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September 2024 by Matt Dean
Not Recommended - Disappointing Experience with Serious Flaws
I feel obligated to share my disappointing experience with this body shop, where I encountered a mix of satisfactory work overshadowed by serious issues. My 2004 350z, previously in good condition, was subjected to practices that left me frustrated and compelled to advise others to proceed with caution.
Main Concerns:
Misleading Information to Insurance: The shop lied to the insurance company about parts orders being placed, complicating the process unnecessarily right from the start.
Unjustified High Quotes: Initially, the insurance assessment of $2,000 seemed reasonable. However, the shop demanded an additional $4,000 for excessive and, in my view, unnecessary procedures, risking the total loss of a vehicle over a minor accident.
Specifically, they requested 2k more to remove my entire interior and check my harness mounting points?!? For a crash that likely happened at less than 10 mph in a parking lot?!? RIDICULOUS. My car is over 20 years old. This was going to total it. For a minor fender bender. The adjuster for the person who hit called me and explained and without him I would have lost my car. They also agreed on a call for me to "sign a waiver" to not do the work, which I never had to sign. Proving their BS.
Inconsistent Quality of Work: While some repairs were done well (area of the hit), the decision to clear-coat over noticeable paint chips on my hood was completely unacceptable work. I can understand not painting the entire hood even though they were paid more than enough to, but to not even make some simple paint corrections in other areas when they were paid more than enough to make it right is ridiculous! See the pictures. The paint chips are clear coated over!
Also, the headlight not involved in the crash was redone subpar. On walkthrough, their guy told me they buffed it down but didn’t clear coat the headlight or treat it to stop future corrosion. This means it will look cloudy in two months. Again, just wow.
This experience was a mix of the okay, bad, and frankly unacceptable. It's disheartening to see skilled work in some areas negated by serious lapses in others. Practices such as misleading insurance claims and choosing the easy route over quality work paint a picture of a business more concerned with profit than customer satisfaction or vehicle safety.
This incident has led me to advise against using this shop, especially for owners of older vehicles who might be particularly vulnerable to these practices. Don’t let them total your older car! There are likely better options available that balance quality, honesty, and value, ensuring both your vehicle and trust are well cared for.
Edit: a couple of months later my older headlight looks like trash. Bunch of liars
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September 2024 by Vinny Himes
Awesome facility, super nice and very helpful staff. They definitely employee the best painter I have ever met! Keep up the amazing work Kris!
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September 2024 by Gee Daniel
Great service
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September 2024 by Carol Kurtz
Excellent work
Seamless coordination with insurance company.
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August 2024 by Mary Jo Kraus
Being involved in a car accident is stressful; Athens Collision Center made it less so!
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July 2024 by Vanessa Owings
I highly recommend Athens Collision. I needed some body work done after a small accident. They gave me a quote, kept me updated on when parts arrived and updated me almost daily on when my car would be ready. When I picked it up, it was spotless inside and out. The repairs are flawless.
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June 2024 by Adrienne K
Everyone at this shop takes your repair seriously, from minor dings to serious internal mechanical issues. They fixed my car so thoroughly that they even addressed missed steering and headlight problems from a previous accident that another shop ignored. That level of skill and detail is soooo rare in this industry. My car looks and drives like the day I bought it. I am so grateful for Athens Collision Center. I never thought my car would ever be the same. I will only let this shop touch my car. It was worth the wait to get on their calendar. They even cleaned the interior of my car better than a car wash. My mind is blown at how much they care. Thank you so much to Nikki and everyone at Athens Collision Center.
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May 2024 by John White
It is unfortunate but this shop's customer service skills or lack thereof overshadow their work. When I had an initial estimate done, they had said it should take about a week to get the car repaired. Based on what damage I could see, I was fine with that and had even had a couple day leeway built in terms of when I was expecting to get it back.
Trouble is that after six days, they came back and said it would be longer because they needed some parts they didn't expect to need. When telling me, the shop acted like it was not a big deal. They would ultimately tell me a couple days that the car would then be ready the week after I expected it back.
The following week, they told me that it should be ready by the end of that week which was over two weeks after I had dropped it off (it was ultimately the following Tuesday before I got my car back, 20 days after I had dropped it off). Well, at that point something just didn't seem right. Therefore, I decided to look into this further. Upon doing so, I discovered that they had filled a supplemental estimate with my insurance company that was for over triple the original estimate without ever telling me. Once I discovered that, there was no way that I could even consider giving them a five star.
Had the shop communicated with me in regards to the supplemental estimate when they did it especially due to how large it was, I would have known to expect at least another week in terms of when it would be ready. In that case, I would still have been frustrated because I need my car when it comes to doing my second job. However, I would have still been able to give them a better rating because it would have meant that they had been transparent.
Going forward, until I can be confident that there is improvement when it comes to customer service, there is no way that I would consider using this shop. Yes they actually did some good work but it is very hard to look past the customer service experience when it needs major improvement.
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May 2024 by Zach Armstrong
Staff had a communication breakdown with me which resulted in them doing $600 worth unnecessary work to my car, which they did not offer any leniency in. If you use this place, be sure to advocate for yourself and ensure everyone is on the same page, since my experience with the staff is that they won't do that.
Car was real clean when I picked it up though.
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May 2024 by Napier Minor
Professional and responsive repairs done. No issues. Recommended!
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April 2024 by Craig Willis
I chose to have my 2016 F/150 with 58,000 miles fixed by Athens Ford Collision center. From the time i walked in to drop off the truck until I picked it up when repairs were finished everybody was very polite and assisted me with everything. They called to have my rental car delivered. Two people really made an impression on me. Brenda was very helpful and got everything i needed when i called. When i went to pick up my truck they had me leave the rental car there and they would notify Enterprise. . Brenda held on to an item I left in the rental car for about 2 months ( due to death in the family and me having surgery.) when I arrived to pick it up she walked out and met me with it so I wouldn’t have to walk inside. The second person was Mason he kept me informed about the repairs. He even argued with the other parties insurance for to me in order to get the paint he needed instead of me paying. He successfully got the paint covered by insurance. Original estimate by insurance was 4,000 dollars but insurance didn’t look under the truck.When Mason and his crew put the truck on a lift he noticed a lot of damage that insurance had not compensated for and handled it with the other parties insurance. All repairs came to nearly 15.000 dollars. I have bought three F-150 from Athen Ford and would hate to go anywhere else. Now Athens Collision center has earned my business (hopefully it won’t be needed.).
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April 2024 by John Robinson
Between insurance and these people they managed to total out my car for a broken an arm and tie rod with No frame damage. Feel like I was scammed.
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April 2024 by Valerie Maxwell
Great business, they work together with insurance, they made it really easy, just basically showed up and they took care of the rest, establishment is very clean and organized, staff is very friendly, Mason is taking great care of me
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March 2024 by Chevy Sims
Great service and communication!
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March 2024 by Angie Shockey
Great place
