Am I being unrealistic? Remaining scratches after professional detail

^ Keep in mind I did not want a full correction, only a light polish. But yes I agree.
 
I'm going yo say it at this point....what the ####!!
You guys keep saying he should do a better job for that price....
Who charges $3400 for a light polish and gets away with it....I'd like to shake the dudes hand and say.....bravo buddy.......you fuckin win the bobbie prize!!

This has to be a joke.....I'm out.......good luck man
 
It appears to be relatively light defects left, something even a quick, 4-pass 1-step should have removed or significantly improved. Unfortunately any mention of "Preserving clear coat vs going for near perfect" left the door open to detailers subjective assesment on just what that means...and what he can get away with if you want to take a pessimistic view of his intentions.

When I've had a pro do work on my cars they spent significant time spent disussing budget vs expectations and any discrepancies between the 2, much back and forth so no surprises at the end.

I'd guess you're somewhat at the detailers mercy given that they have the 'out' of the "Preserving clearcoat..." thing. Hopefully they'll step up and remedy as on the surface, that seems like poor work no matter the situation and leeway your desire for preservation might have given them.

The PPF ain't cheap and that was a good part of the cost I'd imagine and given that PPF can cover a significant level of defects, quite possible those sections got the same light polish but outta sight, ouuta mind; i was never too concerned with what paint looks like under the PPF though as ling as it looked good on top.
 
Bosko said:
I'm going yo say it at this point....what the ####!!
You guys keep saying he should do a better job for that price....
Who charges $3400 for a light polish and gets away with it....I'd like to shake the dudes hand and say.....bravo buddy.......you fuckin win the bobbie prize!!

This has to be a joke.....I'm out.......good luck man
Click to expand...

Did you read the entire post? The price was for full front PPF (bumper, fenders, hood, mirrors), polish, ceramic coating, and engine bay cleaning.

Is $3,400 on the high end of the range for all that work? Yes, but I'm fine paying it if the work is good. It wasn't in this case, but that's a separate issue of whether the price is worth it. This is the going rate for what is supposed to be a high-end PPF and detail where I live. PPF is not cheap.

BudgetPlan1, I think you hit the nail on the head regarding the situation being colored by the "clear coat preservation" conversation.
 
c0rbin9 said:
If this was the level of polish I had paid for, I would expect the entire car to look like this. The rest of the car looks great though, it is only these areas which are still swirled. That suggests that these areas were simply overlooked rather than this being the level of correction of a light polish.

The front PPF is kind of a mixed bag. It seems to have been installed okay, but he installed it over 3 quite noticeable rock chips on the hood. These were supposed to be touched up with the Dr. Colorchip kit that I supplied, but the touch-up wouldn't stick. I understand old cars can be finicky, but the first I heard of this was AFTER he had already installed the PPF over the chips. I would have appreciated knowing before so I might have the opportunity to wait longer for the touch-up to dry, which I'm sure would have made the repair stay. He said he never had a problem before waiting 24 hours for touch-up to dry, but this is less than the directions recommend, and I should have at least been given the option to wait another few days before picking up the car so the touch-up would have to dry before installing the PPF. Now I have PPF installed over three ugly rock chips on the hood, and I don't want to take it off for fear of lifting the paint.

Engine bay was also supposed to be cleaned but still had dirt. So far this is the only thing he has agreed to rectify. This guy is supposed to be one of the top detailers in Houston, so I am a bit surprised by all this.
Click to expand...

That’s not necessary true, sometimes if the paint is riddled with defects when you remove the lighter swirls new defects get exposed. This type of stuff happens often, agree on a light polish and then the customer goes over the car more than he has ever done and nobody is happy. When I do one steps I have a disclaimer in the contract for this exact reason.
 
FWIW, after having 2 cars done with full PPF, I don't really think $3400 is out of line for full front PPF, 1-step correction and full ceramic IF the work done is satisfactory.

To me, the issue here is not the price but rather the questionable outcome.
 
Lets not be rude. He’s not whining he just needed to tell someone what happened, get opinions and talk about it. Nothing wrong with that, I mean who else better to talk to about this stuff than the people here. Least we can do is be civil.
 
For $3400 I'd have considered repainting it for ya.
 
I feel like eldo…. It’s done money is in the till. I do feel that as budget said…. Paint preservation over looks leaves alot to be interpreted.

If he is a high end detailer there should have been more conversation instead of just powering it out.

He should have let you make the decisions before coating if that was acceptable in the name of paint preservation.

And I would definitely be having jim re PPF’ing the hood. You asked for a service and it didn’t get done. I’m thinking he may have had someone at the shop do it and forgot. That you can definitely put on him. If he really had tried I doubt he would not have called you stating as such.

Mistakes happen. If he fixes them fine. I ‘d get a second opinion on polishing area. Someone who can look at it in real life. He may be telling the truth on that.

As for pricing does seem on the high end but you chose “one of the best around” unfortunately he did not perform as such.

Around here that full frontal would be $1400-2000. Depends on if it had to be freehand or if there was a pattern he could download as for polishing and coating, well what coating did he apply. If it was a pro only coating with only coating 2/3 of the car i would guess $600-1000.

Basing that he is charging on the high end and everyone has a “covid” charge $3400 seems easily attainable for “one of the best” detailers in Houston.


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Although the remaining swirls/scratches wouldn't make me happy at least they are a relatively easy fix...

But I'd be going ballistic over the PPF applied over the rock chips that were supposed to be touched up first. That's not as easy of a fix.
 
"One of the best in Houston"....after looking at those pics I just can't justify the use of the word B E S T, sorry

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I was going to start a thread on a situation like this, but from the other perspective.

My issue is that the shop where I part time, put out some true garbage work last week.

That price is what we would charge for PPF on just the front section (bumper, hood, fenders) - without any polishing/coating. We get about $1500.00 For correction/coatings.

Our "lead detailer" often takes it upon himself to decide what the customer gets. For instance, if a car comes in with car wash brush damage, he refuses to do a full correction, and usually finish polishes with Meguiar's D166 Polishing Wax. Trust me when I say Eraser doesn't remove it.

Both him and the new kid (who likes to purposely damage out equipment and stand on the hoods and roofs of large vehicles - yes, in his shoes) refuse to cut, polish, or coat roofs of trucks and suv's.

Last week they did an Audi R8. The caps for the license plate screws wouldn't stay on, so this idiot super glues them on... dripping it on the license plate frame and bumper. He successfully removed it from the paint with aerosol Goof Off, but it smeared the frame, and discolored the pebble textured plate base holder.... I actuallybtexted the owner of the shop yesterday to check the plate...

It's always been bad with this guy. We used to be really good friends. I've posted about us working together for the past few years, but since he got me the part time gig there he turned on me when the owner started designating me to do the hard/special paint corrections.

The new kid was promising, but his lack of respect for our personal belongings, customer vehicles, and stealing product has proven a liability. This has furthered the apathy of the lead detailer.

I guess my point is that regardless of how highly regarded a shop might be, they are at the mercy of the whims of their crew. The facility is gorgeous, the clientele is high end, the accounts are prestigious, but my sorry ass excuse for detailing is of higher quality than what these clowns are sending. I would expect better from a car wash wax job than these two.

The problem is that the owner can't find people to work. That kid started at $15.00/hr and spends more effort avoiding work (hiding on his phone, hour long bathroom breaks also with his phone) and doesn't believe that's enough to do paint corrections...

So... I feel for the plight of the O.P. but sometimes finding a local enthusiast might be a better bet than a "pro" shop.

This has been bothering me since Thursday. I mean, I was almost done cutting the Yukon when the "lead" detailer started washing it. I wasn't able to finish polish it. I used 3D ONE so there wasn't any dust, but since he gets dust everywhere he washes every car before coating.. I took my lunch when he started washing it. By the time I got back he and the kid had already started coating it. For some reason "lead" guy doesn't believe in using the the filtered, spot free rinse water, and they coated over the beautiful water spots he left.

It's a clown show.

Track record > reputation.

I'm as disgusted with what happened to you as I am with these shop clowns I've been working with.

I may change the nature of my association with this facility and come in as an independent contractor, with the condition that those two don't touch my cars until it's time to coat them.
 
Ask for his PTG readings on the questionable areas before and after. See if he stutters or has an answer. That'll tell you a lot.
 
fly07sti said:
^^^^Great points and perspective.
Click to expand...

I have an update on that situation.

Great news!

The kid was released from his position after:
1. Vanishing for over an hour, after leaving the lead Detailer to coat a vehicle by himself.
2. Leaving a degrading note in the vehicle of a young female client. Thankfully it was spotted by management, and removed.
3. Doing burnouts (with his car this time) behind the facility.

Not all days were this wild, but it was becoming more common.

He may have taken hundreds of dollars worth of products as well.

The other guy is acting like he got a talking to from management, or he may have had a change of heart?

Good news is that we're back to turning out great work, and everyone is firing on all cylinders.
 
fly07sti said:
^^^^Great points and perspective.
Click to expand...

I have an update on that situation.

Great news!

The kid was released from his position after:
1. Vanishing for over an hour, after leaving the lead Detailer to coat a vehicle by himself.
2. Leaving a degrading note in the vehicle of a young female client. Thankfully it was spotted by management, and removed.
3. Doing burnouts (with his car this time) behind the facility.

Not all days were this wild, but it was becoming more common.

He may have taken hundreds of dollars worth of products as well.

The other guy is acting like he got a talking to from management, or he may have had a change of heart?

Good news is that we're back to turning out great work, and everyone is firing on all cylinders.
 
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