RANT: Another Professional Detailer takes the $ and Runs!

[Beechkid]

My neighbors son (who is 24 yo) bought a 5 yo honda civic, metallic gray. This is really a good kid, he graduated from college, is living at home with his folks to pay off his student loans and is working as a file clerk part time for $. The company he works for is in a highrise building off Wilsure Blvd/Bundy in Los Angeles and a mobile car wash/detailing company comes in 1 a week on Wednesdays to clean cars in the parking garage. Here's the story.... He has had his car for about 6 months, although the paint was not in bad shape it just had never really been well taken care of- needed some TLC. Then last week his friends decoded to spray silly string all over the car- he didn't realize it and it sat in the sun for a good full day. The next day when he went to work he saw to situation and upon arrival at work, he asked "Christy" the mobile car wash/detail person if she could wash/detail the car to remove the stuff and if she could polish some of the surface scuff marks (typical marks in the surface of the clear coat). She said "Yes, absolutely! $70 later he gets his car back, she is gone for the week and the car does not look any better than when he left it. He waits until the next Wednesday and confronts her- and the response...... 1. We will have to use claybar to remove these contaminents for an additional fee 2. We can touchup the scuff marks but that will require touchup paint and color sanding at an additional charge He was shattered. When my wife was his face at work, (she works in the same building), she inquired what was wrong, he showed her the car, she called me and asked if I would look at the car that evening- I did. This is what I found- they didn't even wash the car and using a spray gun, applied a quick dry wax to the car, then removed it with a buffer- basically, put a coating of cheap wax over the dirt and grime. He helped me and 5 hours later we washed the car, removed the silly string with kerosene, cleaned the paint with hand glaze, polished the scuff marks out and applied a coat of paint sealant. The next Wednesday he took the car to her and showed her that calybar was not necessary (along with a copy of the Honda OEM service manual that stated not to use clarbay on the paint) and all but 1 scuff marked was removed with basic detailing products and he wanted a refund for everything except the car wash. Being the professional "Christy" was she promptly..... 1. Denied ever seeing his car 2. Denied ever beieng paid to wash/detail the car 3. Denied ever being informed there was ever a problem What a skuzz-bucket! Especially to do that to a kid- and a good kid at that!

[Volvo92906]

Sadly, thats how most people are anymore. Its having the older people around that can actually see a kid and trust him and then do what you did that is nice. Its few and far these days.

So, ill say 'thank you'

[AF Mezkin]

That is freaking BS!!! I hate when people are asswhipes and unprofessionals!!! I had the same experience with a "Professional detailer" a few weeks ago. The Expy needs to be clean before I drop it off next week for its journey to Italy. I decided to have a FULL detaile done on it. First, the guy said he would be there at 9am, the rental car picked me up at 11:45 and he was still not there. When I called him after 5 hours he said that he needed another hour or so, I decided to leave the expy there over night so he could finish. When I went to pick it up the next day not only did the expy look like crap I had to point out stuff that he missed. He used alot of dressing to make things look shinny and polished instead of actually cleaning, polishing and waxing them! The job that he did was not the $200.00 that was charged, it's not even worth 1/2 of that!!!
Next time I will just find the time to do it my self, at least I know it will be done the right way.

Beechkid, kudos on giving the younger generation a helping hand.