I bet each and every reader out there has had a job that has gotten out of hand. Your involvement starts off fairly insignificant and begins to mushroom into a job whose finish has yet to be seen. In all of my 30 years of being a business owner, I have been reminded time and time again lately that I have been extremely lucky to only have been exposed to just a few of these boomerang jobs, but I have got a “doozy” of one now.
Late in 2009, I took a call from a person who had a leaky back window on his turn-of-the-century Honda coupe. He wanted me to give an expert opinion on what caused the water leak. The customer had gotten my name from my adhesive rep who was contacted after the customer had first called the national headquarters of his urethane manufacturer. In retrospect, that fact alone should have set off alarm bells.
I met this person in a local parking lot on my way home one day and viewed the car. It seems the car had been involved in an accident and the issue was not if the back glass was leaking but, rather, why was it leaking. The customer wasn’t sure if the window had been removed to facilitate painting or had just the exterior wraparound moulding (since it was loose). The customer had already complained to his insurer about the water intrusion and wanted the matter and cost of removal and subsequent repair to be warrantied by the insurer who directed him to the initial local contract shop.
I guess I had gained the customer’s confidence, because he declared that, based on various other recommendations and perhaps this inspection, he wanted me to pull the glass and fix the leak.
Months went by following that instance and sporadic contact took place. Ironically the person was involved in another minor accident in which the aging Honda sustained more body damage and it was agreed that a shop to which I provide auto glass service would perform the repair. Due to this, I got the job. I took at least two calls from the claims adjustor who verified what I had found and what I would charge for the removal and reset.
On the day the car was dropped off, I was asked to remove the back glass so the customer could see what actually caused the water leak. Removal was quite easy. What I found was this: The glass had been removed previously, and the reset urethane had adhered poorly (if at all) to the pinchweld. I found six areas of stage-one rust—three along the upper pinchweld that totaled perhaps six inches. Three occurred along bottom and were about one inch wide apiece. This should have been a commonly found situation that could be remedied easily, especially since close proximity to a professional body shop would be taking place. Oh, how wrong I was …
What no one suspected or even remotely thought of was the extent of customer involvement that has occurred over this repair. I have attended two meetings with the body shop manager, claims adjustor myself and my adhesive rep either in attendance or on a conference call. The client has contacted a paint manufacturer along with the adhesive manufacturer and has downloaded all sorts of corrosion abatement procedures and paint primer application directions and has become very informed on these subjects. He is so informed about rust, primer and urethane application that you could accurately say the professionals have lost control of the repair and the customer is dictating policy.
First, the question of rust removal has not been resolved. The client has read that grinding does not remove all rust, which sadly is what the body shop already did. In fact, a tech took off all the paint and primer along the top of the car’s pinchweld, which has opened a can of worms about how to seal it. The customer pulled a statement from a corrosion expert from his sheath of papers that stated that if any pitting was present, sand blasting or beading should take place. At his behest, the body shop manager ordered a mini sand blaster to rid the upper surface of the small number (five to ten) of tiny gestational pits. The customer has demanded that beading take place.
Now technicians registered with the Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standard (AGRSS) knows what is proper when it comes to new paint on areas around glass installs. Urethane primers are not substitutes for E-coat, but cover and clear coats can and will affect future adhesion.
The customer advised the body shop manager not to paint the part of the pinchweld that would come in contact with the urethane, and the only material the customer found appropriate was a protective primer that contained VOCs (and these have been banned in California). At this point, the job came to a standstill since it appeared no legal remedy could be found.
Next, the location of the glass (and therefore the urethane) became a matter of discussion. The client lectured both the adhesive rep and me about the matters of existing urethane beads and the acceptance of new adhesives. No matter how much we cited operational manuals, it seemed not to phase this customer. He could not see how Scotchbrite and primer application would provide enough of a foundation to thwart adhesion issues if existing urethane (most likely factory) was at 1 mm or even less.
I even tried the structural integrity argument, explaining that if the vehicle was hit again or suffered a rollover, the tempered glass surely would break apart well before the new urethane would release, making his concerns moot. I received such a blank stare in response to this that I thought a stroke had taken place.
I had to leave the last meeting with the adhesive rep in attendance after about 35 minutes to go make money elsewhere. It had seemed that an agreement was reached on what processes would take place. The body shop manager left to supervise his people, leaving the adhesive rep, the claims adjustor and the customer at the car. Then I found out the next day that almost everything that was agreed upon had changed.
As of now, no more work has taken place on the back glass area of the car. The customer is getting a new front fender, but even that has slowed to a crawl with the car being parked with the damaged part removed.
As for the paint issue, this last Thursday the body shop received a visit from the Bay Area Air Quality board, which had received a request from the customer to have a VOC primer used on the car. An inspector was sent out to verify compliance by the body shop of its paperwork and, in fact, a full inspection of both facility and paperwork took place. The shop passed both and an exemption was issued to use a VOC primer since it represented less than five percent of the shop’s output. Needless to say, customer/ vendor relations could have been strained if a different outcome would have taken place.
I’m sure this tale is far from over. The glass is yet to be installed and I wonder if I need to call in Jeff Olive or Jamie Browning as my installation assistants. I may even try to have Bob Beranek critique the job via web cam as I begin the re-install. I fear my customer perhaps has already contacted one of them to receive private lessons on installation techniques to enhance their knowledge of procedures. I am sure as I prime and set this back glass, the customer will be in attendance and taping my actions for posterity or, as every TPA likes to say, “for quality purposes only.” Perhaps he will recite passages from the AGRSS Standard to me as I wash the glass. Maybe Jamie, Bob or Jeff will drop by with doughnuts. Tequila would be more appreciated.
No one has said, “Stop! Let us do our jobs!” The claims adjustor who is also the district supervisor wants the customer to be happy, I suppose, because the insured was inconvenienced by the company’s first referral. The body shop manager simply wants to keep the insurer happy and I am following the parade because I need to keep this valuable vendor (the body shop) sane and not vengeful that I was the reason this person came to his shop.
Is there a moral to this story? Not one that I can state yet. However, I think I can contact the U.S. government and inform them that a new asset exists in their arsenal. I truly believe that this person can be sent anywhere as “an expert” and affect change. I wonder if he would like living in Ohio?
