This thread perfectly illustrates a deeply concerning trend emerging in the professional detailing industry... Shops that consistently put out subpar quality work are branding themselves as "certified" installers of various well known ceramic coating brands. They are disguising themselves as high-end detailing service providers (with prices to match) by attaching a well known "luxury coating" brand name to their business and calling themselves "certified installers."
The problem is that the level of service advertised by these highly marketed ceramic coating brands does not necessarily transfer down to their installer network.
So you walk in... you've already seen the videos of "XYZ 12H" coating brand. The vehicles from the coating brand ads look amazing and so you assume that since this particular shop has been "certified" by a well known coating brand that you can expect the same level of service as depicted in the advertisements. The problem is that there has been no training to become certified. The shop becomes "certified" simply from buying the coatings.
In the various videos you've shown there is evidence of lack of proper paint correction, poor detailing work, and the coatings are not even leveled properly. So they literally botched the entire job they were paid to perform. I've seen this way too often from local shops offering the same brand coating. It's unfortunate, because these examples will eventually cause a general distrust towards detailing providers who actually are offering high quality services.
What I hate most is that coating brands like Ceramic Pro are explicitly enabling these types of situations. Detailing shops are now able to piggy back on the success of the ceramic brand's marketing and hide behind the merits of the larger brand. The high focus on branding as a "certified installer" creates inflated expectations of the quality the shop is able to deliver and dupes unsuspecting consumers into thinking they are providing a level of service they are not capable of producing. The end result is hundreds, if not thousands, of stories exactly like this. You paid a price for an advertised result. The shop is literally not even capable of delivering what they advertised due to lack of proper skill, knowledge, passion, etc. so they "did the best they can" because that is actually the best they can do.
I'm sorry for the rant.. I'm not really sure what can be done to battle this trend other than personally striving to produce excellent results on every vehicle my team and I touch. I suppose most of the responsibility falls on the consumer. But again, it's extremely difficult to determine if the detailing shop you are considering can do what they say since there is no industry standard for paint correction or anything really in the detailing world. The bottom line is shops like this have no business offering "pro-grade" ceramic coatings and brands like Ceramic Pro have no business using language like "certified installer" since there is no certification process to speak of anyway.
. I’d spend a little of that buy the tools and products and fix myself. A repaint would be cheaper than $4700 you would have into it???
