Looooong rant. Bodyshop F's up my Z!!!!!
08-11-2007, 10:24 PM
#1
Looooong rant. Bodyshop F's up my Z!!!!!
*IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ THE WHOLE THING JUST READ THE RED. YOULL GET THE IDEA*
So, I bought my 03 Touring coupe a few weeks ago. I noticed before I bought it that the rear hatch didnt line up with the rear bumper perfectly. It was off by about an 8th of an inch. The dealership said the car is sold AS IS so they were not going to pay to have it fixed. I made a deal with them to let me take the car to a reputable body shop to determine whether the car had been in a wreck or not. The deal was that if the car was in a wreck I could take it back, but if it had not been in a wreck I would have to keep the car and fix the problem myself.
Upon inspection the body shop determined that the car had not been in a wreck but that the bracket that was mounting the rear bumper was out of adjustment.
They quoted me about $300 to fix it if it needed a new bracket.
I meanwhile go back to my dealer and somehow convince them to pay for the repair
(I worked these guys).
SO I drop the car off on monday and they tell me I'll have it back tuesday or wednesday at the latest. They dont get done till thursday. AND they TOTALLY screw up my rear deck lid. Apparantly they had two guys cranking on the hatch by hand trying to get it adjusted when they buckle the hatch just below the window, and put a deep dent in the lower right corner of the hatch right where the hatch makes that nice bend leading to the taillight.
So I get the call. The owner informs me that he personally caused the damage and is going to subcontract the work out to a guy that does paintless dent removal to fix my car. The first time I talk to the guy he tells me it will just take a few hours. Fine. Well he doesnt even touch it the first day. Come day 2 and he tells me hell have it done by 10AM. I call, and he says he needs a few more hours.
Slightly annoyed
Few hours pass, I call he says he still needs a few more hours. I swear to god everytime I called this dude he told me the same thing, "Man I just need a few more hours." This went on for 3 days! I didnt want to lose my head cause the dude has my car and I want him to do a good job. But man I was pissed. And he knew it too, I just never raised my voice or lost my cool.
So day three rolls around and Im Fuming!
I finally get the car back at 6PM today and upon inspecting I notice more high spots and ripples that noone else noticed apparantly. The rear hatch is f'd. The work the guy did isnt even perfect. Now Im picky as hell about my Z and I want it 100% the way it was when I brought it in. And as far as I'm concerned the only way that is gonna happen is if they buy me a new hatch.
The bodyshop wants to fix it themselves that means bondo and paint and stuff. F that right? I mean I understand that they are way in the hole on this one and buying a new hatch is the last thing they want to do since they already have to pay a ton of labor for the work that the dent guy did, but in my mind that depreciates the value of the vehicle right? Do you guys think that if they can make it acceptable that I should be happy with that or do I insist on the new hatch?
I dont want my car tied up for another week while they bondo and paint and ****. The hatch swap should only take hours right? Man Im pissed right now!
Sorry for the long rant BTW. It just sucks that I just got this car and everything has been great untill this fiasco.
*ENDING*
So the debacle has finally come to a close!!!! I must say that the road was rough but It was well worth it in the end. The body shop was
great and the finished product is as good as I expected. They also really took care of me through this whole thing and were very apologetic
and accommodating despite all the frustration. Now on to the pics!
The painted door handles are HIGHLY recommended for ALL color Zs (except maybe CS). The pics do them NO justice! I love the look its 100000000X
better. I also opted to leave the stock spoiler off of the new hatch but now I know that I really want one but aftermarket for sure. I also now REALLY hate
the wheels and cant wait to get the 07s on there.The mod bug has hit in full force now! I was trying to hold strong but I am failing miserably! Let me know
what you guys think!
So, I bought my 03 Touring coupe a few weeks ago. I noticed before I bought it that the rear hatch didnt line up with the rear bumper perfectly. It was off by about an 8th of an inch. The dealership said the car is sold AS IS so they were not going to pay to have it fixed. I made a deal with them to let me take the car to a reputable body shop to determine whether the car had been in a wreck or not. The deal was that if the car was in a wreck I could take it back, but if it had not been in a wreck I would have to keep the car and fix the problem myself.
Upon inspection the body shop determined that the car had not been in a wreck but that the bracket that was mounting the rear bumper was out of adjustment.
They quoted me about $300 to fix it if it needed a new bracket. I meanwhile go back to my dealer and somehow convince them to pay for the repair
(I worked these guys). SO I drop the car off on monday and they tell me I'll have it back tuesday or wednesday at the latest. They dont get done till thursday. AND they TOTALLY screw up my rear deck lid. Apparantly they had two guys cranking on the hatch by hand trying to get it adjusted when they buckle the hatch just below the window, and put a deep dent in the lower right corner of the hatch right where the hatch makes that nice bend leading to the taillight.
So I get the call. The owner informs me that he personally caused the damage and is going to subcontract the work out to a guy that does paintless dent removal to fix my car. The first time I talk to the guy he tells me it will just take a few hours. Fine. Well he doesnt even touch it the first day. Come day 2 and he tells me hell have it done by 10AM. I call, and he says he needs a few more hours.
Slightly annoyed
Few hours pass, I call he says he still needs a few more hours. I swear to god everytime I called this dude he told me the same thing, "Man I just need a few more hours." This went on for 3 days! I didnt want to lose my head cause the dude has my car and I want him to do a good job. But man I was pissed. And he knew it too, I just never raised my voice or lost my cool.
So day three rolls around and Im Fuming!
I finally get the car back at 6PM today and upon inspecting I notice more high spots and ripples that noone else noticed apparantly. The rear hatch is f'd. The work the guy did isnt even perfect. Now Im picky as hell about my Z and I want it 100% the way it was when I brought it in. And as far as I'm concerned the only way that is gonna happen is if they buy me a new hatch.
The bodyshop wants to fix it themselves that means bondo and paint and stuff. F that right? I mean I understand that they are way in the hole on this one and buying a new hatch is the last thing they want to do since they already have to pay a ton of labor for the work that the dent guy did, but in my mind that depreciates the value of the vehicle right? Do you guys think that if they can make it acceptable that I should be happy with that or do I insist on the new hatch?
I dont want my car tied up for another week while they bondo and paint and ****. The hatch swap should only take hours right? Man Im pissed right now!
Sorry for the long rant BTW. It just sucks that I just got this car and everything has been great untill this fiasco.
*ENDING*
So the debacle has finally come to a close!!!! I must say that the road was rough but It was well worth it in the end. The body shop was
great and the finished product is as good as I expected. They also really took care of me through this whole thing and were very apologetic
and accommodating despite all the frustration. Now on to the pics!
The painted door handles are HIGHLY recommended for ALL color Zs (except maybe CS). The pics do them NO justice! I love the look its 100000000X
better. I also opted to leave the stock spoiler off of the new hatch but now I know that I really want one but aftermarket for sure. I also now REALLY hate
the wheels and cant wait to get the 07s on there.The mod bug has hit in full force now! I was trying to hold strong but I am failing miserably! Let me know
what you guys think!
Last edited by seekanddestroy; 08-30-2007 at 06:58 PM.
08-12-2007, 02:16 AM
#7
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dude, I have the same problem with my hatch/bumper. I bought an 03 touring and I did not notice that the rear bumper was pushed in about a quarter inch on one side. So this leaves a noticable gap and is not "flush". It drives me nuts when the sun hits it just right because it looks awful!!! I want to get this repaired but Ive been contemplating it becuase I dont want anyone to f-up my car. Im thinking of trying to align it myself, but I hope its not too much to handle on my own. anyone ever re-adjust their bumper??? is it hard?
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08-12-2007, 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by yoyopow
Dude that sucks. Whatever happened to customer care/services?
08-12-2007, 01:15 PM
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i paint cars for a living. if it is your dealership body shop, do they have another 350 there your same color? maybe they'll swap them since the damage is their fault. if not, try for the new hatch, although you do know new hatches do not come factory painted right? they will still be painting it themselves, and if you truely want the paint to match, they will have to blend your roof rails and your quarter panels. and hopefully the color is close enough to match your bumper decently well. not that annnnnny bumper matches properly in my opinion. good luck on this though, it sucks man but stick it out it should work out, worst case let them fix it and complain about any problems you see till it is acceptable.
08-12-2007, 01:34 PM
#14
Im not paying for any of it. The dealership agreed to pay for the repairs and the body shop has no affiliation with the dealership. They recommended them to me and I am friends with the guys at the bodyshop so I was ok with it. They are by far the best in town so I really was surprised to hear that they messed up.
The body shop then sent my car to this other guy to get the dents taken out. Thats where it gets worse.
The parts guy at Nissan wasn't there on saturday but they did say that they were 100% sure that if a new hatch was needed that it would come painted. I guess thats not true?
The body shop then sent my car to this other guy to get the dents taken out. Thats where it gets worse.
The parts guy at Nissan wasn't there on saturday but they did say that they were 100% sure that if a new hatch was needed that it would come painted. I guess thats not true?
08-12-2007, 04:32 PM
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I also have a problem with my rear bumper not lining up with my hatch. It seems as if the left side of my rear bumper is slightly pushed in? so it doesnt line up right. I just noticed it a day ago too, but I have no clue as to how it become like that.
08-12-2007, 06:11 PM
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i'm 100% sure the hatch won't come pre-painted in the color of your car. i work in a bodyshop and nothing comes pre-painted from nissan. For most cars only door handles and mouldings come pre-painted. go back and get them to fix ti properly. if the dent is in the center of your hatch below the back glass they shouldn't need to blend any other panels but if it's close to one of the 1/4s ask them to blend it.
08-12-2007, 06:17 PM
#20
As soon as bondo is applied its not gonna be 100%. I've seen more than a few bondo jobs come apart in relatively short periods of time. I can tell you right now I'm not going to be happy with a bondo job and being without my car for another week.
Yokohamaz, you mentioned getting the insurance company involved, what exactly would they do to help me in this situation?
Jammin, push down on the rear hatch and see how much pressure is required to get the hatch sitting right. If its relatively easy you may just be able to adjust the gas shock that holds it up. Or it could be one of the bumpers is too high. If it takes alot of force its probably something more severe. In my case it was just the bracket that mounts the bumper to the frame. Good luck it can be really annoying.
Yokohamaz, you mentioned getting the insurance company involved, what exactly would they do to help me in this situation?
Jammin, push down on the rear hatch and see how much pressure is required to get the hatch sitting right. If its relatively easy you may just be able to adjust the gas shock that holds it up. Or it could be one of the bumpers is too high. If it takes alot of force its probably something more severe. In my case it was just the bracket that mounts the bumper to the frame. Good luck it can be really annoying.