Nate

[edit on 11/15/01]
I'll leave this post as it was when I first posted it, however I'd like to say, before you read the rest of this, that Acura of Bellevue has agreed to fix their mistake. While I am still upset it had to come to BBB intervention, I am greatly pleased that Acura of Bellevue is willing to resolve this issue and leave their customer satisfied.
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I took my car in to get a small scratch on the rear bumper fixed. I backed into a Bronco with a winch on the front and gouged the top side of the plastic bumper cover. The scratch was about 3" long and less than 1/4" wide. They were to sand out the scratch and airbrush it. This was not to be a 100% fix but they said to expect a 70-80% improvement.

I went to pick up my car and it was done very unprofessionally. It looked like they took a can of spray paint and went buck wild!

You could see they sanded down the scratch and used filler to level it out. You can see through the paint, the large circle where they sanded.

The paint does not match the rest of the car. It is much too shiny and a lighter color than the rest of the silver. As a result it doesn't blend in to the rest of the paint and sticks out like a sore thumb. They painted the bumper about 10" to either side of the scratch trying to blend the crappy paint they used with the rest of the bumper. The paint has bits of dirt and scratches in it too!

I can see this atrocity from over 30 feet away. It is obvious it was not done correctly. I spoke with the service manager, Mike Perry, at Acura of Bellevue and he told me he would refund the money I paid to have them ruin my bumper. When I asked what they were going to do about my bumper he said they couldn't do anything. He said, and I quote, "just try not to look at it until you can get it fixed". I wanted to punch him!

I discussed getting it fixed. He agreed it was going to cost around $500 to have a bodyshop fix it correctly. If I had taken my scratched bumper to a competent shop, I could've had it airbrushed correctly for $150-$200. But now that Acura of Bellevue has ruined my bumper, I have to pay a bodyshop $500+ to get it fixed! This is unacceptable.

I want my bumper fixed correctly. It looks MUCH worse now than it did before. I was told to expect a 70-80% improvement and what I recieved was 10 times worse! I would much rather have a 3" scratch than 2 feet of my bumper mispainted!

I paid for them to do quality work. They obviously realize what they did was crap because they refunded my money instantly. It is not right for me to have to pay to have it fixed correctly when they ruined it.

I sent in 2 Acura surveys, ripping Acura of Bellevue a new one. What other course of action can I take? Should I call the central Acura line and complain?

I'll take some pics of the disaster tomorrow.

bioyuki

Ouch, I would expect MUCH more out of a dealer. I would file a complaint to the Regional Rep If I were you....what happened is simply not acceptable.

UW RL

damn man..... that really sucks.... why did you have to bring your car over there then??

Lawaia

Go get an estimate from a reputable shop in your area, then contact the regional Acura office and file a complaint. If their focus is on complete customer satisfaction, they'll take care of you one way or another. IMHO, the dealer shouldn't have agreed to fix the bumper...they don't have the expertise to do body and paint work. You may also want to mention that to Acura as well. Good luck Nate.

2001TL4KCdude

What will it take to make you happy? Obviously to fix the scratch for the amount they had estimated. I would discussed with the service manager and have them take it to the body shop to make the fix right. Additional expense outside of the orginal estimate should be absorbed by the dealer. They are intelligent people and they know they screwed up and are willing to do anything to make it right.
Let us know.. Good luck man.

Acura3200

demand to see the area service rep and b!tch b!tch b!tch!!

It's his job to listen to complaints and make the customer happy.

Nate

Area service rep? Who's that? I talked to the service manager, he's the guy that approves everything. He wouldn't help me beyond returning my money. But they ruined it and its going to end up costing me much more...

hooked2TL

Nate:

Give your local Better Business Bureau a call and see if they'll take it up. Also, your local consumer advocate in your local paper may also take it up on your behalf. The last thing these guys want is some paper asking them why they did what they did.....

Acura3200

There's a person that is above any local service manager. Their job is to visit all the Acura dealerships in a certain range. They're the person that makes sure that the dealership has their $hit together and to handle any customer complaints that go beyond the local dealership and local management. He is the closest step you can get to dealing with Acura themselves in person.

I don't know how to describe this person any better. I know that EVERY Acura dealership has one and I'm sure that your dealership isn't telling you about him for a reason.

This person only visits the dealership once or twice a month. It's pretty funny to watch the COMPLETE change in attitudes of the local dealer when this person's around... it's like when the teachers used to have their reviews and the principal used to sit in the classroom and watch.

Acura3200

Here is my local rep. I met with two people about a NAV problem that the dealer couldn't fix. Boy did they get an earful when they got there!

Amy Teerlinck
Specialist
Acura Client Services

1919 Torrance Boulevard
Torrance, California 90501-2746
Mail Stop 500-2S-2A

There was a guy that was either above her or was training her, his name is Charlie Golding.

I also have 2 phone numbers, I believe one is the normal Acura number and one isn't. It's worth a shot I guess.

(800) 382-2238
(310) 783-3535

Good luck!

Pawel

Damn Nate, sorry to hear about your problem. The dealer that you took your car into was basically ****ing with you. How on earth they can't match the paint!!!!??? They sell the paint in service dept. You sshould take this higher then just service menager. Keep us posted, dude. And good luck!

VICNYC_TL

fvuck them yo make **** really hard for them. write letters, and ****. file mass amounts of complaints and all.

TL4Mo

Aside from contacting the regional rep, call and speak DIRECTLY to the general manager. If his attitude is also irresponsible then ask HIM for the direct phone number for the divisional or regional manager! Also, do you have any consumer rights segment on any of your news channels?

Umm, now I'm getting worried. My dealership is replacing and repainting my hood (long story)....hope myne comes out good and matches....otherwise, they'll have my wife to contend with

Edward'TLS

If the car is more than a year old, the paint color will change due to the UV rays in the sunlight. So a fresh can of paint may not be aged enough to match the paint color. Most auto paint shop guys will add more tint to the OEM paint mixing color formula to try to match the paint color as close as possible when they repaint cars, especially if they only repaint a section of a panel or a bumper.

NighthawkBlack

Buy one of my bumpers and you can have oem rear fogs.

Nate

I just submitted this to the Better Business Bureau:

<hr>
Complaint Overview: Improper paint repair. To fix will cost 3x+ what they charged to ruin my paint!

Detailed Complaint: Bellevue Acura agreed to $180 to fix a 3"x1/4" scratch on my rear bumper cover. I was told to only expect a 70-80% fix. When I picked up my car they charged me $150 and the bumper was painted VERY badly.

The scratch was sanded down too far, you can see a large 6" circle where it was sanded. The paint they airbrushed on is too light and does not match the rest of the car. The bumper was painted 12" to either side of the scratch so there is 24" of bumper that has been mispainted. You can see the mispainted area from over 30 feet away. The paint has bits of dirt in it.

I left my car with them again. When I came back a few days later I was told they would not fix my bumper. I was told, "try not to look at it until you can get it fixed". On 9/23 they said they'd refund my $150 by mail, though I have not recieved a check to this date, 10/16.

It will cost $400-$500 to fix properly since I cannot have such a large area airbrushed. I should not have to pay extra for their mistake!

Desired Settlement: Other
Desired Outcome: I want my bumper fixed for the originally agreed upon $180.

<hr>
Bastards! My bumper still looks like ****!

Closer

You should ask Tim the price for a new bumper. I believe they
come painted oem just like the body kit. Most bumpers sell for
around 500 bux or less.

Better new than fixed.

bluedemon73

Nate,

sorry to hear about your ride. You definately have gotten the word out on this dealership. I will never go to them and will never recommend them to my friends. On a side note, I try to buy my acura from them awhile back and they were very rude to me. I think because I look young.

DT

Nate

New is better but as long as it doesn't cost more than what it would've to get it airbrushed. I mean, it was a 3" scratch!

Bluedemon, I first went to Southcenter Acura and they were complete *******s, kept trying to sell me a Mustand when I kept saying I wanted a TL. Finally I just left. Bellevue Acura does good paintless dent repair but don't let them even think about painting yor car!

Turns out TLon19s just emailed me and he has an extra bumper... but I still want to see what happens with Acura of Bellevue.

Cuong

Nate, makes you wish Tim sold cars and had a repair facility at times? Sucks to hear what happen man.

tman

I agree if they do bad work, they should refund the dough. However, they sublet the work to a van that goes dealer to dealer and I don't think they do a good job anyways. You get what you pay for. Never go to a dealer for vehicle damage. To get it done right, you have to go to a good body shop that will guarantee the job. If you want cheap, go to Maaco, if you want good work go to a good bodyshop. I know it is a pain in the butt to damage the nice ride, but you did it, and to have it repaired right would cost the extra dough anyways. The guy had to sand the scratch down to depth of the scratch. So if the sanding is deep, then it would show. Blame the bumper skin, since it is part of the problem. If the dealer damaged the bumper, then I would take it to the nth degree and ***** to get the repair done right. So everyone, I do not think the dealer is to blame. It seems that you were not satisfied, and they agreed to a refund. Now the service guy made a stupid comment about not looking at the bumper. I could not tolerate bad looking work, but then again, I would have taken it to a bodyshop.

Nate

"The guy had to sand the scratch down to depth of the scratch. So if the sanding is deep, then it would show. Blame the bumper skin, since it is part of the problem."

He sanded the scratch out and used some sort of filler to try and level it back out. It was done terribly and is obvious.

"If the dealer damaged the bumper, then I would take it to the nth degree and ***** to get the repair done right. So everyone, I do not think the dealer is to blame. It seems that you were not satisfied, and they agreed to a refund."

Huh? The dealer did damage the bumper! I wish you could see it... maybe at the next meet. Not only was it sanded too deep, but the paint does not come anywhere close to matching. And 2 feet of my bumper is mispainted! It can no longer be airbrushed and requires major fixing. And that will cost major $$$$.

"Now the service guy made a stupid comment about not looking at the bumper."

Not just the service guy, the service manager.

"I could not tolerate bad looking work, but then again, I would have taken it to a bodyshop."

It was airbrushing, not repainting the whole bumper. But obviously they still couldn't handle it.

We'll see if the BBB can't help.

tman

You definitely have a nice ride. I hear you that you wanted a bumper repair, but now you know that just repairing a small portion doesn't work. The van that performs this work cannot possibly have every paint combo in stock. In fact the person should have known his limitations. The technique when painting a small section of a bumper or fender etc is called spot repair/painting and then you have to paint beyond the repair called "fogging" to blend in with the rest of the paint. I know that this technique is not the best and you cannot expect it to look like new or even 70-80% better. Silver, pearl Whites, or any metallic paints are very difficult to match. A body shop could have done the same repair but with much better results. And if they screw it up, then they probably would have painted the whole bumper for a match. Ive been through this type of hassle before, and Ive learned where to get a job done right. Let us all know if something positive goes your way through the BBB. You might have some recourse because they made a claim that it would look much better. Get an estimate and opinion at a body shop to see if the work they did actually made the repair costlier.

Nate

Well since I was feeling like **** today becausk some ****ing ******* hit my car when it was parked and they didn't leave a note... I decided to call and talk to the general manager at Acura of Bellevue about my rear bumper. I've tried to reach him about 5 times over the last few weeks and he was always on the phone or unavailable. Finally I got through and he said he had talked with the BBB about the incident and that he would cover the full cost of getting my bumper repaired by a professional bodyshop. He also said he would provide me with a loaner car while the repair was being made.

While I am still upset it had to come to BBB intervention, I am greatly pleased that Acura of Bellevue is willing to resolve this issue and leave their customer satisfied.

rayman009

ya..i brought my car there when i first got it, because there was problems with my fuel injector and i had to bring it in like 3 times to get it fixed...they kindda do suck. They tried to sell me a used Tl that the owner of the place had been driving for 3 months.