I had the incredible misfortune, and a lesson in patience, because Matt's Wash & Wax was booked until August, but AUTOSHINE had availability the next day for a complete detail.
I should have known that this was not going to end well; I called to schedule my appointment, and the tech left me on hold for over 8 minutes, so I hung up and tried again. After scheduling the appointment I was informed that the detailing would take up to five hours . This was no issue for me; I wanted my car clean - especially for $170.
(By the way- the website states that a complete detail is $159.95 but the sign above the cashier is $169.95)
I delivered my car at 10am and returned a couple hours later to check in on the progress. Randy (Manager) stated that they still needed to wax it. I told him to take his time; I wanted my vehicle done right. He came out to inform me that it was done about thirty minutes later. I walked around my vehicle to check it out, and noticed dirt along the side panels that was waxed in, and that the wheel-wells were not even touched. I opened the doors to check the interior to find that my nav screen was not even cleaned, and nothing behind the steering wheel was touched. There was a glossy, sticky residue sprayed all over that appeared to not even be wiped down. I told Randy that this needed to be fixed. He took my car back into the department to address my concerns.
After another thirty minutes, he came to let me know my car was ready. Again, I walked around the vehicle and they had not touched the outside. Some of the interior was wiped down, but the cloth they used left lint... everywhere. I confronted Randy and showed him the areas that were not cleaned out. When I brought attention to the dirty handles, he argued with me, but was able to wipe out filth when he looked in one! I told him that I was very disappointed and would not return. I also told him that I've had a local guy in Jericho do such an amazing job for less money, and that I will continue to go there. He told me that he's friends with Matt, and he is not cheaper than Heritage pricing. (FYI, a quick google search shows that Matt is indeed cheaper.) I told Randy that I was not going to argue with him, and wished him a good day. His agitation from being challenged by me was evident.
Before I get to the best part, let me just state here that my car has been sitting in my driveway for over four weeks while we were away. The first place it was driven when we returned was to Heritage to be cleaned. With that said, the next day, I headed out to my car to leave. Before I got in my car, I was cleaning the leaves out that had been stuck in the space between the hood and windshield, which should have been noticed, and attended to, during the complete detail. I walked over to the passenger side to grab the chunk of leaves. To my shock and horror, I discovered a dead crayfish that was inconspicuously placed under a pile of leaves. Absolutely execrable.
I could not let this go; it was incontrovertible to me that this was their idea of revenge. Clearly they did not anticipate me discovering the rotting crustacean, but if they had cleaned out the leaves during the complete detail, I would likely been oblivious! It was placed perfectly in front of my air intake so that the raunchy stench of dead seafood would permeate through my car. This deplorable act was nothing short of pure and senseless evil.
The next business day, I bagged up the crayfish and brought it along with me to Heritage. I demanded that I speak with the owner, Dave MacHavern, but he was conveniently on vacation that day! Instead, I was directed to Skip Ward. When I shared my experience with him, he had the audacity to ask me if my car had been in Florida recently, as if being in Florida would easily explain the presence of a solitary dead crustacean located curiously close to the air intake in my vehicle. He really had nothing else to offer, not even an insincere apology. He did offer to have me speak with the owners brother, Paul. When Paul arrived, I let him know what kind of reprehensible stunt his employees pulled, and requested that my card be fully refunded. In a most patronizing tone, I was told that his employees would not do something like that because they had been there for over twenty years!
After my meeting with Skip and Paul, I took the dead crustacean over to the AUTOSHINE counter and waved the baggie in front of Randy, letting him know very clearly that I had found it. I wonder how many other customers have had this experience. Do they have a bin hidden in the Recon department labeled: "Revenge" that they dig into whenever a customer dare express displeasure in their subpar service?
I was so discouraged with how this was handled that I will no longer be a customer of AUTOSHINE or Heritage Toyota; we will have our three Toyotas serviced elsewhere. This entire situation is disconcerting and disappointing to say the read more
