Wohooo my car is all the same colour again!

[Mandip]

Hello

So I took my car to a body shop on monday to get some work done on my rear door as it had a few deep scratches and dings that I wanted sorted.

I have just got home after picking the car up and was showing my other half the great work they did. This is where i hit a snag, when i picked up the car i obviously inspected it to make sure the paint looked good and then i went inside paid and picked up the keys and came home. I didn't think to open the rear door.

So when i got home i tried to open the door and it wont open. Now i know it wont open from the inside because i had activated the child lock because i was scared my 1 yr old would try to experiment with the door handle. I know for a fact that they took the outside door handle of to paint the door and then they must have closed the door thinking they would be able to get it open from the inside.

So i tried to call the bodyshop but they have obviously closed for the evening.

I just wanted to know has anyone else had an issue like this? How hard is it to take the inside panel off and carrier panel and get to the back of the outside door handle whilst the door is close? Whats connected to that handle to open the door?

Or is there a way to override the child lock?

Also I don't know what to do about the bodyshop, i don't really want them to touch my car now because I don't trust them anymore but do I try to claim compensation? Do I actually have any rights whatsoever?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Murdered LCR]

You can't take the door card off with out having the door open , but what your find is that the body shop probally hasn't latched the clip back on to the handle when putting the door card back on very easly done as I done mine luckly I don't have child lock on ,

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

nitemare ,

i forgot to latch it , but luckily never put the child lock on , i do now tho

am goin to re seal them soon , must remember to undo the childlocks first
i would take it back to them , theyre error , if they have to break the panels to sort they can replace
good luck

 

[LEE69]

There are no screws along the bottom, just behind the handle you pull, you might be able to remove the door card.

Also might not be that.

Try hitting the handle with the palm of your hand hard and firm, worked for me.

 

[Mandip]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Well you were all right kind of, the body shop failed to put the latch on the outside handle correctly. What they have done is put the latch on too far forward, which has either confused the lock into thinking its in the open position and therefore wont open or it has snapped the cable that attaches to the handle (wont know till I get in there). I will take some pictures once it stops raining so you can see what I mean (and hopefully never fall into this trap)

MORAL OF THE STORY IS IF YOU ARE EVER WORKING ON YOUR REAR DOORS MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD LOCKS ARE DEACTIVATED.

The rear interior door card can be removed whilst the door is closed as there are just two screws behind the handle, the rest are pop in clips. Where it gets hard is faffing about with the carrier panel (metal panel behind the door card).

I took it back to the bodyshop this morning and told the guy what the problem was. He proceeded to tell me that putting the latch in that position made no difference. He blatantly didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He began to get very agitated and said "ah for f**k sake gimme the key then", all through which i was really calm with him. After that statement and the previous one about the latch position I wasnt confident that he would know what he was doing and would probably botch things up further. So I stated I would take it to a qualified VAG tech and would he be prepared to foot the bill or go 50/50 (which i thought was fair since it was his fault), he just said no and then walked off!!

So thats where we are at the mo. I have a right mind to name and shame the bodyshop but not sure whether that is within the forum rules. I wouldnt want anyone else to fall into this trap.

 

[Murdered LCR]

Think your find the door card has two torx bits right at the very bottom it defo does on the front doors check ur other rear door tho there right where the sill is

 

[LEE69]

It doesn't took my rear of today and only the two screws behind the handle.
Just uses poppers on the bottom.

 

[Mandip]

Caught a glimpse of my car in the sun today, not happy!!!!!! 3 guesses to which door they painted?!

So not only did the bodyshop mess up my lock BUT they didnt even get the paint colour right!!!!

Well unhappy about all this, does anyone know how to put this right?? I.e could i t-cut it or something? Or is it a respray job? If so can anyone recommend someone?

 

[Murdered LCR]

Holy feck lol that needs a respray , it needs to be blended in with all that side of the car

 

[Mandip]

Holy feck lol that needs a respray , it needs to be blended in with all that side of the car

Pretty bad right

Do you know of any good bodyshops?

 

[Murdered LCR]

Not round your way mate , but that is bad

 

[nick9one1]

name and shame!!

 

[Slimy]

You should reject that, get it back to them or threaten to take it somewhere else and send them the bill. That's blatantly the wrong shade of paint. And before they say they can't match exactly because paint fades, if that was the case the new door would be DARKER than the old ones!

Unfortunately you do need to give them the opportunity to fix their mistake before taking it elsewhere, so you will have to take it back to them.

 

[Mandip]

You should reject that, get it back to them or threaten to take it somewhere else and send them the bill. That's blatantly the wrong shade of paint. And before they say they can't match exactly because paint fades, if that was the case the new door would be DARKER than the old ones!

Unfortunately you do need to give them the opportunity to fix their mistake before taking it elsewhere, so you will have to take it back to them.

Unfortunately taking it back is not an option.

When I initially took it back because he also messed up the lock, I mentioned it to him that the paint doesn't seem to match correctly, although it didn't look too bad as it wasn't sunny that day. He told me that someone has obviously done a bad paint job in the first place and painted the whole side of the car then wrong colour. I am assuming thats bull because the rest of the car is all the same colour and everything matches perfectly. He basically was doing and saying anything to get him out of fixing this mess!!!!!

He also swore at me and then walked off and started beating a panel with a hammer!!! He's obviously not concerned about repeat business or reputation.

I am really annoyed about it, but at the end of the day just need to get over it and work on a solution to get it sorted.

I dont mind taking it out of MK but just need to find somewhere reputable to get the job done right.

 

[RS6]

that is totally unacceptable mate i would go back and demand your money back show them just how different the colour match is, ask for a refund and get yourself down to a better bodyshop that is not even blended or colour matched corectly

i think you have just been very unlikey with that particular bodyshop, there are loads of bad ones around not good

 

[jake]

got your pm, i connot understand how this has happened, iirc yours being a cupra r they only came in a solid black, the colour is litterally one tinter. so unless the door has had a dodgy clear, or they have put the wrong colour on, its crazy.

anyways cheap fix, paint it black, £55 +vat if it is a pearl then your into both panels for the colour which bumps the price up to £150+vat

hth

 

[Mandip]

got your pm, i connot understand how this has happened, iirc yours being a cupra r they only came in a solid black, the colour is litterally one tinter. so unless the door has had a dodgy clear, or they have put the wrong colour on, its crazy.

anyways cheap fix, paint it black, £55 +vat if it is a pearl then your into both panels for the colour which bumps the price up to £150+vat

hth

Hi Jake

Yep you are right, mine is a 52 plate which only came in the solid black (paint code is LO41).

Its strange because in certain light you can't even tell the colour is off, only when in direct sunlight does it really look odd. Do you think that points to a dodgy clear?

How long do you think you would need the car for in order to sort it?

Thanks

 

[jake]

hard to tell,

l041 in most cases is a single tinter lol, so could mean he hasn't cleaned a clear coat gun and something has been in there or activator hasnt been mixed correctly,

fix time one day

 

[Mandip]

Handels fixed but the paintwork looks awful!!!!

hard to tell,

l041 in most cases is a single tinter lol, so could mean he hasn't cleaned a clear coat gun and something has been in there or activator hasnt been mixed correctly,

fix time one day

Cool, will give u a buzz tommorrow in order to book it in.

 

[adiohead]

Dude, phone them up and ask if they'll do the job properly. If they say no then get it done elsewhere and sue them.

honestly! that is one of the worst paint jobs I've ever seen.