The statement below is solely of my personal experience I had at a particular Macco facility in Burien, WA. This statement is not to discredit Maaco as an entity nor other independently owned facilities, but rather gives vital information to my fellow consumers about the shady business practices at the Maaco Collision Center in Burien, WA. Listed below are the Pros and Cons
Pros:
• It only cost $50.00 for them to tow my vehicle from my residence to their facility.
• Gave me a lower estimate (price) for parts, repairs and re-paint than other repair shops.
• Apparently put my vehicle’s repairs ahead of other vehicles. (Key word; Apparently)
• Did not charge me for storage of my vehicle.
• Was offered a Maaco T-shirt. Oh whoopee doo!!!
• Decent framework. (Which I was satisfied with at first)
I know you’re thinking, “what more could I’ve ask for”, but remember sometimes your good deeds can be overshadowed by your bad ones.
CONS:
• Bad Customer service: I had to call them constantly for the status of the repairs instead of them calling me and giving me updates.
• My vehicle was completed well pass the day they initially said it would be done.
• Ended up paying hundreds of dollars more to keep my rental car because my vehicle wasn’t finished.
• Once I received my vehicle back, the paint job was mediocre at best. They missed quite a few spots (and I paid for spot and match). They didn’t even paint the jams. Their solution was giving me a can of touch up paint so I could do it myself even though I paid for their full services.
• The Hood, which had to be replaced, doesn’t close all the way on one side, so now I’m left with a rattling hood. (As of some one gently rapping, rattling at my Cadillac door)-Edgar Allan Poe-
• On the grill that was replaced there was paint. Bad prep job.
• I had loose and exposed wiring inside the engine space.
• Dirty interior. They didn’t even bother to wipe the inside of my car down with a wet cloth, just left it dirty. It would only be courteous to the costumer if they did.
• Received a threatening voice mail from the Owner
• Not even after a week of having my vehicle the paint is starting to chip away.
• The stripes on my right fender that was supposed to be painted on are actually stickers. They are much darker than my other original stripes on my car and are now peeling off giving me curly curlicues.
Now what do you think? Still want to take your vehicle to Burien Maaco? I paid for services I didn’t even get. My opinion as far as the body paint is concerned; if you hold no sentimental attachment to your vehicle by all means go to Burien Macco. However, if you do, I recommend you visit your local Ace Hardware store, buy some paint and do it yourself or find a real reputable collision center.
I was given an estimate of $3,000.00 plus an additional $50.00 for the tow of my vehicle making the grand total of my repairs $3,050.00 (tax free). They towed my vehicle from my residence (a town home community) to their facility on Saturday, 3/13. I appreciated them for doing that especially since the homeowners association had a problem with my vehicle being on the premises due to the damages. On Wednesday, 3/17, I gave Burien Maaco a $1500.00 (their estimate) cashiers check so they could start ordering the parts needed and get the repair process started immediately.
On Monday, 3/22, I called Burien Maaco to see if the parts had been received, and was told they had been received. I called later that week to get updated on the status of my vehicle. Monday, 3/29 I called again to check on the status on my vehicle and was told the most major parts were on the vehicle, but a couple had to be ordered (I thought all the parts had been ordered, I guess not!) and that it would be painted on Wednesday 3/31. On Thursday, 4/1, again I called Burien Maaco to check on the status of my vehicle. Their costumer service rep had told me that my car should be ready the next day (4/2), later afternoon or Monday (4/5). Also, I was told that all what needed to be done to my vehicle was the paint job! On Friday (2nd) they actually called us (wow!), but told us the same thing that was in the previous two sentences.
I was scheduled to take my rental car back to Hertz on Friday, but ended up paying an extra $300.00 to keep it so that I’ll have transportation to and from work. I called them on Saturday (April 3rd) praying that I can get my car so I could return the rental car and get some of my money back. Apparently the guy working on my vehicle at the time had a family crisis and was off that day so my car never got worked on. Though I did sympathized with this guy’s misfortune, I failed to understand what that had to do with me. The customer still has to be satisfied and the job still has to be done regardless, besides it was costing me money (Burien Macco failed to understand this).
On Monday (4/5; 2:00pm) I decided to pay Burien Maaco a little visit to see with my own two eyes exactly what condition my car was in. To my dismay and disbelief my vehicle was not painted. It wasn’t even prepped to be painted and to make matters worse one of the headlights that had to be replaced wasn’t even installed yet According to them they didn’t receive that part yet. Once my boyfriend got involved things got a little crazy. The vehicle in question is my boyfriend’s car and since I was the one responsible for the accident, he wanted me to take care of everything (a sort of lesson if you will).
On Tuesday (4/6; 11:20am) my boyfriend and I went to Burien Maaco. It was very clear that my boyfriend was upset. He walked in and asked to speak with the manager. My boyfriend (with a stern voice) explained to the manager how unsatisfied he was with the whole situation. The manager (so whom we thought was the manager at the time) kindly decided to take $200.00 off the original price to compensate for the rental car fee and the bad costumer service despite the fact that he said he had already given us discounts on the parts and services. That courteous gesture made my boyfriend and I very happy, after all, making a costumer happy should be the prime goal of a company. Am I right?
The grand total now was $2850.00. My boyfriend paid $1300.00 via check card plus if you add the $1500.00 we put down for the parts that adds up to $2800.00 with the addition of $50.00 for the tow. The person at Burien Macco who printed out the invoice forgot to charge us for the tow (their mistake). My boyfriend and I did not realize it either because we were so anxious to get our vehicle back. The following day (4/7; Wednesday) I received two voice mails from the owner on my cell phone. The first voice mail he left me basically said that he’d heard my boyfriend got involved with the situation and that we still owed him money. He wanted me to call him immediately after I received his voice mail. I was unable to do so at the time because my cell phone was misplaced, but once I found it I notice the two voicemails. A couple of hours later from the first voice mail he leaves another. The second voice mail is what angered my boyfriend and I. The owner (clearly upset) basically said that not only didn’t you guys pay for the tow; we still owed him money for parts to the car he apparently paid extra for (in the amount of $200.00 making it $1700.00 not $1500.00 for the parts; why weren’t we told this in the first place?).
According to the owner, apparently some of the parts he’d ordered cost more than what was on our original invoice/estimate. At this time I’m thinking, “ what parts is he talking about? ” Everything from parts to services/labor that we paid for was on our original invoice, which they printed out and gave to us. There was never any mention of extra parts or fees until this time, besides how were we suppose know if they never contacted us to let us know. Also, he (the owner) made it very clear that if we did not contact him by the end of that day he will be taking us to court. It almost sounded like he was trying to say, if we didn’t pay him what we owed him, he was going to send some goons over to our residence to take the parts off the car we apparently didn’t pay for (I still have the voice mails to contest this). My boyfriend took this as a threat.
The owner was really trying to blame us for everything, as if we robbed him of funds. All this for $200.00. My boyfriend called him not long after he heard that second voicemail. Once my boyfriend started talking to the owner on the phone (angry but calm) my boyfriend said to the owner, that I’ll be more than happy to come back to your facility and pay the tow fee but will not pay an additional $200.00 worth of fees that wasn’t on the original invoice unless he (the owner) had proof or receipts for clarification. The owner said, sure, come on in and lets meet face to face and I’ll show you the receipts (the owner had just got back off of vacation). My boyfriend went in early Thursday morning (4/8). This would be the first time my boyfriend and the owner actually met. My boyfriend went in, he and the owner shook hands, and they sat down in the owner’s office to discuss the situation. According to my boyfriend, when he asked to see the receipts for the additional payments for the parts, the owner started beating around the bush, misleading him in other words. Till this day my boyfriend still doesn’t understand what the owner was saying to him nor did he ever get too see the receipts/proof of the extra fees. (It was something about Taxes he thinks)
My boyfriend asked the owner to come outside so that he could show him the inadequacies (as listed above-CONS) on his vehicle. He opened up the hood to show the owner the loose wiring in the engine space (he left the hood open, big mistake). My boyfriend saw how annoyed the owner got after seeing the inadequacies on the vehicle and said, “I’m not paying you an extra $200.00 until these problems are fixed and/or you show me proof of the extra fees for the parts.” The owner got mad and said, “you (my boyfriend) will not take this car, your car is staying right here until you pay the full amount you owe me.” He then (inconspicuously) got one of his employees to take the fuse out of the car. The employee was able to do so because my boyfriend forgot to close the hood. The owner also had someone who had a box truck that was also in the parking lot (a friend maybe) park directly behind my boyfriend’s car as if taking the fuse out of the car wasn’t enough.
This enraged my boyfriend so much that he started cussing out the owner. The owner simply replied, “You are just going to have to call the cops and walked off.” My boyfriend wanted so much to call the cops but he opted just to pay the fee ($250.00). My boyfriend also mentioned that nasty voicemail to the owner. The owner simply replied, “I could do what ever I want.” Wow, what a real businessman. Come to find out there weren’t (as far as we could tell from the paper work we had) any extra fees for parts. The owner was just mad because we were given a $200.00 discount and he wanted the whole amount of $3,050.00. He even apologized to my boyfriend about it afterwards, saying he would make it up to him and fix all the problems.
The owner even printed up a new invoice with the added fees to make his story seem true (sneaky). We got suckered in. According to the owner, the guy who gave us the discount to begin with wasn’t even a manager, but merely just a guy who does estimates and wasn’t authorized to give us a discount so he should have charged us the full amount. I went into this situation with great expectations and look at what happened in the end. The owner seemed like a nice guy up until the end. The money isn’t the issue it’s the principle, because we would have definitely paid the full amount in the first place. We just wanted some compensation for the rental, bad service and the overall piss poor job. Is that too much to ask?
We have lost our trust in Burien Maaco and will not be frequenting that establishment nor referring them to anyone! And we know a lot of people. Now we are stuck with all these problems that we’ll eventually end up paying for to get fixed.
Sincerely,
An unsatisfied Custome
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