First of all, I should point out that this business prominently dispIays a "BBB Accredited" sign in…read moretheir front office. After writing my initial review, I went to the BBB website to leave a review, only to find that they are not BBB Accredted. (See the screenshot below.) To my mind this casts doubt on the business's credibility as a whole.
I had bought a groupon for a detailing, and they were kind enough to fit me in on a Saturday, since that was the only day that would work with my schedule. I noticed in the groupon that they mention pet hair. Since I have a dog, I read the groupon carefully before buying, and noted the following:
-"Waxing, Excessive Pet Hair and 7 Seats Car can be availed upon request for extra."
-"Extra charges for pet hair and mud stain removal."
-"Pet hair removal is 25 sections."
I suppose I should have presumed that with three mentions of pet hair, this company is reluctant to deal with any amount of it. You can see in the photos below (taken immediately after visiting the merchant) of the seats and trunk of my car that there is a small amount of pet hair in the back seat - but so little you can barely see it in the photo. My car had been recently vacuumed, and when my dog is in the car, I use a hammock in the back seat, so most of his fur is captured by that. I was really just hoping to have the seats shampooed since there are water stains on them from wet dogs getting into the car.
When I arrived for my appointment, the person at the desk asked to see the car before he would accept it to be detailed. He immediately opened the back door and said there was pet hair, so it would be extra. He didn't speak much English, so asked if I spoke any other languages. I asked to speak to the person I had spoken to on the phone, presumably the owner. He came out and questioned me about the groupon and how much I had paid for it. I'm not sure how that's relevant. He literally pointed to the 'fine print' which had been made larger and posted on the wall at the front desk. He then proceeded to read it to me, word for word, following the text with his forefinger as though I were a child in kindergarten, unable to read it for myself.
I had read it ahead of time, and pointed out that his ad said "excessive pet hair" would be extra, and I didn't have excessive pet hair in my car. He stated that any pet hair was a problem, because it ruins his vacuum cleaners. I'm not sure why a business that does auto detailing doesn't have vacuum cleaners that can handle the work, but he also said that my car was in such a horrible state that it would take the entire day to clean it. This is patently untrue. I questioned him about what "Pet hair removal is 25 sections." means. He said it would cost me $25 dollars extra for each section of my car, plus the trunk if I wanted them to do that. There are 6 sections in my car. The driver's seat, the passenger seat, the three back seats and the trunk. So...to use a groupon that costs $115, it would cost me an additional $150 before he would even agree to do the work.
The thing is, that's not what the 'fine print' says. It says "Pet hair is 25 sections. " not "Pet hair is an added $25 per section". Two very different things. The owner refused to acknowledge this discrepancy.
He patronizingly said that 'life is too short' to argue about it. I agreed, and asked for my keys so that I could leave. He continued to try convincing me that I was being unreasonable asking that he do the work I had paid him to do for the price I had already paid. I quickly realized that the groupon is merely a way to get you to his shop, which is far from centrally located, so that he can demand added fees before doing the work. You cannot get refunds on groupons, so I would imagine this works more often than not because he know he has people over a barrel. Since the added charges for my car would have been in excess of my original outlay, I decided it would be preferable to take the loss than to give this man my business. Eventually I got my keys back and left. Throughout the experience, I could feel that this man has no respect for women, given the immediate patronizing tone I received.
I would suggest that if the owner of the business wants to rely so heavily on the 'fine print' to force groupon customers to pay extra, he should consult with someone who knows how to write properly before posting it online and in his office.
This was a highly inconvenient experience, as I had driven clear across town to have the work done at a good price, only to find out that it was a wasted trip, and a wasted groupon.
