Fiveless

[Vicky]

I'm just starting my fourth week without my little car .... I've missed four weeks of great weather .... I wanted to head over to Belgium again this week ... to go to Ypres then back to Calais via Dunkerk ....

It's just a bloody saga now ... I bumped my car on my work car park ... the first accident I've EVER had that's been my fault ... and it's a bloody stupid one to have .... I made a right mess of my mate's car and at the time thought I'd just scrawped my wheel arch and front bumper ....

They came to pick it up on first day of school hols .... the bloke from garage noticed I'd scrawped my wheel ....there wasn't a mark on other 3 ... I'd also scratched my passenger door.....

Turns out I'd damaged my wheel, tyre, door, front bumper, wing ... done something to my steering and tracking .... every time they check it to see if I can have it back they find something else that needs replacing ... they order the bit from Mazda ... it takes 4 days to be delivered .... so it's gone from 2 weeks, to 3 weeks and now I'm waiting for an email tomorrow to see when I can get her back ....

So that's my rant .... I know it's all my fault but to be without my car during these summer weeks has been just bloody awful :(

[Mazda Mender]

Where is he Vicky? insurance garage ? or doing it yourself?
M-m

[DavesBRG5]

Hopefully you will soon have it back looking like new & there`s plenty of sunny weeks ahead yet.

Sh!t happens as they say. If it`s any consolation I`ve been so busy sorting the new house out that mine`s hardly getting any use either. Hopefully I`ll make up for it next year................I feel a road trip coming on

[Vicky]

Where is he Vicky? insurance garage ? or doing it yourself?
M-m

Went through the insurance in the end .... had good feedback about the garage so went for it .... they just keep finding bits they need to replace ...

[Vicky]

I feel a road trip coming on

I've only done one in the 5 this year - based ourselves in Antwerp, then drove up into The Netherlands - tulip fields, Gouda, Delft ... that was lovely.

Did a little Belgium one in hub's Skoda (as there were 4 of us), and drove up to Paris few weeks ago for the final stage of the Tour de France ... that was a great weekend in Paris.

I think I'll have to leave it till half term now .... something to look forward to :D

[Mazda Mender]

How hard did you catch the other car? i am guessing here that you just caught it coming out or parking up here? so it must have been low speed, Sounds like a bigging up the list here? have you got pics Vicky.
M-m

[Badknee]

I'm with Wayne on this one Vicky, I would be tempted to tell them you want it sorting and you want all the so called damaged parts back. Perhaps contact the insurance company to complain that they are bumping the costs up?

[Vicky]

Well it gets worse ...

I rang to find out what was going on and they said they were still waiting for a part that was on 'back order' so I asked what and where from and rang up direct ... there were no parts on back order ... everything that had been ordered had been delivered ... so after wasting all afternoon ringing and bollocking was told the parts would be there yesterday.

In the meantime I emailed their managing director and told him all about the saga ... he told me he was 'personally saddened' by my comments and it would all be looked into ....

So this morning I get my car back .... now I thought that after the moaning this weekend and the boss getting involved it would be delivered all lovely and sparkly .... well the lack of valeting was the least of my problems ...

They have put a new wheel on .... unfortunately it isn't the same colour as the other 3 ... I want to put this but it just isn't ....

On my Niseko the wheels have a soft silver sheen ... the new one is shiny silver and wait for it BLACK !! WTF how can they do that ??

It was a front end bump ... they've done a lovely job of the 2 bumps ... but they clearly haven't masked anything when they've sprayed ... all under the arch is now silver ... the blue springs on the shocks ... silver ... anything that I can see behind my unmatching wheel... sprayed silver ...

Then because they've got silver everywhere they've sprayed the black plastic bits under the arch black .... and can you guess what else they've done ? Yes boys and girls ... they've got black over spray on the wing above the wheel arch !! And actually on the new wheel ....

It's absolutely disgusting ... I could just cry at what they've done .... the car was mint ... the bloke picking it up commented on how clean it was and how there were no scratches or marks ...

As for valeting ... well all they've done is take the mats out, hoover them and put them back ... the car inside was dusty and dirty after sitting somewhere for 4 weeks ....

So I've taken photos and sent emails off to all the folk who've contacted me over the last few days, I've tracked down an email address for the person from Aviva who is in charge of insurance jobs in this area ..... I can't do any more till Monday morning now .

It is a truly shockingly sh*t job

[Mazda Mender]

When i had a bump in mine , they told me who they recommend i take it to, to which i said NO never NO way, i am the only one i would trust with the fixing, there is nowhere else or no one else i would trust her to, body work paint aside which went to Ste So they had no choice but for me to sort it myself and trusting contacts.
Autoline is a insurance recommened body shop and they are anal in there work, but most of these Insurance body shops are .....,fill them ,flash them over and charge over the odds with no attension to detail like your story.
Do you have any pics of the bump?
Andreys roadster was hit in the rear end and they would of wrote her off ,but he knew some chaps that used there magic hands, and he is happy bouncing around the roads in manchester again.

Keep us all up to date on this, because it stinks big time.
M-m

[Badknee]

I would complain to Aviva Vicky, attach pictures to your emails. What a cockup.

[Vicky]

I would complain to Aviva Vicky, attach pictures to your emails. What a cockup.

When I was phoning to chase up my parts I phoned Aviva ... to be honest the bloke I spoke to couldn't care less at the treatment I was receiving but he did give me the email address of the man who is over repairs in this area ... so I sent him an email yesterday listing all the problems and saying that if this was the standard of work of the repairs that I could see ... I dreaded to think of the job they'd done underneath my car. I copied in all the people from the garage so they could see what I've already sent to Aviva.

Then last night I had an automated email from Aviva asking me to rate and comment on the service I'd just had ... quite funny as it came through as I was watching Wheeler Dealers ... the one when they do up the mark 1 .... so I've filled that in for the customer service people to see.

Tomorrow morning is going to be fun isn't it

[Vicky]

Update :

Email from a manager 8.30 Monday morning, phone called 8.50 to say they were on the way to collect mine and drop off a courtesy car.

They arrived after midday ... 2 men this time who both agreed the job on my car was unacceptable ... so off she went.

Phone call late today to say she was all ready and would I like her back ....well she arrived home but didn't even make it off the wagon

Some half-wit has sprayed the wheel to match the other 3 ... and half of it had runs and paint build-up ... so she's gone back with masking tape round the wheel marking the spots .... I am f***ing fuming

They've cleaned the overspray off the springs on the shocks and that's about it .... it's bank holiday weekend so we go into week 6 of car repair hell.

[BenF]

I'd get a contact in the VBRA if it were me, and see what they think on this issue

(edit - assuming they're a member, which they should be)

edit2 - see page 6 here http://www.vbra.co.uk/downloads/Consumer%20Code.pdf

[Mazda Mender]

You pay your insurance for this crap, give them some ear ache to, where is this Co post up and shame.
M-m

[Doogledog]

What about trading standards also? Technically they haven't provided the service they were contracted to deliver surely