Ziebart Detailing Disappointment - Should I Expect More?

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petercoolz

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Hello, I'm new to this forum, and would love to get your advice on whether my expectations for interior detailing were too high, or the service was just crappy. I recently took my 2007 Escalade to a Ziebart for the Inner Guard package. They charge what I thought was a somewhat ridiculous $300 for just the interior, but I figured, that given the brand name, I'd give it a shot. I expected my car to come back to me like new.

I've had it back for a few days now, and I've noticed quite a few things that aren't as clean as I'd like:
1) Headliner wasn't cleaned hardly at all. They said this was b/c the headliner can fall off.
2) Seatbelts are still dirty. Again, they had an excuse and said that they don't clean them because of safety?
3) Ashtray was still dirty
4) There are some coffee marks still on the carpet. Carpet is a light cashmere color, and they said they 'tried everything' but couldn't get it clean.
5) The side upholstery still has some dirty marks on there.
6) Have plastic floor mats with grooves in them, but there's clearly still black stuff/dirt in a few grooves.

I've been reading up on forum posts, and I know that folex/woolite is something I can do myself to try to remedy this... but for $300, I had expected them to give me my car back as if it were new, and it's not anywhere close to that. I wouldn't expect that I should have to learn more myself and give it a second cleaning.

I was thinking of writing to Ziebart's corporate office because the manager at the local Ziebart seemed to just have an excuse for everything, and I don't think I'd want to take it back there. Does anybody have a similar experience? I'd like to know how you handled it.

For reference, this is the $300 package I paid for, below:

INNER GUARD BY Ziebart

OUR FABRIC AND LEATHER PROTECTION PROGRAM WITH ANNUAL SERVICE CONTRACT
KEEPS LEATHER LOOKING LIKE NEW BY RESTORING NATURAL OILS
HELPS KEEP FABRIC CLEANER BY GIVING YOU TIME TO BLOT UP A SPILL
SLOWS FABRIC WEAR BY REDUCING FRICTION CAUSED BY CLOTHING
ANNUAL SERVICE CONTRACT HELPS YOU KEEP INTERIOR CLEAN AND PROTECTED
LIFETIME NATIONWIDE WARRANTY CONTRACT
HERE'S WHAT WE DO...
  • THOROUGHLY VACUUM INTERIOR AND TRUNK
  • SHAMPOO CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY USING HOT WATER EXTRACTION EQUIPMENT AND ANTI-BACTERIAL SOLUTIONS
  • SHAMPOO, SCRUB AND RINSE FLOOR MATS
  • CLEAN LEATHER, APPLY LEATHER CONDITIONER. KEEPS THE LEATHER FROM DRYING OUT BY RESTORING THE NATURAL OILS
  • CLEAN AND DRESS ALL HARD SURFACES, DASHBOARD, CONSOLE, DOOR PANELS.
  • WE CLEAN OUT ALL THE LITTLE CRACKS AND CREVICES WITH SOFT BRUSHES AND Q-TIPS.
  • CLEAN OUT ASHTRAYS, DOOR POCKETS, CUP HOLDERS.
  • APPLY ZIEBART'S OWN SOLVENT BASED FABRIC PROTECTOR. FAST DRYING, LOW ODOR, LONG LASTING
  • WORK THE FABRIC PROCTECTOR DEEP INTO THE FABRIC WITH SOFT BRUSHES
  • CLEAN ALL INSIDE GLASS AND MIRRORS TILL THEY'RE SPARKLING AND STREAK-FREE
  • PROVIDE YOU WITH A WRITTEN LIFETIME WARRANTY SERVICE CONTRACT
  • SEND YOU A POSTCARD NEXT YEAR TO REMIND YOU IT'S TIME TO BRING THE VEHICLE BACK FOR CLEANING
Ziebart has partnered with BLUE CORAL AND RAIN-X TO BRING YOU THE MOST ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE DETAILING CHEMISTRY AVAILABLE!

INNER CLEAN by Ziebart
OUR FULL SERVICE INTERIOR DETAIL CLEANING
SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT ONCE A YEAR
HERE'S WHAT WE DO...
  • THOROUGHLY VACUUM INTERIOR AND TRUNK
  • SHAMPOO CARPET AND UPHOLSTERY USING HOT WATER EXTRACTION EQUIPMENT AND ANTI-BACTERIAL SOLUTIONS
  • SHAMPOO, SCRUB AND RINSE FLOOR MATS
  • CLEAN LEATHER, APPLY LEATHER CONDITIONER. KEEPS THE LEATHER FROM DRYING OUT BY RESTORING THE NATURAL OILS
  • CLEAN AND DRESS ALL HARD SURFACES, DASHBOARD, CONSOLE, DOOR PANELS.
  • WE CLEAN OUT ALL THE LITTLE CRACKS AND CREVICES WITH SOFT BRUSHES AND Q-TIPS.
  • CLEAN OUT ASHTRAYS, DOOR POCKETS, CUP HOLDERS.
  • CLEAN ALL INSIDE GLASS AND MIRRORS TILL THEY'RE SPARKLING AND STREAK-FREE



Update:

I spent about an hour on it this weekend with a bottle of Folex, and some warm water. Here are some before pictures. I never got around to taking after pictures, but I was able to make the middle section between the two captain seats quite clean.

The middle section here was just dirty, and looked like it hadn't been scrubbed well enough.
20kzxh3.jpg


The inside of the seatbelt clips are still dirty. Also, another view of the somewhat dirty floor.
2yxluef.jpg


The edges of the seatbelt are somewhat blackened. Also, to the right of the seatbelt, there is a watermark? That wasn't touched in the detailing, but I managed to get it out myself with the Folex.
11bryp4.jpg


Several stains on the headliner weren't touched by the detailer.
3038jer.jpg
 
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I've heard that about headliners. If the solvent you use goes through, it can react with the glue and cause the headliner to fall. Some of the other stuff you mentioned just seems like bad work. I mean, to leave an ashtray dirty when it blatantly says it in the description, that's just bad. $300 is a lot for just an interior I think.
 
Sounds like shoddy work. I'd mail the letter. Tell them that you expect some $$$ back (maybe half). Stick around here and you will learn to do an exceptional job of your own interior details. And for less than $300 of products do them for a long long time.
 
Coffee stains are always impossible to remove.

Headliner is not supposed to be touched with products as it can mess up the headliner and/or screw up the glue used to seal it to the roof of the vehicle.

Do you have any pictures to show us? It sounds like you are a pretty filthy person but if you have pictures, we can point you in the right direction.
 
I'll try to take some pictures this weekend. I just bought the Escalade used, so the previous owner was certainly filthy by this board's standards.

However, regardless of whether the previous owner was filthy or not, shouldn't a full inner detail have returned the car to me almost as new?
 
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Ziebart--I thought that went out in the 80's?
 
ill be honest, you could probably do a better job yourself just by buying some products off this site ( and most likely under the price you paid for the interior detail all together). Someone above mentioned the headliner,... if they would have touched mine, i would go crazy! , let alone spray something on. Like Josh said, you spray any kind of solvent/cleaner up there and your just asking for trouble lol. Now i understand that it is great being able to take your car somewhere to get cleaned, but i just dont trust anyone with mine, even if they seem like they are reputable.

Get yourself a Leatherique 2 bottle kit, Invisible Glass, some nice SOFT Corba towels, and a powerful(yet super clean)vaccum and some Q-tips. That right there will make it hot!.....ps=i dont think the coffee stains are gonna come out lol sorry.
 
Bro you got ripped! Stick around this site and you'll learn how to do it yourself. Ps. To gently clean your headliner I use 303 carpet and ulpostry cleaner. Spray a mf and wipe your headliner gently.
 
I'm in Northern VA, right outside of Washington DC.

Thanks for the good tips so far.
 
Hey, your only about 3-4 hours from me. Im down in Hokie town. I actually bought my car up in Nova
 
I would file a Better Business Bureau Complaint and hope to receive some $$$ back. I would then find a local detailer with a great reputation on the detailing boards and use them exclusively as needed. Referrals from high end car resellers can sometimes help also.
 
joshs07redss said:
I've heard that about headliners. If the solvent you use goes through, it can react with the glue and cause the headliner to fall. Some of the other stuff you mentioned just seems like bad work. I mean, to leave an ashtray dirty when it blatantly says it in the description, that's just bad. $300 is a lot for just an interior I think.
Click to expand...
I would have done it for half that! :iagree::whs:
 
petercoolz said:
I'm in Northern VA, right outside of Washington DC.

Thanks for the good tips so far.
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I thought I recognized the name from around here. I am in NOVA also (Fairfax/Loudoun Border). I have not heard anything about the local Ziebart but sounds like a shoddy job to me. Like others have stated some stains are just not going to come out but without pics it's kinda hard to comment on the work they did. I have some Areospace 303 products we could try on there as well as Amazing Roll off which I have been pretty happy with.If you are close by I'd be willing to try a couple things with you to help out another Forum member (no charge). I would still write a letter to their Home office though regardless.
Paul
 
Sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, high volume detailing shops like that are notorious for low quality work. I also detail in the NOVA area, but it looks like conan has made you a nice offer. Id take him up on it.
 
Shoddy work. I see "details" around here (Mobile, Alabama) like that all the time by "detailers." Sounds like you were overcharged by about $275.00.
Perhaps Ziebart should look up detailing in the dictionary.
 
$300 for just the interior is way too much money to spend. I'm sure there are local professionals that would do exterior and interior for that price and do a better job then ziebart did.
 
Once again, thanks for all the help and support so far. This is a fantastic forum and you have all been very helpful.

I've updated the first post with a few pictures. Since I took those pictures, I have been able to get most of the marks on the carpet, although I wasn't able to do anything for the headliner or the seatbelts.

Conan, thanks for the very generous offer... I'll PM you and maybe you can let me buy you some lunch in return for some knowledge.
 
D&D Auto Detailing said:
Sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, high volume detailing shops like that are notorious for low quality work. I also detail in the NOVA area, but it looks like conan has made you a nice offer. Id take him up on it.
Click to expand...

I concur!

It also sounds like a lot of the price you were charged went towards the leather/fabric protection plan. also, employees at places like that usually get a flat commission rate for doing the work, so obviously they want to get it done ASAP, and could care less how it looks.


Rasky
 
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