A Tale of Two Customers
Take a look at these two comments:
“Just finished spraying your paint and everything has come out beautiful. Great match and customer service. Thanks again!
Jason ”
“My paint repair came out terrible. The color didn’t match and your employees are no help at all. Your products just don’t work. Now I have to spend extra money to repair the mess you caused! I demand a refund and will tell all my friends what happened.”
Peter
So I ask myself, what is the difference between Jason and Peter. Why did Jason have such a nice job whereas Peters job turned into a mess? Obviously Peter here is pretty upset and looks like he will not be inviting me out for a beer anytime soon. So what happened here? I decided to call both customers and find out.
Talking with Jason, he had several things going for him. One, this was his second time doing paint repair. Two, he re-read the directions again. Three, he found the color code on his vehicle and sent us his VIN so we could check for formula changes. Before he applied the paint to his vehicle, he tested the paint color on a scrap piece of plastic to see how the match was. Then, just followed the directions and the job came out nicely.
Peter got on our website, saw a blue color which looked close to his and just ordered. He just figured there was no reason to check for a color code on his car when the color looked pretty close. Considering there were three blues for his car, he picked the closest one. So here we have mistake #1 and our website states:
“Always verify your color code on your vehicle! Do not order paint based on the paint name or color samples shown above. ”
so right off, Peter is in trouble. (By the way, I’m the guy who actually puts the color chip on the site. Because most metallics colors cannot be scanned, I do it manually with PaintShopPro. Sometimes I can’t quite get the color right as some metallics look different depending on your angle.)
Peter got his paint and it was a warm, humid day and thinking the paint would dry way faster in the sun, began his preparation. Listening to his story on the phone and his prep work, I could visualize it. Very little prep work, just a quick rinse with sponge and soap. He figured the surface was smooth enough and automotive paint was “different” and would stick to anything. After letting the surface dry (and get good and hot!), he began spraying. Because of the brightness of the sun, he didn’t notice the color was way off and kept spraying the area. Because the surface was so hot, it radiated heat and much of the paint dried before it hit the surface, creating spider webs of paint. The humidity was so high, it trapped water under the paint creating white spots in the paint. Trying to fix it, he brought the spray can closer to the job, sprayed a thicker layer of paint and of course, more spider webs (this is caused by the paint drying, and hitting the surface in a dried stringy form) and now the paint was so thick in places, it was sagging.
Went back into his house and was ready to admire his handiwork and he realized the color was off, there were blotches everywhere, the surface was grainy, rough and well you get the picture. Now he calls on a Sunday and is mad nobody is there to take the call and solve his problem.
After verifying he did in fact order the wrong paint and giving him a discount on a new order of paint, he tried again AFTER reading the directions, painting in the shade on a day where the humidity wasn’t a problem. I had him order extra bottles of lacquer thinner so he could wash the mess off he made. (This is a good way to start over. The lacquer thinner removes the new paint, but does not affect the existing paint.)
I can’t say we never make mistakes here - we do. Sometimes we ship the wrong paint, we forget to put a clearcoat in, make the wrong shade, etc. but many of our customers who have problems did not take the five minutes to read out instructions.
So, unless you are an experienced painter, read our instructions, take a look at our problem section and practice off the car, and always, always, test the color first!
Collin