Formula One Tinting and Graphics

Review: I purchaced a $180 gift certificate for my daugter for a complete car window tint, after Christmas I took my daughter to get the work done, I was told complete window tint does not include windshield. that would cost extra $120.00, I said ok. We then left the car at shop. 15 minutes later I recieved a call from shop saying there was some tint on the windows already and it would cost an extra $90 to $100 to remove. I said forget it, I will come get the car don't do any work on it. I came to the shop where a man met me shook my hand and asked what the problem was. I told him the price keeps rising, and I would just like a refund of the gift certificate. He stated he doesnt give refunds, and the lady behind the counter said they dont give refunds. Their refund policy is not printed on the gift certificate or advertised anywhere, it seems it was an on the spot decision. I explained that is the only thing that would make me happy at this point because I was affraid the price would keep going up. They kept saying they dont give refunds, then I felt like I was being pressured, I told him I would call my credit card company and tell them I did not know what I was purchasing, and he said he would sue me. Then he said there is no reason for me to be a LITTLE [redacted] and I told him to watch his mouth in front of my 20 year old daughter. Then he shouted that he would take the old tint off for free, I told him I dont want to be a customer of his after he cussed me infront of my daughter. Then he told me to get the [redacted] out of his shop, I told him I would call the police. He said go ahead what are they going to do about me cussing out someone in my own shop. And told me to get the [redacted] out of his shop, while my daughter was waiting on paperwork from the secretary. I did not use any foul language or threaten him as he did me. I just wanted to get a refund and get out. I am 44 years old and have seen people act like this, but my daughter hasnt, it was an eye opener for her.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund to my credit card and an apology that I would of course accept and forgive, and wont mention his company good or bad to anyone.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] came to our shop in person and purchased a gift certificate on 12/24/2013 from Formula One Tinting and Graphics for a full car tint job on his daughter’s car for Christmas.

It was for a 2008 Ford Mustang 2 door car and the tint job included all the windows except for the front windshield; to be clear that means front doors, quarter windows and back windshield.

Front windshields are never included in a full tint job and that was explained to mister [redacted] at the time of purchase of the gift certificate, by saying that the tint will cover all the windows except for the front windshield, which is our company policy when we quote pricing in person, as well as over the phone.

Attached you will find the receipt for that transaction.

Miss [redacted] dropped her car off together with Mr. [redacted] the second week of January 2014, after making a three hour appointment to get the work done.

At drop-off time, Mr. [redacted] tried to confirm with our customer service rep that we would put tint on the entire front windshield as well.

Our customer service rep explained to Mr. [redacted] AGAIN that the windshield was not included in the original quote of $180 and proceeded to explain that tinting the front windshield would be an additional charge of $125.

Miss [redacted] did not seem to want to get that done, but Mr. [redacted] insisted.

Our customer service rep proceeded to add the additional work to our schedule, an additional hour, got all the information from Miss [redacted] filled out on our job ticket, and took receipt of the car key, at which point Mr. [redacted] and his daughter left, after being told they would receive a call when the car was done.

She also called the next appointment to see if they could reschedule for a later time/day, and they did.

When the installers pulled in the vehicle, one of the first things they noticed was that the vehicle was already tinted in the rear section and that there was glue from badly removed tint on the front door windows of the car.

Mr. [redacted] had failed to mention that the car was already tinted and unfortunately, we do not tint over existing tint, since that automatically is going to make the new tint fail, an industry standard.

The installers proceeded to notify our customer service rep about the issue, before touching the car, again, company policy, so she could inform the customer of the additional cost/labor involved in removing the old tint.

She in turn called Mister [redacted] to explain to him that the existing tint and glue would have to be removed and that this would add an additional charge of $90 for tint removal and $20 for glue removal to his bill, and would add at least two more hours of time to the job since the tint was old and deteriorated.

Mr. [redacted] proceeded to tell her that he felt that she was just trying to add more money to his bill for no reason, that he could get the entire job done for less than $180 somewhere else, and that he would be picking up the vehicle and wanted his money back for the certificate.

Our customer service rep informed the shop manager, who was doing an installation on location, of the situation. He explained to her that she could give Mr. [redacted] a discount on the removal of the tint, since he was getting the vehicle re-tinted.

Our usual discount for such an occasion is 15% off the removal fee, which in this case would have been $13.50, however, our shop manager told her to do the removal of glue and tint for $47.50, which is almost 50% off both glue and tint removal.

Mr. [redacted] was already on his way, so the shop manager left his on location job to help the customer service rep with this situation, since it seemed that the customer might want to talk to a manager upon arrival.

Attached you will find the final cost for Mr. [redacted] that was conveyed to him by our shop manager when Mr. [redacted] arrived at the shop.

Unfortunately, Mr. [redacted] did not want to deal with our shop manager at all at this point and insisted he get his money back for the gift certificate.

Our gift certificates are non-refundable and can be used to purchase other services than tint in our shop, which our shop manager explained, but that was not something Mr. [redacted] wanted to accept.

He felt there wasn’t anything we offered that he might want to purchase, and said it was just a measly $180, so how would it hurt us.

He proceeded to tell our shop manager that he was a carpenter and that he would never charge his customers to remove an old door when replacing it with a new one in their home.

Our shop manager tried to explain to Mr. [redacted] AGAIN that it would take at least two hours to remove the existing tint off the vehicle, which is much longer than removing an old door in comparison.

He even offered to give Mr. [redacted] the removal for $30 which is an additional $17.50 off, to try to please a very upset, uncooperative customer.

Mr. [redacted] only was interested in getting his money back, no matter what was explained to him or offered to him, and proceeded to threaten the shop manager with a call to the police if he didn’t get it.

Up until that time, our shop manager was courteous and friendly, but at this point, he told Mr. [redacted] in no uncertain terms to leave our shop.

Mr. [redacted] conveyed that he was distraught over the fact that his 20 year old daughter was exposed to a moment of inappropriate language, which he assured us she was not accustomed to, and left without a refund.