Qwiksillva

So here's the lowdown:

Back in early February (not even owning my 2011 GT for a month) I went to go get coffee and I came back my car was scratched to hell on the driver's rear quarter panel. It look like someone keyed it in a straight line or maybe some tard's bike handle hit it. I don't really know what it was from though. All I know is it was a deep long scratch and it needed to be fixed.

I contacted my insurance and they estimated the work would cost less than my $500 deductible. So I went to Beach Ford Collision Center assuming they would be a fine choice since... well... I have a brand new Ford and the car is a generic UA black paint code. How can you fuck it up?

Well I took it to them and they did the job. I gladly paid and when I picked up the car, inspected the newly painted area. I immediately noticed that they buffed the area after painting it and it was buffed HARD. So hard that there was a shit ton of deep swirl marks in the paint job. I told the people at the counter about it and said since it was past 5pm, all the painters are gone so I'd have to come back tomorrow. I called the next day and they said I should just bring it down and let them buff it out. I thought to myself... wait, they want to buff out the damage they made by buffing the vehicle? Pretty smart. I at that point didn't even feel like driving there and just figured I'd deal with the swirl marks. It's not going to kill me.

About one month ago I'm detailing the car and I notice the light shows something odd on the rear quarter panel. The paint where the scratch was had a nasty orange peel look to it and even was starting to get small bubbles. I went to rub it with my finger and feel a very different texture with my hand. I then saw it across the entire quarter panel EXACTLY where the area had to be sanding down and prepped when it was painted. I immediately call Beach Ford up bringing up the concern. They said they could likely wetsand it out. I told them there was no way this was going to wetsand out. I attempted to schedule and appointment, but they said I should just show up whenever and they'll look at it.

I show up on a Monday 2 weeks later when I found some time and had a ride to drive me back from there so I could drop off the car. They look at the vehicle and they agree the entire area will need to be repainted. I also pointed out a very tiny dent on the passenger's front fender and asked if they could do a paintless dent removal. They made a note of it and said that wouldn't be a problem. I go to hand them the keys and then I'm told to come back next Monday. I ask them why since they told me to just roll up whenever, and they said it was because they were short on painters. I express to them that this is quite inconvenient since this car is my only main source of transportation and I have to plan out my job (which requires me to do quite a bit of commuting) and plan rides just because they have to fix their problem. They at that point offered to cover the cost of a rental while they had my vehicle and I agreed that would alleviate that issue.

I come the next Monday and drop the car off and ask them to make sure they look at the small dent while it's there. They said they don't remove dents and would call Dent Wizard to remove the dent. They said it would be roughly $50. I get my rental and I call in Wednesday to see how it's going along. The lady at the desk told me it's likely going to be done soon. I also inquired on whether the dent was removable since Beach Ford said they'd reach out to me before they'd do it to tell me if it's removable or not based on the location. She told me they didn't make a note of that and may not be able to because they get "distracted" sometimes. I made an issue that it was on the work sheet and she said she'd call me back. Before I let her go, I made a request for her to tell their team to not "buff" the vehicle since last time they put an ass ton of swirl marks in the paint job. She said I should of told her later because it might be too late. I asked her to tell them anyways and never really told me whether she would or not. I got a call back a hour later saying they actually already removed the dent. No one bothered to call me. I asked how much the dent removal was going to cost, and I was told there's no way to know right now. I thought that was just stupid. How do you not know how much that is going to cost when you already just did it? I get a call later saying the car is done.

I go up there Thursday and pick up the vehicle. I inspect the new paint job and the orange peel is gone... for now. Lord behold, swirl marks all over the damn place. Even on my door now. I wanted to just walk back into the place and just complain so bad, but I refrained since I just didn't want to deal with it. The dent removal looked great. I couldn't even tell there was a dent there. They charged me $50 for the dent removal, but they were trying to charge me for the whole paint job. I had to tell them it was free since they were the ones who fucked up. They got their shit together after 5 minutes and agreed.

So here's the analysis on Beach Ford Collision Center:

1. First time around the prep work must of been half-assed since it had "orange peel" later on and they get all happy with the buffer and buff it too hard in my opinion.
2. I complain about the workmanship and they own up to it and take care of it.
3. They come off a little disorganized at times, but come through on price quotes and what was agreed on.
4. They get all buffer happy again and swirl marks galore.

In my opinion, I probably would be weary to do business with Beach Ford Collision Center again. I would have expected better and their paint job is a little sloppy in my opinion. There's overspray all over my rear windows which I'm going to have to get out. Granted they owned up to it and took care of it, but I just picture it being a business with a bunch of good management with sloppy secretaries and people up in the paint shop. If you've ever worked in a business like that, then you'll know what I mean.

Beach Ford Collision Center = Meh.

If it were not for them covering the rental cost, I'd probably not recommend them at all, but I guess it's hit or miss with some businesses. Kudos for them stepping up on that though.

williai

they repaired a vehicle of mine that was in an accident. when they blended the doors and fenders, they removed the emblems, but not the adhesive, and painted right over the adhesive. there were also what looked to be screw driver gouges through the adhesive, where its seems they pryed off the emblems but never did any prep work past that. this was about 2 years ago. sorry to hear about your hassle.