As you can see it is twisted where it meets the fender and has a hole drilled in it. A guy at best buy did this while installing a alarm. I asked before he started what all is involved and he said just wiring.A you can see he put the hood sensor a few inches over. He didn't tell me he did this. He also dropped the lcd screen remote and scratched it to hell and told me come back tomorrow I get off sooon and it takes to a few min.....he didn't tell me he scratched it. I walked out to the car and was looking at it and come back in and then he admited he droppped it and slide it across the concrete floor. The person that put it in is suppose to be the main install manager.


You can see the edge of the fender where it looks they laid the drill on it and tried to drill more...

 

so did they drill a hole and not use it to mount the sensor?

 

Fecking amatuers.Two pieces of flat steel, clamped down with a c-clamp or big a$s vice grips should flatten that right away.

 

Correct and bent the crap out of the core support....

 

Dave,

I'd be for taking the store manager a couple body shop estimates for having the area repaired, Hole plugged and straightened...... I wouldn't let these hacks off the hook, They need to learn measure twice/three times and drill/cut once.....

 

That looks so minor that I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Yes I would be complaining to store manager however.

If your car was black it would be stupid easy to repair. Just take the kink out then some POR-15 over the bare metal. I wouldn't even worry about the hole. If you make a big enough deal about it though as I would you might be able to get them to foot the bill to have it welded back.

Aside from saving a good amount of money, this is why I installed my own viper alarm/remote start.

 

Well my car looks brand new and perfect all most so it really bothered me. I'm meeting the gm today and mon my body shop is open and will be taking it for a estimate.

 

This is what mine looks like:



Believe me I understand about having an obsessive compulsive disorder about your car. I try my best to keep mine "perfect" but it's inevitable that you will pick up small imperfections here and there along the way . Some by people who just see it as another job and some by those times you forgot to think.

Every ding, goof and repair will just add more to the tale of how you made your car "you" .

 

Im the same way. When I was building mine I dont know haow many flaws I put in mine. Sure it pissed me off but life happens. Hell mine fell off my car trailer at one point but still looks good to me.

Id argue with them to see what you can get out of them and more. Other then that I wouldnt even care about the drill hole personally. Ive cut out and done worse to my car and its fine but thats just my

 

Well his car is a rust free non everyday driver with perfect paint under hood and outside so I'm alittle upset. I've had it 8 years and Its my fun street car. Very discouraging with how much money I have in it and it was a Christmas present.

 

Oh i know how you feel man im the same way but once its done what can you do. Mines a toy which I dropped way too much money into to ever see it again. its 99% rust free which is near impossible in Canada

My wife for christmas asked me to sell it or part it out LOL

Like I said see what you can get out of them and hopefully you will get what you want out of them

 

I'm at best buy right now to meet the GM. He wanted to look at it in person today.

 

get what you can out of him

 

I used to manage a bby install shop. They consider mounting that switch as normal scope of work to complete the installation.

Personally, I never used those gawdy things unless the customer was too cheap to shell out 10 more bucks for an underhood tilt or merc switch. They didn't pick a good spot to mount it. They can file a damage claim if its agreed upon as installer negligence. I pride myself on never having one against me.

I used to hear horror stories. Installers shooting stingers through the roof of a car during an overhead video install or drilling into the brake booster when running power lines through the firewall. I knew a guy who left the passenger door open, backed the car out of the bay, and tore the door off rig.

For the most part best buy installers are good. There are a few that bring a bad name to the bunch.

 

They never told me you could pay 10 bucks and not need that. I would have done it. They agreed it was his fault and they will get insurance involved and fix it next week.

 

well at least you will get it fixed. I would have gotten more as you had to waste your time in doin so to get them to fix the issue

 

We will still be talking about that next week. The main thing is I wanted to make sure the car gets fixed. I wasted a lot of time and gas going there so they will help out with that when we talk more next week. Just wanted to her the most important stuff done first.



The kid flat out admitted he did it and said he didn't say anything cause he didn't think I would care...tell me anyway then and if I don't I'll say ok. If I do then figure it out. Made it way to hard

 

Admittedly I used that same DA push switch when I installed my viper. However, I simply installed it into a pre-existing hole in the driver side hood hinge. The outer edge on the underside of the hood hits it perfectly if adjusted right. And the best part is you only need a few inches of wire after it passes through the firewall.

I don't know why EVERY place that does these installs has to run it all the way to the core support.

When I put on the cowl hood though, it's fiberglass and didn't have that edge. So I think I'll be going with a mercury switch now.

 

Yeah that's crappy on the installer's part. I use to walk the custy through what was involved before they signed the install invoice. I'm glad it's going to get resolved though.

 

That sensor turned out it got bent in half after my hood closed from him putting it to high. He went through 8 before getting it right today also..not the smartest person in the world...wish I would have known cause the holes in the car really bother me.

 

What an idiot! That's why you start with the switch at it's LOWEST adjustment and work your way up until it triggers.

I went through 2 on my first install and the only reason I needed the second one is because my heavy handed habit of over-tightening things snapped the shaft on the first one in half while tightening the nuts.

 

Yea and this is the main install manager. Great huh? I'm guessing he trains everyone too being the manager...never going back there.

 

Personally I prefer hood pins over tilt or mercury switches. I've had too many customers complain about mercury switches, back when I used them, that I don't even consider them anymore.

The problem is when people park on hills or inclines, it can either cause the sensor to always see a "fault" or never trigger, depending on the direction of the mercury switch and the direction parked on the incline.

The switches also need to be installed at such an angle that in many cases the hood can be quite open, before they trigger, so they become pointless, IMO.

The only next best option is magnetic switches, but they require holes drilled for screws to be reliable, two sides tape will only last so long, and in an environment like under a hood, the two sided tape can deteriorate quite quickly, especially when the car resides in an area with drastic temperature change and humidity changes, like the northern States and Canada.

 

Thanks for the info! I live in the south so that doesn't bother me but there is a lot of hills around here and you do park on them a decent amount.

 

He also ran out the black sensors he bent so many and put a clear one in it.....idk about it....liked black better.

 

Glad they are taking care of it for you, but I would never let Best Buy touch any of my car's. My Camaro has an alarm and I want to remove it, but not sure what all it's wired into at this pont. Alarms are Pointless IMO, but if it make someone feel better then by all means get one.

 

I didn't get it for secruity. Keyless and remote start mainly I wanted.

 

You should see what me and my air grinder did to mine to fit the intercooler and 3-core radiator. You would be in horror.

-- Joe

 

Went and got two estimates yesterday. 624 and 644 local to fix it right.

 

What's the car worth ?

That seems like kind of a lot of money to "fix" something that most people wouldn't notice out of the ordinary.

-- Joe

 

I know how you feel and it's why I don't let anyone work on my 86 except for the body shop which I have had some experience with prior to getting my 86 painted even then I removed and reinstalled the lights, panels and ground effects which made the job a little cheaper and I didn't have to worry about someone else breaking parts either.

I have a 2004 Impala SS that the rear spoiler had started to separate. It is an Indy 500 special edition and is 1 out of 4088 built. I scheduled an appointment with the dealership body shop to have it replaced and dropped it off. When I went to pick it up I noticed that the paint was chipped out from under the spoiler and they didn't reinstall the black anodized hardware on the inside of the trunk. The new hardware was bright metal on a black car and stuck out like a sore thumb.

Long story short, they had a lot tech remove the spoiler and he used a screw driver to pry it off the deck lid and scratched the hell out of the paint. GM was involved and we got it fixed.

I'm glad you are getting it fixed and chalk it up to lesson learned.

 

I've had a bug shield on a Blazer that the attach points were held on with 2 sided tape and they lasted over the 6 years that I had the truck. Actually I would prefer to have to replace the tape in 3 to 5 years versus drilling holes in my car but that is just me.

 

Thats going to suck to "fix right".. Your car looks like org paint on that area with just barely, if any, clearcoat.
When the shop paints it, the area prolly won't look he same as it did b4, its prolly going to look very shiny.
As for it not being flat, a drill didn't do it, that happend when it was spot welded at the factory. Most cars look like that.

 

Their not going to pay that!!!!!!that's an outrageous price to repair a drill hole and a scratch.

 

Well good thing you aren't doing it then lol. My car is orig paint but it's still glossy under there. It just has dust from setting in the shop for winter on it.

 

I'm sure it's cheaper up north in new jersey but cars don't rust here. A lot more work there.

 

wow

 

How exactly are they going to "fix" a hole and a slightly bent piece of sheet metal? You're asking for trouble if you let another place mess with your car behind closed doors...if they paint any part of that car, it will stick out like a red flag, being that the rest of the underhood is 20 years old.

Take a gift card and move on...

 

It's insured for 8,500.right now....and got way less then that in it. Will bump it up soon.






Also.fun fact. Turns out the managers lied to me for two weeks. Told me I can only take it to the shop of their choice that would fix it for 100. I laughed hung up and called corporate and they are getting it worked out and weren't happy to hear about it. The manager called me and said i don't want this on my insurance and blah blah. I laughed and gave hin the claim number. What a lying sack. Said for 2 weeks insurance would call me then this crap.

 

Do you know how insurance works? They give you a check for the damage and then you decide if you want to fix it. I haven't decided yes or no if they will screw it up worse but I want the choice to fix it.

 

This should get interesting.

-- Joe

 

Corporate was not happy to hear what happened to me. They are trying to fix it somehow.

 

My car isn't nearly as nice as your but I still wouldn't let any of those bozos touch it.
Just on principle.