Bruce's Body Shop, Inc.

Review: We arranged to drop our [redacted] off at the Midlothian location for Bruce's Super Body Shop. We were advised that the timeframe for the repair would be about 5-8 business days which seemed normal. We dropped the vehicle off on Sunday night so they would have the vehicle Monday morning. It is now Friday of the second week and I called up to see when it would be ready and they are telling me it will be ready mid week at the earliest. The manager said the delay was due to additional damage to the vehicle they needed approval from [redacted]Desired Settlement: I want Bruce's to pay for the rental vehicle that we are going to get now. We planned to make due but their timeframe has been blown and we need a rental now. Bruce's should pay for a rental vehicle and finish this job as soon as possible.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern:This vehicle was

dropped off on a Sunday evening (8/21) we are closed on the weekends. We

brought the car in and did a tear down. We found additional damage and

contacted [redacted]. We cannot resume repairs until the insurance company comes out

to do an inspection on additional damage found. The supplement was done at

3:00pm. On 8/24 and we resumed repairs at that time. The insurance company has

7 – 10 days to repair. We could begin the repair the car until the supplement

was completed by [redacted]. This car should be ready 9/7. If you count business days

from 8/24 to 9/7 this is 10 days (We were closed on Labor Day).When a vehicle is

dropped off at our shop the customer signs paperwork and on that paperwork it

states, NO delivery date is guaranteed.We are very sorry

that finding the additional damage was an inconvenience to the customer but we

nor the insurance company could not have foreseen this until the car was in the

shop and torn down. Thanks for bringing

this to our attention.

Review: Was asked to sign a blank repair authorization from. When I call to check on job in progress I clearly stated to hold off on the ordering of parts or start of work on back bumper. When I arrived on the 4th of august to pick up my car to my surprise the back bumper had been repaired without my authorization. Rick stated that basically it already done so pay. I was instructed to sign a blank document that information was added to at a later date. That's fraudulent.Desired Settlement: My 500 deductible that I was forced to pay in order to retrieve my car. Rick said that the owner said to just take him to court. I would much have my funds that I an out of for an unauthorized job!

Business

Response:

Mrs. [redacted] had 2 repairs done to her car. The front end which had a $500.00 deductible and the rear end which did not have a deductible. When Mrs. [redacted] came in to have the repairs done she signed a direction to pay, customer policy sheet and a blank repair order giving us permission to do the repairs to the rear of the vehicle. We told her we needed a copy of the estimate for the rear from the insurance company and she gave us an email she had received from the insurance adjuster with all the information (attached to this email) We told her we would contact them for her. A few days later she called and asked if her repairs were completed and we told her that we had not received an insurance estimate for the rear and could not start without it. She said she said she would call and check on it. A couple of days later we received a copy of the estimate for the rear and repaired as per the estimate. Mrs. [redacted] called us to ask the progress of her vehicle on several occasions but not once did she state that she did not want us to repair the rear damage. When she came to pick up the vehicle we told her that she owed $974.68 for the rear and she then stated that she did not want that work done and she did not feel she should have to pay for it. We told her that she had to pay for 2458.55 for the front and she had a 500.00 deductible as well for the front. We also told her that if she did not pay for the front and rear she could not pick up her car. She then stated that she had not received ANY checks from the insurance company. She then left. I contacted the insurance company and was told that Mrs. [redacted] had been issued a check for the rear and there is lien holder on the check so the check was issued to Mrs. [redacted] and [redacted] but she called and asked California Casualty to reissue the check to her only on 8/6 (after we contacted her and told her the car was ready) The adjuster told her that he could not issue a check to her only because a lienholder was involved and a shop name would have to be on the check. Mrs. [redacted] then told the adjuster to just issue the check to her husbands friend who owns a shop. The adjuster did so and mailed the check to Mrs. [redacted]. I called the adjuster and told him that we had already repaired the rear of the vehicle before she called to have check reissued. The adjuster told me to take photos of repaired vehicle and he would stop payment on previous check and issue directly to us because we did the work already.All of the paper work Mrs. [redacted] signed states that vehicle must be paid in full in order to pick up the car. The paperwork also gives us permission to do the repairs to the vehicle.When Mrs. [redacted] came to pick up her car 8/8 we decided to waive part of her deductible for the repairs to the front of the vehicle because she stated she had to pay out of her own pocket some rental car money and to try and make her experience with our company a more positive one.

Review: My husband had a small rock hit windshield on brand new car. We were told to take it there for repair. After leaving the shop, the windshield shattered all the way across.Desired Settlement: Report to Revdex.com and refund insurance company money.

Business

Response:

To whom this concerns , The repair process on windshields is a very delicate operation, most cases ,the chip in glass repair process is to keep the chip from growing to a crack. Unfortunately its a 50 50 chance for success. Bruce's is willing to refund the customer there money back or apply a credit towards there deductible for replacement of glass. Thank you. Bruce's Team

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: [redacted].

Regards,

Review: I had seen on Bruce's website that they would do a free estimate for my vehicle which has recently experienced hail damage. I then called the number to determine if Bruce's would repair hail damage. I was told that they did handle that kind of repair and at the end of the phone call, the receptionist politely told me that they the estimates are free. I then scheduled my wife to drive the 100 miles round trip to receive an estimate from Bruce's. We were told that they do not have time to estimate our vehicle and that they would only estimate the vehicle if the work was performed at the shop. Well I could be mistaken, but only estimating the vehicle if the work is performed there completely defeats the purpose of an estimate. Not only is the estimate not actually free, but Bruce's was rude and apparently doesn't really want my business.

If this is the experience before we even get started, I would hate to imagine what Bruce's has put their actual customers through.Desired Settlement: To inform the general public of Bruce's false advertising and save others from wasting their time and money driving there.

Business

Response:

To whom this concerns; Bruce's prides our self on our customer service. We have a super rating with Revdex.com , also our [redacted] is consistent 94 % . Myself, and my team are human and make mistakes, in the heat of the moment in day to day operations some things get said that wasn't thought out first. We average writing 18-22 estimates daily. Bruce's realize that the customer has a choice to pick there repair facility,with that being a factor, we do are best to answer questions and explain the repair process. I have spoken to [redacted] personaly, and apologized for the miscommunication that was given and offered him compensation for returning to our location to discuss there vehicle. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Thanks, [redacted]

I took my car to Bruce's in June after an accident that was not my fault. The first thing that I remember is the fact that they could not understand that this was NOT my insurance company but the other persons insurance. It seemed that everytime I called to check on the progress of my car I had to answer that same old question. When my car was finally ready to pick up they had misplaced the front license tag and no one seemed to notice this fact until I pointed it out. They didn't offer to replace it either. They replaced the broken headlight with a new shiney one and didn't even bother to clean the other one to try and match them. My experience with Bruces Body Shop was a complete let down. There was no customer service. I had to run around and get new tags and try to make the headlights match. I hate that my car was in an accident but I hate even more that I left feeling that I was just one more insurance check.

Review: After charging the insurance agency in excess of $17000. They failed to correct the frame damage on one of my vans. After going back a few times and having the vehicle in for weeks they finally corrected the obviously damaged vehicle. The distances were obviously different to the naked eye between the front and back of the of the wheel and the fender. This kept damaging/ wearing the axels on the front wheel drive. We had the axel fell out twice, while driving the vehicle. After we were told by the mechanic that the problem was in the body not being straight and regardless of what we do it will keep breaking we took it back to Bruces. [redacted] the manager at the [redacted] location refused to work on it. He said that he is NOT going to work on this vehicle again. We convinced him to take look as we measured the distances on the front wheel and he said he will take it and call the insurance. He realized the mistake and corrected it. Now that is fixed and thank god no one got hurt. Now we are dealing with the worn out axels because they are refusing to correct that. Not only are they refusing to do it, but I spoke with the owner [redacted] he was very rude and would not even listen to what I had to say. He was citing wrong information. DO NOT USE BRUCES!!! There are plenty of good body shops out there but this company has terrible customer services, and they might put your life in danger with their careless work. My employee is lucky to still be alive after the axels fell out twice on him. Now I have to cut my losses and go hire someone to replace the axels on the vehicle. I am going to have go to another shop to verify that they corrected the issue, so I don't put my employees at risk driving this van,Desired Settlement: To let every one know what kind of business this place is.

Business

Response:

Bruce's, repaired [redacted] express WORK van for the [redacted] in 2011.which the total cost of repairs was $5,827.51 not $ 17,000.00 as stated by customer.Upon delivery of vehicle, customer was given frame, wheel alignment spec. sheets.The van came back to our shop 2 weeks after delivery with a noise. We diagnosed the problem to be a faulty hub bearing that was replaced by us during repairs. Our part supplier warranted this part , and we installed at no charge to customer being a warranted item. In April of 2012, the Van was brought back to us with a noise in opposite side of the repaired side. we diagnosis the problem that an axle was bad from wear ,this also caused the hub assembly to need replacing also. The owner was told that this wasn't accident related,but insisted it was part of accident. I explained this is wear in tear item, but Bruce's agreed as a customer service issue,that we would do labor for no charge,owner to pay for parts only. The owners didn't agree, but accepted it and we repaired issue. After ,completing repairs, driver of WORK van was given another spec. sheet on alignment and was told,that the van was in need of additional work, the upper control arm bushings, cam kit bolts where in need of replacing due to corrosion,and wear.also was explained that other steering parts on van had been altered,welded not safe in our eyes. This was done after we originally repaired the van . In July 2013 the driver of van brought van back with a bad noise, we put van on lift, diagnosis that the front all wheel drive transfer case , front seal was missing, which caused fluid loss to bearing in return to causing bearing to go bad. This is due to poor maintenance. Customer insisted,for us to recheck frame, HIS mechanic told him frame is bent . We brought van back in to recheck frame,confirmed specs where in tolerance level. We did find that left side torsion bar was not seated and rear bracket was bent. We replaced torsion bar, repaired rear bracket at no charge. Bruce's again, has given another copy of the frame spec, wheel alignment print out sheets. Bruce's feels confident that we have gone above and beyond to help this customer with their repair needs. Bruce's has been a locally family owned collision repair facility for 35 years, we take pride in our profession,and our craftmanship. This WORK van originally come to Bruce's with 112,000 miles on 9-19-11 and now mileage reads 164,000. Bruce's feels strongly, that the WORK van has not been properly maintained causing there continuing issues.

Review: I had multiple issues with Bruce’s Super Body Shop on [redacted] in Richmond, VA after my accident on 11/26/2013:

• Bruce’s does not have a key drop box so for after-hours vehicle deliveries the tow truck drivers are left to try to figure out where to leave the customer’s keys. As a result, my key was never received by Bruce’s Body Shop although tow truck company left under garage door. The fee for a new [redacted] was $175.00 at the dealership which Bruce’s took absolutely no responsibility for losing or replacing.

• [redacted] is the towing company that was dispatched to me after my accident from the [redacted]. They were helpful and attempted to work with Bruce’s to try to locate my key and even sent a driver over to the body shop to show their staff where the key had been left. Bruce’s staff used profound and threatening language when the tow company offered see if Bruce’s would go half way with the cost of the lost key since it clearly wasn’t the my mistake.

• Rude service; Difficult to work with and not contacting me with updates when vehicle would be ready. These repairs were only supposed to take 3 days. When I kept inquiring about it they kept putting me off saying that a part was not in. When the part came in they would be able to have it ready within a few hours. This was not a true statement. According to the insurance company they car had already been ready but there was an additional charge of about $84 that the insurance company needed to approve. Instead of mentioning that they just kept “dragging their feet” with excuses.

• Incompetent on detecting underlying issues that were not originally found when first estimate done; *Original damage that was found was some body work, paint on the left corner panel, new strut on drivers side front tire, alignment and new wheel cover. No underlying damage was found by Bruce’s Body Shop.

o My car was dropped off Bruce’s Body Shop late in the evening on 11/26/2013 and we did not get it back until 12/12/2013. The SRS light almost immediately popped on that evening on my way home after picking the car up.

o Due to the fact that we were going out of town and wanted an oil change, someone to look at the SRS light and make sure the car was balanced and aligned properly. The car was aligned but the tires were completely out of balance and [redacted] took care of that issues. [redacted] on Hull Street Midlothian found underlying damage in the process. It appeared that the accident caused a tie rod to be damaged and needed replacement.

o The next day we contacted our insurance company, Travelers. They were are able to get approval for the SRS light to be fixed at [redacted] on Hull Street, Midlothian VA as well as the Tie Rod that needed replacing.Desired Settlement: So Consumers are aware that Bruce's Super Body Shop is not performing courteous, timely, fair and quality repairs for their customers.

Business

Response:

[redacted], Bruce's takes pride in how we conduct customer service, being a local buisness for 35 years, and having a great CSI score with the Revdex.com. We strive hard to treat all customers fare, with a quality product. However , my team is human and we do make mistakes, everyone has good days and bad. I have read the concerns with this customer, and I am not happy with what has transpired in this situation. I am going to call this customer and see if we can come to a resolution , in some reimbursement to help satisfy the unhappy service my team has performed. Every customer that walks threw the doors at any of our 3 stores is VERY IMPORTANT to us.We appreciate BBS for being a mediator in these situations. Thanks, [redacted] location, general manager.