Not thrilled with body work done

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kiteman

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I purchased a CAPA aftermarket bumper from a reputable wholesaler.# When I got my car back from the shop I noticed small indentations under the side markers on the bumper on both sides, which effectively look like dents under a reflection from a few feet away.# See attached.

#

I don’t know if this is due to poor quality non-OEM stuff (it was guaranteed to look as good as OEM or better, whatever that’s worth), or if it is a problem with the install, but I’m not particularly happy about it.# Should I take it back to the shop and see if they can work these small indentations out (could heat bring these out?) or am I probably just going to have to deal with it at this point? Thanks for the help.
 
If your not happy with it now how happy will you be looking at every time you get in the car? Myself, I'd see what the shop says
 
Was there a reason why you decided upon yourself to purchase the CAPA bumper instead of allowing the body shop to purchase a CAPA bumper? The reason I'm asking is because once you made the decision of supplying your own parts to the body shop there isn't much they can do if there are imperfections in the bumper. If they purchased the bumper through their own vendor and for whatever reason they missed some minor imperfections during the prep they will take "responsibility" for their work because ultimately it was their own mistake.

On the other hand, since this is not the case, you might encounter a scenario where they will mention it was your "responsibility" to ensure the bumper you presented to us was up to "your" own standards and defect free before they prepped it and sprayed it. This is just all speculations which can and might happen due to my experience since I work at a body shop. It will depend on your approach regarding how you present your situation to them and how they will react and take measures to ensure you are satisfied with the quality of their work as the final result.
 
I actually asked them if I could purchase a bumper and they said that's fine. I asked how much they would charge me if I purchased through them, and I told them I could get one for cheaper. I don't do this all very often, so for me it was more or less just saving some money which the shop seemed OK with. If they frowned upon it I wouldn't have gone this route.

Any advice for how I can have this overall discussion with them will be appreciated. Also, do the imperfections I'm pointing out seem like they could be fixed via heat?
 
I would contact your vendor. The body shop has no control over the imperfections since they did not purchase the bumper.

IMHO there is a reason that bumper was cheaper
 
Capa parts are absolute junk, as are most aftermarket parts. If you dealt through the shop, the company you purchased it from would provide another and pay to have it redone, at least the vendor we use does. On a side note out of every 100 capa bumpers our shop buys, we reject 70-80 immediately on inspection and easily have to return anther 5-10 after we test fit them to the car. It's nothing against the vendor but aftermarket parts usually follow the logic of if its 200 dollars cheaper than oem it's 200 dollars worth of damaged/wrong.
 
The first two sent were rejected, the shop said the third was good to go. So...i assumed they were not lying. Hence why I'm not sure if this was the fault of the shop or the part, and am asking advice on what to do.
 
Could be poor quality bumper, or something as simple as them over-tightening the lens or where the bumper mounts to the quarter panel. Have to see how it's mounted.
 
kiteman said:
The first two sent were rejected, the shop said the third was good to go. So...i assumed they were not lying. Hence why I'm not sure if this was the fault of the shop or the part, and am asking advice on what to do.
Click to expand...

Here's where I see your problem is going to be. You bought the parts, so it's not the body shops responsibility. This is where saving money can really bite you. So any $ spent realistically is really going to be yours to spend again, ie: install, paint, prep, etc.

I'll point out that after the second bad one it probably should have been an indicator. The Body Shop however sounds like they're on the up and up. What is their suggestion? Frankly they're the ones that can see it in person and probably judge better than we can with the best of pictures.
 
Having owned a restoration shop; I will tell you this isn't the body shop's fault.

Once you furnish the parts their responsibility is only with the installation and painting of the part. When you suppled the parts, you assumed responsibility for the quality of the part.

The other two parts may have been rejected because the body shop couldn't make them work/fit properly or the imperfections were too great.

For the body shop to reject those and continue to wait for a better part is beyond what they are expected to do. Most body shops would have told you they couldn't use the part and that you would need to return it and have the company send a replacement.

The body shop went out of their way to help you out. It's on you for wanting to go a cheaper route. Saving money can lower the quality. The part was likely cheaper for the same reasons the body shop rejected the other parts. Imperfections to the point where retail pricing couldn't be applied. Kind of like buying display furniture.
 
I called the company who sent the part, as they "guarantee OEM fit or better," and told them it did not fit right, and they refunded me 100% for the part.

So, it may not look perfect, but it's kind of hard to be pissed anymore when I literally got it for free.
 
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