Legal advice with body shop UPDATE!

[Mean 318]

Here is the low down. I had my 90 Dodge Ram done at a local body shop. They Fixed rear end damage. The truck never had ANY rust on it, it has allways been garage kept and never dirty. About 4 months after I had the truck back it started to rust above both quarter panels. They took it back and repainted it a few months later. I took the truck home and put it in my garage. The next morning I went to get the truck only to find that the paint had air bubbles under it in the area they fixed. I took it back and they fixed it again. Then three months later I noticed bubbling in my box corners, ve3ry small, but it was still there. I also had paint pealing under the lip on the bottom of the box where rocks had come up and chipped the paint. I took it back and the estimator told me that they would look at it when I got it out of storage. I got it out of storage... DRY storage... only to see a  bubble on my lower fender. Well, the guy I have been dealing with quit over the winter, so I took the truck back to the body shop and a different guy. This uy tells me they wont do anything about it, that and he told me that they never should have repaired anything after I got it done, and that they only did it because they felt bad. All while being a total ass! So instead of kicking his as like I wanted to, I thanked him for his time and left. I called the corprate office to see what they could do. They are sending someone down to have a look... I think what happened was they told me 14 days and took 41 so they hurried to get it done. The tail gate doesn't line up so it hit the box and cracked the paint. They left a shitty paint line under my pin stripe and I have a run on my door. I have had it back three times to be repaired and I have put less then 5000 miles on it since it was done. How this could happen I dont know. I am thinking of getting a lawyer. The truck came with a life time garuntie. What do you guys think. IMO they saw a kid so they thought they could do shitty work and then tell me to piss off...

[moparguy01]

without seeing it in person its real hard to say. but it sounds like your best bet would be to talk with a lawyer about it. its possible the rust was there before they did the work, just not noticable and its also possible that their crappy work caused a problem.

[Charger-Bodie]

as a bodyshop owner i can tell you that the rust part of youre problem could be iffy because it could have been just about to show up from the backside of the panel, im not saying it is and it could prove to be something they did or more likely didnt do but a heads up on that part. as for the paint line and the run as well as the improper fit or youre endgate you should not have one bit of a problem getting that taken care of, as it should have been right before you picked it up but there unfortunatly are a lot of shops you do their work by what they can get away with instead of just doing it right!

[400/6/PAC]

I'm having the same kind of problems, only with the transmission shop.
Sorry that happened to you.
Good luck

[PocketThunder]

that sucks.  thats a nice truck you have too..

[BMOTOXSTAR]

I had some problems like that in the past. Small Claims Court.
Or try Judge Judy. If that does not work I would try a can of Whoop Ass.

[Mean 318]

I am going to see what another body shop thinks tomarrow, I am also going to talk to a lawyer. I might have let it go, but when that guy treated me like dirt and like my truck was a POS he crossed a line.

[41husk]

Is this a chain like Macco or earl schiebe, or is it a local shop?

[Mean 318]

ABRA, I had a few people tell me that they were good

[Charger-Bodie]

ABRA, I had a few people tell me that they were good

and some of them may be good but its a chain and for the most part only concerned with the bottom line

[Arthu®]

But remember a chain also has a lot more to loose, so they will do more to fight bad publicity. You just have to find their button...

Arthur

[MichaelRW]

Some clarification needed here. If there is rust in the area you paid to have fixed, then the shop should take care of it. You mentioned there is now rust in the box corners. Were there any repairs done to the box corners? If not, the shop wouldn't be responsible for that.

Paint chips from stones or gravel on the lower part of the box shouldn't be the shops fault. There is no warranty against paint chipping from stones, door dings etc, even on brand new vehicles.

Rust is insidious, especially if it is coming from the inside. The only way to correctly fix that is to cut out the rusty areas and weld in new metal.

[MichaelRW]

ABRA, I had a few people tell me that they were good

and some of them may be good but its a chain and for the most part only concerned with the bottom line

Well, that sounds like a rather uninformed statement. So what makes you think that? If retail businesses for the most were only concerned with the bottom line they wouldn't stay in business long. Customer service is very important and good shops make sure customers get what they pay for.

[Mean 318]

I brought the truck to a few body shops today and had them look it over. They basically told me that the rust may be because of crap work n their part, but that it is could also be natural so that there is no way to prove either way. As for the tail gate, they said it was their responsibility to take care of that, but that it is going to be a lot of work to fix it. The run in my clear coat and the heavy paint line were also their responsibility to fix. They told me that the paint did look a little thin on the bottom. SO I will See what the corprte guy says, if he wont fix the areas that are their responsability, as for the rust, I am going to take it to another shop to have some new metal welded in. If they wont fix the other stuff I will take them to court and let everyone who will listen to me what kind of work this shop does...

[Charger-Bodie]

ABRA, I had a few people tell me that they were good

and some of them may be good but its a chain and for the most part only concerned with the bottom line

Well, that sounds like a rather uninformed statement. So what makes you think that? If retail businesses for the most were only concerned with the bottom line they wouldn't stay in business long. Customer service is very important and good shops make sure customers get what they pay for.

in this bussness , yes you do have to worry about the bottom line BUT you will quikly have no bottom line to wrry about if you have no customers due to low quality workmanship

[MichaelRW]

I brought the truck to a few body shops today and had them look it over. They basically told me that the rust may be because of crap work n their part, but that it is could also be natural so that there is no way to prove either way. As for the tail gate, they said it was their responsibility to take care of that, but that it is going to be a lot of work to fix it. The run in my clear coat and the heavy paint line were also their responsibility to fix. They told me that the paint did look a little thin on the bottom. SO I will See what the corprte guy says, if he wont fix the areas that are their responsability, as for the rust, I am going to take it to another shop to have some new metal welded in. If they wont fix the other stuff I will take them to court and let everyone who will listen to me what kind of work this shop does...

Fair enough. Sounds like you are on the right track.

[Silver R/T]

Sound like shitty shop, wouldnt take my cars there. Did they give you any warranty, if its still under warranty they should fix it. Personally Id take it to another shop and have it redone. Sounds like they didn't prep it right or painter doesn't know how to paint.

[Winged 1]

,
Not sure how much time you have to spend on this but what I would do is,
Make a good size sign that would fit in the back window that says FREE, and then in smaller letters under neath write something to the effect have a free look at the quality workmanship from so and so shop, and then park in a legal parking spot out front of this place and start giving tours to any body that will stop. My guess is it wouldn't be to long before some body with some clout would come out and want to have a talk. If he didn't make ya happy, keep up with the free tours. All legal and every thing.. Best of luck.
Yes I have done this and it does work...
Eric

[Mean 318]

I take the truck to shows in the sumer... and have won . I also told the franchise director that I have a sign that says everyone who has done work on it. I didn't tell him that If the paint starts falling off I will keep on taking it to the shows saying that Abra did the work, but I will. The ruck did come with a lifetime warranty, but it doesn't cover rust. As long as they play nice, I will be civil! But like I said, the guy who is in charge of the shop was a total ASS!

[The70RT]

I take the truck to shows in the sumer... and have won . I also told the franchise director that I have a sign that says everyone who has done work on it. I didn't tell him that If the paint starts falling off I will keep on taking it to the shows saying that Abra did the work, but I will. The ruck did come with a lifetime warranty, but it doesn't cover rust. As long as they play nice, I will be civil! But like I said, the guy who is in charge of the shop was a total ASS!

Sounds like a shady deal. Why does it seem so hard to find reptible shops anymore? Is the last part of their name cadabra (abra-cadabra) Maybe their majic wand needs recharged 

[Mean 318]

Ok, I talked to the franchise director today... what a total ass hole! When I showed him how  bad the tailgate was he accused us of being rear ended again. Then told me I should sell the truck "but it has nothing to do with the life time guarantee on their paint and body work " They did agree to fix the flaking paint and the tail gate "but he cant guarantee how well it will line up" He also said he is doing it out of the goodness of their hearts and that this is the last time they will even look at rust on the truck... they wont fix the paint line or any other stuff... MoPArguy01 saw the truck so I would like to see what he and you guys think I should do. Let them fix some of the stuff and pay someone else to fix everything else! Or get a lawyer and see if I could get someone else to do it at their expense. He also said he knew we would never bring anything back to them! So why bother fixing it unless you know you did a shit job? He also told me I paid for a two tone paint job, and that the paint line could have been better, but what can ya do, he aint worried about it!MoParguy, you do this stuff for a living, what to you think? anyone else? I also took the truck to a body shop here in town and they said that these guys are responsable fot the tail gat and the pin stripe... Thanks, I am so pissed right now...

[moparguy01]

Here's the problem. If you let them do the bodywork, they will do a half assed job. I can almost guarantee that. They're shown they cant do the work right when you pay them, and you know that the management of that company is going to pay the techs doing it damn near nothing. just because if they treat customers like that, what do you think they treat their employees like?

On the other side, if you turn them down, and dont win the court case after suing them, then your really up a creek, see my point? The problem is they might have real good lawyers for cases like this, the real smooth talking bastards.(no offence to you lawyer types on here) but then your truck is the way it is now,

This is really up to you I guess, But unless your 100% positive you can win that case, I'd consider having them fix the issue.

sorry i cant be of more help ya know?

[Mean 318]

Well, the truck goes into the body shop tomarrow  I put on a locking gas cap and turned it to see if they try to get into my tank, I also zip tied the hood shut to keep them out of there. I will be making a video of it when I take it to document the mileage, the hood, and the gas cap! Anything else you would do?

[moparguy01]

go around it and take pictures of absolutely everything. And trust me, put a different air cleaner on that truck.....I'm not kidding. i bet that would disappear. honestly the hood they might want open in case they run the battery dead, its hard to say.

Other than that make sure to check everything and take an inventory of absolutely everything in your truck, and remove anything that might grow legs.

[Mean 318]

Well, I got the truck back from the body shop and it looks good, but they cut all the zip ties that held my hood shut... and I didnt have 1 or 2 on there, I had 10!!!! TO even get to them you had to take the grill out! My question is why the hell they needed to get under the hood? All the work they did was on the back of the truck. All my pre sets are still on my radio so they couldn't have had to jump or disconnect the battery... What would you do? I am thinking I will go and ask why the hell they were under my hood, but I was going to see what you guys think so I dont look like an ass! Thanks!