Need Some Help/Advice: Problems With Body Shop

[RandomHero]

Looking for some advice on this. I included the long version and the short version at the end since I realize most people probably don't want to read the full story.

The TL;DR Version First:

-Car got hit and needed to be repaired.
-Bought a JGMODS M-Tech bumper instead of having the factory bumper being repaired.
-Body shop called me about several issues with the bumper that turned out to be just fine
-Body shop screwed up the work on the quarter panel and had to re-do it
-Body shop pressure washed the car and chipped the paint then blamed it on the bumper
-It’s been at the body shop for 3 weeks now and I’m worried about having to pay extra or getting the car back with shitty paint work on it.

My question: Does anyone have any advice on this? What do I need to do to avoid getting an extra bill or getting my car back with shitty work done to it?

Full Timeline of events:
-June 26th: Lady backs into me leaving a parking lot. My quarter panel is damaged and bumper needs to be repainted.
-July 2nd: State Farm (her insurance) finds her at fault and tells me to go ahead with getting the car repaired.
-July 16th: Order a rear M-Tech replica bumper from JG Mods. I pay for the bumper out of my own pocket.
-July 25th: Bumper arrived. Awesome shipping time if you ask me (7 business days from order).
-August 8th: Drop off my car at Round Rock Collision.
First issue: They tell me the bumper cover tow hook is bent. I contact Jay and he offers to send me a new one
Issue resolved: Round Rock Collision calls me and says the cover is supposed to be that way (part of the body line). All is well again.
-August: 15th: Round Rock Collision calls me and says that the cover is too narrow just under the taillights. Again, I speak to Jay@JGMods and show him pictures. We agree that the bumper may need some extra time to fit it so I tell Round Rock Collision to go ahead and paint the bumper.
-August 23th: The date I originally expected to pick up the car. Round Rock Collision calls me to say that the quarter panel did not pass quality control. My service advisor said he was unhappy with it as well so they were going to fix it.
-August 26th: The second date it was supposed to be finished. I get a call from them saying that the paint chipped while it was being pressure washed. They blamed it on the “rubber” bumper being inferior to an OEM BMW bumper. They offer to fix it and word it as if they were doing me a favor.
-August 27th: I emailed my advisor asking him to fully repaint the bumper rather than spot repair the chip. I have not heard back yet.


Round Rock Collision- They are the only body shop BMW recommends in the Austin Area. Several members on here also recommended them. Their communication has been very good, but the body shop itself seems to have seriously dropped the ball on the quality of their work. They continuously blame the JGMods bumper. I get a strong feeling they were just trying to upsell me and get me to buy a $1000+ OEM bumper.

Jay at JGMods- Jay has been nothing but helpful. My questions and concerns were answered within minutes of PMing him. His customer service has been some of the best I’ve ever had. He offered to ship out new parts after they were initially thought to be damaged. I have nothing but good things to say about Jay and absolutely nothing negative should be taken away from this thread about JGMODS.


My concerns:
-Round Rock Collision has continuously blamed the bumper as the cause of issue. I cannot find a single person who has had trouble with JGMods (myself included at this point).
-Round Rock Collision called me about the tow hook cover before fitting it to the bumper. Obviously, they did not test fit it first.
-Round Rock Collision blamed the bumper as being “Too small.” In Jay’s own words “Our bumpers are 100% identical to one another because of the plastic injection process in which they are made into 1 solid mold. So it's impossible to get a bad one.” So it would be physically impossible for the bumper to be too small in those areas. The only remotely possible issue would be if the bumper was deformed, but that would take extreme heat or pressure.
-Round Rock Collision did not repair my quarter panel correctly the first time causing a delay. This was a major indication that the work was not done properly
-Round Rock Collision pressure washed my car days (or possibly hours) after it was painted. Glasurit and Dupont specifically state on their websites that pressure washers should be avoided for 4-6 weeks and 90 days, respectively.
-I’m including a picture of the chip. Notice the terrible orange peel on the far right of the bumper (look at the reflection of that guy’s cargo pants). Also, it looks weird that the chip has scratches around it. My guess is that some 18 year old kid who makes $8/hour got too close with the pressure washer and fucked it up.


Round Rock Collision keeps trying to blame the bumper, but so far I see ZERO reason to blame JGMods and EVERY reason to blame Round Rock Collision. Every issue they have blamed on the bumper has been resolved or found to be a non-issue in the first place. This body shop has a very good reputation, but my experience with them has been TERRIBLE.

I’m worried they are going to halfass fixing the paint chip. They have already told me they will not warranty the work on the bumper. I agreed to this, but that does not mean the quality of the work should suffer.



Bumper fitment issue- Looks like those tabs should line up just fine once it’s fitted correctly. Again, it would be impossible for the bumper to be too small unless I was sent the wrong bumper (I wasn't).



Bumper chip- You'll have to click the picture and enlarge the full version. Notice the scratches I circled as well as how bad the orange peel is compared to the quarter panel. Obvious indictations that Round Rock Collision did something wrong.

[Litos]

i see two problems here.

(1) that bumper doesn't look like it fits correctly
(2) the shop didn't allow for the paint to cure. or the primer and/or paint was contaminated

[Mr Tonka]

Originally Posted by Litos

i see two problems here.

(1) that bumper doesn't look like it fits correctly
(2) the shop didn't allow for the paint to cure. or the primer and/or paint was contaminated

Yep.

One thing on your side is that a BMW deanship recommends them. If they give you shit you tell them you'll be registering a complaint with the dealership that recommended them.

Paint chipping isn't the bumper's fault. That excuse holds about as much water as saying that your passenger seatbelt chipped the paint.

[TrevorM3]

I didn't really read into the whole entire thing, and what I'm about to say might seem stupid but it is a point worth making.

The orange peel on the bumper seems fine from here, and just fyi bumpers ALWAYS have more orange peel than the rest of the car. Another fun fact, bumpers usually are slightly off in color as well. Most people never notice this, however. And you won't, because your car is black

Hope you get this sorted out.

[RandomHero]

Originally Posted by Litos

i see two problems here.

(1) that bumper doesn't look like it fits correctly
(2) the shop didn't allow for the paint to cure. or the primer and/or paint was contaminated

You're right it doesn't. However, I'm not willing to make that judgment until I see the car in person.

And you're absolutely right. My friend does custom paint work and he said the exact same thing.

Originally Posted by Mr Tonka

Yep.

One thing on your side is that a BMW deanship recommends them. If they give you shit you tell them you'll be registering a complaint with the dealership that recommended them.

Paint chipping isn't the bumper's fault. That excuse holds about as much water as saying that your passenger seatbelt chipped the paint.

This is opinion not fact, but I've gotten the impression since day 1 that they’ve wanted to upsell me an OEM bumper. They originally quoted me $650 for a direct replacement and over $1000 for the M-Tech style bumper.

Blaming the bumper is the easy excuse in my opinion. While it certainly is a possibility, there is no excuse for some of the issues that have come up such as the quarter panel.

Originally Posted by TrevorM3

I didn't really read into the whole entire thing, and what I'm about to say might seem stupid but it is a point worth making.

The orange peel on the bumper seems fine from here, and just fyi bumpers ALWAYS have more orange peel than the rest of the car. Another fun fact, bumpers usually are slightly off in color as well. Most people never notice this, however. And you won't, because your car is black

Hope you get this sorted out.

It’s a long ass read I know. That’s why I included the short version.

The orange peel doesn’t bother me much but it was a point worth noting. My friend also mentioned the color issue. This is a 5 year old daily driver that is far from perfect and I realize that paint color fades over time.

I’m not looking for a show room quality job, but I don’t think I’m out of line to expect quality work from the only authorized BMW repair shop in a 150 mile radius (the next closest one is in Houston or Dallas).

I will update this thread after anything exciting happens. Still waiting to hear back from them.

[Maestro]

Here is what I think happen with the bumper. As someone already pointed out they did not cure the paint long enough, and it appears it was hit right on the edge. This is like hitting the edge of a door, the paint will chip easily, in the case of the bumper, it is soft and pliable so it chipped a larger area. Also, I have seen paint chip off plastic parts like bumpers and it is usually due to poor surface prep and it shows up over time not immediately.

It seemed that the bumper is not set correctly. As your repair expert is not providing you the cure for the paint issue you can put the complaint against them to the dealer. I agree with TrevorM3that the color of the bumper is off in color but it is not getting noticed easily. If possible search for anther repair center to get the car fixed properly.

[Carmen SanDiego]

It seems like they just painted the bumper without using any kind of adhesion promoter and then just washed it without allowing the paint to cure. Also, State Farm is hell on body shops. They have horrible communication and generally they want to cut corners or have the shop include lots of extras for free. I personally don't have State Farm but a friend of mine works at a body shop here in the Houston area and at least once every few days he gets an irate customer because State Farm promised them something they couldn't deliver or that they didnt communicate to the shop doing the work. Just dont accept the car until its like you want because the longer it takes the more they screw themselves. State Farm already probably stopped paying for your rental at this point since they were supposed to deliver your car a while ago which means that money is coming out of the shops profit and could explain them rushing since at this point they are probably not even making anything on the repair.