I had my car towed here on a Friday night last week because they were the only shop opened on Saturday who could look at the damages and give me an idea of whether I could get the new car.
The manager/owner Alex was very knowledgeable and told me a lot about the process of getting a new car and was willing to offer me a deal if I did decide to work on the car. He also was willing to get me a discount on a rent a car.
He needed to see my registration so I gave it to him. I had to make a decision on the car but eventually decided that the cost to repair wasn't worth the investment as the car had already 250,000 miles on it. I had given him the keys so that he could move the car, and he was waiting on a decision about the car. After reviewing the registration he gave it back to me. I made a comment of needing to get back into the car to put the registration because I had gave him my keys. He said that he could put it back for me, (which would avoid the hassle of me receiving the keys again) which I was fine with. Also, I would have been carrying it in my bags otherwise since I would be walking, and ironically (as you will find out later), I thought that there was more chance of losing the registration if I did that. In hindsight, I should have asked for my keys to put it in myself. He ended up putting the registration in one of his file cabinets. After a few days I decided to move the car since I was going to get it towed, and did not want to pay for leaving it in a lot.
I took the car, but found out later that the registration wasn't in there when I needed to transfer my old plates for a new car. I went back later to his office the next Friday to ask for the registration. He said he had given it to me and was adamant that he didn't have my registration. He even placated me by saying that I could get a copy of the registration online for free. I was unsure about that but I would check later that night. I asked about the last drawer I saw him putting it in, and he didn't seem willing to do so. So I went home my wife and I searched and we couldn't find it.
Next morning I went back to ask about the registration, he wanted to offer me a way to get new cars, which I did appreciate, and offered me advice in saving money for cars. I took the information, but wanted to make sure he understood I was here for the registration and that I wanted to make sure that the drawer that I saw him put it in was checked this time as well, so I pressed him about it, because I found out that I would have to pay for a duplicate registration. He did search, and told me he would let me know if he found the registration. He ended up calling me four days afterwards that he had found it.
I appreciate that he called me about it, and left me a message. My issue was that I had to pay $25 money for a duplicate registration (it was not free as he had said) to transfer my plates, and that there seemed to be an indifference and lack off remorse to the hardship it caused. I learned the hard way that you cannot trust everyone to do what they say. It's too bad that this had to be my experience with him because he seemed as a nice guy and was helpful in the beginning. Unfortunately, making a potential customer feel stupid, and not feeling particularly apologetic or remorseful for it was an eye opener for me. There was still hope for business because mistakes happen, and no one's perfect. Also, he had helped me in car decisions. However, the ending to this experience left a bitter taste in my mouth. read more