Body Shops Suck!

[RAG]

Again I must revist my "things that suck" series...



I recently had a panel painted on my `03 LandCruiser because the stealership we bought it from did some funky cover-up stuff in one spot. Of course, I not only had to buff out the rotary marks (undoubtably from twisted wool), but I also had to wetsand to hide some of the bad prep work (DA sanding marks, etc.); which worked out just fine. So I was pretty much over the event till I decided to put my car under lights and perform a quick polish on my car - the SOBs marred the hell out of it...undoubtably when they washed it before and after painting . Before now, this was a 99% swirl free ride my Autopian friends, as I compounded the heck out of it when I first bought it...but now I`m going to have to live with most of these new defects for the sake of saving paint :nixweiss



On a side note, I`ve stopped giving body shop referrals to my detailing customers, as they continously make me look bad through their shotty work - everytime!

[imported_Sullybob]

Sorry to hear that Rag. When did you put your Land Cruiser under the lights?

[RAG]

Few days ago I decided to do a quick rotary/FPII polish to get her back to Autopian standards, but damn they must have used some leverage on the hood when they washed it, cause the marring was plenty deep there. ...though I was able to round off the deeper ones, so it pretty much "appears" swirls free, even in direct sunlight, so I think I`ll live.

[awahl63]

Sorry man...

[RAG]

Thursday I`ll be rebuffing a car that had a fender and hood repainted - again, horrible finish work. so maybe I should thank body shops for "sucking" so bad, as they generate a lot of business for me.

[ret]

Again I must revist my "things that suck" series...



I recently had a panel painted on my `03 LandCruiser because the stealership we bought it from did some funky cover-up stuff in one spot. !

I have a story like that too...below is what I posted on the F250 Board I visit.....enjoy!

RT



When I bought my truck the dealership and I agreed (in writing) that three paint problems would be repaired.

One was a small scratch on the lower tone area of the passenger front fender (fixed no problem) one was a paint run on the lower tone front corner of the passenger side main cab door (no problem), and the other was a clear coat blemish in the middle of the passenger side main door (problem!).



The clear coat blemish was a hazy circle about the size of a half dollar, our agreement was that the whole door would be repainted and with the expectations set that no imperfections would exist in the repainted finish that were any greater or more prevalent than what could be found in the paint finish of a randomly selected new 2006 F-250.



Basically, the re-painted door’s finish was to match a “normal� factory door’s finish.



When I arrived to pick the truck up, it was tightly wedged between a mini van, and an F-150, the Body Shop manager flips me the keys and sayed “here you go sir, you’re all set�.



No walk around?, no inspection?…..hold up buddy!!



I flip the keys back and ask that he back it out of that tight spot and pull around front, where I’ll be waiting to inspect the “finished� job.



As he backed my truck out I could see that we were going to have some problems.

We started going over what was “claimed� to have been done (full re-paint) so I pointed out the fade in job areas and some other obvious “new blemishes� for which he squirted some shizit on a rag and tried to make go away.



I could feel my blood boiling so I said I’ll be back in the morning with a full list……I suggest you clear some time on your shop’s calendar!!



I went home and marked off 25 cat eyes, 2 hazed areas (the size of a football) and buffer swirls from the super cab door through the main door and ¼ of the way up the front fender.



I contacted Ford’s customer service who provided me with my options for other dealers to re-do the repair work, and they sent me paper work for an arbitration process, just incase another dealership would not agree to work to repair this dealership’s craftsmanship issues.



The next day I scheduled an appointment with the body shop manager and a 3M rep to go over the truck under their 3M lights.



The body shop manager was very apologetic once we got the truck under the 3M lights, but insisted that if I dropped it back off in the morning they would “fix� it “should take about 3 hrs�.



I dropped it back off at 7:30am the next morning, the body shop manager called me at 3:30 pm and asked me to come pick up a rental car…as they had thrown in the towel on “fixingâ€� it and would be swapping the door out with a new matching door from a truck on their lot.



I picked it up today…and it looks as it should!!

It will be back in the body shop in the morning though, as it sounds like a leer jet is taking off from the passenger side of my cab every time I get over 60 mph.



Oh…..and I’m on my 2nd set of F-250 Badges and one PS badge replaced because the paint keeps flaking out of them.



One of the sales reps had the nerve to say to me “you’re kind of picky, our average customer wouldn’t notice half of these things�.



My reply: Your “average customerâ€� buys a white 2 wheel drive F-150…..go-way .



RET

[RAG]

Like I was saying - maybe I should be thanking body shops - I got three jobs in a row to repair bad buffer work from a body shop:



http://autopia.org/forum/showthread....378#post757378