ComplaintsforSidney Body CARSTAR

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I took my 2018 Honda Civic Type "R" in to get a quote to get minor body work done on 4/1023 or 4/11/23. Two door handles and a mirror on the passenger side had chipping paint (this was the main reason I took the car in, because the chipping was obvious and an eye sore) and the rear bumper had minor damage. They took pictures of each area of my car and called me back two days later (4/13/23) with a quote of ~$1390.75 (The quote includes front door, mirror, rear door, and bumper). I took my car in on 5/8/23 to get the repairs made. They contacted me on 5/10/23 buy phone and email informing me the repairs were complete. When the car was "finished", I went in to pick it up on 5/11/23. Upon inspection I come to find out they only repaired/repainted the front door handle, mirror and bumper, and said they forgot to do the other door handle, but replaced a piece of plastic on it, but they would give me an estimate for the other door handle, even though it was part of the original estimate. I called back and was told your estimate was to replace a piece of plastic on the rear door handle and that the Carstar representative saw the paint chips during the repair process this week and probably should have called to let me know (despite them taking pictures of the rear door handle and having it on the original estimate). I want the job completed as originally agreed to (including the rear door handle which is in the estimate) and for the purposes of my taking my car to have it repaired in the first place. I have included the original estimate that I received for the car which includes the rear door (the only thing needing repaired on the rear door was the rear door handle, which was communicated clearly to Carstar when I took it in originally, and pictures were taken by the car star representative, and why it was in the original estimate). Why is the rear door on the original estimate if not for the door handle? Have them explain that. The REAR DOOR is on the original estimate

  Business response

  05/31/2023

  Mr. ****** came into our shop on 4/12/2023 @ 9am.  Our CSR took photos on the damage he asked for an estimate on.  It was a crack in the rear bumper and clear paint problems on the front and rear handles and mirror cover on the right side of the car.  Our estimator got to the estimate on 4/13/2023 @ 11:30.  Working off the photos we took, our estimator wrote the estimate.  We wrote the original estimate to replace the upper cover on the right mirror (because it comes paint and is cheaper to replace the part then to repair and paint) and repair and repaint the front door handle.  On the rear door we wrote to replace the Escutcheon which is the rear door handle cap.  Not to do anything with the rear door handle that you grab to open the door, that is a different part.  All the door handles on this car are two separate pieces.  From the original photos we took we didn't see any reason to repair the actual handle part you grab because we didn't see any damage from the photo.  We called the customer and he approved us to do repairs and put him on the schedule.  We scheduled him to start repairs on 5/08/2023.

   

  Once the repairs started we disassembled the vehicle and found the rear bumper crack was not in a good place to repair as it wouldn't be a quality repair so we had to replace it.  We called the customer and he approved us to replace it.  Trying to keep the cost down for the customer we put an Aftermarket bumper on the estimate and price matched the bumper from Honda and received an OEM Honda bumper for the price of the aftermarket quote, to save the customer money.  This is an industry standard operation to help customers and insurance companies keep the cost down and still do a quality repair. 

   

  When we were building the vehicle our technician found there was a problem with the rear door handle part that we didn't quote for.  Because we already called the customer once and had to change the price we didn't want to call again and upset him.  We made the decision to build the car and if he wanted us to do the other handle then we would at a later date.  We made that decision because the mirror on the left side of the car had clear/paint issues and the rest of the paint on the car has some minor issues.  We thought it would be best to talk with the customer when he came into us and talk to him about it all at once.  I made the decision not to call and update the customer and that was not a great decision, I should have called and explained the situation.  That is on us and need to learn from this mistake.

   

  He was upset and said that we should have fixed the handle because it was quoted.  We did tell Mr. ****** that we missed that on the estimate and would be willing to give him a price and take care of it quickly.  He declined stating, it was already on the estimate and we charged him for something that we didn't perform.  That is simply not the case and we would be willing to fix and paint the part to take care of the problem.  We tried to explain to him that the handle is in two pieces and we fixed the rear handle part.  He declined at this time.

   

  The image report is attached so you can see what the photos we took the pictures for the original estimate.

   

  Please let me know if you need anything else.

   

  Thanks,

  ******* **********

  Customer response

  05/31/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  
  This is absolutely unacceptable, this company is unethical. My next step will be legal action. At this point I don't care if it costs me more than the additional money this scam company was going to upcharge. It is a matter of principle at this point.  The entire reason I took my car to this "company" was to repair the two door handles and mirror, they failed miserably and are now continuing to lie. I will take it to court at this point!
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ******

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