Hamm's Paint & Body Shop, Inc.

I took my 2008 Chevrolet Impala to Hamm's Body Shop for painting on the right side of the car. It was not painted correctly the first and second time.I took my 2008 Chevrolet Impala to Hamm's Body Shop for painting on the right side of the car. It was not painted correctly the first time and I addressed this with [redacted], the owner. After talking on the phone, and with his consent, I sent him some pictures of the right side of the car taken with a 35mm Nikon digital camera in the sunlight from several angles to ensure an accurate view of the paint issue. He responded by indicating there did appear to be some places that did not match, which included the door handles, the body side molding, and the right end of the rear bumper cover. However, where he blended the paint, about mid-way of the right from door, it was splotchy and there was a difference in the paint shade. He offered a refund, but I told him that he came highly recommended and that I did not want the refund, but wanted and expected my car to be painted to match correctly. He said he would correct it and I agreed and returned the car. After a few days, the car was ready and I went to pick up my car. The above items matched much better, but he indicated he really did not see any blend issues. I asked him did I owe anything else, out of courtesy, and to my distaste, wanted to charge me another $100.00 to cover the cost of materials. It was cloudy for a few days and I did not see any difference in the blend. However, later, while sitting in direct sunlight, I noticed the blend had not been corrected, making the right front fender lighter in shade than the remainder of the right side of the car. Additionally, I have since taken my car to an [redacted] Class repair facility and they did indicate the car appeared to have not been painted correctly.Date of service for first paint: October, 2013 $345.00 (Last week of October)Date of service for second paint: November 15, $100.00 Desired SettlementRefund of $345.00 + $100.00 for a total of $445.00.Business Response Re: Case # [redacted]: [redacted]To Whom It May Concern:The first notice I received from your office was the letter dated January 17, 2014. I don't have any idea what happened to the first letter your office says it mailed.Per Mr.[redacted] he had taken his 2008 Chevy Impala to another collision shop for repair. He explained that shop had worked on his car twice and he was not satisfied with the outcome. I was told they repaired the right rear door and painted the quarter panel and door.Mr. [redacted] explained he came to me because I was highly recommended through a business associate. Mr. [redacted] asked me to repaint the previously painted areas (done by the other shop). I told him no problem I can take care of that. But we would also have to paint the front door as well for blending purposes. Mr. [redacted] had removed door handles prior to my refinishing to help reduce his costs. He commented he had worked in a body shop and he would have these removed before dropping the car off. I quoted him a price according to those expectations of $345.00. Mr. [redacted] picked up the car and appeared to be satisfied.Days later I was notified by Mr. [redacted] that at a certain angle of sun light it appeared that the moldings and handles were indeed lighter (these items were not included in my price to be painted with the right hand doors and quarter panel). This was obvious from the pictures he took on his Nikon 35mm digital camera that were emailed to me. At that point I offered him a full refund. By this time I am remembering back on my conversation with him and how the other shop was unable to satisfy him with 2 attempts that it would probably be in my best interest to just go ahead and offer a refund. Mr. [redacted] rejected the offer and stated that I came highly recommended. He did NOT want the refund but wanted and expected his car to be painted and match correctly. I agreed. Upon completion all items in question matched (to include: door handles, body moldings, right hand rear bumper corner, and rocker molding). At that point I charged an additional $100.00 to help recover my costs for paint and materials because these items were not included in my original estimate to be painted. Mr. [redacted] paid the additional $100.00 thanked me and I was under the impression he was satisfied and have not heard from him since.I had no indication there was a problem until I received this written notification from the Revdex.com.I have been in the business of doing auto paint and body repair for 24 years. This is the first time I have had an unsatisfied customer. I hope the inability to satisfy this one person will not reflect on my business. I hold myself to high standards and work ethic and I am very displeased about this whole situation.Respectfully,[redacted]Hamm's Paint & Body Shop, Inc.More info received from the consumer 2014-01-22Dear Sir or Ma'am,I have since taken my car to another shop, an [redacted] certified body shop and had them review the work that Hamm's completed. They agreed there was a match issue. I returned with the car and it has since been repainted; the right side sheet metal, door moldings, right side rocker panel, and rear bumper. The paintwork was exceptional and all match issues were resolved. [redacted] at Hamm's should have been able to do the same quality of work. I can also provide before photos of the work Hamm's did and the after photos from the other body shop. You will see a noticeable difference. I see no link to submit photos. I have read his response, but neither indicates that he will or will not provide a refund.Respectfully,[redacted]Received Consumer Rebuttal 2014-02-03Dear Sir or Ma'am,I believe that you have misinterpreted my last message. I am NOT satisfied with the paint work from Hamm's! I indicated that I took it to another body shop who did see the paint problem and I had to pay again to get them to repair the previous work from Hamm's. I am demanding a refund from Hamm's Autobody. I have yet to receive any correspondence that he would or would not refund what I paid for paint repairs.Respectfully,[redacted]Final Business Response 2014-02-09Re: Case #[redacted]: [redacted]Dear [redacted]:1/20/14 received letter of complaint from Revdex.com dated 1/17/14.1/21/14 responded to complaint in writing1/22/14 faxed letter to you1/22/14 received email from you that you received my letter 11:06 am1/29/14 received email from your office stating case was closed 8:01 am1/29/14 we sent email letter acknowledging that case was closed and we wanted to know if it would be public record or not. And we commented that we noticed Mr. [redacted] had made a secondary comment. 7:00 pm1/30/14 received email from your office telling me what Mr. [redacted] said in his secondary comment, I already knew this because I emailed that to you on 1/29/14, and you asked us to respond. 11:45 am...my question about if this would be public record or not did not get addressed. Since I was told the case was closed I wanted to know if it was public record or if it would be kept private.1/31/14 received email form your office saying that once you get our final response and forward it back to the consumer the complaint committee will review it and get back with us. 8:43 am. We thought you already had our final response because Mr. [redacted] filed complaint and we responded did not know there was any need to continue with the back and forth since we had letter stating case was closed.2/4/14 received letter & email form your office saying the consumer has posted his third comment. 8:03 amTo our defense let me say, I did not give any of this another thought after your office sent the email on 1/29/14 that the case was closed. That was form your office. Therefore I went on as if the case was closed based on what your office told me.It looks like your office closed the case and was not aware that Mr. [redacted] had made a second comment until I brought that to your attention in my email when I wondered if this would be available to the public or not.Also, I thought this would be simple. He filed his complaint, we responded. End of story, I had no idea that this would drag on and on allowing him to continue to respond over and over in regards to the same matter.In my original letter I tried to keep it simple and not give a lot of "extra" information however, it was in my thoughts to mention it then but I did not. But, after reading all his responses I must say that the price I gave him was cheap because I had felt sympathy for him and the situation he stated he was in with the original shop. I felt sympathy that he had to pay to have his car fixed again. (Today I called that shop [redacted] and he was unaware that Mr. [redacted] was dissatisfied when he left his shop). Remember, I offered Mr. [redacted] a refund (at that point I had realized he was someone who could not be satisfied) and he declined. He also acknowledged that he declined my offer for the refund. He left his car once again and I did the additional work. Upon completion he left my shop satisfied as far as I knew until receiving the complaint from your office.The right thing for Mr. [redacted] to have done IF he in fact was not satisfied would have been for him to come and see me and let me know what the problem was not to blind side me with his inflated complaint.I would like to know officially is this case closed as our email stated or is it in fact still open?If it is open, will a refund make this complaint go away or be non existent?Finally, as stated in previous correspondence upon completion all items in question matched (to include: door handles, body moldings, right hand rear bumper corner, and rocker molding). The customer left satisfied and appreciated the work that was done.Something to think about...any given day a painter could have a bad day or be working with a bad paint color. But, it is highly unlikely that 2 different shops with 4 different attempts would be unable to correct any existing problem.After my first attempt on painting the sheet metal panels, Mr. [redacted] was dissatisfied because the handles, moldings, and bumper were slightly lighter than the portion of the car I painted. By this time I was remembering back on my conversation with him and how the other shop was unable to satisfy him with 2 attempts and that it would probably be in my best interest to go ahead and offer him a refund. So, I offered him a refund. He declined. I saw pictures with proper sunlight showing me that the parts I painted did not quite match (being slightly darker) than the parts that I did NOT paint. Therefore I corrected that by painting the additional pieces mentioned (door handles, body moldings, right hand rear bumper corner and rocker molding). This did match and he did leave satisfied. Again, if Mr. [redacted] was not satisfied for any reason he should have immediately brought this to my attention or contacted me personally. For the above mentioned explanation I am not issuing a refund.Sincerely,[redacted]More info received from the consumer 2014-02-21Per Mr. [redacted] final comments regarding the refund, I will request that this case be closed as successfully resolved if he will refund the price of the paint repair. Regarding his additional comments that I have made an inflated complaint, although I have photo proof and witnesses of the blend error in the paint,I will forward this to legal counsel for trial. If the last body shop could see the problem and correct it, and he claims he does quality work, this case would not have been reported to the Revdex.com and I would not have had to return the car the second time to Hamm's for additional corrections.