Poor quality detailing and horrible customer service…read more
My car was scheduled for an interior and exterior detailing. The seat track mechanisms, between the seats, door pillars, trunk locking mechanism, and gas cap area were not touched. There is also some lovely overspray from the tirewet in my wheel wells (but don't worry, J says that eventually it will wear off), so they couldn't even bother to wipe up their product or clean the wheel wells. The trunk floor still has dust and hair, suggesting it wasn't even vacuumed. The roof of my car has black spots that I could clean off with a little spit on my thumb. The instrument cluster is covered with spots, there's a yellow crumb in my radio controls, and the windows were covered in streaks.
Additionally, there was a small square of glue on my rear bumper from a parking sticker I removed. It was still there when I picked up my car. When I got my car home, I was able to easily remove the glue mark with some goo-gone and cleaned my windows (I can't believe I had to clean my car after I PAID for a detailing job). I realized that what I thought was a streak in my windshield was actually a scratch and several chips. I've since contacted my insurance to get that replaced -- thanks J!!
Now, unfortunately, my belt tensioner broke on my way from New York to J's shop, so I had to get my car towed after being detailed. I noticed several of the imperfections in the "detailing" job (e.g. the wheel well overspray, spots on my roof, streaky windows, and that my radio had been messed with) when I was loading my car onto the tow dolly, but was more concerned with getting my car to the shop before they closed. Additionally, J couldn't be bothered to wait for his customers to show up before leaving for the day (I arrived at 3:30PM), and he left the keys in my car in his parking lot), so I didn't even have an opportunity to inspect the car and get my money back.
When I messaged J to complain about the poor job, he offered to come to me to fix it. He even said that he would give me a full refund if he saw the damage to my windshield and radio (despite insisting that there was no way he broke these things). I offered to accept a half refund and to send him pictures so that he wouldn't have to take a 2 hour trip to my place, but he insisted that he wanted to come. I gave him an address, expecting that he would keep his word, and he then came up with a million excuses as to how it wasn't him, how he PERSONALLY cleaned all of the parts of my car that I say are still dirty, and is now ignoring all of my messages.
I did not want to post here as I know that it's tough to be a small business owner, but J does not deserve your money. I think I understand now why he was the only detailing place that could get my car in the same week that I contacted him, while every other reputable business was booking 3 weeks out. Next time I will gladly sit on a waitlist, and you should too.
TLDR; J's "personal" detailing of your car may NOT include seat track mechanisms, windows, gas cap area, door jambs, wheel wells, roof, bumper, between your seats, or the instrument panel! He also may scratch your windshield and break your speaker system.