bays, I noticed that there was quite a number of onlookers starting to gather around me. Anyway, by the time I snow foamed the car, there were roughly 15 people watching me and more joined shortly and I was thinking, "OK, why are there 20 something people watching me wash a car?"
Anyway, as soon as I finished washing I got a call from my client asking me about the paint and then he let me know that the car had been in an accident and the entire front end had been replaced and repainted. I told him that I`d call him back after the inspection and then broke out the lamp... I didn`t have my camera with me that day, but good God did it look horrible!! Pigtails, fish eyes, swirls, you name it. Before I called my client back, I told the managers, "You guys have got a big problem on your hands, because there`s not a snowball`s chance in hell he`s going to accept this..." My customer is VERY meticulous... IOW he`s pretty much a Nazi when checking my work :). They started wet sanding immediately and my customer told me he would be there shortly.
While the guy was wet sanding the car, the crowd started to dissipate and then 2 of the guys there approached me and asked, "Did you really come all the way from America to wash this car?" :rofl My client told them I was from America and they thought that I had come all the way to Hungary just to wash his car :)!! Of course I set the record straight and told them that I live in HU, but I think they were still a bit in awe that this guy had his "own detailer" (it`s not common here in HU).
My client finally showed up and to sum it up, we discovered that the paint was a different color... completely. He was livid to say the least, especially after dropping more than $15,000 cash to have the R8 and his A6 repaired. I wound up going back 3 times to wash and "disinfect" the cars during this whole ordeal. Here`s the pics >> I didn`t get any befores of the R8, but here`s one of the still-swirly bumper even after they had "fixed it".
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_1.jpg
The second time I went I was greeted by the same managers, but with a little more a$$-kissing this time... BIG smiles, "want a coffee?", etc. and when I got to the car, the same entourage was there like when I had arrived the first time and I was like, "OK, who wants to touch me? Or who wants to give me their sister?" :D Kinda felt like a celebrity :). Then I saw why they were all there staring at me...
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_2.jpg
The "heat fluctuation" had cracked the window and they were all there waiting to see my reaction. I didn`t want to get my client upset any more than he already was so I didn`t call him and I told the managers that it`s not a wise move to say that "the heat and cold" cracked it... just replace the damn thing. It was replaced in a one day.
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_3.jpg
Sooo here`s the after shots with a perfectly polished hood and almost perfect bumper... Everything also "disinfected" as ordered.
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_4.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_5.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_6.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_7.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_8.jpg
After I called him and said that The Storm Trooper was up to my standards he told me about the A6... it had also been in an accident! I don`t know how he pulled off 2 simultaneously, but... Here`s me foaming the car and the reporter/photographer from Porsche Magazine wanting to snap a picture of me while doing it. I was wearing my Ferrari manager`s costume that day (I wear it when I work at Ferrari because it helps me gain the customers` trust) and they said not to put me in the picture because of the branding conflict... so they got a monkey to squirt some foam on the car while they took a picture.
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_9.jpg
So now the Storm Trooper was ready for delivery and the A6 was all cleaned...
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_10.jpg
...but when my customer arrived, for some reason he didn`t take the A6 with him... I wonder why???
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_11.jpg
Thanks for reading and to all the Playboy subscribers, thanks for "reading"!
- Jesse O`Connor
I got a call from a client (very good client at that) and he asked me if I could go to the Audi dealership to clean his R8 (aka "The Storm Trooper") and he also told me to "take a look at the paint" after it was cleaned. I didn`t know exactly what that meant, but I said, "OK." When I arrived at the dealership I was greeted by 2 managers and they asked me, "Where will it be best for you to clean the car?" "Anywhere inside is fine by me," I replied. After some minutes of scrambling around to make room for me in one of the bays, I noticed that there was quite a number of onlookers starting to gather around me. Anyway, by the time I snow foamed the car, there were roughly 15 people watching me and more joined shortly and I was thinking, "OK, why are there 20 something people watching me wash a car?"
Anyway, as soon as I finished washing I got a call from my client asking me about the paint and then he let me know that the car had been in an accident and the entire front end had been replaced and repainted. I told him that I`d call him back after the inspection and then broke out the lamp... I didn`t have my camera with me that day, but good God did it look horrible!! Pigtails, fish eyes, swirls, you name it. Before I called my client back, I told the managers, "You guys have got a big problem on your hands, because there`s not a snowball`s chance in hell he`s going to accept this..." My customer is VERY meticulous... IOW he`s pretty much a Nazi when checking my work :). They started wet sanding immediately and my customer told me he would be there shortly.
While the guy was wet sanding the car, the crowd started to dissipate and then 2 of the guys there approached me and asked, "Did you really come all the way from America to wash this car?" :rofl My client told them I was from America and they thought that I had come all the way to Hungary just to wash his car :)!! Of course I set the record straight and told them that I live in HU, but I think they were still a bit in awe that this guy had his "own detailer" (it`s not common here in HU).
My client finally showed up and to sum it up, we discovered that the paint was a different color... completely. He was livid to say the least, especially after dropping more than $15,000 cash to have the R8 and his A6 repaired. I wound up going back 3 times to wash and "disinfect" the cars during this whole ordeal. Here`s the pics >> I didn`t get any befores of the R8, but here`s one of the still-swirly bumper even after they had "fixed it".
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_1.jpg
The second time I went I was greeted by the same managers, but with a little more a$$-kissing this time... BIG smiles, "want a coffee?", etc. and when I got to the car, the same entourage was there like when I had arrived the first time and I was like, "OK, who wants to touch me? Or who wants to give me their sister?" :D Kinda felt like a celebrity :). Then I saw why they were all there staring at me...
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_2.jpg
The "heat fluctuation" had cracked the window and they were all there waiting to see my reaction. I didn`t want to get my client upset any more than he already was so I didn`t call him and I told the managers that it`s not a wise move to say that "the heat and cold" cracked it... just replace the damn thing. It was replaced in a one day.
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_3.jpg
Sooo here`s the after shots with a perfectly polished hood and almost perfect bumper... Everything also "disinfected" as ordered.
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_4.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_5.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_6.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_7.jpg
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_8.jpg
After I called him and said that The Storm Trooper was up to my standards he told me about the A6... it had also been in an accident! I don`t know how he pulled off 2 simultaneously, but... Here`s me foaming the car and the reporter/photographer from Porsche Magazine wanting to snap a picture of me while doing it. I was wearing my Ferrari manager`s costume that day (I wear it when I work at Ferrari because it helps me gain the customers` trust) and they said not to put me in the picture because of the branding conflict... so they got a monkey to squirt some foam on the car while they took a picture.
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_9.jpg
So now the Storm Trooper was ready for delivery and the A6 was all cleaned...
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_10.jpg
...but when my customer arrived, for some reason he didn`t take the A6 with him... I wonder why???
http://apolloauto.hu/images/r8_fix_11.jpg
Thanks for reading and to all the Playboy subscribers, thanks for "reading"!
- Jesse O`Connor