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Tire Kingdom - Arend Ferwerda, Adam Bowsky, Jennifer Dougherty big scam artist Big Scammers Boca Raton Florida
On 3/18/09 at 12:53 pm I delivered my Lexus sedan to Tire Kingdom on SR 7 in Boca Raton FL to replace two front tires and to change the oil. I had inspected all the tires myself together with my neighbor (who sells cars for a living) and determined the front tires needed to be replaced and the rear tires had more than 1/2 the thread still left and was good. Later that afternoon, Arend Ferwerda (the manager at the location) called me and said I need Rear tires as well, Alignment for all 4 wheels and that my brake pads were overly worn and need to be replace for $229 each wheel. He said that the Alignment would cost $129 and the extra tires were the same cost as the front tires. I told him that I had inspected the rear tires and they were fine. He said that they were not safe. I became suspicious because I saw with my own eyes the rear tires were fine. So I told him that I would have to call him back. I called Lexus service at the local dealer and they said the brake pads ($229 each for a total of four Arend Ferwerda quoted) does not need to be replaced unless the light is on indicating it is wearing which was not the case. They also said that they would do the Alignment for $89 and had no opinion on the rear tires as they had not seen it. I called Arend Ferwerda back at Tire Kingdom and told him that Lexus would do the Alignment for $85 dollar and he immediately said the he would do it for $79. I told him that I was not interested in the Brake pads and that I would rather have Lexus do the Job. I further told him I would only agree to have the rear tires replaced if He would keep the old ones for my inspection and he would put them back on if I wanted. He agreed. Lexus later said the brake pads were fine.
I went to pick up my car and guess what? They cannot find the Old tires for my inspection and would not give me the car unless I paid them in full. Arend Ferwerda says to pay the bill take the car and come back tomorrow morning and I will have your old tires for you. Well that never happened he gave me more excuses as to why he could not find the old tires.
Worst, as I am walking toward my car I see a big dent and scratched and light color paint on the driver side front. I immediately turned around walked into the service area and spoke to David Shaffer (acting Manager since Arend Ferwerda has left for the day). David say the dent looked like someone drove the car and hit something. He acknowledge that It had to have happened there as there were no reports of dents on the car and continued to fill out a customer Refund form, signing it and putting is information on it and describing the damage. He said that I would have to bring the car back tomorrow when Arend Ferwerda was there to get a picture to send it into corporate and they would make arrangement to fix my car and pay for it. Well the next day, Arend Ferwerda Looks at the car and says that it did could not have happened there. I told him that when the car arrived that it was fine now it is wrecked and it happened while the car was in your possession. He said that he would call this insurance people and he would get back to me. I had to call him 3 days later since he never called and he kept delaying me. First the guy that worked on the car was not here today and other excuses. Then I finally stopped in to see Arend Ferwerda and He says they cannot help me period. He said it was not their fault. I simply told him that he would regret it and left. 10 minutes later he calls me and says that he spoke to his regional manager Adam Bowsky (561-702-7899) and he said that they would repair the car. Arend Ferwerda said for me to get 3 quotes and that they would reimburse me. I got three quotes to repair it and call Adam Bowsky to let him know. He asked how much it was and then said that he was going to have to turn it over to his insurance company. A week later I get a call from a Jennifer Dougherty, Senior Claim Rep for Gallagher Bassett Services, 13801 Riverport Dive Suite 501, Maryland Heights, MO 63043, 800-22-533 x 244. I told her what had happened and she proceeds to say that the mechanic said that it could not have happened there because the paint on the car was white where the dent was (it is actually pale yellow) and all the pumper in the garage was yellow. I told her that this is funny since David Shaffer signed a refund report saying it was damaged there. She wanted to see the document. I emailed her all three quotes to fix the car and the refund form signed by David Shaffer. A week later I get an email from her saying that "we reviewed the service invoice in which it was indicated, before they worked on your vehicle that there were scratches on the left front" and they were denying the claim. This brought back memories of my corporate attorney telling me that the biggest scammer in this country is Insurance companies.
This business Tire Kingdom is nothing more than a scam! They do work to your vehicle that you do not need and you cannot trust them. Is there anyone else having problem with them? Please write back here. I have a few Ideas on what I should do, feel free to recommend some as I can use them.
By the way, I have in invoice for the work and nowhere on it does it say anything about scratches or any damage when the car was checked in....
There Logo is Tire Kingdom: Service Brakes Batteries and More. I guess I got the "more". Hope this does not happen to you, but be very careful there.