AUTOHAUS PAINT & PANEL STRYDOMPARK REVOLTING SERVICE

After dropping off my vehicle on the 25th of March I have been left with a bitter taste in my mouth and can only wonder how they are still in business. My vehicle is evidence of the poor quality assessment and workmanship, let alone the condescending racial treatment at the hands of Axel who is supposedly a Senior employee of Autohaus Paint and Panel.

Over the past month i had been rightfully worried regarding the delay of the repair seeing that i had been informed that the vehicle takes 12 working days on the 25th of March when i dropped it off. Following the very poor communication after the delay, i had been to the panel beater to check on the progress of the repair and was happily assisted by a gentleman by the name of Keletso whom i contacted through the panel beater landline twice to check on progress.

I was contacted by a lady yesterday morning (29April19) to inform me that my vehicle was ready for collection as it had gone through quality check. I was ecstatic as you would image how stressful it is driving around a rental vehicle as one anything my occur at this day and age in Johannesburg. Needless to say, i arrived at the panel beater with my twin brother, who was to drive my vehicle to Bidvest to return the rental vehicle. Upon our arrival, i immediately noticed anomalies that required that more work be done on the vehicle. I then took pictures in order to head inside reception and show the anomalies however was met by Axel who could not even great me but proceeded to ask if there were issues. I affirmatively answered and he asked me to point out where the issues were.

As i bent down to show him the anomalies on the headlight and running paint on the bumper and asked him to take a closer look, he said "I don't know, speak to Paulos." Shocked as to who Paulos is, i came up and asked him who might that be and he continued, in an interrogatory manner, telling me to speak to him. I thought he had mistaken my identity with someone else at the time so i asked him if Paulos had another name and he aggressively said "I don't know." I asked if he in fact was not speaking about Keletso as that is the only person i have ever spoken to in person since my deliver of the vehicle.

What followed after was nothing short of appalling at this day and age.

He said, "I don't know what his black name is." Needless to say, i asked "His black name? He has a black name?" and he thereafter shouted at another African employee to go and call "Paulos." This to me suggested that perhaps the man was living in the past were African people had slave names as well as black names. Without further explanation, black names were obviously used as a result of the pronunciation difficulty of African names.

Much to my surprise, Keletso appears in the midst of the vehicles in the parking lot and i proceeded to ask him in Zulu if his other name was Paulos to which he affirmatively answered. In an attempt to avoid confrontation i proceeded to engage with the helpful gentleman who informed me that he had informed his boss that he had been speaking to me regarding the progress of the vehicle and had asked that he sees me when i come pick up the vehicle. I pointed out the issues to him and he confirmed that he would sort them out for me however needed me to leave the vehicle until 16h00 (current time was a little after 15h00). At this point Axel aggressively said he was leaving because he does not understand a word we were speaking. This was in earshot and was EXTREMELY disturbing! This lead me to question his initial approach.

I proceeded to ignore him to avoid confrontation and informed Keletso we will be back after an hour. We returned after an hour and found the vehicle in the workshop with anomalies that we just simply unacceptable. I informed him that i will only fetch the vehicle today as he informed me that the vehicle would be in a better state. By luck or standard procedure, the vehicle is assessed before any work, i urge you to send the very same inspector to see the vehicle as it is now with me. Just to compare left and right front parts.

Before i left yesterday, a gentleman in a Blue Audi A1 approached us to vent about the poor workmanship and has had to return his vehicle for continued paint work.

I arrived today with my twin brother after i was informed that my vehicle was ready for collection and to our surprise were met by a lady screaming at Axel, stating that he must speak to her as a Customer and thereafter he was observed walking away from the lady. I unfortunately could not continue being subjected to such bullying as there was nothing i could do at the hands of Axel and quickly requested all paperwork for my vehicle. After paying the excess i requested my keys and the ladies at reception would not allow me to take them until i signed a release form confirming that all was in order. I signed the same document with a note on which was hand written by myself confirming that same was merely confirming release of the vehicle. The ladies refused the same and printed another copy for me to sign and i gladly obliged.

Whilst busy signing the documents, a lady collecting a VW Toureg came in after the inspection and found poor workmanship and requested that the hair in the paint be removed. The quality of their work is extremely questionable.