Body shops –why are they so slow?

[Guderian]

Is it just Pattaya or is it the same all over Thailand? After asking for recommendations mainly from Thai people I put my car in to a body shop on Sukhumvit on Monday for two small dents on the front bumper to be smoothed out and repainted. The lady in charge said it would be ready in 3 to 7 days. I tried to explain to her that 7 days was ridiculous for such a small job and as I’d have to fork out 1000 Baht/day for a hire car I’d like it done in 3 days please. Yes, yes, 3 days then, I call you when ready she said. So now after almost 5 days I call her up and ask where the car is. What car, as if she’d lost or forgotten it? After much shuffling of paperwork and shouting at the staff she said it would be ready on Monday, that’s the full 7 days and of course assuming that it actually is ready then and not on Thursday or whenever takes their fancy. I started telling her this is silly, a factory can build a new car from scratch in less than a day so why does it take a week to fix a few small dents? She hung up on me then. 

Really, this isn’t service it’s a sham. My brother back in the UK had some much more extensive bodywork repairs done to his VW Passat a couple of months ago and it was all sorted out in a day. Apparently they have a big oven nowadays which they use to dry the paint quickly. God knows what the Thais do, gather around and blow on it probably. The car’s a Ford and I’d taken it to the dealer on Sukhumvit to get the same work priced up. They also said at least 4 to 5 days, something about letting the paint dry and then they might have to redo it if the colour isn’t right. So the Ford main dealer can’t find the right colour of paint for a relatively new Ford car, even though most models only come in around six colours at tops? What a joke. 

My pest control guy confirmed this morning that he had much the same experience a while back when a scooter ran into his truck. There wasn't a lot of damage but he put it in for repairs and it took three weeks. Why are they so slow here, don’t the Thai customers care and make a fuss? Do other people have the same problem or did I just choose the wrong body shop?

[PatOngo]

With the standard of driving in Thailand, body shops are a growth industry. I'm sure you have been placed in the queue. Body shops will NEVER be short of work.

[Guderian]

47 minutes ago, Kim J said:

That is not just body shops, it is customer service Thai style.

Ultimately the end result to the woman here is just the same, unless of course she has offered a discount by way of an apology for your inconvenience?

55555

 

The work is only costing around 8000 Baht (or so I have been promised), but the hire car for the full week would cost me 7000 Baht. That's crazy. I've decided I'll make do with the motorbike over the weekend and save myself a couple of thousand Baht.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Guderian

[Guderian]

41 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

With the standard of driving in Thailand, body shops are a growth industry. I'm sure you have been placed in the queue. Body shops will NEVER be short of work.

Absolutely right, so are there places around offering a faster, better service, assuming they'd cost more? Or is it a case of nobody can be arsed, neither the customers nor the businesses,

Edited November 16, 2018 by Guderian

[giddyup]

My friend had his Peugeot slightly damaged in Australia, there was nearly a month waiting list before they could even start the work. I assume yours wasn't the only car for repair, so I guess it was a first in first served basis.

[Anythingleft?]

Two mistakes on your behalf

Thinking that they give a damn
Comparing customer service to Europe

Your 160 quid literally means nothing to them.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[overc]

The main reason why I do not want to have accidents here...

 

One friend got his car done in 1 week instead of 3 but he had to give 10000 cash to jump the queue, so it's doable !

 

 

[digbeth]

I've seen case in dealerships where the main part of the wait is for the parts (if plastics) to arrive, often if the damage is minor and car still driveable they'll call and book a time with you once the necessary parts has arrived, rather than take the car and have it sit there doing nothing waiting for the parts, wasting space means less customers for them too.

 

Talking to body shop owners, they'd try to make a job as quick as possible, 2-3 days tops, the length experienced by customer seem to be the wait in line. Any big body shop capable of handling many booths etc at once already has their calendar booked through with insurance companies. 

[Guderian]

12 hours ago, overc said:

The main reason why I do not want to have accidents here...

 

One friend got his car done in 1 week instead of 3 but he had to give 10000 cash to jump the queue, so it's doable !

 

 

I thought about that when she originally said "3 to 7 days". Would a couple of brown banknotes make sure that it was 3 days instead of 7, after all it would pay for itself as I wouldn't have to hire a car for as long? The GF didn't seem to think this was a good idea though, but she has her own car so wasn't exactly sympathetic. 

[Guderian]

10 hours ago, digbeth said:

I've seen case in dealerships where the main part of the wait is for the parts (if plastics) to arrive, often if the damage is minor and car still driveable they'll call and book a time with you once the necessary parts has arrived, rather than take the car and have it sit there doing nothing waiting for the parts, wasting space means less customers for them too.

 

Talking to body shop owners, they'd try to make a job as quick as possible, 2-3 days tops, the length experienced by customer seem to be the wait in line. Any big body shop capable of handling many booths etc at once already has their calendar booked through with insurance companies. 

I visited several places before deciding on one and it was clear they were all busy. The lady wouldn't take my car straight away as she was, as you say, busy and had a queue, plus she evidently had to order some bits and pieces. When she called to say she was ready I was heading off on a trip so I told her she could do the work when I got back. She called me 10 days ago to ask when I would take the car in and I told her on Monday, so she's go no excuse for sticking me in a queue and blaming that for the delay.

 

Given that she seemed very surprised when I called her yesterday maybe they forgot about the car. Once I'd reminded them and they found it again they'll work on it now and get it ready by Monday. If that's the case it's lousy service.

[owl sees all]

11 hours ago, digbeth said:

I've seen case in dealerships where the main part of the wait is for the parts (if plastics) to arrive, often if the damage is minor and car still driveable they'll call and book a time with you once the necessary parts has arrived, rather than take the car and have it sit there doing nothing waiting for the parts, wasting space means less customers for them too.

A good point digbeth.

 

If the garage/repair shop has to order a part or get some special paint, they would rather have the car in their possession. They simply do not trust someone to bring in the car after they have spent their money on the part.

 

Thai mentality I guess.

 

What about a deposit to cover the parts?

[neeray]

In order to max out the hours, many service businesses take the job in and work on it when they have time (within reason).

Same as contractors. Take on a job, get started, go work on another one, come back, get done eventually. Thus, 40 hours of work in a 40 hour week (or whatever).

 

Hope the work is done to your satisfaction.

[topt]

23 hours ago, PatOngo said:

I'm sure you have been placed in the queue.

I think you nailed it here. 

Depending on what else they are doing and when parts/paint turn up and staff are free they will get round to it at some point in the time scale they gave you - if you are lucky........

 

sorry - did not see the two replies above saying basically the same.

Edited November 17, 2018 by topt

[Guderian]

My phone call might have achieved something. Yesterday afternoon around 4:30 the lady at the body shop called me up to say that the car is ready and can I go and pick it up. I don't know if she had guys working overtime on it but Saturday afternoon was certainly better than some unspecified time on Monday, so I called a Grab taxi and off I went. To be fair, they did a beautiful job of it and it looks like new again, so maybe it was worth all the hassle. She even threw in a brand new chrome license plate holder for free as the old plastic one had cracked. So all's well that ends well, it just took twice as long as I'd expected.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Guderian

[neeray]

4 minutes ago, Guderian said:

My phone call might have achieved something. Yesterday afternoon around 4:30 the lady at the body shop called me up to say that the car is ready and can I go and pick it up. I don't know if she had guys working overtime on it but Saturday afternoon was certainly better than some unspecified time on Monday, so I called a Grab taxi and off I went. To be fair, they did a beautiful job of it and it looks like new again, so maybe it was worth all the hassle. She even threw in a brand new chrome license plate holder for free as the old plastic one had cracked. So all's well that ends well, it just took twice as long as I'd expected.

Hope they didn't use that cheap 7-day paint (that peels off after a week).

 

(just kidding ..... enjoy)

[Guderian]

4 hours ago, neeray said:

Hope they didn't use that cheap 7-day paint (that peels off after a week).

 

(just kidding ..... enjoy)

Watch this space in one week's time and you'll see if they did! I'm not shy to have a moan.

 

Somebody moving to Pattaya with experience in this area back in civilisation and wanting to start up a business here might do worse than open a decent, fast bodyshop with western standard equipment and a proper appointment system.

 

I have to feel a bit sorry for the guys actually doing the work in the place I went to. It's a big barn of a place with hardly any lighting but a lot of bright daylight streaming in through what windows there are. The work place is a mess of extremely bright spots alongside dark and shady ones, and it all changes as the sun moves. Given the contrast in lighting intensity I don't know how they can even see to undo a screw, never mind delicate work on the panels.

[ThaiBob]

I went to MG on Sukumvit (near Pattaya Klang), drop off mid-morning, ready the next day in the early afternoon. 

 

[LongTimeLurker]

On 11/16/2018 at 1:07 PM, Guderian said:

So the Ford main dealer can’t find the right colour of paint for a relatively new Ford car, even though most models only come in around six colours at tops? What a joke. 

That Ford dealership is useless.