Terrible - stay faaaar away!

ISLAND AUTO PANEL

46 Milner St, Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, 7405, Paarden Eiland, Cape Town.

On instruction from my insurer, Santam, I took my car in for repair of a scuff mark on the left rear fender and a small parking lot dent on the right rear fender. What a terrible ordeal it became to get these two simple, light repairs done. When called to collect the car, they had done a low quality repair job (mismatched paint colour, poor rear bumper fitment with unequal overhangs on either side, and wildly irregular panel gaps between the panels they had painted and refitted). I felt a bit embarrased to have to complain because I hate making a fuss, but of necessity, I politely pointed out the problems and explained that I could not sign off on the job as a result of these problems, and asked, in a very nice and polite way, if they could please look at it again and try to improve the finishing. To my shock, surprise, and dismay, I was told off by their unbelievably rude, aggressive and arrogant manager, Cesare/Chesray. I was stunned into complete silence as he lashed out at me, telling me to "address him properly" and saying that he will mix new paint that I will have to come and approve before they spray it onto the panels. Feeling rattled and confused, insulted, intimidated and very upset, I could hardly believe what had just happened and tried to make sense of it. Never before had I been met with such unprovoced animosity. I left the panel shop without my car. After a while, I regained my composure somewhat and called my insurance broker and explained what had just transpired. My broker was very professional in handling the situation and so too was Santam (after she escalated it to them), who sent an assessor to investigate my complaint and evaluate the job. This resulted in a redo of the job, thanks to Santam's intervention. I was called back to inspect the car and the arrogant Cesare/Chesray was, thankfully, nowhere to be seen. Instead, I was met by a man called Chris, who seemed polite enough. The colour match was now a little better (definitely not perfect), but I decided to make peace with it and told them that the paint colour was now "acceptable". However, the panel gaps had not been attended to at all. Chris made note of it and they had another go at the gaps. Two days later I was called back to find that where the gaps were initially so tight as to be touching in places, they were now very wide in those same places. They seem to have just filed the touching panels down, in other words it is still as bad as it was when we started, only now it was in the opposite way... It became a lost cause. To just get this unpleasant ordeal behind me, I accepted my repaired car as "okay". I signed their paperwork and left their premises. Stopping to refuel on my way home, I pulled down my sun visor to be greeted by dirty, black finger marks on it. I looked around at the interior and noticed that these were also on the roof lining in several places, the linings of the window/door pillars, the grab handles, overhead storage bins, the centre roof console and on the other sun visor (all of which are trimmed in light grey). I will now have to get a full interior valet done at my own cost to get it clean again. They also scratched my car's rear hatch while in their care. I brought this to their attention - they could have just polished it out in a matter of minutes but they did not, so it is another thing I will have to get done elsewhere at my own expense. Never, ever, ever will I go back there. A very unpleasant initial experience and despite their slight shift in attitude after my complaint to Santam, and what I must assume to be their best efforts to repair my car to their highest standards possible thereafter, the result is still very disappointing. I will remember Island Auto Panel in Paarden Eiland for a long time to come. Bitterly, it will not be for the right reasons. One star, only because zero stars are not an option to rate. In fact, I wish I could rate a minus. Stay far, far, faaaaar away...