Pretty decent paint job and nice people; poor, unreliable, and unorganized business practices…read more
Apparently this place gets a significant amount of clients from Pixar, Paula Le Duc catering, and other Emeryville businesses. I arrived around 11am on a Thursday morning to find the office door locked. The hard-working guys in the garage don't speak much English (and I was too scared to attempt my lame Spanish), but they went to get someone, and after a few minutes, someone came out. He said his brother Manuel, who is in charge of the paint jobs, was out running an errand and would I mind waiting for 10 minutes?
Manuel is a great guy: nice, friendly, helpful, and thorough in his explanations. His estimate was about $1000 for painting the front and rear bumpers, plus two left panels. I also asked if it was possible for the car to be ready by Tuesday night (which gave him more than 4 full working days) because I was going out of town, and he said it would be ready by then. Since Manuel was so nice, the estimate was reasonable, and my car would be ready by Tuesday, I gladly said yes. I asked repeatedly if my car would be ready in time, and I was assured that yes, it would definitely be done by Tuesday.
When Tuesday rolled around, I left two messages at their listed phone number trying to check on the progress of my car. Around 5pm, I hadn't heard from them, so I walked the 1.5 miles to the shop. I was told "the paint is still wet, we just need to wait for it to dry" and to come back around 8pm. Manuel said it would be done because he remembered I was going out of town the next day, which was really nice of him. I received a phone call at 8pm saying that MY CAR WAS NOT DONE YET and what was the earliest time I had to pick it up tomorrow; I said 9am at the latest.
After attempting to call them multiple times and getting notice two times that my car was not done, I was very wary that my car would actually be ready on time. However, it was washed, buffed, and ready to go when I arrived around 9:30am. Manuel apologized and thanked me for my patience, which made me feel a little less pissed about my car being late. The paint job looks great and the color exactly matches the silver factory paint on my Subaru. The rust spot, peeling paint, and numerous scratches were all gone. And true to his word, Manuel charged $1024, which was the original estimate. The only slight problem is that you can see overspray on the top rack (even though I had been told that they would take off the rack before painting).
It also turns out that the number listed online is not their real phone number at all. I did not get their real phone number until they gave me a business card after our transaction was done.
Bottom line: Manuel is great and I'm overall satisfied with the paint job and price. However, count on being frustrated with the severe lack of organization and don't count on your car being ready on time.
I'd also suggest reading the Yelp filtered review for this place.
