Well I thought I’d relay our tale about our experience at SSR (formerly Masters Touch) in Alpharetta on highway 9. The guys at the local tire place dent the driver's rear quarter panel on my wife's outback wagon. On Wed we take the car to SSR Two days later (Fri) they tell us the car is ready to be picked up. Wow, I thought, that was fast! One look at the repair and it's obvious why. The dent crossed a factory crease line and after the repair this line was way too soft looking. Also I could see the body filler since they did not sand it smooth. There were sanding grooves visible thru the paint. Shop manager asked me what I thought and I told him it was not acceptable. He agreed and told us he would have it reworked and it should be ready Monday around 6pm. To make it up to us since I had to take time off work to drive my wife there he offered to pay for a rental. SSR Calls us Mon and the car won't be ready. Manager tells us to keep the rental as it should be done by Wed night. Manager tells us they broke the wheel arch trim and had to order a new one and it should be delivered Wed. We agree to pick up the car Thursday at noon then. Take time off from work to drive up at lunch time on Thur and the trim has not come in yet. Manager is out of the office but the person at the desk offers to let us take the car and come back when the trim panel is received. We decline as it's a 40-45 min drive each way and we would rather pick up a completed car. Person watching the desk offers to drop the car off to us Friday in the AM. We agreed and head back to Atlanta. Manager calls later that afternoon and apologizes the car was not ready as he had promised. He offers to take an additional $75 off the bill. Wife calls me up Friday after the car gets dropped off and says "I'm not sure about the repair". I look at it Friday when I get home but it's late and too dark to make a fair judgment about it. Sat I look at the car and can see the crease line has been reworked and it's much sharper now. Take a close look at the paint and notice some flat spots. Run my fingers over the area of repair and it's smooth. Start running my fingers over the rest of the car and notice LOTS of overspray. Break out the clay and instant detailer. Door cleans up nicely and I manage to get some of the spray off the door jam and bumper but have to resort to polishing compound to remove the majority of it. An hour later I start to tackle the half dozen small imperfections in the clear coat (1 run, a few fish eyes, and a handful of imbedded dirt/grit spots) wet sanding them then buffing them out with polishing compound. My wife comes out and starts working on the windows. She notices that the headliner is torn beside the window they removed to paint the panel. I take a look at it and then start noticing a few more things wrong with the car. Window tint is scratched, window is not seated properly to the car, rubber trim is crooked, and the tape line is visible as there is paint on the crooked rubber trim. Call SSR and the owner answers. My wife tells him about the headliner. He tells her to bring the car in and he will have it fixed. Drive up and pull the car into the bay. Owner asks us what we’ve found that’s wrong with the car. I point out the areas that have overspray on them that I’ve cleaned up, the rubber trim and window. We pop the rear, the owner looks at the torn headliner. Owner asks “Can you live with it?”. I’m in shock and speechless. My wife responds “Absolutely not”. Owner then says he’ll refund our money. I look at him and ask if that’s the best he can do. He says, “That’s all I can do”. My wife is about to go ballistic on the owner so I calm her down and put her in the car. Owner goes to cut us a check. When he returns I ask about the difficulties he has had. He tells me the headliner probably got damaged when the glass man took the window out. He also tells me he had to have the car painted 5 times before he got the paint to adhere properly. I inquire about the tape seam on the bottom of the crooked rubber trim and he says it was taped off the last time they painted it. He does confess he is surprised by the amount of overspray because they went over the car pretty well before it was delivered to us. He apologizes to me and says this “has never happened before”. The amount of the refund will take care of buying the headliner, but not the labor costs, nor the cost to repair the window. We take the check, after having to sign a release and drive away shaking our heads at how anyone could run a business like this. To top it all off, I detailed my wife’s Outback and noticed greasy finger prints on the A pillar (impossible to remove since they are covered in cloth), a deep scratch above the window that was replaced, and a grease/dirt spot on one of the interior panels of the trunk/hatch area.
if you need a real paint job the kid that painted my car is in NC but he spends most of his time painting drag cars and show cars. he does any paint from ppg to house of kolors, and is a close personal friend. but it's a 6 hour drive. i only paid for paint and filler when he fixed up my car.
Thanks, but that's a bit too far to drive and the glass will need to be replaced. Seems the glass man at SSR (or who ever they used) cut the rubber (thus the crooked window) and the rubber trim is molded to the window from what Marty at Gwinnett Collision says. Moral of the story... research the place you take your car very, very, very, carefully.
WOW SSR alpharetta GA? I've used SSR collision center for my evo an twice for my STI! I can't believe that happened. Those guys are top notch. Well I guess not everyone is perfect> Atleast they are not like some places i've been, and if something goes wrong you are told to piss off>>. They paid for a rental, told you they broke something and then replaced it,(honest) no charge to you. Gave you discount. then they refunded the full amount? WOW. I told you they are top notch! I hate that happened, because I love my cars and want only the best. But i still recommend them. I have learned the hard way "Always 2 sides to a story." Not that I care a great deal, I just wanted to add my two cents to the pile. I saw a negative post about a place I've been and know, and just wanted to support them. Hope they stay good to me. If not you will hear about it. good luck and I hope you have a better experiances with you car.