stephen.osborne1

I heared from the new paint shop today. They are still assessing the car, putting together a game plan... Apparently, all the emblems installed by the old shop had the "posts" that go through the body panels and attach with the barrel nuts, where cut off. They were all glued on... We have pictures of the glue smearing everywhere... Also, the undercoating applied by the old shop was sprayed over mud in the wheel wells!
The new shop is planning on taking everything apart again to paint, which I thought the other shop was originally going to do.
How are the fiberglass side scoops suppossed to be attached? The old shop used 3M tape, that looked like crap and didn't hold. Can they be screwed/riveted on or molded on?

rst08tierney

Dont want to sound like the ***** of the thread, but you really need to be in town for any project to do with your car. I understand your situation but regardless, if you want ANY job done right, especially paint and body, you need to stop in at the shop during each stage to point out any problems that occur along the way so they can be fixed. I would never trust anyone to do a good job for me with my wife doing all the foot work because I would feel she would be taken advantage of regardless of what she said was wrong with the work.

I do wish you the best in fixing the situation but most of all I hope you learn from it.

Best of Luck

spdrcer34

Tell your wife to 'Get Jesse'....LOL

..He's the Consumer Investigator on KING5 News...

I've seen everyone from the Power Company and City Government to Verizon Wireless and a Major Retail chain fold and get a customer their money back, and/or fix the problem within HOURS of the piece airing on the 5 o'clock news!

Ryan

stephen.osborne1

No offense taken, and none intended. But you obviously don't know my wife... She does not allow herself to be taken advantage of. And she is more picky about the car than I am on most points. She visits the paint shop more than I would ever have time for, even if I were home. She knows what I want done, and I have complete faith in her doing it. We communicate daily and she takes pictures of everything along the way. Sure I'd rather be there in person, but I couldn't ask for a better substitute.

BTW, the new shop has pointed out a few more things the other shop didn't do correctly, like patching the inner wheel well using fiberglass rather than a steel patch panel, etc.

67 evil eleanor

Keep in mind cool heads pevail. Photos are invaluable in court which I'm guessing this is heading. I would think that the town or city would have on file the shop owner's name on file and this should be public record. A detailed account of what the shop was supposed to do (contracted) and present it with the photos of they actually did do, should give you the upper hand. Its hard to argue with a photo. Also, another professional opinion from the other shop detailing what is going on in each photo will help (undercoated over mud, black silicon used poorly insted of emblem adheisive, panels not repaired correctly, etc). You will need to check how this can be admitted as evidence in your local (affidavit or in person?). It really rubs me the wrong way to see a Soldier get hosed while serving, unfortunately it seems its the way of our times.

stephen.osborne1

Yeah, my wife is getting together all the pictures she's taken (literally hundreds, originally intended for out scrap book...) And the new shop is more than willing to help us out building our case... still trying to find the owner's name... can't find anything about business licensing, etc... but we are sueing the business, not the owner, so might it be that big of a deal...
And I know I've said this before, but I am no longer a soldier... I was, but now I am a disabled vet working in Iraq as a civilian.
I posted a couple more pics into a gallery, in case anyone wants to see... don't know what link to give you though...

MetalEd

Don't just sue for the money back on the repairs, sue for the damage and replacement cost they caused as well. Getting your money back would be nice, but they damaged items and you are entitled to be made whole (The parts should have come back in the same condition you left them in. They damaged them and now you will have to replace them to get the car back in the same condition it was.)
Have the new shop save the emblems and other damaged parts for court. If they were original emblems and parts that were cut off (I assume mounting pins cut off the emblems). Get a written quote for exact replacements, not the aftermarket reproduction ones. The emblems and most parts usually cost more for the originals even in used condition. Also get a statement from the new shop that they were damaged and unusable due to the shop removal/installation methods. They were intended to be clipped/screwed on, not "super-glued" to the side of the car... That's something you would expect a high school kid to do when painting a car, not a professional body shop.
That way you can collect for replacement costs on all the parts as well. Ask the new shop to document everything the old shop did wrong or damaged. Things a normal body shop would have done to paint a collector car. All the alterations to your original equipment that they did. Showing up with all the evidence and a list of their "idiot repairs" will help tip the scale (and maybe judgement total) in your favor more than just the photos and testimony. It will definitely help show their incompetence and prove your damages caused by them.
If you had new parts that were damaged, it would help to look for the receipts on those as well.
Good luck buddy and keep us informed. (What I would do. Not a lawyer)

TexasAxMan

I believe in small claims court you'll only get your money back, and maybe not all of it at that. If you want to try to sue for other incidental costs, I think you'll have to elevate it to district court, which equals $'s.

Assuming the business is set up properly, knowing who the owner is ain't going to help you, you won't be able to sue him personally. Since the guy is in Florida, I'm betting he's retired and still owns the business while the manager runs it. If the above is correct, the business may have had a good reputation when the owner ran it, and he may not be too happy that the new guy is running it into the ground. It might be good to send him a letter (with pics) explaining the situation. You should be able to obtain a name and address from the secretary of state's office.

Good luck with it, let us know how it turns out.

67 evil eleanor

Contact the Tax & License business office 253-591-5252 to find out if there is more current information available.

https://www.tacomaservices.org/defau...sclosure&grp=5

hiboostwoody

I wish I lived on that side of the state. I would be more than happy to tag along with your wife to the new body shop to help inspect the work and I am a real ***** for the most part so they would be hard pressed to try to pull any bull**** on her. The more I think about how they did you dirty the madder it makes me.