GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

This is copied from a thread on MO as GVC was down, feel free to read the full thread there at: http://matrixowners.com/index....art=0I really wanted to wait until it was all said and done and ready to go, but I guess I will come out and spill the beans. I took my car to what I thought would be a reputable shop to have some things done. 1) Front bumper repaired of cracks and such and painted, 2) Rear bumper repaired of cracks and damage and painted FINALLY, 3) Side skirts FINALLY installed and painted, 4) Grills painted and installed, 5) Top spoiler painted to match, 6) Tail lights tinted Seems like a simple process with little to mess up. So, I drop it off, they tell me 5-10 working days to get done. 13 days pass, I haven't heard from anyone, so I call and find out it is no where near finished. Go check on it, it is looking good, body work is getting done, cracks are repaired, skirts are getting fitted, everything is getting reinforced, I can't wait to see it finished! Supposed to be done by this past Sat, called and supposedly something was messed up in the rebuilding process, but it would be done by Tues (today). Call today, car is ready, YAY! Go to pick it up, first thing I notice is the rear bumper. Something doesn't look right, I was thinking maybe it was just b/c I wasn't used to seeing it painted the same color as the car, but then I realize, it is lighter than the rest of the car. Then I notice the top spoiler is MISSING, yes MISSING, completely! I get out already wondering (removed)! First thing I do is look inside the car (mind you it is sitting outside the shop with the window down and doors unlocked and no alarm on!) thinking maybe something happened and they couldn't install the top spoiler for some reason, it is no where to be found! Start to walk around the car to check things out, notice the whole kit is shades lighter than the original paint. Then I notice the side skirts are on the WRONG SIDES OF THE FREAKING CAR! (removed)! How can that be?!?!? As I look more I notice the car is filthy, I mean, it has been sitting in their shop for like 3 wks and never even got cleaned, even before returning it to me. There were scratches in the fenders and head lights from them trying to get the front bumper on, and then I realize the tail lights weren't tinted either!I go inside only to find out the boss is out, dropping some customer off or something, didn't want to make the sis-in-law and her husband wait for me knowing damn well I wasn't accepting the car today, so I have them take me home at first thinking I would go home and get my truck and come back to talk to the boss. Get home and decide to wait for the wife thinking it might be good to bring her as she loves to get all hot and bothered and throw a fit about [edited], and figured she would be pissed as this cost me a good chunk of change. So we go over to talk to boss, First thing I ask is "WHAT HAPPENED?!?!" He acts like he doesn't know what I am talking about. I ask about the paint, he tries to play this B/S "The OEM paint is almost 4yrs old, the paint will match if I do a detail on the rest of the car, etc..." I ask him about the skirts, he says he didn't even realize they were on the wrong sides of the car and backwards, WHOOPS! Then I ask him about the spoiler, somehow the car is ready but the spoiler isn't done! How the [edited] is that?!?!? Who says, "Your car is ready, come pick it up, oh wait, some of the parts aren't done yet, but the car is ready to be picked up?" I ask him, "So what, when it's done I am supposed to reinstall it or what?!?" He says no, they would have done it, RIIIIGHT! Then I point out the tails aren't tinted. He says, "They only did what was on the invoice." No [edited], I brought the invoice just in case something like this came up, and it is on the invoice! He says he didn't realize they weren't done, asks me how dark I want them, says he will get it done.He says, give me until tomorrow night, I will get everything fixed (but not the paint, he still claims it is right, he says they used to VIN to get the paint and it is the right color code even though I am almost certain they probably looked it up online and got the code for the 05^ model Platinum paint instead of the 03/04 Satellite). I leave extremely pissed off. Go to get something to eat, get a call from them, "I got the paint guy here, *****ing him out about all this, oh BTW, the skirts are screwed on, then filled in and painted over, so we will have to destroy them to reverse them and then repaint them, so it will take longer, Fri, Sat at the latest." (removed)!!! I don't even know what to do or say at this point except that almost every single thing I have done to this car has been nothing but a huge headache! WHY ME?!?!?!?!?!

I'm sorry to hear about your Vibe...But a few questions on the side skirts...Are they after maket?And just wondering how you knew they were on the wrong side. (just checking to make sure mine are ok... my body shop suxed too )

Wow man, I feel your pain. This place sounds like the body shop from hell. There is no way you should pay full price for this crap. We're talking major discount. I'd get a second opinion from another body shop concerning the paint. I think your Platinum theory may be right.

That's a big time drag bro.If it were me,Some (removed) whooping is in order or some major discount.Your right about the paint though.When I bought the spoiler kit,it was in the 03-04 silver(whatever it is)and Snow took the mid-spoiler and his is an 06 silver(whatever it's called)and it didn't match up at all,it was slightly darker I think.Still I hope they sort it out,just for frustrations sake.

WOW!!! are you gonna get a discount or something??? i would raise HELL bout that and let them know your not paying all you did to get a shotty job. i feel sorry for you.. hope it gets sorted bro.

ask to see the paint can used to paint the car.Do your home work and be prepaired to fight about the paint shade.I have had body work done on other cars in the past and each and every time I get something done I ask will this match the extisting paint. If they say they will use the paint code... walk away... if they tell you they will match the existing color on the car thats the body shop to use. It's not hard to do these days.How could they miss a wing that BIG? If I were you, i would not have them working on the car. Find out how much it will cost to get new skirts. Deduct the cost of new skirts from the bill, Then take the cost of the paint and cut that by 50%. They have not a leg to stand on if it was to go to court. You gave them ample time to get the work done correctly. It's apparent that they employ people who can't read a work order. wrong color, work not finished, damaged property='s full refund of money

Quote, originally posted by Mrizzle05 »WOW!!! are you gonna get a discount or something??? i would raise HELL bout that and let them know your not paying all you did to get a shotty job. i feel sorry for you.. hope it gets sorted bro.+1 id rage about it and get a discount and/or replace the side skirts they f'd up. that is not pro at all for them..dang, make sure no one else goes there

wow, that really sucks...good luck

Quote, originally posted by keithvibe ».... They have not a leg to stand on if it was to go to court. You gave them ample time to get the work done correctly. It's apparent that they employ people who can't read a work order. wrong color, work not finished, damaged property='s full refund of money +1

Man That Sucks!!! I really hope everything gets taken care of right this time, and I hope he is nocking a good chunk off the bill for you. He should also give you the magical detail for free for the headache.Aron

Kev is correct on the paint comparing the older and newer. I had the mid spoiler installed and it was in 13U (older model), thought it would match up. Nope. The older model is a darker silver than the new lighter silver.03-04 13U05-08 14U

Sorry to hear about the paint man. My body shop has to do a clearcoat blend to get old and new silver paint to match. I had a Saturn that was rear ended after 3 yrs. The body shop did a "quarter blend" on each side to make the back match, they said it was a clear coat blend (ie....extra coat). Ask the body shop if that is what they did/didn't do?

damn jason that blows. or that garage blows. hope it all gets sorted out. like the rest of the guys said, make some noise. they have to compensate you somehow... give 'em hell

He said that the paint was fours years old. Wouldn't that mean that the car would be lighter than that of the side skirts. Also since it is a silver type color then the color should not fade that much since reds and yellows are not in the mix. Correct?

holy sword batman! man jason me and you have the worst luck! mine is water and yours is the car mods from hell! i feel bad for you man, hope everything is done right and with a discount on the price.

Damn this is some bogus [edited] I would really be bent and it would take a couple valium to calm down. I be willing to bet money there isn't gonna be any kind of discount. Maybe the paint didn't match cause they didn't clean the car, I've never had that happen, thats just part of the job. I would ask for the paint code. Document everything on paper everything that was f'd up, make sure you always have a witness, when you go, should have taken pics while car was out, also check your mileage, they have a habit using cars for parts running and lunch orders. leaving the car unsecured. Get your rig(good or bad) pay your money walk away smiling, drive to an attorney and sue the Dumass, I'd say you have a case. Actually first find a friend that has a nice suit and take him with you as you take pics. shake him up a little. Really sorry to hear about this, I really feel most people are good, this guy doesn't make the list . Sorry Jason

Man that sucks so bad. Sorry to hear about the troubles. I hop that it ends up ok for ya'.

(removed)!!! People just do not care about others perperty anymore. And Customer Service is a thing of the past.All I will say is do not take the car off the lot until it is all fixed and you are happy! Do another walk around before you do take it off the lot. Look at it and under it very closely. I have learned this the hard way, only once. Now I always do a walk around when I leave my cars with places.

4 year old paint is the same as new paint if properly cared for. Paint does not fade as it used to on older cars. The amount of clear coating on a vehicle now prevents the fading affect for years and years. If the car is even decently maintained it will not fade as they say. Not to mention lighter cars are easier to deal with fading because it is less noticeable over time.I was so psyched to see everything painted finally. What a crock. I would honestly think about not paying them the whole bill when you pickup the car, either that or taking them to small claims court based on the invoice you got, service received and time without a vehicle, i.e. quote overexaggerated. Of course it could be tossed if they decide that "well you took the car so why didn't you leave it there?"It's a no win unfortunately. I would try and be patient and let them do their work and see what happens when it is finally done!

dam dood,I went through the SAME thing with my Subaru years back, got into a bender, took it in... all kinds of things not right, things the "avarage" consumer wouldn't notice. I told them repetedly that i'm not an "avarage" consumer... then I let them try and fix it... Came back to get the car and someone had tried breaking into the trunk, I started the car and it BILLOWED smoke for a minute... Oh, the horror.... to make it even worse, I nearly got into a FIST FIGHT with the insurance adjuster, yeah, a fist fight.... He didn't care much for me calling him a complete moron for thinking that I would accept the work... I never completely got it worked out, stupid MFers... I just finally took the car and cut my loses...

Although the new paint does not fade like the old stuff, it will still fade a little over time. With new technology, they should be able to take a picture or a paint sample to match the tint properly. I think they are a bunch of dumb-#*@$#

UPDATE???

Well, thanks for the posts guys. I will be finding out tomorrow (as I really don't want to know right now if it will be tomorrow or Sat until it is going to be finished) when it's going to be "ready". As my wife said, it was dark when she went, but she said she couldn't tell the difference in the paint color, and, oh by the way, she said NOTHING when we went back the first time very much unlike I expected! She said I pay WAY more attention to detail than most people do though and maybe it was enough that I would notice but she didn't think others would, but then again, it was at night and she has not seen it in the daylight yet. I expet everything to at least be on and right this time, the grills were done and looked great, the paint quality looked very good, so I expect that it will be overall good aside from the paint tint issue. I will definitely be doing another walk-around of the car abd checking EVERYTHING before I take it from them, though, no questions about that! I'll be letting everyone know as soon as I find out anything though!

UPDATE!!!!Nothing new to report! lol They said they will call me at the end of the day.

Well, tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, but now the boss says if he doesn't have it done tomorrow he will put me in a rental, I think he's just trying to shut me up and is sick of hearing from me!

Dude, I think you're a graduate from the "Colonel Panic school of everything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong!" You just keep having rotten luck, that really bytes man...Hope you can get the Vibe fixed up and in a manner acceptible to you.

Well, just to let everyone know, they told me it is one and I could have picked up the Vibe tonight, but that the clear needed more time to cure, and he even offered to open tomorrow for me even though they are closed Sunday if I wanted to wait until tomorrow to pick it up, but I told him I would just wait until Monday to get it. We'll see what happens Monday about 6pm my time! He said the tails look awesome, now I can't wait to see it!

OK i just had the chance to read your story man thats really messed up, for one thing, if you guys know anything about getting a paint code there is no way you can get the color of the car on the VIN number the only way to look up your paint code is by the door jamb or where ever it might be thats pretty mucht he only way, these guys must really stink if they didnt realize the skirts were on the wrong sides and if they were smart enough they would of painted the spoiler at the same time man for real!!!!! It gets me mad just thinking about this, I went to school for all of this and it doesnt take 10 days to do a touch up and paint it.... to tell you the truth you could of had it done in about 3 days, if you really know what there doing thats just messed up, thats why im doing my own body work and paint job when im ready.... good luck to you man i cant wait to see the finished product

My fingers are crossed man! I hope after all the crap you had to go thru that all turns out well... Post some pics when it's all done, so we can tell you what we think... if it's acceptable or not...

Quote, originally posted by Kamikaze »My fingers are crossed man! I hope after all the crap you had to go thru that all turns out well... Post some pics when it's all done, so we can tell you what we think... if it's acceptable or not... i hope it looks AWESOME!! keep us posted and take pics!

Damn son...I would be unstrappin my M249 and doing some serious *****ing...one TLA my friend, BBB!

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2More pics to come when there is daylight, can't seem to find the digicam for some reason, either.

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(removed)!!!! It's painted one color!!!! Nice!! Can't wait for some real pics. What's with the rear bumper? It looks wavy.....

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »(removed)!!!! It's painted one color!!!! Nice!! Can't wait for some real pics. What's with the rear bumper? It looks wavy.....It's getting cold, it' just precipitation.

Whats that? its getting cold ? in San Diego? thats funny,lol Its gonna take some getting used to your car all one color, it is all the same color, isn't it? Did you get everything worked out? I see the wing is on and the tails are tinted.

Quote, originally posted by sk8r78 »Whats that? its getting cold ? in San Diego? thats funny,lol Its gonna take some getting used to your car all one color, it is all the same color, isn't it? Did you get everything worked out? I see the wing is on and the tails are tinted.Not sure yet, it was dark when I picked it up and hard to see. The wing is on and the tails are tinted though! lol It's gonna be a while before I even get to see it in any kind of daylight as I am working from 6-4:30, and by the time I get home it is already getting dark. Probably gonna be Thursday before I get to see it in any kind of light. They did stick the broken bag strut in the up position, so that has to come apart again, but this time, omce it is out, I am going to take it in and see how much it will be to get it fixed so I don't have to worry about it any more. Also, it sounds like they didn't mount the spoiler right as it sounds like there is a nut or bolt or washer or something vibrating, so that will get looked at as well, but it could alo be the broken strut, so I will have a busy weekend, but look forward to lots of pics at some point this weekend!

Thanks for the teasers!I can't wait to see some good quality pics... I know I haven't been part of the site that long, but long enough to know you with the blue bumper.Definitely interested to know if they got the color matched up correctly for ya!

Can't wait for some daylight pics!

Quote, originally posted by lovemyraffe »Can't wait for some daylight pics!Ask and you shall receive!

damn!! jason, looks good! now you can hit those matrix meets! nice job!by the way, happy thanksgiving

Very nice! Looks like the clowns at the body shop redeemed themselves.

Thanks guys! What sux now is the hood is starting to fall apart! The clear gelcoat is starting to bubble and break. Now I gotta savefor that, but it is probably largely due to my own fault as I haven't exactly taken care of it like I should.

is it just me or does the rear bumper and skirts look darker than the rest of the car.looks good now Jason! but what about the fenders

Quote, originally posted by NascarXprt »is it just me or does the rear bumper and skirts look darker than the rest of the car.looks good now Jason! but what about the fenders Something about their paint does look off to me, but they insist they used the paint code and it is correct. We'll see after I wash/claybar/wax it how it looks. It's not horribly off, but I seem to see a difference as well. As for the fenders, they are in TX in my storage! Not much I can do with them there!!

Hot. Just take the decal off the gas lid

Quote, originally posted by Petrucci914 »Hot. Just take the decal off the gas lid I need a new gas lid anyways thanks to the guys in TJ, but I was looking for a CF lid, might just look into getting an overlay for the whole lid so I don't have to waste my money on a whole new lid...

What's wrong with yours? Mine has paint cracking and doesn't line up perfectly. To think of it, the quality control one our cars really sucked early on.

looks good...I really like how that wing came out.

Looks good, inspite of the difference in color. I didn't really notice a difference till I got to the taillight shot and then it looked different. Its pretty evident that the hood has problems, what are you planning on doing with it? Color Match? I don't think I have ever seen a hood like yours painted. Stepped the whole car up getting rid of the blue, looks really good.