Brisbane Panel and Paint

Poor, criminal and simply unbelievable – Stay away!!! They’ll drive your car around like it’s their own. Then lie about and dispute any claim for compensation. The owner also owns Brisbane Euro specialists, so I would stay clear of them to. Took my car in for repair. Took 1 month and half. Price was high. Workmanship poor. They also drove my car back and fourth from their mechanical shop all the way in far west Brisbane with out my consent, clocking over 800 miles over the whole month. They denied it when approached. I took it to an industry body to investigate who suggested I take legal action. Unfortunately I didn’t. Gave the owner a chance to make it right. He didn’t even respond. I went to risen autos body shop and got all the work redone. Check their reviews and ask around. They are honest and legit. I have proof for anyone keen to see email me.

Don't go there! – This review is cross posted to Brisbane Euro Specialist (BES) as both businesses, Brisbane Panel and Paint (BPP) and BES, have the same owner. This was later confirmed by [name removed] (current manager for Brisbane Panel and Paint) and [name removed] ([name removed]?) the business owner. Thursday 21/05/2020 I phoned BPP to schedule an appointment to repair some paint scratched in the centre of a rear passenger door. The call was diverted to BES. I was advised by BES’s customer representative, [name removed], that all calls to BPP is being forwarded to BES as they had to let go of all the admin staff at BPP due to COVID. I was instructed to drop off my vehicle at BPP site located in Acacia Ridge on Monday 25/05/2020 at any time between opening time and 1pm. I was further advised that repair will take 1 week. After repairs are completed, I was to collect the car from BES, instead of BPP, as buffing and finishing touches will be performed at BES site (Underwood).

Monday 25/05/2020 I arrived at BPP between 8:10-8:15am. The premises was still closed and lights were off inside the building. I tried calling both BPP and BES offices but no one picked up. I waited outside for approx. 30 minutes then went home. Phoned BES again around 11am and was instructed to deliver my car to BES site at Underwood instead and they will take the car to BPP when it opens. And no, they don’t know why staff at BPP didn’t show up for work.

Later I dropped my car off at BES around 1pm. I confirmed with [name removed] that the repair will still be completed in 1 week as previously agreed. I resetted the fuel meter to zero prior to handing over the car key (this will be relevant later on).

Friday 29/05/2020 Phoned BES after 1pm to arrange for car collection. I was advised that repair is still ongoing and will be completed on Monday 1/06/2020. Max was also unable to advise on the progress of the repair as it was being carried out at Acacia Ridge. However he promised that it will be completed on Monday.

Monday 1/06/2020 Phoned BES at approx. 1:30pm to arrange for car collection. [name removed] advised that the repair is still on-going and it will not be finished until Wednesday. I express my disappointment at the delays and advised that I really need to have the car back for Tuesday. My concerns were referred to [name removed], the manager for BPP. [name removed] promised that this will be the final extension and repairs will be completed by Wednesday. [name removed] also offered to provide a courtesy vehicle for me to use until Wednesday. Later that afternoon, [name removed] dropped off a Ford Focus hatchback at my residence.

Wednesday 3/06/2020 Phoned BES at approx. 1:50pm to arrange for car collection. [name removed] advised that the repair is still on-going and it will not be finished until Thursday. Again, I expressed my disappointment. The call was referred to [name removed] , the business owner, who advised that they fired the painter at BPP as he frequently doesn’t show up for work. But they have a backup painter scheduled to commence work around 3pm. Solomon assured that repairs will be completed by Thursday. I requested that they provide a progress update later in the arvo. [name removed] promised to call by 4:30pm.

Later in the arvo, [name removed] called to advise that the backup painter didn’t show. ETA for repair completion is now tentatively deferred to Friday 5/06/2020, assuming they can locate another painter in time. When I queried the current progress of the repair, [name removed] advised “according to computer records” the scratched panel “had been sanded and primed” it only need to be painted. He further advised that that is all he knows as he had not been back to BPP site to check on the work.

Thursday 4/06/2020 Finally decided that I’ve had enough and phoned BES to discuss options. Spoke with [name removed] who advised that they still could not locate a painter to complete the job. I suggested that they outsource the work to another business. [name removed] consulted with [name removed] and responded that this is not an option. He advised that Solomon offered to provide a nicer loan car for me to use until the job is completed. However, given the difficulties in hiring a painter, he cannot provide an ETA.

I advised [name removed] that I will take my car to another business for repairs if it is safe to do so. I requested for a photo of the repairs performed up to that point in time. [name removed] provided a photo showing the scratched part of the panel had been sanded back and there was what appeared to be white putty like substance applied to parts of the sanded area.

I used the photo provided to consult with other smash repairers. Later I phoned BES again to confirm that I will take the car elsewhere for repairs. [name removed] advised they will have a staff member collect my car from BPP on Friday, drive it to BES where I can pick it up. I requested that, instead, to have someone to pick up my car from BPP, drive to my place and swap it for the loan car. The reason being that I live 6 minutes from BPP and so it would be more or less on the way when the person collecting the car heads back towards Underwood and saves me another trip.

[name removed] advised that given the situation, they will not charge for the sanding and primer. He will contact me on Friday when they are about to drop off the car.

Friday 5/06/2020 - Phoned BES at approx. 1:50pm and was advised that they don’t have anyone to spare. I will need to collect the car from Acacia Ridge on Saturday myself. I confirmed with [name removed] that the car will be ready for collection between 10-11am from BPP site on Saturday.

Saturday 6/06/2020 Arrived at BPP around 10:05am. Was advised by the staff member there that their offer stands if I change my mind. He further advised that they have a backup painter available to commence work immediately. I declined his offer. I also noted that additional work had been done on the vehicle since the photo was provided on Thursdays they had applied a grey substance to the car door covering almost all of the panel . When I enquired about it, the staff advised that they had “repaired it” and it just needs a coat of paint now. I offered to pay for the additional work but the staff advised that [name removed] instruction was to just swap cars, no payment required.

After that there were nothing more to be said. I took the car and drove home.

EXCEPT, THIS WASN’T THE END! Remember how I resetted the fuel meter prior to handing the car over to BES way back at the start? After I arrived home I noted said meter showed the car had been driven for 51km since the reset. Recounting the journey thus far - initially I dropped the car off at BES located at Underwood, where it was subsequently taken to BPP at Acacia Ridge for repair. There the car supposedly stayed until I picked it up 2 weeks later.

Let’s do some basic arithmetic shall we? The distance between BPP and BES is approx. 14km. The distance between my home and BPP is approx. 5.9km.

51km less 14km less 5.9km = 31.1km

It would appear that someone had taken my car for a 31.1km long joyride while it was in BPP/BES’s custody.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. Whoever took the car for the unauthorised fun ride wasn’t terribly careful with the car and presumably didn’t care if the indiscretion is discovered. Because the car interior also picked up a number of mystery scuffs and stains on both the front driver and passenger side whilst it was in BPP/BES’s custody. Only noticed the stains after I got home.

AND IT KEEPS ON GOING! When I took the car to another smash repair I had sent the first photo to (one provided by BPP) I was advised of the following: - The grey coating that was applied after the photo was taken covered too much of the panel it was smeared almost to the edge. The correct coverage area should extend just past the sanded area, which covered just the centre of the panel. It is unnecessary to spread the substance over most of the panel, thereby making it difficult to blend the paint. Due to the excessive area covered by the “repair” it may be necessary to blend the paint across to adjacent panels to ensure a seamless colour match, which may incur additional costs; - Secondly, whoever had applied the “repair” had laid it on too thick. The edges of the ‘repair’ are actually bevelled! - Thirdly, whoever applied said ‘repair’ was rather sloppy and managed to smudge some of that substance onto the front driver’s door panel.

.AAAAAND IN SUMMARY (FINALLY!) In addition to stuffing around with a 1-2 days’ work for 2 weeks, thanks to the awesome job performed by BPP/BES I may need to: - pay more for the additional work required to fix the wonderful ‘repair’ they conducted, and - pay for interior clean to get rid of all the stains.

Subsequently, I called BES to lodge a verbal complaint regarding the joyriding, stains and the so-call repair. I asked [name removed] to confer my complaints to [name removed] . I advised that return call is not necessary and I don’t require anything further from BES/BPP. Max offered to clean up the stains himself but I declined his kind offer. No shade here, btw. Being customer rep is a tough job and he had to cop all the heat when technicians stuff up.

Aside, this isn’t the first time I went to BPP. Back during latter half of 2018, BPP fixed up some paint damage to the same car’s front bumper. [name removed] was the manager back then and they did a fantastic job! I drop the car off between 7-7:30am and was able to pick up around 4pm on the same day. When I got there the car was repaired, squeaking clean and ready to go. No fuss, no dramas.

Don’t know what happened since then.

Anyway, I can’t speak for other customers’ recent experience with BPP/ BES. But I would not touch them again with someone else’s electric cattle prod.

Cheers!