Body shop mess... advice needed

[xxxxxxx]

To anyone considering trusting their pride and joy with Apex Auto Body or Randy Clay at 5809 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214. This thread documents my experience with them over 4 months, beginning in September, 2019.

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Hi all, hoping you can help me out with some opinions and guidance. I always have bad luck at paint shops it seems

I looked into having some work on my E36 this summer. I was recommended a place that had done some beautiful 911’s, in fact they do a lot of them. So I figured they’d do a quality job. It hasn’t gone well though, and I’m hoping you guys can give me some advice. Am I asking too much?

Goals of the Project (dropped off in september)
- Replace & paint the thin piece below trunk & above rear bumper
- Repaint quarters, rear bumper, trim, hood

Review 1: Bodywork
- Looked good

After Review 1….
- They killed a new battery
- Broke the ignition & had it replaced

Review 2: New paint
- Overspray in spots where it was masked off
- Orange peel on hood
- They could not correctly mount the side skirts
- I marked with tape 12+ painted areas that needed work (overspray, hard lines, unpolished areas)
- Guy said he didn't like how the trim parts were painted, was going to have them redone
- Told them I’d research why the skirts weren’t fitting

After Review 2…
- I went to the dealer bought all new clamps for sideskirts
- Delivered all new clamps to paint shop
- I agreed to pay for the ignition job ($300) in exchange for having the rest of the car polished

Review 3: Ready for delivery (tonight)
- Orange peel was gone - good
- Areas I marked with tape were slightly better but still look awful (along roof edge, next to windshield, door jams, trunk jam, etc.)
- Still unable to mount skirts correctly - said ok I’ll install them myself
- At least one trim piece wasn't even touched (had my tape on it)
- White polishing compound filling the rain gutters, cracks, crevices eveywhere
- Sunroof wasn't even polished
- Brand new-skirt-gasket was peeling off and no longer sticking in spots
- Some kind of black goop on paint - was used to try and stick it back on
- Vent window rubber seals installed outside of window - couldn’t even be opened
- Swirl marks and tiny dots *absolutely everywhere* on the car
- Says it happened when they washed it
- Tells me they can try and improve the paint some more within reason, but they don’t do show cars and I should expect some rough spots along tape lines.

When he said they don't do show cars I was thinking to myself what kind of treatment are you giving the millions of dollars worth of 911's in there? It seems they have two business models going on. Told the guy I wasn’t happy with it yet. I'm spending just over $5k on this and I cant believe he was going to have me take the car home like this. I would be ashamed had I presented this kind of product to a customer of mine.

At this point, I am not expecting things to be much better next time I see it, so it's kind of a bad situation and I'm not sure what to do. Just makes me sick to my stomach. I am thinking to write him an e-mail next with pretty much the same content as I've written here. Am I being unreasonable or if this is just as bad a deal as it seems to be?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks much.

[notMpowered]

It's hard to say based on what conversations you may/may not have had before the car was started, and without pictures, but it sounds like they are completely incompetent. Not being able to install the window seals or skirts is absolutely the basics.
The unfortunate part, is 99.99999999999% of body shops around here, so I assume around you are the same, are complete trash. There are no consequences for terrible work, and they are all always busy.
You need to be VERY explicit what your expectations are when the car is dropped off and be prepared to pay a premium. At that price I'd expect very good, not perfect work, and be very clear of my expectations so they had the opportunity to say if they were not prepared to do it at that price.

[xxxxxxx]

Thanks for your take, notMpowered. I agree - going over expectations at the beginning is an absolute must.

[notMpowered]

I definitely think you should post up some detailed pics. I know that sometimes I have had to have my unrealistic expectations checked by others, and other times I have appreciated the input from others to know that my issues were reasonable.
Either way, sorry to hear it turned out like this as 5k into a 10-12k car is a frustrating endeavour if you aren't happy with what comes out the other side.

[Kngmin]

I work in auto damage here in NY. Your story sounds all too familiar. I’m not sure where you’re located and or what the laws are by you, but here in NY body shops are required to have a registration number (R#) which is done through the state DMV. Some shops aren’t registered but most are. As a consumer in a situation where a shop is registered you can make a formal complaint against their registration number through the DMV. This usually results in them having to take some kind of formal action on their complaint. Check your local laws and see if you have something similar setup. Good luck.

[pizzaman09]

This is just sad to hear. I had phenomenal work done on my e36 done by a shop here in Erie, PA. They specialize is crash repairs of European cars had had done many e36s. They managed to fix some impressive rust that I had in the rear of the car.

I wish I had some suggestions on what you could do. Good paint and body work is hard to come by. I know ot would not be cheap but certainly another shop could fix the wrongs that this shop did.

[xxxxxxx]

Thanks fellas. I wrote him an e-mail. He seemed apologetic and wanted to fix the situation. He's invited me to come check out the car again next week. He suggested EOD monday or daytime tuesday. No interest in looking at it in the dark again, so Tuesday it is.

[bmwstephen]

I have learnt the hardway that most body shops that do fancy cars are hacks where the owners of the cars don't even know what they are looking at. If you ever seen the work shops do on the RWB porsches for example, most owners don't even know that they are essentially turning their cars into hacked up rust buckets that can't perform for squat for the sake of stanceworks.

Good thing you know what to look for and caught the owners on the their tracks.

[xxxxxxx]

Update

Hello guys. Well, after about 3 months, I was called to come check out the car for a third time and take it home. When I got there I was not very pleased. It would not surprise me if they rolled the car over to Maaco and had them do the work for donuts on the dollar. The guy at the shop told me I was taking it home that day. That if I left it there any longer, "it would only get more f***** up". I eventually agreed to take it home because I didn't want it messed up any further. As they were wiping the wax off a few last spots on the front of the car he said he didn't understand get why there was overspray everywhere, because they removed the hood to paint it. I told him yeah, that's fresh paint. Then he wiped it down with a rag and told me its good to go, he got most of it off. You can see the results of the $5,000 I spent below. They also broke my ignition and killed the battery. I paid for the ignition in exchange for having the whole car polished. I didn't quite get what I expected. I am thinking to post these on the body shops facebook and perhaps in local groups, and on the Porsche forums, just to warn others. But please let me know, am being overly critical here? I have a number if images coming, so bare with me.

Images are here: https://imgur.com/a/xZq998J

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[notMpowered]

Wow. Sorry to see that. The wax on the seals are about the only excusable part of that mess. The edge of the trunk is appalling. Certainly not being overly critical. While I don't expect cars to come out of the body shop as if they are a new car, there are 100k mile cars with paint that looks fresher.
Whats the plan?

[xxxxxxx]

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That's all I have for now. I am still cleaning it up after taking it back, and finding new problems every day. It will have to go in for a serious detail to have the paint fixed. Some of it, like the sunroof, may have to be resprayed. Thanks fellas.

[GG///M3]

I think I would’ve lost it had it been my car. Put in a complaint with BBB


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[RRSperry]

Sorry, I don't know what else to say... For the work you wanted done, $5K seems kinda expensive... Yet, it's not enough to bother with a lawyer.

Have they worked on BMW's before yours? THey couldn't get the skirts on? Really? It's not rocket surgery.

[330ci77]

did they leave the thing out in the rain for a day? that amount of water says so or they washed it with doors open and windows down....


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[ax77]

I wouldn't have paid. Take them to small claims court. That's BS

[xxxxxxx]

Thanks for the opinions guys. Really helps to have others perspectives.

Perhaps I could have a detail shop do an estimate on removing the scratches and orange peel. Then send the estimate over to the body shop, with my photos, to see if they'd like to cover it (Doubtful). I guess if they don't want to cover a detail, there is nothing left to do but post the pictures on social media so others in the future have will this information.

Some areas were damaged to the extent that they cannot be fixed by a detail. The chipped roof, the trunk edge and likely the sunroof would need to be resprayed at the very least. The tail light and trunk gasket need to be replaced too. I don't see them having the integrity to pay for any of that.

[bmwahba46]

This would drive me nuts. I would not pay for that. If you paid with a CC file a claim - do whatever you can to get your money back to have a properly trained shop amend this. I'm so sorry - I know the feeling all too well.

[Gene V]

I think I would’ve lost it had it been my car.
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I would have been livid!

[M3C]

Good that you did inspect and found imperfections, these are all signs that an unskilled person worked on your car or they intentionally cut corners to finish asap. They appear to be used to work this way with mostly of cars they "fix", the difference is that you did some deeper checking.

[xxxxxxx]

Just a crappy E36 in their mind, after all, and they figured they'd get away with it.

But I've had it for 17 years. I know every inch of it. Grandfather helped me get it way back then, and it had quite a large impact on my life. Thus it's worth more to me than it is anyone else.

Unfortunately I don't think I have any way to turn the situation around. Getting a quote for a detail is the best I've come up with yet. When that fails, and Im 99% sure it will, I guess I'll have no other avenue but sharing their work with the world on social media.

[GG///M3]

Just a crappy E36 in their mind, after all, and they figured they'd get away with it.

But I've had it for 17 years. I know every inch of it. Grandfather helped me get it way back then, and it had quite a large impact on my life. Thus it's worth more to me than it is anyone else.

Unfortunately I don't think I have any way to turn the situation around. Getting a quote for a detail is the best I've come up with yet. When that fails, and Im 99% sure it will, I guess I'll have no other avenue but sharing their work with the world on social media.

Not sure where you are located, but if you decide to repaint I know of some great shops


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[xxxxxxx]

Hey guys, What's the best way to spread the word about this outfits work?

Was considering doing a couple things:

Option 1) Leave a review on their facebook page and google reviews with pictures. However, they screwed my car up quite a lot. It seems like that is insufficient.
Option 2) Leave reviews plus make a simple one page website with all the pictures and links to videos of their work.

[blckstrm]

Hey guys, What's the best way to spread the word about this outfits work?

Was considering doing a couple things:

Option 1) Leave a review on their facebook page and google reviews with pictures. However, they screwed my car up quite a lot. It seems like that is insufficient.
Option 2) Leave reviews plus make a simple one page website with all the pictures and links to videos of their work.

As much as I'd hate this happening to me (and it HAS happened to me to a small degree), I wouldn't spend any more money on it. So I wouldn't pay for option 2 if it was me. I'd definitely be talking to my CC company or bank about charging it back and taking it somewhere to get it fixed.