Friday, June 12th I was told to come outside by the head of my department. I went outside to find magenta ink (I work at the newspaper) all over my car. Along with the ink there were sticks and leaves, various scratches, one chip and the right underneath the pontiac logo on the front, the bumper was pushed in. The ink delivery truck was here and apparently the cap shot off. It was laying in front of my car. Apparently the pressure was so strong that's what blew the branches, mulch and whatnot onto my car.

I drove it to the nearest detailer (where the company I work for has a contract). They cleaned it up, but when I went to pick it up you could see there was still ink between the headlight and the bumper, on the molding along the wheel well, on the grill. Along with that I noticed after it had been cleaned up that something seriously scratched the plastic around the grill and there was a chip in the fender. They used touch up paint on the fender that did not match at all. I was not happy about that. I was told they were going to order a new grill and when I came back they would get the rest of the ink off.

So I drop off the car again and requested they take the molding off and the headlight out so they can get the ink out of the crevices. They said that was fine. I get the car back again and I see there is still ink on the grill. They only replaced part of it. There is still ink in the same spots. They cleaned up some more of it and while I'm really looking at it I see that there are several little knicks in the paint. They said they could buff them all out but they would need to put another clear coat on the bumper. Since they were going to do that they were also going to repaint where the chip was to match.

I haven't dropped it off again for the "final" time yet, but here's the situation that I am most upset about. I can't just leave my car there because no one is letting my use a rental car to get home. So each time I drop it off I have to get a ride back to my car at the end of the day so I can get home. The one time I did leave it there someone from work took me home. This week is ridiculously busy for me and I need a car to drive. I can't cancel all my appts for the week because someone from the ink company doesn't know how to properly hook up a hose to their truck. What are my options at this point?

Thank you for reading my long post.

Hello Z:

Hopefully, you've got photographs of your car and the cap on the ground, and/or witnesses. I also hope that you let the truck driver and his company know what happened...

If you didn't, I'd certainly start NOW. Make sure everything you do from this point forward is documented. Call them up, and make your complaint. Follow it up with a WRITTEN complaint outlining your phone conversation. If you talk to them on the phone further, make notes of your call.

If they see that you're serious, they should volunteer to pay for your rental. They may not, though, so you'll have to sue them.

In terms of the detail shop, see if you can get your rental first. I'd even suggest that you get it yourself because they'll have to reimburse you.

excon

PS> I read it again, and I see that you DO have witnesses. That's GOOD!

Thanks for reading my post. I actually just found out that they will pay for a rental for me. I do have several witnesses. They've been great about working with me so far but I was really pissed when no one was working with me about having a car to drive. The guys at work had been taking me home but I was like, "great, now who wants to take me to the grocery store and run all my errands?"

I also doubt "detailing" will get all of the ink and for sure will not get the scratches off.

Most likely to do it right will require some sanding and repaiting.

Oh it won't. The place I took it to is actually a body shop, but they detail cars there too. We weren't sure if detailing it would get all the ink off or not so instead of taking it to a wash we took it to a body shop. Good thing we did too!