Rhodes Custom Auto & Collision Center

This complaint is acknowledged, but we must contend that it contains a misleading timeline for the events that occurred, most of which the customer knows were out of our handsThe customer's vehicle was received on 2/16/ The insurance company wrote an estimate on 2/19/but then referred the case to their special investigation department The approval from the insurance company was not provided until 2/29/and the customer authorized the repair that same day After disassembling the vehicle, we discovered that more work was needed, the insurance company was contacted, and a supplement was completed on 3/9/ Therefore, we did not even have permission to fully repair the vehicle until 3/9/We discussed these issues and the delay in timing with the customer on 3/17/ We also informed the customer that some of the parts delivered were incorrect and it was necessary to reorder The headliner repair was delayed due to a BMW delay in Germany and we tried to locate a used headliner to speed the processWe again spoke with the customer on 3/23/to inform that there are no headliners available in the US, Mexico or Canada and the new headliner should arrive at the German parts depot on 4/1/ We will be required to wait up to weeks to receive the headliner direct from Germany and then to perform the repair The customer has been provided a loaner vehicle as of 3/24/due to the parts delays

[redacted] has been very helpful in getting my cars serviced and to keep them in top operational shape I can highly recommend [redacted] to othersHe provides excellent customer service Barbara J

Dear MrFlow,
I have been a customer at Flow BMW since However, my past experience was very disappointing and I will not buy from a Flow dealership againWhen I had my BMW serviced recently, I noticed a BWM that would have been perfect for my granddaughterMy 2003, purchased from Flow with 215,miles and performing great, I gave to my grandsonI first was told the on the lot was sold, then it was available,etcWhen testing driving the car, I told Vi N*** the wheels were vibrating when brakingCar was checked out and told it was the tiresPreston balanced the tiresAfter purchasing the car, I found out it needed brakes, rotors, and padsI returned the car and was met with some resistanceAt the end, I requested my money backI am very disappointed with this transaction from such a reputable dealershipIf I had bought a car from a newspaper ad, I would expect such deception, but not from a Flow dealershipI have contacted your GM at BMW, and BMW of North AmericaI have no plans to continue my relationship with FlowI will now go to *** BWM for future carsSorry after so many years, it turned out this wayAlso it speaks very poorly of you dealerships

We regret that the customer is upset with our attempts to
secure financing on their behalf.  Please
allow us to offer an explanation of what occurred.
 
The customer submitted an application for...

credit on November
18, 2014 through [redacted].com – a site owned and controlled by [redacted],
not Flow Companies.  Therefore any “fine
print” quoted in the complaint belongs to [redacted], not Flow Companies.  We received the customer’s credit application
from [redacted] as well as an email dated November 18, 2014 (Attachment 1)
providing more financial information directly to a Customer Advocate in our Customer
Relationship Center.  In that email the
customer requested that we “please check on the options I may have and get back
with me.”
 
We submitted the customer’s credit information to an initial
handful of lenders – a total of three major organizations: [redacted]
and [redacted].  Given the information
in the credit application, our salesperson contacted the customer to inform
them that we were still pursuing lending on their behalf but based on their
credit standing, the customer may need a cosigner or to provide money down in
order to secure the vehicle.
 
On November 20, 2014, the customer wrote another email
(after speaking with our salesperson) with the hope of us securing a lender:
“…I would like to know for sure that there is a lender setup and ready to
approve me” (Attachment 2).  At that time,
as the customer was still seeking financing for the vehicle and funding from
the three initial organizations looked unlikely, we moved to our credit union
relationships and submitted the information to [redacted] and [redacted] for the total amount of the vehicle (as instructed in the customer’s
email on November 20, 2014).
 
On the afternoon of November 21, 2014 the customer cancelled
their appointment to see and possibly purchase the vehicle.  Our team returned their call to reschedule
the appointment for a later date as we were waiting on our credit inquiries to
report, which we believe were in line with the disclosures from [redacted] and
the customers expressed wishes, as stated above.  The customer agreed and we waited to hear
from the lending institutions.  We were
unsuccessful in securing full funding for the customer to pur[redacted] the vehicle,
as per their request.
 
Yet, on December 10, 2014, we received another email from
the customer (Attachment 3) with a letter from the second round of inquiries
seeking to pur[redacted] the vehicle.  They had
secured a portion of the financing as a result of our credit inquiries and
were, again, interested in working a deal on the vehicle.  Our stated Pre-Owned vehicle pricing policy
is “One Price” – this means that the price on the vehicle is the price that
everyone is able to pay, there is no negotiation.  Therefore the customer would need to provide
the loan and the difference as a down payment in order to secure the
vehicle.  We were currently working a
deal on the vehicle with another customer who had full financing in place and
were unable to assist the initial customer in purchasing the vehicle.
 
In this entire situation, given the disclosures and the
customer’s continued interest in securing financing, what we actually failed to
do was keep the customer properly updated on the process.  We did not do anything untoward or
unauthorized, but in our pursuit of full financing and with a hesitation toward
communicating the initial difficulties in securing that financing, we failed in
our customer service and for that we apologize. 
The customer did receive letters from the appropriate credit
organizations regarding all inquiries as this is standard practice.
 
The efforts we go to and the manner in which we secure
financing on the customer’s behalf is not normal practice.  Normal practice in the automotive industry is
to blast a large network of banks with the customer’s information.  We do not do that and what we do, after
receiving authorization to seek financing, is work with our small network of
lending institutions based upon lasting relationships with those organizations
and allow them to compete for the customer’s business – thereby offering the
customer the highest opportunity for favorable terms.  The customer should also be assured that the
credit bureaus recognize when a person is seeking financing for an auto loan or
mortgage and the actual number of inquiries in those pursuits do not affect a
credit score.  The credit reporting
agencies view those inquiries as only one inquiry as long as they are made
within a short period of time, usually 14 to 45 days depending upon the credit
reporting agency and the rules applied. 
We provided this service to the customer, as authorized, within a 3 to 5
day period – well within the window for the credit reporting agencies.

This complaint is acknowledged, but we must contend that it contains a misleading timeline for the events that occurred, most of which the customer knows were out of our hands.
The customer's vehicle was received on 2/16/2016.  The insurance company wrote an estimate on...

2/19/2016 but then referred the case to their special investigation department.  The approval from the insurance company was not provided until 2/29/2016 and the customer authorized the repair that same day.  After disassembling the vehicle, we discovered that more work was needed, the insurance company was contacted, and a supplement was completed on 3/9/2016.  Therefore, we did not even have permission to fully repair the vehicle until 3/9/2016.
We discussed these issues and the delay in timing with the customer on 3/17/2016.  We also informed the customer that some of the parts delivered were incorrect and it was necessary to reorder.  The headliner repair was delayed due to a BMW delay in Germany and we tried to locate a used headliner to speed the process.
We again spoke with the customer on 3/23/16 to inform that there are no headliners available in the US, Mexico or Canada and the new headliner should arrive at the German parts depot on 4/1/2016.  We will be required to wait up to 3 weeks to receive the headliner direct from Germany and then to perform the repair.  The customer has been provided a loaner vehicle as of 3/24/2016 due to the parts delays.

We have discussed the issue with the customer directly and reached a resolution.  We appreciate the customer's willingness to work with us and give us an opportunity to rectify the situation.  We look forward to serving them again in the future.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I was never told that they had moved on to submitting my information to
another bank at all, from my understandings and from the phone calls, I
was told they was waiting on the 'bank' decision, I was under the
impression the entire time that they was working with one bank, at no
time was I informed that any of the banks had denied me or was I ever
informed that they was going to try at another bank, I agree that their
customer service was not to par at all and that I should of been kept in
the loop a lot closer, I made every attempt to keep in touch with them,
while getting very little communication in return. If I was kept in the
loop and proper communication was provided, I would not of allowed Flow
Autos to submit my information to so many places, I should of been
informed on each finical institution that my information was sent to
before they did it, not keeping me in the loop was very unprofessional.They
did get up with me to let me know that they are still working with the
'bank' and that they needed more time and would give me a call next week to setup a new appointment to come see them and that entire week went by
with no more communication at all! I did not know that my personal
information had been spread around until I begin receiving letters from
all these banks and may I add just received another one yesterday on Dec
23 for a total of 6 banks so far that my information was sent to
without me knowing, again I was under the impression that they was
working with one (1) bank this entire time and was never told I was denied or that they was going to check at another bank.Had there been better communication on Flow's behalf this entire issue could of been prevented. In the prior note Flow submitted here it states,"The customer submitted an application for credit on November
18, 2014 through [redacted].com – a site owned and controlled by [redacted],
not Flow Companies.  Therefore any “fine
print” quoted in the complaint belongs to [redacted], not Flow Companies." This
is where I provided Flow with my personal information and this is the
only fine print I have ever agreed to at no point beyond this did I sign
or agree to any other terms from Flow Auto, I do believe that if Flow
auto is using [redacted] for advertisement and that they are receiving
applications and personal information that they should be bound to the
guidelines provided by [redacted] and respect the fine print in which I
agree to, as I am pretty sure they had to agree to some fine print of
their own on [redacted] or they would not of been able to post the car.
In which I should of been informed to each financial institution that my
information was submitted to. I did ask for my options, in which I was told they have many options, I did ask to have a lender before I drove all the way up there, however; I was never told any options, nor was I ever told they was working with more than one lender. When we talked on the phone I was told they was working with the "bank" not "banks."
Regards,
[redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: Difficulties associated with the facility staying in contact. The body shop manager informed me that my vehicle would be ready on the the week of 16th and I was told that they would be in contact with progress information. On the 16th of March I visited the shop after not hearing anything since the 10th or 11th or March. At that time I was first informed of the headliner backorder. Previously I had been told of difficulties with other parts. The service loaner was only provided after requesting one from the manager of the body shop. The customer service has been poor and the company has failed to communicate effectively with me, even after telling me that they will communicate progress and delays. 
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted] has been very helpful in getting my cars serviced and to keep them in top operational shape. I can highly recommend [redacted] to others. He provides excellent customer service.
Barbara J.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Again, I agreed to the terms I read in which they did not honor, I was
under the impression from the little communications they did provide
that they looked over my credit and was looking for a bank for me to apply with, instead I found out that they made "one attempt" at six places, on December 10th I had received two bank letters, one was a denial and the other was approved for a close amount in which I contacted Flow to ask how we can worked together on the rest of the small amount (they had a lack of communication problem there too)! I did not like that two had came without once even telling me that they was submitting my information to the bank, but I could understand 2, however; as time went by in all 6 letters came, I did not approve them submitting my information to the first bank little less six, from my the terms I agree to in which they did not honor and that I was under the impression of, they was going to look at my credit and then find a bank tell me what bank they are going to submit my information to, then let me know if it was approved or not and move on from their, instead Flow Auto took my information and started sending it to bank after bank!!! This was NOT right or fair of them to do at all! I may good communication to ensure something did not go wrong on my end!!! Flow auto did not do anything correct on their behalf, they have even said in earlier letters that their customer service was not there. I was misled plain and simple, I read and agree to the legal terms on the only form in which I submitted my information to and was never told the name of any bank they submitted my information to, I do not think it is right they accpeted my information and did not honor the terms I agree to when submitting my information to Flow auto, they should not be using these services to advertise if they are going mislead people into believing that they are going to tell you the name of the finical institutions and then don't! They should of told me something, anything is better than nothing, very unprofessional! Flow wouldn't like it if they provided their information to ProviderX with the intentions that they will be kept in the loop, and then then ProviderX did whatever they wanted to with their information without any consent, so I don't see how they can expect this to be OK of them to do to me or any other person, is just wrong!The best communication I have got out of Flow Auto is the responses to these letters, in which they take forever to reply to these too! I have been prompt to reply the same day I receive these letters and I was prompt to call back or answer Flow Auto in any communications we made, there was no slack on my behalf. Again those submissions was unauthorized! Had they actually communicated with me and said something on the lines of based on your credit we feel you may be approved at BankX would you like us to submit your information to them, I would of agree to two maybe even three but NOT SIX, but how it stands they left me out of the loop, totally took my information, dishonored the only terms I agree to when submitting my information and did what they wanted to with my personal information. I HAD NO SAY SO IN WHERE MY INFORMATION WAS SUBMITTED TO AT ALL! It really makes you feel violated. There was even one bank they submitted my information to that I would not of accepted the loan from even if it was a billion dollars and no interest and the first payment wasn't due for a thousand years, I would never submitted my information to them but Flow Autos had no problem submitting my information to them!I don't care if they take my inquires off or not, they can sit there until they come off, its not right that I have them on my account since I did not approve of them, but Flow Auto should not be accepting peoples information and doing as they wish with it at all. I read over my emails, I did not see anywhere that I said just start submitting my information everywhere, I said I would like to know that there is a bank that has approved me before I drive up there! Flow should of told me lets try this bank and if it didn't work out we can try this bank and if it did not work out, I would not of drove up there! In the end, I bought me a newer version of the same car in better shape and a lower price from another dealership and the only issues I had was going to Flow Auto first!
Regards,
[redacted]