car painting

[Kaka]

All,

A bit of background first to my saga with this body shop.
I called Andy the proprietor at Andy's Auto Barn just before Christmas regarding the painting of my body kit on my 190E. The body kit would include the front and rear bumpers including inserts, side sill panels and all the sacco panels.

To add, the body kit was in great condition as it was, it just needed a refresh and for it to be finished in the correct satin finish as opposed to a matt finish.

I asked him if he was able to do this job to a high standard as the car would be presented to Mercedes UK and various magazines in the coming months and it had to hold up to up close scrutiny. He assured me that they have plenty of experience

with MB and that everything would be taken taken care of and there would be no come backs.

We talked money and he said he will be able to do it for £1,000. I agreed to this and a time for drop off. I live quite far from him but after reading positive
things about his workmanship I thought it would be worth the extra expended effort.

So i dropped the car off on a Saturday and left him to it. Again i asked him to
ensure that everything is done to the highest standard as i did not want any come backs.

I picked the car up the following Saturday. Everything seemed to look OK. There were a few things here and there. But i said fine, i don't want to make a fuss.
I paid the money and left. Upon getting the car home and looking at things
carefully i was disappointed to find a multitude of errors and mistakes.

Here is just a snapshot:

- rear bumper - crazing and lines all over bottom edge
- rear bumper - inverted fish eyes on right hand side
- rear bumper - the edge that blends into the black part has ripples
- rear bumper - high spots on left and right hand side at the top part of the
bumper
- rear bumper - left hand side in the corner, fish eyes in a clump
- rear bumper - right hand side in between the black bumper insert there is some lacquer that has dried into a blob
- front passenger door sacco panel fish eye
- driver sacco panel near indicator loose
- rear bumper - right hand side near wheel arch cracking of paint
- front bumper - near headlamp washers, cracking/crazing of paint on both sides
- cracking/crazing of paint on drivers side sill panel

I'm sure I have missed more. I called Andy the same day and explained all this to him. He was apologetic and said the reason why the rear bumper was like that is because they ran out of paint and could not do it properly (i was pretty shocked to hear to this) but i did not push this as I wanted to give him an opportunity to sort it out.

3 weeks later, 2013 was upon us. Yet again I dropped it off (Saturday). He looked at all the points i made and agreed that this was not right and he would make sure he would resolve all the defects.

A week later (today - Saturday) I went to pick the car up. He showed me what they had done. But this time kept on saying how he has lost money on this job, how he is sick of the sight of the car and wants it gone.
It all seemed to be OK apart from the front bumper (yeah i know) the black insert had some very noticeable imperfections. He said he did not notice these!
I said can i leave my car here so it saves me from coming and going again...He said no. He said he wants it gone and was unwilling to rectify anything in the immediate future.

I left very upset. Came home and lo and behold...The rear bumper also had fish eyes all over the black insert and one major imperfection. In addition the right hand
side is misaligned and thus there is a discernible gap between the top of the
bumper and main body.

You can imagine how i felt. I felt sick to be honest.
I sent him a text message asking for him to sort this out please. I mean how hard can it be? If you call yourself the best surely its not asking for much as a paying customer to be satisfied with the work carried out?

His reply to the text message was...'I don't want your car back here'...

So I'm left with a job I'm far from happy with, a misaligned bumper and a sick
feeling.

I don't expect him to resolve my issues, he has made that abundantly clear.
So, if you are planning on using this body shop proceed with caution. As it stands i absolutely cannot and will not recommend Andy's Auto Barn to anyone. Further i shall consider seeking legal advice regarding this. It's not acceptable for anyone to treat a paying customer in this way.

 

[nick mercedes]

So, if you are planning on using this body shop proceed with caution. As it stands i absolutely cannot and will not recommend Andy's Auto Barn to anyone. Further i shall consider seeking legal advice regarding this. It's not acceptable for anyone to treat a paying customer in this way.

Andy is one of the best Mercedes painters and body men in the UK.

I don't know of anyone better.

It's near impossible to get a factory finish from 22year old used panels that have been painted before.

It's a shame when forums get used like this...

 

[Kaka]

I was not asking for a perfect factory finish...But is a misaligned bumper acceptable?
Is it acceptable to be treated in such a manner?
Is it acceptable that that parts of the kit are now in a worse condition than before the work was undertaken?

With respect, the answer is no.

 

[Will]

Knowing a fair bit about the background of the OP, their car and experiences with several garages/motor trade establishments I would reserve any judgement for the time being. FWIW they have been banned from this forum more than once before.

Andy has done work to a few of my cars over the years, including my (now sold) immaculate 190E. His reputation is far stronger and established to be questioned on just one account.

I cannot recall a single other complaint against his work - in the real world he is amongst the very best painters around

 

[ucr]

if he is the best i would not go near him - sound like a poor job and what customer service skills !

 

[nick mercedes]

I cannot recall a single other complaint against his work - in the real world he is amongst the very best painters around

Andy is a proper MB man, all his working life repairing and painting MB, first for MB and now on his own, he's good because he knows how the older ones go back together, so his work is first class.

 

[Kaka]

This is the real world.
Im not sure who you are referring to in your post?

But the bottom line is if a paying customer is unhappy with the work carried out then they are well within their rights to voice their opinion.

You do not know anything about me.

I will be pursuing this to the fullest extent of the law and find it very sad that assumptions are made without knowing the full facts.

If you saw the car, you would agree that it is unacceptable.

 

[nick mercedes]

if he is the best i would not go near him - sound like a poor job and what customer service skills !

How would you know?

*Why* should a good mans reputation be ripped apart like this?

It's fools like you that are the reason forums are ****.

 

[Kaka]

if he is the best i would not go near him - sound like a poor job and what customer service skills !

I agree with the above. A companies true worth comes to the fore when they have to sort something out. His answer was plain and clear. YOU DO NOT treat a customer in this way.

If this is acceptable behaviour, then so be it.

 

[Kaka]

he's good because he knows how the older ones go back together, so his work is first class.

So how do you explain the misaligned bumper?

 

[davidjpowell]

This is the real world.
Im not sure who you are referring to in your post?

But the bottom line is if a paying customer is unhappy with the work carried out then they are well within their rights to voice their opinion.

You do not know anything about me.

I will be pursuing this to the fullest extent of the law and find it very sad that assumptions are made without knowing the full facts.

If you saw the car, you would agree that it is unacceptable.

If that's the truth save this thread for after the verdict. There are two sides to every story, and IMO it's unfair to the trader to settle scores in this way with no impartiality to judge.

Sadly some customers are not always right....

 

[Kaka]

The amount of stress that i have to endure because of this is not good for anyone's health.

This is just a warning to others who are thinking about using his services. Like i said, its au fait to be friendly and welcoming when you want business...But when there is a problem thats when a companies true worth becomes apparent.

 

[jaymanek]

I would really like to hear his side of the story as there must be more to it if he really got that frustrated with the car.

 

[Ierton]

At the very least he should have explained himself (assuming the OP has stated all of the facts).

IF the job were initally returned in a poor condition because he ran out of paint it's quite inexcusable.

 

[neilrr]

Hello kaka / zakh / Studio City / JaguarPaw!

Run out of the meds?

 

[Kaka]

He got frustrated with the car because:

A. He did not do the job properly in the first place (his own admission)
B. He said he should have charged me £2000 instead of £1000 and that he has lost money and time

As far as i was aware you should always complete the work to the customers satisfaction?

The defects are there for all to see, the misaligned bumper is there for all to see. This is not a figment of someone's imagination.

I refuse to let this one go. I will contact trading standards and bill him for the rectification work.

 

[neilrr]

What, you paid this time!?!?

 

[Kaka]

IF the job were initially returned in a poor condition because he ran out of paint it's quite inexcusable.

That's what he said. He said the reason there was crazing/lines in the paintwork is that he ran out of paint and was unable to give it any more coats?

If i had not picked this up, i would have been none the wiser.

 

[230K]

This thread is totally meaningless without high-def pics.

230K

 

[Kaka]

I will try and get some up so you can see for yourself.
Thanks