Poor paintwork repair job. Advice.

[A.J.M]

A few weeks ago i put my 2004 Discovery 3 into a local long established bodyshop to get some paintwork issues sorted and to fix 2 rust spots appearing on the car.

Car was booked in with a few weeks notice and was told to have it there for 9am Monday to start work straight away.
We went round the car pointing out all the bits i wanted fixed, the rust chip above the windscreen and around the fuel cap and the various off road dents and scrapes to the bodywork.

I said, i would remove the off road accessories off it to help them out.
So the front and back light guards and brackets, the front A bar and spot lights and brackets, the Prospeed rear ladder and the Front Runner roof rack were all removed. The snorkel was left on as it was raining and i had given the standard grill insert away to a friend so couldn't cover the hole in the wing.

Car was handed to them for the Monday. I was passing on the Wednesday and dropped in to see how it was getting on, to find it hadn't been started yet.
He said, a local used car dealer that gives him business dropped off 2 cars needing fixed, the valet guy had crashed a car that was sold, into a member of the publics car and wanted both cars fixed asap.

Wasn't overly happy as that meant my car wasn't being worked on. He said he would work on mine over the weekend and get back to me for when it would be ready.

Got my car back the following Monday after i finished work as i work away for weekends.

Noticed a few things wrong, and the more i looked the more faults i could see.

The bonnet hasn't been flattened properly on the drivers side in 3 areas, so it's discoloured,
The edges haven't been smoothed so they are quite rough.
The driver's wing hasn't been painted properly as the snorkel hasn't been removed. You can see the front's been done and half way down it stops and an attempt at machine polishing the off road marks has been poorly attempted.
The door tops at the window trim on all for 4 doors are rough and haven't been flattened properly.
The A pillar trim on both sides has over spray on them.
The B pillar trim has over spray on both sides.
The trim round the back passenger doors has over spray on it.
The door seals on both sides have significant over spray on them. The passenger side starts at the back arch and goes up the door and along the roof to the B pillar.
There are marks around the fuel cap that weren't there before the work was done.
The fuel cap is a different shade of silver. Car in all pictures i can find on it, is one shade of silver all the way down including that cap.
They haven't fixed the marks around the back right light from the light guard.
They have sprayed over tar spots around the rear bumper, not cleaned them off.
There is over spray on the back bumper at both sides.
They only painted half the tailgate, didn't fix the top where the ladder had caused some rust to come.
The paint has peeled off at the back left corner next to the bumper and above the drivers door.
The rust spot on the roof hasn't been fixed and has bubbled through already.

I've taken the car back to them, walked around the car and pointed out everything that's wrong with the work, he said to bring it back and he would sort it over a weekend.

Now, i've so far not taken him up on that as it will mean another rushed job like the first time and will likely have a lot of defects still to be sorted yet again.

For a 2nd opinion i took it to another bodyshop that repaired a friends Renault sport Clio when his then girlfriend attacked a bollard with it. They went round it and have stated it's a poorly prepped, rush job and would need the full lot removed and redone to make it good.
They said it would be over 2 grand to put right.

What are my realistic options with this?
Give the first shop another chance to put it right, but likely get a poor job back.
Claim for my money back or get them to pay for it to be put right.
Or, just accept it fked up and to put it down to a painful experience.

I still haven't got the car rebuilt with the rack and other accessories put back on which is pissing me off as it looks crap without them and doesn't feel like my car without them.

[catman]

I'd say you should give them a chance to correct the work without any reference to taking it elsewhere if it's not done correctly. Then decide on your course of action after the work's been done a second time.

Tim

[andymc]

im car trade and the quality of work varies hugely, it pisses me off as usually its so easy to see

[Old Merc]

You must give them the chance to correct any faults themselves.If you involve a third party that may give them a "get out clause". Go to see the MD,with a bit of luck it may be his name over the door?, give him the full story and that you expect a full strip and repaint. NOT a quick tidy up job.

[mmm-five]

Might not be pertinent, but what were you quoted for all this work?

Did you ask for a 'quick & cheap' fix, or were you quoted what you considered a fair amount for a good job?

[poo at Paul's]

How much was the job and how long ago was it done?

Have you refitted the accessories you took off?

[lowdrag]

You paid without looking at the repair? You are going to be in with a shout at "The Sheriffs are Coming" I fear. You have to give them a chance to fix it, but I have grave doubts they'll do it. The whole story is so iffy.

[A.J.M]

Job was done end of February this year.
I had the car booked in the end of January, we walked around the car and i pointed out the parts i needed to be fixed.
He agreed and we wrote it all down. So he knew for a few weeks it was coming in, and what it needed.

I further, made up a list of all that we had agreed and left it with the car for them to follow. Which seemed to be ignored.

I haven't fitted any of the accessories back on the car, as some have been getting treated and fixed.
Other's are getting replaced with better items once car comes back from getting some work done at a Landy specialist.

I'm happy for him to have another try, i just don't want it to be a weekend rush job.