oh hucking fell

The other half has always had bad luck with her new cars
1)Front end smash as she was driving her trade in to the garage
2)Frozen ice falling out of the sky near Eastleigh airport and damaging the windscreen scuttle on her new mini cooper
3)Collision with a lampost after skidding on black ice
So two weeks ago she picked up a new white Mazda 2 sport and drove it safely home.
I decided to give it a good clean and a couple of coats of polish for the winter and as my neighbour was away used her garage.Car has been in the garage all week nice and clean but today she needed it to go shopping so off she went, when she returned she said that the windscreen was dirty and rather than use the washers could I clean it.
Now although we have two drives one has a really steep slope on it and the Mazda was facing down the slope so off I go glass cleaner in one hand cloth in the other as I got to the front of the car I leaned across to spray the windscreen and my feet slipped on the slope and my elbows inbedded themselves in the bonnet.
****** great dent from left elbow,smaller dent from right elbow
Looks like a new bonnet will be required the car has done less than 200 miles
I couldnt even blame it on Tesco car park as she saw me fall onto the bonnet
New car jinx strikes again

New bonnet required just had a quote today,could have nutted it instead of using my elbows, split second decision taken on the spot

Update
Now before I continue I must state that the body shop used was recommended by the Mazda dealer that sold us the car and is also an approved Mazda/jaguar repair shop.
After being in the body shop all week we go down to collect the car only to find that straight away the bonnet is a different shade of white compared to the wings,when we mention this we are told that it looked okay inside and now the suns come out they can see that it doesn't match (alarm bells should have started ringing).
We are asked to leave car with them and they will speak to the paint supplier for their advice (car is pearlescent white).
They are given advice and respray the bonnet again,still doesn't match and according to them the top technician from the paint suppliers actually came down and reprays it himself a third time.
Now to be fair to them its a good match (it seems they did the tops of the wings as well.)
When we purchased the car we paid extra for the car as it had full leather fitted (non Mazda option fitted by the Mazda dealer) the car has done all of 300 miles so imagine our horror when we go to collect the car all the leather apart from the drivers seat (that was covered up) has been covered in some sort of cleaner,if that on its own was not bad enough it had been put on with a hand sprayer and in places not even wiped off and left with runs on the leather.
After getting over the shock we asked what had been put on it and why and was told that after they had had it for over two weeks the interior was dusty and we would not be very pleased if it had been left like that.
By this time I was looking around for Candid Camera or Jeremy Beadle to appear.
It seems that someone has used Autosmart Tyres and trim dressing on the interior trim and also the leather,so I then politely asked where does it say suitable for leather (even though it was brand new leather before they started on it).The manager then disappeared to return a few moments later to say he had spoken to Autosmart and they had told him it was okay to use it on leather and have done so on many of their previous car repairs without any issues.He did say that it hadn't been put on very well and again Autosmart had suggested that it could be removed with warm water and a sponge.
Two and a half hours later and much rubbing at least some of the runs have gone,the leather is not so stripey and its now more consistantly shiny but it seems to smell now,gone is the nice new leather smell to be replaced by a horrible chemical smell.
They then said to take it home let it dry for a couple of days and if necessary bring it back and they will clean it again.
By this time we just wanted to get the car away from them so my other half followed me home with the car,when we got home an hour later (****** Qe2 was leaving Southampton) the other half said that she had to drive home with windows down due to the smell from the inside of the car.Today she drove to our local Tesco (15min away) and due to it issing down hardly had the windows down and she felt very lightheaded and sick by the time she got there, but by the time she had finished shopping felt a lot better.On the way home she said she again felt lightheaded and when she got home was violently sick.
So it seems we now have a car that we can only drive with the windows down.
The body shop have also told us that Autosmart supply a leather cleaner that will remove the stuff put on the leather and return it to its new state.
I rang Autosmart and was told by their technical department that the Tyres and trim dressing they supply should not be put on leather but did say that they do a cleaner to remove it and another to refurb the leather.
As I understand it legally we have to let the body shop attempt to rectify their mistake so we will be going back there to see the effect these cleaners have on our once new leather interior as I see it the only way to rectify their mistake is to replace all the leather as it was new before they started on it.
After speaking to some of the professional detailers on this site all are of the opinion that the leather is shagged,my main concern now is has the dressing put on the leather gone through to the seat base and contaminated all the padding and will it have effected the seat airbags and always smell unless all the leather and the seat bolsters/ padding is also replaced.
Many thanks to the guys I have spoken to for their help and advice (Polished Bliss and Gleaming Kleen.)

Legal advice will be taken before they touch the car again

Khufu said:

Why was it dusty inside??? Where were they keeping it? I take it they didnt just take the bonnet off and do it on its own. I can believe how they have wrecked your seats. Is getting that I'd be afraid to take my car to a bodyshop with all the tales you hear!! I hope you get them sorted like NEW!

Click to expand...

We insisted that the repair was done by a MAZDA approved repair shop (insurance company wanted to use their own repair shop) What a mistake !!!
I have no idea how they did the bonnet on or off the car but they had the car for over two weeks and yes I would expect it to get dusty but a simple clean should have done the job,unless of course they managed to get overspray on the leather and then damaged the leather trying to remove the overspray and then covered it up with the tyre/trim dressing.
But how the hell they could return it to us in the state that it was in is beyond me, and yes we do have a retriever but no stick yet.
Cowboys is an understatement.

Email from Auto Smart

Good Morning,
As per our earlier conversation reference your leather seats, I would like to pass on the information I have acquired. I have spoken to our Franchisee who supplies blank and the product they have used is ‘Finish’. After a lengthy discussion with our technical director I can confirm that this product is water based and would therefore not cause any damage to leather, it would just ‘sit on top’ of the material. It is not a permanent treatment and can be easily removed with a damp cloth. However, it would cause the leather to be shiny rather than matt, which can be easily rectified with leather cleaner, which I believe our Franchisee had supplied blank to rectify the situation. The strong smell could possibly be something used by the garage to remove the Finish, if they have tried anything other than water.
I hope this information has been of help.









Dressings

Finish
A water-based tyre and trim dressing with silicone for both protecting and rejuvenating vinyl, rubber and plastic. High sheen but can be diluted for interior use if a softer sheen is required. Finish is solvent-free and non-flammable.

So it seems its okay after all just put some more **** on the leather to remove the **** that should not have been put on in the first place.
No confirmation in email that auto smart had said that it should not be put on leather (on the phone)

Its a 3door sport seems a nice drive (only done 450 miles in total)



The bodyshop have now agreed to replace the leather(they will not be doing it)