Chance EG

Posting this as a cautionary tale of anyone considering taking their car to a Maaco for labor. I cannot describe how horrendous this whole ordeal has been, and I do not expect to ever get my money back.


Maaco of Independence, MO scammed me of $1000. I paid this shop $1000 as a down payment for labor and paint on my car 6 weeks ago on September 3rd. When I paid the shop, the manager, Travis, told me that the car would be ready in approximately 2 weeks. I knew this was likely an early estimation, so at first when the car was delayed I was not upset. However, every time I called the shop and spoke to Lori (receptionist) after the first delay, they would just extend the promise to "it will be finished xDay", and so on, and any time that I asked for the actual status of the car, no one knew, or no one was at the shop/available.

Finally, after 5 weeks on (10/08) I was getting nervous having not seen my car in a month (the shop is an hour away from me). I called the manager, Travis, directly and he apologized and said that it was their fault for having poor communication. He promised to make it up for me, and told me the car would definitely be in the paint booth that Thursday. I told him I would need to pick the car up the following weekend, regardless of it's status, as my girlfriend and I could not go on with sharing a single car. She has two jobs and attends university, and I have a full time position. He acknowledged this and promised the car would be ready. Additionally, he promised to send me a photo of the car so I would have an idea of what they're working with. I never received this photo, and later I found out why.

I called Travis that Friday to confirm that the car was ready, and he immediately took a different tone and simply said "I don't think your car is ready buddy", and brushed off the issue. I told him I would be at the shop tomorrow regardless.

When I arrived, I found that the shop staff had been COMPLETELY replaced. When I walked in the door and asked for Travis, everyone seemed to take defense and told me that Travis got suspended for poor dealing with customers. The phone was ringing constantly while I was there. I asked to go back and see my car, and none of them even knew which car was mine, and were confused when I described it to them.

Finally, one of them took me to the back of the shop, and through the heaps of cars I saw mine. It had not even been touched. The car had just been parked there, for 6 weeks, with no changes whatsoever. On later inspection, I also found that I had cables missing from my radio.

I spoke with the new manager (Chris) and he agreed that I would need a refund. He promised to talk to Ryan, the owner of the shop, and that I should come by on 10/17 to meet with him. When I arrived, everyone was leaving the shop and they said Ryan may not be there as he got tied up in a meeting. I had called Maaco and spoke to Chris repeatedly that day and TOLD THEM to make sure that Ryan was there, and the exact time I would be there. They all simply evacuated as soon as I showed up. Chris gave the the phone number of another "corporate" person to call, who gave me the same runaround that Ryan was in town to issue refunds, and told me that he would call Ryan and tell him to call me. I told him to make sure Ryan called me that night, and I never heard from him.

This is unacceptable and I'm already in the process of filing a claim with the Business Bureau, and will also contact the local news channel. Apparently, I am far from the only customer of that shop to have complaints, so there should be at least a few of us. Your shop has blatantly stolen money from me, has robbed me of time, and has treated me absolutely pathetically since I first trusted your shop with my car and down payment.

K24ekchamp

Damn man, sorry to see this! I been in the auto refinish business for 12yrs, and I do have to ask, why maaco? The quality, the materials, the service and process is all a joke. I do get that they offer "affordable" paint jobs, and a lot of ppl can't do the whole $10k custom work, but you should have some good local shops available, with a reasonable cost. I also have a solution that works if you carry full coverage insurance. It is something that I have seen happen several times, it sucks for the shop, but you can end up getting quality work; key your own car... it sounds crazy, but a lot of ppl do things like this to get good work done, at the cost of their deductible...$250,$500,$1000, again, it just all depends on the policy you have. Be wary as an estimate can also total the car depending on condition and mileage and such...

JDMswagSerf

Insurance fraud at its finest.

Sucks to hear about what the shop did.
Maaco shops are usually hit or miss. No in between.

at least install your lip correctly.

Chance EG

Haha, working on it. The zip ties are so it doesn't fly off on the highway

JDMswagSerf

Lol

Too bad the paint on the hatch is so bad.
A good shop is going to charge you a couple grand, as everything has to be stripped to primer or metal.

Chance EG

Definitely just want it to be done though. Tired of my car looking like a neglected PoS despite all the new parts I've already put on it lol.

Also have new wheels and a CF duckbill waiting to go on once the paint is done. Should look 100x better.

Edit: Also congrats on 1K posts here on HT haha

bks84

iTrader: (9)

Yea, that one isnt the greatest. I hear the one in LS is better. IDK, I wanted quality for my cars, so when i considered where to take it... Maaco wasnt anywhere near that list. MY buddy had his midori hatch painted at teh same location, they didnt mask off the grill opening and ended up painting the front of the engine, header, oil pan, and radiator green...

Chance EG

**** dude, I actually think I read about that somewhere before (either that exact same hatch or a very similar story about Maaco).

The main reason I was considering them right now is just because the car was in desperate need of paint and I needed something pretty quick for the coming winter, and this one (ironically) had really good reviews on Google. After looking at those reviews more, I'm pretty sure they're all fake... All the names look made-up, and all of the posts seem like they were typed by the same 2-3 people.

Anyway, I've called corporate and filed a complaint (have yet to hear back from them) and have also had my complaint forwarded to Maaco by the BBB. My best hope though I think is my bank, I went in on Tuesday to dispute the charge and they should be sending me paperwork either today or tomorrow so I can get a refund on my debit card.

Fingers crossed. This bitch needs paint bad, I'm tired of how ugly my car looks.

munch

This really sucks man. sorry to hear.. I went through a similar situation a long time ago, although not for paint. I would definitely threaten them with a law suit if I were you. They should reimburse you and do your car for free.