Hey I know this is probably just a lounge topic but its personal to the 3rd gen race and I needed to vent, but just to let you know I took my 93 MB touring to Northwest Collision in St. Petersburg, Florida to get a little fender bender fixed on the driver side rear and expected a perfect job done to the car. When I got back from my vacation to pick up the car I was informed by friends that the car had been left outside of the protective gates for over a week. At first check over of the car at the shop I noticed that the paint had a terrible orange peel effect to it. I told him that that needed to be fixed so he simply just wetsanded it to fix the problem so I was temperarily happy. When I got home it was already night so I couldnt get a good look at the car. The next morning I came out to look at the car real good and noticed new door dings in my driver door, also the wetsanding wasnt completly finished in the area he was supposed to sand. I noticed also that for some reasons my windows on the inside were all fogged up and that theres a new scuff on my front bumper also the clearcoat wasn't at all blended well. That night I dropped my phone under my seat and noticed a HUGE puddle of water under my seat and the passenger seat, so what this means is he left the windows down in the rain. I had it and took it back the next day and we had an argument which was weird because I was a paying customer that got screwed, but he had the nerve to yell at me and tell me to stop coming to him and bitching. Anyway my biggest leverage was the fact that before I picked my car up I decided to have my friends take a picture of the car in front of the shop outside of the gates on a sunday when they are completly closed. So he agreed to fix the door dings and finish wetsanding it but that still doesnt fix half the damage that he did to my low milage 93 MB touring. When I picked up my car from having the door dings fixed he had painted the whole door which was nice but the paint was completly off from the original and the fender he just painted plus there is still a hint of orange peel. Also the door dings are all he fixed he didnt buff out the orange peel on the fender he agreed to fix or the scuff on the front bumper. Just a heads up because I have heard other stories where he hasnt done the best job on other cars. This shop is in St petersburg, Florida so if your researching shops wouldnt recommend this shop.

 

I think its time for either complete compensation or a lawsuit...

 

You heard that he hasn't done good jobs on cars and you STILL went to them? There's your first problem.

Second is ask around BEFORE you get any body work done. Find reputible(sp) shops that have good track records and references. At least you took pics before hand that gave you some leverage. It's hard on 10+ year old paint to match, but it can be done. That's what you risk from only painting a small part.

Maybe this should be in the regional forum?

 

Well the reason I went to the shop was because he is a friend of my fathers and I wasnt aware of these stories untill after the fact. Also sorry about posting here but I did.

 

I know under MA law, if you take the car to a certified(by your insurance co) they warranty it. Take it somewhere else and get there opinion. Good luck

 

I wasn't bashing. You live and learn.

I didn't mean anything to you about where this should be posted, I was just making a suggestion to whatever mod might move this.

 

Hey, I'm in St Petersberg right now, does this shop maybe need some visiting?

 

Im about 15 minutes from st pete
I'll go "visit" the shop with you guys as well because I know what that feels like

with the guy being so mad at you he's never gonna do a nice job fixing it even if you bring it back 10 times and complain. You have to get your money back from him or sue him for more and go somewhere else.

Yanni