OK, so where to begin...
So I got the car repaired at a well respected shop in town. When I first saw the car I was excited, cuz the bumper looks like new (and it should, cuz it is), and the paint matches perfectly (at least it did from up to a few feet away).
As I looked closer, I saw that the alignment was very good, and I didn't notice any large gaps around the hood/fenders/lights, and it looked very uniform. However, on closer examination I noticed some excess wax on the paint which wasn't much of a big deal, and a small white line where it looked like the paint wasn't applied well to the bumper (could have been a hair there or something when they painted it...). Anyway, I noticed it, and the manager thought it was just excess polish/wax and got someone to try and buff it out. It didn't work, so he had someone bring it inside the shop and "get more aggressive with it". When he brought the car back, the white line was gone, and it was smooth but you could see where the line had been in the past. (I'm not sure what he did to it, but it looks like they repaired the paint quickly). Anyway, I may just be nitpicking, cuz unless you know it was there previously or were thoroughly inspecting the thing, you wouldn't see it, but I was like ok, I'll probably get a couple more nicks at least that size on the way home.
So then...I walk around the bumper one more time and I see...that the right reflector is flush against the bumper, while the left one isn't.
So I was like, hey, what's up with that? So he took it back into the shop to see what they could do. So, they got it mostly flush with the bumper, and said they couldn't do any better unless they took the bumper off, but it'd be a couple hours if they did that.
Well, at this point I've been there for over an hour (probably as long as it took you to read this
) and I'm already late for where I needed to go afterwards, so I was like, whatever man, it looks mostly good, I gotta go.
So, I've been thinking about how I feel about the whole thing.
#1. The whole situation sucks, cuz whoever f'd up the bumper in the first place was either to stupid to realize they did it, or they just didn't care, either way I'm stuck with the bill. :thumbsdown:
#2. I chose the shop, because everyone recommends them, and they're supposed to be the best in town. When I brought the car in, he told me it'd be perfect when I got it back, and judging by all of the high end cars in the lot, I believed them.
#3. While I may have had high expectations for a repair, I did expect a new bumper to look perfect and for it to be perfectly aligned. That said, while they failed to check it as closely as I did, they did bend over backwards to make sure I was happy before I left, and the manager seemed a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, and he told me before I left that he hated to give it to me like that.
So, in the end, I'm happy with the customer service I got, but I think the quality control at the shop could have been better. It also sucks that I'm in a bit of hurry, and I want to ship the car on Friday, and I wanted it to be in perfect condition when it gets shipped, cuz if this wasn't the case, I probably would have left it there until it was really ready to go home.
Anyway, pics of before and after will be posted tomorrow if I get around to it.
I know.
Just thought I'd share how it went first, with everything going on this week I'm a little swamped.