Quote:
Originally Posted by Debaser
Took the car to a self-serve car wash station. My first time at a self-serve. I washed the car, rinsed it, and took it outside to vacuum. While doing so, I noticed that the car had been scratched up all over - from hood to trunk. Many of the scratches can be felt with the fingernail. There must be at least two dozen of them.
I lodged a complaint with the manager and after lots of arguing he offered only a 20% discount at his own detail shop. He told me the scratches were likely caused by the foam brush at the washing station, which often contains sand/silt/rocks from previous washers. He told me I should have sprayed down the brush with the high pressure hose as the instructions indicated.
I didn't spray down the brush and I acknowledged that the instructions posted inside the station mentioned doing so. But nowhere was there a warning that failing to do so would run the serious risk of scratching the vehicle. As far as I was concerned, ensuring the proper maintenance of their washing equipment - so as to not damage other people's property - is the responsibility of the car wash company. My responsibility was to pay and to use their equipment in a reasonable fashion, which I did.
In any case, I'm at a loss of what to do. I took the car to a reputable detail shop run by a friend and they quoted me $200 for a full day's work of washing, waxing, a complete buff job, cleaning and re-washing/waxing. On top of the scratches, they wanted to detail out the swirl marks that are typical on the black BMWs (in other words, they want to do more than just buff out the scratches).
The detail shop promised the car would look like 95% new again, but told me that some of the scratches would still be there if I looked closely enough. There's just nothing they can do about some of them.
I called the car was company owner and explained my situation to him. I told him I would be preparing a case for small claims court and that I would write the local newspaper to indicate my poor experience. I'm currently in a very small town where reputation matters. He told me to prepare for a counter-suit in libel.
What to do?
Any lawyers in the audience?
My poor, poor car!
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I don't think there are any Canadian barristers here.