WARNING!!! I wish someone had written this review before I decided to take my car here for repairs!
This post will be lengthy but I feel it needs to be shared. I'm sure this experience doesn't happen often, but if you need your car is it worth the chance of going through this?
Let me start by saying that the body shop did an excellent job, the paint matched perfectly and the body lined up like new. (the car was hit in the front right, needing a new front bumper and right quarter panel) So if all your looking for is body work you have come to the right place. However, if you plan to ever drive your vehicle again or rely on it for its dependability, I strongly recommend you listen to my experience.
I have been a mechanic for nearly six years, I do no work on automobiles but I have a very high mechanical aptitude and a fair amount of common sense. I assumed taking my car to a collision center it would be repaired and I would be worry free. Wrong!
My car was towed to this shop on a Saturday, I called and spoke to the one in charge of my work order expressing my concern with the front right tire being damaged in the accident. He ensured me that he would look into it and see that it be replaced if necessary. I felt confident in that and waited until I received a call back. My car had only been there for two weeks when I received a call informing me that it was done, I felt this was a reasonable turnaround time for the repairs made and was happy at this point. I arrived to find that the front right tire was not replaced and I could literally lift the tread from the tire where it had been gashed. After asking why the tire had not been replaced I was answered with "well that bad spot must have been on the bottom when I looked at it". At this point I'm beginning to question the thoroughness of this shop but I'm still pretty cool with everything. I was told that the tire would be replaced the following Monday and everything would be good to go.
I waited around all week waiting for this one tire to be mounted and balanced, paying for a rental car out of my pocket the entire time. I finally receive a call on Friday, get to the car and they had replaced the wrong tire! (the new tire was on the right rear; the car was hit on the front right). After consulting with the manager about the issue he insisted that he himself would take care of it. We took the car down to the shop were the tires were swapped, I question whether or not they were rebalanced in the haste to get them swapped back around. While the car was on the lift in the shop I noticed that the front left tire was also damaged. At this point the manager of the collision center agreed with me that it would be safer to put the damaged tire on the rear and bring the still good tire to the front.
I had to have this car over the weekend so I decided to drive on the damaged tire and bring it back the following week. When driving the car I could hear a roaring noise coming from the right side. The noise would disappear when the car was turned to the right but got worse when turned to the left. The wheel bearing had apparently been damaged in the wreak as well. At this point I am positive that no one at this repair shop drives the vehicles after repairs have been made and that I would have been better off making the repairs myself. I return the car to their shop so that they can replace the damaged tire on the left and the bad bearing on the right. I get a call just before they are about to close on the following Friday, not having time to get their before they close I am forced to wait until the next week. Being in town that Saturday I stop by to see the car, they are closed on Saturdays, I find that the new tire on the left side has been put on the front wheel and the damaged tire is still on the rear. At this point I'm not even upset any more, I have come to terms that I have made a terrible decision bringing my vehicle here and just allow it to work itself out. This has been one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my life in regards to service and customer relations.
UPDATE!!!
We have just returned from Mobile, AL, the first long trip the car has been on since the repairs were made. The tire tread, on the NEW tires, is obviously wearing uneven leading me to believe that the front end was never aligned or poorly aligned after replacing the strut tower damaged in the wreak. The car has also developed a noise in the front left since the accident. Upon investigating the noise, I found that the old valve stem had apparently been left in the new tire when the tire was mounted. read more