Carmax
RIPOFF Continues unskilled shotty work

I sent my first letter to the CEO and it was received on 7/18/05 based on return receipt. I have not received a response from anyone regarding the poor service at Carmax. I will pickup where I left off on the first letter.

7-25-05 Pressurized Hose severely cracked on both ends. Both ends of hose had been covered with electrical tape in attempt to hide damage. Yet another thing Carmax missed in their inspection of the vehicle. Brought vehicle to dodge dealership and bought new hose. Went to Carmax to inform general manager. General manager reimbursed cost of hose.

7-25-05 Brought vehicle in again. Vehicle was brought to A transmission.

7-26-05 A transmission told us that there was a problem but that they had to sent it back to Carmax because the transmission's computer showed a history of repair and Carmax would have to make sure further work would not void warranty.

7-27-05 Carmax sends vehicle to Dodge dealership stating that they did not get around to it the previous day.

8-01-05 Called Darryl to get information about the vehicle. He informed us that the Dodge dealership was working on it. Joseph informed him that as of Friday they had not gotten to it. Darryl responded, Well you know how they do warranty work. Darryl said he would try to put some pressure on them but not to much because he didn't want them to get mad at us and not get the job done right.

8-09-05 Darryl called and left a message stating the Dodge dealership told him they were just dropping the transmission. Not two hours later he called back and told us the vehicle was back at Carmax and for me to call the Dodge Dealership.

The Dodge dealership said there was nothing wrong with the transmission. It was a bit strange because Darryl had just called us to tell us that the dodge dealership had just dropped the transmission, A transmission said there was something wrong with the transmission, and the dealership had previously stated they wanted to do a rebuilt transmission and Carmax only authorized a new clutch seal.

After speaking with the dodge dealership we went to Carmax to get our car back. I left our four dogs outside because the weather was nice and we thought we would only be gone for a short period of time. While looking over our vehicle we noticed that there is a large amount of what appears to be dried soda on our hood.

It was very hard and would not come off the hood. We brought it to Darryl's attention and he immediately went to clean the hood. The chemical he used did not take off the residue.

While Darryl was doing his best to clean the hood another Carmax Service Staff member George approached stating he knew for a fact what was on the hood. He told us that it was pine tree sap and we should not park under a pine tree.

We informed him that 1.) there are no pine trees within 200 ft of our driveway, 2.) Before we brought it in we had spent nearly 6 hrs detailing it inside and out and it was not there before we brought it in. George was adamant about it being caused by us. He told us that pine needles would float very far, land on a vehicle, and cause that.

We informed him that 1.) We have three other vehicles and that has never happened, 2.) That the pine needles from the tree have never come within 50 ft of of driveway and 3.) That we detailed it and it was not there when we brought it in. We noticed while we were again being blamed for Carmax's damage that behind George where they park the vehicles was a pine tree.

Darryl continued to clean the area but it was doing no good. Someone else came out and started using paint thinner to get the residue off. This person did about half the area and walked inside and said it was done. We looked over the area and it was not complete and the paint thinner had caused tiny bubbles to appear. We informed Darryl of this and he brought the vehicle to the detailers. It was during this time period that it started pouring down rain and my four dogs were outside. We were at Carmax for 3 hrs.

On the way to return our vehicle another Carmax employee almost backed into Darryl while he was driving our vehicle. I know it is the standard operating procedure to honk before backing up and the employee that almost slammed a large SUV into my car did not honk before backing up. The employee that almost backed into our car is just another example of the Staff's carelessness.

With our vehicle back, we looked over the work and noticed little bubbles where the staff had used paint thinner on our paint. We mentioned this to Darryl and he informed us that the bubbles were all over the hood

At this point we went to speak to Steve (management) because we had been there far too long and needed this to be resolved. Carmax may accept that their employees do poor work but I will not. CW determined that the paint was damaged and they would have to paint the hood.

While we were waiting for a loaner car George demanded we move our vehicle. We did not put our vehicle where it was and did not have the keys. We went inside to inform George of this and he completely ignored us. My wife said, Sir, Excuse me, several times and he acted as if we were not talking. George had no reason to demand we move the vehicle because there was no one else trying to get in and it was only a few feet from being out of the bay.

Immediately after he pulled up in a vehicle and demanded that we move the loaner car. Joseph did although he had plenty of room to enter the bay and George drove about two feet in so he could allow another service staff member to enter the car without getting wet.

8/10/05 My vacation started yesterday although Carmax could care less about their customer's time. We informed CW that we were going out of town yesterday, an event that was planned months ahead.

8:00 Darryl called and left a message stating that our vehicle was ready. Darryl was not at his desk so we walked around the store for a few moments and CW approached us and said that the car was not ready. He said they painted the hood the wrong color.

8/11/05 Darryl called and stated the car was not ready and would not be ready until Friday (8/12/05) afternoon.

8/12/05 Darryl called and left message saying the car was not ready and would not be ready until Monday possibly Tuesday. I finally was able to reach him to find out what the delay was. He said the paint color was a very hard color to match. It is not difficult to match paint if you know what you're doing. I know this because I have a very good friend that has done body work/paint for over 30 yrs.

8/19/05
Received call today stating hood had been painted. Arrived at Carmax and examined vehicle. Scratches over vehicle, hood, roof, doors. Dirt under paint on hood. The bumps that were supposed to be repaired were not-more were on hood.instead of just being on the driver side-it is all over hood.informed CW and Darryl. Detailer claims it can all be buffed out and that they did not touch the roof. Both driver and passenger seats have been moved to where they are almost laying down. I do not appreciate anyone changing the position of my seats and it is very dangerous to drive laying down.

8/22/05
Receive message from Darryl stating that vehicle was ready and that he and his two managers looked over the car.

8/23/05
Picked up vehicle due to my schedule I was gone by the time Carmax called previous day. The car was covered in white dust. I'm assuming from when they buffed the hood. It's pitiful that although the managers saw this they did nothing about it. A few min to wipe the dust off would be all that it would take. It is very difficult to remove all the dust the left on my vehicle and I have yet to remove it all. I will mention again that the radio in the car was on a station not on the presets. They had again changed it to rap music. The vehicle is still not running right. As I mentioned when we brought it in last time the vehicle has a slight shake at 55 and up.

Carmax Service
Date Brought Vehicle In Date Picked Up
6-20-05 6-27-05 8 days
6-29-05 7-04-05 6 days
7-05-05 7-05-05 1 day
7-07-05 7-18-05 12 days
7-25-05 8-23-05 30 days.

9/02/05
I'm going to have to bring the car in yet again for something Carmax can't seem to fix. I just got off the phone with CW from carmax and he of course is making me work on his schedule and not mine. Carmax makes it clear that once you buy the vehicle they could care less about customer service.

They certainly make a joke out of their warranty. I'm in college Monday-Friday and I work Friday-Wednesday so I don't have a lot of time to deal with Carmax. I was supposed to have a vacation but of course, Carmax ruined that for me. I bought a vehicle for good gas mileage which this car is still getting about 22 on the highway and so I wouldn't have to keep going to the shop.

I decided to take it too a Dodge Dealership because I really didn't want anyone touching the vehicle and they could see my vehicle on Friday and not Monday. The dealership I went to was very impressive and makes Carmax look HORRIBLE.

They did not gun the engine while driving, put the seat back, put the radio on rap, put the A/C on full blast, use up almost an entire tank of gas, have an attitude, deny there was anything wrong, fix it wrong, almost wreck my car, takes days or weeks or a month to attempt to fix it or damage the paint.

Their entire staff was professional and polite. They repaired in 4 hrs what Carmax could not in 57 days. The service manager is so familiar with Carmax cars that she knows the extended warranty claim number by heart. She didn't need to contact Carmax because the repair was covered under a warranty Carmax failed to inform me of. The car has an 8-yr/80,000 Emissions warranty. They did all the work under warranty and did it right and fast.

Carmax did not catch the problem once and it has been a problem the entire time. Not only that it was something that was present while it was on the lot so it is something else that Carmax missed on their inspection.

The service department of a dealership is supposed to be the best place to take your vehicle. Most service departments take pride in their work. Carmax's staff has no pride whatsoever is their work and management is too lazy or ignorant to make certain the work is done right.

It is clear that Carmax places junkers on their lots and overpriced junkers at that. Walmart takes better care of a person's vehicle then Carmax does.

A
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.

Company: Carmax
Country: USA
State: Texas
City: Houston
Address: 16110 North Freeway
Phone: 2812091333

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