STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY. Consider yourself warned! This terrible experience with Tip Top began when I received a call the Wednesday before Thanksgiving from Leah (what a disaster) to retrieve my belongings from the car as the insurance directed them to tow it away (insurance totaled the car). I said, wait hold on, I did not settle with them, I own that car (which is still driveable), the insurance can't send it anywhere. I asked, could they keep the car until Monday or Tuesday so that I can sort this out? It is a holiday and I don't believe I can resolve before then. She said OK! She agreed. My insurance rep also sent me an email that she told the shop to keep until Monday.
My husband calls in Friday to go in to the shop and they say they've sent my car to salvage. What?!? I called and got Leah (did I mention a disaster?) and said I spoke to you on Wednesday and you said that you would keep until Monday. She then denies agreeing to that and says well the insurance said to send it to salvage, so they did. I told her they do not own the car, I do, I have title, we have not settled, I'm the customer. She (and the shop) could care less. I asked her where my car was and she said they don't know to talk to insurance, which was not open. So they SENT MY CAR TO SALVAGE and did not know or care to where they sent it?
After her being of no help, I asked to speak to the supervisor and she said he couldn't because he was working on a car. I knew she hadn't escalated to him. Now this is where it gets even more interesting, Ravi the shop manager, tried to shoo me away and told me I needed to go to the car myself. I told him I refused given they did not even notify me of the move, I wasn't even given the opportunity to clear my car and they don't even know where it is--where am I supposed to go?! TIP TOP'S MANAGER DOES NOT EVEN KNOW THE LOCATION OF HIS CUSTOMER'S CAR! On top of it, he did not even bother to find out where it was.
So, I told him I'm not going anywhere (I couldn't, no one knew where my car was), I came down here so you could do something to fix this problem you created. Now THE MOST SEXIST exchange in a business setting I have ever seen, he says, "I am not your husband, I am not your child. You don't demand things of me. I'm done with you." Then he leaves the shop. So after illegally sending my car to salvage he denies me service because I am a woman!
I asked to speak to the owner and the entire shop, who witnessed this comedic display of Ravi pounding his meek chest, said well we'll tell him and he'll reach out to you if he wants. What? You send my car to you don't know where, your shop manager refuses to respond to me and THE OWNER MAY OR MAY NOT CARE?? I have yet to hear back, so at best I can surmise is the owner does not know this transpired or does not care--either way, you as a customer should stay away.
It is Tip Top's stance, as a company, that THEY WORK FOR THE INSURANCE COMPANY AND NOT THE CUSTOMER that brought in the car. Now my insurance company has admitted that they sent the car to salvage in error. If Tip Top's stance was to service their customers and not the insurance company, they would have listened to me the customer regarding the situation and this could have been avoided. They claim that I signed away my rights in paperwork with them, and when I requested such paperwork, they lost the file? I reviewed the paperwork after and no, Tip Top, I did not sign away anything.
Additionally, once the shop creates an issue, YOU CAN BE DENIED SERVICE WITHOUT ANY ACCOUNTABILITY OR RECOURSE. Definitely if you are a woman stay away from the shop, as the shop manager Ravi is incredibly sexist and cannot handle interacting with a woman in a professional capacity (only if you are his wife or his mother can he apparently respond). Moreover, anyone can be denied service apparently if Ravi feels his fragile male ego impugned in anyway (which is apparently easy to do). Lenny is the only decent person here. He witnessed this crazy display and tried to help, away from the rest of the shop.
Also, to boot, the shop lost my tags while the car was in their possession. Of course, they were of no help in this regard either. Do yourself a favor and stay away! Go to any of the other several 4 and 5 star rated shops in the area. No option of zero stars here. I filed a complaint with my insurance company about their business practices, since management here is the problem. Good luck out there! read more