ComplaintsforAuto Beauty Center

• Initial Complaint

  06/30/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired this auto body shop to fix some body work, they said it would take 4 to 7 days to complete the work and I supplied them with the brand new parts for replacement (2 front fenders and a front bumper). They didn’t even fix the inner structure of the right fender but rigged it together with some kind of bonding agent. They had my car for 9 weeks and they didn’t work on all 4 doors and both rear quarter panels as agreed upon in a 1 on 1 meeting with their Auto Body Mgr. Instead of pulling out the minor door dents and wet sanding and polishing the doors they literally took a white touch up paint that looks like “white-out” and went around touching up the “dings.” It looks like a Kindergartener did the work!!! They asked my to file a “Hail Claim” for the auto accident damage and said they would use that money to fix the aforementioned work I hired them to complete. After the car was done I was complaining to an employee who wouldn’t even tell me what his status was with the company. After I got very angry and questioned the work, he finally told me he was the Owner. I pointed out all the poor workmanship and he asked me what he could do to fix the problem? I said give me a quote on what you would charge normally to finish fixing what was agreed upon, replace both rear quarter panels and repaint the entire car. Then cut me a discount which you think is fair (considering the awful work they had done initially) and we will go from there. The Owner never returned my calls or emails. I paid over $2,700 in cash for this pitiful peace of auto body work!!! Unbelievable.

  Business response

  08/10/2022

  Whenever we have a dissatisfied customer, we do a thorough investigation to gather all
  the facts and then discuss what went wrong and how we can make sure it does not
  happen in the future and what can we do for the customer to make it right. In this
  complaint this is what was reported.
  Customer came in for an estimate on the 27 th of March to meet with estimator. The
  estimator looked over the vehicle and reported that the vehicle had substantial damage
  and that he could tell by looking at it that it would be over the threshold and be a total
  loss. Meaning the repairs were more expensive than the total value of the vehicle. The
  estimating system we use is also used by insurance companies and lets us know when a
  car is past the threshold of being repaired or should be replaced. After estimator reported
  the repair had exceeded this threshold. The customer told the estimator that he really like
  this car, that it was mechanically sound, and they do not make this car like this anymore
  and asked if we could work with him to repair the front end and we would repair the
  quarter panels later.
  The estimator emailed the preliminary estimate by email on March 29 th . I have attached
  copies of the exchange of emails for evidence and will summarize them here in our
  response.
  The estimator in his email to customer on March 29 th @1:32pm stated that he had
  attached the preliminary estimate but did not include any of the Hail damage. He asked if
  he was interested in doing a hail claim to help repair all the damage on his vehicle. He
  also stated that he would have the PDR guys do some additional work by reducing the size
  of non-hail related dents to reduce the labor time for the Body Technicians to remove the
  dents prior to painting.
  The customer responded at 2:30pm same day asking if the car would be totaled if he
  went through insurance because in the prior year it was almost totaled when he hit a
  racoon. He also asked what was the plan for the quarter panels?
  Estimator replied at 3:02 pm. He stated that he was already at the 95% threshold and the
  car will be totaled if he makes a Collision Claim with his insurance company. He then
  reminded customer if he does just a hail claim this is considered a comprehensive claim.
  He stated again that our PDR techs could help him reduce costs on the larger dents and
  help reduce the out-of-pocket expense. Then he asked him to call so he could better
  explain and discuss the differences in the repair costs.
  They then had a conversation on the phone about the repair. They discussed the
  difference between a paint touch up and paint repair. They discussed filling a hail claim
  with insurane. They also discussed that there might be more damage internally after they
  pull off the fenders and bumper and that could increase the cost, but we would present
  those findings by sending pictures or he could stop by the shop and look for himself
  before we proceed. Customer decided to purchase his own fenders and front bumper for
  us to replace to help save on costs and asked us to do the paint touch up on the smaller
  areas. He would repair the quarter panels later.
  On March 30 th at 12:47pm customer asked estimator to quote replacing both quarter
  panels. He stated that he found a quarter panel for $335. And wanted his thoughts on the
  price for a fender for $310.00.
  At 1:19 same day the customer sent another email and stated he had purchased the
  fenders and bumper and may grab the quarter panel to stash a way for a later date.
  
  At 1:50pm estimator replied to email and confirmed that customer had purchased both
  front fenders and front bumper? Customer replied “yes” Estimator also told him that was
  not a bad price on the quarter panel
  At 2:22 pm customer emailed again and asked estimator what he thought about a paint
  combination, ground effects, painting his calipers black and a very subtle trunk wing for
  his car. He said it would eliminate some “restore back to original” effects plus allows some
  creativity by the body man. He then thanked the estimator for being flexible.
  At 2:31pm customer emailed estimator about installing bigger rear wheels and tires and if
  the body men could modify the quarter panels so the wheels/tires would not rub against
  the wheel wells.
  The estimator called later that day and explained the costs associated with these ideas
  and replacing the quarter panels and decided to focus on the repairs on the front-end clip
  doing some PDR on the smaller dents and just touching them up with paint to keep costs
  down. They also discussed painting the doors when the car was brought in later to repair
  the quarter panels. The car was then scheduled for April 11 th .
  Customer brought in the bumper and one fender prior to April 11 th . On April 11 th car was
  dropped off for the repairs. Estimator reviewed the estimate with customer that he
  approved. He then discussed the first step in the repair process which was to do the tear
  down by removing the front bumper and both fenders.
  On April 12 th Tear down was completed and estimator sent email with the preliminary
  supplement because we did find additional hidden damage to the car. In addition, the car
  paint was a Pearl/tricoat that was not on the initial estimate. He stated he would not order
  the replacement parts until he gave his approval on the additional costs.
  Customer and estimator discussed over the phone the additional costs of a 3-stage paint
  and parts. And how it is virtually impossible to match the other panels unless they blend
  the paint into the adjacent panels.
  At this point the customer could have stopped us and he would have only cost $100 for
  the tear down. He could have moved the car to another shop or sold it as is.
  
  On April 13 th 11:52am customer responded that there was no way he could afford the
  additional costs and asked if we could move forward without having to blend the front
  doors and hood.
  At 11:55 estimator responded that he wanted to make sure expectations were understood
  and make sure that he was ok with the doors and fenders slightly off tint. He then stated
  he would have them start production without blending.
  On April 26 th customer emailed and asked for a status update. Estimator informed him by
  phone that we were experiencing problems getting the parts we needed to repair the
  internal damage. Supplier had sent us the wrong parts and we were just waiting for the
  correct parts to arrive, and one part was on back order.
  Customer was updated periodically by phone with updates. The estimator was also one of
  our PDR technicians and was helping in the estimator role because we had some people
  out with covid and short staffed. He told the customer that he would after work try and
  
  push out the large dents in the quarter panels and make them look better at no additional
  charge. He also told him we would give him a free Glaze and interior detail for all the
  delays that is out of our control We normally charge $275 for interior and exterior polish
  detail. We did perform the detail, but we did not make the damage on the quarter panels
  look much better. They are made of high strength steel, and they did not budge much
  with the various PDR tools we tried.
  On May 24 th 4:27pm customer sent another email message asking for status update.
  On May 25 th estimator sent a email at 8:18am that he hoped it would be completed by
  4:00pm. Customer was called later that day that it would be ready by 5:00pm Customer
  said he would pick it up the next day.
  On May 26 th customer came to pick up vehicle. I was told by my receptionist that we had
  a customer that was not happy with his repair of his vehicle. I let him vent for a while
  until he became verbally abusive and kept interrupting me and repeating himself. I calmly
  told him I could not remedy the situation until he settled down and we could have a
  conversation. I told him I was going to check with the shop manager and review the final
  estimate and I would come back to speak with him and see if we could work it out to his
  satisfaction. In summary he was upset with the length of time it took, the touch up
  paint, the color not matching and that the quarter panels had not been repaired and some
  other dents that were not repaired. When I came back to speak with him, I explained to
  him that there must be some mis-understanding of expectations. We did everything that
  was in the estimate that he approved. I explained to him that trying to touch up a car that
  has three stage paint is impossible. You cannot put three layers of paint in a scratch and
  make it match. I told him we did not even charge him for the paint touch up. We just did
  it so his panels would not rust. I asked him what it would take to make him happy. He
  said fix my quarter panels paint my car white and give me a good discount. I told him that
  I would try to do that, but it might be more expensive to change the color of the car from
  pearl white to white. I told him I would work up and estimate that was the least expensive
  way to repair his car either changing colors or painting the rest of the car so all the panels
  matched and repair all the dents so the car would look as good as possible. I also told him
  I would schedule the car in so we could get it in and out in the shortest period. I would
  also give him a loaner car so he could use it for his **** business because he complained
  that his truck used to much gas. He smiled and thanked me for trying to work this out
  with him. I told him to give me a couple of weeks we were super busy and were short
  workers due to covid and still experiencing parts delays on other cars. It might take 3 to 4
  weeks to get the car back in for the requested repairs and provide estimate for the
  repairs. I had a 14-day vacation planed starting June 28 th and I failed to get an estimate
  to him before I left. Upon returning to work after playing catch up I sent him an estimate
  on 7/29 to make his car look really good and gave him a $3,000 discount to try and make
  it right. I have not heard a response from him. I would appreciate any assistance that the
  BBB could do to help make a reasonable attempt to remedy the situation with this
  customer. I apologize for not responding sooner. Please let me know if you need
  additional information.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ****** ****** *****

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