If you looking for service excellence.......DON'T USE Springfield Panel & Paint

<p>My experience with Springfield Panel and Paint was extremely disappointing. After receiving confirmation from my insurance provider, they contacted me to bring my vehicle in for the authorised repairs. I was told that my vehicle will be kept for a period of 7 to 14 working days .....which to me didn't make sense because the number of hours of labour quoted for was about 35hrs and I could understand how and why the repairs would take longer than that. On questioning this, and indicating that I couldn't be without a vehicle for the indicated period, I was told that I would be loaned a courtesy vehicle. On 8th May 2017 I was told to bring my car in the next day and I was told to be there at 7:30 am. I did indicate that I would only be able to drop my vehicle off at about 7:45am......I arrived there at 7:45am only to have to wait until about 8:45am, as the courtesy vehicle was not ready for me. The courtesy vehicle didn't even have sufficient petrol in it.......the petrol light came on as soon as I started it. I was frustrated but decided to let it go seeing that my place of work was nearby and there was a petrol station nearby as well. On the 12 May 2017 I called just to find out how much longer they will have my vehicle for and was told that it would be ready that day. I had to call several times to get a confirmation of the time I could fetch my vehicle and eventually was told that I could collect it at 4pm that day. At approximately 3:30pm they called me to say that I had to pay an excess of about R3000.00 and that I should have that amount ready when fetching my vehicle. I indicated that I had an excess waiver policy with my insurance and was told that I need to call my insurance and clear this up with them.........although this wasn't their fault, I can't understand why they couldn't call up the insurance provider and clear this up with them directly....seeing that they were given direct authorisation to go ahead with the job by my insurance company. Also had they told be about the excess needing to be paid earlier, it would have given me sufficient time to clear it up with my insurance. The issue of the excess resolved, I was told that I could collect my vehicle but would have to pay R750 for some high risk fee which I was happy to pay. When inspecting the vehicle I noticed that they had damaged my vehicle while doing the required repairs......firstly the attitude I got from the manager was really unprofessional from making comments that "it was just a plastic part" and saying that they had no choice but to remove that specific part when having to do the repairs required. They also made it seem like I was blaming them for something that was already there..........I have photos to prove otherwise. The manager eventually indicated that they would replace the damaged part by the next week. I raised concern that if I paid the R750 they would not honour their promise of replacing the damaged part........and I was right. I was made to pay the R750, as they indicated that they would not release my vehicle if payment wasn't made and to date they have not honoured their promise.<br />I will never use this service provider again. <br />Mrs Rammanhor (Durban)</p>