Maaco Franchise

To whom it may concern:
After spending almost $2, 200 with Maaco at 4910 Oneida Street in Commerce City, CO, on 5/27/20, we had to take the car back to the same facility on 5/24/21 to have some touch-up done. These are the items that we requested to be addressed. We expected items 1-3 to be covered under warranty:

1. On the driver's side quarter panel, there was a spot approximately the size of a nickel where the sanders missed sanding filler and it was painted over.
2. A bubble formed in the center of the hood that was approximately 3 inches in diameter and had a crack through the middle of it.
3. Cracking in the paint formed on the driver's side door near the front fender.
4. The driver's side door appeared to have a broken weld that would allow the mirror to flop.

To address #1:
When we first arrived with the car on 5/24, Jaime (no longer with the company) walked around the car with us. The first thing that we pointed out was the painted over filler spot on the left rear quarter panel. The initial response from Jaime was, "It wasn't like that when it left here." We had to defend the fact that it was obviously like that when it left there as it was painted over by them. There was minimal argument. They agreed to cover this under the paint warranty.

To address #2:
The next thing we pointed out was the bubble/crack that had come up in the center of the hood that they had painted. The first thing they did was to bring out a magnet and move it along the hood. When they got to the area where the bubble/crack was, the magnet wouldn't stick. Their response was that it has bondo on it and that was the reason for the bubble. We were told that if they painted it, we would just end up with the same problem again. They recommended that we get a new hood for it. They would not cover this under warranty even though none of the bondo problems were mentioned during the original painting of the car. Had we known this originally, we would have gotten a new hood before they painted the car in the first place. Secondly, we were told by Jaime (no longer with the company) that they would look for a hood for us. Since nothing ever came of that, we found one in Erie at an auto salvage location. Jaime said he had a transporter that could pick it up and take it to Maaco for us. Again, nothing came of it because Jaime left the company and did not let anyone else know of the agreement. We ended up having to find transport and get it to Maaco so that it could be painted and installed.
As an addendum to #2, the new hood was painted and installed. They only painted the top of the hood. They did not bother to paint the sides that would be seen when it is open, nor the underside of the hood. We paid to have the hood painted… ALL of it.

To address #3:
There was cracking in the paint on the left door of the car. Their explanation for this was that the door was rubbing on the inner fender causing the paint to crack. Their solution was to use heat to "reshape" the inner fender and keep it from rubbing. They would not cover this under warranty stating that we did something to cause this problem. It has been about 3 months since they used their "fix" and repaired the paint but the problem is back.

To address #4:
The driver's door appeared to have a broken weld or some other problem as the mirror was flopping more than it should. We brought it to them with the full understanding that this would NOT be warranty and we would have to pay for anything they needed to do to fix it. During the course of about 2 weeks, they put off even looking at it. When they finally had their "tech" pull it apart, they claimed that there were no broken welds and that there was nothing they could do because there was rust. They said we needed a new door because the door skin was coming apart. We told them to put it back together the way they found it. After we got the car home, Doc opened up the driver's door and discovered that by removing 1 additional bolt, the broken weld was highly visible. There was also NO rust. He was able to make a repair. (Please see illustrations attached.) It seemed as if we were lied to by Maaco.
To get to the broken weld, the bolt with the blue arrow was removed and the bolt with the yellow arrow was loosened. That allowed the brace to be moved out of the way enough to get to the actual broken weld.

After the car was originally painted, we replaced the door window wipes (the rubber on door that runs along the window). After they were replaced, we discovered that when the car was painted, they did not even bother to remove any of that to paint. Now we have white lines along the top of the door where it should be black.

This is just plain shoddy work for such an expensive job.
After everything was said and done the 2nd time around, our total bill was almost $950.00. This was in addition to the almost $2200 we had originally paid for the paint job.
When we went to pick up the car (after the 2nd visit), it was parked inside their gate next to the building and was backed into a spot. Jamie walked us back there and the first thing we noticed was the T-Top covers were in the back hatch compartment. The T-Tops had NEVER been removed on this car prior to it being in Maaco's care for the 2nd time. They never even removed them during the original painting. For the items that they needed to work on the 2nd time around, there was absolutely NO reason to remove them. The first thing that Jamie said to us when we pointed it out was, "It was like that when it came in." That was an absolute lie, but we heard it several times during all of the times that we worked with Maaco.
As a result of the T-Tops being removed, there is now loud wind noise and leaks when we have precipitation. It is worse when the car is moving at highway speeds. This noise was not there prior to the car being in Maaco's care.
What made the situation much worse was that when we picked up the car from them the first time after the original painting, the contents of the center console were scattered inside the car and some things were missing altogether. In addition, the cloth speaker covers on the top of the dash were now flapping about instead of being fastened as they were when the car arrived to them. We let Jamie, the manager, know about this right away and again, we were told, "It was like that when it came in." After talking with them about it for a short time, we decided to let it go.
After dealing with the T-Top debacle, Jamie made an exaggerated show of pointing out that the coolant reservoir filler cap was loose. Since these are plastic on a plastic reservoir, vented, and exposed to hot coolant during normal operation, it is simple enough to keep it in place with a light turn. It wasn't until later that we discovered that while in the care of Maaco, someone had turned off the engine cooling fan switch on the dash. Without this switch being on, the fan only operates when the AC is running. It seemed that, by him making a point to show us the filler cap, he was making an excuse for the fact that there was no coolant. The car had been overheated while in their care. Why was it running long enough to have overheated? Painting a car does not require the car to be running. We believe that someone took our car out for a joy ride. That explains the T-Tops being removed as well as the engine having been overheated.
Our overall experience with this particular Maaco location has been terrible. We have been continually lied to and accused. We have paid an inordinate amount of money for a shoddy job on a car that should be in show condition by now. The fact is, we would not show the car in the condition it is in because of the - still - present problems and the lack of caring on the part of Maaco. For having paid almost $3, 150 total to them, this car should be immaculate. We are not only severely disappointed, but very angry at how we and our property were treated and are considering legal action.

Very sincerely,

Doc & Kelley Ross