Help & advice desperately needed! - Bristol area

[pocolow]

Looked at the pictures Alex.. Clearly all the repairs "did not" use any propper repair panels but they made their own and filled the rest( p i ss poor job it looks too)....I would NOT be happy

Mark

[armyphil]

That's disgusting!!! I would personally write a letter with photos, tell them you want it rectifying if not get trading standards involved.

I very much doubt any "new panels" we're used but as mark mentioned they made up there own.

Honestly that's "pooh"

[Plasticman]

At the risk of sounding a bit stupid, but you arent winding us up are you?
I ask because I see very little difference in the before and after, it clearly hasnt been repaired, ,some things may have been covered,'sic' but not repaired, the stonechip stuff is the least of the problems , as it will all have to come of again ,cut open and the welding behind the outer panals carried out,
mike

[Plasticman]

Id replied to it in general.copy
"At the risk of sounding a bit stupid, but you arent winding us up are you?
I ask because I see very little difference in the before and after, it clearly hasnt been repaired, ,some things may have been covered,'sic' but not repaired, the stonechip stuff is the least of the problems , as it will all have to come of again ,cut open and the welding behind the outer panals carried out,
mike
says it all, It may be pertinent to kn ow what instrutions you gave and was the job then priced prior to commencing, how long did they have it for .
As Lloydy asked, ref a cheap job, well that doesnt even fall into that category, and at that price it could have been done very nicely indeed.
mm

[jimpainter]

That is truly shocking
Even my wife said its awful and she doesnt really know a lot

In my opinion i reckon 6 months or so and your going to start having problems again. I havent even charged that for a job im doing for someone on here and its a lot worse than that. Admitadlly i dont have great overheads etc but for the price truly shocking. As its been said its what you would expect for quick MOT patch up jobs.

Definatly go back and see them and get some money back off them, or threaten legal action.

Sorry to be so downbeat about it

Jim

[waltraud]

I'd have a look or even join Which? they have a very good legal guisde as to the kind of wording of letters that you need to qrite to express your dissatisfaction and the kind of timescale you ideally need to stay within to have any consumer rights. I do very amateurish repairs, welding and painting and mine are tons better than that, i'm not suprised you feel fed up and let down. I would be bold and not let them get away with it, small claims court if you have to. Apart from anything else you willnot be able to use the jacking points below those B posts repairs as probably the inside of the B post is still rusty and not reapired internally- meaning that if you put an original VW jack in the jackng point to change the wheel it would go all wobbly and bendy and potentially be quite dangerous. The law is all about what it is reasonable to expect, if you are a member of AA / RAC and have legal cover or even if you don't it might be worth asking them- or even a reputable garage to offer a view on the safety and quality of the work. If i paid for what has been done and said to do it quick and cheap i'd say what you had done was worth 150 or so. Good luck. Tim

[Doogs]

The AA and RAC both used to have a service to hire a mechanic for examining potential vehicle purchase, it may be worth enquiring if you're a member if they still offer that service as according to the breakdown your garage gave they "fabricated" both b post sections or part thereof, if it was examined and proven that they merely slapped in some filler/paint etc then i'd say there is a very strong case for a complete refund and possible further action against the garage/individual

[Fluffenzepupple]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I have no doubt now that he's done me over, i'm going to have to gather up all my courage and take the guy on then, i'm not exactly the confrontational assertive type but at that much money i cant afford to let it go. Can you believe he even told me the work done has increased the value of my van!!

Id replied to it in general.copy
"At the risk of sounding a bit stupid, but you arent winding us up are you?

Unfortunately not mm. The more i look at it and the more i read the more i can't believe i paid the guy. I feel like a fool. Now i have to say i did know they were fabricating their own 'panels' for the B posts, but i (possibly naively) thought that being the restoration / bodywork specialist that he knew best and that it would be of equal quality as manufactured ones - and i didn't expect them to be mis-shapen. In fact i was looking again earlier with a torch and theres actually still a small hole in the bottom corner of one!! If they'd given me a choice beforehand between manufactured panels and in-house fabricated ones and said to me that that's how it would be if they fabricated their own, i would never have agreed to it and would have insisted they used the proper panels.

Basically to sum it all up, he's done a cheapo bodged patch up but charged me for a professional restoration job

I'm not a member of AA/RAC unfortunately, i think its a good suggestion though to go to another garage and get a run down of the safety / integrity of his work, especially the sill by the jacking point. Now i just need to find a different garage that i can trust instead, i have to say i think i've been screwed over by almost every garage i've ever used (cars and vans) so i'm more than a little suspicious of all and any mechanics!

[Plasticman]

Hi Fluff ! er have you a slightly shorter name we/I can refer you to as its a bit long for my feeble finger to type
I appreciate you were and are serious, its just that it seems so farcical, the job is what I do and I have in all honesty barely seen worse in near on 40 years(excluding home brews where its not an issue)
I can 99% guarantee that certain things havent been done,
as for fabricating parts, well it is often better than some of the non original pattern stuff, yours doesnt even fall into that catgory, anyway enough of that, you are unfortunately aware of whats happened and I hope were not rubbing it in.
how you proceed is indeed difficult decision, I would look to wanting the majority of my money back, but I somehow doubt that turning up on their doorstep will acheive this, others may have better advice, for certain they would not under any circumstance touch the van again for any purpose whatsoever.
How recently did you have the 'work' done, how long did they have it,when and how did you pay,
if you like pm me rather than discuss this to the wider world including maybe the perpetrators,
mm

[..lee..]

regardless of what else they have done the standard of work there is seriously below what is acceptable.

[Fluffenzepupple]

Hi Fluff ! er have you a slightly shorter name we/I can refer you to as its a bit long for my feeble finger to type

Hehe no worries, the names Alex

Its ok you're not rubbing it in, i'm a serial self doubter so the more people confirming what i feared the better lol, thanks mm i'll drop you a PM

[jimpainter]

It definatly seems that you have been taken for a ride. But what you have to think about is that at least you have before and after pictures which will help no end whichever way you go about it. If you get a torch you might be able to see through some of the various cut outs in the b post to the bottom. Filler will be pretty obvious.... Just a suggestion.
Jim

[billy739]

if you go to the bristol cruise i will have a blue beach buggy!

[dave lfc]

thats terrible workmanship i had a similar thing but not that bad with sorting out my seams just never paid him.just out of curiosity how much did you pay for that work,cheers dave

[Fluffenzepupple]

Awesome I'll look out for you Billy! Mines a white T25 (obviously) with a lotus green mid section, hopefully see you there!

Yeah very glad I took before pics now! I'm gonna have this guy he's not getting away with this,
I think I'm going to take it to MAD workshop and have them survey the work and give me a report that I can take I the guy