Awful VW Approved Body Shop rust repair - advice please *Pic HeavY*

[LouCyffer]

I recently noticed a small amount of bubbled paintwork to the rear of my off side rear wheel arch. As the car was due a service, I brought it to the notice of my (extremely competent) long term dealer.Their warranty manager agreed that this was within the remit of the anti corrosion warranty, so we arranged to have it repaired a couple of weeks later when I returned for my cam belt/water pump change.



In the meantime, I visited my local reputable body shop (whom I have patronised for years), who said that the damage could be flattened out & filled but would result in rust recurring, or cut out & metal welded in which would be the better option. For the latter they quoted £285. I was sorely tempted to give them the go ahead, but didn't.

On 16th December 2014, I dropped my car off at the dealer, and discussed my concerns about the 2 methods of repair with the dealer's service representative. She called the body shop to ask them, and was told that it would likely be flatted & filled. I told her not to continue, and simply deal with the cam belt change. She was at pains to point out that the work would be guaranteed & rectified if it returned, but I stood my ground.

At the last minute (in the courtesy car, with the engine running) I had a change of heart & decided to trust the dealer and body shop. Fatal mistake.

I was called late on 19 Dec to say my car would be ready in the morning. I attended to collect it at 1030 on 20th. The dealer told me that the metal repair had been a weld-in patch as I had wanted, but, contrary to my instructions and to an A5 card placed inside the windscreen, the body shop had washed my car. The dealer has long known not to do this. Sadly no one at the body shop thought to pay attention to the card. My car was squeezed in next to a large van, so I didn't pause long, but returned home to give it a good wash & walk round.

Oh boy.

The good bit was, the metal repair was well done. The paint & finish was of a shockingly poor standard. Breathtakingly poor.

1. Scratches all over the body, needing polishing out, up to 8" in length, thanks to the moron who washed it.
2. Half dozen chips in the roof near the B pillar. Down into primer. Which my local place says requires a full roof respray.
3. Ridges in the lacquer in the top of the rear quarter.
4. Scratches in the roof from buffing, 8" plus in length
5. Paint colour too light, and not blended into bumper or OSR door.
6. Several scratches of 5" to 8" in the newly painted panel
7. Polishing compound embedded in the rubber window surround, roof sill and aerial
8. No attempt to polish inside the boot lid or OSR door shut.























I returned to my local body shop, who agreed with me. Their estimate to put this lot right is £945

I've raised my concerns with the dealer & VW, and had the service manager take it up with the VW Approved Body shop. they naturally want me to leave my car in their hands to put this right. I am adamant that after a lack of quality control of such magnitude, they aren't touching my car again. My intention is to get my local trusty body shop to rectify this (at £945) and send the bill to the approved body shop. If they don't cough up, I'm likely to go County Court small claims track. I've told VW this, and they are calling me on 15 Jan 2015 to update me.

I'm fighting cancer, and frankly I don't need this, on top of chemotherapy.

Any advice? Am I being unreasonable? Any legal experts out there who can chip in?

[Kam88]

I am not a legal expert but somone like vw dealer can't get it right first time I would be extremely vary to take it to them again and trust them again. They should get it right first time due to their reputation

[scopes]

WOW !   

Maybe wait for further advice.

But I would be contacting VW UK.

Or
you could always spend the next lot of weeks with endless phone calls and trips to VW and the garage who done the work, my fear about taking it back to the garage that done or sorry left it in that mess the first time round, would it ever be right again...

Not a nice thing to have happen, hope you get it sorted out !

Good Luck Matey !

[cuprajake]

Just gone through all this with a customer who didn't use use but some one else.

You have to give them the option to put it right. Secondly going to court will get you nothing.


And this guy had a water tight case, engineers reports the lot

[LouCyffer]

Interestingly, Honest John (http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/) of the Telegraph Motor Section advises me to go to court.

Jake, I'm interested to know why you say I have to give them the option to put it right. Would you elaborate, friend? I'm sure you know more about this sort of thing, and I appreciate your input.

If I treated a patient & screwed it up, they are under no obligation to consult me again.

[cuprajake]

basically,

hello mr judge, we offered to put it right, but he declined, what can we do. we feel the price he was quoted was too much for what needed doing.

or along the lines,

im on the pc now,

from looking at the pics, the majority looks like product left on the paint work, id hazard a guess that polishing may remove most of it,

the marks on the roof look like contact marks from a flatting disc, the quarter that's like a side ways run, so perhaps it silicone on them,

from the original pics, you could of got away with just blending the bumper, but it depends how big the repair got once filled

jake

[xjay1337]

as jake says most of those will come out with polishing

we have corrected far worse in the past, no guarantees that it would, but typically those are the kind of marks "most" average bodyshops leave on cars as well as dust etc everywhere.
scratches aren't good but then neither is putting metal tape measures in the paint which won't help. 

Bodyshops will not deliver a car back to you as a detailer would.
tbh when my car went into ridgeway bodyshop i asked them not to wash it and true to their word it was not washed at least.

most of the paintwork would be resolved with a polish
i am not sure if you are into detailing or whatever yourself but a high likelyhood many scratches were there before hand just shown or brought to your attention with your now keener eye and a strong wash. of course they will swirl it and put a few scratches in it, no defenses from then there.

sorry you are having a bad time. sometimes best to stick to your gut feeling 

[jedi-knight83]

Sorry to see your problems and i don't have much else to add but I hope it gets sorted.

I have almost exactly the same rust starting on my car and my local dealer said they wouldn't get that done under warranty. Would be interested what dealer you used as I can use that as a precedent for my case.

Many thanks

[LouCyffer]

i am not sure if you are into detailing or whatever yourself but a high likelyhood many scratches were there before hand just shown or brought to your attention with your now keener eye and a strong wash. of course they will swirl it and put a few scratches in it, no defenses from then there.

Sadly, that's not the case. 3 weeks prior to this, the car was polished, two coats of jetseal & waxed. I can guarantee that these marks weren't present when I left the car at the dealer. I like to keep my car free from swirls and marring. I detail it regularly.

The chips on the roof are deep enough to require a full roof respray. And given the evidence of their poor masking, I'd not trust them around the windscreen with a roof respray.

So "Hello, Mr Judge, I left my car with a body shop, and now require remedial work costing over three times the value of the original job. And would you ask the quality control guy if he left his glasses at home on this particular day".

I guess what it boils down to is that everyone makes mistakes. But this many, and to then let the car go as satisfactory? The ridges burned into the lacquer from poor polishing? The poor colour matching? That won't polish out. Nor will the chips in the roof.

No, this body shop won't get another opportunity. But thanks for your input guys.

[missymckay]

I had my wings replaced before christmas and when i picked the car up it had 2 small dents in the door and scratches on the rear part by the door. I pointed this out on collection and VW agreed to have the car back in to rectify the damage. It went in last week and they resprayed the door, polished out the scratches and got the dents out (with no charge) and luckily it all appears ok.

With regards to the damage to your car, have you got a quote from another bodyshop to repair it? I personally would get another quote and then write to them, giving them 7 days to agree to pay for the repairs and advise them that if they don't you will make a claim in the small claims court. It is quite straightforward to make a claim online.

[dom069]

While that looks pretty horrendous, like others have said, a lot of it will polish out. With regards to the colour mismatch, VW never blend in panels when carrying out warranty work...this should have been made clear to you.

Did you have to sign any documentation when you picked the car up after the work was carried out?

A quick look on the Citizen's Advice website suggests that you should give them a chance to fix it before going to court:

You should usually give the trader a chance to put things right. You need to show you have been reasonable in case you have to go to court.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_common_problems_with_service_providers_e/consumer_poor_quality_service_e/what_can_you_do_about_a_service_done_badly.htm

Good luck resolving it!

[jedi-knight83]

Based on where the rust was as well they should never have blown colour near to the door to become a match issue with panel either.


What dealer was this at? As I said previously I have rust in the same area (although no where near as bad at the moment) and was previously told it wasn't a warranty area.

[MKT]

Just gone through all this with a customer who didn't use use but some one else.

You have to give them the option to put it right. Secondly going to court will get you nothing.


And this guy had a water tight case, engineers reports the lot

Jake was that owner on scoobynet by any chance? I think I remember your username & putting 2+2 together. If I'm correct that was a very poor paint job from a reputable place too.

To the OP I hope you get your car sorted with as little grief as possible. Although I think Jake may be right on this one. If you decide not to send it back to them, (which I can't fault you for) then I would get several quotes to show the price quoted by your body shop is reasonable.
Best of luck with the car & your chemo & a speedy recovery.

[basman]

  I had the exact same problem with my van, give them achance to rectify the the problem tho if you go to collect it and the problem still persists then make sure you get pics before and after contact via email and make notes who u speak too, service managers and find who the dealer principle is and contact vw Customer service as they are very helpful !! problem is most dealers nowadays sub work out to big body shops which they deliver quantity of work instead of quality...

[cuprajake]

It was. He paid 4500 grand for a full respray and ended up with a car that it dull, full of runs and paint reactions.

When it finally went to court,

With two independent engineers reports and a few body shop quotes, the judge totally dismissed it, offered £200 to cover his travel expenses from taking it back for them to resolve the problems they had caused.

I'm not being funny but I can't see how they could of chipped the roof, more than likely they were there just not scrutinised as much before.

Jake