Considering using this company? I'm just going to give you the facts - I'll then leave you to make your own mind up.
NB: You can see photos of the damage caused by this company on my Google review - just Google the name of the business.
When I picked up my car from a wheel and tyre repair, the cream leather interior (which had been pristine) was absolutely filthy. Some of this damage isn't fixable, even after paying out of my own pocket to have it professionally cleaned.
I then spoke to "Peter Andrews", who was the rudest, most arrogant, most unprofessional person I have ever dealt with in a professional context.
In the space of a 10-minute phone conversation, he did the following:
- Repeatedly denied that they were responsible for the damage. To illustrate how much this strains credulity: The only other person who had been in the car was the person who towed it, who I know personally, doesn't deal with any dirty surfaces in his job, and only entered the car to take the parking brake off.
- In response, I pointed out that the damage to the interior of the car was clearly the same dirt and grime that they had left on the wheel (pictured). His response was (I quote VERBATIM) "it's your wheel; it's your problem."
- Threatened to (again, quoting verbatim) "SUE [ME] FOR SLANDER" if I left a negative review.
To put this in context: My only request was that they reimburse me for cleaning costs. I would have been happy to leave it at that.
As a business owner who would never dream of getting into a personal confrontation with an unhappy customer, I am appalled that there are businesses out there who treat their customers this way.
Is it possible that he's actually telling the truth, and the tow truck driver (again, a personal contact who's done multiple jobs for friends without issues) was the one responsible for the damage?
So that you can make your own mind up on this, I have attached a picture of the receipt to my Google review. You can see that even this is utterly filthy, and covered in greasy fingerprints - as was my car key, which the member of staff handled without even using gloves. His hands were BLACK with oil and grime. Every surface in the place was filthy. It doesn't take a physicist to put 2 and 2 together here.
When I initially pointed out the damage to the same member of staff, he claimed that it couldn't have been them, because they always use gloves. He then proceeded to open the car and touch the inside WITHOUT GLOVES (I'm not making this up), and went to clean the leather using INDUSTRIAL SURFACE CLEANER. How does a business that deals with cars all day not know that automotive leather requires specialised cleaning products?
I am already in touch with Trading Standards, the Motor Ombudsman, and the media. With this in mind, should the company cause similar damage to another customer's vehicle in future, I might suggest just paying the £100 to reimburse the customer for cleaning costs. read more
