Nationwide Crash Repair BEWARE Poor quality repair

Hey,

I've never bothered to post to a newsgroup before, but this is
something people need to know! This may be a bit long, but if you're
thinking about taking your car to NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR then please
read this. You'll thank me for it!

On my way to work, a women driver, in a skoda, pulled out on me on a
round about... I hit her, we were both OK, no broken bones, but my car
was looking a bit sorry for itself!

No problem I thought, we're all insured, I'll just give my friendly
insurance company DIRECT LINE a call. They picked up my car from the
roadside within an hour, dropped me off home then dropped my car off at
NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Bletchley.

Great I thought. That was three months ago. NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR
gave me an estimated date of three weeks. Two days before the
completion date, I phoned to arrange collection of my fixed car... Ah,
they have found more problems with the car, it would seem when they
removed the engine they found the air con was broken, some gearbox
mounts and a few other things. Fine, these things happen, another
estimated date of two weeks was added. Now in the mean time, I knew my
tax was coming to an end, so I gave NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR a quick
call to see when I had to get new tax.... They told me that there is no
tax disk on the car!!!! Between the recovery vehicle picking up my car
and me phoning the garage a month later some thieving fecking chav
mechanic had stolen my Richbrook Aluminium tax disc holder. SCUMS.

Anyway, back to the point, after 2 months and 1 week I get a call
saying my car is ready. WHOOHOOO so off we rush (my girlfriend and i)
to pick the car up. Unfortunetly I didn't have my camera with me
that day , The first thing I noticed was a piece of paint missing
from my bumper, my car is metallic black, and there was a 2cm square
patch of white on my bumper!!!! How on earth did that get past quality
control? That soon proved to be the least of our problems, my
girlfriend drove the car from its parking bay to the reception so we
could complain, I walked behind and noticed a rather loud squeak coming
from the engine. When I asked the assistant manager Alan about this,
stating "You told me my car was ready" he said "It Is", but its
squeaking!!! "Yes," he said "that's the engine". Now maybe
its just me, but when I have a car crash, and it gets repaired... id
like the FECKING ENGINE REPAIRED TOO! Oh, and while the monkeys were
looking at the engine, we noticed the bumper hadn't been fitted
properly, and the paint job was awful. Needles to say, we left our car
there, to be repaired.

They sent my car off to ford for the engine, Ford replaced a fan belt.
Squeak stopped. Then when I phone the garage to find out whats
happening with my car, they tell me they've just noticed that my
airbox is cracked!!!!! How on earth could they take my engine out and
put it back in with noticing that!???

Eventually got a phone call THREE MONTHS after the accident, saying my
car was ready again, great I think... this time I'll bring my digital
camera. Here's a list of things wrong with my car :-
Drivers side headlight proud of the bonnet.
Large uneven gap down drivers side of bonnet.
Bonnet gap is not even across the front.
Bonnet sits to low, now even with the wings.
Bonnet when closed, isn't level with the front bumper.
'Bits' have dried into the paint on the front bumper.
Drivers side wheel arch paint has blistered in two places.
Dent in drivers side bumper and wing.
Dent in passenger side 'B' pillar.
Passenger side door sill not fitted, causing a noise while driving.
Bumpers do not have even gaps to the body work.
Drivers leather seat very scuffed, all other seats perfect, rough
overalls?
Part of the wiring loom is coming out at the bonnet release catch under
steering column
The power steering and engine coolant levels are way above the MAX
line, shows complete lack of care.


Soooooo, bonnets not aligned, not even close, and because the gaps are
uneven, it means theres bent metal somewhere! Paint job is once again
awful, two parts were actually blistered, I think the tech term is
Pickled? How did my car pass the quality control? The thing that
really got me is my drivers side full leather seat is scuffed really
badly, I keep my car in great condition, and its really p*ssed me off
that they've damaged my seats.

This is still ongoing. But I didn't want to wait any longer before
posting.

Anyway, I have lots of pictures to prove ALL of the above claims I've
made. And, yes, a website is in progress, detailing EVERYTHING.

Basically if your with direct line, phone them and make sure that you
can choose which garage you'd like to take your car too. Also,
direct line have been cr*p at handling this case, they don't call you
back, and I've had to arrange everything myself. (other than the
roadside pickup).

If you've had an experience with Nationwide Crash Repair, please post
here, I've spoken to so many people who have been messed about by
them, but there's nothing on the web!

Frustrated Car Owner wrote:
>
> On my way to work, a women driver, in a skoda, pulled out on me on a
> round about... I hit her, we were both OK, no broken bones, but my car
> was looking a bit sorry for itself!
>
> No problem I thought, we're all insured, I'll just give my friendly
> insurance company DIRECT LINE a call. They picked up my car from the
> roadside within an hour, dropped me off home then dropped my car off at
> NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Bletchley.

We don't have NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Texas.
For that matter, no skodas or Bletchleys either.

>
> We don't have NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Texas.
> For that matter, no skodas or Bletchleys either.

Terribly sorry old chap, I was referring to place in England called
Milton Keynes. I didn't realise that REC.AUTOS.TECH was only for
Texan's, I assumed that it was for the global community of the
Internet. I don't know what I was thinking... Skoda is a car
manufactor, who are the butt of all car jokes, Bletchley is a place in
Milton Keynes.

> Frustrated Car Owner wrote:
> >
> > On my way to work, a women driver, in a skoda, pulled out on me on a
> > round about... I hit her, we were both OK, no broken bones, but my car
> > was looking a bit sorry for itself!
> >
> > No problem I thought, we're all insured, I'll just give my friendly
> > insurance company DIRECT LINE a call. They picked up my car from the
> > roadside within an hour, dropped me off home then dropped my car off at
> > NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Bletchley.
>
> We don't have NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Texas.
> For that matter, no skodas or Bletchleys either.


.... this in an international newsgroup, as much as we Texans
like to think we're a country to ourselves

--
<< http://michaeljtobler.homelinux.com () >>
First Rule of History: History doesn't repeat
itself -- historians merely repeat each other.

I feel your pain sir and will never ever take my car to Nationwide.

I don't have any exemplary body repair stories to share. There's
always been something that wasn't fixed to my satisfaction: a paint
blemish, poor finish, really long turnaround time etc...

That aside, here's a little usenet tip:

While attempting to either elict empathy from or warn of your
unsatisfactory repair to a usenet group full of mechanics and car
enthusiasts you may find the phrases "thieving fecking chav mechanic"
and "monkeys" to prove counter productive.

Toyota MDT in MO


Frustrated Car Owner wrote:
> Hey,
>
> I've never bothered to post to a newsgroup before, but this is
> something people need to know! This may be a bit long, but if you're
> thinking about taking your car to NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR then please
> read this. You'll thank me for it!
>
> On my way to work, a women driver, in a skoda, pulled out on me on a
> round about... I hit her, we were both OK, no broken bones, but my
car
> was looking a bit sorry for itself!
>
> No problem I thought, we're all insured, I'll just give my friendly
> insurance company DIRECT LINE a call. They picked up my car from the
> roadside within an hour, dropped me off home then dropped my car off
at
> NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Bletchley.
>
> Great I thought. That was three months ago. NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR
> gave me an estimated date of three weeks. Two days before the
> completion date, I phoned to arrange collection of my fixed car...
Ah,
> they have found more problems with the car, it would seem when they
> removed the engine they found the air con was broken, some gearbox
> mounts and a few other things. Fine, these things happen, another
> estimated date of two weeks was added. Now in the mean time, I knew
my
> tax was coming to an end, so I gave NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR a quick
> call to see when I had to get new tax.... They told me that there is
no
> tax disk on the car!!!! Between the recovery vehicle picking up my
car
> and me phoning the garage a month later some thieving fecking chav
> mechanic had stolen my Richbrook Aluminium tax disc holder. SCUMS.
>
> Anyway, back to the point, after 2 months and 1 week I get a call
> saying my car is ready. WHOOHOOO so off we rush (my girlfriend and
i)
> to pick the car up. Unfortunetly I didn't have my camera with me
> that day , The first thing I noticed was a piece of paint missing
> from my bumper, my car is metallic black, and there was a 2cm square
> patch of white on my bumper!!!! How on earth did that get past
quality
> control? That soon proved to be the least of our problems, my
> girlfriend drove the car from its parking bay to the reception so we
> could complain, I walked behind and noticed a rather loud squeak
coming
> from the engine. When I asked the assistant manager Alan about this,
> stating "You told me my car was ready" he said "It Is", but its
> squeaking!!! "Yes," he said "that's the engine". Now maybe
> its just me, but when I have a car crash, and it gets repaired... id
> like the FECKING ENGINE REPAIRED TOO! Oh, and while the monkeys were
> looking at the engine, we noticed the bumper hadn't been fitted
> properly, and the paint job was awful. Needles to say, we left our
car
> there, to be repaired.
>
> They sent my car off to ford for the engine, Ford replaced a fan
belt.
> Squeak stopped. Then when I phone the garage to find out whats
> happening with my car, they tell me they've just noticed that my
> airbox is cracked!!!!! How on earth could they take my engine out and
> put it back in with noticing that!???
>
> Eventually got a phone call THREE MONTHS after the accident, saying
my
> car was ready again, great I think... this time I'll bring my digital
> camera. Here's a list of things wrong with my car :-
> Drivers side headlight proud of the bonnet.
> Large uneven gap down drivers side of bonnet.
> Bonnet gap is not even across the front.
> Bonnet sits to low, now even with the wings.
> Bonnet when closed, isn't level with the front bumper.
> 'Bits' have dried into the paint on the front bumper.
> Drivers side wheel arch paint has blistered in two places.
> Dent in drivers side bumper and wing.
> Dent in passenger side 'B' pillar.
> Passenger side door sill not fitted, causing a noise while driving.
> Bumpers do not have even gaps to the body work.
> Drivers leather seat very scuffed, all other seats perfect, rough
> overalls?
> Part of the wiring loom is coming out at the bonnet release catch
under
> steering column
> The power steering and engine coolant levels are way above the MAX
> line, shows complete lack of care.
>
>
> Soooooo, bonnets not aligned, not even close, and because the gaps
are
> uneven, it means theres bent metal somewhere! Paint job is once
again
> awful, two parts were actually blistered, I think the tech term is
> Pickled? How did my car pass the quality control? The thing that
> really got me is my drivers side full leather seat is scuffed really
> badly, I keep my car in great condition, and its really p*ssed me off
> that they've damaged my seats.
>
> This is still ongoing. But I didn't want to wait any longer before
> posting.
>
> Anyway, I have lots of pictures to prove ALL of the above claims I've
> made. And, yes, a website is in progress, detailing EVERYTHING.
>
> Basically if your with direct line, phone them and make sure that you
> can choose which garage you'd like to take your car too. Also,
> direct line have been cr*p at handling this case, they don't call you
> back, and I've had to arrange everything myself. (other than the
> roadside pickup).
>
> If you've had an experience with Nationwide Crash Repair, please post
> here, I've spoken to so many people who have been messed about by
> them, but there's nothing on the web!

("Comboverfish" >) scribbled:

> While attempting to either elict empathy from or warn of your
> unsatisfactory repair to a usenet group full of mechanics and car
> enthusiasts you may find the phrases "thieving fecking chav mechanic"
> and "monkeys" to prove counter productive.

.... but we all know flaming is commonplace in USENET and
a part of it's "culture"

at least, if you plan to offend many and you dont want any
repercussions, simply nymshift!

--
<< http://michaeljtobler.homelinux.com () >>
"Nirvana? Thats the place where the powers that be
and their friends hang out. - Zonker Harris

Just another reason I'd never live outside of the US... it's too much of a
hassle to own a car anywhere else.

"Frustrated Car Owner" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hey,
>
> I've never bothered to post to a newsgroup before, but this is
> something people need to know! This may be a bit long, but if you're
> thinking about taking your car to NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR then please
> read this. You'll thank me for it!

> While attempting to either elict empathy from or warn of your
> unsatisfactory repair to a usenet group full of mechanics and car
> enthusiasts you may find the phrases "thieving fecking chav mechanic"
> and "monkeys" to prove counter productive.

True. I didn't mean any offence to mechanics in general, I wasn't
referring to all garages/mechanics, indeed a good friend of mine, and
my uncle both used to own and run garages. I was only referring to the
workmanship and attitude of this particular company and its workers, in
my opinion, the employee's of Nationwide Crash Repair in Bletchley are
'Monkeys' as they show no pride in their work, and demonstrate complete
lack of skill and care. I too am a car enthusiast, and am a member of
the Ford KA Owners Club of Great Brittan, www.KaKlub.co.uk

I feel your pain and understand completely. If I was independently
wealthy I would seriously consider roaming the country with a
deliberately bugged car to catch incompetent and dishonest mechanics
who gave it improper diagnosis / bogus upsells. Then I would post an
internet newsletter documenting the good and the bad mechanics/shops.
Possibly even get in some fights (hopefully). That's how much I hate
criminal mechanics. They destroy our industry simply with incompetence
and greed. The good mechanics tend to spend time just deflecting guff
from worried and jaded customers.

Now all I need to do is get independently wealthy. Sounds easy
enough...

Toyota MDT in MO


Frustrated Car Owner wrote:
> > While attempting to either elict empathy from or warn of your
> > unsatisfactory repair to a usenet group full of mechanics and car
> > enthusiasts you may find the phrases "thieving fecking chav
mechanic"
> > and "monkeys" to prove counter productive.
>
> True. I didn't mean any offence to mechanics in general, I wasn't
> referring to all garages/mechanics, indeed a good friend of mine, and
> my uncle both used to own and run garages. I was only referring to
the
> workmanship and attitude of this particular company and its workers,
in
> my opinion, the employee's of Nationwide Crash Repair in Bletchley
are
> 'Monkeys' as they show no pride in their work, and demonstrate
complete
> lack of skill and care. I too am a car enthusiast, and am a member
of
> the Ford KA Owners Club of Great Brittan, www.KaKlub.co.uk