Refurbed lights - ALL GONE WRONG

Hey All.

I got my UK Glass Lights painted by a fellow member on this forum. (this person shall remain unnamed for the moment).

To cut a very long story short (2 months long wait), I received the lights on Tuesday night, installed them on Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) - and I sent the following pics to the member.

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/Just%20Got%20them%20Back/Compare%20the%20Chrome%20Rings.jpg

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/Just%20Got%20them%20Back/Loose%20Plastic%20bit.jpg

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/Just%20Got%20them%20Back/Loose%20Rubber.jpg

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/Just%20Got%20them%20Back/White%20Piece%202.jpg

And this morning as if that wasn't enough to my disbelief this is what I saw. WITHIN 12 HRS

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/After%2012%20hrs/Image038.jpg

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/After%2012%20hrs/Image039.jpg

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/After%2012%20hrs/Image040.jpg

Our fellow member says and I quote: "i did say i dont cover the sealer, i cannot be held responsible for condensation in the lights, if you are not happy please drive up and we can sort this out in person"

Now I find this behaviour extremely unprofessional, unjustified and coming from a respected forum member I find this deeply unacceptable and really disappointing to say the least.

Just wanted to gauge what you all think, he thinks I am a difficult man to please; I quote "i have had a word with a couple of other traders you have had dealings with and i understand you are a very hard man to please", feel free to pose any questions if you want details and let me know how one could take this further in order to reach an amicable solution.

your happy or send them back to me and i will try and make them perfect ? i

just feel no matter how much i try or what i do it will not be good enough

for you ?

Now he has asked for me to go over to him OR post the lights to him, I have already done this once cause last time the lense wasnt fitted correctly so the lights wouldnt go in, so I posted the lights at cost and he posted them back. Now, does it make sense for me to post them lights back to him AGAIN at cost, or should he pay for it this time.

For another thread:

I am very keen to hear who these other two traders are that are backbiting behind closed doors. If anyone cant do the work properly to a satisfactory standard then please expect some come back from a disgruntled customer / member who is paying good hard earned cash, at least that is a right that we as a customer have. These traders are NOT omnipotent.

I have tried to keep this short and to the point. Any advice, opinions appreciated.

I think the member who did this should be paying for the carriage back to him to sort these out.

They look awful mate.

"... i understand you are a very hard man to please"

Hmm, I'm pretty sure nobody would be pleased with lights like that. Paint chips and bad condensation :thumbdown

looks very poor, bet you are very pissed

if you look at this picture

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Wasted-lights/Just%20Got%20them%20Back/White%20Piece%202.jpg

then on the left hand side of the light the actual glass to plastic sealant is shot, I have the same problem on mine and I know moisture makes its way past that sealant so you need to find a way to fix that as well.

JB

All I can say is that my lights were in near new condition before the "upgrade" (I paid a lot of money for them too)...and now they are well and truly F..K..D....

I'm no expert on lights, and would be really happy if these were put right NOT AT MY COST ANYMORE so that I can get on with my life.

I've just bought some UK HIDs from Nic and I no longer have my UK LIGHTS.

Talk about being unlucky......

Moreover, hes gone quiet for the past two days, Its quite possible that he's washed his hands off this, and if so, I'll go ahead and name him just to warn everyone and then chuck the lights in the bin.

Has this member done lights before?

Coz it dont look like it!

Hope no one else has sent there lights to this person

why will the hid not fit ?

Really sorry to see what has happened. You are completly justified in your actions. Thats is a shocking job. If the member didnt know he could make them 100% perfect then he should not have done them.

Also would jump too much on the traders they may not have been bitching

Has this member done lights before?

 

Coz it dont look like it!

 

Hope no one else has sent there lights to this person

I'll keep an eye on this thread for the next 48 hrs to see what the responses are like, I think its pretty conclusive to me and so far you all do too, what amazes me is that he DOESNT.... I have sent a link to this to the said person too. I am not interested in naming and shaming the person if he:

1- Admits that he got it wrong.

2- Puts it right at his cost, and I want everything to be right this time.

TBH - I should be asking him to compensate me in full.....

I think your concern about the lights is understandable. They look rubbish!

The lights look like they aren't pushed together properly. Are all six metal clips in place? (I can see one of them is).

Were they sealed back together with new sealant, or just the old stuff?

Having something stuck in the inside is pretty shoddy!

I refurbed one of my headlights yesterday (did the other one a couple of weeks ago), and after a night of heavy rain, there isn't a trace of water or any condensation inside. I used "Dow Corning Auto Silicone Rubber Sealant Instant Gasket". The first suggested use printed on the back is headlamps.

Did you put all the bulbs in properly? Obviously, if they don't create an air-tight seal then the moisture will get in.

If he dont admit it mate you have to name and shame so no one else gets this kind of sloppy workmanship.

That is crap, and is it me or are there more and more threads like this cropping up in recent months? We need to keep this community friendly, the members and especially traders shouldn't wash their hands so readily when they get something wrong, or there's not much point in doing business over the forum - may as well go to Mick's backstreet garage and get it done.

Did you put all the bulbs in properly? Obviously, if they don't create an air-tight seal then the moisture will get in.

I did have Jspec lights on my car, and these UK ones had UK blubs on them already fitted, so I didnt need to fit the bulbs holders in. However, I did check to see whether they were airtight and they were.

The lights look like they aren't pushed together properly. Are all six metal clips in place? (I can see one of them is)..

You should have seen them the first time I got them back, they were miles out (I do have pics of that too - for another thread) - I got blamed suggesting that I didnt know how to install the lights properly.

right before anybody else wants to jump on my shoddy work ill just say there is 2 sides to every story

ill post once and once only in this thread as im not interested in a big debate,

the lights were not new when you sent them to me IMI, IMHO they were very messy !! i even had to rechrome some of the rings, look at all the old water marks behind the original rubbers !

now when you say i didnt fit the lense propperly first time round did you actually mean to say you didnt fit the rubber in the right way ? thats why you couldnt get the light to fit and we both agreed on this, you even said sorry !

also the reason he sent them back the first time is because they were damaged in the post to him, he said one bracket was snapped, funny how you still managed to try them on to tell me they didnt fit ? how did you manage that ? or did you break the bracket ?

either way i offered to replace the broken back at my expense even though it was no way my fault ! i even supplied the part and paid for postage !

i told him many times that sealing the lights is a very hard job to get perfect and sealer needs to be checked and applied by the person fitting the lights ! i told him this many times and he said that was fine !

even after this now the lights have misted up and he is moaning about some small marks inside i have offered to clean them out for him free of charge or he can come up to make sure there perfect to his standard before i fit them to his car, or he can post them to me !

what more can i offer ? this is the first time i have ever had a complaint after being a trader on this forum for a few years,

im very sorry imi is not happy but you must remember these will never look like brand new lights, thats why i charge £100 and not £500

i have Many people that are very happy with my lights, if we were on ebay al i would say is check my feedback and then check his

Liam

Two months!

Should only take a few days, I don't think he should be offering this service unless he's capable of doing it properly .

Hope you get it sorted at no cost to you.

If you don't get satisfaction then you should name this person.

There arent two sides to this story, hold on, I'll post some pics of the lights first time round....The lenses werent fitted correctly but you dont admit anything.

The rubber that you talk about was supposed to be fitted by you and NOT ME, whats the point me paying you £100 if you expect me to fit the rubber properly, check the sealer, put the clips on.....????

and I have time and time again appreciated the fact that you changed the back of one of the light, but this wasnt the ONLY reason I sent you the lights, the fitting of the lense was rubbish,I couldnt get the lights on the car....funny how this time they slid in just fine.

Anyway pics on their way....you decided to reply to the thread and not to my emails since friday.

8th OCTOBER 2005..

Broken Bracket that Liam talks about.....I appreciated him fixing this for me. he can quote me from my emails that I sent him if he wants..

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/First%20Time/Broken%20Bracket%20(Medium).jpg

NOW THE REASON WHY I COULDNT FIT THE SHODY LIGHTS

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/First%20Time/Drivers%20Glass%20Lens%20fitting%20problem1%20(Medium).JPG

PIC CLEARLY SHOWS THE LENSE MILES AWAY FROM THE PLASTIC CATCH

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/First%20Time/Drivers%20Side%20Light%20-%20Side%20Photo1%20(Medium).JPG

PASSENGER SIDE LIGHT - SAME STORY

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/First%20Time/Passenger%20Side%20light%20-%20Side%20Photo1%20(Medium).JPG

SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISON WITH MY JAP SPEC LIGHTS

http://www.zen26392.zen.co.uk/Supra%20Webpage/Supra%20Pics/Supra%20Lights%20-%20Liam/First%20Time/Side%20by%20Side%20Comparison3%20(Medium).JPG

And you tell me whether the workmanship is messy or not.....

There ARENT two sides to this story.

The only credit that I give you is repairing the back of the light. This wasnt my fault as I certainly didnt break it, you accusing me of that is pretty patheic TBH.....if I did break it I would admit it and ask you to help me fix it at cost.......whats another £50 considering that I am now looking at a loss of over £300-£350...

Plus, the lights were in excellent condition to my eye, certainly...you should have told me that the lights were crap if you thought so BEFORE you worked on them.

And I still havent forgotten about the comment about OTHER TRADERS SAYING STUFF ABOUT ME......is that the truth or a cheap shot.

i have done this a couple of times and its quite a time consuming job,

1. take the light apart

2. prepair all parts that need painting and clean all parts that don't.

3. paint all parts wich can go fine or go very wrong with no fault of your own, so you have to do it all again.

4. put the light back together.

don't sound much but that will take quite a while, i have met liam and he seems a good bloke but those lights do look bad. imi i would be pissed off to but this will get sorted i hope.

TBH i would charge alot more and make sure they are good and if not you have covered the cost of problems. just my opinion no offence to anyone:D

I did my own lights on the VVTi and tried VERY hard to get it spot on, but still I end up with fogging.

My dealings with Liam have been nothing but excellent. I bought some wheels off him once which I then couldn't fit as I didn't have the right wheel nuts. He gave me a set for FREE. That's the kind of fella he is. I can understand your dissapointement but I'm sure he'll do what he can to resolve it swiftly for you.

Liam: This kind of thing was bound to happen one day. With the number of people you do work for it can't all go perfectly.

Oh - and a tip for anyone thinking of doing the same. It's MUCH easier in the summer with all the heat in the sun. The sealant stays flexible for longer which helps when pushing them together.

IMO I think that these look crap!

Even if you ignore the shoddy looking sealant and the obvious misting problem, the paint seems to have bubbled at two points in one of those pictures.

At £100 you are providing a service for profit, not doing a favour like some traders on here seem to think if things go wrong. I for one am sick of the 'I'm not making much on this' line. Why bother in the first place then?

Some of that work does look slack and the decent thing would be to sort it out for him at no cost.

Unless I was very happy with the way these things turned out then I wouldn't dream of offering the service. If many are happy then they either have low standards or these were rushed?

Paul

. He gave me a set for FREE. That's the kind of fella he is. I can understand your dissapointement but I'm sure he'll do what he can to resolve it swiftly for you.

.

Its the reason why I sent my lights to Liam in the first place.

One of the reasons why I didnt want to name him, only reason for the thread was to gauge your opinions as he thinks that I am far too demanding.

As you can all see though, he thinks that he has gone out of his way to "please me" and to "make the lights perfect".

My job on a daily basis is to deal with Business networks that cost thousands, 100K and sometimes even Millions of pounds, you can imagine that sometimes things don't go according to plan and you have some seriously pissed off customers. The proof of the pudding is how you actually deal with those customers when things go wrong. Doing the right thing and admitting that one is wrong as the cost of the lights is a side issue.

Its not about £100, the lights + postage + time costs far more than that...

If he wants me to send the lights back to him at HIS cost, then I will do that. (funny, didnt I say that to him 3 days ago)

Funny how people have gone all quiet now that they know that Liam is behind this. Just goes to show, that people buy from people...and sometimes that hurts a lot more than some poxy lights...

i think they look shit. liams a good guy so should sort this for you.

liam. what did you use to rechrome these?

lee