July 2023 by Neil Oakden
Up front - this is a copy of the message I submitted to Bowen's Collision after receiving an e-mail requesting feedback. It was sent several weeks ago and I have not received a reply from their customer service department.We blew two tires and damaged 2 rims on a pothole on I-95. We filed a claim with our insurance company and they referred us to Bowen's Collision in Sumter as one of their preferred body shops. The initial estimate we were given to replace the tires & rims was 1-2 weeks. At the end of week 2, when we had heard nothing from the shop, we called & were told they were waiting on parts, would probably be another week. At the end of week 3, when again we had not heard anything, we stopped in to the shop to get some answers. We found the shop had ordered the wrong tires (discovered this when they showed them to us) & were searching for the correct ones to order. I showed the customer service rep where they could be ordered online & delivered in 2 days. We were told they would be ordered & car should be done within the next week. At the end of week 4 we called for a status. They had been unable to locate the tires online (even though I showed them the website), so they ordered them from the discount tire shop in town and were waiting on delivery. At this point we asked to be notified when the tires came in. We never got a call. We called again the following week (now week #5) to be told the tires had come in, and their partner installer (the Chevy dealer next door) had mounted them, but was unable to do the required 4 wheel alignment. The shop had put the car on a flatbed and taken it to BMW in Columbia to get the alignment done. On Friday, 2 days later, we called again to check on the status. We were told it was undergoing final inspection, would be washed, and should be ready in the afternoon. At 4pm, when we had not gotten a call saying it was ready, we went to the shop to wait and pick it up.Overall, this was by far the worst experience I've ever had with a body shop. 5 weeks to replace 2 tires/rims is ridiculous. My main complaint, however, was with the total lack of communication & incompetence ordering parts. The absence of status updates unless we called and the inability to get correct tires without customer assistance is completely unsatisfactory. Based on this experience I will not use Bowen's Collision again.Services: Tires
