West Broad Volkswagen / Audi Review from Anthony C. in Mechanicsville, VA on 04/29/2012

Mr Parham:

I sent you the attached letter approximately two weeks ago and you don't even have the common courtesy to contact me. Absolutely terrible Customer service.

The is an old saying" the fish stinks from the head down" seems very appropriate.

---------------------------------------------------Dear Mr. Parham:

I am writing you this letter because I am at an impasse with West Broad collision regarding the repair of my brand new Audi .I tried my best to reason with Stuart to seek a solution to no avail. I can’t help but feel he has personalized this issue.
Please also consider this a response to the Customer Survey that you sent me on Wednesday.
I must say that I am very disappointed with West Broad collision. The customer service that I have received is substandard and in my view your shop manager has been purposely uncooperative.
I brought my brand new Audi to your collision center which was two days old to have a small dent repaired in the rear quarter panel. Prior to the car being repaired, I had a meeting with the assist ant manager (the Manager was not available) and the lead painter. I explained to them that this was a brand new car with 200 miles and that to please do the best job possible. I am a person who expects quality work and reviewed my expectations with both gentlemen at your body shop. I even spoke to my insurance adjuster who authorized extra funds just to ensure the finish was perfect.
Additionally, I told the assistant manager to call me if they discovered that any additional work needed to be performed to ensure the job came out perfect. I explicitly told them that I would assist should there be any issues with the Insurance. I made every effort to be proactive up front and requested that Lee share my concerns and expectations with the Body Shop Manager when he returned to work. I simply could not be any clearer that if there were any issues to call me a.s.a.p.
When I received the car back, the car newly painted fender did not match the bumper. Now, while I realize that bumpers don’t always match the body perfectly, this mismatch was cleary due to the new paint job because the opposite side of the car that was not painted, matched just fine.
I contacted Stuart the same day and explained to him that I was not satisfied with the outcome of the collision work. He then informed me that the bumper should have also been painted to do the job right but the insurance company would not authorize it. Needless to say I was a bit flabbergasted because I mentioned it twice to Lee that the job had to come out perfect as possible and to call me immediately if there were any issues. Clearly he did not honor my request and just painted the fender.
After numerous conversations with your organization, and in conjunction with my insurance company The Hartford agreed to pay an additional fee to paint the bumper so I thought the issue was resolved.
Today Stuart call me and indicated that the insurance company is not paying him enough to do the job right and that he was not going to do it unless I paid the difference.. At that point an argument ensued and I informed Stuart I will escalate this issue to his management as well as issue a complaint and post my experience on the website. Stuart said to bring in the insurance check and we may be able to work out some type of deal but apparently the deal does not include fixing the car in the proper way and what we discussed. Quite honestly, I am not quite sure what his intention or motivation is as I personally never experienced such poor behavior as a customer .Given the circumstances I do not believe that I should pay any extra funds out of my pocket.
I called my insurance agent today and explained the issue again. He said that he contacted your collision center and tried to speak to someone there and they hung up on him. He also indicated that he tried to contact you directly and left you a message.


Mr. Parham:
In summary I would like to convey the following:
1) I believe that your management has not dealt with me in good faith.
2) They portrayed a blatant air of arrogance and non-concern for customer satisfaction.
3) Even though I went the extra mile to meet with your organization prior to the work being performed, and provided explicit instructions on communicating any anomalies to me, they chose not to.
4) Given what has taken place, I would have expected that West Broad Collision would do the right thing and fix my car the right way but instead of being helpful; they conveyed a sense of outward aggression and uncooperativeness. Please keep in mind that the difference in cost to paint the bumper after the insurance pays is approximately $200.00 additional dollar .These costs could have been even cheaper if it was done when the bumper was partially detached during the fender repair.
5) After speaking to a few collision experts, there is a difference of opinion in the methodology of how he did the repair in the first place given it is a brand new car.
I am respectfully requesting that you ensure one of the following actions take place:
Fix my car in the proper fashion including whatever it takes to do a first class professional job that a brand new car deserves.
OR

Provide me a full refund and I will have the car redone at another Collision center which will include fixing the car in the proper way. I will provide you a paid invoice indicating the work has been completed.

I am willing to meet with you to personally convey my concerns as it is sometimes difficult to properly express what has transpired in just written form.
I sincerely appreciate your effort and await your reply.

Anthony Cosma

804-550-0565