WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!!!
Hmmmm dealing with the owners of this car wash entity has got to be the very WORST EXPERIENCE I have ever had. In May of 2018, I purchased a beautiful and classic 1985 Lincoln Town Car that had been meticulously cared for and well preserved by the prior owner. Zappy's had a "Detail Special" listed on their website for $75, so I called their Willowick location and scheduled an appointment. I brought my car in as scheduled and was told the detail treatment would last about 1.5 hours.
I ended up sitting there over 3 hours in a cramped and tiny office, before finally venturing a peek into the service bay to check on my car. Immediately, both young men jumped up from sitting on the floor and both had a frightened and tense look on their faces ... It was then that I noticed the drivers side power mirror dangling on its power cord and completely out of it's casement. I became understandably angry and asked them WHY they had broken this mirror. They both stood there (to my incredible disbelief) and LIED OUT OF THEIR ASSES saying that this mirror was broken when I arrived. I can attest unequivocally that THIS WAS NOT THE CASE!!!!!!!!! I was so angry and dumbfounded ... absolutely furious that this power heated mirror had SURVIVED and WORKED FLAWLESSLY for 33 years, that is until these two inept and careless employees broke it while rubbing the mirror glass too hard. In addition to these DAMAGES it appeared as if they had barely touched my vehicle with any cleaning rags or adequately vacuumed the inside. I pulled down both the drivers and passenger side vanity mirrors ... yep neither had been touched at all and were still dirty and smudged.
I asked them to discount my detail job due to these damages and the poor job they did on actually cleaning the vehicle, they stood there and argued with me for over 20 minutes. Finally, the "acting manager" shaved off a paltry $20.00 for my troubles.
I was then told to contact the owners of Zappy's at their Mentor office.
There were no less than 8 separate phone calls placed to their corporate office at 9946 Johnnycake Ridge Road between May and early August ... not once did anybody return my URGENT PHONE CALLS as it related to these damages to my vehicle.
Exasperated, I drove to the Mentor ave location, where I spoke with a seemingly understanding A.J. Zappitelli (One of the owners in this large family). A.J. assured me that their company carried insurance to cover these unfortunate instances because they "happen all of the time" (In his own words). I was instructed to visit his Father at their corporate offices located at 9946 Johnnycake Ridge Road, so I went over there and spoke with the elder Mr. Zappitelli. What I encountered was an immediately confrontational, unsympathetic and arrogant individual. He had the gall to tell me that he "didn't believe my claims because the alleged damages occurred in May" ... that's when I informed him of the 8 separate calls and voice messages I had left between May and August, none of which were ever addressed.
He then handed me the business card of his cronie (attorney) and asked me to contact him regarding this matter of damages.
I did so, but was also met with extreme suspicion and skepticism by this less than dignified lawyer. The lawyer asked me to PROVE THAT THE MIRROR WAS NOT BROKEN prior to taking it to Zappy's for the detail.
Fortunately, I had snapped many photos when I purchased this car, so it was abundantly OBVIOUS and CRYSTAL CLEAR that the mirror in question WAS NOT BROKEN or in any disrepair PRIOR to my visit to their Willowick detail shop. I emailed no less than 12 photographs that clearly showed my mirror was in perfect and working condition.
Next ... I was asked to visit a body shop to obtain an estimate for repair / replacement costs, which I did. I actually submitted 3 separate repair estimates from 3 different body shops, trying to be fair since it seemed as if they were leaning towards DOING THE RIGHT THING by paying to have my mirror fixed.
A week later, I received a very cold and uncaring email from this lawyer indicating that my CLAIM FOR DAMAGES was being DENIED due to lack of substantiated proof that these TWO IDIOT EMPLOYEES actually caused the damages. I immediately phoned the corporate office and spoke with Mr. Zappitelli ... I chewed him a NEW ASS and as a result he called the Lake County Sheriff's Department to report me. LOL!!
I still can't believe how egregious this whole matter is. It's easy to just tell somebody to F#@K OFF when the damages aren't to their own personal property. If the shoe was on the other foot and it was their property that was damaged, I am certain these "people" would go to the ends of the Earth to exact their revenge or obtain their due Justice.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: IF YOU VALUE YOUR INVESTMENTS IN ANY OF YOUR AUTOMOBILES, YOU WILL NOT, I REPEAT ... YOU WILL NOT UTILIZE THE CAR WASHES OPERATED BY ZAPPY'S at any of their several locations. read more