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Body Shop Rant

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Sorry for the rant, but I gotta blow off some steam.

I own a 2018 JLU. In August I noticed a small patch of bubbling paint on the passenger side door. I quickly learned, thanks to this forum, about the paint corrosion issue affecting Wranglers of the last few years. Upon further review I found corrosion on the hinges of all my doors and my hood.

I promptly drove to my local Jeep dealership/body shop. They confirmed the corrosion issue was under warranty and would be fixed. The appraiser quoted me a fix time of anywhere between four days to three weeks. LO (fucking) L

He said leave the Jeep overnight because heā€™ll have a better grasp of the shops schedule in the morning and may be able to get it in and have it back to me by the end of the week. I leave it with him, get a ride home, and bobs your uncle.

Forty eight hours later I get a call from the appraiser stating they will not be able to begin work on my Jeep for at three weeks and that I should come pick it up because they donā€™t want it sitting in the lot for all that time.

He said, call back in three weeks and check if theyā€™ll have the availability to fix the Jeep. Ok, annoying, but not a huge deal. I picked it up and began the wait.

Fast forward three weeks, I called the appraiser, he tells me to bring the Jeep back, theyā€™re ready to paint it. He quotes a week/week-and-a-half MAX to get the whole job done. Great, I leave the keys and off I go.

Thankfully I was able to secure a loaner car from a friend for as long as I needed.

Hereā€™s where my blood went from a slow simmer to a raging boil.

My morning commute takes me right past the body shop. So of course every morning I looked into the lot for a quick visual progress report.

After the fifth day I noticed my Jeep hadnā€™t moved from the spot I parked it in. Naturally I started to wonder wtf was going on. Maybe they suddenly got busy and had to push my Jeep aside? Or maybe itā€™s a million different reasons they havenā€™t gotten to it yet.

Either way, no one at the shop contacted me to let me know about anything.

It started driving so crazy I had to take a different route to work so as to avoid the body shop.

Today, a week and half after dropping it off, and the day it shouldā€™ve been done, I couldnā€™t resist and had to drive past the shop. This time I pulled in expecting to see her all shiny with a fresh new coat of paint. NOPE. They moved her a few spots down and hadnā€™t done a lick of work.

What in the fuck? WHY?

I was seriously furious. My instincts were to go in and start freaking out, but my temper has gotten me in a LOT of trouble over the years and itā€™s taken hours of therapy and meditation to keep the beast at bay. I took a deep breath and drove off.

I havenā€™t contacted the appraiser for an update yet. Nor have they contacted me obviously. I just donā€™t understand the process of this body shop. How do they operate like this? Isnā€™t there a fucking schedule to follow?

The appraiser told me they were available and ready to paint, but they didnā€™t touch my Jeep a lick since I dropped it off.

Is this normal, or sheer incompetence?

Iā€™m not in a bind. I have the loaner for however long I need it. I just canā€™t fucking stand working with incompetent morons or worseā€¦ liars.

Iā€™m going to call them tomorrow for an update, but I already know what theyā€™re going to say. ā€œWe need more time.ā€ And what are my options? Nothing but to give them more time.

Rant over. Thank you for listening.
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AcesandEights

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Instead of asking for an update, ask if you can swing by the pick it up later that afternoon.

It was probably written up and given to a tech (paint tech) and it's not a very good paying job so he moved stuff in front of your job. He'll get to it when someone chews his ass for it not being done.
 

rohdawg

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ā€œI havenā€™t contacted the appraiser for an update yet.ā€

Why? Itā€™s your Jeep sitting there. Why arenā€™t you at least on the phone asking them whatā€™s going on?
You have to look out for yourself. Like I said, itā€™s your Jeep sitting there. They arenā€™t going home at night thinking ā€œDarn. Didnā€™t get to the Jeep again today.ā€
 

JimLee

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Sorry for the rant, but I gotta blow off some steam.

I own a 2018 JLU. In August I noticed a small patch of bubbling paint on the passenger side door. I quickly learned, thanks to this forum, about the paint corrosion issue affecting Wranglers of the last few years. Upon further review I found corrosion on the hinges of all my doors and my hood.

I promptly drove to my local Jeep dealership/body shop. They confirmed the corrosion issue was under warranty and would be fixed. The appraiser quoted me a fix time of anywhere between four days to three weeks. LO (fucking) L

He said leave the Jeep overnight because heā€™ll have a better grasp of the shops schedule in the morning and may be able to get it in and have it back to me by the end of the week. I leave it with him, get a ride home, and bobs your uncle.

Forty eight hours later I get a call from the appraiser stating they will not be able to begin work on my Jeep for at three weeks and that I should come pick it up because they donā€™t want it sitting in the lot for all that time.

He said, call back in three weeks and check if theyā€™ll have the availability to fix the Jeep. Ok, annoying, but not a huge deal. I picked it up and began the wait.

Fast forward three weeks, I called the appraiser, he tells me to bring the Jeep back, theyā€™re ready to paint it. He quotes a week/week-and-a-half MAX to get the whole job done. Great, I leave the keys and off I go.

Thankfully I was able to secure a loaner car from a friend for as long as I needed.

Hereā€™s where my blood went from a slow simmer to a raging boil.

My morning commute takes me right past the body shop. So of course every morning I looked into the lot for a quick visual progress report.

After the fifth day I noticed my Jeep hadnā€™t moved from the spot I parked it in. Naturally I started to wonder wtf was going on. Maybe they suddenly got busy and had to push my Jeep aside? Or maybe itā€™s a million different reasons they havenā€™t gotten to it yet.

Either way, no one at the shop contacted me to let me know about anything.

It started driving so crazy I had to take a different route to work so as to avoid the body shop.

Today, a week and half after dropping it off, and the day it shouldā€™ve been done, I couldnā€™t resist and had to drive past the shop. This time I pulled in expecting to see her all shiny with a fresh new coat of paint. NOPE. They moved her a few spots down and hadnā€™t done a lick of work.

What in the fuck? WHY?

I was seriously furious. My instincts were to go in and start freaking out, but my temper has gotten me in a LOT of trouble over the years and itā€™s taken hours of therapy and meditation to keep the beast at bay. I took a deep breath and drove off.

I havenā€™t contacted the appraiser for an update yet. Nor have they contacted me obviously. I just donā€™t understand the process of this body shop. How do they operate like this? Isnā€™t there a fucking schedule to follow?

The appraiser told me they were available and ready to paint, but they didnā€™t touch my Jeep a lick since I dropped it off.

Is this normal, or sheer incompetence?

Iā€™m not in a bind. I have the loaner for however long I need it. I just canā€™t fucking stand working with incompetent morons or worseā€¦ liars.

Iā€™m going to call them tomorrow for an update, but I already know what theyā€™re going to say. ā€œWe need more time.ā€ And what are my options? Nothing but to give them more time.

Rant over. Thank you for listening.
A lot of body shops nowadays push all non-insurance related work to the inconvenience line, all the money is in insurance work, everything else doesn't pay as well. I tried to get some items custom paint matched to my Jeep, all three local body shops wouldn't do the work, one was honest and told me that large insurance work is their bread and butter.
 

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ā€œI havenā€™t contacted the appraiser for an update yet.ā€

Why? Itā€™s your Jeep sitting there. Why arenā€™t you at least on the phone asking them whatā€™s going on?
You have to look out for yourself. Like I said, itā€™s your Jeep sitting there. They arenā€™t going home at night thinking ā€œDarn. Didnā€™t get to the Jeep again today.ā€
I mean, yeah, this is the only real answer. And a call will certainly be made tomorrow morning. But honestly, I know what they're going to say. "Sorry, we were real busy and couldn't get to it. We'll get right on it." Just get the damn job when you say it's going to be done. That's my beef.
 

rohdawg

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I mean, yeah, this is the only real answer. And a call will certainly be made tomorrow morning. But honestly, I know what they're going to say. "Sorry, we were real busy and couldn't get to it. We'll get right on it." Just get the damn job when you say it's going to be done. That's my beef.
I hope they get on it sooner rather than later. I had a similar issue with my YJ a while back. I had it at a local shop for the NY State yearly inspection. It didnā€™t move for three days. This is a process that takes 15 minutes tops AND I had an ā€œappointmentā€.
I finally stopped there on my way to work (on my bike) and asked what the hold up was. Without missing a beat, the owner fessed up and told me he completely forgot about it. Iā€™m sure it would have sat there a month if I never spoke up.
 

DaltonGang

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Never heard of a paint tech. Either the dealership has an in house paint shop or they sub it out locally. The guys who wrench on the vehicles dont also paint them.

I can understand your frustration. That certainly sucks. Ive read this on forums all too often.
 

Carolina Jeeper

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I understand your frustration and also know all too well how it got this way.

Body shop standstill syndrome.
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