Collex Collision Experts
435 Shrewsbury Avenue
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
Dear future customers of Collex Collision Experts,
I would advise everyone who is considering Collex Collision Experts to repair their car to reconsider. I have a very bad experience with their shop. They repaired my car and when I brought it to the dealer, the made me aware that the right axle needs to be replaced because of a leaking boot, which was part of the repair. I called them up and scheduled an appointment the following day to have them check out the problem. They called me back in 4 hours and told me that the axle was not leaking. I brought the car home and looked underneath the vehicle and there was grease over the entire axle and surrounding parts. Why would you not clean off the axle especially since there is a problem? I cleaned off the entire area and rechecked every couple of days. After about a week, I notice new grease deposits on the axle to I removed the wheel to inspect myself. I noticed that the outer tie rod end was leaking so I called them up and scheduled another appointment to have fixed.
I dropped off the car the following week with 4 items to be checked: 1) outer tie rod end 2) recheck the axle for tears 3) window rattles when closing door 4) squeak in front end, which again were all parts of the repairs. They fixed the outer tie rod end and I picked up the car. Upon picking up the car he told me that the tie rod end was fixed, the alignment was done and they sprayed down the front end to stop the squeak. When I asked him about the window, he told me they could not find any problem. I brought the car home and inspected the front end and noticed that there was still grease on the axle. Again, why would you not clean off that area? Again, I cleaned everything off and drove down the parkway for a half hour and re-inspected the vehicle. There was again new grease on the axle. I called them up again a scheduled an appointment the next day for them to look at.
When I brought the car there, he looked at the axle and said once again that there was no tear in the boot. I then told him that the grease has to be coming from somewhere. He said there were spots of grease all over the front end. Of course there was, they "sprayed down the entire front end." He finally found a slight tear and said that they repaired the car 4,000 miles ago and I must have ran something over and it tore the axle boot and the outer tie rod end. I said that the tear on the tie rod end was hidden and could not have been hit by road debris and he claims that the boot can move. That is very unlikely. I rescheduled an appointment for the axle to be fixed and they replaced it the following week.
After I picked up the car, I inspected all of their work. I had taken pictures of all the areas that were to be repaired prior to them fixing the car. They scratched the steering wheel and tore the black tape on the window trim. They left out two clips that hold the splash guard and a piece of trim under the hood. I took the door paned apart and they left out a screw on the door panel and did not put two bolts on the window trim. I repaired everything myself and sent them an email about the problems and what I found.
They responded back and addressed all the issues. They said that they sprayed down the front end as a courtesy and over time the bushing start to wear which causes the front end to make noises. The car has 40,000 mile on it, not 140,000 miles. I don't care how you drive a car the bushings will not wear in 40,000 miles. His responded by stating that the insurance company doesn't not pay for clips to be replaced, when they break during disassembly. If all the clips break does that mean that the part does not get reinstalled? Did the screw and the bolts on the door break also? He then said that he was not aware of the rattle in the door? De he not read the letter the described all the problems in detail? Why did he tell me they could find any problem with the door?
He went on to tell me that he wanted me to bring the car back and they would fix everything and apologized. He also recommended that I not fix the car myself. Why not? I am very capable of performing sub-standard repairs myself. I did fix everything myself and everything is working fine. What bothers me the most is that they received $9,500.00 dollars for the repair and I had to correct their mistakes. I am also bothered that they out right tried to deceive me. Customers are smarter that you think and know when there are getting the run around. I am not the type of person to complain, I just take my business elsewhere.
The purpose of this letters is to help the community learn about Collex Collision Expert's poor business practices and to prevent future customers from having the same problem. If I didn't know anything about cars, no one would have ever have found out about their poor workmanship.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
