Man, am I p'ed off. I thought the word "detail", when it comes to cleaning a car, came from the phrase "attention to detail". Not in this case.
I got my car back today from a place that came highly recommended by several people. I won't divulge the name unless I fail to get satisfaction, but it's in the NW Chicago suburbs. Besides, they've always got Mercedes and Porsches in there, so I (foolishly) figured it must be good.
Anyway, when I came to pick my car up today, it was parked in the garage, out of direct sunlight. It looked pretty darned good, but since everyone raved about them, and I was in a hurry, I gave it a quick once-over, paid my bill and drove off.
It wasn't until I got over to Trixie's house that I got a chance to look at it more closely.
Where should I start?
My main reason for bringing it in was to have them deal with the "spider webbing" and light scratches covering her surface. For the most part, I think they did okay there. The scratches are gone for the most part. But that's about the only positive thing I can say.
The finish, while smooth and glossy, has a certain "plastic" look that I'm more accustomed to seeing in anything from Pontiac with a "Grand" in the name. You know the look I'm talking about. It just looks kind of oily and cheap.
There is wax residue in all the seams, and random residue in spots here and there. And they completely missed removing the wax from the rocker panels! It's just a gray haze down there. The rear bumper's also got a bunch of crap left on it where Jose apparently just kind of whipped the towel at it from a distance.
I had them clean my engine compartment, but left EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS not to spray that oily "dressing" crap on it. I wanted it CLEANED, not oiled up like Mr. Universe! But sure enough, the engine compartment looks like it's been drenched in baby oil. Which means "dust and grime magnet".
Then there's just the general lack of actual "detailing". Door sills just wiped down half-assed, again, looking like someone just gave it a single pass with the same wet towel used to clean the wheel wells of the Explorer a couple of cars over. Chrome molding under the door windows that were wiped down on only the parts they could reach (behind the side mirrors it's still dirty). The rear side windows look like they dried them off with the same towel they used to remove the wax (streaks galore).
Then there's the carpet, which was fairly bad to begin with. I had some serious road salt stains, along with grime on the transmission hump next to the accelerator pedal. Well, as you can see from the picture, it's still dirty next to the accelerator, and you can still see white salt stains around the left foot rest. There's also some salt stains left on the floor in front of the seat.
But the thing that I'm MOST upset about is that they COMPLETELY RUINED my one-month-old OEM floor mats! I just bought two sets in March from Max for $60 a set. I figured I'd have one set for normal summer driving, and one for "show". I'd get a generic set from Pep Boys for the winter. Well, now all I've got is the show set. Because they completely ruined them! They look like they've been scrubbed with a wire brush in a high-speed drill! The edges are all tattered, and there are big clumps of fuzz all over it (hard to see in the pic). Not to mention the fact that it's all "dished" and wavy now. You have to understand: The mats were nearly perfect before these guys got their hands on them. The driver's side mat had a little dirt, but the passenger side had hardly been touched by human feet!
If it weren't for the floor mats, I'd probably just swallow all this and redo everything myself when I get the chance. I was mostly concerned with getting the scratches out, which seems to have been done (I guess we'll see how it looks after a couple of rains). But the floor mat situation just has me furious. The most I'm hoping for a reimbursement for those. Here's the pic:
http://mark8.org/users/M_Darrah/mycar/big/floormat.jpg
Pathetic looking isn't it?
I got my car back today from a place that came highly recommended by several people. I won't divulge the name unless I fail to get satisfaction, but it's in the NW Chicago suburbs. Besides, they've always got Mercedes and Porsches in there, so I (foolishly) figured it must be good.
Anyway, when I came to pick my car up today, it was parked in the garage, out of direct sunlight. It looked pretty darned good, but since everyone raved about them, and I was in a hurry, I gave it a quick once-over, paid my bill and drove off.
It wasn't until I got over to Trixie's house that I got a chance to look at it more closely.
Where should I start?
My main reason for bringing it in was to have them deal with the "spider webbing" and light scratches covering her surface. For the most part, I think they did okay there. The scratches are gone for the most part. But that's about the only positive thing I can say.
The finish, while smooth and glossy, has a certain "plastic" look that I'm more accustomed to seeing in anything from Pontiac with a "Grand" in the name. You know the look I'm talking about. It just looks kind of oily and cheap.
There is wax residue in all the seams, and random residue in spots here and there. And they completely missed removing the wax from the rocker panels! It's just a gray haze down there. The rear bumper's also got a bunch of crap left on it where Jose apparently just kind of whipped the towel at it from a distance.
I had them clean my engine compartment, but left EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS not to spray that oily "dressing" crap on it. I wanted it CLEANED, not oiled up like Mr. Universe! But sure enough, the engine compartment looks like it's been drenched in baby oil. Which means "dust and grime magnet".
Then there's just the general lack of actual "detailing". Door sills just wiped down half-assed, again, looking like someone just gave it a single pass with the same wet towel used to clean the wheel wells of the Explorer a couple of cars over. Chrome molding under the door windows that were wiped down on only the parts they could reach (behind the side mirrors it's still dirty). The rear side windows look like they dried them off with the same towel they used to remove the wax (streaks galore).
Then there's the carpet, which was fairly bad to begin with. I had some serious road salt stains, along with grime on the transmission hump next to the accelerator pedal. Well, as you can see from the picture, it's still dirty next to the accelerator, and you can still see white salt stains around the left foot rest. There's also some salt stains left on the floor in front of the seat.
But the thing that I'm MOST upset about is that they COMPLETELY RUINED my one-month-old OEM floor mats! I just bought two sets in March from Max for $60 a set. I figured I'd have one set for normal summer driving, and one for "show". I'd get a generic set from Pep Boys for the winter. Well, now all I've got is the show set. Because they completely ruined them! They look like they've been scrubbed with a wire brush in a high-speed drill! The edges are all tattered, and there are big clumps of fuzz all over it (hard to see in the pic). Not to mention the fact that it's all "dished" and wavy now. You have to understand: The mats were nearly perfect before these guys got their hands on them. The driver's side mat had a little dirt, but the passenger side had hardly been touched by human feet!
If it weren't for the floor mats, I'd probably just swallow all this and redo everything myself when I get the chance. I was mostly concerned with getting the scratches out, which seems to have been done (I guess we'll see how it looks after a couple of rains). But the floor mat situation just has me furious. The most I'm hoping for a reimbursement for those. Here's the pic:
http://mark8.org/users/M_Darrah/mycar/big/floormat.jpg
Pathetic looking isn't it?