Hail

is threatening me with putting a lien on my vehicle and repossessing my car. I was called by *** after he received my number from another hail repair shop that I contacted to get an estimate for the hail damage on my vehicle. He told me he offers free assessments and works with all insurance companies and told me he would come out to my work to do a free estimate of the hail damage on my car, he came out and took some photos and spent about 5-10 mins assessing my vehicle, then left and said he would send me the estimate. I received the estimate and it was over $6200. I called him to ask why it was so much and he told me not to worry because its covered under my insurance. I asked him so what do we do next, he told me submit it to my insurance company and said that because of the amount they will want to do their own inspection. He instructed me to tell them because my windshield is broke that I cannot drive the vehicle and that the inspection needs to be done at his shop so he can put it under lights and he would circle all the damage for the inspector to see. He told me if we don't do it this way that the insurance will probably only give me $1000-3000. He told me that I can trust him that he works with the insurance companies all the time and knows how to work with them. Just like what he said, I sent the estimate to *** and they had an claims inspector call me to schedule the inspection. I told them that Hail Inc told me that it was best if they could inspect the car at the repair shop just as *** instructed me. At that time I text *** to see when he was available to review the estimate with the insurance inspector, he told me Dec 17 early morning, I confirmed the dates and times with the insurance inspector. I arrived that morning with my car as *** instructed me to, he was not there. The lady at the front desk told me that I just need to sign their sign-in sheet that gives them permission to do the free assessment of the damage and drive the car into their garage. When *** arrived about 9am, he quickly got started and pulled my car into his garage, put a light on it and started circling all the dent with a marker. Within only 5-10 mins he almost had the entire car all marked up. I told him he was fast and he said yeah I have many years experience doing this and a great eye for catching them. I noticed on the hood there were not many circled dents so I said on your estimate you said there were 16-30 dents, how do you get that count? He told me, yeah my initial estimate was just done really fast and I just make general assumptions, but its really easy to put a minor dent in the hood, and he pressed his finger into the metal of the hood and said just like this. He told me the metal is sensitive and you only need a little pressure to create more dents. At this time the rental car company arrived and I left. When I left I only had a few small dents in the hood, and when I got the estimate from the insurance they noted 22 quarter size dents??? This didn’t only happen with the PDR. His initial estimate he only found damage to the Right Quarter Glass Trim, and when I get the estimate after the insurance inspection, now I have damage to both the right and left quarter trim. The cost of the parts went from $482.12 to $1239.81. Did he intentionally damage more of the trim pieces to get more money? After receiving the estimate from *** I also got an email saying they issued a payment to *** for the total amount of $5521.99. I texted him to see how late they are open so I can come to get the car. He said, what do you mean come get the car, I can start doing the work. I told him I just wanted to come pick the car up. At this time, he tells me well to get your car you will need to pay me $500. I said $500 for what, you offered a free assessment and I don’t think $500 is fair for the amount of time you have spent. I said it doesn’t make sense for me to fix the car, the amount of the damage is almost more than what the car is worth and its so minor that it can barely be seen. He told me I agree with you, but if you don’t pay me $500 you will not get your car. I arrive there about 430PM and he has my car locked up in his garage, he insists that I need to pay him $500 before he will let me having my car, and I keep trying to tell him that $500 is a lot for money when you only spent less than a hour doing what I thought was a free assessment. Never did he communicate with me that he would be charging me for this assessment, in fact he is the one that told me it had to be done this way with the insurance company or they wouldnt pay the full amount of the damage. After going back and forth a 15 mins, I am left with no more options, I give him my credit card and got in my car and left.

On Dec 27 *** calls me with a follow up to get feedback from my hail claims process, and I said the claims process was fast but it ended up costing me $500 because this repair shop that I thought was doing a free assessment charged me $500, he said that is not right, I never heard of repair facilities doing that, that it shouldn’t cost that much for an estimate, I said yeah right especially when they advertise that they do free assessments. He suggested that I file a dispute with my credit card company because that is not right.
12/27/2019 – I filed a claim to dispute the charge with my credit card based on the fact that no work was completed on my car and yet I was charged a fee that was never communicated to me. According to the Colorado Motor Vehicle Act (MVRA) C.R.S. 42-9-101
Violation of written consent and estimate that *** representing Hail, Inc failed to disclose upfront fees associated with the hail damage assessment by failing to provide the customer with an estimate for any charges for the estimate/inspection/assessment. No repairs can be made to a vehicle without the written consent of the owner which includes an estimate of repairs. Further more, committing the following prohibited acts of charging for services without consent, charging in excess of the estimate, misrepresenting the necessity of repairs, misrepresenting that a vehicle is in a dangerous condition and possibly fraudulent lien.
1/6/2020 – Started receiving threatening texts and email from *** the owner of Hail, Inc stating that he would be putting a mechanics lien on my vehicle and repossessing it within 30 days and it would cost me a lot of money.