Seems like Google reviews may not be that impartial seeing as the review still isn't visible to anyone but me (I can't see it in incognito mode) 2 days after posting.
Here's the text from the Trustpilot review:-
4th time lucky for repair?
After a deer ran out in front of of my 4 week old car on the motorway, there was only 1 place I wanted to take it (against my insurance company's wishes) - Vertu, Boldon. This place used to be great when I last needed a bodyshop in 2012.
The front bumper, grille, radiator and other sensors needed replacing, with a bonnet respray.
They were quick to get me in and provide a courtesy car. 2 weeks later I had my "new" car back. Before I drove it home, the bonnet alignment seemed off, it went back in for "adjustment" and I drove home. Next day, a car wash and close examination showed lots of overspray around bonnet edges, milky white lines in the lacquer coat, hologram/mechanical swirl marks in around 15 locations on the car bodywork (the bodywork other than the front end had been immaculate, with 2 coats of ceramic sealant).
The bonnet alignment had been a bodge with some rubber stoppers at the extremes of adjustment, but it could still be seen that the bonnet was misaligned when gaps between the adjoining panels were compared.
Andy, the bodyshop manager came out to see the car, with a colleague and agreed with the issues raised. They took the car again and brought it back "fixed". The bonnet had now been properly aligned, over half of the holograms were gone, and the bonnet overspray had been smoothed down slightly.
Still not looking "like new", so they took it again. All but 1 hologram now gone and overspray still visible when brought back, along with a clearly defined masking line where further rub down had taken place.
4th time, it was agreed (after 10 mins of discussion to try and dissuade me from asking for more remedial works) that a respray of the lacquer coat on the bonnet would be done. After the 4th time, the paintwork was finally as per expectations, but I need to reapply my ceramic coat.
2 days later I noticed a sharp nick on the edging bezel of my dashboard, which I'm convinced is from Andy's colleagues clipboard he had with him at every visit, and rested on the dashboard. I haven't had a front seat passenger since before the repair, and it wasn't there then. I have contacted the bodyshop and Andy by mobile and I'm just being ghosted.
The 3 sets of correctional work after the initial attempt demonstrate that not only was the standard of work quite low, the QC inspection afterwards is poor too.
The discussions seemed a little strained at times, but always polite, that's the only positive I can get from this experience.
