Can I leave zero stars?
First off let me say that I usually don't leave reviews. If something is exceptionally great, I probably will. If it's so-so, to good, probably not. If it's way below expectations, I mean really poor, I'll take the time and effort to warn off others.
I had a service (disservice actually) today from Pat-n-Polish. My wife had gotten a coupon on Amazon Local as a gift for an SUV detailing. There's lots of local outfits. That do this, they're all about the same price, so she figured give the small guy some business, and it's a half off deal.
I got the gift in winter, figuring we'd get the SUV cleaned up for spring. This had been a rough winter and it didn't let up until late April. So we called to set up an appointment. We got an answering machine that messaged that we'd hear back next day. We didn't do we tried again in a few days. We got a service that took our information and would pass it along. Finally got an appointment set up for mid-May, but had to cancel a week or so before as things came up on our end. Then we started the phone tag process over again. Since the weather was nice, they were booked up and couldn't get to use until 1st week in July. No problem, I totally understand.
The coupon was for an SUV detail with interior cleaning and detailing and exterior wash, wax and buffing. Pretty standard stuff. They scheduled for 9AM, at 10:30 they called and said they'd be late (really?!) and got here around 11:30. I was expecting a van with pressure washers, vacuum cleaner, random orbital buffer; the usual tools of the trade. (Look at their website, they even show pictures of folks using power buffers!) Some of the outfits even have generators to supply power for all their equipment. Not these guys. The two come up in an old Datsun (nothing against Datsun - now Nissan) with the windows rolled down (no AC - it was in the 90's today) and need to plug in their vacuum cleaner and hook up to the garden hose. OK, not an issue. They washed the cars (yep, my wife got an Amazon Local coupon for her SUV too - but I'll let he tell her own story) with the garden hose with the tomato watering head (long wand with the gentle rain shower spray). I would have given them the nozzle if the at least asked. It was about the same quality wash as my 15 year old would do (maybe not as good), but certainly below expectations. The inside (which they spent a lot of time on) was a bit better, but still had the little bits of sandy earth that collect still in the corners after they were done. They did a good job on the windows they did do, but only got the driver's side front window and 3 of the 4 side windows. That's 4.5 out of 6.
They proudly came to the front door to ask me to check how great they did. Here's where it get sad (and funny in a twist sort of way)... This is a daily driver and sits outdoors many nights. I do wash it every week or two weather permitting, but really on do a deep detail once a year (hence the gift to save me the time), it's usually the bulk of a Saturday afternoon. There's a seam over the back hatch hinge area that collects little twigs and leaves and stuff (just like at the cowl edge at the bottom of the front window). It's a bit of a pain to get in there to clean (small brush or rag edge), but most of it gets hosed out with the washing. Oh right, gentle rain sprayer. I opened the hatch and all the bits and leaves were still in there. I'm actually glad they didn't clean it out as there was a small tree frog hiding trying to keep out of the sun (yes, he was rescued and is back in the woods now). They "cleaned" that out and called me for a recheck. We'll there was enough brake dust on the front wheels to make a nice slice through with my finger. Round three coming up. How about the streaks and now dried dirt drip areas? "Where, I don't see that." Why is there still grit between all the trim moldings? "We can't get in there." I always keep an old toothbrush for getting the dirt out of (the pressure from a hose nozzle works most of the time) and for getting the wax out of the cracks and crevices. Wax...wasn't that part of the service. "We don't do that." It says so right in the confirmation email as well as on the coupon that describes the service we're contracted to get. "We don't have any wax". I do, you can use mine. "We don't do that." The bright side is that they didn't wax over dirt. And I didn't get sucked into paying the "full $179 value" for this.
As a parting gift, they left a nice oil stain on the driveway concrete under their car. Fortunately, there's still some sealer left so it came up with about 1/2 hour of scrubbing and flushing (with the pressure nozzle, not the tomato sprayer).
Looks like when it cools off this evening, I'll wash and wax and do the usual detail myself, like every year. And tomorrow, I get to do the wife's SUV (hers is only about 6 months old, so it's not a tough one at all). read more