Wash On Car Wash

Review: In November, 2013, I took my 2000 BMW 528i to the car wash located at 2300 Main Street, Susanville, CA. The owner, [redacted], took my money and proceeded to do the car wash with the most options. There was a car in front of me, so I had to wait for it to be finished. Right away, I noticed that the left side of the machine was not operating correctly, as the rim cleaner was not moving at all. The right side was spinning around, but the left side was not. Jeff noticed white hard water stains on my car. He went to his back room four or five times to get different cleaners to try to remove the spots. He had cleaners in squirt bottles and cleaners in aerosol cans. He squirted cleaner all over my car to see if he could get the spots off and he washed the car by hand, first. I do not know what he used on the car, but the last one that he used seemed to work well and he used it all over my windshield and other windows. After he used the cleaners on the car, he sent me through the car wash. I went through the car wash and then drove it home. The next day, my husband drove my car and complained that the windshield seemed blurry. I didn't really pay any attention to it, because he is really picky about things like that, but the next day, he complained again. I went outside to look my car and immediately saw what he was talking about. When you are sitting in the car, looking outward, it looks blurry when you look through the windows. I went to look at the outside of the windows and then I noticed spots all over the car, too. It looked like rain drops all over my car, but my car was completely dry. I took my car back to show the owner what happened. He read the label on the chemical and realized that he was not supposed to use it on glass. He offered to replace the windows. Then, when I mentioned the spots in the paint, and I didn't know what happened to the paint, he did not want to take responsibility for the paint and tried to blame it on the other car wash in town.Desired Settlement: I would like to have the windows replaced in my car and the paint redone. I had just gotten my car painted by [redacted]s in Chico and my paint job was perfect before I went though that automatic car wash and my front wind shield had been replaced, as well. I only went to his car wash because it was the new one in town and suppose to do the best job. Other than that, I washed the car myself at home. Jeff sent a $400 check to settle this matter, but that does not begin to cover repairs.

Business

Response:

In November 2013, Mrs. [redacted] did come to my car wash,her BMW was very dirt. We have one wash only, everyone gets the same exact wash, after the wash we towel dry behind the dryer on the machine therefore, the car is completely dry as they leave. While towel drying Mrs. [redacted]'s car I noticed what appeared to be hard water stains on all the top surfaces of her BMW. I informed her of the spots and that I thought that I could remove them but, I would have to rewash her car. At that time I asked Mrs. [redacted] if she knew where the spots came from, being 6 months after this conversation I can't recall exactly what was said but, I do remember specifically her saying, that she goes to the other car wash near her home and wasn't happy with the wash there. Mrs. [redacted] agreed with trying to remove the stains on her paint and glass. I applied hard water stain remover and rewashed her car. The stains were still there, I have used the same remover on 40-50 cars and successfully removed hard water stains. I did try a few other chemicals on isolated spots just to see if I could remove them and had no luck. I remember asking Mrs. [redacted] again if she knew when when or whee she could have acquired the spots, Mrs. [redacted] again brought up the other car wash and I told her that she needs to contact that wash about her paint. Upon looking closely at the sots on her car, after it was clean, it was obvious that the clearcoat was damaged on her car. This is consistent with the use of hydrofluoric acid mixed incorrectly, a common chemical used in Touchless auto washes. Not only do I not use these harsh chemicals in my friction wash, I have used the same soaps since my opening in September 2013. I have washed thousands of cars with no damage to paint on any car before Mrs. [redacted] or after. I took full responsibility for damage to her windshield and asked Mrs.[redacted] for her VIN number so I could call Tri alley Glass to order her new OEM glass in November 2013. I didn't hear from her until April 2014 when she called asking me to replace her glass, once again, I told her I needed her VIN number,to come by and give it to me. I didn't hear from her again for maybe a month then finally she texted the VIN number. Mrs. [redacted] contacted me again and I asked if she had talked to the other car wash about her paint her response was she couldn't prove anything and that she had been using the wash since she came to mine and hasn't had any problems. she also stated she thought it was pitch from a tree. Nothing was said at the time about me damaging her paint. I was shocked when I read Mrs. [redacted]'s complaint to you, not only do I know that she is not being honest about using other car washes (which I have very reliable information that she has), she also portrays that she just had her car painted but, she told me in November 2013 that it had been painted the year before.