Hauraki Panel and Paint - Mount Wellington / Panel Beaters in Mt Wellington

Hauraki did an insurance repair on my new vehicle. It was supposed to be a simple replacement of the wing mirror. On top of that, I ended up with replacement rear door glass and re-paint of entire left hand side panels. I was never informed of or consequently agreed to this scope of repair beforehand, nor was the insurance assessor, because they are a “gold repairer” who can undertake repairs up to $5000 in value… without insurance assessor’s approval. I didn’t know this before.

Furthermore, the quality of the repair was very poor. On first delivery, they forgot to paint the joint (when folding in) and the inner frame of the wing mirror. I had to wait on spot till this was rectified.

A few days later, I started to notice more issues with the paint, including large amount of dusts, bubbles and peels. I contacted Hauraki to rectify these, as instructed by my insurance company. I was told to bring in the vehicle, mark the defects and leave it with them. I had to get a friend to pick me up afterwards. A few hours later, the manager phoned to tell me that the extent of the rectification required meant that they had to re-paint the whole left hand side panels AGAIN. But they could not do it right away so asked me to take my car home. I took a bus to pick up my car.

Several days later, I brought in my car to Hauraki again and was finally provided with a loan car. A week later, I went to pick up my car and only found that their crew made fresh damage to the front wheel guard panel when grooming the car. I saw it with my own eyes and I was appalled and angry. The manager told me that they had to repaint the guard AGAIN.

A couple of days later, I was assured that everything was perfect and my car was ready. So I did. I subsequently noticed persistent issues with the dusts, bubbles, peels in re-painted area, and even worse the chrome plate of the door handle was rubbed against rough surface and therefore all scratched.

I took my car to three highly rated (at nocowboys) panel beaters to peer review the finish (without telling them Hauraki did the repair), which confirmed that the repair was not up to standard. After repeated failure of Hauraki in producing an acceptable quality of repair, I made a formal complaint to my insurance. The owner of Hauraki then offered to personally oversee the further repair. However, they no longer had my confidence, given they had already had several unsuccessful attempts. After considerable effort involving senior management of insurance, I was finally allowed to take the car to another panel beater for further repair. They were not a “gold repairer”, but they did an outstanding job.

But wait, there was more. This other panel beater discovered that one large piece of interior trim was torn and mended roughly. This was the trim that must be removed to access other work area. I asked my insurance to please explain who damaged it, after it agreed to cover the replacement cost. I was told it was the glass company contracting to Hauraki damaged it. When I asked for the name of the glass company, I was then told that it was Hauraki that damaged the trim during the repair. Hauraki never fronted up to me about it, if it wasn’t from this other penal beater, I would never have known. Where is your honesty, Hauraki Mt Wellington?

This whole experience has brought our family with young children extreme displeasure, huge inconvenience, loss of productivity and impaired new car ownership experience. Neither Hauraki nor the insurance company would be willing to compensate us for the monetary cost incurred (i.e. $330) when asked. To date, I have not received a formal apology from Hauraki. This is not a fair go.

To sum up, this branch is very poor in communication, reliability, care of customer’s property, workmanship, and customer service ethos. Don’t be fooled by the so called “gold repairer” badge. If you love and care about your car, STAY AWAY."