Another Body Shop Fail

[NewbieDIYer]

So I had some bumper repair done thru my insurance at a body shop around here. They picked the body shop because it was so much easier and quicker to have it done thru one of their body shops (no extra paperwork or calling on my end). So they obviously had to take off the bumper to fix/repaint. however, when they put the bumper back on, somehow, they switched the wires around in the taillights . normally wouldnt be a big issue, but i have the sequential harnesses, so now they "blinked" inwards, instead of outwards, if that makes sense. I go to just switch the wires back, honest mistake on their part (although theyre a ****ing body shop! mistakes like that shouldnt happen!!) and i realize that they cut some wires, tapped some other wires, and taped shit up so I couldnt see anything. Now I'm no electrician, nor do i even have common knowledge on how things are wired, but i could tell this person was clearly an idiot and should NOT be working at a shop. So long story short, i cut and capped all the unneccesary wire taps, and switched the bulbs back to their correct location (which was a bitch because the shorter wire meant to go on the inside housing was stretched as far as it could to reach the outer housing.. making it near impossible to get it out.. lol) Now the fact that I could fix it, says alot about how much they screwed up, because if I can fix it, I'm confident that literally anybody could fix it. Unbelievable.
Anyways, sorry I just had to vent about this, seeing as I cant call them until monday. (Their hours are M-F 10-4..)

On a separate note, at least they made the bumper look like new again!

[Krajkerjac]

Originally Posted by NewbieDIYer

So I had some bumper repair done thru my insurance at a body shop around here. They picked the body shop because it was so much easier and quicker to have it done thru one of their body shops (no extra paperwork or calling on my end). So they obviously had to take off the bumper to fix/repaint. however, when they put the bumper back on, somehow, they switched the wires around in the taillights . normally wouldnt be a big issue, but i have the sequential harnesses, so now they "blinked" inwards, instead of outwards, if that makes sense. I go to just switch the wires back, honest mistake on their part (although theyre a ****ing body shop! mistakes like that shouldnt happen!!) and i realize that they cut some wires, tapped some other wires, and taped shit up so I couldnt see anything. Now I'm no electrician, nor do i even have common knowledge on how things are wired, but i could tell this person was clearly an idiot and should NOT be working at a shop. So long story short, i cut and capped all the unneccesary wire taps, and switched the bulbs back to their correct location (which was a bitch because the shorter wire meant to go on the inside housing was stretched as far as it could to reach the outer housing.. making it near impossible to get it out.. lol) Now the fact that I could fix it, says alot about how much they screwed up, because if I can fix it, I'm confident that literally anybody could fix it. Unbelievable.
Anyways, sorry I just had to vent about this, seeing as I cant call them until monday. (Their hours are M-F 10-4..)

On a separate note, at least they made the bumper look like new again!

This post lacks emoticons....

[BigBlock69RS]

Sorry or hear about your experience.

This is why I never take my car to the shop the insurance company wants you to. They are simply directing you to the shop that gives them the best rate (ie cheapest labor) and won't question their tempts to try to repair as little as possible and replace what they must with as cheap of parts as possible.

A Local shop will live or die by customer service, quality of their work, and word of mouth.
An insurance shop will live by the more by cost savings and the volume of work the insurance company directs to them.
So which shop will care more about your best interests?

[Caddyroger]

Before you start calling any one and idiot do tell them that you had sequential tail lights and they had to be replaced in the same way. It would be douptful that they would know the wiring of the sequential light they go by the gm manuals. The normal lights can put in way and they work. This one time you should in the mirror for an idiot.

[wadeh]

Originally Posted by NewbieDIYer

On a separate note, at least they made the bumper look like new again!

I would count this as a win.

In an ideal world, everything would have been perfect. Unfortunately, that is pretty rare for people as emotionally attached to our cars as we tend to be here. There are countless stories of problems with mismatched color or misaligned panels. You missed out on that fun and just had a simple problem that you were able to correct yourself.

I'd take that over what could have been.

[NewbieDIYer]

Originally Posted by Caddyroger

Before you start calling any one and idiot do tell them that you had sequential tail lights and they had to be replaced in the same way. It would be douptful that they would know the wiring of the sequential light they go by the gm manuals. The normal lights can put in way and they work. This one time you should in the mirror for an idiot.

If it was complicated wiring I could see how that'd be confusing and that I should tell them. However, the wiring harness is simple as pie. Not to mention the fact that it's damn near impossible to stretch the wrong wire to the wrong housing. After a few stretches of the wire realizing it doesn't fit, common sense would say, hmm maybe I'm attempting to put it in the wrong one?!

[NewbieDIYer]

And also, the fact that the blinkers blinked the wrong way after they finished?! Pretty obvious lol

[jrhagen]

Originally Posted by Krajkerjac

This post lacks emoticons....