RxS2K

Grr...

Backround:
At a Porsche club autocross a couple of weeks ago, I lost the back end and spun off the runway (it had just started to rain, and my rears were almost down to the wear bars). Unfortunately, I was unlucky enough to hit a landing light in the process. The damage consisted of a fairly small diameter, but deep dent in the rocker panel just in front of the rear wheel(on the drivers side), and a small dent in the door just above the other dent. I called around to everyone I could think of, and took my car to a local body shop that is arguably the best in this area (they handle BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes repairs). Now the fun starts...

I pick up the car 1 week after dropping it off. The body work is very good, but the paint doesn't match (I have a black car). At that time, they had only painted the small section of the rocker panel that was damaged, and sprayed fresh clear-coat on the door. The repaired areas looked much "blacker" than the rest of the car. I pointed this out to the shop owner, and made arrangements to bring it back for them to match the paint better.

I go to pick up the car about one week later, and the entire driver's side of the car from the front of the door to the taillight has now been painted! There is overspray on the fender and rear bumper, drips in the paint on the quarter panel and "orange peel" along the rubber/plastic molding around the roof well. At this point i'm having a cow inside, but I retain my composure. I find out that their detail man had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery and that the car wasn't really finished. I avoid blowing up, and make arrangements to take the car back to have these "details" fixed.

I just dropped it off this morning, and I'm desperately hoping that it turns out OK, and that nothing else gets screwed up.

To top it all off, the paint STILL doesn't match the rest of the car. Although, now it looks like I had the fender repainted because the rest of the side of the car is a little "blacker". Look for me in Asheville. I'll be the one in the two-tone black car...

Warren

Man, that sucks! You are right to keep calm and let them try to do their best. I run a retail shop and I will really try "extra" hard to help people that are calm and 'normal' if something goes wrong. Most owners of business will try to solve all problems to the best of their abilities. The best thing is to keep the comunication lines open. They won't know that you are unhapy unless you tell them - in a nice way.
Good luck!

Ldogdotcom

Hey RxS2K...

Being that you are in Hogtown (and I'm a proud alumnus), you might want to take a trip down to Orlando. I went to a place here in Orlando with my '99 Premium White Prelude (read: white with pearl) and they fixed my car 100% perfectly. I'm exceedingly anal, due to the fact that I am versed in body repair of cars, and these people did an awesome job. In fact, when I traded it in on the S2000, the dealer couldn't even tell that I had the rear bumper repainted, as well as the A-pillar. (Ever been in an accident? Nope. [it wasn't an accident])And if anyone knows body shop stuff, pearl is just as hard, if not more difficult to match than black is.

If you want the name and number of the body shop, shoot me an email. It's worth the drive. Oh, and if you see an Estoril Blue Metallic M Coupe running around Gainesville this weekend, that's me.

RxS2K

Ldogdotcom,
Yeah, I'd like to get the contact info for that shop from you.

The car's paint is much better now, but it's still not as good as I want it to be.