Post 778912 by S70T5Chris on 2015-07-23 19:18:27
££££ing Chips Away.
OK, so I probably bought it on myself by being naive enough to think that a ££££ing numpty franchise bloke would be any use what so ever. I never even got past the quote stage, let alone have any work done!
Lets start from the beginning....
So I've bought an XC90 to replace the Zafira. The previous previous(!) owner (Peacey, who blames his wife BTW, tut tut), scraped the rear passenger door handle, a little on the wheel arch, and put a small dent above the handle. I knew this was there when I bought it, but thought to myself, "I know, I'll get one of those smart repair guys out to blow it in and tidy it up". It doesn't have be showroom condition, it's the family bus. You've seen the adverts, paintless dent removal, localised paintwork, lifetime guarantee on the work done, ideal for small scrapes, etc.. Ideal, or so I thought!
Fast forward to Monday just gone. I fill in the online form at Chips Away interweb dot com, it brings up my local representative who will contact me within 24 hours! Right on, ideal. Forward to 8:24pm on Wednesday I get missed call from my guy. Half 8 at night, OK?! Now I'm not an old bid (no offence to the biddies AKA Keith), tucked up in bed at 8pm, but that's a bit late in the day to be making a work call to a potentially new customer, no? Anyway, you know me, I'm easy going, I gloss over it, no harm no foul. Pick up his message to say he can come look Saturday.
I give a call this morning, no answer, I leave a message. No reply by lunch time, so I call back again. I receive a call back just after 5 this evening. Quick chat on the phone to explain what I'm after, and also mention that I may want a couple of bits doing on the Zafira to make it easier to sell. He's says he's local and wants to pop over now, I'm at work, but OK, I'll shoot home now to meet.
Zafira first. It has a small scrape maybe 2 inches square on the rear bumper, and a small scrape on the front bumper. Both done by £££££££s in supermarket carparks. The rear bumper he can do he says, it'll be about £150. Say what now?! £150 for a localised smart repair? I can get the whole ££££ing thing done for £200 at my bodyshop. The front bumper; he wouldn't just do the bit that I want doing, he fine tooth combed the whole bumper and said this and that would need doing, he'd have to repaint 3/4's of the front bumper, not something he really liked doing, he only has a "small paint gun". It'd be a few hundred quid and best part of a day of his time. OK, lets leave the Zafira, it was just a thought anyway.
XC90. On the door itself, there is a small dent above the door handle, no paint damage. The door handle is scratched. And there is a small couple of scratches on the wheel arch, which if you look at an XC90 is a small completely separate panel. So the door handle, and the wheel arch panel. Which is nothing. He starts by telling me how much he hates silver. Then proceeds to give me a 5 minute lecture on how things are painted in the a factory and how he could never match the paint or blend it in without it being obvious. He explains the process of robots with huge great big spray guns, and how he is just a man with a teeny tiny spray gun. He can't remove the dent, he can only fill and paint, and if the dent was in the middle of the door he'd do it, but because it's near the edge of the door he wouldn't like to have a go. It'd be OK if the car was blue or black, but not silver!
Just what the ££££ can you do then mate? You're a smart repairer supposedly, you know localised repairs. I'd say the bits on the XC90 would be the easiest ££££ing job in the world, it's a door handle and a small panel/strip above the wheel arch. He doesn't remove dents. I informed him that on the chips away web site, when it brings up your local numpty, it lists the specific jobs they can do, dent removal being one of his. He then gets ££££ty and starts to explain how some people come from a "dent" background, and some from a "paint" background. He doesn't know anyone from Chips Away that would do a dent. It's got ££££ing dent removal written on the side of your ££££ing van you ££££ing toss pot. "I can only do what I've been trained for" says Peter the Penis from Chips Away.
"Don't worry about it, I'll give my bodyshop a ring pal". What an utter knob ed. Dunno why I expected anything less.
Post 778916 by stephenevans99 on 2015-07-23 19:34:18
A few months back, I used a Chips Away guy to do a 'smart repair' on a few rust spots on the windscreen pillar of a Ford Ka I was selling, the Tw@t cracked the windscreen when refitting the scuttle panel. He blamed the windscreen being brittle with age !! seriously?? Needless to say, I didn't pay him a penny and told him he could take me to Small Claims Court to recover costs as I took photographs of the windscreen and scuttle panel. Never heard from him since & I certainly wouldn't use the Muppets again. New windscreen cost me £80
Post 778919 by stribo on 2015-07-23 19:55:26
I've always been sceptical, though have thought about using them for a couple of bits that need doing to our cars. You've both now reinforced my scepitism, and I'll contact T5Steve, when I have the cash to have the job done properly.
Post 778921 by c70geoff on 2015-07-23 20:00:50
Bugger using them
I do my own
Post 778926 by Tomcat on 2015-07-23 20:25:17
I've used similar companies to get dents removed before now but if it was anything serious then I'd just fill and paint it myself.
Post 778927 by Doingitsideways on 2015-07-23 20:41:57
[QUOTE=Tomcat;778926]I've used similar companies to get dents removed before now but if it was anything serious then I'd just fill and paint it myself.[/QUOTE]
Sod that, I'd rather use Chips Away! :lol:
Post 778928 by Tomcat on 2015-07-23 20:56:45
Lmfao... I'll remember that next time you want something painting.. :)
Post 778932 by Ettienne on 2015-07-23 21:08:35
[QUOTE=stribo;778919]I've always been sceptical, though have thought about using them for a couple of bits that need doing to our cars. You've both now reinforced my scepitism, and I'll contact T5Steve, when I have the cash to have the job done properly.[/QUOTE]
I've used flying colours on Nicci's (under insurance So no cost as separate policy) and chips away on the sonic (again someone else paid) both I've been happy with both, more so with flying colours (dent wizard same company) one of them was a major scrape and 1/4 of the car was painted. The guy was proficient with excellent quality, you wouldn't notice the repairs seeing it.
Nicci's car has been hit 4 times in the first 3 months of ownership, (hence the separate policy) caused by her stupid school car park with even more stupid mums driving cars that are too big for them.
This has always been a bit of a problem, brand new c2, 2 x c3s, vw polo, vw touran all damaged in same car park (I never f@@@ing park in it whatsoever if I have to visit her work)
T5steve I've had 4 large jobs done by him and again been very happy with the price for the work, which has always been verging on stupid cheap, steve is quite slow on full re sprays but bumpers spoilers etc fairly fast with.
Post 778934 by stribo on 2015-07-23 21:15:37
[QUOTE=Ettienne;778932]I've used flying colours on Nicci's (under insurance So no cost as separate policy) and chips away on the sonic (again someone else paid) both I've been happy with both, more so with flying colours (dent wizard same company) one of them was a major scrape and 1/4 of the car was painted. The guy was proficient with excellent quality, you wouldn't notice the repairs seeing it.
Nicci's car has been hit 4 times in the first 3 months of ownership, (hence the separate policy) caused by her stupid school car park with even more stupid mums driving cars that are too big for them.
This has always been a bit of a problem, brand new c2, 2 x c3s, vw polo, vw touran all damaged in same car park (I never f@@@ing park in it whatsoever if I have to visit her work)
T5steve I've had 4 large jobs done by him and again been very happy with the price for the work, which has always been verging on stupid cheap, steve is quite slow on full re sprays but bumpers spoilers etc fairly fast with.[/QUOTE]
TBH I'm not too bothered about the time factor (it's not like I'm short of vehicles) as long as the finished article is as I want, which I know it will be with T5Steve.
Post 778936 by Ettienne on 2015-07-23 21:21:03
Quality with steve is pretty good and can't fault price or what I've had done but just make sure you have a full mot when it goes lol.
It doesn't matter to me either how long steve has had cars I've always got something to drive.
Funnily been looking at manual xc90s 2.5t or d5 163
Post 778937 by LiamT4 on 2015-07-23 21:25:25
Known a few people who have used them and been happy with the work, but as you say, with a franchise it depends on the individual...............and that individual sounds like a right numpty.
Post 778989 by Biff on 2015-07-24 10:03:29
I have a guy locally that charges £45 a panel.
His work is second to non. He recently removed a dent from my mates R8 V10+ which has the matt paint option. My mate was quoted £2350 by Audi & £1800 by our local top boys.
The guy managed to get the dent (about the size of a 50p) without removing any trim or breaking the paint for £45!
I think its better to stick with the small fry's than the big fish.