How to complain against a Toyota body shop?

Gee Id hate to have you for a customer, you are pain in the ass. They offered to fix it instead you go on a complaining spree, you are not very smart. By the way genious the BBB could care less of your rant. Well now that youve waisted all that time and pissed off your nice dealer really bad either you go back to him hiding your ugly face . Or waiste some more time. Oh false advertising, what kind of idiot are you. So they screwed up. they are offering to fix it , RIGHT. But now if you bring it back to the dealer you call a fraud. Well , if I was him , Id be sure to fix you.

Why not give them another chance --- explain to body shop manager what they did wrong -- that it is new car and you expect it to look new. I'd mention it to the new car sales manager or owner too. Take some pictures before and after. Doubt you'll have much luck getting them to pay to have it doen again at another shop.

This is an independent store, talk to the stores general manager or owner.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 19:10:23 -0600 (CST), snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (mark Ransley) wrote:

Keep in mind that: 1. They had a customer service rep assigned to the job. He was required to inspect the car after the job. But he just dumped the car with new defects on me. I asked at another reputable Toyota body shop and they told me there was no way a customer service rep with any degree of experience could not notice that. Simply put, the original body shop just wanted to dump crap on me. 2. I talked to so called manager. The guy does not have any credibility as a manager and he is a total failure as a manager. His written brochure promises something that does not exist. He did not show any signs of dismay at the sloppy job, His employees do whatever they want to screw up the customer. This is a dysfunctinal organization. You do not give another chance to such an organziation. Its structure is totally broken. 3. The manager offered to "fix" the work but I verified what he told me at another reputable Toyota body shop. He basically offered me to improve the cosmetics and not provide quality fixes. I am afraid that he will make more damages to the car. The customer service rep at another body shop noticed just after a few seconds pieces of trash painted in, an outline of the original paint chip that proved that only a quicky thin paint job was applied, places with uneven paint, etc, in addition to the most visible defects like rough and clumsy oversprays and clumsy attempts to clean it up before dumping them on me. The so called manager at the original body shop pretended not to see all the signs of incompetent work proving that he just wanted to dump another sloppy job on me. I cannot give the car back to the same body shop. It would be an insult to any common sense.

I talked to the so called manager and so called service director at the dealership. I sent them the pictures too. Although they offered to "fix" the defects, they had no clue about quality work. Their answers showed they just want to dump another crappy work on me. I tried to contact the owner many times but this SOB never answers my calls or faxes.

You have no legal rights, since he offered to fix it for you. You have little experience. There is no faud there, let them fix it and go on with life. Quit being so difficult.

Some people are simply incapable of doing quality work -- even if they're trying. I've often taken heart by recognizing that these people have to live with themselves though you're just involved with them temporarily. If all you say is true, they've taken a simple paint chip, and turned it into something far worse. It seems clear to me, that they're not going to pay for you to go somewhere else for body work, and you can't go back there. The new car is a major investment. Just take it elsewhere and be glad you discovered the true natture of that dealer with something simple like a paint chip.

Call your local television station or newspaper's consumer reporter or ombudsman, and let them call the owner. (The local version of having a "60 Minutes" reporter and camera crew show up on their doorstep.)

Or pay a few bucks for a consultation and let a local lawyer send him a polite "I've been retained to solve this problem - we can do it the nice way, or the not nice way, your choice...?" letter. One of those two methods will get their attention, and maybe some action.

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In news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-2175.public.lawson.webtv.net, mark Ransley being of bellicose mind posted:

Hey.... ;-) Tell the guy to fix it himself with an aerosol can. The experience will give him some perspective. LOL

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Bruce L. Bergman being of bellicose mind posted:

Bruce... that's a crock, unless the guy has a personal friend who's a lawyer. Lawyers can only assist in forcing wealth redistribution. NONE of them are worth a damn with their hands and a spray gun. Small Claims court at best (no lawyers allowed).

You bought a known defective (your view) product? Why???

Because it was the last Camry LE 2003 without options I did not need and the color I liked. Keep in mind that that was early October and

When my Toy got hit--major body damage--I accepted the car after repair at a Toyota dealer shop. It was a cloudy day, the worst possible environment for checking for defects. When I got home and inspected more carefully, I found numerous defects, including the bottom part of new fender which still in primer.

I took it straight back. The shop manager called out the finish person, and we went over all my concerns. I drove away an hour later with *every one* of them resolved to my satisfaction.

Give them a shot, NOW! Don't wait until everyone involved has forgotten who did what, etc. It may be that the person who did the actual work was new, or underperforming, that day. A good shop will fix what was not done correctly without delay, and give you the option to approve/disapprove the repair work. In a perfect world, this sort of thing would never happen, but....

jak

The Original Poster says he's attempted to talk to the owner of the shop, and is getting nowhere - I would want personal contact with the owner in a situation like that also, I want to know that he sends word down to 'do the work over and do it right this time, and no more screwups'. (Rather than the owner hiding in the back and telling the shop foreman to 'slap another coat of paint on it and get rid of him the fastest and cheapest way you can.')

I agree that it's much better to avoid having to sue in the first place, with all the attendant hassles - but the law firm inquiry letter is one way to get them talking to you, since they won't ignore a lawyer's letter (or the local TV station Consumer Reporter and camera crew in the lobby) unless they're really stupid.

And said lawyer can also make sure to word the letter properly as a simple request to discuss the resolution to the problem - so it doesn't come out sounding like an extortion attempt.

And you are correct that there are no lawyers allowed in small claims court on either side - but you know darned good and well if it ever gets that far that they will have talked to their lawyers (plural) about what to say (and NOT to say) before they walk into court. You would be a fool not to have done your homework and talked it over with your lawyer.

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In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Bruce L. Bergman being of bellicose mind posted:

Bruce: A request for Media coverage over a paint chip is not going to get KABC and/or the LA Times to come running with a news van, reporters, and a helicopter. Come on. ;-) In a dealership I was in, a lawyer letter was simply handed over to a binding arbitration board. As we know, small claims has a $5,000 limit (it may have been upped recently) so that means at worst, the car owner and a non lawyer (probably a service writer) will be in small claims where the dealership stands to lose the case unless the vehicle owner refused to give the dealer a chance to make good ... which means surrendering the car. We agree that formal legal avenues should be reserved instead of being the first line means of restoring the paint to the customer's satisfaction. All this over a ... paint chip.

I believe in giving them one more chance and make it clear to the manager this is their one and only chance to redeem themselves and if they don't do it they can get you a new new car. Be polite.

Read his original post. I began as a paint chip but instead of airbrushing it and blending it in they screwed up his car.

allowed).

surrendering

In news:QeEsb.24212$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net, Art Begun being of bellicose mind posted:

I recall. The point is, in the absence of mitigating circumstances, he builds HIS case by letting them "do right" having them fix the paint repair. Now... if THAT effort fails, his case is a slam dunk in small claims.

Actually,..paint chips are often touched-up with a small artist's brush in my neck of the woods:-)

Jason