Detailer returns car, now pixels out - his fault?

[Elvis 3.0]

Ok. I dropped my car off at a know car detailer within a parking garage in Boston yesterday, to be left overnight, detailed and picked up today.

I picked up the car today at 10:30 a.m. and immediately I notice the OBD brightness diminish significantly as you move left to right from the Odometer short trip reading to the temp* gauge. That is, the last part of the trip meter and the temp sensor are a 2 out of 10 on the brightness scale, whereas the left side of the odometer is a 9 or 10.

In addition, on the radio selector the fourth pixel line ( from top to bottom) of pre-set option button 'A3' is out.

Is this just a coincidence that I noticed as it return from the detailer, and was it just the time for the pixel gremlins to appear?

or
- was some cleaning liquid leaked, perhaps into both the OBD, radio? (if so, will it evaporate and return to normal)

or
- is this indicative of any sort of tampering?

AND would you bother to contact the detail shop or simply deal with it...

Thanks for your input.

[Naz24]

Interesting...

What sort of detailing service was performed. Carpets shampooed? If so, then there was water going in the car. totally possible..

How known is this detailer? does he have insurance? did he take reasonable care to avoid getting water on parts of the car?

BTW< have you notified him of this yet? If not, do it immediately

[recklessspyder]

I think you need to deal with it. Doesn't sound like bulbs went out because of the sporadic nature of the dimness outage....

I had to replace a bulb in my dash a few weeks back....but it was an entire section that went dim

[Elvis 3.0]

Looks like the we have 50/50 on dealing with it v. go through hassle etc...

anyone other thoughts? One of my main concerns was if anyone had any experience with a tampering issue and would this indicate such an issue. The second question would be would be there to tamper with?

[epdarks]

I got my radio a bit wet when I was detailing my interior the other day. When I fired up the car the pixels were all messed up. I let it dry out and they are back to normal.

[TwinTurboGTR]

I concur with moisture. If he shampooed the interior and then closed the car and locked it up for the night, the humidity may have built up too much in the car. I would contact him ASAP to have him be aware and then monitor. So if it doesn't come back, go back to him and see what can be done. Don't demand or yell. Just bring it to his attention and see if he is willing to do anything after a week or so. Give it time to dry out if there is moisture build up. if after that time it doesn't go back, give him a call and bring it up to him again. If he says, "Well, nothing I can do." Then just tell him ok. Let him know that you lost his trust and will not be recommending his services to others and will no longer bring your vehicle to him as well. Make sure you position it in a way where you come to the table with a lot of value, that you could potentially add another 3 or 4 cars to his roster. If he still doesn't care, then just walk away and do exactly as you told you were going to do, don't recommend him. Put a fair review onto YELP, Angies list, etc. Don't slander him, just state facts.

[blktoptrvl]

If you cannot be certain of the cause, it is not worth the trouble. As you said, it may be a coincidence.

But even if it was his fault because of shampooing, etc... that is not something I would expect, and probably nothing the detailer experienced before/expected either.

Forget it, move on.

[recklessspyder]

Agree,

You asked for a service to be performed. Unless they were negligent in spraying water behind the dash (which you really can't prove), it's more of an issue with the X's sealing and electronics.

If you run the air condition and recycle the cabin air, I think that should pull moisture out.

[740ilDuke]

Id guess coincidence, pixels are a common issue after awhile on BMWs.