[RESOLVED] Hamza at Get Detailed - An Honest Review (Warning: Long Post)

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by Pbrown

I'm thinking too late. We are all learning a valuable lesson here.

Hamza opticoated my car back when I got it in 2012, we did it in his driveway and I was 100% satisfied.


as in any business, things happen that end up with an angry customer, and those angry customers tend to make the biggest splash and overall.


Reading what transpired I think Hamza obviously made a mistake doing the buffer one handed, a costly mistake, but I can vouch for his genuine interest in car detailing, he's not just some guy with a box of wax, when you really go through a day with him as he works on the cars you really get to know the guy's philosophy.


I don't feel there's a need to be so quick to blacklist him

[AznKirby]

Originally Posted by Hamza7

After this we agreed that I would get his old hood (after some back and forth) and he would get a shiny new hood painted and I was to re opti coat his new hood for him. He messages me a couple of days later to tell me that he wants to keep his hood as I forced him to give him his old hood. This is where we started falling apart.

Are you trying to blame him?
He realized that what you proposed wasn't fair. He's allowed to go back on his decision if he feels like it's unfair because you're in the wrong.

Originally Posted by 7thgear

Hamza opticoated my car back when I got it in 2012, we did it in his driveway and I was 100% satisfied.


as in any business, things happen that end up with an angry customer, and those angry customers tend to make the biggest splash and overall.


Reading what transpired I think Hamza obviously made a mistake doing the buffer one handed, a costly mistake, but I can vouch for his genuine interest in car detailing, he's not just some guy with a box of wax, when you really go through a day with him as he works on the cars you really get to know the guy's philosophy.


I don't feel there's a need to be so quick to blacklist him

The one-handed buffing was a mistake, but not the issue. It's how he handled the situation afterwards.

Nobody is questioning his passion, or his interest in car detailing.

[automatic]

Originally Posted by AznKirby

Are you trying to blame him?
He realized that what you proposed wasn't fair. He's allowed to go back on his decision if he feels like it's unfair because you're in the wrong.
.

I think you missed the WE part...

[mrdanyo]

Originally Posted by Turbo95eg6

Unless it stays untouched still wrapped from the factory, I believe chances are it's still a safe measure to clay bar and polish/prep to get rid of any contaminants. At the least, a few hours of correction. A good detailer would be able to make an estimate.

OP why have you never washed your car? I think the main issue here is that the detailer does not have experience paint correcting a car (or opticoat for that matter), if he corrected the paint it should have fixed the swirls caused by the dealer (as he claims). If he thinks opticaoting a car without prepping the paint is standard, then I don't know what to tell ya. After this is resolved I WOULD NOT have the guy touch the paint again.

I wand washed the car down with water every other week or so (even through the winter in a heated garage) because I wanted it to stay in immaculate condition before opti-coating. In this specific case, it did not make a difference in the end. There were virtually no swirls at all when I brought her in, and even Hamza complimented me on how pristine of a condition I kept her in.

As a side note, I'd like to thank the community for the kind words and advice for me through this thread and through PMs, it really means a lot to have the support of fellow ft86ers. It pains me to see the dents and grooves in my hood every morning before work and every night after work, but things happen and perhaps this is just one of those expensive life lessons. But for the record to some of the members here who say I may have been too impatient, or that I should have taken the best of a bad situation and just given my factory hood to him along with the $400 and take a new hood, I can honestly say that it's a much more difficult decision to make when you're in my shoes and there were a lot of things that I had to consider (resale/trade-in, paint matching vs paint fade, financial situation, etc.). I honestly tried to be the most understanding and patient customer with Hamza though, I can assure that. I was not rude at all, not until I was being forced into doing something that I didn't feel was right.

Originally Posted by AznKirby

The one-handed buffing was a mistake, but not the issue. It's how he handled the situation afterwards.

Nobody is questioning his passion, or his interest in car detailing.

I think this hits the nail on the head. I don't question Hamza's love of cars or love of detailing. I'm just extremely disappointed with how he handled this entire situation after the fact.
People make mistakes, but even after his mistake, I never once said anything rude or hurtful to him out of anger. I actually consoled the guy (who does that?) because I thought he would be the type to do the right thing.

I think his biggest mistake was going to his detailing friends who instead of doing the right thing, literally told him to send me on my way and that he should take my hood to resell if he were to do any repairs (he showed me screenshots of these detailers saying it). They had no vested interest in the situation, so they could say whatever they wanted, because at the end of the day the ones dealing with the consequences aren't them; it's Hamza and myself.

As a business, especially on the service side, reputation and quality of service means everything. I really don't understand the decision Hamza made in this specific case. If you mess up this badly, you should be ready to take ownership and correct your mistakes, not find ways to minimize your expenses at the cost of your customer. I'm already trying to take in the fact that my hood is now damaged, it's not a good time for you to nickle and dime me. There was absolutely no way that it would have made sense for me to have to forfeit anything for a mistake that I didn't commit. I decided to stand firm on keeping my hood (again, for future resale/trade-in purpose), and at the end of the day, Hamza didn't agree to it and that's where we left things off.

[Hamza7]

Originally Posted by AznKirby

Are you trying to blame him?

I'm just stating facts so that we everyone gets full spectrum of the story, I'm not here to argue with anyone just want to reach a resolution.

[AdrianG]

If the hood was damaged on the first visit I might give Hamza the benefit of the doubt, mistakes happen. The fact that the hood was damaged while trying to fix the previous job is what really does it for me.

Hamza, if you consider yourself a detailer these swirls and cloudy spots you were one-handing should have never left your rented shop in the first place, either you don't inspect your work or you have no respect for your customers.

- AdrianG

[krayzie]

So far nobody mentioned why it was impossible to remove all the dents from the hood. That is because the hood is aluminum and close to impossible in most cases to remove dents compare to steel. I heard this from my old man who used to sell on avg three NSXs a year for Honda/Acura back in the 90's.

I think the detailer should buy the OP nothing less than a new OEM aluminum hood from Subaru, an aftermarket hood just spells potential fitment nightmare and more animosity.

[Hamza7]

Originally Posted by AdrianG

If the hood was damaged on the first visit I might give Hamza the benefit of the doubt, mistakes happen. The fact that the hood was damaged while trying to fix the previous job is what really does it for me.

Hamza, if you consider yourself a detailer these swirls and cloudy spots you were one-handing should have never left your rented shop in the first place, either you don't inspect your work or you have no respect for your customers.

- AdrianG

Adrian,

These clouds are called high spots, they sometimes appear in different lighting and we finished the detail in the evening do I couldn't inspect my work in the sun only. The lights I had. Also swirls leave my shop all the time, for some customers swirls/paint defects don't bother them. They just want the Opti Coat for its protection capabilities, I should have notified the op about the swirls before I sealed them in with OptiCoat but that was my fault. He did go for a new car prep 8 months after the bought the car. The car is parked outside, had a dealership prep done and went through the worst winter we have seen in years.

[JoeyV]

I'd like to add my $0.02 as I think this conversation is clearly one-sided with everyone here being "clients/customers" and having the mindset that the company (Hamza or other) should always hold 100% blame and "lose" the most in this situation. Being a business owner myself, here's what I think about the whole thing (based on what has been written here):

Initial incident:
It is unfortunate, but Hamza made a big mistake with one-handing the machine, and it damaged the car. He has admitted to it and everyone agrees that this was a mistake. I, however, know Hamza, and feel he knows better than to answer the phone while working on a car...which leads me to doubt about the accuracy of OP's claim to that.

First dealing (PDR):
I think that Hamza made the right call to offer for PDR right away and I also feel it was proper of him to cover for that cost. Unfortunately, as only 1 member mentioned, aluminum is not as easy to bring back as steel and so the result was not perfect. At this point, I also find it very professional of Hamza to offer to pay of his pocket the repair cost for the whole hood. Especially with letting the OP go get his quotes and choose where he wants the work done.

Second dealing:
Where I think the issue lies is that the OP keeps saying he'd be out "$900" for this whole thing if he left Hamza the hood. That is absolutely wrong. %100. OP paid $400 for Opti-Coat over the whole car, and to have his car in proper condition. Which, in the end, is what he'll get. The fact that damage occurred, and was going to be repaired, has nothing to do with the Opti-Coat. He got the Opti-Coat service, and should be charged for that accordingly.

As for the damage to the car, he keeps claiming that he will lose value...yet his quote was for a new factory hood. There is no lost value if a new factory hood comes directly from Subaru/Toyota and then color matched. And there is no "VIN mismatch" for future resale value as hoods don't have VIN on them. At most, there would be a Sherlock imprint, or equivalent, which could always be re-added to the new hood. so in the end, other than the client knowing the hood was replaced, there would be no trace of it. Wanting to keep the damaged hood, would be PURELY so OP could sell it (although he claims he'd keep it) and to try and get money back from the cost of OCP. If we stick to the $500 value claim, that would mean OP GOT PAID $100 to have his car Opti-Coated. This is completely unfair, as Hamza still performed work on the car and should be compensated for it. And since the damage was his fault, he should also be held responsible for it, which he is doing by paying out of pocket for the repair.

By keeping the old damaged hood and having it repaid for sale, he can recoup a few dollars from the total he has lost...which everyone here seems to think is wrong, and they want to see the shop "suffer" as much as possible from this situation, which I find sad.

So in the end, I think this situation was blown out of proportion and should have ended at "I'm sorry for damaging your car, I'll have it repaired and coated for you by XX date." Where client picks up his car Opti-Coated and in a proper contdition, as requested and paid for, and Hamza takes care of everything on the other end, with regards to gains and losses.

EDIT - I'd like to add that I feel that the client should get some sort of compensation for the whole situation, in the form of something like a free ONR wash kit...which would be better than doing water rinse and dry washes...which could potentially cause swirling and scratching in the long run.

[JDB]

Best reply to this chain........

Originally Posted by JoeyV

I'd like to add my $0.02 as I think this conversation is clearly one-sided with everyone here being "clients/customers" and having the mindset that the company (Hamza or other) should always hold 100% blame and "lose" the most in this situation. Being a business owner myself, here's what I think about the whole thing (based on what has been written here):

Initial incident:
It is unfortunate, but Hamza made a big mistake with one-handing the machine, and it damaged the car. He has admitted to it and everyone agrees that this was a mistake. I, however, know Hamza, and feel he knows better than to answer the phone while working on a car...which leads me to doubt about the accuracy of OP's claim to that.

First dealing (PDR):
I think that Hamza made the right call to offer for PDR right away and I also feel it was proper of him to cover for that cost. Unfortunately, as only 1 member mentioned, aluminum is not as easy to bring back as steel and so the result was not perfect. At this point, I also find it very professional of Hamza to offer to pay of his pocket the repair cost for the whole hood. Especially with letting the OP go get his quotes and choose where he wants the work done.

Second dealing:
Where I think the issue lies is that the OP keeps saying he'd be out "$900" for this whole thing if he left Hamza the hood. That is absolutely wrong. %100. OP paid $400 for Opti-Coat over the whole car, and to have his car in proper condition. Which, in the end, is what he'll get. The fact that damage occurred, and was going to be repaired, has nothing to do with the Opti-Coat. He got the Opti-Coat service, and should be charged for that accordingly.

As for the damage to the car, he keeps claiming that he will lose value...yet his quote was for a new factory hood. There is no lost value if a new factory hood comes directly from Subaru/Toyota and then color matched. And there is no "VIN mismatch" for future resale value as hoods don't have VIN on them. At most, there would be a Sherlock imprint, or equivalent, which could always be re-added to the new hood. so in the end, other than the client knowing the hood was replaced, there would be no trace of it. Wanting to keep the damaged hood, would be PURELY so OP could sell it (although he claims he'd keep it) and to try and get money back from the cost of OCP. If we stick to the $500 value claim, that would mean OP GOT PAID $100 to have his car Opti-Coated. This is completely unfair, as Hamza still performed work on the car and should be compensated for it. And since the damage was his fault, he should also be held responsible for it, which he is doing by paying out of pocket for the repair.

By keeping the old damaged hood and having it repaid for sale, he can recoup a few dollars from the total he has lost...which everyone here seems to think is wrong, and they want to see the shop "suffer" as much as possible from this situation, which I find sad.

So in the end, I think this situation was blown out of proportion and should have ended at "I'm sorry for damaging your car, I'll have it repaired and coated for you by XX date." Where client picks up his car Opti-Coated and in a proper contdition, as requested and paid for, and Hamza takes care of everything on the other end, with regards to gains and losses.

[Cliu91]

Not in Hamza's defense or anything, but I'd like you all to remember that he isn't some big corporate business looking to suck the money out of you. He seems like he's just a regular guy, that, at times, may have felt scared about the whole situation. As a result, he wasn't able to act in the most professional manner (dodging calls, etc.), but, he is willing to make amends to this whole situation now.

At this point in time, that's the most important issue right now, and that is to probably replace/repair the hood, and whatever else arrangement seems fair. This should serve as a lesson learned for all parties involved, as no one, including Hamza would like something like this to happen again.

[TLC Dave]

.....

[Hamza7]

Going to drop money off for the new hood at the preferred shop later today, also I'd like to get the OP into a car rental and fix the rest of his car if he would let me or pay another detailer of his preference to do so as sell

[mrdanyo]

Actually, an OEM hood costs $640+tax, so that's $723 (not $400). Prep/paint/install was quoted by a couple body shops ranging from $650-$800. The person who's been working on my car for the past 5+ years gave me a discount after seeing the dents and feeling bad for me, and Hamza agreed that it was a fair price and we came to the $1300 cost of repair together.

I did not exaggerate this post at any point, and I made sure to keep everything as honest as possible. Notice how even Hamza doesn't refute anything that I posted because everything that I said has been honest and truthful to a T. You're suggesting that you know Hamza and that he wouldn't pick up his phone in the middle of a job, and that I'm making false claims, but no offense, you weren't there. I am 100% sure that he picked up a call from a customer mid job.

Also, I garaged my car during most of the winter and only really drove it when I absolutely needed to. I've had the car for 8 months, but it has ~3000kms on it so you can be the judge of how little I must have driven the car through the winter. Hamza, you clearly stated how great of a condition my car was in when I brought it in and said it was better than most cars you've worked on. You commented on the swirl-less paint. Before I had you work on my car, I hung out with some FT86ers and even THEY said that my paint was spotless. After your work, there are swirls all over and you told me that it's because the dealer waxed it to hide the swirls. First of all, I doubt the dealer would've been able to hide the swirls from me with wax. I have a pretty keen eye. Secondly, even if they had a magical wax that could hide all defects, I doubt it would've lasted 8 months. I let you say whatever you wanted that day because you said you'd fix your mistake, but after all of this, I can tell you now that I honestly never believed youl. I knew it was you that put the swirls there, but you offered to fix it, so I decided it would be best to just drop the issue. I also think it's the worst possible thing for you to say right now that customers "leave your shop with swirls and high spots all the time" and that "most customers don't care", you should probably edit that out of your post. Not sure if you're serious, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people (if not everybody) cares.

I agree with you @Cliu91, Hamza isn't a big corporation trying to suck money out of all of us. I just think he made the wrong decision in deciding to try to save some money by forcing me to give him my hood. He listened to his online detailing friends and tried to nickle and dime me and "let me go on my way". If he's trying to make amends now, it's hard to tell because even though he said he wants to find a resolution, he doesn't sound the most sincere.

And just to clear a few things. I don't have any intentions whatsoever of selling my hood for a couple hundred bucks. It's probably easy for you to say because this isn't your car, but for me, I have plans to eventually trade it in or sell it when I need more than a low sporty 2-seater. And when I do that, I know it makes most sense to me to have all my factory parts. But either way, like I said all along, whatever I DO do with my hood has nothing to do with Hamza anyway. From beginning to end, he has no right to force me to forfeit an original part of my car that clearly belongs to me.

I'm a family man too. I have a mortgage, I have my bills to pay, etc. And now I have to pay for a new hood out of my own pocket because Hamza damaged my car was trying to force me to do something I didn't want to do and I decided I would rather absorb the damage costs than to let my hand be forced like that. And as a service business, I really do think he made the wrong decision.