OUTRIGHT THEFT & INCOMPETENCE - AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Possibly the worst panelbeating experience of my life, and that is saying a lot. If a zero stars rating were possible, I would have selected it. I would advise anyone to steer well clear of this service provider. They are dishonest & avoidant in their dealings with customers. It has cost me an endless amount of time and strife to restore my vehicle to standard.

My accident happened in September 2019. At the scene, the tow truck driver said that my vehicle would be taken to "ZAMBEZI" (as noted on the form I signed). Despite residing in Pretoria and the accident happening in Pretoria, my car mysteriously ended up at RENEW-IT RIVONIA via FIRSTHELP towing service, an hour away and in another city.

Now began the exceedingly long wait and delays. Despite numerous promises the delivery date kept being pushed back and pushed back. I had informed RENEW-IT RIVONIA that I would be out of the country from the end of October and that I needed my vehicle back before then to be able to check it properly. As it turned out, my vehicle was only returned to the care of my parents two days after I had left.

My dad noted several concerns with the vehicle when it was delivered late in the afternoon (it was driven to my house in Pretoria, not towed) which included: 1. “Strange” noise in engine like a soft grinding 2. Cover of fuse box missing 3. Electric fan not working 4. Water is still boiling after about 10 minutes after switch off 5. Body work could not be checked because of bad light 6. Wheel alignment was off to the left

Most of these seem like gross negligence on the service provider's part. I would expect a vehicle to be properly assessed/tested before being delivered back to the client. All of these issues could also cause further damage/maintenance issues with my vehicle in future, but it didn't stop them from driving my vehicle the 40km to Pretoria. This is just sloppy & reckless, especially as I would only return to SA on 2019-11-09 and had no immediate need for my vehicle until then.

What follows is the downright ******** behaviour from this service provider.

The latch on my boot was replaced with a different model without explanation. My original boot latch was one with a button externally on the handgrip. When I received my vehicle, it had a completely different format of boot latch, with no external button.

There was no reason for my latch to be replaced. It was not damaged in the accident and it was brand new (we had it replaced a year ago). The part is also not listed on the quote sent to Momentum and I suspect that it may have been stripped for resale as no alternative explanation was tendered from RENEW-IT RIVONIA.

The e-tag registered to my vehicle incurred toll fees during the time it was in RENEW-IT RIVONIA's custody. The e-tag is still missing from my vehicle. After I received my vehicle, I noticed that my e-tag was not beeping as I passed under gantries. A visual check confirmed that my e-tag was no longer attached to its bracket. I searched the vehicle, thinking it may have dropped off, but found nothing.

When I checked my e-toll account for the period of 2019-09-18 to 2019-11-24, I noticed several transactions connected to my unique e-tag barcode going through toll gates to the North of Pretoria. I found this surprising as my vehicle was in the care of RENEW-IT RIVONIA for the entire time period not to mention that the toll gates were not in the Randburg/Johannesburg area at all.

On 2019-10-25, my vehicle's number plates were picked up by gantries while it was delivered to Pretoria. On 2019-10-30 & 2019-10-31, my vehicle was again shuttled from Pretoria to Rivonia & back due to pretty major issues with the repair that needed to be resolved (as mentioned above).

I tried to resolve these matters with RENEW-IT RIVONIA directly, but kept being bounced from person to person, and that is if anyone answered my calls at all. My emails were ignored for the most part. I still have no explanation at all for any of the things I mentioned above.

In the end, I had to escalate the matter to my insurance, MOMENTUM. Now, almost a year later, my car is at another panel beater to address the issues. I sincerely hope that they do a better job than RENEW-IT RIVONIA attempted.