I bumped a short concrete post getting out from a parking space. It didn't seem anything major, but unfortunately, it was enough to slightly damage a corner and misalign one of the sliding doors of my minivan which consequently was not closing anymore. I contact my insurance, and after its assessment, I brought the car to Roland Falls Auto Repair. A few days later the car was repaired and ready to be picked up. Once at home, I inspected the door more carefully and I noticed that two metal pins that were originally there (they go into two corresponding holes in the car main frame) were missing and one of the threaded holes accommodating them in the door was covered with a plastic piece. Plus, I did not have anything written about the actual repair, just the insurance estimation. So, I went immediately back to the shop and asked the owner a written document describing the repair performed, and why those pins were taken out. The only answer to my first question was "I can make a copy of the insurance estimation", i.e. he repeatedly refused to provide any additional more accurate and legible document about the actual repair. When I showed him the location where the pins were supposed to be he immediately, in a very guilty way, took the plastic piece that was covering one of the pins threaded holes, and he started to make contradictory excuses like "they were bent", "the guy ordered them", "they are on the shelf". Clearly, he did not know what to say and was trying to quickly get out of that awkward situation. So, I had to leave my car there for another day. The pins were put back in the door, but they were visibly sanded down and shorter than originally. My educated guess at this point (without any description of the repair) is that the repaired door was closing only without those pins, and so he purposely took them out. Asked to put them back he just tried the shortcut of modifying the pins, instead of reviewing and adjust the overall repair.
A week later the door was not closing again, and I noticed another problem with another supposedly repaired component: the bumping door strip was not completely stuck on the door, i.e. the double side tap used for the repair was not working. Again, I went back to the shop (third time) for the door and the strip. Unfortunately, when I showed him the door, it worked! Anyway, I asked him to have a look because for more than two days the door was not working. His answer was: "Well, I don't see any problem. The door is working". He was not believing me; very frustrating. And his answer for the strip was: "I'll need to ask the insurance for more money to replace the whole strip. They only told me to repair it". What? He saw that the double sided tape was failing; clearly a consequence of his poor repair. No need to replace the whole thing (BTW only about 3 or 4 inches were repaired). Plus, as an expert, he should have realized that the repair was not working, communicated that to me and the insurance, and possibly changed strategy. Eventually, he said that he found a stone in the door track, but refused to fix the strip. I obviously do not believe any word coming out from his mouth anymore, and I did not want to give him any more money, even insurance money. I just did not leave the car there for the fourth time.
To summarize. The work on the body of the door corner is fine, not perfect. The door movement is working, but it is not as smooth as originally was. Those alignment/security pins are now shorter, and part of the bumping strip is not completely attached. Plus, I don't have any description of what was done, I wasted way too much time, and I did not like how the owner talked to me.
I clearly do NOT recommend Roland Falls Auto Repair. I question both their knowledge/skills about repairing cars, and most importantly their honesty/attitude towards their customers. read more
