Respray imperfections, refunded money rather than rectify mistakes.
Aladdin Body Repairs, Telford Road, Bicester. OX26 4LD are responsible for carrying out all warranty repairs for Hartwell Fiat at Abingdon, Oxfordshire and are “a reliable, trustworthy body shop”.
They successfully repaired a side trim that had become separated from the body of my Fiat Abarth 695 under warranty. At the same time, I had them respray the full bonnet because of damage caused by stone chips.
After getting my car back, I noticed 7 imperfections in the paint, dimple marks (likely caused by unprepared surface or paint contamination with silicon) and grit particles trapped under the newly painted bonnet surface.
After complaining, I was informed that the car had been inspected prior to leaving their workshop using “a one metre test”? This was explained as a procedure, nationally recognised whereby the person inspecting the newley painted surface stands one metre away from the car to visually examine the car for any imperfections?
If imperfections were discovered, the work required to rectify these areas would not be completed if it was within what they believed to be of an ‘acceptable standard’ rather than showroom condition again.
I paid £360 for a full bonnet respray and in return, I got back a damaged bonnet in worse condition than before it was resprayed.
It was agreed that they would have another look at the bonnet, yet refused to inspect it at my address, causing more inconvenience and further mileage (48 miles) to my limited edition car.
Within an hour of discussion, I received a phone call informing me not to bother bringing my car back to them, they didn’t want to to inspect their poor workmanship but rather refund my £360 through my dealership to get rid of the problem.
I have since had my bonnet repaired correctly and had clarified that “a one metre test” is not a national standard for body repairers to examine their finished result but simply ridiculous!!
I drove to my dealership in Abingdon to show them the condition of my bonnet and to point out the standard of workmanship their approved repairers were happy to accept; even at 2 metres away, the Customer Service Manager could see the imperfections!!
Overall, very friendly prior to any work being carried out but clearly didn’t want the opportunity to rectify their mistakes and took the easier option to refund my money to get rid of the problem leaving me with further inconvenience, thanks Aladdin, you really do have a “professional team”.
24 August 2018
Unprompted review