Complaints

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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/12/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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 received a written estimate for the basic paint job of $972.71, and a $1349 estimate for their mid-grade over the phone the next day to paint my car. I dropped off the car on Saturday 3/25/2023 on my way to the airport. I asked the estimator (***********************) if it would be ok for me to contact him on Monday as to which option I want my car to be painted. He said it would be fine, because it takes several days for the prep work, before they need that information. I told him I was going out of the States and would not have phone access and asked for his contact email. He said it is on the drop-off receipt in my hand. on Monday, I noticed there was no email address on the receipt, on their shop or Maaco websites. So, I sent the shop a massage through Macco website **************** (to *****'s attention) that I would like the basic paint job for $972. A week later, I sent another massage, requesting he confirm the receipt of my massage and again didn't receive a reply. I texted my daughter in the States to call ***** and ask him to email me. Again, he never emailed me, but had told my daughter my car is painted! When I returned on Saturday 4/08/2023, he said they didn't, and never receive massages routed from Macco online site! He said my bill is $1349 because that option was the last estimate in their system! I called the Macco **************** about the store claiming they never receive massages from the franchiser, and that they have painted my car with an expensive paint job without my authorization. They have told the Maaco **************** that I had authorized the $1349 paint job! If they had told me and showed me my authorization when I picked up my car, I would have thank them and left happy. I have my written estimate for $972, the receipt for dropping off my car, but no copy of authorization of a $1349 paint job!

  Business Response

  Date: 04/12/2023

  Unfortunately, we have no idea how to respond to this client. As the files I am attaching show, this client dropped off his vehicle and authorized us to repair it according to an estimate provided. If he wanted a change to his work order, he could have called us directly. Regardless of where in the world he flew to, it seems he was able to call his daughter, but for some reason never called us. In addition, our recollection is that his daughter did call to check up on the repair, but never mentioned about a change to the requested repair.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/13/2023

   
  Complaint: 19924986
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  It is dismissive and dishonest. Everything in my complaint was brought up to them on the day I picked up my car, and their story has certainly changed!  They did not dispute that my point-of-contact had agreed to receive my paint-job selection/authorization via email the following Monday,  and they never claimed that I had authorize them to paint my car for about 50% higher than their written estimate. In fact, when I asked how they selected which paint-job option when they didn't receive my emails, he said something to the effect of 'we selected the paint-job-option quote we had in our system....., we must have updated the quote in our system when you had asked about the cost of higher paint-job option, over the phone' 
  Just to be clear, I am not claiming that I did not drop off my car there to be painted, I did!  Just that I had not selected which paint-job and asked for weekend to decide and contact them over email, and they agreed to it. When I asked for their email, the guy pointed to my car receipt in my hand and said it is on there.  It certainly wasn't on there, anywhere on their shop website, or anywhere else I searched, when it came time for me to email them).  That's why I emailed them(routed thru Maaco Customer Support site).  I received confirmation from the site that my massage was transmitted to the shop successfully, but I never received a confirmation from them.  I did the same thing one more time a few days later, and again didn't receive a confirmation.  A couple of days later, I texted my daughter to contact them and find out what's going on and why they haven't confirmed the receipt of my emails...  The guy  had told her they had never received my emails and that they have already painted the car!  When I confronted him on the day I returned, he said they didn't and have never received massages from Maaco Customer Support site!
  

  I agree that it's possible to make traditional international voice calls to US land-lines from most parts of the world. It is however, more cumbersome, inconvenient, and costly than simple electronic mail.  That is why I requested, and received agreement to use this method of communication....  I did have sporadic access via WhatsApp application (when I had internet access), but the shop's land-line number was not registered. 
  
  A decent, honest business establishment would have spent 10 seconds sending an email asking about my pending decision 2-3 days later, if indeed they had not received my massages.  After all, unlike them, I did provide my email address when I was asked for it....  Why would a business ask for email address, if they are not going to use it, especially when the customer informs them that is the only way to reach them?
  
  I am attaching the written estimate and my vehicle drop-off receipt, the only thing, I received. No where there is a mention or authorization of a $1349 paint job.
  

  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 04/13/2023

  Unfortunately, we have nothing to say. The client signed off on the workorder that was printed out on the day of drop off.  All the documents shown/uploaded show the exact same **************** to when he signed. Again, if he wished to have any changes made, he could have called us directly. At no time did we receive word of wanting to make a change...so therefor we continued with the workorder he signed. 

  It is unfortunate that he did not wish to make an international call and chose to rely on whatsapp. We understand that it is more expensive by a few dollars to make an international mobile call, for we ourselves are from *************** where at times we rely on wifi calling or calling cards to minimize costs. However, we cannot take fault when the client waited 2 weeks after dropping off for work and getting back into ***************** to see if we received any type of message from him. 

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/19/2023

   
  Complaint: 19924986
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  I did not sign off on any work-order and I had not seen it, until they uploaded it. I signed the service authorization sheet and received a copy of it when I dropped off my car (which I posted, earlier). Work-orders are usually not shared with customers, as it is a shop-internal artifact and is generated for the working crew (from the estimate, so the tasks in both documents are the same). It is also quite common for the work-order to be generated at the time of customer drop-off, and hence having the same time-stamp as the authorization that the customer signs.  That by no mean is a proof that the work-order was printed and shared with the customer at the time of drop-off.  Printing a document has nothing to do with the time the document was generated and time-stamped.  In fact, the work-order with the original time-stamp can be printed today and stapled to any other sheet you wish. Some businesses routinely attach a copy of the estimate to the copy of the authorization and give to the customer, and some do it only when it is necessary (i.e. when original estimate is altered at the drop-off).  In many cases, there is no need for this, because the customer knows he is authorizing the estimate he has already received.  In my case, there was no need for the copy of the estimate for the different reason that I needed a couple of more days to decide .....  Therefore, even if their process is to routinely attach the copy of the estimate (or their work-order) to the authorization sheet to be signed, the attendant didn't do that for me (and that fine with me).  He instead, pointed me  to go outside and talk to ***** (my POC).  I did, and received a verbal agreement to email him my decision the upcoming Monday.....
  
  "Again, if he wished to have any changes made, he could have called us directly. At no time did we receive word of wanting to make a change...so therefor we continued with the workorder he signed." 
   Again, I told my point of contact before I left the shop on the day of drop-off that I need to decide and let him know via email, and he agreed to it. If at no time they received my decision in an email, it's because:
  1. He did not provide me with a correct email address, and I had to find an alternative way to route massages to him.
  2. If they indeed don't receive emails routed to them via their franchiser web-sit (as they claimed on the pick-up day) when there is clearly an option for customers to do so, they need to take that to their franchiser!  
  Neither of the two above is a customer's fault.

  The issue is that these folks are denying the whole interaction and the agreement I had with my POC on the drop-off day. I doubt if that young man of 35/40 years of age already has so much brain atrophy that he can't remember anything about an interaction with a client 2 weeks prior. I didn't tape my conversations with them and can't prove it happened. So, legally they are in the clear, especially since I signed the work authorization. But, everything in my complaint is 100% truthful.  I realize who's to be believed by the public, hinges on the credibility and motives.  Therefore, for context, a little about me:

  I am a 66 year old grandfather of two, veteran of Aerospace/Defense industry as a Engineering Technical Lead/Manager. I have been exploring different corners of the glob 3-4 times a year, ever-since I dropped out of the workforce 4 years ago. I have in the past, gone under extensive character/background checks by the US government, and have directed technical design & development activities and cost and schedule management of several $20-$50million, and one multi $100Million projects (for NASA, DoD, Boeing, and others). Earlier in my career, I was in communications Industry for 20 years, and held various executive-engineer level positions (director of engineering, V.P of engineering, distinguished member of technical staff, etc.) in national and international communication companies. I have no debt, a near perfect credit score (for as long as, I remember), own and live in a comfortable beach house in a prestigious beach community in Pinellas County.  I have never had to go this far with anybody or any business in the past, and needless to say, are not out there scamming auto-body repair shops!  To me this is a matter of principle and public service. Had they admitted responsibility and apologized like mature, professional adults, I would have in all likelihood, accept their apology and drop the whole matter. Instead, they started and got progressively worse with excuses, blames, denial, accusations, etc.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/01/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  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.

  Hello.Date of transaction Jan 11 2021. Paid ******** which includes ***** for "light chip" and "scratches". I took my vehicle to Macco for a paint job . The nature of the dispute is- the "old scratches "remaing on vechicle same as the day when the estimate was performed on Dec 11, 2020. Macco is required to take pictures of the vechicle prior and after job is completed. If it's within your policy , please see pictures! I don't have an order number but please reference receipt attached. I took my vehicle back to Macco on Nov 28th, 2022 and spoke with owner **** himself. Prior to discussing the purpose of my visit, **** saw me place my small handbag on trunk of vehicle. I then went into discussing purpose of my visit (scratches). **** immediately stated that because I placed my pocketbook on trunk as well as the trunk being used as "table" is the reason for the scratches "throughout" the car! I'm assuming **** is under the impression that someone took it upon themselves to Imitate by doing and replacing "exactly "where the old scratches were onto my vehicle here recently...That makes no sense ! **** further went into saying they are new scratches. On Nov 28th as well ,**** made a 10 min attempt to buff out scratches on a "part"of the trunk and "part" of hood -yet scratches remain "throughout" vechicle as they did in Dec 2020 !

  Business Response

  Date: 12/01/2022

  This client brought her vehicle in with damage/scratches around the vehicle. 

  It has new scratches throughout the vehicle, and she was hoping we would fix it for her. Upon arriving to our facility, she even put her purse on top of the trunk and scratched it some more, which we told her that was probably the cause of some damage and she is being careless. Trying to be polite, we tried to remove the scratches as much as possible by buffing it out. Alot of it improved, but the damage was too much and a lot of the new scratches went too deep in to the paint. At this point, it needs to be repaired and painted.

  We reminded her that warranties do not extend to new damage/scratches and there was no issue with the original service/paint. We even advised her to go to any other facility to get an opinion to show that we are not lying to her. She refuses to do so (no idea why) and is insisting we take care of everything at our expense.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/02/2022

   
  Complaint: 18476626
  
  I am rejecting this response because: the information in which Macco  has  stated is inaccurate.  
  It's not possible for a placement of a small handbag being gently placed on the trunk of a   vechicle as being the cause of scratches to be in the same exact place as they were back in Dec 2020 when car was 1st brought into  establishment.  The scratches on my vechicle are "old" ! There is a warranty in place for mishaps of such. Macco is responsible for such mishaps. I paid roughly very close to $ ****** for scratches to be sanded down properly  however they were not .  With the paint apparently wearing off, the scratches are apparent. 
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 12/02/2022

  I have no response. The client is incorrect. New damage is not covered under warranty and we will not be privy to someone trying to make a fraudulent claim.

  In addition, I am attaching the photos of the vehicle when it arrived to our facility 2 years ago. The only major scratches marked/shown are on the bumpers and side doors.

  If she wants to correct the new damage she has caused, she is welcome to take it to another shop to get it repaired and painted.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/19/2022

   
  Complaint: 18476626
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Tell the truth and shame the devil Macco! I would like to first and foremost  beg your pardon as old scratches were in  more than two places on vehicle in  Dec 2020 as the same" old scratches" that remain in the same exact areas "throughout" vehicle as two years ago, Sir! ** other words , I have "no" new scratches ! My time is very valuable! For me personally,  I would not go over and behind in trying to get this matter rectified just for the fun of it and nor would I get BBB involved ! What I would like to see is for your establishment to realize your mistake and take pride in your work by making your wrong right and fix what you should have done two years ago, Sir ! I have a warranty. A warranty is set in place for mishaps of such! Do  what's right by honoring your warranty and fix my vehicle,Sir  !  People be aware! CONARTIST are actually real people who run establishments
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************