Small Claims Court- Company Painted My Car, After I Got It Back 3 Weeks Later I Noticed The Paint Started Bubbling And He Said He Was Closing His Shop But Would Fix It And Now He’s Dragging It Out / Acts Like He Doesn’t Want To Fix It.

Location: Georgia So as the title says.. a guy (Jack) painted my front bumper & hood after I hit a deer and the paint is flaking off and he closed his shop so is acting like he doesn’t want to do it.

It’s a 2025 Kia K5 GT-Line and I hit a deer back in April of 2025.

We took it to Jack(he’s the owner of the business) to fix it, Kia sent the wrong bumper so he had to reorder the correct one and get it prepped and pained and put it on my car (that’s important)

Jack fixed it, it looked great- he said if there was any problems to let him know.. that was June 18th 2025.

Everything was fine till July 12th 2025 when I noticed there was bubbling on the bumper from when it rained and it was holding the water.

Contacted Jack on July 14th 2025 and let him know that there was some issues with the paint bubbling and he said “i will fix it, I’m in the process of closing my shop down so give me a few weeks to get everything caught up and I’ll let you know when I can fix it” Waited a few weeks and heard nothing.

Messaged Jack again August 18th 2025 and asked when would he be able to fix it and he said “I will try my best to get to it next weekend. If not then the following weekend. I’ve closed my shop so I’m only there on the weekends trying to get stuff finished up.”

On August 25th 2025 I messaged him about something else that happened to my car and he agreed to fix it as well (but that does NOT pertain to the situation)

September 27th 2025 I sent him a message saying I could ONLY bring my car in the next 2 weekends and he did not reply so I sent him a picture of the paint that was chipped and showing the black plastic. and didn’t reply so I sent the same message the next day.

September 28th 2025 (after I sent the same message I sent the day before) Jack replied and said okay let’s do it in 2 weekends and I said okay I’ll let you know when I bring it Oct. 3rd

I bring the car on Oct 3rd… don’t get any notifications that the doors were open so on the 5th (Today) I went to pick it up.

Me- “Good morning! I planned on picking my car up around 8pm today????”

Jack- “Can you leave it with me a few days. I haven’t been able to get anything done on it yet. I’m taking time off from Athens to get it done.”

Me- “That’s fine but please let me know what days you’ll take off and I’ll bring it then. I drive for work every day- over 300 miles a week… that’s why I clearly said “I can bring it on the 3rd and pick it up on the 5th. And bring it on the 10th and pick it up on the 12th” I’ll have to come get it this afternoon and just bring it when you take off of work to fix it.”

Jack- “And as I’ve said I have closed my shop but I’m still trying to accommodate you and do what I fill is right. How many other places that have closed their doors will still stand behind their work?”

Me- “We told you as soon as the bubbling started on the bumper- which was no more than 2 or 3 weeks after we got the car back. I understand that you closed your shop but at the end of the day it’s an issue that needs to be fixed, not sure why it happened or why the paint is flaking off to show the black plastic but it does need to be fixed. I texted you personally about it a few months ago and you said “if not next weekend it’ll defiantly be the next” and that was August 18th. This is 2 months later. When I worked with paint- when something messed up months or years down the road. We fixed it ASAP… even if we had to rebuy the paint.”

Jack- “And as I told you then I had closed my shop. If you want it fixed Ive taken time off this week to do that. If not you are more than welcomed to take a closed business to small claims court.”

After that I simply said I didn’t want to go that route at all and he let me know what days he was off and I’m taking it back…

WHAT I THINK HAPPENED. After he realized the bumper was wrong, he got the new bumper and just slapped the paint on it and didn’t prep it (sanding or undercoating) The reason I say that is because it’s just peeling off with the black plastic under it and on the hood where it’s chipped you can see the white under the paint from where it was prepped (undercoated)

Should I just say never mind and I’ll see you in court?