Collision shop holding my Explorer hostage

[Mr. B.]

Koons Collision Repair Center in Alexandria, Va., put the wrong grille on my Explorer XLT. Instead of the chrome grille, they put a cheap black one on, and it looks awful since my SUV is light beige. The black grille might look good on the sport model, which has blacked out trim, but it does not match my chrome and light grey trim package.

Koons is refusing to fix the problem and is demanding that I pay full price for an improper repair. At one time, the manager even said Koons could order the right grille but I would have to pay for both grilles and the cost of taking the wrong one off and putting the right one on. Their customer service center won't return my calls. They are obviously trying to wait me out in the hopes that I will cave in and just pay for their mistakes.

Any advice on how to handle this??? Thanks.

Here's an article about my problem from a great enthusiast site:

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/14/1445.asp

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I hope they don't try to charge you for storage after you get this resolved. I would suggest that you contact the Attorney General's office. They won't ignore their phone calls.

 

[Mr. B.]

Thanks for the reply and advice! My Explorer already has been sitting on their lot so long that the battery died and Koons wants to charge me another hundred bucks for a new one.

This vehicle has been in my family and babied since it rolled off the assembly line, so I really want to keep it in great original shape. It's pretty short-sighted on the part of Koon's Collision Repair because they own a Ford dealership as well as the "repair" shop and I'm a die-hard Ford owner. I've driven 10 Fords over the last 20 years and will obviously buy more Fords--but not from Koons now.

 

[Turdle]

So what does the BBB say?

 

[410Fortune]

what did the insurance adjuster put down for the grill, black or chrome?
Did insurance pay for the collision repair?
Was chrome or black on the original estimate?

I would pay it, get my truck back, then fight them afterwards.
A dead battery can be charged, or you can jump the truck to get it home and replace the battery yourself.
You can get a chrome grill for about $50 aftermarket, I personalyl would want my truck back off their lot AFTER I inspect the work they did and sign off on it, based 100% on the original estimate.

Sounds shady to me

 

[aldive]

Sounds shady to me

Ditto.

 

[dr_starcraft]

Thats crazy that you can't get it back even after an article in the paper...

 

[scheki]

Call better business burea, or let them know that.

 

[Mr. B.]

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but that will take 30 days or more, and I need the Explorer back. The hitch to paying for it and fighting the mistake backwards is that they are fudging around with the cost too. I had a repair done at the same shop before and they said they would give a discount if I came back--a promise they have broken.

It is incredible. All I want is my Explorer fixed right--if they would have just taken care of this when the mistake was dicovered this would have been over more than a month ago.

 

[410Fortune]

is your insurance company involved?
Did you sign the original estimate?
I would personally hold them to the original estimate and get my truck back right now, I would not pay a penny more and I would make sure the work covered on the estimate was performed 100% before I took delivery.

 

[Mr. B.]

It looks like pressure will work after all. The publication (thenewspaper.com) that ran the story about how I am getting shafted has a really, really good google rating. If you type in the name of the shop, Koons Collision Repair, the first link is to their own site, and then right under it in the no. 2 and no. 3 positions are stories with the title "Koons Collision Repair holds car hostage"--which is not good for business at all, especially given that more people use google than the phone book to find business phone numbers now.

I guess all journalists aren't all bad.

This story looks like it might help me a lot:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/14/1445.asp

This repair is out of pocket, so I still have to keep my fingers crossed.

 

[cgriffin_5139]

dont forget to take pics of your X when you pick it up at there shop make sure your date on the camera is corect

 

[Mr. B.]

Thanks, Chris. That's an important reminder.

 

[MONMIX]

410 is on the right path.
What is written on the estimate is going to be very crutial. If you have a copy of that estimate let us know what grille it is written for. I have a Ford collision book right here so all I will need is a part number.

Keep us in the loop and let me know if there is any thing I can do.

 

[IZwack]

If in the end, you come up with a black grille, I'll gladly trade you my chrome one

 

[UtahX]

Back in the late eighties living in Sacto, CA my tranny went out in my 71 240z. Brought it into a shop (AMMCO) they quoted me $800 to rebuild. To make a long story short, three weeks later I got my car back. Many times they kept telling me they need another part or some BS. Eventually, I only paid the $800 instead of well over $1000 for the extra stuff they had to do, well that's what they told me.

 

[everythintech]

do you have a spare set of keys? walk in there, get in your truck, and roll out. What are they gonna do? call the cops? for stealing your own truck back? when you get home, take the grill off and bring it back to them. I personally would not let some shop tell me what they are doing with my truck.

 

['97 V8]

sounds perfectly logical to me. ^^^

 

[99SportX]

Just tell them to spray your black grille body color and call it a day. None of the 95-01 X's ever had a black grille except the sports, limiteds, and xls's that were painted entirely black on the exterior. Leaving the grille in black plastic is just plain half ass.

 

[IAmTodd]

Just tell them to spray your black grille body color and call it a day. None of the 95-01 X's ever had a black grille except the sports, limiteds, and xls's that were painted entirely black on the exterior. Leaving the grille in black plastic is just plain half ass.

Nothing had a black grille. Sports/Limited were body color, XLT/EB were chrome.