Had my car repaired here from an accident as suggested by the insurance company.
I've had to to redo the wheel because it was done poorly. The finish was not smooth and colour didn't match the rest of the wheels. The mirror still had scratches on it so that also needed to be done. So when I came to pick up the car, I actually went home empty handed.
Second time I came, the wheel was done sort of OK but now it has so many coats of paint on it that the JWL certification logo was hardly seen on it now. Eventually this became a problem as less than 4 months later paint started to chip off the wheel all over. I didn't bother going back as they'd likely say it was curbed and I had moved across town by then. However, I still didn't pick up the car this time around as the mirror had not been done so I had to leave the car again.
Third time is a charm I thought. I picked up the car. What I didn't know is that their techs do not know how a BMW remote ignition works and when shutting the car down, instead of pressing "START/STOP" button and pushing onto the remove to release it from the slot that it sits in, they just pulled on the remote and eventually broke the mechanism that holds it in place. It kept flying out of the slot on me upon hard acceleration. I figured I'd replace the part since it was aged anyway (car is a 2006) and ate the cost of it and mentioned nothing to the shop.
I always wash the car by hand as much as I can and this reveals a few things... There was a clear coat run under the driver door handle. Fine, it's not visible so I left it alone. The other 3 rims that were left untouched all felt rough. As did the rest of the back half of the car. Speaking to a friend that owns a body shop explained to them that this is called over-spray which is essentially paint/clear coat particles that are airborne during the process of painting. They land on the car and stick to it, creating a rough surface. Which basically means they didn't mask off the whole car. I decided not to raise a stink over this again because the car could use a buff anyway which would get rid of these stuck on particles.
About 1.5 years later the paint peeled on the front bumper. The manager, John, said the paint was peeling due to a chemical being released from the bumper material which was aftermarket made. The bumper I supplied to them out of pocket because they wanted to repair my original one originally. Due to this John attempted to refuse their warranty coverage saying that he notified me of this when we made the arrangement that I would supply him with the new bumper: not true. He tried to negotiate with me to try and cover part of the repair cost. Eventually he agreed to repair it but under a condition that he would no longer cover warranty for the bumper and that he would not provide me with a replacement vehicle.
I now have the car back and the paint looks well. They washed the car as well vacuumed it for me. A few strange things though: they disconnected and removed my dash cam the moment they moved the car from the spot that I parked it in when I dropped it off. The passenger side headlight started to accumulate condensation in it which it has never done before, nor was it damaged in any way. And the front passenger seat was moved up which tells me that someone was put in the backseat for some reason. We will see how the paint holds up, but it looks good so far.
Long story short, I've had many thanks occur that I would consider as bad experiences here. I'll stay away from this shop in the future personally. Come to have written this review, I realize that I should have been on these guys' case to get them to make it right. The accident wasn't even my fault in the first place. I shouldn't have had to go through any of this, but that is why we have insurance - right? Right. Just save yourself the trouble and don't go here for repairs. read more
