This is complaint about Midland Automotive and its owner John George who provided poor service, incomplete work, shoddy workmanship in the repair of my vehicle. Car "Repair" Took Months In July 2019 I received a quote from John George to repair rust and paint my 2005 Madza 3. He said the sooner I could get it to him, the better. He would have his guys get started right away. I was feeling optimistic I would get my car done well, by a local small business owner. I dropped the car off on August 2, 2019, and gave a deposit of $1500. However, I did not hear anything back for a month, so called John, who said he was having a hard time getting parts. I called back multiple times and in the end John George did not do any work on my car for over 3 months. It was November before he even began. I was never told it would take this long for work to begin. While working on the car, John George never even called me to provide updates. I called him repeatedly over the subsequent weeks. Each time I got different excuses, which were clearly lies, since they contradicted his previous statements. When John did call me in late January (six months after after I dropped off my car) to tell me the car was done, I soon realized that it was not really done. Parts of the car were not painted, and what was done still required another step to complete.
Issues after the initial "Repair":
- The car was the wrong color; he chose the wrong tint of blue.
- He had not finished painting parts of the car, so it was two-toned. The side skirts, the trunk and handles were noticeably different colors than the rest of the car. When asked why he had not completed the painting job on the trunk he said it would be too much work to cover the Mazda emblems and paint around them
- John George had not completed the final sanding of the car.
George said to bring it back in a couple weeks. He would finish the painting and the final wet sand. The initial work that was done was horrendous and unprofessional. There were drips and overspray on the exhaust, tires, and even the interior. The interior was not covered when they worked and dirt and cigarette smoke permeated the it. My hope was to get John to finish the whole job and keep the car for a another year or two. So I called a couple weeks later to get the car back in, and John said he was too busy, and asked me to call back. I called back on February 22, complaining this needed to get finished, and he said I should bring it over on Sunday February. Stopping by the shop on February 25, I learned he did not start the work on Sunday as he said he would.
When it could not get worse, my car was stolen
On March 3, 8 months after I initially dropped off the car, I called John to get an update. John said it was not done, but since he had an additional mechanic in his employ, he could finish the job.
I had been able to tolerate this liar's excuses for 8 months, so I was able to handle yet another setback. However, On Monday, March 9, the situation reached an unimaginable climax. It was on this day I called John who told me, "you are not gonna believe this but your car was stolen". John's "story" was that someone took several sets of keys from his office on Friday, March 6. Nevertheless, my car was the only one stolen. I asked John if a report was filed and he said yes, but he could not provide a report number. Since John could not give me a police report number I went to file a report with the Franklin Township Police department on Monday, March 9. It was then I learned the car had actually been missing longer than first reported by John. After running my plates the police officer stated, "I wish we would have been alerted sooner and we could of got ahead of this". The officer then said the car had actually been pulled over on Wednesday, March 4 by the Sheriff's Department. This was days before the date of theft that John had given me. The police told me the name of the lady pulled over driving the car on March 4. Incidentally, this was the same person pulled over driving the car again on March 12. when the car was finally recoivered. That person, when stopped by the police stated that John George gave her the car to drive. John had told me the car was missing on Friday March 6. This was a lie. There is a police record of car being pulled over on March 4 being driven by a woman who shall remain anonymous. John George did not call me or call the police. Did John have something to hide? John seems to personally know the person who was later pulled over driving my car, since he independently told me my car was possibly stolen by her. This adds to the suspicious nature of this event.
If John George had done the work he had agreed to do in a timely fashion, I would not have had my car stolen. I am worse off for having done business with Midland Automotive and John George. read more
