Car damaged whilst in bodyshop cover-up

[tommytech]

well my car went into local bodyshop last wednesday for some dings to be removed via a pdr tech coming in from dent devil the dings were on the rear passenger door, since then I haven’t cleaned my car and dirt has built up over it so today today is the first time I have cleaned the car since bodyshop. The car has accumulated quite a bit of dirt and as a result I noticed a donut like ring in dirt on passenger door front. I cleaned the car then examined further and noticed that either the bodyshop or dentdevil have dented my car and tried to cover it up.

 

Firstly you can see the the crease slightly , second tap marks of the tools used to remove dent then wet sand marks which I guess they didn’t have time to clean up because I surprised them early by popping in as they finishing work on it.

 

Well annoyed trying to contact dent devil rep to confirm what work he had done on my car , he conveniently cant remember what work hes done and told me to contact body shop , im guessing the ring like mark I noticed in dirt was his line board stuck my front passenger door , ive spoken to the bodyshop owner who i showed the car to today and he informed me that he can see a repair has been carried out but that they did not think it could have been the dent devil guy as he wasent there long enough and they use him loads but he admitted he could not explain why there was a donut like like ring in dirt where the dent was and told me 9/10s of his customers wouldn’t have noticed it, however my car was at the bodyshop all day.

 

I know they or the dent devil guy they got in has damaged and repaired another area the proof is there for me to see clearly but im having a hard time getting to the bottem of this , is there anything further i can do ?

[ericsbrother]

who was your agreement with? did you arrange the dent devil person yourself or did the garage. If the garage did then it is down to them regardless of who made the dent as that is who your contract is with.

[tommytech]

hi thanks for posting back , my agreement was with the garage ... dent devil could not confirm what he had worked on as he does so many cars apparently. The garage have said offered to fill and respray the whole door , as i kicked up quite a fuss contacting dent devil head office etc.

[EB1989]

Hi,

 

Under the law of bailment, the garage is responsible for any damage to your car while in their possession. In addition, the supply of Goods and Services Action means that your garage must undertake work with reasonable care and skill.

 

If your garage are not helpful, try writing a letter of complaint, stating your consumer rights along with any evidence (e.g. photographs). There is a good one on the Which? Consumer Rights website.

 

If still no joy, is the garage a member of Motorcodes? They provide a mediation and arbitration scheme to all member garages that may help you gain compensation. Don't do this if you are considering the small claims court though.

 

Hope this helps