Tustin Body Works

My experience at Tustin Body Works was so repulsive and abhorrent that I felt absolutely compelled to share it so that potential customers have an additional source of information to better base their decisions when looking for an auto body shop.

First and foremost, I would like to be clear that although I was appalled by my experience at Tustin Body Works, I have made the commitment to be as objective and unbiased as possible in my review of them. My goal is to present the facts and let them play the starring role so that potential customers can decide for themselves when deciding where to place their patronage.

Around mid December 2015, I was referred to Tustin Body Works by an auto detail guy for repair of the damaged rear bumper of my Black 2013 Lexus GS 350 F Sport with about 17K Miles at that time. I decided to Yelp Tustin Body Works and found that they had a limited amount of reviews (about 40-50 at that time) which made me feel kind of leery because we've all heard of "doctored" reviews by the business' family and friends, etc. Anyhow, most of their reviews were positive and boosted my trust to have the repair done. I knew it was a bit of a gamble but I went ahead and called them.

I spoke to [redacted] and set the appointment for January 04, 2016. The cost of the repair was $450.00 in Cash. About a couple of days later, my colleague drove me there to pick up and I was "whisked" away immediately after making payment. No one made any attempt to show me the finished product or ask if I had any questions, etc. My friend and I both decided that it would be a good idea to inspect the bumper before we leave. I thought I was seeing things but my bumper had new scratches AND air bubbles all over the "repaired" bumper. It was a rainy day but even with the obstruction of clear view from the water droplets being on the paint, the poor workmanship and defects of the repair was clearly obvious. So I called [redacted] out to get his conclusion. He blamed the new scratches on the rack that the bumper was placed on to dry the paint. At first [redacted] tried to tell me that it's okay and those issues should not be a problem because he knew I was going to get a full car paint wax and detail soon with the auto detail guy anyway. I was completely shocked to hear that comment. I paid for the repair of my bumper with Tustin Body Works not with the auto detail guy. After further inspection, [redacted] agreed the bumper needed correction. He asked me to come back later. When we returned, it was still very evident that the bumper was still not repaired correctly. [redacted] asked me to leave it overnight. We came back the next day and inspected the work. Although there were still some very small bubbles on the paint, I figured there was not much else they could probably do to fix the problem so I decided to SETTLE and take it like that.

After a few days, I'd noticed that there was a big scruff/abrasion at the edge of the bumper where it met the trunk lid. I called [redacted] and brought it back to Tustin Body Works. After a few hours, I came back and [redacted] told me the scruff wasn't their fault and that someone had tried to pry my trunk. My car is always parked in my garage. The only time it left my possession was when it was Valeted at Ruth's Chris in Anaheim for dinner. It's highly unlikely that something weird like that would happen but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thanked him anyway for taking care of it.

After a few days later, when the rain subsided, to my horror, I'd noticed that the upper part of the bumper on the driver's sided that meets the driver's sided rear fender had a much larger gap than usual and the "clips" used to attach the bumper to the fender was CLEARLY visible. The passenger's side also had that issue but not as obvious. Also, the part of the bumper that meets the taillights we protruding out and was not flush like it should be. (I've included pics for your reference). I brought the car in and met with [redacted] and Asst Mgr. [redacted]. I pointed out the issues and they told me it was NORMAL for the large gap and clips to be visible within the gap like that. [redacted] even said that I can go to any Lexus dealership and will find the same thing on all their cars. That would insult anyone with even a speck of common sense and intelligence. Then [redacted] said my bumper had been worked on before. I'm the 2nd owner and bought the car when it had under 11K miles. I checked CarFax prior to purchasing and it was completely clean. It is now heresay. [redacted] very smugly and pompously said there's nothing else they can or want to do. It became a mute point for resolution.

The purpose of this review is not to get anything out of Tustin Body Works. [redacted] has proven that they simply don't care. The purpose is to present the facts and let potential customers better decide where they should take their patronage.

There are more details but just not practical to make this review any longer than it already is. I will try to provide follow-up status after I get 2nd opinion from another body shop.

Thank you.