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We Recently
Got Bitten On ... |
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and we want
you to know the facts!
So, we're doing some "Yelping" of our own! |
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READ THE YELP RANT HERE |
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and now FOR
THE FACTS! |
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WHY ARE
WE TELLING YOU THIS? A past customer who came to us
for the repair of her failed 300E windshield wiper system has
posted wild and inaccurate accusations about us on Yelp.com.
Her ranting has naturally prompted the curiosity of both
prospective and current clients - and we want to set the
record straight. Yelp.com is a "big dog" - and it doesn't
listen to us (or most other merchants for that matter). They
have been publicly accused by investigative journalists
reporting far more sinister motives than we claim for them
here.
Here's an example. And
here's the article about Yelp.com in Business Week
magazine. |
Yelp.com dropped
EIGHT reviews about us (72% the total) - all of them
5-star ratings. Now you can read those "dropped" reviews for
yourself - right below: Real reviews with Real
details by Real people. Had these reviews not been
dropped by Yelp.com - our average rating (including all 11
reviews) is 4.6 stars
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NOW -
ABOUT THAT
REPAIR EVENT: A woman complaining on Yelp.com
(we'll use the name she used there - Luann J.) brought her
1990 Mercedes 300E to us on January 21, 2010 stating that the
wipers on her car worked very slowly and that there was a
burning smell (plastic smell). She left the car with us for
repair - after we provided an estimate for the work needed to
diagnose the repair. We conducted an inspection of her car's
wiper system and found a burned (failed) wiper motor and a
wiper linkage system that was seized to the point it was very
difficult to manually turn. This clearly indicated a
replacement of both the wiper motor and the wiper linkage
system was required. As part of our diagnosis, both the wiper
motor and the wiper linkage had to be removed from the
vehicle. So, as we ended our inspection and diagnosis, these
items were out of the car - awaiting a decision by the owner
as what to do. We called the owner and clearly explained the
repair needed and also explained that the repair with new
parts having a 1-year warranty would be in the range of $1400.
We explained that used parts having a 2-month warranty could
be used for the repair at a total cost of about $760.00 -
including the diagnosis cost the customer had already approved
and we had completed. Keep in mind, the customer had already
agreed to the charge for our diagnosis, which included
removing the failed parts. The customer by phone authorized
the use of used parts, with our full disclosure that used
parts carried a 2-month warranty. We then installed the used
parts, tested the entire windshield wiper system, and verified
that it worked properly. The customer picked up her car that
evening and paid with her credit card later by phone - later
receiving our invoice again disclosing the entire repair.
See a copy of that invoice here.
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WHAT
HAPPENED NEXT?
Apparently after leaving our facility with her repaired
windshield wiper system, the woman inquired of a Mercedes
dealership in the area - asking the cost for a new replacement
motor for her 1990 Mercedes 300E. Of course, the dealership
did not know that more parts were needed for the repair than
only the motor, so the dealership gave the woman a price of
about $250.00 for the new motor having a 12-month warranty.
Had the dealership also been asked about the price of the
required wiper linkage system, the woman would have been given
an additional price of about $660.00 - making the entire
purchase price of the new parts about $910.00 - before any
labor expense to diagnose, remove and reinstall the parts.
While this could have been a natural mistake by the woman, one
can only imagine her shock at thinking she could have had new
parts for less than what she paid us. On January 25th, 2010,
the woman returned to our facility in an understandable state
of dissatisfaction - demanding a refund. |
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WHAT WE
EXPLAINED TO AND OFFERED THE CUSTOMER:
Upon understanding her thought process (that she had paid
too much for only a used windshield wiper motor when she could
have gotten a new one for about $250), we carefully explained
that it was not only the motor that was involved in the
repair. We even called the Mercedes dealership with her
listening to the call and verified that the new parts for both
the windshield wiper motor and the linkage system would cost
more than $900.00 before labor. The woman did not relent, and
demanded a $300.00 refund off our total charges. We then
offered to remove the parts we had installed during the
repair, and to replace her old failed motor and linkage - and
charge her nothing whatsoever for any of the work we had done.
In other words, her vehicle would have been returned to the
state it was in when she first brought the car to us and we
would be paid nothing for any of the work we had done. The
woman declined that offer as well - and continued to demand a
$300.00 refund, even though our repairs with used parts and a
2-month warranty on them had saved her more than half of the
approximately $1400.00 repair cost using new parts. She left -
and made a claim to the California Bureau of Auto Repair. On
January 25, 2010, she made the first of two venomous
accusations about us on Yelp.com. |
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WHAT
HAPPENED WHEN THE BUREAU OF AUTO REPAIR (BAR) INVESTIGATED THE
CASE? We had
also advised the BAR about this matter after reading the
woman's comments on Yelp.com. The BAR inspector investigated
and found no reason to take or recommend action in the matter,
and - to our knowledge - the BAR has advised the woman of
their position on the matter. In other words, the BAR did not
take a position in her favor. Keep in mind, BAR personnel know
this industry and they investigate thousands of consumer
complaints. We trust their judgment. |
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WHY IS
THE WOMAN'S RANT STILL ON YELP? We don't know the
answer to that question, and we have complained in writing to
Yelp.com about the matter (receiving a "boilerplate" reply
that refused corrective action). Perhaps it is coincidental
that, shortly after the posting of the vicious comments on
Yelp.com, we were contacted by Yelp.com's advertising
representative to pay Yelp.com a minimum $300.00 per month in
a 12-month advertising contract. We referred that
representative to our marketing firm (who knows far more than
we do about online matters). Our marketing firm advised us to
decline the advertising opportunity based upon the
non-competitive cost of found business generated by Yelp.com -
concluding we would be paying about $10.00 per Yelp.com viewer
sent to our web site - and we agreed with our marketing firm
not to advertise. During this period of conversations with
Yelp.com about advertising with them, two of the 5-Star
ratings previously shown on our Yelp.com listing were removed
by Yelp.com - and the rant was left - resulting in our
previous 4.5-Star rating plunging to a 2.5-Star rating. One
can draw their own conclusions as to why. |
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ARE WE
'NUTS" FOR TELLING YOU ALL THIS? Probably, but we
are proud of the work we do, and the way we treat customers.
We have worked to build our business through trust, quality
and fair pricing since 1997. We are also interested in hearing
valid comments from our customers - in fact we have a survey
right on this web site to give voice to anyone's feelings
about us. (click
here to see it) |
ARE WE
CONCERNED ABOUT THIS WOMAN'S RANT? Absolutely, yes!
We are as concerned as any business person would be when they
have been raked through the mud based on total inaccuracies -
and then held up in public on a huge online web site
(Yelp.com) with Luann J's statement ... "DO NOT TAKE YOUR
CAR TO GET REPAIRED HERE. THEY LIE, AND RIP THE CONSUMER OFF.
THEY SHOULD SHUT THEIR DOORS."
Interesting that the above wording was used by Luann J. in
spite of the Yelp.com published warning as follows:
- You may expose
yourself to liability if, for example, Your Content
violates any third-party right, including any
copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral
right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other
intellectual property or proprietary right; contains
material that is false, intentionally misleading, or
defamatory; contains material that is unlawful,
including illegal hate speech or pornography; exploits
or otherwise harms minors; or violates or advocates
the violation of any law or regulation.
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ARE
OTHER REPAIR FACILITIES IN OUR AREA AWARE OF LUANN J.?
Absolutely, yes! We have been told by other repair
facilities that they know of this woman as a troublemaker- and
that they are on the defensive should she arrive at their
doorstep. Perhaps this web site will help that awareness
along. |
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WHAT
CAN WE DO TO FIX THIS? We can tell you about it -
in our own tiny web site's version of Yelp.com. While we
really don't get many visitors to our web site from Yelp
(perhaps that will change now as this flows out over the web),
we want everyone to read this. Quite frankly, we trust your
good judgment to make your own decision about us - rather than
to be influenced by a Yelp rating that suddenly dropped in
half because of a confused woman's rant and perhaps because we
declined to advertise with Yelp.com. |
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WHAT
DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH YOU - OR FOR YOU?
About the only things we suspect may interest you are 1) a
sense of justice for a small business that may be serving you
and others well as its customers; 2) an interest on your part
in understanding that everything you see on Yelp.com may not
be as it appears. This information might throw light on
reasons not to blindly trust Yelp.com ratings - not that you
do so now; 3) If you are in business and Yelp.com solicits you
to advertise with them, this information may give you pause
for thought; and 4) in today's economy, it does none of us any
good to have people telling falsehoods - on any topic -
because when people have to closely watch every penny and they
are "lied away" from a good resource that can save them even a
few dollars - harm is done. |
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THANKS FOR LISTENING! |
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Explore Our Web
Site & Subscribe to Our Newsletter
We specialize in German Sport & Foreign Auto Care |
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Here you will find a wealth of
information about European Auto Repair, Inc. We created this site
because we know that anyone choosing a place to maintain their car
is likely to be careful about that choice. Here you'll find our
certifications, and lots more. Our email newsletter (sent only when
we think it has something of value for you to know), will also let
you become more familiar with us. Of course, beyond all this, we
urge you to stop by and meet us, before you have a particular
service need. That way we can get to know one another and you can
decide for yourself if we will be the one's to trust for your
vehicle's care. |
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We warranty all our work for a full year or 12,000 miles
- NEW parts and
labor.
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