Complaint Review: Lee's Mobile Auto Body Repair

 I found "Lee's Mobile Auto Body" repair on Craigslist in San Jose. I had a 1988 Nissan Maxima that had gotten side-swiped. The guy I talked to was named "Nick." His business card had the name "Ruby George" on it and the phone number of 408-500-6780. When I asked about it, he said the name was his wife's. Don't know why his name wasn't on the card.

He gave me an estimate of $1200 to fix the car. We took it to a shop on Almaden Road and left it for several days. When returned, the body work was fine (no dent, good paint job), but the horizontal rubber guard on the driver's door was rippled and uneven. It really was obvious and the eye was drawn to it.

I contacted Nick and he tried to fix it, but even after one attempt, it still looked rippled and now has begun to separate. When I called him again, he said he was "relocated" to Reno and couldn't work on the car. He told me "Thomas" would handle it. Finally Thomas called me and we set up a time to meet. He didn't show up.

I told him I was going out of town and I would contact him when I returned so the car could be properly fixed. He said he was more of an expert in fixing the rubber trim than Nick. Today I had an appt. with him at 2 p.m. He never showed up or even called. I tried calling him several times and finally texted him. He texted back that he does not work for free. Apparently he expected me to pay again for work I had already paid for.

I found Lee's Mobile Auto body repair to be a very shady operation. Nick disappers to Reno for no apparent explanation. The cellphone Nick was using in Reno was now in Thomas's possession. Thomas doesn't return calls. The check I gave to Nick was cashed at a check-cashing service, apparently to avoid it being deposited to a bank checking account. And now I have a supposed employee of Lee's Auto Body refusing to complete work that was not done properly, although I was assured by Nick that Thomas would take care of it.

Via a text, I asked Thomas for Nick's contact information in Reno (if that's really where he is) and he refuses to give it to me. Now he is claiming he (they) are not responsible for a rubber strip although it definately was part of the repair job. He said his dad (Nick) gave me a good price and that no one would care about the strip. He's never seen the car so he can't possibly comment on how it looks. And refusing to talk to me on the phone, resorting to back and forth text messages has made communication near impossible. I have asked him 3 times now for Nick's phone number and he refuses to give it.

I would never do business with them again. Solving this problem should have been effortless. Working and even talking with Thomas has been a real pain in the *ss.