DO NOT EVER USE THIS HORRIBLE PLACE!!!
ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE USING INSURANCE!!!
I waited a full two weeks after getting my car back to write this review. I wanted to make sure I wasn't giving you information purely from a place of frustration and irritation. Two weeks later, after talking with other mechanic shops, I am even more frustrated and irritated because of the incompetence of Salinas Collision. So here it is, a comprehensive and honest review.
1. We will start with cleanliness, you know, because we are in a pandemic and it should be a top priority. First off, when I picked up my car, they left the inside a horrific pigsty! The steering wheel and gear shift had nasty smears on them. The floor under the drivers seat was smeared with dirt as well. On the floor in the back seat, below my 3 year old's car seat, was a FREAKING RAZOR BLADE!!!!! When I opened my sun roof, the inside of the sun roof window was covered in dirt and grime. And my kid's travel box that was in the trunk area was covered in dirt, worse than my backyard after the fires and ash a few months ago. AND there was a dirty rag that was left on top of the box! Disgusting! I had to use an entire container of Clorox wipes to clean the inside of my car because it was so dirty. With that much dirt, I wouldn't be surprised if COVID had shown up. I was extremely upset because two days before I had picked up my car, I had spoken with Anthony on the phone who reassured me that my car would be detailed inside and out to make up for all of the issues they had caused (read later). I have never had a mechanic leave my car so disgusting and dirty! Also, the staff did NOT respect social distancing guidelines while I was picking up my car. I don't like people in my bubble outside of the pandemic, BACK UP!
2. Efficiency. Well, actually, they are the opposite of efficient here. They are completely INCOMPETENT. They had my car for TWO MONTHS. I picked up my car a month after they had told me my car would be done. And here was the most frustrating part. They would tell us the car would be done on a Tuesday, and then wouldn't even call us to tell us it was going to take longer. We had to call them to find out, "Oh, it won't be ready until next week." This happened for FOUR WEEKS. We would only find out if we called, they never called us even two days after they said it would be done. Talk about incompetent.
3. Unprofessional. EXTREMELY unprofessional. Aside from the unprofessional behavior that was incompetence, they were also completely incapable of accepting responsibility for their inability to do their job. They would give excuses and pretend like it was no big deal that they were taking so long and being so incompetent. Like when I picked up my car, and the gas was LOW. My car will tell you how far you can go with the gas in the tank, the light comes on at 30 miles. When I turned on my car to leave, the range was LOW, no mileage, just LOW, which meant I had less than 10 miles to drive! I have NEVER had my gas tank that low!! When I called them out to point out that my gas was empty, all Mark said was, "I don't know how that happened." He then proceeded to show me pictures of the odometer to prove they didn't drive the car more than 6 miles, so it wasn't their fault. Hello, are you a mechanic or not? Because I don't know jack about cars, but I DO know that you can waste gas without putting any miles on your car! Talk about unprofessional and incapable of accepting responsibility for your behavior!
4. They don't listen to you at all!! When they offered to give us a rental car (after they had the car for 6 weeks!), we told them we needed an SUV because we have kids and dogs during a pandemic. They gave us a car that was smaller than our sedan on the inside, AND told us we could not have the dogs in the car! Obviously they were not willing to listen! And when I picked my car up, they told me I needed to pay the deductible. I had called my insurance the day before, who told me I did not have to pay the deductible and that they had called the shop to tell them I didn't have to pay. When I mentioned this to their admin staff, I was told that I still had to pay it. I was so furious with their bull that I just paid it because I knew they wouldn't be willing to listen, and I would only get more excuses.
5. What did they do to make up for all of this incompetence and unprofessional behavior? They gave us a $100 visa giftcard. But when I know you were paid $15,000 for fixing my car, and you charged me the deductible when you shouldn't have, I know this was a pathetic attempt to gloss over your incompetence and horrible work ethic. Nice fail, buddy!
If your insurance has a contract with this company, GO ANYWHERE ELSE!!! They have contracts because they can't provide good enough service for people to be willing to pay for it themselves. And they will take advantage of you. read more