I chose ABC Auto Body because of all the great reviews posted here. Unfortunately, their customer service and quality of work was far below what I expected.
My Scion X-B had been rear ended, causing damage to the rear lift gate (door) and rear bumper cover. Don Hess, the owner, gave me an estimate that was comparable to other body shops I visited, but I chose his shop over the others because of his glowing reviews. That was a mistake.
The work entailed smoothing out dents on the rear lift gate, replacing the rear bumper cover, and painting both the bumper cover and the lift gate to match the pre-existing paint color on the car. Seemed simple enough.
They finished the work on 08/12/2015. When I went to pick the car up I immediately saw several problems with their work. First of all, the paint color on the lift gate and bumper cover did not match the color on the rest of the car. They painted it too dark. Secondly, there was a ripple in the paint on the bumper cover that had to be buffed out. In addition, the handle on the rear lift gate was very loose. It was not loose when I brought it in. They had to take the lift gate apart and remove the handle in order to tighten it, while I waited,
The big problem that remained was the color mismatch. They had painted the rear lift gate and rear bumper cover too dark. I asked his mechanic, Jeff, about it. He insisted that this was the best they could do without blending the new paint into the old paint on the rear quarter panels. My insurance company wouldn't pay for "blending:, so they didn't do it.
I reluctantly accepted his explanation, but took my car to a few body shops afterwards for a second opinion. They all told me that it was a "color problem", not a "blending problem". They said the color of the "new paint" on the lift gate and rear bumper cover should have been much closer to the color of the "old paint" on the rest of the car. They said any slight difference in color should not be visible to an "untrained eye". The color difference on my car is very obvious. It looks like a "two tone" car now. One of the body shops told me they would not put out work like that. They all told me that the lift gate and bumper cover needed to be repainted. I posted some photos below so you can see what I'm talking about.
I went back to Don Hess about a month later, in September 2015, and asked him to repaint the rear lift gate and bumper cover. He agreed that the color match was terrible and told me he would "fix it", but wanted me to wait until January 2016 (4 months later).
I brought my car back to him in February 2016, and asked him how he was going to fix it. He told me he would lighten the color on the ends of the bumper, where it comes up against the rear quarter panels, but refused to repaint the rear lift gate which is also painted the wrong color. When I pressed him on this issue, he became rude and sarcastic.
I told Don I would have nothing more to do with him, and would be posting a review of my experience online.
This is the worst customer service I have ever received in over 40 years of car ownership, and that's saying a lot. I was shocked by how poorly I was treated, especially considering the glowing reviews he received here on Yelp. How he got all of those glowing reviews is a mystery to me. He did sloppy work on my car, and treated me in an unprofessional manner. Based on all of the mistakes they made, it's obvious they put very little effort into making sure my car was done properly. The quality control was terrible. Don Hess may be capable of doing good work when he wants to, but he certainly didn't do a good job on my car. Based on my overall experience, I would strongly recommend avoiding this shop. read more