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Business Profile

Car Wash

Surf Thru Express Car Wash

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Surf Thru Express Car Wash's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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Surf Thru Express Car Wash has 4 locations, listed below.

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 14 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 7 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:07/03/2025

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      6-29-25 windshield appeared to be damaged from the car wash, took several days to get a response finally spoke with ****** the area manager who felt he was doing me a favor by responding and showing me pictures of the damage. Due to his very busy schedule from commuting 3 towns over **** showed me the pictures and damages they circled. None ended up being relevant to my claims, I asked to run my car thru the car wash and lets compare the pictures their cameras take this time to the photos they have on 6-29-25 with preexisting damage to be sure it isnt just dirt or bugs on windshield they circled. If their cameras picked up the damages last visit they should again right? My request to be honest and transparent and compare the photos was denied by ******. I felt this was the easiest way to have peace of mind that theyre doing the right thing and a company of honesty and integrity. Unfortunately I reached out to corporate and emailed the owner and no response.

      Business Response

      Date: 07/10/2025

      Surf Thru appreciates the opportunity to respond to this complaint. After a full investigation and review, it was determined that Surf Thru has no liability for the claimed damages. The video evidence shows the marks and or scratches were preexisting prior to entering the car wash. In addition, the material used on the car wash wraps is made of soft foam and does not scratch vehicles. Surf Thru washed 552 vehicles that day at that location and no other claim for damages was made. In conclusion, there was no employee negligence or equipment malfunction, therefore the claim is denied and closed. 

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:06/27/2025

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I need to speak to someone not a automated voice. My care was damaged at your ****************** Visalia Ca location they are denying that it happened. They are just repeating what is told to them to say. Fact my car was damaged by your equipment at that location (*************************************************** ). Someone named ***** took our information but has never called us back. I called on 6/27/25 and spoke with an ****** because ***** would not call us back. ****** gave me a number to call but all it is a message machine. ************** nobody answers at ************. I have filled out a form online. I have pictures see attached.Thank you & have a nice day,****** ******** ***

      Business Response

      Date: 07/03/2025

      Surf Thru appreciates the opportunity to respond to this complaint. After a full investigation and review, it was determined that Surf Thru has no liability for the claimed damages. The material used on the car wash wraps is made of soft foam and does not scratch vehicles. Surf Thru washed 982 vehicles that day at that location and no other claim for damages was made. In conclusion, there was no employee negligence or equipment malfunction, therefore the claim is denied and closed. 

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:04/29/2025

      Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I attempted to contact Surf Thru Car wash on numerous occasions since end of March 2025 to request cancelation of membership for one of my vehicles that I no longer own. After several attempts to contact their billing staff via phone calls and online inquiries, no one ever called me back to process my request and I was charged for another month of service on 4/12/25 in the amount of $20.99 for a vehicle no longer in my possession which is why I had requested the cancelation of membership. I finally received a call from someone at Surf Thru Car wash on 4/29/25 (a whole month later) claiming they had no record of my calls or online inquiries requesting cancelation and they declined to process my refund request.

      Business Response

      Date: 05/06/2025

      Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Ms. **** was contacted and informed that the requested refund for the referenced membership could not be issued, as there was no record of a cancellation or attempted cancellation through the online membership management system. She stated that she would dispute the charge with her bank. No further action can be taken at this time.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:04/16/2025

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Date of transaction 4/8/2025 Price $14.00 Visited the Surf thru location at ****************************************************************************. During the wash cycle my car was damaged. A piece of trim on the drivers side of my car was ripped off and damaged. I filed a damage claim before leaving the location and was told someone would contact me. I finally heard back from someone and scheduled a meeting to meet in person on 4/16/2025. I was not given a time when the meeting was originally set, so I called today (4/16/25) to figure out what time I needed to be there, and the person I was supposed to be meeting with is not in today. And now have no idea what is happening, I just simply want the damage to my car covered.

      Business Response

      Date: 04/17/2025

      Surf Thru appreciates the opportunity to respond to this complaint. After a full investigation, it has been determined that Surf Thru cannot accept liability for the trim of the vehicle due to the following factors that were considered as a large operator in the Car Wash industry:

      Surf Thru washed more than ****** cars that day roughly 400+ specifically at this location. No other vehicles reported the same issue locally nor companywide for receiving the same services as this customer.

      This issue is a known issue from the manufacturer for vehicles from ***, many of which have no correlation to express car washes being the cause. The customer informed the staff that the issue has already been repaired once by the dealership, further solidifying a deficiency from the manufacturer itself.

      ********* as an organization only accepts liability for issues that are the cause of equipment malfunctions or employee negligence when loading vehicles. After reviewing the video footage for this claim, we can confidently confirm that neither of these variables were the cause of the loss of trim for this customer.

      As unfortunate as this situation is, we cannot accept liability for the trim of her vehicle due to the reasons stated above.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:04/04/2025

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On March 23, 2025 my vehicle was washed at the Surf Thru Car Wash on ****** and ****** in *******. The Passenger side front door molding was ripped off the car in the car wash. The missing part was identified when drying off the car at home. A call was made to the car wash to report the missing part. My son happened to be at the same car wash to wash his vehicle and he made contact with the manager. The part was found in the car wash lane and given to my son. It appeared to have been twisted and possibly ran over multiple times. A call was placed that same day where I spoke to a Manager named ****. He stated that I could come in later that week to file a damage claim. A damage claim was filed on Thursday March 27, 2025.I was advised that the claim had been reviewed by ownership and it was denied.On April 4, 2025, I received a call from ***** who handles claims. He stated the car wash could not have ripped off the part because it is made from soft foam and that there was no employee negligence therefore they were denying the claim.The part that was ripped off of the door was not damaged previously. It was found inside the car wash lane. There is no other explanation as to how the part ended up inside their car wash and removed from my vehicle other than the car wash brushes pulling it from the car.I would like to have Surf Thru cover the replacement of the part which costs $355.08

      Business Response

      Date: 04/10/2025

      Surf Thru thanks you for the opportunity to respond the this complaint. After a full investigation, it was found that Mr. ******* received a normal car wash with no equipment failure or employee negligence. The door molding blew off during the drying process which indicates that the trim was not attached properly. Hundreds of vehicles were washed that same day without incident with the blowers. Surf Thru denies responsibility for this damage. 

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:11/09/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Resolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On August 30th, 2024 at the Delano Surf’s Thru location, as I was entering the car wash, I was following the direction of the associate lining me up on the belts for my tires. As soon as my tires got onto the belts, my front left tire was popped by the belts. The associate knocked on my window to let me know of what had happened. I filed a damage claim with the manager at the facility, I was not given a damage claim #. I had to take my vehicle to Walmart as it was across the street and bought a new tire. It cost me $170 and I have been non stop following up on the claim I submitted and NO ONE has been able to get me an answer. I am looking for a number to contact to speak to someone in charge. Every number I get they said their area manager will reach out to me and I have yet to receive any sort of call from any manager. My family and I have 3 memberships with the company. At this point I wonder how they treat non members? I am looking for an answer and have decided to reach out to better business bureau to help me get it.

      Business Response

      Date: 11/18/2024

      Thank you for the opportunity to respond. After filing this damage claim, Mr. Canu was asked to bring in a receipt so that Surf Thru could reimburse him. He was contacted again on Nov. 11, and stated he had not taken the receipt in but will. On Nov. 13, the receipt was received by Surf Thru and reimbursement is in process.  Thank you.

      Customer Answer

      Date: 11/22/2024

      I am not satisfied with this response as I still have not received a reimbursement. They called me to take my receipt and told me my money would be ready. I went a day or two later and they wanted a copy of my receipt and still no money. A day later they called and said they need a copy of my registration. I did that, and now still no reimbursement of such. What is taking so long? Had I not reached out to Better Business Bureau, this would not have even been progressing one bit. The only reason they responded was because I reached out to BBB. Next week this will have been officially 3 months ago. Ridiculous 

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:09/25/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Resolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Have tried to cancel membership several times via their website, have repeatedly been charged again for a membership I have cancelled.

      Business Response

      Date: 09/27/2024

      This issue has been resolved with customer ******* *****.

      Below was the correspondence and resolution emailed to *** *****:

       

      After looking into your account, I can confirm that you submitted a cancellation for your Monthly Sharecard on July 28, 2024, and that account has been successfully canceled. However, I noticed that theres a second account under your name and payment method that has been actively used, with the last wash on July 28, 2024.

      I also see that you were charged for both July and August without any washes being used. To rectify this, Ive processed a refund of $72.00 for the past two months back onto your **** ending in 3962.

       

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:04/20/2024

      Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I have a membership with Surf thru Express, I took my car to be washed and upon exiting I noticed scratches on my windshield. Since their machines are made of soft material; I was told, it must have been the spray wand the young man was using. I didnt have scratches going in, but had scratches upon exiting. I filed a claim with the company and they denied it. I spoke with the management of the Esplanade branch asking for a copy of the denial and he told me I couldnt have it. He also canceled my membership that Ive had for over 3 years. I tried contacting the ***************** but there is no phone number, nor anyway to reach them.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:12/29/2023

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Resolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On 9/8/2023 I arrived at Surf Thru Car Wash to purchase an advertised promotional monthly car wash plan of $14.99. The plan would be $14.99 1st month and $19.99 after. I spoke to cashier and advised her to sign me up for the plan. I provided my debit card and when she returned with the form to sign I noticed the amount was wrong $34.99. I Let her know I did not agree to the plan and she advised me she had to cancel and start all over again (alot of cars were behind me at this point) She assured me I can return any other day and cancel the plan. I agreed to not be a difficult customer. I returned 9/14 to change the plan. I signed a new form in hopes this resolved my issue. On 11/8/23 I noticed I was being charged $34.99. On 11/10/23 I made a visit to Surf Thru and a different cashier advised me to call ************. On 11/11/23 I was involved in an accident and my vehicle was totaled. The number I called was not helpful and the woman refused to credit me anything back for that month. Please help me find a resolution.

      Business Response

      Date: 01/02/2024

      To Whom it May *********************************** you for bringing this concern to our attention. We have conducted a thorough investigation into the matter raised by **************************

       

      Upon reviewing the records, it has been determined that ************ signed a recharge card on 9/8, explicitly authorizing our company to charge her card for the initial month at $14, with subsequent automatic recharges of $34.99 each month until cancellation. Attached to this response, you will find the signed agreement for your reference.

       

      Our records indicate that ************ visited Surf Thru Express on ************ on multiple occasions, specifically on 9/8/24, 9/14/24, 9/19/24, 10/6/24, 10/27/24, 11/6/24, and 11/10/24. On each visit, she received an Extreme Surf Wash, our top-tier wash priced at $34.99/mo. for members.

       

      Additionally, it is worth noting that on 12/1/23, ******** was issued a refund, and the relevant documentation is attached for your verification.

       

      We understand the importance of addressing customer concerns, and we strive to maintain transparency and resolve issues promptly. If there are any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us directly. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter.

       

       

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:11/07/2023

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      This company damaged my car a week ago and is not willing to provide there insurance information as required by law to have my car issue fixed. I need to make a claim with their insurance due to the damage. The employees as well are extremely unprofessional and do not want to take responsibility for their own behavior. What they like to do is try to turn the tables and blame the customer and retaliate the customer so they don't have to take responsibility for their own actions. This company will be held responsible for what they've done to me

      Business Response

      Date: 11/10/2023

      This letter is in response to the complaint filed by ******************************* on 11/7/2023 concerning her 2023 ****** Prius. Surf Thru appreciates the opportunity to explain the facts of her claim.

      In an effort to provide excellent customer service, our greeter;upon the request of ******************, removed the fast pass sticker that had been applied to her front windshield. This was done as a courtesy and would normally place the burden on the guest to remove said sticker.

      The reported damage to ******************** dashboard was investigated and the evidence shows that there was no employee negligence upon removing the sticker that could have caused any scratch to her dashboard.  When removing the sticker our greeter only used a towel and some rubbing alcohol. There were no other objects or tools used to remove the sticker. Furthermore, ****************** did not return to the site to file a claim until 5 days later.

      In consideration of all the evidence and facts as explained above, Surf Thru respectfully denied ******************** claim.

      Customer Answer

      Date: 11/13/2023

       I am rejecting this response because:
      The company used alcohol and it ate my dashboard as well they need to give me their car insurance by law. Next I will report them to the police for not giving me the information to make a legal claim. Send your car insurance information back as a response to this better business Bureau complaint 

      Business Response

      Date: 11/15/2023

      We have thoroughly investigated *************************************************** concerns regarding the removal of the fast pass sticker from her 2023 ****** Prius. Our review, including footage from security cameras, affirms that our employee followed the proper procedure using a soft microfiber cloth with isopropyl alcohol.

      We maintain our position that there was no employee negligence, and our records show no evidence of damage. Consequently, we respectfully deny this claim.

      Customer Answer

      Date: 11/15/2023

       I am rejecting this response because:

      By law you can not directly deny a claim. You must provide insurance by law. This better business Bureau complaint is documentation that you did not cooperate. Dated 11/15/23

      Next you face legal liable with evidence to back it up especially not following laws 

    Surf Thru Express Car Wash is NOT a BBB Accredited Business.

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