Finally got my SVX back from the body shop.

[CigarJohnny]

As some of you may recall, my SVX was t-boned in the passenger side by my wife while she was driving our PT Cruiser. The side of my door was caved in and the fender was damaged as well. After waiting a couple weeks for the new lower side cladding to come in, I finally got the Batmobile in the body shop this past Monday. I took it to the local Subie dealer, Faulkner Subaru, since they worked directly with my insurance company and they did not do too bad a job on my wife's PT Cruiser (they fixed it first since the parts were easier to dig up). I was told I could expect my car by the end of the week if all went well.

Surprise, surprise, I get a call Wednesday afternoon stating that my car was ready for pickup. Wow! Joy of joys! I did not get out of work until after 5pm and did not get to the dealer until 5:45. THe body shop closed at 5 but the cashier at the dealer was open until 8pm and I could pay and get hte keys at that time. Anyway, I arrive onsite and take a look at the car before paying for it. Glad I did! The paint looked like crap (lots of orange peel) but worse, the door still did not close correctly and you had to close it hard and could hear it bang against the striker and see it lift up a little. Pissed off, I left the SVX there and decided to call them the following morning and ***** to them.

Thursday morning I called just before 8am and left a VM for the assistant manager I was working with informing him that I left the car there because they did not properly align the door. Shortly before noon I called them again and left another VM letting him know that I was not happy that they never acknowledged my call from earlier. Around 12:30 I called again and this time I got him on the phone. He apologised to me and said the car was ready for pickup this time. The hinges were "loose" and needed to be tightened and readjusted. I made a remark before hanging up basically stating my amazement that they would not have noticed this before they told me it was ready the first time.

I went to the dealer on my lunch break to pick up the car. When I got there the guy was busy with another estimate and it took them 10 minutes just to find my keys and the car and bring it around the front to me for inspection. When they bring it around I see that the door, while not binding as much when closing, is now way out of alignment! The bottom of the door is sucked in and the top of the window frame is sticking out with a visible gap in the top door seal! WTF!?? So I go into the office to speak with him and he is busy typing away at the computer entering an estimate. I get his attention only to be told he needed jsut a couple more minutes and would be right with me. After about 10 - 15 minutes I hollered to him again. This time he got really snotty with me and said "it will be another 10 - 15 minutes. I am working on an estimate for the lady sitting right next to where you stand and she had a 12:35 appointment. You will have to wait until I am finished with her." This pissed me off and as I walked out the door I said "Yeah, and I had an appointment with you 4 days ago, jack@ss!"

About 5 minutes later as I wait outside examing the car further while I cool down, the manager runs out apologising to me and asking how he can help me. I explained the whole deal to him and showed him the door and the lousy paint. He agreed that things were wrong and even remarked on what a lousy paint job they did. I also mentioned that I see no red flake in the paint as their should be and questioned whether they even used the correct paint. We looked real hard and managed to see an obscure flake or two and he said that with the orange peel so bad it was hiding the flake so it could not be easily seen. As we examined the door I also noticed 4 big divots in the paint just below the mirror. He said it looked like some water drops got on the paint while wet and left the marks. I asked him what the hell kind of quality control they have there. Do they ever supervise their workers or do they just take their word when they say they are done a job? He apologised profusely and said they would wet sand the whole door and fender to correct the paint and that he would personally see that the door was aligned properly before releasing it to me again. I told him that the next time they tell me my car is ready to be picked up it had better really be ready! Enough of this bullsh*t! He swore it would be. He then offered me a free comp car to drive while they had it for another day or so. I took him up on it and they delivered a new Suzuki Grand Vitara to me at work an hour later (very nice vehicle, btw).

Anyway, Friday they said it was ready and it was. Door now works properly and the paint looks at least as good or better than the crap paint that was on it before the accident. It's good to have my baby back again.

Johnny (I got my baby back)