Back in April, I took my van through Mike's Express Car Wash. The force from the blowers caused the roof of my van to cave inward. I had had this van a total of two days and there was not a thing wrong with the roof prior to this visit to the carwash.
Initially, the car wash accepted liability for the damage and stated that they would pay for the repairs. Upon further exam by a body shop, they discerned that there was no way to repair the roof as it were - it must be replaced due to the way that vehicle roofs are manufactured and the severity of the damage.
Upon hearing this, Janeese at Mike's office in Fort Wayne somehow interpreted that to mean that the metal was stretched too thin, implying that there had been prior damage as though it had been repaired before. According to the body shop, this is an impossibility because the way these vehicles are manufactured, the roofs are not able to just be repaired. When the blowers are turned up too high, as was the case here, they can cause unrepairable damages, due to the combination of the force and the heat. Under normal circumstances, if the blowers are not turned up so high, no damage occurs.
Mike's is claiming that because the metal was thin, it was not their responsibility and they owe me nothing; the body shop (and I) maintain that if the blowers had been turned down to a lower speed, this would never have occurred. The body shop states that the tops of most cars are just not thick enough to withstand such force and heat when those blowers are turned on so high.
They had also rented me a vehicle, per the original agreement to repair my van, which they paid for for three days, then they waited until 5 P.M. On Friday to let the rental company know they were done paying for it. They didn't even have the decency to do so earlier in the day so that I might make other arrangements.
I also spoke to employees at another location who knew of another such (recent) incident in which case the damage was so severe that the business was shut down for the day.
My case is not an isolated incident to Mike's, although they may let on that it is.
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