Complaint Review: Derand Motorsports - Ottawa ON

I had tint installed at Derand, for the most part it was a straight forward process. Oddly when I picked up my car there was a odd black dust all over it (really dirty). The sun had set when I picked up my car, but the next day I inspected the work. The main rear window had a bunch of bubbles and a wrinkle. The time of this service was around mid-December 2021.  

Few days later we called to make an appointment to have the tint repaired. My girlfriend has arrived at the appointed time, for them to say to her that she is not on the schedule for the day and was made to wait for over an hour for them, then to say that they will not be able to get to the car today. She brings the car home.  

Due to being X-mas time and everyone was so busy that we decided to wait till Jan 2022 to rebook. About mid Jan we had called in to setup a rebook. Our appointment was set for 12noon, but dropped the car off by 11am and left the car there for the whole day. During the drop off, to inform us that we were not in the schedule for the day!!  

About 5:30 pm arrives and still no call to say that my car is ready. So, I called them for a status, remember it is only the rear window tint that is supposed to be repaired at this time. I go in and have the usual small talk and grab my key, again its night time out. 

I am handed my key and told that my car is around back and go for the walk to get it and it was not there, so I head to the front lot and it was there in an unusual spot. I take a quick look to see how the repair work was completed. I couldn't really tell, so I jumped in my car and start heading home. I get but a few meters down the road to find my car feels very foreign. The car is driving straight but my steering wheel was clocked almost 60 degrees to the left!!   It was not like this when I dropped it off.  

Being a mechanic, I knew that there were very limited possibilities for this to happen.  

1 - Major impact bending a tie rod (but it drove straight) 

2 - Removal of the steering shaft  

3 - Removal of the steering wheel.   

Let make a note, my car “used to” have a standard key cylinder on the steering column, 

But I had removed it and installed a "push button key-less" system. You only need to scan the correct area, with a key fob and it will enable you to start the car. This upgrade also removes the steering wheel lock, so the steering can still move from left to right.   

After a very short drive, I immediately test the car further and turn it around to go back to the Derand store. I inspect the exterior for impact damage and could not see any. I knew right away, someone did something inappropriate to my car. I would have been cool if someone called me and said “I am very sorry we started doing work on your car and it was a mistake, can we talk about it” …...but that never happened!

I head into the store to investigate, without question, I had terror in my voice! I was feeling furious that someone had tried to do something to my car without my permission. I am very particular with my cars and they are like my children to me.  

They decided to all play stupid and blame it all on some guy that was not even in the building at that time. A guy name Scott, come out from the shop area and tried to explain to me that there were issues with my steering lock and “had to lightly pull on it to get it to unlock.” By this point I had calculated that none of them were going to take any ownership for what had happened and actually tried to make out as if I was making it all up and that there was something wrong with me.   

Scott tried his best to over-talk me and bully me for his egoic purposes, but I remained calmed a waited for his rambling to stop. To the point where the owner finally intervenes. He proved himself to have some major control issues and needs therapy. I will pray for him.  

 After standing there for 10 mins going around and around in circles with this Scott guy regurgitating nonsensical crap to cover up a big failure! Trying to over explain himself, with long winded “rabbit hole” explanations that were not relevant to solving the issue, and help put the blame on someone else. While the owner stood there allowing this to unfold, instead of doing some proper investigations into the simple facts that where right in front of him. I told the owner that “I will be investigating this. ….thanks” and walked away.  

The next day I took my car to an accredited and trusted auto service shop and asked the owner to personally look over my car and report. Car was at the shop for the day and found no suspension changes, but did determine that the steering wheel was removed. The car was place on an alignment rack and the 4 wheels where almost exact as it was 2 years ago when it was initially aligned.  

This shop is the only place I trust to work on my car, so they have records of previous alignments. To fix the problem the steering wheel had to be removed and reinstalled. For a cost of about $130. Now I get my car back and it drives straight, so I get it home to investigate the tint repair …. The repair was not done!!!! Still the same failed piece of tint.  

I refuse to take my car there again in fear of what else they will do to it, and would rather pay another company to fix the tint. Now to add a side note of information here: Including the initial day of installation and the 2 follow up appointments, never once did I received a call to say that my vehicle was ready. I had to call in.  

They did a tint install for my girlfriend car with no issues and they were local to my area. I initially was very skeptical of getting work done there, for they do have a poor reputation in the auto world and have seen some badly hacked work come from there, but I felt “What is the worst that could happen just getting some tint installed?”

Man-o-man I was wrong, things get messed up in un explainable ways there! If you value your money and your car, I strongly recommend you stay far away from any services from this company, it’s a high stakes gamble with your belongings!