Handover with sratched paintwork

A

alharrison

New Member
Afternoon everyone, after months of waiting I collected my new lwb kombi 150 on friday!

I was excited to say the least. Handover was in the pdi centre warehouse which was fairly dark. I got to my in laws house 50miles later and noticed the drivers side and bonnet were covered in tiny scratches from cleaning with a dirty sponge or drying with a dirty cloth. I was livid.

I've sort of come here to vent plus for advice. I've been following the forum for months. See photos below for the paint swirls. What would you do?

IMG_5902

IMG_5902

Scratches in paint from new

IMG_5897

IMG_5897

More scratches

IMG_5890

IMG_5890

Paint swirls

The vehicle has gone to Droitwich van centre for repair in the paint shop. It's supposed to be brand new, if they polish it out from my understanding they effectively remove some thickness of the clear coat to get rid of the marks.

I actually bought it through Swissvans, it's gone back to the main dealer though for repair as it was their pre pdi wash with wire wool that's done the damage. I've spent all weekend trying to get it resolved.

I've now got a caddy as a courtesy vehicle and have been told it could be a few weeks. They originally wanted me to drop it off and get a bus, 2 trains and another bus 3 hours home.

I've gone down from a lwb sprinter, bought a transporter lwb with towball as my 16ft trailer has to take the bigger stuff. Now I have a caddy that was filthy, 1/4tank of fuel and keeps beeping at me for adblue.

Any advice?? I'm going on holiday in 15 days in the van and wanted to get it ready.

Short video of the scratchy shimmer...
Alasdair Harrison on Twitter

Regards, Alasdair
 
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@alharrison - Not sure what to say, what a disappointment.
My only advice is to find out who is the top person at the dealer and get there email and cc them on all comms.

Will let others comment on the implications of polishing out the scratches.
 
So Swiss and got it from Listers who was responsible for the scratches, mine came from Listers and can't remember seeing anything like that on mine. I'd be well pi&&ed if I saw that
 
@Loz Now you said it, me too.
I told my sales guy multiple times no washing, and got my detailer to visit the dealer to clean.
The dealer's guys washed 4 vans in the time the guys did mine.

No help to @alharrison I am afraid but maybe others will will take note.
 
Gutted for you @alharrison . I had mine from listers droitwich, as i am local to them but i to did not let them touch it when it arrived . I sent it straight to Tom at ultimate auto for full detail and coatings . I no they do know Tom so maybe they will let him have it to do the corrections professionally, or if it was me i would insist it was done by a professional !!

Hope it all get sorted for you soon
 
Loz said:
That was why I told the dealer not to touch mine and took it straight to my detailer for its first detail and gtechniq coating.
Click to expand...
same here,
the different finishes I've seen on other vans I'm glad i had my detailer do mine from new
 
I wonder if Vw are fed up with dealers messing up Blackberry coloured vans is the reason they stopped the colour?
 
Thanks for all the replies. Dealer emailed yesterday saying

" the small swirls and marks that are visible in bright sunlight from certain angles will be worked on on Friday in readiness for you to collect it Saturday"

When I was pointing them out, they were looking at me as if I was stupid and causing a fuss over nothing.

VW commercials main customer care called yesterday and said they'd ring back today with a resolution. The guy on the phone even mentioned replacing the vehicle but I doubt they'd have a t32 kombi highline with twin sliding doors etc sat waiting. I shall see what they say.

It didn't even cross my mind that they'd clean a vehicle like that. I went to collect it as I didn't want them driving it 150miles to deliver it. I'd have asked them not to clean it too if I'd have known. I spent a small fortune on top cleaning stuff and wax to do it myself on the Saturday but didn't bother once I saw the state of it.

Anyone else got a blackberry, are they bad for showing scratches more than others? It's only when it's in full sun really that these can be seen.

I'll come back with whatever VW customer care say. I know if I make the 6 hour round trip to pick the vehicle up on Saturday and look carefully, they are still going to be there. The way they talk about the marks in the email I received, they just think I'm being awkward. I hope they aren't visible but I have a bad feeling they won't get it sorted properly.

Regards, Al
 
@alharrison Spoke to Tom today as i mentioned above, he is going tomorrow to listers to see your bus and do the correction work . I will be seeing him after, i can get his option if you wish before you collect on Saturday?
 
@StudleyGlass thanks for putting us in touch, I was considering calling him anyway but wanted to give them chance to sort it first.

Tom twittered at me with his number so I gave him a call. Yep he's off down there tomorrow to have a look and give it a try. After speaking with him, really glad they've asked him to do it rather than dabble themselves.

Thing is, he said looking at the pictures there's more than a days work to fix it. So I might not be getting it back on Saturday. I'd definitely rather wait though and give him chance to do it properly as oppose to getting it rushed.

It also depends on Listers somewhat, if Tom says it's 2 full days to fix they might not want to pay him for 2 days. Hopefully Tom will only agree to do it if he's allowed to give it all the time he needs. Looking at his Facebook and twitter pictures, he's a perfectionist so looking forward to hearing what gonna happen!

Interestingly he said the paint on the last blackberry coloured van was really thin so there's not a lot of paint on there in the first place.

Cheers again, Alasdair
 
Bloody hell that's shocking mate @alharrison hope you get it sorted...btw if it's overcast (no direct sunlight) when you view the van outdoor take a bright torch with you to point at it as this will create specular highlights in the paint and reveal any swirls etc.
 
Had this with mine. Dealer paid for a local retailer to rectify. Not want you want on a 40k van
 
Gutted for you mate! It looks correctable to me but it's good you've got a real pro to do the correction. My dealer actually admitted to me that they're not happy with the Eastern European "valeters" that work for them......can you believe that......and yet, they still use them!!! Fortunately, the service guy knows not to let them any where near mine! Hope it gets sorted!
 
My detailer went to a Nissan Dealer to do a Customer's new GTR and he spoke to the guys that were there "Brushing over" the cars on the forecourt and they told him they get £6 per car and do all the local dealers... eeek!
 
While a main dealer trashed my paint on the old grey Cali "washing"' it (got a full machine polish), this one came through absolutely pristine and got the full treatment as soon as I got home; clean, polish, seal, carpets and sears treated, wheels sealed, etc.

That's pretty awful of the dealer; I reckon you should insist a professional detailer (I know several) should inspect that and see what's best.
Yep a machine polish will take off a micro layer but done properly it will totally sort that out; my old grey Cali looked great once done.

At least they've admitted it though; some would claim it's not their problem as you'd driven it away.

Take a record of EVERYTHING though.
 
I'd be annoyed at the numpty from Swiss who accepted the van from the dealer in the first place, however credit must go to the dealer for putting their hands up because as mentioned earlier it was driven away which some could interpret as accepted.
My dad bought a new Toyota and his had exactly the same as yours, swirls everywhere from a dirty wash bucket/sponge, they tried to blame my dad for a dirty bucket when washing until my dad pointed out the car was 4 days old and not been washed since owning it, it was only a sunny day that revealed the mess a few days after picking it up.
It got sorted in the end but this is just something you would not expect when buying a brand new vehicle, but the truth is it's all about the numbers.
 
same for me here on a starlight blue, i could show a photo but its exactly as the other photos, I noticed it on collection and mentioned it to the sales guy that said return it if its not removed by a wash, i washed it and still there, went back down and the sales chap has left, its now been 2 months and 2 washes by me with autoglym products. im not an overly fussy bloke but its blatantly there. ill give it one more try with them but because of the time I've taken i understand if they wont honour a repair.
it looks like someone has given it a once over with puddle water and a scouring pad!
If I dont have any success can anyone recommend anyone in the Bristol area that can sort please??
 
Mine was delivered like that from Worcester van center worst bit is they wouldn’t rectify it as paint isn’t covered under warranty. I gave up as I didn’t need the hassle and got a Detailer to sort it and put a quartz coating on as well
 
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