Unacceptable service from Durban Central Panel Beaters

I was told by my insurance company that I need to take my car in to Durban Central Panel beaters after a claim. I took my car in on the 10th of August for a small fender bender. I think it was just the right fender front bumper and right headlight that was affected. Not much damage in general.

In the first week of my vehicle being with them i did not receive any communication from them for the entire week. I had to constantly make the effort to call in asking for updates.

I then escalated about my concerns with regards to the lack of communication from the dcp team. This lack of communication was still not fully addressed but was better after a couple of weeks.

I eventually collected my car on the 15th of September. When I picked the car up I was told by the service advisor that handed the car to me that the headlight is still on backorder and will be available in the first week of October (it is still not available), Also the handbrake button was broken by someone in the dcp team which was making it difficult to release the handbrake. This was not broken when I dropped the car off originally.

When i got home i found that the rear fog lamp was pushed in. The bonnet paint was also cracked. I had taken pics of all of these and sent it to a manager who I had escalated this to. These pics were sent to the manager on 16th September. She advised that she will investigate this. She then only got back to me on the 20th September that I should bring my car in to have a look it. I dont understand why i needed to do this when i had already shown it to the service advisor when IK collected my vehicle and i had sent pics to the manager to show the damage.

I then called to escalate to the director on 21 September where his PA put me through to the manager again who mentioned that he was well aware of the issues with my vehicle. But nothing had happened including no communication whatsoever from anybody else. Most communication with the dcp team has been initiated by me.

I then called again on the 23rd escalated to the director and was again put through to the manager by his PA who said he were busy in a meeting. Again i was told that my situation is being handled. I asked for constant communication to let me know when the headlight will be available and the issues raised to be rectified.

It is now 10th October and the only I have received very little from the dcp team in terms of firm dates on rectification of the issues that they have caused. This is now almost 2 months after I brought my car in and I still have issues.

This is totally unacceptable now and i am left so frustrated. There was no QA done before releasing my car. I called in again on the 5th of October to speak to the director and was told he was in a meeting. I had asked for his email address, I was given the incorrect email address. I then googled his email address online and found the correct one.