Hey,

I've never bothered to post to a newsgroup before, but this is
something people need to know!  This may be a bit long, but if you're
thinking about taking your car to NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR then please
read this. You'll thank me for it!

On my way to work, a women driver, in a skoda, pulled out on me on a
round about... I hit her, we were both OK, no broken bones, but my car
was looking a bit sorry for itself!

No problem I thought, we're all insured, I'll just give my friendly
insurance company DIRECT LINE a call.  They picked up my car from the
roadside within an hour, dropped me off home then dropped my car off at
NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR in Bletchley.

Great I thought.  That was three months ago.  NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR
gave me an estimated date of three weeks.  Two days before the
completion date, I phoned to arrange collection of my fixed car... Ah,
they have found more problems with the car, it would seem when they
removed the engine they found the air con was broken, some gearbox
mounts and a few other things. Fine, these things happen, another
estimated date of two weeks was added.  Now in the mean time, I knew my
tax was coming to an end, so I gave NATIONWIDE CRASH REPAIR a quick
call to see when I had to get new tax.... They told me that there is no
tax disk on the car!!!! Between the recovery vehicle picking up my car
and me phoning the garage a month later some thieving fecking chav
mechanic had stolen my Richbrook Aluminium tax disc holder. SCUMS.

Anyway, back to the point, after 2 months and 1 week I get a call
saying my car is ready.  WHOOHOOO so off we rush (my girlfriend and i)
to pick the car up.  Unfortunetly I didn't have my camera with me
that day :(, The first thing I noticed was a piece of paint missing
from my bumper, my car is metallic black, and there was a 2cm square
patch of white on my bumper!!!! How on earth did that get past quality
control? That soon proved to be the least of our problems, my
girlfriend drove the car from its parking bay to the reception so we
could complain, I walked behind and noticed a rather loud squeak coming
from the engine.  When I asked the assistant manager Alan about this,
stating "You told me my car was ready" he said "It Is", but its
squeaking!!! "Yes," he said "that's the engine". Now maybe
its just me, but when I have a car crash, and it gets repaired... id
like the FECKING ENGINE REPAIRED TOO!  Oh, and while the monkeys were
looking at the engine, we noticed the bumper hadn't been fitted
properly, and the paint job was awful.  Needles to say, we left our car
there, to be repaired.

They sent my car off to ford for the engine, Ford replaced a fan belt.
Squeak stopped.  Then when I phone the garage to find out whats
happening with my car, they tell me they've just noticed that my
airbox is cracked!!!!! How on earth could they take my engine out and
put it back in with noticing that!???

Eventually got a phone call THREE MONTHS after the accident, saying my
car was ready again, great I think... this time I'll bring my digital
camera. Here's a list of things wrong with my car :-
Drivers side headlight proud of the bonnet.
Large uneven gap down drivers side of bonnet.
Bonnet gap is not even across the front.
Bonnet sits to low, now even with the wings.
Bonnet when closed, isn't level with the front bumper.
'Bits' have dried into the paint on the front bumper.
Drivers side wheel arch paint has blistered in two places.
Dent in drivers side bumper and wing.
Dent in passenger side 'B' pillar.
Passenger side door sill not fitted, causing a noise while driving.
Bumpers do not have even gaps to the body work.
Drivers leather seat very scuffed, all other seats perfect, rough
overalls?
Part of the wiring loom is coming out at the bonnet release catch under
steering column
The power steering and engine coolant levels are way above the MAX
line, shows complete lack of care.

Soooooo, bonnets not aligned, not even close, and because the gaps are
uneven, it means theres bent metal somewhere!  Paint job is once again
awful, two parts were actually blistered, I think the tech term is
Pickled? How did my car pass the quality control?  The thing that
really got me is my drivers side full leather seat is scuffed really
badly, I keep my car in great condition, and its really p*ssed me off
that they've damaged my seats.

This is still ongoing.  But I didn't want to wait any longer before
posting.

Anyway, I have lots of pictures to prove ALL of the above claims I've
made. And, yes, a website is in progress, detailing EVERYTHING.

Basically if your with direct line, phone them and make sure that you
can choose which garage you'd like to take your car too.  Also,
direct line have been cr*p at handling this case, they don't call you
back, and I've had to arrange everything myself. (other than the
roadside pickup).

If you've had an experience with Nationwide Crash Repair, please post
here, I've spoken to so many people who have been messed about by
them, but there's nothing on the web!