Overall: Paintjob was good. Customer service needs major improvement. Also, they really should have…read moresome type of system that lets you check the status on part orders and overall status of your car. (For example: Waiting on parts, waiting on paint, etc...)
When I showed up to Longstreet for the first time, the gentleman sitting at the front desk noticed my badge hanging from my jean pants belt loop. He instantly expressed his issues with the company that I work for and how they no longer use him as a body shop. As a customer, I immediately felt unwelcome and concerned about the quality of work he would do on my car.
I decided to go forward with the repairs anyhow because they were recommended to me by someone else and they were on the list of preferred vendors from whatever insurance company the other party involved had. My car took over a month to repair. I called Longstreet numerous times to check the status of the car, and each time they gave me a date and were unable to meet it. The paperwork states that the "Promised Date" was 6/27. After 2 weeks, I was told July 2nd. After July 2nd passed and I called they told me, again, mid next week (July 9th). At some point I was told that the car was being painted and should be ready by the end of last week, indicating they would call me when it was ready. I waited... no call. Yesterday, the 14th, I was told I could come and pick up my car. Understand that I have no knowledge as to the amount of time that it is going to take to fix my car so I was fully relying on their estimated dates.
When I returned to pick up my car, the man at the front desk made sure to tell me that they have been really busy due to the storms that have been going around. Not sure if he was trying to provide me a reason as to why it took so long or not... but it sure sounded like it. Regardless, it should in no way have any impact on me. It's easy - first customer in, first customer out. As part of his explanation for the tardiness of my repair, he explained, "We had a guy who had a tree fall on both of his cars in his driveway." This makes me believe that he fixed both of his cars before mine!
This guy should not be involved in any customer service whatsoever. He is not a people person... or perhaps he just doesn't think before he speaks.
When I picked up the car, there were two scratches on it that I did not remember being there before. They chose not to try and buff them out until I mentioned something. Immediately, two people came out and starting waxing the car. They were able to remove them as they were not deep... but why did it take me saying something to get this done? Even if they were there before the accident... wouldn't you want to make the car as clean and shiny as possible so that your customers feel fantastic about receiving their vehicle back in perfect condition?
Additionally, they were missing a part for my car. They told me I will need to come back and have them install it. It is just a rubber gasket that goes near the hood to keep water from entering the engine bay. It is a 5 minute install part. I find it interesting that they let someone leave with their car and not all of the parts that are listed on the invoice / repair bill.
Perhaps I am high maintenance, but after your car is involved in an accident and you have been driving around a rental for over a month, you expect the work to be done well. Longstreet did more than $9,000 worth of repairs on my car, and when I came to pick it up the guy at the front desk was sure to mention, multiple times, that this was "a huge job." I read that as "Hey, if there are issues... it was a huge job so... you know, there might be a few things we missed" or "Man your car was really messed up. Sorry we didnt total it like you wanted. Thanks for making me a butt load of money." - otherwise, I'm not sure why you would mention this. You are a repair shop! These type of jobs cant be all that uncommon. Simply put: it does nothing to help me feel good about the repairs that were just done. I would expect something more along the lines of "we deal with these types of things all the time".
So yeah, the paint seems to be good. But that's what they are supposed to do. I would have forced them to re-paint it had they not provided a quality repair job. However, if longstreet wants to stay in business for much longer they really need to improve their customer facing entities and, regardless of your image, make you feel like you are dealing with highly trained professionals who will see to it that you are happy with the end result.
I decided to go with 3 stars even though I previously had written this and saved it with 2. I'd pick 2.5 if it were an option. Customer service is a must. There are far too many other body shops that can provide the same services with better customer service. You dont have to be left with a bad taste in your mouth.