Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/18/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My car (2021 *** X3 PHEV) was rear-ended while stopped in traffic on 10-3-2022. It was disabled by the accident, so I called ***s Roadside *************** was towed to Kuni that same day. They still have the vehicle & the latest update they gave me is that it might be done in March. They have given me several other estimated completion dates, though each time they call to say they have found more damages & have to have the claims adjusters out again. This has happened at least twice after the initial assessment to my knowledge. They have also taken the vehicle to other facilities without my prior knowledge for such things as removal of the hybrid battery. If the March completion date is correct, they will have had my vehicle for 6 months. There are temporal/monetary caps to insurance coverage of rental vehicles, & this has cost me ~$3,000 at this point. I use my vehicle to *************** my horses/goats, & purchased it for its ability to handle the snow & unpaved roads of the remote mountain foothills I live in. ***************** are unequal to the task, causing me difficulties in providing veterinary care to my large animals & complicating my ability to get into town & care for my patients. This entire process with them has been an absurd *****-esque mess. I dont know if their entire staff began working there 10-2-2022 with no relevant prior work experience, if they dropped the vehicle off a lift sometime after the first inspection, if the mechanics are in a union & had a strike for several months, but this has been an incredibly long & irregular experience which merits an audit lest the explanation be something more calculated & not just staggering incompetence. I have no expectation that this will change my outcome, but if this is a pattern or improper practice on their part it seems worthwhile to note this experience.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/22/2023

  Estimates are made using the very best information we have at the time when the vehicle arrives. Working directly with your insurance company, your insurance company is mandating how far the vehicle is disassembled for the best most accurate estimates on what repairs will be needed. It is common practice that supplements are part of the process. Each time a supplement is made it changes the estimated time of completion along with parts availability dates, this all effects the actual completion time.  ******** is certified by *** and only operates at the highest level of collision professionals in the industry with *************** certified technicians working on your vehicle. As inconvenient as having collision repairs done, Kuni has gone above and beyond to supply you transportation when your rental coverage ended.This is why you were supplied a new *** to drive until your vehicle was completed at no extra cost to you. Each day you are driving that new Kuni supplied vehicle, Kuni is covering the costs of driving the vehicle until your vehicle is completed. I would also like to clarify your vehicle has never left the body shop complex; your vehicle has only been at the Kuni collision center. Kuni has an on-site *** certified mechanical facility on the same property, your vehicle was never transported anywhere. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact ***************************** the manager at the ******** certified collision center ************.
  
  Thank you for your patients.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/25/2023

   
  Complaint: 19430350
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  -Switching to voice calls rather than written correspondence for verbal agreements to pay whatever is not settled at 'final billing' multiple times, to tell me my car is being totaled (not so), to say the car has to 'go' get it's battery removed & referring to it being 'back' from having this done naturally does not inspire confidence
  -Use something more cost-effective in the loaner fleet if this is such a burden? A bunch of used, compact SUVs & sedans of w/e make/model could serve. Every collision shop I've used has supplied a loaner vehicle from day one, & has never seemed the least bit put out about it. 
  -I've been with the insurance company for decades, they've handled two other instances in which my vehicles have been hit unoccupied in parking lots, & one other rear-ending. I'm still with them despite 'bundling' savings opportunities w/ companies covering other property/assets because they've consistently proven themselves good to deal with. So have the other shops. This experience has been the outlier, & suspect for that reason.
  -I hardly wish to rush good work, the timeline here is just so far outside of what experience & inquiry suggest are normal that I am concerned. Numerous friends/family/colleagues have suggested that this must be some sort of scam or untoward operation. I do not know if it is or is not, ergo this process. My hopes of course are that all is well & that I can look forward to some truly unparalleled feats of craftsmanship.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/10/2023

  I am requesting that you do not share the following with the recipient of the complaint lest they take retaliate. On 2/20/23 they said the car was going to be painted & they'd be giving me a completion date 'next week'. On 3/6/23  I prompted them that I had heard nothing for two weeks, & they now say they cannot give me an anticipated completion date. Perhaps they have yet more excuses, but this may also be punitive given I have begun this process & they have been made aware of it.

   

  I want the work completed & my vehicle returned to me with no further delay tactics, misinformation, etc. I don't see a way for them to resolve various damages (lost patient care hours, having had to do my own farriery & veterinary work for 6mo on our large animals because it's my tow vehicle they've been 'working on', personal risks involved with driving ill-equipped vehicles on the unpaved mountain where we reside, additional costs incurred for delivery of large items requiring trailers which we would otherwise pick up ourselves, the list of problems long-term deprivation of a work vehicle has caused is long, not to mention rental car costs before they managed to find a loaner car promised months earlier). 

   

  Also, if they take 6mo to complete one job, I wonder how they are able to stay in business. Is a sacrificial branch of the larger group that operates at major loss for tax reasons? Are they engaging in insurance fraud such that compensation over this ludicrous time period still makes a profit? Might they be engaging in illegal billing practices with their customers to compensate outside of the insurance companies' knowledge or scrutiny? If all of the 'normal' bits of this process have been print documents, & all of the unusual requests or outright fabrications (requests to verbally promise to pay them unspecified sums of money after repair completion or they won't be able to start work on the car they'd had in their possession for at least a month at that time point, making that same request after their additional discoveries, telling me my car was totaled when it wasn't, etc.) have been verbal rather than written format, it seems very suspicious. I would also like their complete records pertaining to the repairs in the likely case I have a third party assess the work to see if I need an attorney. I've been told the BBB is the agency to begin with if a business's operations are suspect as there is no state board or similar for auto shops, so if this is the case, I'd like the possibility of insurance fraud or illegal customer billing looked into. If this is not the proper investigative body, please let me know who better to contact. *Please* read that first bit again in case it might result in their holding my car hostage for several more months (years? who knows?). 

   

  Whatever assistance you might be able to provide is appreciated,

   

  --*******************************