Sorry, this is going to be long, but I want to make sure folks know the whole story…read more
I actually debated whether I should write a review or not. But after being so humiliated, accused, and treated the way I was (mainly by the father), I decided to share my experience with this place.
Don't get me wrong. The repairs I had done there were just fine--better than I expected, actually. They also cleaned the inside of my car, which pleasantly surprised me.
When I went there to pick up my car, it had a new rear bumper and some work done on the left rear door. Brian, the son, was there, and I dealt with him. At the time, I honestly thought these guys seemed nice and trustworthy. Boy, was I wrong.
When it came time to pay, I got some strange excuse about not using my credit card, which I thought was a bit odd. I'm only mentioning this because another reviewer here also mentioned having issues when trying to pay with a card.
I told him I don't carry that much cash with me, but I could write a check. Of course, I don't carry a checkbook around. Who does these days? I was surprised he was okay with me driving home and coming back with a check. A mechanic letting you leave without paying first? Especially when it's your first time there? That was definitely new to me.
Still, I figured that was pretty nice of him.
He backed my car out of the garage, and I got in to leave. Since there is absolute chaos around that car wash and cars are parked everywhere, I was mainly focused on not hitting anything as I pulled out.
I turned onto the street, and after a minute or two, I thought I wasn't seeing things correctly. There was a long crack across the top of my windshield.
I immediately turned around and drove back to the shop.
When I showed it to Brian, he instantly said they didn't do it. His first explanation was that maybe my windshield had been too dirty for me to notice the crack before. Sure. I had the car washed two days earlier. That excuse didn't work, and I KNOW there was no crack in my windshield.
Also, if there had been a crack when I brought the car in for the estimate and later for the repair, why wouldn't I have mentioned it and asked about getting it fixed too? Or why didn't they point it out themselves to protect themselves in case something like this happened?
I was very polite and calm during the whole discussion. I wasn't angry. I told him I understood that accidents happen, but we needed to figure out a solution. He wouldn't budge and kept insisting they didn't cause it. Then he started searching on his iPad for photos of my car. I believe they took photos, but I don't remember if they photographed the entire vehicle. He couldn't find any pictures of my car. Strange, because there were countless photos of other vehicles on the screen.
I even suggested that maybe it had happened at the car wash next door since I noticed a receipt in my car. But then he claimed HE had cleaned the car himself. There went the first contradiction. Then he called his father, supposedly to see if he had photos of my car. Nope.
I waited, and before long, the father showed up. He parked in a way that basically blocked me in and immediately started raising his voice, completely denying that this could have happened at their shop.
I remained calm and tried to have a normal conversation, but he just kept going. Eventually, he offered to pay half of the windshield repair. I said no. With this answer, he got even louder.
The entire time, I stayed polite and respectful. I simply wanted to have a reasonable discussion.
They went into their office while I sat in my car for quite a while. During that time, I even looked up the cost of replacing the windshield myself.
This whole situation stressed me out immensely. I hate conflict, especially with people who behave this way. Not once did they give me the benefit of the doubt. Instead, I felt like they were basically accusing me of making the whole thing up.
No, I did not make this up. Being accused of something like that is incredibly offensive.