A-1 BRAKE & ALIGNMENT

Review: I went in for an alignment and observed body damage to my vehicle after the work was done. The owner said get the ____ out and denied responsibility.

I went to A-1 Alignment & Brakes in order to get a 4-wheel alignment for my 2005 Saab 9-2x Aero on May 10 2013. The alignment made my car pull, so I was told to drive around and return the following day. I returned the next day, Saturday, May 11, to have the mechanic tweak my alignment and then proceed to take it on a test drive in heavy traffic. Some time between my dropping the car off again at the shop and me picking the car up that day, the car received a huge dent and 2 smaller dents to the front passenger fender as well as a scuff on the headlight. I noticed the damage 10-15 minutes after I had returned home from the shop and photographed the damage. I am a photographer and in a car club, so thankfully I have photographs of the car less than 10 hours before the damage occurred, photographs taken as I was waiting for my car at the shop, and photographs taken 10-15 minutes after the damage had occurred, clearly proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the car was damaged in the time it was at the shop. I prepared a very respectable and presentable case to inform the shop of the damage, and left a voice mail for the shop that Saturday afternoon. On Monday, I arrived back at the shop only for the owner to come out and say "Oh, its you, I already heard the story (from his son, the alleged mechanic) there's no way the damage was caused here, get the ____ out." I felt so disrespected because the owner constantly interrupted me, verbally abused me, and I wasn't allowed to finish a single sentence. He then started walking back to his office, considering the matter done with after such an overwhelmingly rude conclusion. I quickly asked him how he could discredit my story without hearing my side of the story or even looking at the photos I took before, during, and after the incident at the shop, proving that the car was damaged on premises. I asked him why he would disrespect a paying customer so much for simply presenting evidence that my car was damaged at this shop. He simply shrugged and said "whatever," before retreating into his office and leaving me alone in the shop and expecting me to show myself out. I felt extremely disrespected the whole time, especially because I was so humbling, accepting, and nice about every single thing the owner and mechanic had to say. The owners directed anger toward me made me feel unsafe, threatened, and downright terrible, especially because I hadn't even talked to him about the damage before then. Since then I have heard nothing from the shop or its owner, and I am left feeling threatened and with a considerable amount of body damage done to my car that I do not have the means to pay for right now. Desired Settlement: I am seeking settlement for my 2005 Saab 9-2x Aero, which had the front passenger side fender & headlight damaged and dented during its time at A-1 Brake & Alignment. I am seeking the dents to be pulled via a Paintless Dent Removal Service located locally within Chico.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

My name is [redacted] and I am the son of [redacted] "[redacted]" [redacted]. This business has been owned by my family for 22+ years. I am now 28 years old and I have been around cars since I was very young. I graduated CSU Chico in 2009 and have been working full time at our business ever since. I have also been through hours of training and certifications to be able to provide the services I can provide. I am the "alleged mechanic" [redacted] is talking about. I was the person who had the pleasure of dealing with this customer. Here is the real story of what happened.

Thursday

He actually came in to our shop on Thursday, May 9th 2013 as dated on his invoice. Not Friday, which he stated in his complaint. He brought his Saab Aero station wagon in for a 4 Wheel Alignment. He said he was a former Subaru mechanic and that he and a friend had installed some aftermarket springs themselves and needed the car to be realigned. He said that he raced autocross and had some alignment specifications he wanted me to use. I aligned his car to custom specifications he provided and he went on his way. He came back within 5-10 minutes saying his car was pulling back and forth over the road. I explained to him the alignment could not create that type of pull (pulling in both directions is not an alignment issue; alignment problems consistently pull to one side or the other, not both) and suggested we inspect the suspension parts he replaced. Upon opening the hood, I noticed they had reassembled the front right/passenger side strut incorrectly which would cause the strut assembly to bind and cause the vehicle to pull back and forth across the road. [redacted] told me there was no possible way he or his friend could have assembled the struts incorrectly. He was "100% positive" he put them back together correct. I explained to him how the struts are designed and that they probably left out a metal bushing that protects the bearings in the strut mount from binding (I now understood why he was a former mechanic). He immediately called his friend who said it was indeed possibility that they had left out the bushing. I told [redacted] to go and recheck his work and bring the car back on Saturday, May 11th, 2013 to recheck the alignment. The car had no damage at this time.

Saturday

[redacted] came by in the morning of Saturday, May 11th 2013. He told me they had found the metal bushing stuck on the bottom of their magnetic tray they used to hold the nuts and bolts. He and his buddy re-installed the strut, correctly this time, and said that now the car drove perfectly. When I walked out to his car I noticed some damage to the front right/passenger side fender. The damage was up high on the fender, which is the located in the exact spot where they had just removed and reinstalled the strut. I pulled his vehicle into our shop and drove up on the alignment rack. The rack keeps the cars fenders at head level because all the alignment adjustments are done from underneath. There was no point during the recheck that I was near the area damaged. He waited outside watching me the entire time as I rechecked his alignment. After I checked the alignment, I test drove the vehicle down the street, which is a straight road,(approximately 0.5 of a mile) to make sure it was driving correctly. It was. The traffic was light since it was a Saturday morning. After I returned to the shop I parked the car in the middle of the parking lot facing the street. When customers' are waiting for their vehicle we back their cars in and park their cars facing the street. All of our regular customers see us do this all the time. We do this for two reasons. First is for customer courtesy and convenience in leaving the shop and second is so they do not have to worry about damaging their or someone else's car while trying to back out of our parking lot because sometimes it gets quite crowded. I gave him his keys and I told him there was no charge because the alignment did not need any adjustment. He had his camera around his neck, which I thought was a little strange. I asked him why he was taking pictures. He told me he was a photographer and he always takes pictures wherever he goes. He thanked us and then left. We did not hear any more from him the rest of the morning or afternoon. We closed that day at 3pm.

Monday

[redacted] pulled into our parking lot in the morning of Monday, May 13th 2013. He got out of his car with his camera around his neck. I went out to greet him and the first words out his mouth were "You damaged my car (right/ passenger front fender) and tried to hide the damage from me by backing in." I explained to him how it wasn't possible that the damage happened on our property (as it was clearly present before any services were administered) and why we back the vehicles in our driveway. My dad, [redacted] "[redacted]" [redacted], came out to see what was going on. Before my dad could say anything [redacted] said, "All I need to win in court is photographic evidence." Who threatens a lawsuit before even talking about the damage with the owner first? He said he noticed the damage 10-15 minutes after I had rechecked it on Saturday and took photographs of it. I asked him why take pictures? Why not come back right away if he believed it happened on our property? He didn't respond to my question. We were still open for another 5 hours after he left on Saturday. [redacted] then continued to threaten us with lawsuits, to destroy our reputation online and would file a complaint with the Revdex.com. He told me he was "100% positive" that I damaged his car. My response was, "Just as you were 100% positive you installed the strut correctly?" He again went quiet and nothing to say. He started again with the pictures and the lawsuits, he would not reason with anything. [redacted] had devised a plan to get his damage occurring on his own time paid for and was not going to waiver until we were the ones that paid for it. My dad told him to leave but he wouldn't. He kept on with the lawsuits and threats of libel and my dad got frustrated and told him to get the !@#$ out. He finally left after about half an hour later.

A-1 is a family business. We have been in business a long time and we did not get where we are today by being dishonest. Honesty is so important, especially in our small town of Chico where word of mouth can make or break a business. It seldom happens, but any damage that we are responsible for, we make sure to either fix it or pay for it in its entirety. We are not some big corporation giving handouts to every person with a picture and dishonest accusations. The mistakes we make come directly out of our pockets and when someone like [redacted] comes around trying to extort our business out of our hard earned money, we aren't going to be very cordial about it. My dad is a little old school and sometimes not the most politically correct. In my opinion, when someone is trying to get something for nothing and won't leave the property, a little old school says it best.

Here is a little more information to let everyone know what kind of person we are dealing with. [redacted] has created a fictitious account on Yelp under the name "[redacted] B". Every review he had given was only a "1Star" rating and he bashed every business like he has ours. If someone takes the time to read this complaint please go to our Yelp profile and read his review. The stories are not consistent with each other and it was just as malicious as this complaint. On a different businesses post, [redacted] he told them "Good thing I used a fake account as to not spoil my reputation". What person would be worried about spoiling their reputation if they were an honest person. From the looks of it he goes around trying to get a free ride on someone else's dime, trying to extort honest businesses to pay for his own problems.

Extortion (Definition)

Unlawful exaction of money or property through intimidation or undue exercise of authority. It may include threats of physical harm, criminal prosecution, or public exposure. Some forms of threat, especially those made in writing, are occasionally singled out for separate statutory treatment as blackmail.

Consumer's Final Response

I also would like to note that I am no longer seeking repair costs for the damage that happened. As appalled as I am at the damage that happened and the rudeness that I was subjected to because of that, I no longer wish to pursue A1 Brake & Alignment for any repair cost.

I went in for an alignment and observed body damage to my vehicle after the work was done. The owner said get the ____ out and denied responsibility.

I went to A-1 Alignment & Brakes in order to get a 4-wheel alignment for my 2005 Saab 9-2x Aero on May 10 2013. The alignment made my car pull, so I was told to drive around and return the following day. I returned the next day, Saturday, May 11, to have the mechanic tweak my alignment and then proceed to take it on a test drive in heavy traffic. Some time between my dropping the car off again at the shop and me picking the car up that day, the car received a huge dent and 2 smaller dents to the front passenger fender as well as a scuff on the headlight. I noticed the damage 10-15 minutes after I had returned home from the shop and photographed the damage. I am a photographer and in a car club, so thankfully I have photographs of the car less than 10 hours before the damage occurred, photographs taken as I was waiting for my car at the shop, and photographs taken 10-15 minutes after the damage had occurred, clearly proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the car was damaged in the time it was at the shop. I prepared a very respectable and presentable case to inform the shop of the damage, and left a voice mail for the shop that Saturday afternoon. On Monday, I arrived back at the shop only for the owner to come out and say "Oh, its you, I already heard the story (from his son, the alleged mechanic) there's no way the damage was caused here, get the ____ out." I felt so disrespected because the owner constantly interrupted me, verbally abused me, and I wasn't allowed to finish a single sentence. He then started walking back to his office, considering the matter done with after such an overwhelmingly rude conclusion. I quickly asked him how he could discredit my story without hearing my side of the story or even looking at the photos I took before, during, and after the incident at the shop, proving that the car was damaged on premises. I asked him why he would disrespect a paying customer so much for simply presenting evidence that my car was damaged at this shop. He simply shrugged and said "whatever," before retreating into his office and leaving me alone in the shop and expecting me to show myself out. I felt extremely disrespected the whole time, especially because I was so humbling, accepting, and nice about every single thing the owner and mechanic had to say. The owners directed anger toward me made me feel unsafe, threatened, and downright terrible, especially because I hadn't even talked to him about the damage before then. Since then I have heard nothing from the shop or its owner, and I am left feeling threatened and with a considerable amount of body damage done to my car that I do not have the means to pay for right now.