Not really...
(I am putting cliff's up here as some of you might not want to read a novel :cat: )
CLIFF's
-Gary @ Vandergriff Collision South was excellent to work with
-VCS offers to correct some of VCN's shitty work
-I inform VCN that they no longer have to replace the head for the over-rev, just the ECU
-I request that VCN fixes the over-spray issues on my car (all the panels, glass and lights have it), which is supposedly not a problem
-SA gives me BS, I get pissed and throw it right back in his face
-VCN still gives me the run-around (like that's news) and I'm left with nothing (::Shocked:)
I got my car back from the run-off the road incident (had a great experience there, more on that later), and I suspected coolant was getting into the cylinders. The head was warped, and my service adviser told me that he'd rather give me a new head on an engine w/ this low of miles than repair the old one.
Good, that takes care of the $6k head replacement (that's how much the estimate was from the dealership). Now all that is left is the ECU, and all the over-spray that VCN (Vandergriff Collision North) added on to my paint (and glass, and lights). Here's where I say how great my 2nd body shop experience was.
I took my car to Vandergriff Collision South for the run off the road incident. My service adviser there, Gary, was great to deal with and went out of his way to make sure I was satisfied. I had 2 slight issues that were taken care of promptly and not really a fault of the shop's (some bolts came loose which are supposed to be re-tq'd after a few hundred miles, and the front plate scuffed the clear-coat). As they buffed that scuff out, I showed Gary the over-spray that was left-over from last June.
He offered to take care of it for me if VCN wouldn't do it. I thanked him for the offer and told him that I would take him up on that offer if I needed to. Keep in mind that this would require 6-10 hours of labor to fix (yes, it is that bad), and that he would be doing this for free. The difference in service between VCS and VCN is astonishing, and Gary has really gone out of his way to make sure that I am completely satisfied.
Now on to VCN. I had Friday off, so I planned that day as my day to further talk to VCN about resolving this whole matter. First, I asked that the service adviser come look at the over-spray and talked to him about getting it fixed. The manager of the shop was busy when I got there, so I figured that would buy him time to get freed up and come talk to me about the over-rev. The SA and I reached a resolution to the over-spray, which is to fix it the way that Gary at VCS offered (VCN does NOT know that this was offered to me, I'm not that stupid).
Then I brought up the over-rev situation to the SA. They refuse to believe that somebody at their shop could do this. I threw the proof in their face several times, yet they "don't have anybody working for [them] that would do this." Yet there's more; the SA says, "I don't have time for this, we are busy and there is nothing to talk about." I am extremely livid at this point, and, while it probably wasn't the best thing to do, I went off on him. I said that this whole thing is fucking bullshit and that they have done nothing but given me the run-around. I tell them that I work 40 hours and go to school full-time, and that I can still make time to deal with this shit. I also informed him that if he didn't intend on doing anything, that I can and will have a lawyer that is ready to take the case. I said I'd rather have this sorted out here, and now, than waste my time and money, not to mention the shop's time and money, on lawyers and a court hearing, especially now that all that remains to be fixed is a relatively cheap ECU.
This got him to wake up a little bit, as he said, "You need to talk to xxx, he is with a customer, so sit down and he will be with you." Now, I had been there for 30 minutes by this point, and was admittedly pretty pissed. This was starting to turn into the same BS of avoiding me and giving me the run-around.
Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. A new customer pulls up, and is standing outside when the manager walks past me into the office area (they moved me into there while I was ranting, don't want their customers hearing about their shitty service). I figure good, we are in a closed room, we are going to sit down and talk about this. WRONG. He walks past me again, never acknowledges me, and goes straight to the new customers.
So I go and sit down again, for another 20-30 minutes, waiting on him to finish. He got in his vehicle and left, and the SA had to call him. By this point, I was like look, I came here to tell you that I basically saved you $6000 with having the head replaced by the dealership, and all I'm asking for is a ECU. That's $800-1200 at most, order me the part, and I will consider this whole thing over and done with. The SA relays this, and after about 10 minutes of conversation, hangs up and tells me that they will call me first thing Monday (today) and set up an appointment to get the over-spray finished and the ECU ordered/installed.
It's now 7pm, they closed at 6 and I have no phone call. Am I shocked that I got the run-around again? I know I shouldn't be, but they actually sounded happy to get this behind them on Friday. I guess not.
