Complaint Review: Three C Body Shop - columbus oh

I was involved in a very simple 5 mile an hour collision that happened on private property. Due to it being on private property the fault of the damage was decided to be 50/50 between myself and the other insured motorist. I accepted this and was told by my insurance company to choose a shop to take it to. I have had work done in the past at a few different auto body shops around town and always was not completely satisfied and wanted to make sure this time would be different. I would go to the company that is all over the radio here in Columbus Ohio as being an honest company that works to be an advocate for the consumer. Surely a company like this would stand for what is morally right and honest, I was wrong.

I am so dismayed by the events so far that I am actually completeing a complaint form on this company. Most of the time I just deal with what has transpired and go about my life. I cannot sit by and allow this to happen and no one know that they too could be a victim from this company. I first informed my insurance company that I have chosen to work with Three C Body shop. They advised me to take the car for an estimate and they will have an adjuster sent out as well. My husband took the car to the local Three C shop in Worthington. My husband was provided with an estimate of around $3400.00 for repairs. I thought this was high for the amount of damage but accepted it was high because this shop was know for only using OEM parts, not after market or used parts.

My husband was told by the shop that the $3400.00 estimate was visual only and that there needed to be a more official estimate done to determine the actual costs for repairs. The car needed to be brought in to be dismantled to get more accurate findings. We dropped the car off in the Worthington lot overnight and left the key in their box. This was black and white, nothing was signed or made official in the capacity of committing to their shop for the repairs.

The next day the shop called me at 8:00 am in the morning when I was up to my neck in taking care of the morning routine of twin toddlers. The guy on the phone said I needed to sign off on the preliminary estimate proceedings for them to get started. He directed me to their website and told me where to sign and I did not knowing there was more to my signature than he was telling me. He gave no explanation as to what I was signing or why, just that they needed a signature to proceed with the detailed estimate.

My insurance company said based on their findings it was only around $1600.00 worth of damage. I knew this too would be low because its their job to save money for their company. I then called Three C at multiple numbers that were given to me and was unable to reach anyone. My insurance company said they would also call and try to assess what was going on and the next step. I informed them that I was worried because the car was now in their possesion and I did not have the money to pay the difference between those two amounts.

I called Three C again to find out what I was going to do I finally received a call late on a Friday from a representative claiming she was heading up the "Preliminary Estimate". She informed me that she got my message and that she wanted to let me know that the car had been dismantled and is still having estimate work done. She did tell me that the repairs seemed to need extensive work and that my insurance company could possibly total the vehicle but she didnt know for sure yet because it was still under way.

I said "ok, when will I know the cost of this and if it will need to be totalled?" She said she was expecting someone to reach out to me about that either Monday or Tuesday of the next week. I agreed and continued to wait. Saturday night I was reveiwing my email and noticed an estimate had been emailed to me by Three C. Upon opening this email it said the total cost of repairs were around $8100.00. This of course was a shock to me as it was a very simple low speed collision and I have been driving it for a month and a half up until we took it into the shop for this estimate.

I knew I had to call them (the shop) immediately Monday morning to tell them to not proceeed any further. the car did not need totalled it just needed simple body work. I understand that there may have been unseen damage under the body but the functionality of the car had not changed due to the accident. After calling the shop all day on Monday to tell them to stop I could not get through to multiple sources. Finally at the end of the day right before they closed shop I was able to reach someone who then told me that since I am not agreeing with their estimate and I wanted to take my car to another shop I would then be liable for the costs associated with them dismantaling my vehicle and storage fees ETC.

I asked how much this would be and they said it could be up to around $2000.00 for the time they took to look at my vehicle. They said I agreed to this by signing an online agreement to have my car taken into their shop. I said that yes I signed to put the car in their care to have the estimate completed but was not aware that this meant that I was commiting to have the work done at their shop or to pay all of these fees on top of the work. They even towed the vehicle to another shop without my knowledge when I could have just driven it there myself as the car was completely drivable.

They now have my vehicle and are demanding payment for this estimate work before I will be able to take my car out of their posession. I do NOT have this kind of money which is why I have insurance in the first place. I simply needed a new bumper and drivers side fender. I honestly do not know what to do or where to begin in retreiving my vehicle. I called Bob Juniper himself and left a message asking for his involvment and have not heard back yet.

I completely understand that I should have to pay some kind of fee for them doing a detailed estimate as you would pay a fee to a mechanic for having them disgnose your car issues. I do not think that a $2000.00 fee is reasonable for the everyday American who works paycheck to paycheck just to feed their family. I feel like their practices were legal as I signed a paper and it was my respoinsiblitiy to read it before signing but I also feel the shop has a responsibility to the consumer to verbally disclose that there were fees associated with this estimate outside of the repair costs and that I should review those before signing. It would have been so simple.

I was in distress and distracted when he called me at 8am needing a signature and I feel that him knowing this should have been even more of a reason for him to say "Hey, I think you should take a moment to read this before you sign it." Instead he only said he needed a signature now and he showed me where to sign and nothing else. He mentioned to me as I was juggling speaking to him and retreiving my email to do this that he could tell my hands were full with my kids and I was graceful in the way I was handling all of this stress.

Im so upset and just want my car back :(