New Rear Bumper Please

[tyrrp]

Well I suppose it serves me right. Thought I was getting a very good deal but ended up with a screw-up.

Here is the story so far.

Bought a set of Steelmate 4 sensor parking sensors in Halfords which included fitting and colour matching. Only €260 (£178) and the Steelmate get very good reviews.

Arrived at Halfords for fitting at 12.30 on Saturday and was told to come back in about an hour. Lovely, I thought, they must know what they are doing if it only takes that long.

Came back at 1.30 to find it is not done. Not a problem because I had bought some leather cleaner / protector and I can do it there as easily as at home.

1/2 hour later guy is putting things back together and I try to test the system. Battery DEAD. Jump car and all is working fine.

Guy starts shouting at paint guy to hurry up with the paint and gets the reply that "the colour is not coming up on the system". This is after 1 1/2 hours remember. Eventually we find a colour match using a Toyota colour book.

Here is where it gets crazy.

It takes about 15 mins to mix up the paint. Then the guy strolls out and starts painting the sensors with a brush while they are still in the bumper. I tell him to stand back from the car and call the fitter back over.

It is agreed that the units need to be taken off (not to difficult because there is a connection just behind the bumper on each sensor) and the paint should be put in a spray.

The fitter then begins to remove the sensors but he is impatient and pulls to hard on one cable and snaps it. (Tries to hide this fact from me by the way by push the cable back up into the car. I notice and pull it back out.) When he gets them out I notice that he must have slipped with the hole saw when cutting because some paint is removed form above each hole and this will not be hidden by the sensor.

2 1/4 hours in now and I turn to see the painter guy spraying the sensors. He is holding the units in his hand with the spray can about 3 inches away. There is now about 2mm of paint on them and the emitter area is filled.

I ask for the manager while the fitter is replacing the cable he snapped. The usual manager is on holidays and the other manager is not on this weekend because he was on last weekend. Speak to the "Guy in charge". He agrees that the sensors will not work and we agree to replace them with new ones unsprayed and I will speak to the manager on Monday.

3 hours after arriving I am driving out of the car park with a half assed job done and 4 black circles on a silver bumper.

Last night I went to show the senior fitter what was done. He was very embarrassed and also told me that in his opinion the outside sensors were not far enough out and there is a very good possibility that the sides of the car are not protected.

He has agreed that the only solution is to replace the bumper, spray the sensors before the job is done (two very light coats) and then he will fit them properly.

What is the moral of this story? Well if a dealer says he can fit sensors for you for €350 while he is already spraying the bumper don't try to save €90 by going to Halfords and lets kids do the work.

[deejaygee]

Could you not have done it yourself, I drilled and sprayed mine myself - total costs including sensors £65.

[Rob]

i assume Halfords are covering the cost of the bumper? if so, it doesnt matter too much - get them to order a new one and have it sprayed

[tyrrp]

Could you not have done it yourself, I drilled and sprayed mine myself - total costs including sensors £65.

Could have done it myself, I would have done a better job and that type of work doesn't scare me. However the price included fitting and I don't have a hugh amount of free time nowadays.

i assume halfords are covering the cost of the bumper? if so, it doesnt matter too much - get them to order a new one and have it sprayed

Yea. They said they will pay for the replacement. Left it up to me wether they get they spray done or if I organise it. I think I will sort it out myself. At least then I can make sure it is done right. I will be getting the cost of a rental for the day included as well.

My only probelm is that I live 30 miles of bad traffic from the Lexus dealer I bought from and work 60 miles from him and he woun't give a quote without seeing the car.

I think I will go to a Nissan dealer near work that has done good work for me before and is very customer aware. Doesn't realy matter who does the job once it is done right and the colour is right.

[tyrrp]

OOCH!!!!!

Halfords told me to get two quotes for the work.

I went to a Toyota dealer near my work to get the first quote because the nearest Lexus dealer is 50miles away.

The breakdown is as follows:-

Labour:- €180 this includes refitting the parking sensors (2hours total)

New Bumper:- €249.28

Painting of Bumper:- €250

Rental car for day:- €40

Net:- €719.28

Vat @ 13.5%:- €97.10

Total:- €816.38

Cost of estimate:- €50 (refundable if work is done there)

I think someone is going to be in some big trouble.

[Parthiban]

I'm really impressed that they agreed to do all that so easily, I know that they didn't really have any way out of it, but they still could have put up a fight. Seems the "guy in charge" must be quite decent :)

But yeah, when the "manager" comes back, I don't think he's going to be best pleased that a parking sensor installation as resulted in them being almost 1000 euros worse off........

[tyrrp]

I'm really impressed that they agreed to do all that so easily, I know that they didn't really have any way out of it, but they still could have put up a fight. Seems the "guy in charge" must be quite decent :)

But yeah, when the "manager" comes back, I don't think he's going to be best pleased that a parking sensor installation as resulted in them being almost 1000 euros worse off........

Absolutely.

I got the second estimate by the way.

Final figure isn't much different but the structure is.

Labour:- €250 (doesn't include intalling sensors but they will do if I ask [i know the garage])

New Bumper:- €259.28

Painting:- €120

Rental for 2 days:- €100

Net:- €729.28

Vat @ 13.5%:- €98.45

Total:- €827.73

No charge for estimate because I have dealt with them before.

These are my prefered option because the extra labour and the 2 day rental imply they are going to take their time over the painting which should mean a better job. Also I have had them do services and body work before and like the way they treat you.

[Pip]

Glad to see that he was decent enough to put something right. That is a high price for them. I bet someone gets fired lol!!

[eXOBeX]

I've heard of them fitting an alarm in a Jag, they drilled the wood dash for an LED (or was it the leather, I can't remember) and the owner went ballistic!

[Adrian Thomas]

I've heard of them fitting an alarm in a Jag, they drilled the wood dash for an LED (or was it the leather, I can't remember) and the owner went ballistic!

They drilled a hole in the leather that was part of the dash. Owner returned and as you say went ballistic.

They agreed to replace the part with a new leather piece, but low and behold, the leather is a specific colour and the new part did not match!!

The only option available was to replace the complete interior!!!. I can't recall the total price, but it's fair to say it was substantial!

That was only one of the many things seen, I could include:

1, Car being reversed of an mot ramp whilst in the air!

2, Car being driven into closed garage door, as new brakes were fitted and not bled!

3, Car driven into mechanics toolboxes (numerous times).

4, brake pads fitted back to front!

These are the ones that instantly come to mind, there are lots more.