By no means do I mean to scare you, but little shops you gotta watch out for. While I was reading your story, I kept thinking 'Wow they chopped his taillights and his tires...' But if you say you got in an accident, it makes sense. As for customer service, they should be calling you once or twice a week at least to update you.

When I got my alarm professionally installed, they wouldn't let me stay in the back and watch them do it because if I got hurt in the shop it would be their fault they said. The manager was nice enough to let me come in the back every 10-15 minutes to check up on my car. I found that to be respectful of him considering you weren't allowed in the back at all. Good luck!

 

Hmm I once took my S to this body shop... Before taking my car, he toured me around the entire facility, showed me the process and then asked if I liked that I saw.. if I agreed then he would continue working with me.. and he allowed me to come in anytime and look at the car... that was good customer service

 

I'm lucky I guess,,,, mines at a buddies that does body work for a living,, AND is a friend,, AAANND,,, is a, "car guy" from WAAAAY back,, it's not just a job to him,,, he really loves cars,, so when I had some minor damage, and wanted to upgrade the nose, tail, shave the sidemarkers, shave the trunk lock, license, and squirter holes,,, and repaint the WHOLE car,,, he was ALLL for it!!!!!!,,, Also offered to get me some new struts, etc, etc, etc,,,,,

 

I don't know if they do this often but I have heard of them doing it before. They probably took the light off your car and put it on someone elses car because they couldn't wait any longer.

Luckily you noticed.

One thing they always seem to do is get the paint color off just a little...

 

I hate panel shops with a passion.

Had to replace the front bumper on my previous BB Ap1. Dropped it off on a Monday. Was told it would be ready by Thursday.

Picked it up the following Monday, even after they had arranged the replacement front bumper prior to be dropping the car off, so all they had to do was color match it and fit it.

The excuse was ....black is hard to match. I'm sure it is. I'm sure my car was enjoyed over the weekend to.

 

I've posted many times in local forums regarding shops. There is nothing in a shop, short of Boyd Coddington/Foose style overhauls that can take more than a week. If a shop is working on your car (the s2000) there is nothing on the s2000 that can take more than one week. The shop I use, and it's a great shop, runs a very tight ship. Here is where they differ from most shops....

1)They will NOT take your car in for work if they are too busy. Many shops will take whatever they can get, and backlot the car until they are good and ready to work on it. My shop has told me a number of times to "bring it next thursday" or something along those lines. 99% of the shops that have your car for more than a week have it sitting most of the time.

2)They understand business. For a shop, a car not getting worked on is a paper weight. They want to get the car out as fast as possible so they can do another, and another. Shops that keep cars sitting around wait for the last day, and START the work. That way, when you show up to "pick it up" the work already started, and you won't pull your car out of the shop...basically, you are going to guarantee them money. Furthermore, lets say you had the marbles to tell them off about it....you wouldn't. Psychologically, you would be scared to, being afraid that now they hate you, and screw up your car.

Go to a GOOD shop. Yes, you will pay more, but your work will be better, and they will be more professional about it.

This accident happened last year....replaced the door (had to be ordered from Honda) sprayed the fender, the rear quarter, the front lip, had to have my wheel refinished, and a new tire....



How long do you think this took my shop to do? 3 days? a week? No. It took them 20 hours. I picked up my car the following evening.

 

Unsure which body shop to choose when work is needed? Contact any local car club to get a couple of suggestions. This should give you a better chance of a good job than choosing a name from the phone book. Any shop that caters to car crazies has to be good.

 

wait, so did you request to have 4 new tires put on? Maybe im missing something? did you need to have new tail lights put on?

 

Chrome rings inside the taillight are missing... That's not just suspiscious, but down right wtf. The taillight in the S is damn near impossible to open, according to people who've customized their taillights. What reason would they have to even open it? If the casing was cracked in the accident, you need a new light. They don't sell just the casing. Unless I'm mistaken and you did bring it in to get new taillights installed, I'd demand to know why the rings are missing.

 

I don't know man. The shops do suck but why were you being so weak. Well sometimes it hurts to not be "the annoying over-protective car enthusiast." It's a lesson learned the hard way. Time to speak up and demand detailed explanations.