Auto Visions Custom and Collision

While there exists some truth in the issues mentioned within the complaint, it is not the whole truth. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the complaints listed,...

and after doing so, I am confident that any fair and rational assessment of the situation will vindicate me (and my business) from any wrong doing. Not only am I confident that I and my business will be found free of any wrong doing, but I also expect that anyone reading this will find that Auto Visions went above and beyond the terms of the agreement that was made with the customer, and that no other shop would have done for the customer what Auto Visions did in providing him with service that exceeded standard industry expectations.
 
The first sentence of the complaint states that the customer "was told that Auto Visions was a good place to take their car for repairs". 
This aspect of the customers complaint is completely truthful. Auto Visions does have an outstanding reputation for excellent work quality, and fair prices; in fact, this is the first and only complaint that Auto Visions has ever received in our eight years of business.
 
The customer then states that they "set up a payment plan, paid regularly, paid extra money, and that work then proceeded sporadically and only if the customer stopped in every other day...and even then completion on the vehicle took one year." 
Much of this is true, but it is not the whole truth. When the customer came to Auto Visions, he had exhausted many_if not all_of his other options, as no other body shop was willing to accept the job on payments. The customer did not have insurance to pay for his vehicle's repairs, which is why he had few options if any when he came to Auto Visions. The customer's vehicle had extensive front end damage, an estimate was provided and we agreed on a payment plan. Part of the agreement was that the customer would have to pay in advance for any parts that were needed to repair the vehicle. It was made very clear that work would not begin until payment for the parts was received, and that regular monthly payments would be needed for work to continue. The vehicle was towed to Auto Visions where it was stored free of charge; it was several months before the customer produced the the payment for the necessary parts. When work did begin on the vehicle, an additional problem was discovered, the engine cradle was damaged and needed to be replaced. Additional issues and their subsequent repair are not uncommon when front end damage is extensive, as was the case with the customer's vehicle. Furthermore, these additional issues are not able to be included in the initial estimate, because there is no way of knowing what kind of additional problems one might find until the vehicle is taken apart, this is why an estimate is given rather than a quote. The customer was notified of the additional problem and was made aware of the additional cost of $700 to replace the engine cradle (which by the way was and is a rock bottom price). To say that the customer "paid extra" is not a fair representation of the events as they transpired. To say that "regular payments were made" is also not a fair representation of the events, it would be more accurate to refer to the payments made as "irregular", as the customer periodically went multiple months without making a payment, and occasionally when a payment was made, it would be for only half the sum owed for the month. It is because of the irregular nature of the payments that work on the vehicle would start and stop. While we waited for a payments, other vehicles in the shop came and went. We could not simply drop what we were doing and immediately begin work on the customers vehicle every time he stopped in to make a payment, but work did proceed on the customer's vehicle within a reasonable time frame upon receipt of a payment. By the time the final payment was made, it had been nearly a year, but again the first payment was not made for several months, and after work did begin the customers vehicle was kept in the garage, basically receiving free climate controlled storage while we waited for payments to be made.
 
The customer goes on to state that after he got his car back, " the airbag light was on, the radiator was not bolted down, the transmission leaked, and the gas tank was unable to be filled like a normal car".
Again, all partially true, but not the whole truth. First of all, if any issues with the vehicle had arisen after leaving our shop, our warranty clearly states that Auto Visions has the right to fix those issues our self, before the customer goes to another shop. A copy of our warranty was provided to the customer, though a copy of the warranty can also be found on our website. 
The customer came in to pick up his vehicle on a Sunday, the shop is closed on Sunday, but I came in because the customer insisted on picking his car up. The vehicle did have its airbag light on, our computer was not recognizing the error, so we told him that we would have to take it to the dealership to have the light turned off. Despite our informing the customer that airbag light was a safety issue that had not yet been resolved, the customer insisted on picking the car up on Sunday, stating that, "he did not want to take the car to the dealership, but rather that he preferred to take it to his own mechanic". The following day (Monday) the customer noticed that the vehicles radiator had two screws missing, and the transmission was leaking. The two screws were our fault, and we fixed both the radiator and the leaking transmission the very same day, for no additional charge. And to be clear, the radiator was securely seated and attached to the vehicle, the two missing screws were merely a redundancy; and the leaking transmission was a drip due to an unseated hose clamp. As for the gas tank issue, we were not aware of any issues to the rear of the vehicle as our attention and repair work was exclusively on the front end. We cannot begin to guess where the customer arrived at his figure of $1000 for additional work after leaving our shop. Other than the above mention issues (minor issues that were promptly remedied), we have received no indication that there have been any problems with the vehicle.
 
In addition to treating the customer fairly and honestly (despite the fact that the customer would often miss his promised payments), I loaned the customer my personal vehicle to use (at no additional cost) while his car was being repaired. The vehicle that was loaned to the customer was not part of the original agreement. The customer's other vehicle had broken down while he still had a vehicle at our shop, so we gave him a car to use at no additional cost. The customer drove the loaner car for months, including a trip to Door County. When the customer wanted to go out of state, he suddenly told us that he did not trust the car to make the trip, shortly there after the transmission blew on the loaner car, which we fixed at no cost to the customer. The vehicle that we loaned the customer was a 2005 Mercury Sable in good working condition, a vehicle that I had purchased new, and that my daughter's currently drive to this day. Unfortunately, the customer did not mention any problem with the loaner car, he just seemed to trust it to go to Door County one day, and not trust it the next, which would indicate that something was going wrong with the vehicle, something that could have been addressed prior to the transmission blowing out completely at significant cost to myself.
 
Auto Visions took the customer's car on a payment plan when no other garage would. Auto Visions loaned the customer a car (for free) while his was being repaired. We did everything we could to satisfy and please the customer, going well above and beyond the terms of our agreement, despite the customers irregular and often inadequate payments.  The customer's complaint is completely baseless. If he had truly had such a problem, we do wish he would have come to us so that we could have done our best to rectify any issues, or at the very least the customer could have provided proof of his problems as well as any subsequent expenses that he may have incurred. 
 
Thank you

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
Robert Hengen
 
 I did not even try taking the car to any other body shops, the tow truck driver who refered me to auto visions was a friend of mine. as for the payments I have all my receipts yet, and they show I paid every 2 weeks until the amount came up to his estimate then I stopped paying until he would say he needed more money for something or other, so he had his payments he just wasn't working on the car when I asked him about not doing any work on my car I was told , well I have to eat so I have to work on other cars, even though mine wasn't no wheres near complete. I can get a statement from another mechanic that seen and told me the radiator wasn't bolted down and that was what caused the transmission leak, auto visions did bolt thee radiator down but they did not check it under pressure, so as soon as we took it to my mechanic that same day it was already a quart low on tranny fluid, this is something auto visions should of caught. he states that he had overages on parts and labor, but I wasn't informed of this that is why I would stop in quite often to see the progress as for any contract he says he showed me I would like a copy of that , seeing neither my wife nor myself ever seen one. I know he lost his helpers and that was part of the problem but for a car to take a year to fix that is unacceptable by any good mechanics standards if he couldn't do the job he should of informed me and I would of taken it else where, I did have options but went with him on the word of a friend.

Review: my wife got into an accident and I was told auto visions was a good place to take my car for repairs, I took my car to Jim (the owner) and we set up a payment plan and he seemed like a nice guy had photos out of his work, looked like I had made the right choice. I payed him regularly plus more then asked. He started on the car then just stopped and would only work on it if I stopped by every day to see how far he was. he had our car for one full year before we got it back, and then when I got it back the airbag light was still on, he didn't know how to fix that, the radiator was nt bolted down, the transmission leaked, you couldn't fill the gas tank like a normal car. I believe this all fell under the quote I was given even though he asked for more then the quote, $700.00 more. ive had thecar to another mechanic and have had to pay him over $1000.00 to fix all the things that should of been taken care of by auto visions.Desired Settlement: I would like auto visions to reimburse me for all the extra money i've had to pay above and beyond his quote.

Business

Response:

While there exists some truth in the issues mentioned within the complaint, it is not the whole truth. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the complaints listed, and after doing so, I am confident that any fair and rational assessment of the situation will vindicate me (and my business) from any wrong doing. Not only am I confident that I and my business will be found free of any wrong doing, but I also expect that anyone reading this will find that Auto Visions went above and beyond the terms of the agreement that was made with the customer, and that no other shop would have done for the customer what Auto Visions did in providing him with service that exceeded standard industry expectations.