Mickey's West County Car Wash ripoff Ballwin Missouri

On Saturday, June 25th, 2005, I took my 2005 Acura RL to Mickey's West County Car Wash. I was shown a list of packages and pointed to the one costing $23.95. The employee told me that that package came with mat cleaning and a free scent. I told him I absolutely did not want a scent of any kind. Unfortunately for me, I did not examine the credit card receipt closely enough when I went inside to sign. Only later did I realize that I was actually being charged $29.95 for the cleaning and another $7.00 for the mats. I also tipped $4.00 in the collection box. I got in my car and drove a very short distance to a gas station. When I got out, I looked at my rubber floor mat which is a light tan color. There was a large black stain on it along with a lot of wet, black footprints. I got a paper towel and wiped off the footprints to see the stain better. I noticed then that there was also a peeling of the mat and tread marks around the stain. I sat back in the driver's seat and looked around.

I opened my ash tray and saw that the tray which had been completely full with change when I pulled into the car wash was now about one quarter full. I also noticed that the burl wood which wraps around my dashboard was full of fingerprints and smudges. I saw a long black line of dirt on my carpet. There were still remains of bugs on my windshield. You could see a footprint on the inside of the driver's door. I drove the car back to Mickey's Car Wash and asked to see the manager. I was directed to a man named Benny (sp?). Benny assured me that he could completely fix the mat and also told me that the guys were told not to steal. I pointed out the other problems with the cleaning to Benny and he made me feel that everything would be taken care of. Benny had a worker take my mat out and put it on a rack to steam clean it. After about 10 minutes of that, the worker put the wet mat back into my car. I drove off.

On Monday morning, June 27th, I called Mickey's Car Wash to ask to speak to Mickey. I was told Mickey wouldn't be in all day but I could speak with his son, Aaron (sp?). I gave Aaron the overview of what had happened to me 2 days before. I told Aaron that I was not going to ask him to pay for a new mat but that I would want to get my credit card refunded the $37.95 that it had been charged. Aaron was emphatic that that was not going to happen. He told me that there must be a defect with the mat and that that had never happened before and that he would call St. Louis Acura and find out if there was a problem with the mats. I told him that there was the issue of people stealing from me and my car being in worse shape when I drove it out than when I had driven it in to his business. He told me that he would not refund anything but I could come have my car driven back through the wash. I explained to him that I had taken the car home and cleaned it myself. I was not going to let the stains and dirt stay there. Aaron said if I wasn't willing to bring in the mat for him to see that we were at an impasse. We hung up. About 10 minutes later I got a call from Benny who tearfully told me that Aaron had called him into his office to get very mad at him and was there anything Benny could do to make things right for me? I assured Benny that his chance had come and gone on Saturday and that I could see nothing that he could do for me at that point.

Mary
Clarkson Valley, Missouri
U.S.A.