2 months and I still do not have my car back for a simple fix

Good Day,

Trust you are well.

This complaint is with regards to the service I received from Autohaus Paint and Panel in Strijdom Park, Randburg.

This is with regards to my VW polo that was in an accident on 04 October 2018.

Today is 27 November 2018 and I am yet to get my car back.

My car had severe rim and tyre damage and was towed away from the scene of the accident on a flatbed to the insurance yard. Once my approval was complete my car was towed to Autohaus on 18 October 2018 and from day 1 it has been one issue to another. No care at all was taken by the Autohaus Paint and Panel. The man I dealt with from Autohaus, Axel, has absolutely no way of speaking to customers and each time you ask him a question, he will put his hands up and say I don’t know.

I was told on countless occasions that they had not started working on my car due to parts not being received and because they could not find the lock nuts for my car. I went there and checked myself and the lock nuts were not in the car, I then asked them to check with my belongings that they had at the back and they confidently said it was not there. They only received the parts on 09 November 2018 and that’s when work commenced, 22 days after my car had arrived.

My fiancé took my rims to the panel beater on 12 November 2018, they then informed her that they had found my lock nuts with my belongings meaning that if they had checked when I asked them to, they would have found it and been able to start work on 18 October 2018 already. My fiancé checked the front right headlight and the exhaust. She then asked Axel if they had replaced it with the free-flow exhaust I had on the car and he said no, it’s a normal exhaust. She asked him to start the car and they said they couldn’t because they were not done.

I was informed by Axel that my other 2 tyres needed to be replaced as well as the ones initially quoted on and on 13th November 2018 I rep**** and asked them to proceed with the initial two tyres and that I would deal with the two tyres that needed to be replaced when I got my car back.

The assessor sent me pictures of my exhaust a few days later which had now been welded together, needless to say I was not impressed. I informed the assessor of where my original exhaust was done and sent him the details of Powerflow in Randburg. The assessor then forwarded the information to the panel beater. Autohaus informed me that my exhaust was done on 15 November 2018, and I called powerflow to double check if my car had went there and they said “no Mr Naidoo your car has not come through to us’. They had sent my car somewhere else and it took then an entire day just to fit an exhaust pipe when all that was needed was a single downpipe which was half a metre long.

My car had:

• Tyre Damage • Rim Damage • Suspension Damage • Exhaust Damage • Right Front Headlight Damage

My car ended up needing: • Tyres • Rims • Suspension • New Exhaust • Right Front Headlight • Control Unit • Battery

On arrival to pick up my car on 19th November 2018, my car’s grill was misaligned, my car would not start, and my car was in such bad condition. We were told by Axil in the rudest manner possible that the car needs to be put on a brain that would go around the car to see what’s wrong. I am not sure if myself and my fiancé looked stupid to him that he felt the need to belittle us like that. It was taken to VW to have a diagnostics run on it to check what was causing the car to not start. VW found that the control unit was damaged, and VW replaced this control unit by Friday 23rd November 2018. I cannot understand how a panel beater does not know they need to start a car that’s been standing for so many weeks.

On Monday 26th November 2018 I was told that my car was ready, seeing as I was busy as work, my fiancé went through to check my car. On her arrival she checked the car on the outside and went to speak to the receptionist who explained the cost to her. Axel went outside with her to start the car so that she could hear the exhaust and it did not sound right. Axel then said to her that the courtesy car that they had lent to me needed to be back at the workshop at 9am tomorrow morning due to another customer needing it. She then said you guys took 5weeks with the car and he stopped her and said it’s your guys own fault your car took so long because you’ll had issues with rims and your exhaust so don’t blame us for your car taking long, I don’t care I want corolla back here at 9am. He then said he wanted the keys to my car, she was still speaking to him and he took the keys from her and started walking away while she was still trying to speak to him. She asked him about the exhaust and he said we took the car to “x flow” and she said but we asked you to take it to “Powerflow” and he said that’s not my problem.

Yesterday Neville called me from the panel beaters and we came to an agreement that I will pay an amount of R3100 which is excess and for my tires today I get call and to advise me my car is ready and I need to pay R4200

Please can someone please help me sort this whole mess out, I cannot believe its 2 months now and today I am still sitting here without my car and still getting messed around

This has been the worst experience I have ever had with any Panel Beater, the dishonesty, the poor customer service or rather lack of customer service and the simple inefficiency of not being able to follow simple instructions. I really hope that King Price will take this as a lesson learnt and not use this panel beater again.