Truck Got Hit.. My On Going Repair Experience..

SkiDooNick700 · January 2, 2017

Hi all.

I've been having a heck of an experience since a lady backed into my truck while it was parked in the street. Called police, filed a report, etc... everything was going smoothly. Got scheduled to get repaired at a body shop which previously repaired my Avalanche a few years back when I got rear ended in that. They did a great job on my Avalanche, 10/10, and that is why I went back to this place with my new truck.

They said it would need a new bedside and tail light, and mentioned they may or may not salvage the wheel well molding. I insisted that they just replace the molding since it is popped out. Picture below followed by more story...

So I get the truck back after 8 business days. During this time, communication was great with the "repair rep" I was dealing with. I did ask him if I would get it back in time for Christmas weekend, and he was a little unsure but was thinking so. I assured him I am in no rush to get it by then and would rather it be done right then get it back for the weekend. Anyway, he called on Friday before Christmas and I picked it up... the "fun" begins!!!

Upon pickup, it was already getting to be dark outside. I immediately noticed there were no badges on the tailgate. He said they had to paint the tailgate and driver side rear door to help blend in the color. They didn't have time to put the badges back on but he said they're on my backseat and I can come back and it will take 10 minutes. I thought to myself... your guys didn't have 10 minutes to put them on...? I just shrugged it off as paint and body work was looking 10/10. My bed was dirty but I honestly prefer to do my own detailing. I gave him feedback on this but told him I am not holding that against them by any means.

I noticed one other issue while picking it up, the door handle chrome on the door they painted was wrinkled around one of the corners. He said no problem we will fix this as well when you come back.

Fast forward a week later I finally have some time to thoroughly detail my truck for a few hours in the garage w/ heater on and excellent lighting.

I find MORE issues!! Let's bullet them out for ease of reading. I'll post pics below (I don't have pics of everything at this time, and some are just too hard to capture with my phone).

Chrome window trim on rear door is loose, easily lifts up over 1 inch,
B pillar has three oblong circles of extreme scratches. Now, I'm pretty familiar with detailing, however I'm not convinced these can just be buffed out. They grab my nail pretty good.
Left side rear window has a big area of over spray. Only noticed it because of the lighting in garage. Rub hand across window and its very obvious where the over spray is.
Window rain guard on rear door has random smudges (not removable by washing/waxing). It's also pretty obvious someone hit it with a sander along the top pretty good. Not noticeable unless the light is hitting it.
Random fist size rough patch of paint (no reflection) on cab where it curves around to the back of the truck where the bed is (hope that makes some sense).
Wheel well molding has scratches and scuffs on it
door handle chrome is wrinkled (mentioned above)
no badges on tailgate (mentioned above)
lower tail light bulb burnt out in tail light they replaced.
lots of white/grey paint over spray on frame and spare tire... should this even be expected?
Paint is totally f'ed up from the detailing aspect. I'm not sure if they wheeled it too much and put holograms in the paint or didn't wheel it enough and there's still sanding marks.

So, yeah, lots of issues. Where I'm at right now is I'm scheduled for Wednesday at 7am. Currently the guy only thinks its for the badges and the door handle but while he was on vacation I noticed many more issues. I'm going to ask that we get the truck in their shop so we can look at all the above issues with good lighting instead of in the dark.

What do you guys think about this whole situation? Am I being too nit picky? I'm keeping my cool with these guys, I want to keep the good rapport I have with them as I'm hoping it will result in the best outcome.

Sorry some pictures are messed up on the bottom, they must have gotten corrupted in the upload to photobucket.

P.S. Does my fuel filler area look stock? I could have sworn there were rubber bump stops or something over the two screws, one of which I'm pointing at. Also the the fuel cap is attached via what seems to be some pushpin - I'm holding it up straight in the picture but it just dangles down on its own. Not sure If I just need to push the pin in or not - I don't want to do anything until I show the body shop.

Over spray on the frame??

Dirty bed!

Scratched up paint... bed side looks the same however I couldn't capture it.

O_J_Simpson · January 2, 2017

Wow. They really screwed your truck up.

SkiDooNick700 · January 2, 2017

Wow. They really screwed your truck up.

Yes I totally agree. I'm just so frustrated because I take such great pride in keeping my truck in prestine condition. Now this thing is just all jacked up. Can't wait to see what they will say on Wednesday...

muddkatt · January 2, 2017

Here is a picture of the gas filler door:

The body shop did not do the best job. I would be pissed if my 2015 came back like that. If it was the 2001, I would not be upset because its an old truck that has "character" already.

Coby7 · January 2, 2017

Nice mess and totally unacceptable. Was it done by a beginner? Hope it wasn't there best man or you're in a pickle jam.

StillOffshore · January 2, 2017

I know with my insurance, if I use one of their "approved" shops and I'm unhappy with the results, I can bring to another shop to fix the issues from the first place if desired. I've never actually had to do this, but the option is there. Depends on what they have to say about it. Maybe the new guy did the work and nobody checked it. The owner/supervisor might be as upset as yourself.

SkiDooNick700 · January 2, 2017

Here is a picture of the gas filler door:

The body shop did not do the best job. I would be pissed if my 2015 came back like that. If it was the 2001, I would not be upset because its an old truck that has "character" already.

Thanks for the pic, that's exactly what I remember it looking like. I get where you are coming from about the whole character perspective. Maybe this shop does the opposite. My 02 Av was serviced in 2013 and came back great, my 15 comes back horrible serviced in 16 LOL maybe they like "classics".

Nice mess and totally unacceptable. Was it done by a beginner? Hope it wasn't there best man or you're in a pickle jam.

Haha wish I knew the answer to that one...

I know with my insurance, if I use one of their "approved" shops and I'm unhappy with the results, I can bring to another shop to fix the issues from the first place if desired. I've never actually had to do this, but the option is there. Depends on what they have to say about it. Maybe the new guy did the work and nobody checked it. The owner/supervisor might be as upset as yourself.

Hmm interesting, I may need to check with my insurance. This body shop is on the Approved list thru my insurance. I think I will give my insurance some feedback on this place once this whole thing is said and done.

StillOffshore · January 2, 2017

Depending on how much you care about being nice...I've also told a shop foreman that his bodywork and paint sucked, call me when it's finished...correctly, and drove off into the sunset in the rental. Left him with my keys in his hand and he was pissed. Had to do that twice. The third time I came back to inspect their work, they had FINALLY done a proper job. I never touched my keys or paperwork. I had them drive it out front so I could inspect it in the daylight.

It sucks for sure, and they complain that it will cost them money, time, etc....BUT...they were paid to do a certain job, and if they decide to let the new guy learn on your vehicle, that's fine, they just need to fix his mistakes when the customer catches them.

They know that some guys wouldn't care, while others will notice even the smallest of imperfections. Unless they told you it would not be perfect, your vehicle should look exactly like it did, or better, than before the damage.

Colossus · January 3, 2017

Give them the chance to make it right. Out in this neck of the woods, we don't have enough auto body shops and the waiting list is dang near 2 months long. Sometimes they may feel rushed and urged to speed up by management or whomever and sometimes a good quality job gets pushed too quickly and things like this end up happening. Should it happen? No. Are we all perfect? no. Can our expectations always be met? no. But give them the chance to make it right. Hopefully this business it the type that takes this matter seriously. If not, well you know what to do.

audioworks04 · January 3, 2017

I would bring up everything to them when you go in for your appointment, make sure you have a list so that you don't forget about anything and make sure they are taking notes also as you show them. You already have everything documented in pictures which is good. I would bring up everyone of your concerns and make sure they understand that you are not trying to be a pain, just that you would like your vehicle returned as it was 1 second before the incident, as it always should. Most of the problems seem pretty minor, atleast in pictures, but the over spray on the frame will not be easy to remove so make sure you check back on that.

SkiDooNick700 · January 5, 2017

Doesn't appear I can update my original post. Anyway, I took the truck in this morning and both my rep and the manger walked around it with me as I was listing off the items. Neither of them rebuttaled any of the things I showed them. Half way through me showing them the items, the manager said to the rep, "who worked on this?". I assume someone will be gettin a talkin to.

Anyway, my rep called and said it will be ready tomorrow. Will update once more tomorrow with results.

bndawgs · January 5, 2017

Damn, good luck and hope they make things right. I know I get really frustrated when things go wrong and are out of my control to make them right. Keep being persistent and picky. If all else fails, tell your insurance company it's not right and you're taking it somewhere else to get fixed properly.

SkiDooNick700 · January 7, 2017

Picked up truck yesterday. My service rep still had it in the bay so we could take a good look at it, which I was very happy with as I wanted to see it with good lighting. I was really impressed with the detailing job as we were walking up to it. It looked a lot better than the first time I picked it up. I'm a detailing nut and usually these shops never meet my expectations in that aspect, however I must admit this shop did like 9.5/10 on the detailing.

As far as fixing the above issues, they also did a very good job with that. I got a new wheel well molding, they really cleaned up the rain guard, it looks darn good now. They wet sanded my b pillar, it looks a hell of a lot better now. The chrome window trim molding was corrected. New door handle. They cleaned up that over spray the best they could on the frame. There are still a few little spots here and there but I am not concerned - ziebart will spray over that during my next touch up anyway. New light bulb in the taillight. Overspray on window is cleaned up. They wheeled out the panels that were f'ed up. I gotta wait for the sun to peak out in MI again to confirm it's corrected.

The service rep is really a great person, both times I saw him he was very attentive to what I was saying and never argued with anything I said. We talked about that when I picked it up the second time, he was mentioning "drive it for a couple weeks, check everything over, if you still see something, please don't hesitate to bring it back, I will make it right for you". He also went on to say he appreciates that I've been patient with them and that I'm not someone who just came in guns blazing and screaming and cussing etc... I told him I'm not angry at anyone, I want to keep a good rapport and just want my truck back to how it was.

Anyway, would I go back to this place? I've got a love/hate relationship with this place lol, I really don't know what I would do right now to be honest. The fact that I've built some kind of relationship with this place kind of makes me still want to go there. Hopefully I'll just never have to visit a body shop again!