ABRA Body and Glass ABRA Body - MESSED UP MY CAR Woodbury Minnesota

On Tuesday, August 6^th approximately 4:30 pm I dropped my car off to Abra Auto Body and Collision. Before dropping my car off there were no major mechanical issues nor were there any noises in my vehicle.

I was originally told that the car would be ready on Tuesday, August 13^th  and no one from Abra contacted me to tell me different. I called Abra on August 13^th and was told by the insurance agent that the car would be ready on Wednesday, August 14^th because they were waiting on a flap to come in from Mercedes Benz.

After not hearing anything and knowing that I would be responsible for the rental if I did not return it when Abra completed my car, I was called Abra Body back on the August 14^th approximately 5:00 PM. I was told that they did not have me ready that the car would be ready by Friday, August 16^th. I waited until approximately 5:00 pm and called Abra and was advised by my insurance rep that the car was not ready and to go ahead and keep the rental car until Tuesday, August 20^th.

I was not contacted by Abra on Tuesday, August 20^th. I waited to call to give them a chance to call me, but never received a call. I called at approximately 4 pm to see if the car was ready and the receptionist answered the phone and stated “oh, oh, yeah, its ready”.

I returned the rental car and my husband drove me down to Abra. I noticed that the car did not look the same color and the manager, Rich, explained to me that it was because one part of the car had fresh paint on it and that the older paint was dull. He advised me to bring the car back and they would buff it for me.

 I said ok, thank you and I left after paying my deductible for the car. I then followed my husband approximately 4 miles to Sunset restaurant got out of the car went in for an hour and re entered my vehicle.

At this point in time, my car would not start. I tried to start it 3 times. I noticed a loud clicking in my dashboard area. My husband advised me to contact the insurance company and let them know what happened. I called the insurance rep and he said he would call the tow truck and have it towed back up to Abra – this was approximately 6:30 pm and Abra was already closed.

The next morning, Wednesday, August 21^st, Rich from Abra called me and said, what’s going on with this car, we were able to get it started right away. It’s your battery, we have a read on it saying its bad. At that time, I advised that the battery was only 1 ½ years old and I informed him that – when I did replace the battery the last time there was no loud clicking. I did not think that was making a clicking noise in my car.

I informed him at that time that I had visited the Mercedes Benz forums to research “clicking sounds in the dash” and each response associated that type of noise with the A/C , temperature etc. and told him that it was something must have happened when they made the repairs. He advised me that they didn’t do anything to my A/C at all.

I then contacted Rich and advised that I would like my deductible refunded to me until we figured out what happened to my car. He advised me he would be glad to do that just bring my card in and he will run it through for a refund. I went to the store approximately 5 pm and spoke with a Bill who called Rich on the phone. Bill said that Rich told him to make a copy of my card, leave it and they would have the receptionist to run the refund in the morning because she was the only who knew how to do it. I advised I didn’t understand why he had me to come by there if he knew she would not be there in the store.

On, Thursday, August 21^st at approximately 9 am, I contacted Abra and spoke with the receptionist. She advised that I had to pay the deductible and she needed to make me understand that. I advised her that she had not communicated with me properly the entire time my car was there. She did not contact me to let me know there would be delays in service nor did she contact me and let me know that my car was ready. She stated I was right and she apologized and I advised her that at this time it was too late to communicate about something that was between me and her manager and what he told me he would do. She refused to let me talk to the manager so I hung up and called back and asked to speak with Rich. He did come to the phone and advised that he talked to his boss and his boss told him that he would have to do the refund through accounting and it would take 3-5 business days. He mentioned that I would still be responsible for the deductible and I advised that I understood that, but I did not have my car back from them so at the time my payment was not due so I would be waiting on that. My other option would be to have my bank initiate the refund as well.

In the meantime, my car was sent to Maplewood Mercedes Benz where it was to have a diagnostic done on it. I found out where it was and contacted Maplewood Mercedes Benz because I assumed it would be there because it was closest. I called one time and spoke with a Rob Hochberg, I asked him if he could make sure that my he communicate with me about my car and keep me in the loop. He said yes, he would contact me and my rep.  I later received a call from my rep stating that Rob said that I had already called over to there office twice and wanted to know what was going on. This raised a red flag with me because I for sure only contacted Maplewood Mercedes Benz one time. That is neither here nor there. The rep advised that if they found the issues to be accident related they would cover the cost of repairs and I advised that I am sure it is because is has something to do with the Abra repair and that they did something because there was no knocking on my car EVER prior to me taking it to Abra.  He stated he would call me back when he heard back regarding the diagnostic report.

On Friday, August 23, 2013, I received a call from Rob Hochberg called me at approximately 9:44Am to give me the results of the diagnostic test. I called back because I missed his call and he read the report to me and I told him that the adjuster arms being broken was consistent to what I had found on the Mercedes benz forum when you have your A/C fixed or tampered with  and assured him that I had no clicking or knocking noise since I’ve had my car.   I then requested that he email me a copy of the report to my email address.

At approximately 10 am, I spoke with the rep and was advised that the clicking sound was not accident related. I then was very adamant and ensured him that the clicking noise was not in my car and could provide witnesses and records that this was not an issue.

I then contacted the Mercedes Benz maintenance shop where I ‘ve taken it to be maintained to request records.

I also googled Abra body and found the following reviews on the shop: http://twincities.citysearch.com/profile/5539513/woodbury_mn/abra_auto_body_glass.html

Upon further investigation I found this one:

http://www.abumba.com/local/abra-auto-body-and-glass-woodbury-mn/7081365C1468

http://local.yahoo.com/info-16965460-abra-auto-body-glass-woodbury