Several weeks ago, I was in for routine maintenance after - L Bonner
Several weeks ago, I was in for routine maintenance after which they offer a free car wash. When they brought my vehicle out, I noticed black spots on the hubcaps on the driver’s side, but it looked like smeared dirty oil and I thought it was either that or someone was sloppy with whatever they applied to my tires during the car wash detailing. I figured it would wash off in the rain.
We had a really hard rain a few days later, and afterwards I noticed the black patchy looking spots were still there. I decided I should get something to wipe the substance off, but as I was getting ready to do that, I realized there wasn't something on the wheels at all. What was actually going on was the gray powder coating was peeling off in patches revealing the black metal underneath. It was at this point I realized all four wheels were damaged and peeling.
I wanted to make sure I hadn’t just missed seeing this damage before, so I pulled up the video Bob King sends to customers when the vehicle first goes back to the service bay. Sure enough, the video showed close up views of all four tires and every one of them was intact and had zero damage. No peeling whatsoever.
I called the dealership and they told me to bring it in so they could view the damage . After looking it over, the service manager and the person who oversees car washing employees said they couldn't figure out what had happened to the wheels. They also claimed at that time that they don’t even touch wheels/tires while doing their car washes.
This tire claim was a lie and was the first red flag for me that they were going to try and avoid responsibility. I knew it was a lie because I had seen the menu for car washes posted in several places inside the service advisors’ area that very day, and even for the most basic car wash it said that they did clean the wheels and tires and apply ArmorAll.
I left the dealership that day with the service manager saying the matter was above him and he needed approval from a higher up to authorize a repair because it wouldn't be cheap. It wasn't just a matter of popping on a new set of hubcaps; the actual wheels are painted, and the vehicle would have to be taken somewhere to have that done.
While waiting for them to get back to me, I started to get a bad feeling and decided I should go back and get a photo of the car wash menu. I went in recording with my phone the following day. Curiously, the menus, which had been posted in several places, had suddenly gone missing. The advisors I spoke to (without revealing why I wanted to see one) hunted for the menus at each of the stations and throughout their area. They were confused because they knew they had been there previously and said so on camera.
While I was doing this recording, I saw the service manager I had spoken to in the distance, and I believe that he either saw and recognized me and saw I was recording, or the nervous employee I captured on camera told him why I was there, because before I could even get home he called me to say they were going to make sure and get my wheels taken care of.
This service manager said he wasn't sure what method they were going to employ to get the wheels repainted, but because they didn't do it on site he would have to find a company in the area that did it. This was on a Friday afternoon, so he asked me to give him Monday and Tuesday of the following week to call around and find a place, but said one way or another the wheels would be taken care of and they would also provide me with a loaner vehicle while the work was being done.
A few days have turned into weeks and they will not return my calls. Thank goodness I have video evidence of how my wheels looked before and after and of the call during which they told me they’d do the repair. I had hoped to avoid small claims court, but I can’t let this rest. I've called around for an estimate myself, and I'm getting a price of $650. No doubt that cost is why they've reneged on their promise.
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