Hey guys,
Anyone here can advise me on what to do? They Maaco here in Ottawa (on Cyrville rd) is bending me over really bad.

they had my car for over a month now. They call me to tell me it is all ready. it's not.. here is what's wrong.

Rear fascia has a gap on the driver's side bif enough to slide your hand under the taillight. they mark a new part on the invoice to hold the bubmper, he admits they had to straighten the old part because the new one is not availlable. They say they will "try" to make it look better. ?!?!?!

There is a paint ripple near my drivers side rear quarter window. He sais it's the plastic that warps over time (was not there beffore) and it will flatten over time?!?!?!

Inside the drivers side door, the rocker panel that says fisher body is gone. They says that trim was never there...

My taill lights are miss wired. only a few bulbs come one, not in the right socket. (brake light in reverse socket ect.. They say my wiering was bad and that is the best they can do...

To top it off! everyone in the Ottawa fiero Club can attest to my car being in a1 mechanical. My brother drove it to Maaco and I drove the rental. Now they say from day 1 they had to boost the car to get it going. It does not turn over on it's own, not even a click. they say they did nothing to it.

I have a starter kill relay for my alarm. it is not fastened yet and is in a gromet. They were not carefull and closed the trunk on it. They say they are not responsible for that because it was not an original part of the car and not fastened properly.

My car stereo remote that is atteched to my keychain was PAINTED with overspray, then washed with a solvent. all the writing on the remote is damaged and faded and the plastic loop were they keychain hold on is snapped off. They left it on my seat and claim it was never attached to the key chain and they did nothing to it.

My fogg lamps were glued on in the front of the car were the original front signal lights were. They ripped them out and painted over the glue! no sanding or prepping in the holes were they were! ?!?!?!

They had to change my door hinges on the drivers side. Now my lock is stiffer and the power lock is unable to lock and unlock the drivers door. PAssenger is still fine as they did not touch that side.

My door handle seems plimbsy now and the whole door flexes when you pull on it. (plastic shell of the door)

All the black door frame, trunk frame ect was painted with a flat sating black paint. They were glossy from the factory. they say it's a primer and painting the inside doros ect is extra. BUT THEY WERE NICE AND SHINEY BEFFORE! I want back the way it was, they say that's extra. ?!?!?! they messed ti up and to get it back is extra??

Argh!!!! I said I am not giving them a red sent until all is perfect, elextrical, pain trim ect.. they said they would just wait, then put a lean on the car and repo it.

what can I do? I'm paying good money I want a good finished product and no additional repairs to a car that was perfect in the first place.

(BTW: the damamge on the car was due to a rear end collision that was 100% covered by the insurance.)

any advice would be great! thanks!
Eric

Did the insurance pay you or Maaco?
If the insurance paid Maaco, call the insurance company.
It might help to get the local Better Business Bureau involved, too.
Sounds like it wouldn't hurt to get a lawyer.
Just my $.02.

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Raydar

I'm not the fig plucker.
I'm the fig plucker's son.
But I'll pluck figs
'Til the fig plucker comes.

This insurance is paying for the damage repairs, i paid the additional for painting the whole car and some minor body work.

I guess I can call the insurance company since they did a piss pour job on the damage repairs as well. What can they do?

Humm.. Lawyer. Ouch! is that worth it for a few hundred bucks? (whatever it would cost for another shop to fix what they did)

I really just want to get them to finish the job right.

Cheers!

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Did the insurance pay you or Maaco? If the insurance paid Maaco, call the insurance company. It might help to get the local Better Business Bureau involved, too. Sounds like it wouldn't hurt to get a lawyer. Just my $.02.

Wow! Get the Washington sniper

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Alex4mulas :-)
N2O! 3.4!

The rear bumper bracket is likely bent, they straightening it but it needs to be tweaked some more to get the alignment right. They are obligated to fix this if they were paid by the insurance to do the repair! Call your insurance.

Does the paint ripple look like a run in the paint? If it is he's making an excuse.

I don't think Macco ever does door jams. A lot depends on what's agreed upon from the start.

I bet the taillights are either burnt out or the bulbs are not making a good connection in the socket. They could have wired up wires wrong if they were cut when it was damaged. Can't say without looking.

They normally dont paint door jams at all and they never even mask them. The door jams on Fieros are satin black from the factory, not gloss. If its a run in the paint, make them fix it. Its fairly ez to readust the door lock catch at the back of the door. All they have to do is loosen it and move it out an 1/8 of an inch. If they let the battery run dead and its an older battery, chances are the battery wont come back up. I get that happening all the time. One dealer I do cars for usually has to have a new battery 1 out of 4 cars because they wont charge back up. I dont know what to tell you about not having the kill switch installed. Unless you pointed out that to them, I wouldnt say they were responsible. I always make a point of showing anything non factory and explaining its operation when I leave a car for service. For example i have a manual choke and a remote TC lockup switch on the new car. If they fixed the rear end, its their responsiblity to make sure all the lites work properly. I even supply the new bulbs if their needed when I do them.

Id try working out the problems with the manager and notify the insur co of the problems.

I would of rather they did not do the door jams. now they are a flat black satin instead of the glossy black they used to be.

As for the tail lights. They probably have the wrong type of bulb in some sockets because the "apperently" blow bulbs now. the wiering was never cut for my harness by the accident and all lights were perfect. They seem to also have put the bulb and socket in the wrong hole in the light assembly. (ie: clip in the reverse light and socket in the hole for the brake light. ) .

My guess is they just have the wrong bulbs in there.. instead of a bulb with 2 settings, they put some bulbs with only 1 setting (something like hight beam and low beam). But I don't want to take the car back and findout it's something much worse.

quote Originally posted by Alex4mula: Wow! Get the Washington sniper

Hahahah really funny... fracking idiot

Guys, I can use people's help and advice. Please no flamming or making fun of serious situations.

Eric

quote Originally posted by [85][NeedsWork][2M4]: Hahahah really funny... fracking idiot

If they won't budge on their end, I would gather photos current and past, etc, contact the BBB, and take them to court. If not, then I would take my car back without permission, and do something to the shop.

You want serious answers, I would do either or both.

did the insurance already pay them, how much difference do you owe. If you can get the insurance company to pay you. then pay them the full amount with a check with a stop payment on it. Then you have the car and THEY have to take you to court to collect it. Then you can state your case, take any witnesses and let a judge decide.

Eric: check with your insurance guy. I believe that the cheque should be made out to you AND the shop. That means that you have to sign it before they can cash/deposit the cheque. No satisfaction...no signature.

I replied on our forum too.
Gary

What the hell were you thinking? Maaco screwed up my hood and even clear coated over road grime on my front fascia. I now goto to a professional collision center.Pay a little more but its worth it. I thought that Maaco only sucked here in the States-I guess they suck globally period.
OUT>

Sorry to hear you had trouble, sounds like standard Maaco work though.

I agree with the other folks, raise hell with your insurance company.

quote Originally posted by Ottawa_86gt: Guys, I can use people's help and advice. Please no flamming or making fun of serious situations. Eric

Eric - I wasn't making fun of YOU, or your unfortunate situation. I was getting angry at the retard who thinks that making jokes about the Washington Sniper is funny. Sorry for "flamming" in your precious thread.

I only have one question for you. Why did you take your car to Maaco? I wouldn't trust them with the simplest of body work. I hope you are able to resolve you problem with them. If worse comes to worse, pay them so you can get your car. Document the whole thing. Get some estimates from reputable body shops to fix it, and sue them.

quote Originally posted by FieroBUZZ: Eric: check with your insurance guy. I believe that the cheque should be made out to you AND the shop. That means that you have to sign it before they can cash/deposit the cheque. No satisfaction...no signature.

Every insurance company has different policy. some will pay you and you pay the shop. Some will make it co-signers so you and shop have to sign. Others will issue check straight to shop. Ive even had them send check to your bank/loan company. That way their sure you get the car repaired while they have a lien on it. State Farm is one that will generally just give the car owner a check for thier estimate, additional repairs will have the check sent to body shop. You just have to ask each company what their pay policy is. Ive dealt everyday with these jerk adjusters for years. I hate it when a 22 year old adjuster who dont know a wrench from a socket tells me with 40 years experience, how Im supposed to fix something.

Write down what you want to say, then call Maaco's corporate headquarters in Canada and tell them you want to speak to the president. If they ask who is calling, tell them a dissatisfied customer. That usually works to get you transferred to someone who can help.

If you have a MasterCard/Visa, you can also check with the issuing bank on their chargeback policies, then use the credit card to get your car out of there and follow the bank's procedures to request a chargeback.

BTW if at all possible NEVER have the insurance company pay the garage directly. Have them pay YOU and YOU pay the garage.

[This message has been edited by LarryB (edited 10-17-2002).]

Macco!!! my god man! what the hell were you thinking??!!

there reputation is sooo bad...i am suprised that you never heard that before you took your car there.

The best thing to do is a well drafted letter. I know this won't do you a bit of good emotionally, but its important to have a written document. When you write the letter, make sure you stay as positve as possible. Make them believe that you want to remain a customer, regardless if you do or not. When the Maaco reads your letter and realizes that you are fair to deal with, they should be reasonable as well. List your problems, and what you want them to do to resolve the situation. At the very least, its good to show in court that you were overly willing to resolve it without personnal attacks.

Trev

Contact your insurance agent, and let him know what the shop has done--especially emphasize the substandard repairs covered by the insurance. If the agent values your business (particularly if you have multiple cars with a lot of coverages on each) and knows how distressed you are, he might call or visit the shop (or send someone) to check on the repairs.

Some insurance companies issue lists with their preferred body shops--if that Maaco was on such a list, your agent can use the threat of removal from the list as the incentive for them to correct the problems.

How successful this is largely depends on (A) your relationship with your insurance agent and (B) whether that body shop does a lot of insurance work for your carrier.

If that doesn't work, you can try the Better Business Bureau as suggested above, but I have found that they can be slow.

Let us know what you find out from your agent.

Yeah I got my car painted at Maaco.. The paint started peeling and cracking on the front facia a few months after it so I try to go back -- the place is bankcrupt and apparently only the Maaco you originally went to can do warranty jobs so I was screwed over by Maaco as well.

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I didn't take it personally bud. I just didn't want it to turn into a falmming match between other people. Just wanted it to stop beffore it gets out of hand.

Cheers!
Eric

quote Originally posted by [85][NeedsWork][2M4]: Eric - I wasn't making fun of YOU, or your unfortunate situation. I was getting angry at the retard who thinks that making jokes about the Washington Sniper is funny. Sorry for "flamming" in your precious thread.

Well if the car was damaged in the rear end, and your having problems with the rear end, then your insurance agent should definatly be able to take care of it, you probably wont even have to get a lawyer, Your insurance agent will have one ready to goto battle for you, In this case, If they dont, then id get a new insurance agent, and id get a lawyer, to sue for the damages done to your car, id also go take pictures of all the damage done, before they do anything else to there, car, Pictures can speak 1000 words, any chance you have pictures of your car before the damage was done?

matthew

I had the EXACT same thing happen to me in T.O

They damaged it
Didn't paint it fully
didn't do ALL the body work as they invoiced us for

We wrote a letter to them via their "contact us" on their website thretening for legal actions for the sum of $1500 canadian dollars and they called me back the day after and bent over backwards to get me happy

Just save the invoice and take a few pics and you'll win anything!

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Steven Rossi
2M4 Cadero Converted GT

I apologize in advance for the long post.

Prevention is the best cure, and you missed an opportunity to get top-notch service by not getting involved with the insurance company and the service provider early on and making sure that they understood and expected to provide the quality of service you needed. (Getting the insurance company to pay you after you have inspected and approved the work is highly desirable)

That said, where do you go from here? I would suggest the following:

1. establish the condition and value of the car prior to the accident.
2. generate a very specific list of deficiencies in the work/service performed and the current condition of the vehicle. Provide the information from 1 and 2 to both the service provider and the insurance company in a formal letter (a copy to the state insurance board is nice touch).
3. do whatever you can to stop payment to the service provider until each item on the deficiencies list is resolved to your satisfaction
4. under no circumstances, should you settle your claim with the insurance company until you are satisfied with the work. Hopefully, you have an insurance company provided rental. Keep it until they fix your to your satisfaction, it is very important that you keep the claim open and drive up the cost to the insurance company as much as possible until the car is fixed to your satisfaction. This may be you only bargaining chip, most insurance companies only listen to money.
5. Life will be simplest if you can convince the service provider to make it right. Good work is good for you and good for him. Bad work is unacceptable and will not be tolerated!
6. The insurance company may have more clout and should go to bat for you if needed. You need the same assertive consumer attitude here, you paid for coverage and failure to provide it is unacceptable.
7. If it goes beyond this, you need to pursue both legal and public relations channels. I have little experience at this level. The more that you can convince them that you are prepared to be an incredibly persistent, costly PITA; the more likely it is that you will be able to resolve the conflict without getting to this point.

One parting comment. I've seen a lot of cheap shots at MAACO on this thread and undoubtedly some of them are deserved. However, the MAACO (and most repair facilities) are independently owned and operated, and the quality of service provided is a function of local management, not corporate ownership. I have had 4 Fieros painted by a MAACO in TX. All four have turned out excellent, but the key was that the local management worked with me, allowed and gave me advice on doing the necessary body and prep work, and they did the part that they do best - shoot the paint (and yes, I paid a premium for the best paint that they had). The point is, it doesn't make any difference whether it's MAACO or the Lexus body shop down the street, if you want top quality, you have to get involved with the guys doing the work and make sure they are prepared to meet your expectations before you give them the work.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

Best Regards,
G2.

OK...I know I probably should already know the answer to this, but will ask anyway. Here in PA, we basically have two franchises.
MAACO and Earl Scheibs. I had heard the bad about MAACO, but nothing on Scheibs. They offer a 6 year warranty on their paint jobs.
Has anyone dealt with them, and any good results? I was actually going to take my car there this spring.
Thanks
Jim

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I'm sure Eric will be along to explain his results. I have seen the paint (not in the best light) and it looks nice. He did have to raise bloody h*ll to get them to do anything to fix their mistakes though.

One of the other guys in our club has a black GT done at the other Maaco in town and it is beautiful. G2 is right, each place is its own franchise and the work varies a lot.

If you want to use an outfit like this, get some referrals from them and check with the customers. Looks at work in progress at the shop. Do all you can to see that they are doing a decent job before you commit.

Very sorry to hear about your bad experiences with Macco. I had a T-Bird done in a New Jersey shop, and actually got a good job for te money. I did first request to walk thru the shop and see some of their finished work. I also ordered the best prep job available from them. Afterwards I let the car sit in my neighbors garage for a mounth so the paint would cure. After that, a serious wax job with Meguires finest wax.
The finish still looks good and I did get my moneys worth.
Ottawa86, I'd contact sometype of business lawyer on this matter,seeking reinbursement for your problem. I'd don't know anything about procedures involving this, but I'm sur someone in that field can direct you in te right path. hope the best for you.

quote Originally posted by JKFIERO: OK...I know I probably should already know the answer to this, but will ask anyway. Here in PA, we basically have two franchises. MAACO and Earl Scheibs. I had heard the bad about MAACO, but nothing on Scheibs. They offer a 6 year warranty on their paint jobs. Has anyone dealt with them, and any good results? I was actually going to take my car there this spring. Thanks Jim

Earl Scheib's is basically a step BELOW Maaco. They've been around forever (since the 50's), though, so they must be doing something right. Back in the '80's, I had my Firebird painted there. I did all the prep work, and got their bargain basement cheapest paint job. $99.00. I considered it on par quality-wise, with Maaco. I definitely got my money's worth, but hey, it was a $99 paint job. I took the car in a 9A.M., and picked it that afternoon. The car looked good for a few years. The problem is, at that price, the paint they use is absolute crap. You can't even buy enough paint to do the job at that price unless you're buying crap. After about 5 years, the paint was literally falling off the car. Instead of the bright red it was originally painted, it had a powdery pink look to it.

Would I go back to Earl Schieb's? Absolutely. I got my money's worth. Would I take my Fiero? Absolutely NOT. Your mileage may vary.

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--------------Forever In My Heart----------------
Jack Daniel Miller --- Dec. 29, 1925 - Oct. 14, 2002
Ruby Cantrell Miller - Jan. 20, 1932 - Aug. 31, 2002
It won't rain all the time. The Sky won't fall forever,
And tho' the night seems long, Your tears won't fall forever.

I feel your pain. I've spent thousands on repairs and ended up with over a page worth of crap that wasn't done correctly. I've had most of it redone. The paint job on a front fender still reminds me how much the work at the "FIERO SHOP" in Richmond CA. SUCKS!!!!!(this isn't slander, only truth from experience) Does your paint job look this bad? I should have sued him, but he wasn't worth my time. He said he couldn't afford to fix it at the time I went in to complain. BUT I regress...
Be persistant with your demands (calmly)to get the job done right, especially if the shop is close by. Photos before and after, BBB, complaints to the insurance company, Long talks with the shop manager are all good. Are Maaco's a franchise? Do they have regional managers? If so, go above the shop managers head to the regional manager. There must be some higher representative for Maaco since it's nation wide.?? At least car dealerships have them.
Listening to what you've said, it sounds like you're as sick of crappy shops as I am. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by stsmithgt (edited 11-16-2002).]