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

[LouCyffer]

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

Jake, I know every inch of this car, and attend to any blemish, chip or mark immediately. Given that the dealer & another body shop inspected my car before it went in, and that I had personally detailed in two weeks prior (and parked it in the garage as I'm barely driving at the mo), I know with utter certainty that those chips were not present when I left the car at the dealer. I also asked for a small door dent to be removed. If the chips were present, it would be reasonable to expect I would have enquired about rectifying them at the same time, wouldn't it?

How the hell they have chipped the roof, I have no idea either. I'm hoping to talk to their quality control guy; I'm keen to find out what he was doing that day... And which YTS trainee worked on my car.

Keep all your comments coming please guys. It's all very useful and appreciated.

[lukemk5gti]

I'd say take it further, this is obviously your pride and joy and 99% of people won't understand how you can care so much about a car.

You just like a lot of owners on the forum, you feared leaving your car in and paid the price.

The work is not acceptable to your standard or any car enthusiast but the other 99% of people out there would get their car back and think "grand, I see no difference and hey look they gave me an air freshener for free".

I do on the other hand think you should give them the chance to fix their mistake although you may not want to. Take very in depth photos of every single angle of the car before you leave it in with them and when you get it back if it is at all damaged then take it to court with your evidence and your story. When I dropped mine into a garage I had them come out and inspect the car alongside me and sign a document stating the condition it was in, noting any defect and promising it wouldn't be washed. You could even do this with a run down of all your current photos.

Any judge (let's hope he loves cars) that sees a body shop ruining your car to take it back offering to fix it but making it worse would have enough sense to make them cough it up.

Good luck buddy, sorry to hear about your illness. Any added stress is doing you no good so take it easy!

[Horatio]

Sorry to hear youre having these issues, especially at VW. Had almost exactly the same scenario at VW Watford when I had my Eddy30. Car went in for rust warranty repair and came out with more damage; minor scratches mostly, every door corner opened against a wall and paint chipped, minor alloy wheel scuff, parking sensor cover jet washed off. I just couldnt get my head round the sales manager's poor excuses... The car had been sent off to an "approved" garage as well.

Hope you get the result you want. 

[cuprajake]

I just cant understand how stuff like this happens, how they can damage stuff,

the hard bit is proving they did the damage, unless they did a detailed damage report :(

[MKT]

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

That's a real $h!tter for the lad. I rember reading that thread & felt he had been dealt a bad hand from such an "apparent" high class body shop. It wasn't as if he had paid for a cheap spray either.

[cuprajake]

the thread has since disappeared, he now wants me to put it right, but only bits, which is a kick in the teeth as we quoted £2500 for the original job, then he snubbed us to travel 150 miles away, and then when it went wrong, came to use to show us, have us do a report and even wanted me to go to court for him.

I understand its hard to find a place your happy with, were not 100% all the time but I like to think if you do have a problem we can help and rectify it

good luck to the op but I highly doubt you will get anything other than the vw shop doing your car

[garrardrj]

So VW Warranty repair was to grind and fill ! How does this then fit back in with VW Warranty after the job is complete . Why did it not have a new panel fitted , like the wings that are done regularly ? I would never have approved this way to repair some rust . Thats aside if the bodyshop has damaged your car then they should repair it . How do you prove it was them ?
You said it was Detailed 3 weeks earlier , can they give a report , did they take any before and after photos ? or did you do it yourself ?
First i would get the things than can be polished out done and then see what they suggest for the bits that can't , respraying a whole roof for small bits of damage i would never do ... Work towards financial compensation and sort it yourself .

Good Luck with both your problems

[cuprajake]

fitting a quarter would well out weigh an warranty over a piece welded in, have you any idea how much work, welds and seams are involved in replacing a quarter?

the warranty then resides with the vw approved body shop :)

[MKT]

the thread has since disappeared, he now wants me to put it right, but only bits, which is a kick in the teeth as we quoted £2500 for the original job, then he snubbed us to travel 150 miles away, and then when it went wrong, came to use to show us, have us do a report and even wanted me to go to court for him.

I understand its hard to find a place your happy with, were not 100% all the time but I like to think if you do have a problem we can help and rectify it

good luck to the op but I highly doubt you will get anything other than the vw shop doing your car

Wow that's a massive difference! No doubt he will have kicked himself not coming to you. I only hear good things from your customers. I will defo be considering yourself when it comes to any bodywork plus the bonus is that I'm in Manchester so I'm close by too!

To the OP have you heard anymore from VW? May be worth giving them a shot at putting it right before putting yourself through all the aggro of court etc. Good
Luck & I hope you get a result either way.

[garrardrj]

fitting a quarter would well out weigh an warranty over a piece welded in, have you any idea how much work, welds and seams are involved in replacing a quarter?

the warranty then resides with the vw approved body shop :)

I thought the rusty bit was on part of the door from the photo ! I didn't read the words !

[LouCyffer]

Just a little update for anyone in a similar situation.

Under the Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982, http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/supply-of-goods-and-services-act-1982 a consumer who enters into a contract for goods & services can expect them to be supplied with reasonable care & skill.

The important bit is the contract. As the dealer arranged the bodyshop, my contract is with them, not the bodyshop. Redress is via the dealer. At no time am I compelled to return to the original culprit bodyshop. It is worth noting that the dealer arranged for said culprit to collect my car in early January to rectify the problem, but they failed to phone or collect my car on the appointed day. Hence their 'second chance' was squandered. As this culprit was subcontracted by the dealer, they are legally a third party, & there is no legal requirement to have any communication with them whatsoever, despite many opinions to the contrary.

Incidentally the dealer has conceded, once faced with this legal point (thank you Trading Standards), and is arranging to have the bill paid. Once they had physically inspected the car & had another estimate for rectification, they conceded that as the two estimates were of similar value (and I suspect theirs was higher than mine), it would make sense if I used my local bodyshop. VW seem to be of the same opinion, but are taking their time deciding; however they have suggested that they owe some form of goodwill once this is closed. My local Trading Standards office is most interested in how this endgame will play out.

After two months, I hope to habve this finished with very soon. But take note, be aware of your rights under law, and stand your ground if you are ever in this situation.

[Matthewsimone]

Great to hear its finally being sorted and rightly so too

And for anyone who suggested that lots of body shops don't do a 100% job and send cars back to customers with scratches and dust everywhere etc id suggest you go try another bodyshop as mine certainly don't treat my cars like that and if they did someone would be losing some teeth 

This guy like myself regularly details his car so is obviously going to know every inch/little mark etc on it so unsure why people keep suggesting that all this damage may have already been there 

[lukemk5gti]

It's nice to hear a win now and then! Congratulations!!

[LouCyffer]

The final outcome:

VW UK agreed to pay the entire cost of rectification at my chosen body shop, as they were of the opinion that the dealer had taken far too long to resolve what was, in their opinion a straightforward issue. They have also offered some goodwill, and will be discussing the case with the dealer concerned, as this has not been a model example of problem solving.

Later the same day, the dealer group's divisional manager phoned me, as I had complained to the group CEO the previous day, and listened to the tale. (I had still by this stage had no confirmation that the dealer was going to do what they said, and pay up). He asked me to have my chosen body shop send him the invoice direct & it would be paid, and apologised for the whole affair. Thanks to the CEO's interest in customer service, it took him less than 24 hours to fix this. He replied to my initial communication within 5 minutes, and promised to have someone contact me to resolve it the next day. All credit to him, he did exactly that.

So, hats off to Mr Daksh Gupta, CEO of the Marshall Motor Group, for being accessible to his customers, and his no-nonsense problem solving. In one day, he did what his dealer couldn't manage in 2 months.

[garrardrj]

Good Result