I'd really wanted to avoid going public with this for so many reasons. However, I feel that stu-vx200 should be aware of my recent experience of having accident repairs done by TMS.
As a select few of you will know, I had an accident with my car on Easter Monday (9 April). I drove into the back of a Volkswagen Passat who jammed on his brakes at a roundabout after the Volvo in front of him did the same for absolutely no reason. This was my first "own fault" accident in 32 years of motoring. I didn’t mention the accident on here at the time as it came shortly after the sad death of Gareth Newark and colleague. My wife and I were fine and in the circumstances it seemed churlish to be complaining about a broken plastic sports car.
Although I was doing no more than 15 mph I did extensive, but largely superficial, damage to the front end of my car: clam, radiator, bonnet, headlight etc. Damages were initially estimated at £6k and ended up, I am told, at £8.5k. It was marginal for a write-off. Foolishly (as it turns out) I insisted I wanted my car repaired. Against advice I also insisted that I wanted my car repaired by TMS, a combination of lazyness - they're the closest - and misspent loyalty I guess. Suffice it to say that it was a particularly unpleasant and protracted experience. The easiest thing is for me to quote my letter of 26 July to John Thorne:
It’s now two weeks since the work on my car was finally completed and I thought I would summarize my view of the work.
Firstly, the main thing, on the face of it, the car is safe to drive. I am inevitably disgusted at the way the repairs were handled, and in no particular order:
• your lack of feedback and communication
• your rudeness and accusations of my wanting favours
• your technician’s statement that I had not booked the car in properly for accident repairs and it was a rush job (sic)
• the protracted delays – 18 April to 12 July against your original 4-6 week (end-May) estimate
• your refusal to let me take my car for snagging as arranged
• bonding the new crash box to the still bent chassis box section
• returning the car at 8pm the night before my Europe trip with the heater jammed and, more importantly, the bonnet jammed so that I could not check any of the work, fluid levels, Nitron settings etc etc
• returning the car with a cabin covered with red and black swarf
• returning the car with badly marked (not just dirty) TD wheels
• the failure to make any attempt properly to route cables and pipe work resulting in jammed cables and a mess under the bonnet
• damage to the new radiator from the bonnet hinge (not just a question of you being “picky†in wanting to make further adjustments which you agreed were cosmetic and hence I declined)
• obvious overspray on the doors
Other things like your forgetting to fit the front splitters or spray the new “V†black (you volunteered this and I agreed), not fitting the towing eye requiring the clam to come off and even your forgetting at the outset to pick the car up on 17 April are just minor annoyances but clearly indicate a lack of organization and attention to detail on your part and all give the lie to the statement on your website:
“we pride ourselves on a level of professionalism and attention to detail that not only reflects this enthusiasm but also provides a level of care to be proud of.â€
Needless to say I think this concludes our professional relationship. I do not intend pursuing any remedial work with you unless anything goes seriously wrong or breaks as a result of your work. I hope this will not be the case.
The above is a huge disappointment. I had huge admiration for John when he opened TMS and again when he embarked on the 5-car race team dream. But the handling of my repair job was far below the standard I had expected.
Wherever you take you car, I hope you get it sorted stu-vx200.
Edited by VIX, 02 August 2007 - 04:49 PM.
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wankers the lot of them 
Christ Steve, that sucks mate.. what was the explanation for such shoddy workmanship?
