[meme405]

Get your popcorn ready, cause you know when I get involved with something it’s usually a show, and given that this one is being started by myself… Well like I said ::Insert Micheal Jackson Meme Here::

First off this all goes back a really long way, I tried to avoid all this drama, but I knew something was going to drive me to tell this story publicly one day. I always thought someone else would get the ball rolling and I would just be another person to share my terrible experience, but that hasn't happened so far, and a couple events over the course of today made me decide that this should be shared with others.

My car was broken into on May 23, 2015. At that point in time I contacted VIP Autobody, the owner of which is on RS. I had recently seen people’s praise about the shop both through people I know and posts on RS. So I decided I would give the shop a shot. I had the owner on Facebook, so I contacted him and between dealing with himself, ICBC, and my schedule I setup a date to bring the car by on the following Saturday (May 30, 2015).

I took the car in around noon on Saturday, along with the car I also brought a spare grille which I wanted professionally painted gloss black. The owner was not at the shop at the time of my arrival and the doors were locked. I sent him a message and he mentioned he was not far away. A little while later a vehicle on an R-Plate pulls in and he hops out. I talked to him awhile, showed him the grille I wanted painted, as well as the damage to the car, and a few other things. The repair was pretty simple the rear door needed to be wrapped, one of the rear door trim pieces needed to be replaced, and the window needed to be replaced. I asked that the owner look at a few scratches on the leather as well as scratches in the door jamb but I was told that because of the age of the car it would be hard to claim. No big deal. I just wanted a new window and the damage to the wrap covered. I passed the information of Wrap-Workz onto the owner, and he said he would work with them on getting the panel wrapped and the repair completed. At this point I mentioned one of the compressors had stopped working that morning, as the car had not been driven in a week, and I had not had time to assess the problem. I told him to just leave it, and not play with the air ride all too much, because it would be slow to refill the tanks. On top of that it was noticed by the owner that one of my fender moldings popped out whenever I aired the car out, again this was a minor item that I had simply been too lazy to fix.

I then handed the car keys over to the owner with the only request I had: That the car be parked inside the shop at night. I did not want the car parked in the rain or in an unsecure location.

I didn’t get 10 minutes away from the shop when I received a phone call; it was relating to the pump I had specifically told the owner not to play with. He explained that the pump had simply become disconnected and that reconnecting it made it work again. He mentioned there was no charge for it and he was just doing it to be helpful. I wasn’t happy that he had gone and done exactly what I told him to leave alone, but it was a simple fix so whatever. I was also told around this time by text message that painting the Grille would be $175 and fixing the issue with the fender molding would be another $50, I agreed to both these prices and told him to proceed.

All of the screenshots are from conversations directly with the owner of the shop.

Onto the first of the text message screen shots (This is still on May 30, 2015, the day I dropped the car off):

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/f1a629b4-b0f2-4362-8204-f41daafb150f_zpsiqppe4yx.png (http://s149.photobucket.com/user/meme405/media/f1a629b4-b0f2-4362-8204-f41daafb150f_zpsiqppe4yx.png.html)

He asks me if my dash cam drains the battery of my car, I could see where this was headed he wanted to unplug the dashcam so that I don’t see what he does with the car. You can read my response as above, I gave this response so that he wouldn’t mess with the dashcam. The statement was actually a bit of a lie, my dashcam has a power magic pro which keeps it running for 24 hours after the car is shut off, but that doesn't cause any battery issues with the car. Regardless upon reviewing the footage on my dashcam when I got the car back, the dashcam was unplugged within the first hour of my car arriving at the shop and was not plugged back in until the afternoon on the day I picked it up.

Now the next text message is where I probably made a mistake in this whole interaction, he tells me he is going to keep my car safe in a “Storage in Richmond” (FYI I think this storage is just his house, but I have no proof). I stupidly said okay thinking this will just be for the weekend and it wouldn’t be an issue. Again I should have just said no, but whatever.

Sure enough the car was spotted that day:

Spotted on No.5 and Thorpe in Richmond around 4:45 today. Waved back!

Spotted on No 4 and Cambie this afternoon weaving in and out of traffic. People were honking at you too. Easily recognized the wrap.. looks nice but you should probably slow down - especially in richmond

The second post above was actually deleted. Luckily I quoted it. I thought it was a joke, since I thought the individual knew it wasn’t me driving the car. I later found out it wasn’t a joke. The car had been driving erratically.

Back to the texts (this is from the same afternoon):

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/156d7a5e-f026-4f8c-b8b5-b603fda41e8c_zpsfwmj3kg4.png (http://s149.photobucket.com/user/meme405/media/156d7a5e-f026-4f8c-b8b5-b603fda41e8c_zpsfwmj3kg4.png.html)

At this point I really got the feeling my car was just being taken out for one big joy ride. Why the hell do you need to plug your iPod in, just listen to the radio or sit in silence. This person had my car though, so I couldn’t really do anything. I tried to explain how it works, just to keep him from messing with shit too much.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/4b178ee1-6df5-4381-b3aa-cd99e88fb15a_zpsvqkv0i78.png (http://s149.photobucket.com/user/meme405/media/4b178ee1-6df5-4381-b3aa-cd99e88fb15a_zpsvqkv0i78.png.html)

I explained to him how the car was not meant to be driven very much, as I had been in the middle of a few serious mods and the car was just rigged together in order to get this repair done.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/b1c51e7c-8665-4fe9-a00f-913cd9cfa4b8_zpsdvg4peir.png (http://s149.photobucket.com/user/meme405/media/b1c51e7c-8665-4fe9-a00f-913cd9cfa4b8_zpsdvg4peir.png.html)

Again all of the above happened just on the day I dropped off the car. I have no idea why I didn’t just say fuck it, I don’t like where this is headed and go pick up my car. I guess hindsight is 20/20.

Onto that Monday (June 1, 2015):

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/82f42bca-e7a7-43bc-9e6b-78cd10c0b4e4_zpsp4tlydnh.png (http://s149.photobucket.com/user/meme405/media/82f42bca-e7a7-43bc-9e6b-78cd10c0b4e4_zpsp4tlydnh.png.html)

My sub apparently “Randomly went out”. When I turned the car over to VIP I had the gain on head unit turned all the way down. I did this to avoid this problem specifically. When I picked up the car I checked and the gain had been pinned to the top. It’s obvious my stereo had been cranked. Luckily it was just the Fuse that blew, if I hadn’t had that safety built in, I likely would’ve had irreparable damage done to my $800 dollar subwoofer.

The following day (June 2, 2015):

Now the following interaction was on FB:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/0eee71e6-3466-438e-a9e9-92d19ea17318_zpsdo3e2suh.png (http://s149.photobucket.com/user/meme405/media/0eee71e6-3466-438e-a9e9-92d19ea17318_zpsdo3e2suh.png.html)

I have blurred out where he threw in a couple user ID’s, but asking me to take my car I told you explicitly not to drive around very much to a meet!? What the fuck?

At this point communication died out a bit, I think the owner started to realize I was getting nervous, and kept it more or less related to the task at hand.

The car was taken to Wrap-Workz the following Monday (June 8, 2015). I will leave some things out here, but needless to say their experience with the owner was less than stellar. It took a lot of my involvement in order to get Wrap-Workz paid for the work they performed; they were eventually paid on June 30, 2015.

Fast forward to June 12, 2015, I arrive at the shop in the evening to pick up the car. The car itself does look to be clean. I have a look at the grille which was to be painted and the work is less than stellar, the paint has two large run marks in it, and the owner explains this is due to the fact that it can’t be polished off the car. I explained to him that I won’t be mounting it on the car for the foreseeable future, and he says he will find a way to fix it off the car. I pay the deductible portion and we agree the rest will be paid when I come back for the grille.

As soon as I hop in the car I notice the km’s on the car are A LOT higher than I would expect them to be. I make it a habit to record the km’s of my car when I drop it off at different places, for reasons exactly like this. During the two weeks VIP Autobody had my car the vehicle was driven just over 400km’s. That is way beyond just taking the car 20km’s round trip to Wrap-Workz shop.

At this point I probably should have said something, but again, I did not. I was happy to have my car back and I was not going to confront the owner until I had the grille completed and back in my possession. I drove the car down the street, and pulled over. I did another quick inspection just underneath and around the car, it was fine, but the car had notable dirt on the underbody and in the wheel wells, almost as if it had been taken down dirt roads. I cannot prove this, but believe me I am religious about keeping the underbody of the car clean and the wheel wells in good condition.

As I mentioned earlier I went home to review the dashcam footage and I realized that the plug had been pulled. I also double checked the fuse that had blown, upon inspection I noticed that A LOT of damage had been done in that area, the fuse had blown so badly that it had melted the Stinger fuse holder. Both the holder and the fuse had to be replaced.

I picked up the grille sometime during the week of June 22, 2015. The work looked fine, and I paid the rest of the money owed for the grille and the molding repair. I did at this point mention the cost of replacing the fuse and the holder, the owner offered to pay, but the money was not the issue to me.

In the end I left without mentioning much of the other issues, I did not want to deal with the drama or any of the other issues related to getting into an argument about the ordeal.

During the period following my experience I told my car club about it, as well as a lot of other car people I knew. A few times I was contacted by the owner, and I simply brushed the issue aside, again my goal was not to get into a dispute with the shop or the owner. My goal was simply to tell others to avoid this shop as I felt the owner was running a very unprofessional business.

More recently I have been noticing many people recommending the shop on RS, various threads asking for Autobody Shops have been answered with try VIP Autobody. Again I always assumed someone who has had another bad experience would come forward and this shop would be ousted. However that didn’t happen. I’ve been contacted by a few people between then and now about my experience there and I have been involved in a few discussions about VIP Autobody. I won’t speak for others, but I hope they do come forward in this thread and explain their situations a little further.

In addition to all of this, the molding that was reinstalled at the bottom of my door by the shop was not attached entirely well. It is almost falling off. I will grab a picture of this on the weekend and upload for all to see (before fixing it myself), and also the molding at the upper edge of my window frame has ghosting left by whatever tape he used while driving my car around with the window broken, I will also take a picture.

I’m not looking for any sort of apology; I’m not looking for compensation. In fact I’m not even interested in talking to the shop or the owner again. I am really only interested in providing the community a glimpse into my experience. You guys can decide for yourselves if you think it’s worth it risking it visiting this shop.

Are there things I could have done differently? Yes, absolutely. I was too easy going with the shop, the initial day when he told me he was taking my car elsewhere I should have said full stop. My way of conducting business is pretty informal, and for the most part it works very well for me. I conduct business professionally in a very similar manner; however, once in awhile it backfires, this appears to be one of those instances, and I failed to realize early enough on to correct it. The fact is however, that some of the shops actions are inexcusable, putting that many km's on my car borders on criminal. Fiddling with my EQ settings and blowing my sub, again inexcusable. Unplugging my dash camera to hide what you are doing is just malicious.

The bottom line is this: My car which I asked not to be driven very much was driven over 400km's in two weeks while in the shops possession. My audio system was obviously cranked and my subwoofer was blown due to incompetence by the shop’s owner. The work that was done was pretty basic and yet the molding on the bottom of my door was not properly attached and it took two attempts for my grille to be painted to my satisfaction. My dashcam was unplugged purposefully by the shop.

TL;DR – VIP Autobody owner almost blew my sound system, drove my car 400km’s, their work wasn’t even that good, and others have had problems with them that I know of. I personally recommend you don’t go there.

[knight604]

:Popcorn

[jinxcrusader]

Wow. That is appalling, 400km is a lot.
Regarding the quote on my post in the OP, it was actually a joke. I saw the Spotted thread that someone spotted your car and you had replied it was ts14 driving the vehicle. I shared the reply to a group chat with ts14 among other friends and I suggested it would be funny if I wrote what I wrote. I think you knew that too since you replied and put a trollface emoji, sorry if that was not clear.
Back on topic though, it is very fortunate that you didn't have to replace the sound system. I do look forward to seeing what the owner has to say

[kkthind]

TL: DR

does someone have spark notes or something? :badpokerface:

[Fafine]

Holy shit vip owner was not professional at all. In fact, he sounds and acts like a child.

[smoothie.]

TL;DR – VIP Autobody owner almost blew my sound system, drove my car 400km’s, their work wasn’t even that good, and others have had problems with them that I know of. I personally recommend you don’t go there.

TL: DR

does someone have spark notes or something? :badpokerface:

:considered:

[snails]

fck, i couldnt imagine someone else driving my car and i only own an old honda.

thats pretty messed up and super sketchy that the dashcam was unplugged.

that alone would be enough for me to avoid the shop like the plague.

[bossha]

Can't wait to hear what owner has to say

[EmOne]

in

[ts14]

All I can say is I'm sorry if this went down this way. I agree, This was a very immature and irresponsible decision on my part and I apologize for any bad feelings u have after coming to me. I take responsibility for everything. I didn't mean to drive ur car but it was foolish of me to do so.

I'm still very new to this business and I'm trying to improve from each mistake. I know my mistakes will cost me but all I can say is that I'm sorry

[320icar]

Wow. And an RS member too. If this doesn't seem like BASIC FUCKING LOGIC for a shop owner, i can't even

[bossha]

All I can say is I'm sorry if this went down this way. I agree, This was a very immature and irresponsible decision on my part and I apologize for any bad feelings u have after coming to me. I take responsibility for everything. I didn't mean to drive ur car but it was foolish of me to do so.

I'm still very new to this business and I'm trying to improve from each mistake. I know my mistakes will cost me but all I can say is that I'm sorry

Being new to "this" business doesn't justify lack of common sense. Sorry.

[EmOne]

All I can say is I'm sorry if this went down this way. I agree, This was a very immature and irresponsible decision on my part and I apologize for any bad feelings u have after coming to me. I take responsibility for everything. I didn't mean to drive ur car but it was foolish of me to do so.

I'm still very new to this business and I'm trying to improve from each mistake. I know my mistakes will cost me but all I can say is that I'm sorry

you think it's ok to take customers cars for 400km joy rides without their permission?
You didn't make a mistake, you're just a fucking idiot

[richardmozis]

400km? probably took it to stave

[ts14]

Being new to "this" business doesn't justify lack of common sense. Sorry.

I agree. It was a damn stupid decision on my behalf. I completely understand that.

I don't expect meme or many of rs to forgive me. I realize that I was lacking very much in the common sense depratment

Lesson learned.

[TOS'd]

All I can say is I'm sorry if this went down this way. I agree, This was a very immature and irresponsible decision on my part and I apologize for any bad feelings u have after coming to me. I take responsibility for everything. I didn't mean to drive ur car but it was foolish of me to do so.

I'm still very new to this business and I'm trying to improve from each mistake. I know my mistakes will cost me but all I can say is that I'm sorry

Son, I am disappoint.

[kross9]

I dont know, not driving customer cars without there explicate approval and even then still seems very wrong...

Unless it required to verify repairs, gas or transport...

[ilvtofu]

Unplugging a dash cam isn't all that uncommon from my experience although this situation is a little different. I had my turboback installed at an RS vendor shop and my dash cam was unplugged and I don't blame them at all, their testing of the exhaust could easily be misinterpreted as "shop rips it in customer's car".

I recently left my car at brown bros. to inspect a drivetrain noise and one of the techs there was having a heart to heart about a break up with another coworker which was caught on my dash cam. I get that businesses should be about transparency but I think they should be afforded some level of privacy as well.

[PLUJ]

I didn't feel like mentioning this since I've heard they did good work...but when I was shopping around for quotes a while ago, I saw an employee peel out (heard the tires squeal) from the back of the shop to the front in a Chrysler 300 (older short guy with long hair).:heckno: That was enough for me to get back in my car and shop elsewhere.

[meme405]

Unplugging a dash cam isn't all that uncommon from my experience although this situation is a little different. I had my turboback installed at an RS vendor shop and my dash cam was unplugged and I don't blame them at all, their testing of the exhaust could easily be misinterpreted as "shop rips it in customer's car".

I recently left my car at brown bros. to inspect a drivetrain noise and one of the techs there was having a heart to heart about a break up with another coworker which was caught on my dash cam. I get that businesses should be about transparency but I think they should be afforded some level of privacy as well.

This was the first time my car has visited a shop and the dashcam was unplugged. If I trust a shop with my car, I'd like to know that they trust me in reverse just as much to know that I won't blindly accuse them of ripping my car if that wasn't the case.

I don't just go pull dashcam footage everytime after getting my car back from a shop, in fact this is the first time I have done it, and that was because I had reason to suspect something suspicious was going on with the vehicle.

It's a matter of opinion I guess, I am on the side that if there is something you don't want me to see you doing with my car, then I don't want you working on my car. That is to say that if it's something you wouldn't do while working in front of me, you are probably doing something that you shouldn't be doing.

Maybe I feel this way since I am a reasonable person, it may not seem like it from this thread, but on the overall I am willing to accept a lot. I understand that some people aren't like this and I can respect that some shops have to worry about those people.

[ts14]

I didn't feel like mentioning this since I've heard they did good work...but when I was shopping around for quotes a while ago, I saw an employee peel out (heard the tires squeal) from the back of the shop to the front in a Chrysler 300 (older short guy with long hair).:heckno: That was enough for me to get back in my car and shop elsewhere.

Not gonna lie. This confused me. I've only ever worked on one 300c and it had a sound system and a loud exhaust. That description of the driver doesn't really fit the any of my employees .... I do know that the business behind me, there's a employee that owns a 300 there.

[Mr.Money]

lucky this wasn't some gangsters car :heckno:

[MaaaadMan]

I had a reputable shop unplug my dashcam & left grease stains on my steering wheel while they did my alignment.

Such anger

Much disappoint

Omg

[kkttsang]

This shows we really have to take rs reviews with a grain of salt. I started a auto body shop thread recently for recommendation and lots of ppl vouch for vip, but I didn't know they were a rs member maybe that's why, luckily I took it to ak because close to my house.
Once something like this is out there, it will be hard to gain back the trust of the customers or potential future customers. Why would I want to risk it when there are so many bodyshop out there, who will respect other people's property.

[PLUJ]

Not gonna lie. This confused me. I've only ever worked on one 300c and it had a sound system and a loud exhaust. That description of the driver doesn't really fit the any of my employees .... I do know that the business behind me, there's a employee that owns a 300 there.

It was around mid August this summer. He was wearing blue overalls. He parked in front of your shop and walked right into your shop...

[ts14]

The business around my shop wear blue over all a too. I think u mistook that for my neighbour. My neighbours come by regularly to get things fixed

[kkttsang]

It was around mid August this summer. He was wearing blue overalls. He parked in front of your shop and walked right into your shop...

Not gonna lie. This confused me. I've only ever worked on one 300c and it had a sound system and a loud exhaust. That description of the driver doesn't really fit the any of my employees .... I do know that the business behind me, there's a employee that owns a 300 there.

Lol @ "not gonna lie" pretty sure nobody trust you here after you admit to all those things you did to meme car. Credibility not very good right now buddy.

It's like me saying I'm not trying to be mean but your shop sucks.

[123654123]

TL: DR

does someone have spark notes or something? :badpokerface:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZn4Nt1ppPw

[jinxcrusader]

I started a auto body shop thread recently for recommendation and lots of ppl vouch for vip, but I didn't know they were a rs member maybe that's why,

from said autobody shop thread; http://www.revscene.net/forums/704898-ak-autoworks-how-they.html

VIP is a fellow member's shop ^ they do great work from the pictures i seen. Altho i never had my there, but if i need too ill definitely go there. My gf took her car to Jetway in vancouver and they did an awesome job

but ok. I can see how you would not know seeing as how someone pointed that out. :ahwow:

[Acura604]

Lovely. Another gypsy Kwan -do fly by night shithole shop. nEVER going there ..

[kkttsang]

from said autobody shop thread; http://www.revscene.net/forums/704898-ak-autoworks-how-they.html



but ok. I can see how you would not know seeing as how someone pointed that out. :ahwow:

Didn't read all the thread as the car was already at ak

But since vip has lots of buddies here on rs. I expect there will be people flaming me for criticizing him. But at the end of the day we thank meme for bringing this to light and allowing future members to make a informative choice.

[Gerbs]

I agree. It was a damn stupid decision on my behalf. I completely understand that.

I don't expect meme or many of rs to forgive me. I realize that I was lacking very much in the common sense depratment

Lesson learned.

How did you manage to drive 400km? Did u just floor it around all week lol

[Cman333]

They currently have my car there. I went there due to a couple referrals. We'll see in a couple days.

TS14>>> I get that you have a new business, but really need to not overbook and push things off. I can't say we're never guilty of it because we want the business, but there comes a certain time where you just need to tell the new customers they may have to wait a little longer. Keeping existing customers is #1, new customers is #2. Existing ones send the referrals, and often bring repeat business. Afterall, it's rare to never have a claim. Driving customer cars is a bit of a no no, unless they've given you consent. I really hope while you had my car you didn't take it around. Sure mechanics may need to test their work, I often need to test for reception, but bodyshops really shouldn't need to drive customer cars around.

At our shop we do have the tendency to disconnect DVR's also. Not because of things we want to hide, but more for our own privacy also. I personally am quite private and prefer not to have people filming me for no reason. But we do a full inside/outside inspection and have the vehicle owner sign it plus I have my own video surveillance if need be.


kkttsang>>> How was AK? My close friend works there and I was thinking to go there originally but his schedule was so booked up.

[dared3vil0]

:pokerface:

Who wants to stretch the front fenders on a Mustang to fit 335/30/18's? Stock 315's can be run with the correct offset wheel no problem so it doesn't need too much of a stretch. I suddenly changed my mind on where I was going to take it.

:badpokerface:

[SpuGen]

^
The Speed Syndicate.

[kkttsang]

kkttsang>>> How was AK? My close friend works there and I was thinking to go there originally but his schedule was so booked up.

My car got broken into so my fix was minor, none of the less they did the job. I can't tell the paint different looks back to normal to me. So to me they did a good job and they got it done quick but again it's minor. They r professionals.

[k3lv]

Taking a car for a 400km joyride?
Talking like a high school kid to customers?
Ignoring customer requests?

No thanks. I wouldn't consider taking my car there until I hear professionalism has turned around.

Thanks for the write up though meme :) saved my car from being in the wrong hands.

[XplicitLuder]

i kinda got what kelv said.. you know i love you ts, but when doing business dont speak like a friend and like youre in your late teens, gotta speak more professional

[hi-revs]

Well, Since We're reviewing Vip autobody, I thought I'd chime in on my experience for future potential customers.

My experience was less than stellar.
Same thing as OP, owner asked about disconnecting my dash cam. I get it. Privacy reasons etc... but that definitely made me think wtf was gonna happen to my car while in the shop.

I went in for a simple bumper/lip repaint from a hit and run.
First time after repaint I noticed that there were still spider cracks left on my lip. I noticed this. Not the owner pointing it out. Owner apologizes and goes to repaint the entire bumper.
2nd time aorund picking up my car I noticed that the paint wasn't "filling" into my lower bumper evenly. Gaps of paint missing.
Again, this was something that I noticed and pointed out. I spoke to the owner and painter regarding this. They fed me a bunch of stuff saying how hard it is to get paint I to that area... ( well, would another shop not have been able to get it right the first time around?) Atleast tell me the results and not having to let me point it out.
3rd time I went there to pick up my car and I just wanted to settle the bill and gtf-outta there.

I regret not writing down my kms before dropping my car off as I wouldn't be any bit surprised if they took my car for a good rip.

I'm not commenting to bash VIP. Just an honest review of how I felt while dealing with this body shop.

There may be joe-shmoes out there who would just be glad to get their car back without doing a thorough review, but I defiantly ain't one of them.
When I go to retrieve my car back, I expect the job quality to be not too far off from oem.
If by the 3rd time and they still didn't get it to acceptable standards, I for sure would have filed a report with icbc.

In the end I gave them the benefit of the doubt to get the job done.
They did after a bit of hassle (and who knows what they could have done while the dash cam was unplugged)

[SkunkWorks]

Ah... Also like Meme, I didn't want to post anything about my poor experience at VIP Autobody - thinking it was just a one-off experience but clearly I was wrong.

Preface: take my experience for what you will. I am not pointing fingers, this is MY experience as I experienced it. I won't be going back.

I dropped my 964 there also on the recommendation of RS members to have a new rear bumper centre section installed and painted and the rear bumper painted.

Was quoted $800 - seems high but hey, give a fellow RS member some business? Continually told how their foreman does a lot of fibreglass work, car will be taken care of, fellow RS member, etcetc.

I made a note of my km's upon drop-off and the foreman noted that down, and as I found out, passed that info to Talah later.

While they had the car, I was asked repeatedly the same questions as Meme; if he could bring it to the RS meet, that he had "no space in the shop" one Friday night and was going to park it at his Richmond warehouse. He griped and asked why I noted the kms down. I knew where he was going with it and kindly told him not to drive the car.

When I went to pick up my car, first thing I noticed was the FG piece fit horrendously. Not the shop's fault. However, they didn't tell me the part fit terrible. Presumably hoping I'd not notice and walk out. As the 964 rear bumper is in sections, they painted the whole bumper as one piece so there was grey primer still visible in between each piece. Garbage.

I pointed my disappointment to them and to their credit, Talah accepted the fact that I wasn't happy and would make it right. We ended up deciding to go reuse the old centre section and I was (un)pleasantly surprised to find a equally larger bill of $1000 that was unannounced to me until the day before I was to pick the car up.

Once again, work wasn't great with orange peel everywhere. Talah wetsanded and polished it out but kept mentioning how he was going the extra mile for me which irked the fuck out of me. Quality control should be done before a customer picks up their car, no? Citing things you should be doing in the first place as "extra work" and "going the extra mile" is complete BS.

The short of it? Owner wanted to joyride my car but I had noted my kms down, to their knowledge, so it wasn't touched. Work was subpar. Costs were high. Like Meme, I had a distinctly bad feeling the entire time my car was in their possession. I won't be going back to VIP Autobody.

Oh and Rennspeed sells shitty fitting fiberglass parts.

[jiggaz]

ts14 wasnt going to say anything but did you drive my car to "storage" too ? when I picked up my car the first time my gas light was on... and it wasnt close to empty when I dropped it off, didnt say anything at that time because I was more pissed off about the other problems I found.

even though he did fix all my problems (bad orange peel + over spray all over my car/windows) the posts on here praising you must of been your buddys

I brought the white 370z nismo

Cman333 AK is a good shop had my cars there many times only gave vip a chance cause they were booked..

[Lomac]

I'm not going to comment on the actual topic of this thread but I did just want to address one thing:

At our shop we do have the tendency to disconnect DVR's also. Not because of things we want to hide, but more for our own privacy also. I personally am quite private and prefer not to have people filming me for no reason. But we do a full inside/outside inspection and have the vehicle owner sign it plus I have my own video surveillance if need be.

This.

Technically it's illegal to video tape inside private property without the written consent of anyone who may be shown on the video. That's not to say that those who are concerned about what goes on with their car don't have a valid concern. However, it's something that you need to let the shop/garage/dealership know ahead of time and get their permission. If they say no (and they are fully within their legal right to do so, especially since asking every single mechanic in a shop might not be a feasible possibility), don't simply assume it's because they're doing something shady. If you're really concerned, ask if they have surveillance cameras in the shop that you'd be allowed to pull if you suspect something.

[Gucci Mane]

fuck now i kinda feel bad for recommending his shop on here to others. but truth be told, the work they did on my f150 was fine and it wasn't driven at all.

Ts, this such a let down man. this isnt the way to be conducting business. sorry but after this i don't think i could ever recommend your shop to anyone. very unprofessional. you've got some serious growing up to do.

[jasonc]

imagine the legal implication if something was to happen to a customer car while the bodyshop was driving it. especially without a repair plate or fines if caught incorrectly using it. also with enough complaints icbc could take away your valet license and do some heavy damage to your business. hopefully its a good lesson learned.

[J.C]

honest review here:

brought in my car to have front bumper, roof, and lip painted with about half a tank a gas
got it back and the job was done well, but i had an empty tank, he did tell me he was going to take it to the storage though
found out recently that the gloss black roof has some metallic flake in one corner and the rest doesn't

honestly feel uneasy letting other people driving my car thats a few inches off the ground

he also backed my car into a trash bin on the pick up day, bunch of people there saw
damaged my rear diffuser and put a little chip in the bumper and he offered to buy me a new one

no problem there, he paid for 100% of the new diffuser and touched up the chip
though the touch up bothers me still since it wasn't there before

[fliptuner]

imagine the legal implication if something was to happen to a customer car while the bodyshop was driving it. especially without a repair plate or fines if caught incorrectly using it. also with enough complaints icbc could take away your valet license and do some heavy damage to your business. hopefully its a good lesson learned.

Ironic you mention this cause he rear ended someone while doing some work on my buddy's truck.

[westopher]

Jesus, when it rains it pours.

[Gtrr33]

i drove by there weeks ago and saw someone ultra reving a fully modded black TL, dont know if the owner is doing it or someone else.....

[Energy]

Wtf 400kms is roughly the same distance as Vancouver to Whistler and back. That's a long joy ride. Totally unacceptable.

[ts14]

I sincerely apologize to everyone that has a bad experience at my shop. Even though you won't come back, I want to say that I am sorry for having anyone go through the inconvenience that I gave.

I opened up my shop to serve the best work to whoever wanted to stop by. Obviously me being so new to this industry, being in business was a huge learning curve for me. A curve I'm still on. I worked hard for my shop and I realize that I started slacking. I wore down from everything coming at me.

I know I don't have the right to make excuses. Call me stupid, a fuck up, retarded, or whatever. I'm not stopping you. If anything it's probably true. This whole thread has got me feeling the absolute worst looking at what it has come to.

I know I have a lot to change. My professionalism and work Ethic. I guess me being at a young age and so new to this made me forget that even when a friend walks through the door, I have to treat them like a customer. I apologize for letting everyone down. And I won't let this past me.

I'm still learning as a business owner. Several times I've learned from my customers when something goes wrong, and how to prevent it from happening again. I have to get back on my seat and start having more control over everything again.

My shop is my life. I take any criticism and comments seriously. I understand many of you are still outraged and I'm not gonna stop you. What I did was really fucking stupid and if I could, I would beat myself for being such a fucking retard.

Even though I won't be seeing many of you walk through my shop, I learned from this whole experience. I'm not going to be conducting business how I used to.

[Energy]

Just because someone is your "friend" doesn't give you the right to disregard their explicit instructions not to drive their car.

Disconnecting the dash cam is fine (lots of shops do it), the shitty work is ok as long as you fix it in the end but I just can't imagine what went through your head when you thought it was ok to take a 400kms joyride.

Hope you learn from your mistake.

[E-SPEC]

Wow that is well worth getting KO'd over IMO. Some people are just much less forgiving, unfortunately. Or just not about that. Doesn't he have his own subs in his own car? i'm guessing not.

[ts14]

I learned my mistake. cant make excuses for my actions. Not gonna bull shit to everyone. This is a lot for me to take in and it wasn't until everything is in front of me where I see that I'm flawed on so many levels.

Which is why I'm actively replying. I don't plan on running away from my problems. I've been a part of this forum for some time now and I realize now looking back how I can't make any of the mistakes that I have done.

[Harvey Specter]

Dude what does "learning as a business owner" have to do with taking customers cars for joyrides??? I'm beyond speechless...

[flagella]

I'm continually bothered by this "new to the industry", "learning curve" crap he spews as if they have anything to do with the decision he made to take it for a joyride. The problem is way beyond this and your joyride is a reflection of your unethical conduct and lack of conscience. It amazes me that you've managed to drive 400 km. Did it not occur to you after 100 km that what you are doing is entirely messed up? After 200? 300? You kept going and it's hugely concerning. I don't even think there should be a second chance. At least anyone who's even thinking of going to hour shop should be made aware of all your history of inappropriate behavior.

[Matsuda]

from the sounds of it, meme's car isn't the only one you've put a lot of mileage on..

[kkttsang]

And he did this to a "friend"/ fellow rs member. Can only imagine if it was a random customer with no connection what would have happened.

[The_AK]

I dont understand the need to floss in someone else's car more-so a customer's car MORE-SO a very well known locally car. It's horror stories like these that deter me from ever taking my car to a shop. Very unprofessional. If anything the name of your shop completely contradicts how your customers are treated.

[freakshow]

Just also wanted to comment on the dash cam thing: As much as I want to monitor every little thing that happens when my car is in the shop, I think body shops *should* disable dash cams as a company policy.

There are privacy issues galore as well as misunderstandings that come from customers who have no clue what they're talking about. If you need to record your mechanic, you need a new mechanic.

[VR6GTI]

Dude what does "learning as a business owner" have to do with taking customers cars for joyrides??? I'm beyond speechless...
This, what a strange comment to make for someone with VIP status. I guess he isn't LOLing anymore

[TOS'd]

Let us not forget that at least twice the owner wanted to bring a customers car to a car meet and asked if he could. It shouldn't have been a thought to begin with. And having to "store" the car in another location just gives him the opportunity to drive the car, probably not because there was no room at the shop.

[RCubed]

I brought my car to a reputable shop here in Edmonton to do some bodywork. They work on high end cars all the time and heard really good reviews from them.
When I got my car back, I noticed I was burning a lot more oil than I normally did and a few days later the turbo went.
They disabled my dashcam when they worked on it, but didnt notice I had a rear dash cam.
When i reviewed it, they took my car out at 11PM for very spirited drives down the former airport service roads where the shop was.
I confronted the shop owner and he denied it. I showed him the video and he noticed it was one of his employees that took the car out. He was terminated right away. They paid for the damages.

I didnt even think it was the shops fault when it first happened. But i just happened to review the footage because I remembered I had a rear cam. The shop owner told me that this is uncharacteristic of his employee. I guess you can never be too sure of shit like this.

[VR6GTI]

I brought my car to a reputable shop here in Edmonton to do some bodywork. They work on high end cars all the time and heard really good reviews from them.
When I got my car back, I noticed I was burning a lot more oil than I normally did and a few days later the turbo went.
They disabled my dashcam when they worked on it, but didnt notice I had a rear dash cam.
When i reviewed it, they took my car out at 11PM for very spirited drives down the former airport service roads where the shop was.
I confronted the shop owner and he denied it. I showed him the video and he noticed it was one of his employees that took the car out. He was terminated right away. They paid for the damages.

I didnt even think it was the shops fault when it first happened. But i just happened to review the footage because I remembered I had a rear cam. The shop owner told me that this is uncharacteristic of his employee. I guess you can never be too sure of shit like this.
Wow, that's a crazy story

[BoostedBB6]

Dude.....WTF?!?!

New to the business.....acting like this you will not BE in business.
Your a shit owner with no business sense and frankly deserve a thrashing. This is a BUSINESS not your own personal rental car company. Grow the fuck up.

[white rocket]

It's definitely hard for me to read this. Both of my experiences were good and exactly what I expected; hence my praise for VIP. Work was done as agreed, for the price agreed, in a timely fashion, and to a satisfactory level. That's all I can ask from any business. I'd like to think we have become acquaintances since. I previously had no reason to ever doubt VIP at all.

Tahla, my dude, it takes a great deal of courage to admit your errors in judgement publicly after being called out pretty hard. It also sounds like you aren't making excuses for your behavior as well. Considering the circumstances, that is also a wise move. Own your errors and learn from them. The backlash from this thread alone will hurt your business for a while. How you conduct yourself from here on out will dictate the future of your business. Transparency is always key for any business. Once that dissipates, so does the trust. And here we are.

I know you have Cmann's car there and I'd like to think that my recommendation of your shop was a factor in him bringing his car to you. We are good friends and I would feel partially responsible if something of a negative nature came to light with his car in your possession. All I ask is that you don't put me in that position. Mixing business with pleasure can cause unwanted static when shit hits the fan and I don't need that in my life at all.

I don't feel the need to throw you under the bus at all. You got caught and now you're owing it. Nothing more can be done now. Recovery takes time. Learn from this, grow, and move forward.

[Cman333]

I'm not going to comment on the actual topic of this thread but I did just want to address one thing:



This.

Technically it's illegal to video tape inside private property without the written consent of anyone who may be shown on the video. That's not to say that those who are concerned about what goes on with their car don't have a valid concern. However, it's something that you need to let the shop/garage/dealership know ahead of time and get their permission. If they say no (and they are fully within their legal right to do so, especially since asking every single mechanic in a shop might not be a feasible possibility), don't simply assume it's because they're doing something shady. If you're really concerned, ask if they have surveillance cameras in the shop that you'd be allowed to pull if you suspect something.


I didn't even think about the legal portion of it. LOL I just don't like my privacy invaded, nor do I want people hearing my personal conversation. My conversations with staff members are mine. :)

[evlee]

Starlite Autobody that as been in the industry for a very long time is 2 blocks away. Handles quite a few RS cars, and the owner is an OG rs member.

[ilvtofu]

It bothers me that this thread has devolved into a witch hunt of sorts, but I've been an active member of this forum long enough that I'm not surprised of this overreactive passive aggressiveness.

If every business owner who made a few questionable judgment calls should close up shop as some members have suggested, there probably wouldn't be many businesses left. I think TS has realized just how much he has to lose after this ordeal and how he comes out of this will be the basis of how I'm going to judge his character.

[VR6GTI]

It bothers me that this thread has devolved into a witch hunt of sorts, but I've been an active member of this forum long enough that I'm not surprised of this overreactive passive aggressiveness.

If every business owner who made a few questionable judgment calls should close up shop as some members have suggested, there probably wouldn't be many businesses left. I think TS has realized just how much he has to lose after this ordeal and how he comes out of this will be the basis of how I'm going to judge his character.
I'm note sure i would call these circumstances questionable calls.
Its more of a complete fuck up, if you ask me

[freakshow]

It bothers me that this thread has devolved into a witch hunt of sorts, but I've been an active member of this forum long enough that I'm not surprised of this overreactive passive aggressiveness.

If every business owner who made a few questionable judgment calls should close up shop as some members have suggested, there probably wouldn't be many businesses left. I think TS has realized just how much he has to lose after this ordeal and how he comes out of this will be the basis of how I'm going to judge his character.

By RS standards, this thread is not even close to a "witch hunt". If anything, people are probably going easier on him because he's an RS member.

[NSX]

It bothers me that this thread has devolved into a witch hunt of sorts, but I've been an active member of this forum long enough that I'm not surprised of this overreactive passive aggressiveness.

If every business owner who made a few questionable judgment calls should close up shop as some members have suggested, there probably wouldn't be many businesses left. I think TS has realized just how much he has to lose after this ordeal and how he comes out of this will be the basis of how I'm going to judge his character.

Until it happens to you.

[SkunkWorks]

It bothers me that this thread has devolved into a witch hunt of sorts, but I've been an active member of this forum long enough that I'm not surprised of this overreactive passive aggressiveness.

I would hardly call it a witch hunt. I didn't post my ordeal up initially because I trusted (wrongly) that it was a one-off experience and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Since some RS members had vouched for him, I chalked it up as a lesson learnt and continued on my way with nary a drama.

When I found out that it wasn't a one-off, I don't ever want any RS member or enthusiast for that matter, have their pride and joy thrashed and abused without their consent - hence my post.

I'm not sure what you constitute simply as a "questionable call" but joyriding customers' cars on multiple occasions - and lying and manipulating the truth to do so - is hardly something done in an innocent, naivety way.

[Acura604]

Time to lightenup the mood here lol.. re: dashcams. Burrard Acura techs...forgot to disable dashcam...caught drooling over the TL Type S 6spd manual... hilarious.


https://youtu.be/cVscN11OehQ

[Cman333]

I know you have Cmann's car there and I'd like to think that my recommendation of your shop was a factor in him bringing his car to you. We are good friends and I would feel partially responsible if something of a negative nature came to light with his car in your possession. All I ask is that you don't put me in that position. Mixing business with pleasure can cause unwanted static when shit hits the fan and I don't need that in my life at all.

I don't feel the need to throw you under the bus at all. You got caught and now you're owing it. Nothing more can be done now. Recovery takes time. Learn from this, grow, and move forward.

How right you are. LOL. We'll see in a couple days. Hoping to get my car back tomorrow if all goes well.

Couldn't agree more. Good that he owned up to it, just needs to get over it, learn from it, never let it happen again.

[jing]

I have some issue with the quality of work performed as well, especially since they were 50% more expensive than what I was quoted by another shop. I had my Miata hardtop color changed from red to black. Upon first inspection, it looked good. However, a couple of mouldings were misplaced by an employee but later found. Unfortunately I didn't realize at the time that there were still a couple more moulding corner pieces that were missing. The hard top lay unused in the garage for several months installed on my car which was still in storage. When it came time to take the car out again and I saw it more clearly in the sun, I noticed several, very visible spots that looked like a rotary sander had been used on it but was not properly prepped before paint. I am no bodyman, but there are at least two very distinct spots on the hardtop that are in this condition. I will post pictures later. The inside of the hardtop where the window rolls up into was unpainted as well. The owner told me upon first picking it up that I could bring it back at a later date to have this addressed. I have not taken the time to have this taken care of yet, but feel that it should've been taken care of before I picked it up. /$0.02

[Eff-1]

Man if a shop texted me asking if they can take my car to a meet, I'd be like WTF no i'm coming to pick my car up from you right now. :fulloffuck:

[ts14]

That's something I warranty. Those swirls I can easily remove. I rushed to finish that roof and that was a mistake to begin with




I have some issue with the quality of work performed as well, especially since they were 50% more expensive than what I was quoted by another shop. I had my Miata hardtop color changed from red to black. Upon first inspection, it looked good. However, a couple of mouldings were misplaced by an employee but later found. Unfortunately I didn't realize at the time that there were still a couple more moulding corner pieces that were missing. The hard top lay unused in the garage for several months installed on my car which was still in storage. When it came time to take the car out again and I saw it more clearly in the sun, I noticed several, very visible spots that looked like a rotary sander had been used on it but was not properly prepped before paint. I am no bodyman, but there are at least two very distinct spots on the hardtop that are in this condition. I will post pictures later. The inside of the hardtop where the window rolls up into was unpainted as well. The owner told me upon first picking it up that I could bring it back at a later date to have this addressed. I have not taken the time to have this taken care of yet, but feel that it should've been taken care of before I picked it up. /$0.02

[Acura604]

I'm sorry... organizations like this need to be DRIVEN OUT OF BUSINESS! everyone needs to post this thread onto other local forums to get the word out to AVOID this PLACE at ALL costs...... this guy should stick to his day job.. whatever that may be.. but it ain't body shop stuff.

His continuous apologies are irrelevant as it WILL occur again.

[ts14]

I'm sorry... organizations like this need to be DRIVEN OUT OF BUSINESS! everyone needs to post this thread onto other local forums to get the word out to AVOID this PLACE at ALL costs...... this guy should stick to his day job.. whatever that may be.. but it ain't body shop stuff.

His continuous apologies are irrelevant as it WILL occur again.

I'm not one to repeat a big fuck up. I've done jobs where time restraints killed my quality. But look at any body shop perspective, shops make mistakes from rushing . Which is why recently i have asked for more time on jobs so I don't make those mistakes again. I don't want customers to come back complaining but when I offer a warranty and not let me at least handle a situation on my end, it's hard to come clean if I can't fix my mistakes.

I've already apologized. All I can say at this point is that I don't get burned down. I can improve my organization and professionalism. These are issues I can fix

[jakers]

I'm not one to repeat a big fuck up. I've done jobs where time restraints killed my quality. But look at any body shop perspective, shops make mistakes from rushing . Which is why recently i have asked for more time on jobs so I don't make those mistakes again. I don't want customers to come back complaining but when I offer a warranty and not let me at least handle a situation on my end, it's hard to come clean if I can't fix my mistakes.

I've already apologized. All I can say at this point is that I don't get burned down. I can improve my organization and professionalism. These are issues I can fix

Someone calls out service they aren't happy with? You were rushed.

Someone calls out a lack of professionalism? You're new at the business.

Seems like excuses to me, no one is going to feel sorry that you are a new business owner. People are giving you money and they expect a certain result. If you can't provide that then you should maybe step back and look at why you are in this business. Because it sure as hell seems to a lot of people right now that it's to drive cars other people worked hard to buy.

[Adorkami]

All shops are bound to have quality issues. Number 1 Collision didn't paint my front bumper correctly once but when i showed it to them they apologized and fixed it right away. Was I mad that it wasn't done the first time? Not really, I was happy the end result was exactly what it should be and they were willing to fix it without trying toplace the blame on something else.

Your main issue has more to do with professionalism than work quality. People love their vehicles (my car is almost 10 years old and I still won't let my wife drive it), you need to be respectful of other people's property and provide good service. Don't act like a 16 year old kid who just sees a cool looking car, you are doing this to pay your bills so get your shit together.

[boostfever]

Man if a shop texted me asking if they can take my car to a meet, I'd be like WTF no i'm coming to pick my car up from you right now. :fulloffuck:

I would be like:
No, drive all the way to North Van, pick me up and we can go together. Hell, I'll ride shotgun on the way to the meet.
:fuckthatshit:

[Expresso]

Your main issue has more to do with professionalism than work quality. People love their vehicles (my car is almost 10 years old and I still won't let my wife drive it), you need to be respectful of other people's property and provide good service. Don't act like a 16 year old kid who just sees a cool looking car, you are doing this to pay your bills so get your shit together.

Why won't you let your wife drive it?

[Harvey Specter]

All shops are bound to have quality issues. Number 1 Collision didn't paint my front bumper correctly once but when i showed it to them they apologized and fixed it right away. Was I mad that it wasn't done the first time? Not really, I was happy the end result was exactly what it should be and they were willing to fix it without trying toplace the blame on something else.

Your main issue has more to do with professionalism than work quality. People love their vehicles (my car is almost 10 years old and I still won't let my wife drive it), you need to be respectful of other people's property and provide good service. Don't act like a 16 year old kid who just sees a cool looking car, you are doing this to pay your bills so get your shit together.

+1.

Bang on.

[BoostedBB6]

As for a witch hunt, not even close.
You want to see one of those, check out Vancouver Velocity Cars in the search bar ;)

As for this, he messed up on a large scale and it came out of the wood works and others followed suite to post there experiences.

I experienced similar issue with my AE86 when it was at a bodyshop in north van years back. It had 1200kms put on it, one rim rashed up, fresh diff fluid looked black and both rears were down to 60% despite being put on 2 days before going into the shop.....so for me this is a rather shit thing to do to your paying customers.

I dont know this shop nor the owner, but I know the feeling when you trust someone with something that means a lot to you and they dont respect that.

[Adorkami]

Why won't you let your wife drive it?

She doesn't drive that often and has hit a pillar and 2 parked cars while driving a trailblazer so the idea of her driving a faster vehicle that you see less of the road in isn't appealing. I'm convinced she got her license because she went for her test at around 6 months pregnant.

[ilvtofu]

By RS standards, this thread is not even close to a "witch hunt". If anything, people are probably going easier on him because he's an RS member.

There are a few voices of reason in this thread keeping it reasonably tame, definitely agree it's because he's an RS member though.


I'm not sure what you constitute simply as a "questionable call" but joyriding customers' cars on multiple occasions - and lying and manipulating the truth to do so - is hardly something done in an innocent, naivety way.

Maybe not a questionable call but a stupid lapse in judgment. By that same token while I think some of his actions were pretty stupid, I struggle to see that the owner is a mean spirited evil person who sets out to disrespect people's property which seems like what some posters are inferring.
While I agree that asking customers if he could drive their car to a meet is pretty unprofessional, I think it is out of naivete and that the owner thought that we're all members of this community and friends/friends of friends. I'm not sure if he would've reached out to a customer that was a complete stranger in that way. I can't speak for him and I don't know TS well, but this is just how I feel as an outsider that doesn't really have a dog in this fight.

It's my nature to be forgiving and to see the good in people as well as the opportunity to change when they are given a rude awakening. Some of you might remember ~a year ago when a bipolar man attacked my car and all of which was captured on my dash cam. I forgave the guy, didn't press any charges, and didn't go after him to repair the dent he put in my door despite what VPD offered. I felt like the lesson was learned and didn't need to pursue some kind of vengeance/retribution

I'm sorry... organizations like this need to be DRIVEN OUT OF BUSINESS! everyone needs to post this thread onto other local forums to get the word out to AVOID this PLACE at ALL costs...... this guy should stick to his day job.. whatever that may be.. but it ain't body shop stuff.

His continuous apologies are irrelevant as it WILL occur again.

annnnddd.... witchhunt

[trollguy]

welp.. there goes income for leasing more space in the building for customer cars

[Cman333]

Lets just take it easy on the poor guy. He's got my car still. Let him stop worrying about this thread so I can have my car back :p

[murd0c]

Lets just take it easy on the poor guy. He's got my car still. Let him stop worrying about this thread so I can have my car back :p

I'm sure you will get it back after his trip to Whistler with it :whistle:

[k3lv]

I see some of the people defending this shop are friends with the owner on Facebook :fullofwin:

Cman, what car is at this shop? I live right around the corner, let me keep an eye out for it tonight when I come home from work, maybe it'll be at "Thursday night meets" :ilied:

[Cman333]

I see some of the people defending this shop are friends on with the owner on Facebook :fullofwin:

Cman, what car is at this shop? I live right around the corner, let me keep an eye out for it tonight when I come home from work, maybe it'll be at "Thursday night meets" :ilied:

Black E90 M3
https://instagram.com/p/7QfW9aIxRv/?taken-by=vipautobodyinc

Pic was taken the first time I got the car back. It needed to be redone because of orange peel/dust/light cracks. So he opted to redo the job again. So it's there now since Sept 28. I hope paint comes out good. I'm not picky, but I still want color to match and to be better than before (few rock chips/spider cracks from previous botched paint job by previous owner). If this time doesn't come out right I'll have to settle something with Talah because I can't wait another 2 weeks to have it redone.

I've seen whiterockets car, and the jobs were acceptable. So I know they're capable of good work. But even when you're slammed, you can't put off quality. Ultimately it's your reputation on the line, you do bad work, it will spread like wildfire. Sometimes you just need to tell the new clients you're slammed, and they need to wait a little bit.

In terms of driving my car, he had to drive mine to drop off the car. Other times I don't know. I frown upon it. What's done is done. I let people drive my cars, so I'm not overly huffy about it. But I'm only okay with it if I KNOW you're driving it.

We'lll see tm I guess.

[evlee]

[RS surveillance] 10/8/2015 @ 1300h

Spotted black M3 E90 park outside, slightly parked in an angle, no bird droppings, seems like she was just moved there recently, no rubber patchs on the ground near the E90 which would tell me no e90 rubber has been burn as of reported time and date.
http://i60.tinypic.com/rqx7c6.jpg

[k3lv]

Will keep an eye out for the E90

If he did something stupid with everyone watching now, the shop owner may be the stupidest person on earth. The testament will be in the mid-term future, once they are back to being comfortable with their customers. That is, if there is a recovery at all. NO publicity is bad publicity right? :lol

[hotong]

Holy shit I was going to take my car to this guys praised shop on rs. He even pmd me to come to his shop cause I mentioned I got keyed. Thank god for this thread saved me from taking my car to a shit hole shop.

[Cman333]

[RS surveillance] 10/8/2015 @ 1300h

Spotted black M3 E90 park outside, slightly parked in an angle, no bird droppings, seems like she was just moved there recently, no rubber patchs on the ground near the E90 which would tell me no e90 rubber has been burn as of reported time and date.
http://i60.tinypic.com/rqx7c6.jpg


HAHA MY BABYYYYYY

RS detectives on the case. I'm guessing the bumper isn't on yet. I have faith in Talah and crew but only time will tell. I don't think he's doing anything to spite any one, but young and inexperienced in this business. Not an excuse regardless, but understandable youngin mentality. I've been there before. Nothing to this degree, but sometimes you think these little things are okay and no big deal. Hope he realizes the mistakes and learns from it. It's hard to please everyone, but as long as the mass majority are happy is all that matters.

[VR6GTI]

Black E90 M3
https://instagram.com/p/7QfW9aIxRv/?taken-by=vipautobodyinc

Pic was taken the first time I got the car back. It needed to be redone because of orange peel/dust/light cracks. So he opted to redo the job again. So it's there now since Sept 28. I hope paint comes out good. I'm not picky, but I still want color to match and to be better than before (few rock chips/spider cracks from previous botched paint job by previous owner). If this time doesn't come out right I'll have to settle something with Talah because I can't wait another 2 weeks to have it redone.

2 weeks to paint a bumper? da faq
orange peel and dust nips can be polished out. Must have been not very good to warrant a respray

[E-SPEC]

Did they take the wheels off or something??? Just drove by and there is no wheels on the car!! That same E90.

[E-SPEC]

jk

[Cman333]

I'll thank and fail you. Right then and there I was like WTF what happened to the wheels. Damn troller :p

[Cman333]

2 weeks to paint a bumper? da faq
orange peel and dust nips can be polished out. Must have been not very good to warrant a respray

First time I wasn't happy with so he's redoing it. Must admit, It's testing my patience. I know it shouldn't take this long, I'll wait as long as it comes out mint.

[RevYouUp]

How is this guy making money, seems like he redoes every job

[Lomac]

Did they take the wheels off or something??? Just drove by and there is no wheels on the car!! That same E90.

jk

:rofl:

[Energy]

How is this guy making money, seems like he redoes every job

Apparently by charging 50% more than the competition.

[RevYouUp]

Yea I got quoted a lot for a bumper repaint before. I'm assuming hes hoping to maximize his margins from people that won't notice his subpar quality of work by over charging and rushing his jobs.

Your quotes seem too high and it seems like members are over paying for your work. If you want to charge so much make sure you don't rush your jobs and do it right the first time. Larger reputable shops that have been around for a long time aren't even charging as much as you. I suggest you work on your business plan

[T4RAWR]

i suppose i should caveat my post by saying that i am a friend of ts14. :fullofwin:

now, i'm not here to defend the guy cause in all actuality it seems like he did a pretty shitty job and fucked up your sub which he should pay for among other things. ts, if you're reading this fuck you cause you really did fuck up here big time buddy :)

what i do wanna point out is my perspective on the 400km on your odo.

people here are posting that he took it for a joy ride to whistler or did a fuck load of donuts and pounded that bitch to kelowna and back but to be logical here it doesnt seem like thats the case at all.

let me try and offer my theoretical explanation as to how your vehicle wound up with 400km.

the vehicle, while requested that it shouldnt be driven, was also requested to be stored safely.

according to ts, there was an issue with the ram or whatever thus there was difficulty storing the vehicle in the shop. lets give him the benefit of the doubt and simply assume this to be the truth as the building is old and so is the equipment inside.

he wanted to take "extra good care" of your vehicle and thus, brought it home to richmond where he could keep a "watchful" eye on it. (calling your home storage is pretty accurate lol but none the less you shoulda given the owner an honest heads up.)

arguably, i'd rather have my vehicle parked in a driveway in richmond than outfront of ts' shop as the area is sketch balls.


so lets do some math.

it takes approximately 20km (give or take 5km) to make it from VIP auto to central richmond ONE WAY. factor in the time frame, 2 weeks (14 days), he probably would have made 10 round trips with your vehicle to and from the shop (40km round trip X 10). 10 days could theoretically account for 10 business days in which he did work on your car.

i'm not saying this is the truth or defending the guy cause he fucked up here pretty good but it does provide a plausible theory. ts may have apologized and tried to own up for his mistake without actually thinking about how the kms wound up on the vehicle in the first place. rather he fell on the sword and owned up to the fact that the car had kms on it which the owner wasnt happy about and shouldered the blame.


did he fuck up? sure as hell he did.
should he be chastised for it? of course, sometimes it takes a beating to learn to make things right again
does he deserved to be crucified for it? not really, atleast not in my personal opinion.


just playing devils advocate here, in no way am i defending his lack of professionalism or the bro-talk or the shitty job he did but i thought i should toss this out there so that people can consider my view as well on the subject.


p.s. TS you fucked up big time here buddy, hope you learned from it :thumbsup:

[Iron Chef]

How old is this guy... Just curious?

[VR6GTI]

if you can't store a car for 1 night you should tell the customer to bring it back when you have the parts so you can do it in 1 day or 2. Not be driving the car back and fourth. Its just plain stupid.

[SpartanAir]

Also by continuously responding on here he keeps bumping the thread to the top and making more people chime in and see it...like I just did :troll:

[Jaffray]

^ what VR6 said..

Get whatever parts needed to replace + paper work done in advance of their appointment date (say, only bumper replace + paint etc). Once customer comes in and drops off car, everything is done and returned to customer within 2 days (give or take if anything happens during the process). Usual routine done at shop I work at.

[SpuGen]

I had a longer post, but I will not speak on behalf of the RS Owner/Admin/Mod Team.

Personal opinion:

I will not be taking this thread down. I have not been asked to.

That being said, even if it were requested, I'm leaving this thread up. Sponsor or no Sponsor. (He's not) It stays.

He fucked up. He needs to deal with it.
Just don't go start a GoFundMe. But if you do, post it here.

I want this thread to be a reminder to EVERYBODY. If you had a shady dealing with a shop, or individual, SAY SOMETHING. Post it. Turning a blind eye, and chalking it up to a personal problem solves nothing. They'll just do it to the next person until they get put on blast.

That being said, Keep it clean. No Slander.

[Ludepower]

OP...With an ICBC claim where you can choose ANY shop to goto.

You chose a small no name shop...in an undesirable location and without proper fencing/storage.

Both parties made poor judgment.

[Suprarz666]

He chose a shop that a lot of people have recommended. Had he known that others were having issues with the shop, I doubt he would have stuck with that choice.

I don't feel like that is poor judgement for selecting a shop.

[jinxcrusader]

^ what VR6 said..

Get whatever parts needed to replace + paper work done in advance of their appointment date (say, only bumper replace + paint etc). Once customer comes in and drops off car, everything is done and returned to customer within 2 days (give or take if anything happens during the process). Usual routine done at shop I work at.

I don't know too much about whether or not Meme405's claim was done through ICBC but if so, wouldn't dropping off his car earlier mean he can get a rental covered by ICBC sooner? If meme405 kept his car until the bumper was ready at the shop, he would be out without a car for a longer period of time
Then again, I have no idea on the scenario. Just a random thought that popped up.

How old is this guy... Just curious?

Shop owner aka ts14 is young. Like early twenties.

[dared3vil0]

Shop owner aka ts14 is young. Like early twenties.


:suspicious:

[westopher]

Not sure what that face is implying.


it takes approximately 20km (give or take 5km) to make it from VIP auto to central richmond ONE WAY. factor in the time frame, 2 weeks (14 days), he probably would have made 10 round trips with your vehicle to and from the shop (40km round trip X 10). 10 days could theoretically account for 10 business days in which he did work on your car.

What would be the reason for having the car for 10 days then. If the car can be moving from the shop every day (as in not in the process of having work done) it should have stayed at one place or another (as in storage if it wasn't started, or at the shop if it was started) for the duration of that. You don't do work on a car, put it back together, take it somewhere, take it back somewhere, work on it again, put it back together again, drive it somewhere, etc.

I don't feel like piling on any judgement on the situation, but had to say something about your "theory."

[twitchyzero]

how long has this shop been open and how are we just hearing about this now? I admit i'd probably just chalk it up as a one time mistake because the PR damage would be over 9000.

what a shame, because ts offered some good input when I had issues with my body shop.

[AzNightmare]

You asshole. You ignored my PM 2 weeks ago when I asked about painting a spoiler.
I ended up getting it done somewhere else.
I guess in hindsight, good thing you did ignored me. Probably saved me a massive headache.

[T4RAWR]

Not sure what that face is implying.


What would be the reason for having the car for 10 days then. If the car can be moving from the shop every day (as in not in the process of having work done) it should have stayed at one place or another (as in storage if it wasn't started, or at the shop if it was started) for the duration of that. You don't do work on a car, put it back together, take it somewhere, take it back somewhere, work on it again, put it back together again, drive it somewhere, etc.

I don't feel like piling on any judgement on the situation, but had to say something about your "theory."

I honestly have no idea lol.

Like I said it was just a theory. I guess that since the work required wasn't mechanical or large (I.e. Replacing bumpers/fenders etc) the vehicle could still easily be driven. You're entirely right that the vehicle shouldn't have been moved from place to place though if work wasn't being done on it. I don't have any knowledge of auto body work so I proposed my theory based on what I do know and merely presented an alternate view of things :).

[meme405]

I don't know too much about whether or not Meme405's claim was done through ICBC but if so, wouldn't dropping off his car earlier mean he can get a rental covered by ICBC sooner? If meme405 kept his car until the bumper was ready at the shop, he would be out without a car for a longer period of time
Then again, I have no idea on the scenario. Just a random thought that popped up.

The claim was done through ICBC. I did not get a loaner car or a rental vehicle. Was a bit of an annoyance just because I had to get back from the shop after dropping off the car, and get to the shop to pick it up. But that has nothing to do with VIP. It's not their problem. I think VIP actually offered to give me a ride.

i suppose i should caveat my post by saying that i am a friend of ts14. :fullofwin:

now, i'm not here to defend the guy cause in all actuality it seems like he did a pretty shitty job and fucked up your sub which he should pay for among other things. ts, if you're reading this fuck you cause you really did fuck up here big time buddy :)

what i do wanna point out is my perspective on the 400km on your odo.

people here are posting that he took it for a joy ride to whistler or did a fuck load of donuts and pounded that bitch to kelowna and back but to be logical here it doesnt seem like thats the case at all.

let me try and offer my theoretical explanation as to how your vehicle wound up with 400km.

the vehicle, while requested that it shouldnt be driven, was also requested to be stored safely.

according to ts, there was an issue with the ram or whatever thus there was difficulty storing the vehicle in the shop. lets give him the benefit of the doubt and simply assume this to be the truth as the building is old and so is the equipment inside.

he wanted to take "extra good care" of your vehicle and thus, brought it home to richmond where he could keep a "watchful" eye on it. (calling your home storage is pretty accurate lol but none the less you shoulda given the owner an honest heads up.)

arguably, i'd rather have my vehicle parked in a driveway in richmond than outfront of ts' shop as the area is sketch balls.


so lets do some math.

it takes approximately 20km (give or take 5km) to make it from VIP auto to central richmond ONE WAY. factor in the time frame, 2 weeks (14 days), he probably would have made 10 round trips with your vehicle to and from the shop (40km round trip X 10). 10 days could theoretically account for 10 business days in which he did work on your car.

i'm not saying this is the truth or defending the guy cause he fucked up here pretty good but it does provide a plausible theory. ts may have apologized and tried to own up for his mistake without actually thinking about how the kms wound up on the vehicle in the first place. rather he fell on the sword and owned up to the fact that the car had kms on it which the owner wasnt happy about and shouldered the blame.


did he fuck up? sure as hell he did.
should he be chastised for it? of course, sometimes it takes a beating to learn to make things right again
does he deserved to be crucified for it? not really, atleast not in my personal opinion.


just playing devils advocate here, in no way am i defending his lack of professionalism or the bro-talk or the shitty job he did but i thought i should toss this out there so that people can consider my view as well on the subject.


p.s. TS you fucked up big time here buddy, hope you learned from it :thumbsup:

I'm sorry. But your "theory" is down right stupid. It probably would explain some of the km's your right, and believe me I have thought about that exact situation, but your theory appears to gloss entirely over the fact that apparently it is supposed to be okay for my car was driven back and forth from this dudes house 10 times!?

If TS was driving my car back and forth from his house in richmond he was not "keeping it safe", he was just using my car as his personal limousine for 2 weeks. You are naive if you think that for 2 weeks he couldn't find a way to get my car into the shop and keep it there. When he told me that he was taking my car to richmond, I assumed it would be just for that first weekend, and then on monday the car would be taken back to the shop when they are working, and it would be moved into the shop and kept there. If he had told me there wasn't room, and that instead he would be driving my car back and forth from his house everyday I would have told him to go fuck a hat.

I have a text from him on the Thursday June 4, saying the car is done and just waiting for wrap (which would have to wait till monday cause Wrap-Workz was busy). So even given your explanation there was no need to drive the car on friday, saturday or sunday. Monday the car was taken to wrap workz. It was there for three days, those guys didn't move it more than a few hundred feet, I believe them, they had my car for over a month before and the car sat in one place for the entire time.

But regardless, lets walk through your "theory" step by step just to show how ridiculous it is.

Saturday May 30 - I drop off the car. The car goes to richmond. Distance ~20km.

Sunday May 31 - NO REASON TO MOVE THE CAR.

Monday June 1 - Car is driven back to VIP. Distance ~20km. Then for some fucked up reason the car is driven back to richmond, stupid but lets roll with it. Distance ~20km. Total for the day ~40km.

Tuesday June 2 - Car is driven back and forth again. ~40km

Wednesday June 3 - Car is driven back and forth again ~40km

Thursday June 4 - I have a text saying the car is completed and waiting for wrap (appointment the following monday). Driven round trip ~40km.

Friday June 5 - No reason to move a car just waiting for wrap.

Saturday June 6 - Same as above

Sunday June 7 - Same as above

Monday June 8 - Car is already in richmond. Wrap workz is in richmond. Car is driven to wrap workz. Distance ~5km?

Tuesday June 9 - Car doesn't move cause it's in responsible hands

Wednesday June 10 - Car is picked up by TS. Driven round trip. Distance ~40km

Thursday June 11 - Car is driven round trip. Distance ~40km.

Friday June 12 - Car is driven to the shop. I pick it up there ~20km.

TOTAL KM's - 280km.

Now do you actually see how fucking far 400km's is?

[T4RAWR]

... but your theory appears to gloss entirely over the fact that apparently it is supposed to be okay for my car was driven back and forth from this dudes house 10 times!?
...


i never said it was ok for him to drive your car back and forth for safe keeping, merely proposed the idea as a possibility. :)

you do make good points on mileage and i concede that it trumps my theory.

[smoothie.]

awaiting cman response as to the quality of work

[E-SPEC]

Has anyone's head been fucked yet? Had to.

[ilvtofu]

Has anyone's head been fucked yet? Had to.

I reported to the dean already :ilied:

[blackvette]

Well at least after this thread,
the shop will have a lot more space for "storage".
Wouldn't have to put 400kms on their cars then. xD

[ZN6]

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/b1c51e7c-8665-4fe9-a00f-913cd9cfa4b8_zpsdvg4peir.png
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s52/meme405/0eee71e6-3466-438e-a9e9-92d19ea17318_zpsdo3e2suh.png

These two conversations are fucked; not to say the other ones aren't fucked that show you are fucking with someone else's car but these two would make a car owner's blood boil. Why would you ask someone to imagine if you fuck something up or lose some shit that belongs to them that they entrusted you to keep safe? Do you really want to inspire a feeling of incompetence in your work or something? Well, congratu-fucking-lations. Mission accomplished. Go home, hero. You've saved the fucking world.

Hey can the owner of the car bring your girlfriend out to a meet and then fuck her and smash her for 400km before he gives her back? Why the fuck would you even ask to show off something that's not yours? What are you going to say at the meet? "Yeah man, check out my customer's ride. Cool right? I'm just rippin' on it" Everyone will look at you like you're a fool.

This is the most fucked up business practice you can get. It's not a matter of learning anything about the business. It's being decent with someone's fucking belongings that you are being PAID to handle. Clearly, this is the most basic thing you fucked right up of ANY business. It's not something that takes a lot of common sense to take care of someone's shit that they are handing over remuneration for regardless of whether it's ass, grass, gas or cash.

It really begs to question whether the owner of the shop would have cared if he wasn't called out. Driving 400km is a long fucking time to think of whether what he is doing is wrong or not.

[meme405]

Why would you ask someone to imagine if you fuck something up or lose some shit that belongs to them that they entrusted you to keep safe? Do you really want to inspire a feeling of incompetence in your work or something? Well, congratu-fucking-lations. Mission accomplished. Go home, hero. You've saved the fucking world.

You actually caught onto something that I probably should have clarified. That text about losing a piece was just coincidental. It relates to something he was messaging me about a little farther up that isn't pictured. (nothing I am hiding just to save grief of like 50 screen caps)

When he was driving the car on the day I dropped off the car one part of the door handle trim pieces came off. I knew the piece had been loose prior to me taking him the car, I basically just needed to buy a new key hole delete.

So that part of the conversation was just related to that, it wasn't damage caused by the shop just something that I needed to fix anyway.

Just a minor clarification to keep things truthful.

[entrax]

It's being decent with someone's fucking belongings that you are being PAID to handle. Clearly, this is the most basic thing you fucked right up of ANY business.

Never mind about a business. Even if I'm just borrowing a friend's car or a friend is leaving out of town and parking their car at my house, I would ask out of courtesy if I could drive it for 400km in 2 weeks. If it was a no, that would be the end of it.

This isn't a lack of "business experience". This is a lack of human experience.

Just for reference of 400km:
VIP -> highway 1 -> hope -> lillooet -> pemberton = 413km. That's more than halfway through the duffey lake drive.

[Cman333]

awaiting cman response as to the quality of work

FeelsBadManFeelsBadManFeelsBadMan

I'm still waiting. Clear is on. Needing to dry before wetsand. I have a hunch it will be tomorrow.

[IMASA]

Damn, 400kms...did they at least give u back a full tank of gas? :D

[E-SPEC]

I wonder what grade gas he put in?

[xXSupa]

FeelsBadManFeelsBadManFeelsBadMan

I'm still waiting. Clear is on. Needing to dry before wetsand. I have a hunch it will be tomorrow.

I was at the shop getting my lip installed today.

I assume this is your bunper? He said he's preparing to wetsand it soon.

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh220/TBSlSupa/Mobile%20Uploads/DSC_2086.jpg

[evlee]

Yo bro, he even hired Albert Einstein, they going scientific on your E90. The outcome must be good!
http://i58.tinypic.com/xxbgw.jpg

[flagella]

This will be the outcome.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/06/bttf_time_machine_ebay_lead.jpg

[Harvey Specter]

No need to take shots at his employee.

[evlee]

No disrespect at all just saw the pic and reminded me of big AE.

[PLUJ]

The business around my shop wear blue over all a too. I think u mistook that for my neighbour. My neighbours come by regularly to get things fixed

Yo bro, he even hired Albert Einstein, they going scientific on your E90. The outcome must be good!
http://i58.tinypic.com/xxbgw.jpg

What are you talking about? That looks just like the person I was describing. :rukidding:

[Cman333]

Sweet. Hopefully turns out great. I'll wait another day if that's all it takes. Thanks for all the updates guys, at least I'm seeing results. It should've been at this stage last week. Otherwise I wouldn't have dropped off the car if it had to sit a week before getting started.

PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSE make sure it comes out better than when I dropped it off. No major orange peel, no cracks, no dust, no burn through. Just shiny matching paint that get rid of previous cracks/chips.

[RiceIntegraRS]

In that picture alone I can see a lot of violations being broken.

[tegra7]

Is VIP an icbc valet shop? If so, this thread should be forwarded to icbc.

[ZN6]

You actually caught onto something that I probably should have clarified. That text about losing a piece was just coincidental. It relates to something he was messaging me about a little farther up that isn't pictured. (nothing I am hiding just to save grief of like 50 screen caps)

When he was driving the car on the day I dropped off the car one part of the door handle trim pieces came off. I knew the piece had been loose prior to me taking him the car, I basically just needed to buy a new key hole delete.

So that part of the conversation was just related to that, it wasn't damage caused by the shop just something that I needed to fix anyway.

Just a minor clarification to keep things truthful.

You remained pretty calm in all this. Good on you, if it had been said the way I originally thought the context was, I would have lost my shit if someone I barely knew is joking about damaging or losing my shit I entrust to his care. Some things you don't joke about.

[k3lv]

Cman, just saw your car sitting outside. Looks trapped in so you are safe from an additional 400km.

Xxsupa do you drive the white BMW sitting outside? When I drove by the other day I thought they painted cman's car white with a black bumper lol.

[xXSupa]

Cman, just saw your car sitting outside. Looks trapped in so you are safe from an additional 400km.

Xxsupa do you drive the white BMW sitting outside? When I drove by the other day I thought they painted cman's car white with a black bumper lol.

I do drive a white BMW, but not the one sitting outside with the black bumper.

Here's a picture of my car for reference: Lip installed today by VIP Autobody. (Bumper was also done by them a couple of months back)
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh220/TBSlSupa/E92Lip.jpg

Why I still went back to them after this thread popped up you may ask?

Well, my experiences with VIP Autobody and ts14 has generally been positive. My word probably doesn't count for much given all the backlash in this thread, but the work they have done on my car has been good, and I was always charged a reasonable rate.

[westopher]

Is VIP an icbc valet shop? If so, this thread should be forwarded to icbc.
Dude chill the fuck out. If you have had an issue with the shop go ahead and tell them your issues. Otherwise you are just being malicious.
If people that have had experiences with the shop feel that is necessary sure, but why are you interested in that?

[Mr.Money]

^^^...so people can screw his career up "oh that's the guy joy riding and not giving a fuck">

[kross9]

In that picture alone I can see a lot of violations being broken.

Are you a trained ita bodyman or worksafebc shop safety?

And he's masking in that picture with tape last I checked its not airborne

[westopher]

That's up to the people that actually had an experience with it. You can lecture, express your opinion, whatever but unless you've actually experienced an issue with someone you don't have any right to go out of your way to make someone's life worse.
We aren't talking about someone who truly did something terrible. He didn't cause physical harm due to malice. He did something selfish and stupid. It's a big difference.

[Geoc]

Since we are on the topic of bad shop experiences...

DO NOT GO TO GRAND CITY AUTOBODY ON BRIDGEPORT ROAD IN RICHMOND!!!

You think VIP Autobody have issues? My mom brought her Civic there several years ago after being rear ended. They grabbed a bumper from another civic (which is fine) and tacked it on, the alignment was really really bad, the bumper stuck outward about 2-3cm off from the rear quarter panel (supposed to be flush.)

When my mom brought it up to them, they flat out deny it being an issue, and absolutely refused to do anything about it, the shop owner was claiming, that is what you should expect after a crash and it will never be the same. My mom being ignorant about cars believed them.

When we returned the car back to Honda return the lease a year later, Honda said that is unacceptable damage, and that the should've never repaired the car like that, and dinged us 500 from the security deposit to fix it up.

Grand City Autobody not only does a poor job, but they lie and cheat their way out of any responsibility from their poor work. If I was as knowledgeable about cars today, I would filed a complaint to ICBC, but its too late to do anything now...

[El Dumbasso]

All I can say is I'm sorry if this went down this way. I agree, This was a very immature and irresponsible decision on my part and I apologize for any bad feelings u have after coming to me. I take responsibility for everything. I didn't mean to drive ur car but it was foolish of me to do so.

I'm still very new to this business and I'm trying to improve from each mistake. I know my mistakes will cost me but all I can say is that I'm sorry

Sorry to be piling on here, but how the fuck do you unintentionally drive 400 kilometers? That's like saying
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/dumbass/iateitall.png

[Cman333]

Dude chill the fuck out. If you have had an issue with the shop go ahead and tell them your issues. Otherwise you are just being malicious.
If people that have had experiences with the shop feel that is necessary sure, but why are you interested in that?

Agreed. No need to be malicious. He made a mistake, he owned up to it, he's actually making an effort to correct it. I know a few other body shops would just take your money and you're left with living with their poor quality workmanship. At least he makes an effort. He could've just said fuck it.

I know whiterocket originally had some work done by another shop, and it came out horrible and he was left high and dry and had to pay VIP to fix it properly. He was happy with their work. So we know they're capable, and he's a nice friendly kid.

Again not an excuse, I'm still upset with the situation but seriously I'm sure we've all made mistakes and took things for granted when we were young and light hearted. He's been called out, if he doesn't take it seriously then we all know the impending outcome, if he does quality work from this point on I'm sure the world will get over it.

I know for a fact there's other shops in my industry on here that claim they do top notch work, but in fact customers get shafted and I end up redoing their work. Meme knows which shop I could be referring to because he came to me also, among MANY others on RS. They just don't care to publicly cause drama. I'm sure the same goes for our shop also.

Either or, in business it's hard to please 100% of the people. As long as the mass majority is happy that's what matters.

[XplicitLuder]

^^^...so people can screw his career up "oh that's the guy joy riding and not giving a fuck">

if you think he doesnt give a fuck from anything he has said in this thread, than you havent been reading. Im not making an excuse for him, he knows he fucked up and believe me ppl have reminded him, but if he didnt really give a fuck he would be like whatever yolo dont come to me. Instead he is trying to resolve the issues, and i believe he will learn from this experience

[Geoc]

Dude chill the fuck out. If you have had an issue with the shop go ahead and tell them your issues. Otherwise you are just being malicious.
If people that have had experiences with the shop feel that is necessary sure, but why are you interested in that?

It's ironic that the people who are out for blood are the ones who have never dealt with the shop and the ones who are defending him are the ones who had experiences with the shop.

[meme405]

It's ironic that the people who are out for blood are the ones who have never dealt with the shop and the ones who are defending him are the ones who had experiences with the shop.

The truth is that while I am super choked about this situation, my purpose in making this thread isn't to destroy someone's business.

The only reason I posted this thread is the following:

1. A lot of people ask me about shops, and where they should take their cars (this comes from both car people and non-enthusiasts). I felt that if I held this information to just myself and those close to me, in the future it might hurt me personally because who the fuck would trust a guy's review of another shop after he didn't come forward with this exceptionally bad review?

2. I got the feeling that people we're talking shit behind my back thinking that I was talking bad about someone and trying to keep it hush-hush. Although I understand why it might have seemed like this, the truth is that I just wanted to save all parties the embarrassment. My view changed on this when I found out that I wasn't the only person who had been wronged by VIP, that's when I knew I had to say something.

If TS manages to not make the same mistakes moving forward, his business will be back and continue to grow. If he keeps doing the same shit, well then it's pretty much RIP to VIP.

I sincerely hope TS gets his shit together, and I wish him the best in luck on that and his business. I personally can never trust him again, but that doesn't mean that I want him to suffer cause of this indefinitely. I will not be forwarding anything onto ICBC and I have no interest in pursuing this any further.

Lol as for the gas comments, my car was actually returned with a full tank of gas (and it was somewhat empty when I gave it to him). I specifically told him that if he needed to gas it, it would have to be with premium cause of the tune on the engine (it would knock really bad without premium). I don't really recall having much of a problem the weeks following with that tank of gas, so I think it was filled with Premium.

[Cman333]

The truth is that while I am super choked about this situation, my purpose in making this thread isn't to destroy someone's business.

The only reason I posted this thread is the following:

1. A lot of people ask me about shops, and where they should take their cars (this comes from both car people and non-enthusiasts). I felt that if I held this information to just myself and those close to me, in the future it might hurt me personally because who the fuck would trust a guy's review of another shop after he didn't come forward with this exceptionally bad review?

2. I got the feeling that people we're talking shit behind my back thinking that I was talking bad about someone and trying to keep it hush-hush. Although I understand why it might have seemed like this, the truth is that I just wanted to save all parties the embarrassment. My view changed on this when I found out that I wasn't the only person who had been wronged by VIP, that's when I knew I had to say something.

If TS manages to not make the same mistakes moving forward, his business will be back and continue to grow. If he keeps doing the same shit, well then it's pretty much RIP to VIP.

I sincerely hope TS gets his shit together, and I wish him the best in luck on that and his business. I personally can never trust him again, but that doesn't mean that I want him to suffer cause of this indefinitely. I will not be forwarding anything onto ICBC and I have no interest in pursuing this any further.

Lol as for the gas comments, my car was actually returned with a full tank of gas (and it was somewhat empty when I gave it to him). I specifically told him that if he needed to gas it, it would have to be with premium cause of the tune on the engine (it would knock really bad without premium). I don't really recall having much of a problem the weeks following with that tank of gas, so I think it was filled with Premium.

Well said. I definitely don't regret you creating this thread, it has made people aware. Myself included, I thought I was a one time incident. At least it was brought to light, and he can grow and move forward.

I feel like I'm on the similar boat as meme. I'm just patiently waiting for my car back so I can drive it.

[RiceIntegraRS]

Are you a trained ita bodyman or worksafebc shop safety?


ITA painter and yes i am

[Geoc]

Cman's m3 update:

[EmOne]

Cman's m3 update:

my neck hurts

[double0seven]

http://lh3.ggpht.com/igxGydlY8Qa7Qo05JMZefegEQloLMrUk1s-Vf86RivHk6tpiW1SSC-5jWgXxyjqpsggzlf3q6hPHT6tidy1Ta_M=s240

[TOS'd]

Good time to go to VIP Autobody if you need work done. Every thing will be looked at under a microscope by fellow RS members. Including update pics from people that live close. :fullofwin:

[GS8]

Official 2015 "Latest Pic of VIP Autobody" Thread

[Cman333]

Got my car back tonight. :) Man I miss it. Gonna essentially store it indoors for next couple days and how the paint/clear cures better.

It's MUCHHHHHHHH better than before. No spider cracks, no orange peel from what I can see (theres no light out, just a cell phone). Still not 100%, but its just little areas that need addressing. Hopefully a good polish when it's cured and it'll be good enough. Again, I wasn't looking for show quality, but had a bunch of rock chips/spider cracks from original owner of the vehicle that drove me nuts.

We're 90% there now, at least from what I can tell it's not embarrassing.

Thanks for putting in the hours to get right, I know it isn't easy and you feel discouraged because of the turn of events but once you learn from it I think people will be back. Just make sure to do it right the first time. No one wants to come back 3+ times. I've had vehicles before with 6-8k worth of damage fixed in a week and didn't need to bring it back. Impression is everything, handling customers professionally makes us feel like you'll take care of the car. Giving back a vehicle cleaner than when we dropped it off it also pretty important. I appreciate this time that you gave it a quick wash. And most importantly, "borrowing" cars is a no no, unless they've given you explicit consent. Often times people may say ok, but they think maybe you're going around the block. So you need to be clear with intentions so people don't get mad. Even though we're all on RS, and you may feel "buddy buddy" with members, remember we're still clients paying for your services.

Guess I'll update when there's light out, and upload some pics. I sincerely feel ts14 understands his fuck ups, and plans to rectify it. Would I go back if I need work done again? A likely possibility, but I would emphasize deadlines this time and probably be more explicit with my expectations. Ultimately, end result was near my expectation, price I paid was a little higher than other friends shops but cheaper than most other shops. I was paying out of pocket and not going through ICBC so he did what he could. I'm sure as he gains more experience, he will get much better. We all had to start some where. I appreciate the fact he didn't just say "fuck it" and leave me high and dry like some companies would. He obviously cares to make an effort which is important. We're human, we're not perfect. Shit happens. Just need to be understanding sometimes.

Thanks to the RS'ers that got involved and the one's that PM'd me and offered to do the repair for free. Really appreciated and helped put my mind at ease. *Group hug* #NoHomo

[dared3vil0]

I'm sorry but the second time they've had it, coupled with this thread, and your bumper still has areas that need addressing? That's insane...

[Cman333]

I'm sorry but the second time they've had it, coupled with this thread, and your bumper still has areas that need addressing? That's insane...

Yeah. It's unfortunate, but they're minor things that I can live with but looks like can be polished out. I'll treat this like the first time but it's actually been more than 2 times actually. But who's counting anyways :p

As long as I can get it touched up in one day and not have to leave the car 2 weeks again I'll be cool.

I'm probably more understanding because I have my car back, and am also in the automotive industry and know things sometimes don't go as planned. You pour your heart and soul into it, exhaust yourself with super late nights, and shit just doesn't go right. It happens. Customers might not care or understand, but I know from personal experience how shitty it can feel.

[E-SPEC]

Wow! ^^^ Sure won't ever see me there for anything!

[dared3vil0]

Yeah. It's unfortunate, but they're minor things that I can live with but looks like can be polished out. I'll treat this like the first time but it's actually been more than 2 times actually. But who's counting anyways :p

As long as I can get it touched up in one day and not have to leave the car 2 weeks again I'll be cool.

I'm probably more understanding because I have my car back, and am also in the automotive industry and know things sometimes don't go as planned. You pour your heart and soul into it, exhaust yourself with super late nights, and shit just doesn't go right. It happens. Customers might not care or understand, but I know from personal experience how shitty it can feel.

I get it if we were talking about some super difficult custom fabricated carbon fiber bumper that had a few small areas needing addressing, but when it's something as simple (to a body shop) as just repainting a bumper, i'd expect it to have no issues whatsoever, let alone the second try...

[Lomac]

To be fair, even autobody shops that specialize in high end cars can sometimes mess up. I brought one of my old cars into a very highly regarded shop that managed to mess up the respray on it after an accident. Of course they apologized and fixed it right away, but it's still an example that even one of the best can still make mistakes.

That said, I'd still rather go to VIP than Maaco :p

[twitchyzero]

Burrard Acura techs...forgot to disable dashcam...caught drooling over the TL Type S 6spd manual... hilarious.


https://youtu.be/cVscN11OehQ

hope you inspected your car for jizz stains after getting it back

[rriggi]

Not going to name anyone but I've had a high end car go back to perhaps most one of the most reputable shop in the city 4 times for paint match... took over 3 months and paint rep visit to finally get it right...

And its still not perfect:fullofwin:

[boostfever]

Not going to name anyone but I've had a high end car go back to perhaps most one of the most reputable shop in the city 4 times for paint match... took over 3 months and paint rep visit to finally get it right...

And its still not perfect:fullofwin:
Certain individual...

This... is not up to snuff; please send it back and tell them to fix it...

Kinda miss those days, but mostly NOPE. lol

[Gtrr33]

how is this shop an ICBC valet shop?!?!:fulloffuck::facepalm:

[68style]

Just takes $$$$$$$$$$$ and passing some tests to become a valet shop. Mostly $$$$$$$$$$$ though.

[PDA_86]

Since we are on the topic of bad shop experiences...

DO NOT GO TO GRAND CITY AUTOBODY ON BRIDGEPORT ROAD IN RICHMOND!!!

You think VIP Autobody have issues? My mom brought her Civic there several years ago after being rear ended. They grabbed a bumper from another civic (which is fine) and tacked it on, the alignment was really really bad, the bumper stuck outward about 2-3cm off from the rear quarter panel (supposed to be flush.)

When my mom brought it up to them, they flat out deny it being an issue, and absolutely refused to do anything about it, the shop owner was claiming, that is what you should expect after a crash and it will never be the same. My mom being ignorant about cars believed them.

When we returned the car back to Honda return the lease a year later, Honda said that is unacceptable damage, and that the should've never repaired the car like that, and dinged us 500 from the security deposit to fix it up.

Grand City Autobody not only does a poor job, but they lie and cheat their way out of any responsibility from their poor work. If I was as knowledgeable about cars today, I would filed a complaint to ICBC, but its too late to do anything now...

Yeah, I don't even know why my parents still again and again go back to that place to fix dings and bumps from time to time. I simply had them replace a mirror for me and it took nearly 5 business days. If they were waiting for the damn part, then tell me to drop off the car when it's fucking there! They didn't even wash my car and the car was full of dust from more than ever I can collect in a year when I picked it up.

[604STIG]

Thanks to the RS'ers that got involved and the one's that PM'd me and offered to do the repair for free. Really appreciated and helped put my mind at ease. *Group hug* #NoHomo #NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat

Fixed. LOL

[k3lv]

Redoing work is one thing. Having your car driven without consent Or just driving it at all for fun is another.

[E-SPEC]

7 pages, i wonder how many more this will go?

[Galactic_Phantom]

Wow! ^^^ Sure won't ever see me there for anything!

Aww. Then we wouldn't be able to enjoy a thread where you complained about them doing shitty work and you being denied a discount

[E-SPEC]

Lol How would THAT stop you from enjoying the thread?

[kross9]

A lot of especs posts on this remind me of this..
http://www.revscene.net/forums/700023-served-cold-food-ihop-denied-any-sort-discount-whats-law.html

[cunninglinguist]

I nominate this " Revscene Thread of the Year".

[J.C]

^ theres been better like the gofundme thing

[xXSupa]

^ or even the report to dean thread is probably better than this

[mr_chin]

Just want to add my experience with VIP.

I had a scratch I need to repair on my rear fender, passenger door, and one corner of my bumper. AK quoted $2k plus, another shop quoted me close to $2k. VIP, specifically TS, the owner, said he'll do them all for $1k. Can't pass that up right?

The job was done extremely well especially for that price. However, there are some things to point out. TS was honest enough to tell me that they accidentally did some over spray on my hood and that took them extra hours to clean it off. Okay, that's fine, as long as it doesn't result in more damage.

He also mentioned that he had to repaint the whole bumper. That kind of got to me a bit because now my bumper isn't factory anymore. I shrugged it off eventually.

He also unplugged my dash cam and removed the sd card from it. Why? I'm pretty sure the workers were chilling in my car with the A/C on (this was back in the summer). Little did they know, I can check the range of how much of my remaining gas will get me in my info on my nav screen. Prior to the repair, I noted that it was 53 km (I brought the car in with the gas light on). After the repair, it was 44 km. 9km gone, and I'm pretty sure it can't be from moving my car from the outside to the inside and to the paint booth and back out. Any why do they have to unplug my dash cam when they're working on the body of my car? Ok, not that big of a deal I guess.

I also notice the three times I went to see him, first time to get a quote, second time to drop off the car, and third to pick it up. He was never there initially, and always pulled up in a white 350z/370z. The first time I commented on the car and he told me it's a customer's car.

Anyways, the next day after picking up my car, I noticed my front license plate wasn't mounted back on. I checked in the trunk and it was dismantled from the frame with the bolts all over this box I had in there. I try to mount it back on and to my surprise, one of the bolt was screwed onto the frame so tight, I couldn't get it off. So now it got me thinking, how did they get it off without take the bolt off. I look under my bumper and guess what? One third of the plastic where the bolt goes into is gone. Apparently they couldn't get the plate off and decide to just pull it off. So this is why they repainted my bumper probably because of damages getting the license plate off. I'm not sure if TS knows about this because when I went and picked up my car, there were several teenagers working on my car and no I didn't go back and ask him, nor would I bring it back for him to fix after all that I've noticed.

Aside from all of those, the painting job was very good, almost like new. They also vacuumed and cleaned the inside of my car. Cleaned my rims, claimed they wax and polished my whole car (I said claimed because some spots were still noticeably untouched), and when I was backing out, my side mirrors were still folded in and one of the teenager ran up to my passenger side and helped me put it back in place, very nice of him.

[Geoc]

He also unplugged my dash cam and removed the sd card from it. Why? I'm pretty sure the workers were chilling in my car with the A/C on (this was back in the summer). Little did they know, I can check the range of how much of my remaining gas will get me in my info on my nav screen. Prior to the repair, I noted that it was 53 km (I brought the car in with the gas light on). After the repair, it was 44 km. 9km gone, and I'm pretty sure it can't be from moving my car from the outside to the inside and to the paint booth and back out. Any why do they have to unplug my dash cam when they're working on the body of my car? Ok, not that big of a deal I guess.


Range on the trip computer is the worst way you can check how much it has been driven. Just having a car sitting idle for a 5mins can EASILY drop the range more than 9km, let alone moving it around the lot.

My trip computer varies 10-15km just by idling a minute longer in winter.

Of all the customers cars he drove, he didn't drive yours :troll:

[ZN6]

They didn't even wash my car and the car was full of dust from more than ever I can collect in a year when I picked it up.

Might have been a favor from them NOT to wash your car given the service you received. They'd probably would have taken a wet rag and dragged it across the dust for even more swirlies

[mr_chin]

Range on the trip computer is the worst way you can check how much it has been driven. Just having a car sitting idle for a 5mins can EASILY drop the range more than 9km, let alone moving it around the lot.

My trip computer varies 10-15km just by idling a minute longer in winter.

Of all the customers cars he drove, he didn't drive yours :troll:

Are you retarded or do you simple can't read? I said they were chilling in my car, idling. So why was my car being idled for more than 5 min?

[MaaaadMan]

You seem like the retard here. Even parking the car a few times will change the computer's range by 9km

[Geoc]

Are you retarded or do you simple can't read? I said they were chilling in my car, idling. So why was my car being idled for more than 5 min?

You're right, I am 'simple can't read', so I did a 'complex can read' and found it amusing that you found that a 9km variance in your trip computer range was relevant enough concern to post it, so I posted an explanation :lawl:

[double0seven]

The fob is strong in this one.

[Lomac]

Are you retarded or do you simple can't read? I said they were chilling in my car, idling. So why was my car being idled for more than 5 min?

You don't even know the car was even idled. As mentioned, range remaining is a terrible, TERRIBLE way to gauge how much fuel was used. The estimated range will jump wildly, especially between the end of a trip and the start up some while later. The engine goes into open-loop when you start the car, thus using more gas and, therefore, forcing the range estimator to calculate for the amount of gas currently being burned.

Hate to say, but while some people here sound like they have genuine concerns with VIP, yours falls somewhere between "not knowing how technology works" and "complaining purely for the sake of attention."

[xXSupa]

Okay so lets get a few things straight. I've been throwing out a lot of fails on this page, and I usually don't like failing people, so I'll explain myself.

I'm pretty sure the workers were chilling in my car with the A/C on (this was back in the summer).
Did you see them "chilling" in your car? Or are you making assumptions here? Why would the workers "chill" in your car, when they have their own area in the back to "chill" in?

Little did they know, I can check the range of how much of my remaining gas will get me in my info on my nav screen. Prior to the repair, I noted that it was 53 km (I brought the car in with the gas light on). After the repair, it was 44 km. 9km gone, and I'm pretty sure it can't be from moving my car from the outside to the inside and to the paint booth and back out.
Actually, moving your car from the booth & out a few times CAN cause a 9km drop in the trip computer. Heck, even just starting the car a few times and turning it off will make a difference in the trip computer. Plus, there may have been multiple cars in the shop at the time, meaning they had to move your car more than once to make space. Very likely for any body shop.

Any why do they have to unplug my dash cam when they're working on the body of my car?
This has been addressed before in the thread. They are not required to leave your dashcam on when working on your car. Your car is on their property and they have the right to decide if they want to be recorded by your camera.

when I went and picked up my car, there were several teenagers working on my car and no I didn't go back and ask him, nor would I bring it back for him to fix after all that I've noticed.
The "teenagers" work for VIP Autospa. They were making sure that your car was clean for you when you picked it up. Would you rather they returned you a dirty car? That would give you something to complain about, eh?

[jpark]

Just want to add my experience with VIP.

I had a scratch I need to repair on my rear fender, passenger door, and one corner of my bumper. AK quoted $2k plus, another shop quoted me close to $2k. VIP, specifically TS, the owner, said he'll do them all for $1k. Can't pass that up right?

The job was done extremely well especially for that price. However, there are some things to point out. TS was honest enough to tell me that they accidentally did some over spray on my hood and that took them extra hours to clean it off. Okay, that's fine, as long as it doesn't result in more damage.

He also mentioned that he had to repaint the whole bumper. That kind of got to me a bit because now my bumper isn't factory anymore. I shrugged it off eventually.

He also unplugged my dash cam and removed the sd card from it. Why? I'm pretty sure the workers were chilling in my car with the A/C on (this was back in the summer). Little did they know, I can check the range of how much of my remaining gas will get me in my info on my nav screen. Prior to the repair, I noted that it was 53 km (I brought the car in with the gas light on). After the repair, it was 44 km. 9km gone, and I'm pretty sure it can't be from moving my car from the outside to the inside and to the paint booth and back out. Any why do they have to unplug my dash cam when they're working on the body of my car? Ok, not that big of a deal I guess.

I also notice the three times I went to see him, first time to get a quote, second time to drop off the car, and third to pick it up. He was never there initially, and always pulled up in a white 350z/370z. The first time I commented on the car and he told me it's a customer's car.

Anyways, the next day after picking up my car, I noticed my front license plate wasn't mounted back on. I checked in the trunk and it was dismantled from the frame with the bolts all over this box I had in there. I try to mount it back on and to my surprise, one of the bolt was screwed onto the frame so tight, I couldn't get it off. So now it got me thinking, how did they get it off without take the bolt off. I look under my bumper and guess what? One third of the plastic where the bolt goes into is gone. Apparently they couldn't get the plate off and decide to just pull it off. So this is why they repainted my bumper probably because of damages getting the license plate off. I'm not sure if TS knows about this because when I went and picked up my car, there were several teenagers working on my car and no I didn't go back and ask him, nor would I bring it back for him to fix after all that I've noticed.

Aside from all of those, the painting job was very good, almost like new. They also vacuumed and cleaned the inside of my car. Cleaned my rims, claimed they wax and polished my whole car (I said claimed because some spots were still noticeably untouched), and when I was backing out, my side mirrors were still folded in and one of the teenager ran up to my passenger side and helped me put it back in place, very nice of him.

lol you're an idiot

[mr_chin]

Oh shit, I started the RS gang up lol. I simply stated my concerns in a review, replied to Geoc's false claim that they drove my car and here you all are lining up on this to boost your egos. Too funny.

What can I say? Typical RS'ers prey on comments like this with a magnifying glass, totally neglecting the fact that it was just a review.

Okay so lets get a few things straight. I've been throwing out a lot of fails on this page, and I usually don't like failing people, so I'll explain myself.


Did you see them "chilling" in your car? Or are you making assumptions here? Why would the workers "chill" in your car, when they have their own area in the back to "chill" in?

Actually, moving your car from the booth & out a few times CAN cause a 9km drop in the trip computer. Heck, even just starting the car a few times and turning it off will make a difference in the trip computer. Plus, there may have been multiple cars in the shop at the time, meaning they had to move your car more than once to make space. Very likely for any body shop.

Yup, I did state it was an assumption, and one can assume anything they like and bring it to people's attention. Whether you believe it or not, it's up to you.

I've owned this car for 4 years now and have played with the trip computer many times, driving and idling. I've idled for 10 or so minutes once in the winter to warm up my car and watched the km drop by 1. Like I said, it wasn't a big deal, but should be noted anyways.

This has been addressed before in the thread. They are not required to leave your dashcam on when working on your car. Your car is on their property and they have the right to decide if they want to be recorded by your camera.

I didn't skim through the 6+ page to check this. And again, it wasn't a big deal, but should be noted anyways.


The "teenagers" work for VIP Autospa. They were making sure that your car was clean for you when you picked it up. Would you rather they returned you a dirty car? That would give you something to complain about, eh?

So by keeping my car cleaned, it's okay to tear off my license plate and not notify me about that, because the teenagers were only mentioned during my complain about the license plate.

I kinda like to think my review was very neutral with positives and negatives. A review is simply a review, not a debate, discussion, argument. I stated everything that brought to my attention, simple as that. Take it with a grain of salt.

The only thing I was concerned and complained about in my review was the license plate being torn off and everything else I concluded as not that big of a deal and that I shrugged it off.

[xXSupa]

Yup, I did state it was an assumption, and one can assume anything they like and bring it to people's attention. Whether you believe it or not, it's up to you.


Then I guess it's safe for me to assume... That you lack common sense.

[knight604]

mr butt hurt

[twitchyzero]

Are you retarded or do you simple can't read? I said they were chilling in my car, idling. So why was my car being idled for more than 5 min?

unless you recorded the odometer and it's significantly more, you don't have a point

[AzNightmare]

Lol, kind of funny how Mr. Chin may have made some questionable accusations, yet everything in the entire post became a "joke". Including those that decided to break down his post, glossed over anything that was possibly valid, such as the terrible paint job and the license plate issue.

:)

[xXSupa]

The job was done extremely well especially for that price.


the painting job was very good, almost like new.

Lol, kind of funny how Mr. Chin may have made some questionable accusations, yet everything in the entire post became a "joke". Including those that decided to break down his post, glossed over anything that was possibly valid, such as the terrible paint job and the license plate issue.

:)

Hmmm...

[xXSupa]

^As for the license plate issue, that is a legitimate argument. However, I just wanted to point out all the arguments that did not make sense.

[AzNightmare]

Hmmm...

I meant the overspray and the bumper being repainted. Sure, Mr. Chin got over it. But doesn't change the fact it wasn't an issue.

[Gucci Mane]

Are you retarded or do you simple can't read? I said they were chilling in my car, idling. So why was my car being idled for more than 5 min?

No dude you're fucking retarded. A 9km variance in your fuel consumption is so minuscule that even mentioning it makes you look like such a fool. What you should have done when you brought your car in is take a picture of the odometer. That's it, that's the easiest way to tell if your car has been driven X distance.

[Gucci Mane]

unless you recorded the odometer and it's significantly more, you don't have a point

Damnit. Didn't see this before I posted lol

[E-SPEC]

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-01-02-idlenomorehuffpo.png

[rriggi]

http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/dead-horse.gif

[xXSupa]

I meant the overspray and the bumper being repainted. Sure, Mr. Chin got over it. But doesn't change the fact it wasn't an issue.

Fair enough. Fail removed.

[MaaaadMan]

I'm the owner of vip autospa behind the autobody. Anytime a bumper is worked on it has to be repainted. And it was worked on because mr_chin the genius here decided to rattle can his car where it was damaged, including the bumper so they had to sand off all of mr_chin's incredible backyard paintjob.

[E-SPEC]

Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!

[SpuGen]

Whatever needed to be said, has already been done.

Thread is now LOCKED.

If you have an actual good review or complaint about this shop, PM me, and I will decided if it should be made public.

[SpuGen]

Reopened.

The white 370 that mr chin mentions might be another members car.

[meme405]

:facepalm:

[smoothie.]

round 2.

[jiggaz]

When I asked him about it the first time he told me he left it idling.. was wondering why they were looking for my front plate and why my usb cable was unplugged etc (music) cant do anything now..

[604STIG]

Looks like Mr' Chin's post had a golden nugget in it after all.

[kross9]

When I asked him about it the first time he told me he left it idling.. was wondering why they were looking for my front plate and why my usb cable was unplugged etc (music) cant do anything now..

The only thing I can think about is if they wash/waxed your car, they took the plate off to do so and probably missed placed it?

As for the cables might have unplugged to clean interior I k ow at my dealership we don't always remember to replug cables / re adjust the seats after we finished cleaning especially when we have multipul waiters to wash

[Jas29]

^^

I would say its likely that's what happened Mr_chin even said "the painting job was very good, almost like new. They also vacuumed and cleaned the inside of my car. Cleaned my rims, claimed they wax and polished my whole car (I said claimed because some spots were still noticeably untouched), and when I was backing out, my side mirrors were still folded in and one of the teenager ran up to my passenger side and helped me put it back in place, very nice of him."

I would assume jiggaz's car was washed the same way and that would require unplugging of cords and taking off the license plate also were Mr chin and jiggaz even there at the same time.

[jiggaz]

I don't put the front plate on my car at all. It is always under my passenger floor mat which I didn't tell them about. Also they did not clean my interior (cleaned it myself) so no reason to see my cables pulled up from under the seat + coins and his carstar (bodyshop) key chain in my cupholder.. nothing anyone can do now hopefully no one else has issues.


btw for all the over spray all over on my car (literally including windows) I had to pay to get it clayed by him (its normal according to him) at that point I just wanted my car fixed had to go back 3-4 times

I went in for a simple door re paint (burned the factory clear with a buffer)

[MaaaadMan]

You didnt pay him for the clay, you paid me because you wanted to claybar and wax your car. Ts did his best to remove the overspray that wasnt removed by the claybar and did not charge you for it

[jiggaz]

You didnt pay him for the clay, you paid me because you wanted to claybar and wax your car. Ts did his best to remove the overspray that wasnt removed by the claybar and did not charge you for it


ya did I give the car with overspray lol. I asked to clay the whole car because it was everywhere including my windows, he should of ate the cost not me but whatever

Just like he was supposed to charge me to wet sand my door to get the orange peel out...

[VR6GTI]

ya did I give the car with overspray lol. I asked to clay the whole car because it was everywhere including my windows, he should of ate the cost not me but whatever

Just like he was supposed to charge me to wet sand my door to get the orange peel out...
If they got overspray on your car they should have taken care of the detailing bill. Hell they should have staff on hand to clean it off. This sounds like a nightmare

[dared3vil0]

You didnt pay him for the clay, you paid me because you wanted to claybar and wax your car. Ts did his best to remove the overspray that wasnt removed by the claybar and did not charge you for it

His best evidently isn't good enough. Not the customers problem to fix the shops mistake.

[jiggaz]

VR6GTI it was a nightmare , never experienced this before at any bodyshop. my door still has sanding marks (from wetsanding) just going to take it elsewhere.

[E-SPEC]

I just came here to make a stupid post. :fullofwin:

[meme405]

Uhmm. Am I missing something? The quality of the work is one problem, but the part that stuck out to me was this accusation:

I also notice the three times I went to see him, first time to get a quote, second time to drop off the car, and third to pick it up. He was never there initially, and always pulled up in a white 350z/370z. The first time I commented on the car and he told me it's a customer's car.


I mean unless Jiggaz gave TS the okay to drive his car away from the shop multiple times...

[MaaaadMan]

Mrchin and jiggaz didn't both have their cars in the shop at the same time

[twitchyzero]

I will not be taking this thread down. I have not been asked to.

That being said, even if it were requested, I'm leaving this thread up. Sponsor or no Sponsor. (He's not) It stays.



Whatever needed to be said, has already been done.

Thread is now LOCKED.

If you have an actual good review or complaint about this shop, PM me, and I will decided if it should be made public.

:Orly::moderated:FeelsBadMan

[J89]

I was on my way out the door to run a quick errand fully dressed, ended up sitting here for a good hour + reading 9 fucking pages of lolsicles.

[Cman333]

Man these jokers are so hard to reach. I think I give up. They don't answer calls, they don't call back when they say they will. I think I've been optimistic and civil about this whole ordeal but this is it. I throw in the towel, my patience has been pushed to the limit.

I've been waiting for a grill for over a month and a half because they fucked it up the 3rd time I brought it in. He says he'll order it and have it painted so I can just come in and get it done. Call them/msg them to see if they have it in yet. No reply. Couple weeks later I finally get a hold of somebody and then he tells me he'll order it again. "I'll order it now, Let you know when it comes in". So another week or so I start calling more consistently and finally someone answers the phone. Now apparently there's a new owner, I talk to him and he says he'll talk to Talah. I call back couple days later to see what's going on, after 3 calls through out the day I reach Talah. Then he tells me he talked with the other guy and that there's no stock, they ordered it and it'll be awhile.

Since I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone today, I decided to just call Brian Jessel myself(@3pm dec.3)(closest BMW to them) and they'll have it to me tomorrow by noon.

Right about now, I've just about had it with these guys and their lies.

So now I feel ripped off. I've paid EXTRA money for work, that took 5X longer than expected, was given a beater loaner car that leaked oil on my garage floor (his reply when I told him was "lol oh yeah, I forgot to mention that"), less than stellar paint job, a grill they managed to fuck up while painting my bumper. So I'm out money for the grill they fucked up and I'm paying some ACTUAL competent people to do it. Let alone you broke the gas cap and denied it. (Why would you need to fill gas or open the gas cap if you weren't driving my car or working in that area?). I feel my car has come back to me in worse shape than when I brought it in. I just wanted some hairline cracks in the lip and chip in the middle of the bumper repaired. There's no actual damage otherwise.

Seriously, do us all a favour and be out of the business. I'm sick of this back and forth stuff, don't even care to fake my niceness about this shit experience anymore. The fact you told me it's not available, and I just called and they said I'll see it tomorrow was my final straw.

You constantly lie, charge more than others and do sub par work, drive peoples cars around like its yours and deny it also, and never keep your word. I'm just angry now. No I will not defend you about it, no I will not give it another chance, I'll just cut my loses and pay again to fix the things your shop fucked up.

GIVE ME all my money back, pay for the grill and I can pretend it never happened. The gas cap/oil stains/kms on car/and my headaches are on the house.


/end rant

[knight604]

@cman333 , let me know if you want work done next time , ill refer you to a shop with no bullshit attached.

[entrax]

time for small claims? plenty of chances to own up to the bullshit by now tbh.

[RevYouUp]

RIP

[VR6GTI]

Make a yelp account so others don't have the same shitty experience you did.

[Cman333]

Make a yelp account so others don't have the same shitty experience you did.

I did on google and FB. Even told them to take the picture of my car off their FB.

their 4.4 stars and higher is what mislead me to begin with. I think all you guys with the bad experience probably should also review before some other unsuspecting person walks in thinking they're gonna get awesome work.

I wish meme started this thread weeks prior. I wouldn't have went to VIP to begin with. Honest reviews are pretty important. Wish I didn't only see the one sided ones only.

[BoostedBB6]

I did on google and FB. Even told them to take the picture of my car off their FB.

their 4.4 stars and higher is what mislead me to begin with. I think all you guys with the bad experience probably should also review before some other unsuspecting person walks in thinking they're gonna get awesome work.

I wish meme started this thread weeks prior. I wouldn't have went to VIP to begin with. Honest reviews are pretty important. Wish I didn't only see the one sided ones only.

3.4 on FB now it seems.

[hotong]

Man these jokers are so hard to reach. I think I give up. They don't answer calls, they don't call back when they say they will. I think I've been optimistic and civil about this whole ordeal but this is it. I throw in the towel, my patience has been pushed to the limit.

I've been waiting for a grill for over a month and a half because they fucked it up the 3rd time I brought it in. He says he'll order it and have it painted so I can just come in and get it done. Call them/msg them to see if they have it in yet. No reply. Couple weeks later I finally get a hold of somebody and then he tells me he'll order it again. "I'll order it now, Let you know when it comes in". So another week or so I start calling more consistently and finally someone answers the phone. Now apparently there's a new owner, I talk to him and he says he'll talk to Talah. I call back couple days later to see what's going on, after 3 calls through out the day I reach Talah. Then he tells me he talked with the other guy and that there's no stock, they ordered it and it'll be awhile.

Since I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone, I decided to just call Brian Jessel myself(@3pm dec.3)(closest BMW to them) and they'll have it to me tomorrow by noon.

Right about now, I've just about had it with these guys and their lies.

So now I feel ripped off. I've paid EXTRA money for work, that took 5X longer than expected, was given a beater loaner car that leaked oil on my garage floor (his reply when I told him was "lol oh yeah, I forgot to mention that"), less than stellar paint job, a grill they managed to fuck up while painting my bumper. So I'm out money for the grill they fucked up and I'm paying some ACTUAL competent people to do it. Let alone you broke the gas cap and denied it. (Why would you need to fill gas or open the gas cap if you weren't driving my car or working in that area?). I feel my car has come back to me in worse shape than when I brought it in. I just wanted some hairline cracks in the lip and chip in the middle of the bumper repaired. There's no actual damage otherwise.

Seriously, do us all a favour and be out of the business. I'm sick of this back and forth stuff, don't even care to fake my niceness about this shit experience anymore. The fact you told me it's not available, and I just called and they said I'll see it tomorrow was my final straw.

You constantly lie, charge more than others and do sub par work, drive peoples cars around like its yours and deny it also, and never keep your word. I'm just angry now. No I will not defend you about it, no I will not give it another chance, I'll just cut my loses and pay again to fix the things your shop fucked up.

GIVE ME all my money back, pay for the grill. The gas cap/oil stains/kms on car/and my headaches are on the house.


/end rant


Man they probably drove your car hard as fuck... I am sure glad I didnt take my car in for repairs when he pm'd me.

[Limitless]

@cman333 Not sure if I'm talking to the same guy at BPG that we normally deal with, but if you need any parts, paint or information you could always try calling the owner of the shop I'm at. I'm sure Billy will be able to hook you up with some better pricing for body shops and parts


@thread ... shit I now know what shop to definitely avoid. Seems like it's mistakes due to the same habit the owner has. Sure you learn from your mistakes, but mistakes in small amounts. Not so much just lack of common sense, right now you're pretty much learning from your mistakes at the cost of your customers. Not just small things here and there either. Do you not have any morals at all? How do you not feel like shit after you've been bashed so many times and still do the same things with other people's cars.

On another note, unplugging the dashcam is pretty common. We do it sometimes at our shop, but mainly if the car is staying for a few days so we don't have trouble starting it. If it's a simple in and out we don't usually unplug the dashcam. When I took my car over to TSS for mounting and balancing of tires they also unplugged my dashcam, didn't realize it until I got to work afterwards and noticed a dangling wire. Of course, I was slightly confused on why they took it off for a simple tire mounting, but it doesn't phase me at all in regards to my confidence in their work, they're still a great shop. I still remember when I had my hybrid and pulled it into Honda for some sort of maintenance, the mechanics had a good laugh at my car when it was pulled inside, pointing at the hood and spoiler :mamoru: They saw the dashcam and they instantly stopped laughing and unplugged the cam lmao

[hotong]

^ pics of hybrid

[Limitless]

Kind of embarrassing LOL, first car. But here's how it last sat before my step brother took it
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/526056_10151410993335582_670565258_n.jpg?oh=59ab72 56b46533e6f3c5a7bafa45a473&oe=56DB9C6A

The carbon hood ahah
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/v/t1.0-9/399256_10151396350160582_472766341_n.jpg?oh=63b531 37b4702e6dd6360a59d48097ab&oe=56EC5B63

[SoNaRWaVe]

sorry if this has been mentioned before as i haven't gone through every page. am i correct to say that the shop is icbc accredited? i drive by there often and see that awning/signage.

if they are pulling these stunts, can you folks not call icbc and complain about their shady practices and crappy work? if everything here said is true, their accreditation should be pulled and not cause other folks more troubles and headaches. no one's car should be treated this way.

[XplicitLuder]

Cman have you been in contact with TS through RS ? he seems to be on here quite regularly, maybe instead of trying to call the shops for week pm him here and msg him regularly? I know you shouldnt have to, but just a sugggestion D:

[kkttsang]

Is VIP an icbc valet shop? If so, this thread should be forwarded to icbc.


Dude chill the fuck out. If you have had an issue with the shop go ahead and tell them your issues. Otherwise you are just being malicious.
If people that have had experiences with the shop feel that is necessary sure, but why are you interested in that?

Been mention before

[Cman333]

Cman have you been in contact with TS through RS ? he seems to be on here quite regularly, maybe instead of trying to call the shops for week pm him here and msg him regularly? I know you shouldnt have to, but just a sugggestion D:

I FB msg'd him few times over the last week or so. Once I made the post he msg'd me back on FB messenger pretty quickly.

[BrRsn]

https://media.giphy.com/media/12aW6JtfvUdcdO/giphy.gif

[OGCStrike]

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/popcorn_yes.gif

[white rocket]

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/popcorn_yes.gif

Seriously! This is getting ridiculous. Cman, time for some small claims action. Free parking at my place :p

Talah, clearly you are not interested in growing your business, especially if there is a new owner present(or maybe that was BS, who knows), but at least have the decency to post in here and let people know what's up so this can be put to bed. Maybe you're stepping away from the company due to stress, who knows. Without any public insight from you we're all just gonna think the worst.

The fact that this thread was created, you chimed in multiple times admitting your poor decision making skills and yet you are STILL pulling this BS is just crazy to me. It's a damn shame is what it is. :confused:

[Cman333]

There's already a new owner. I think they're transitioning ownership. The new guy Sam sounds competent but still no one answering the phone, and no returned phone calls when they said they would. I'm sick of waiting and getting bs answers to string me along.

[meme405]

The saga continues.

Cman I feel you man. You've cut your losses and said your peace, easiest thing to do is just move on now. There is nothing more to be had getting worked up over crap like this, there is enough shit to deal with in everyone's day with work/school, family, friends, hobbies, etc. that wasting time even thinking about this any further is not productive.

[Gtrr33]

dude cut the middle man and just go str8 to Fastrack Autobody if you want it done right the first time seriously.

[anti-vip]

Well spring meet will be awkward. Wonder whose car he be drivin

[hchang]

^ Nice user handle

[jing]

I hope my hardtop can be fixed up under warranty. Ts14 said he'd fix it (improper prep) but with this new owner, I'm hoping I don't get owned. 450 to repaint a roof was a bit steep IMO but he assured me that it would be done to a high standard...

[jackp0t]

UGH i got a pm aswell asking if i needed work done which i am
I definitely considered them as the review back then was really good.
Thanks @meme405 for the thread save me the headache and trouble forsure!