Whitten Brothers Body Shop
| Address: | 10701 Midlothian Turnpike, North Chesterfield, VA 23235, USA |
| Phone: | +1 804-378-6700 |
| Site: | whittenbrothers.com |
| Rating: | 3.3 |
| Working: | 7:30AM–5PM 7:30AM–5PM 7:30AM–5PM 7:30AM–5PM 7:30AM–5PM 8AM–6PM Closed |
Location
Photos 1
Reviews 4
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Laura Zicarelli
I have never dealt with a ruder, more uneducated group of individuals in my life. I took my Dodge Dart in to get repaired after a minor fender bender in December of 2015. Not only did the repair take an extensively long time to complete, but each time I needed to speak with any of the associates at the dealership, the call was a hassle that was filled with confusion. (Who was I again? My car wasnt there... oh no, it was in the service lot... no it was at the body shop, etc. etc.) I repeatedly told them after my first couple interactions to make all future contact with my father, since he would be paying for all repairs, yet they continued to call me to authorize payments and move forward on body work and other services. The car was supposedly done on the 22nd of December, and although they claimed they called and left me multiple voicemails, I received no word that my car was ready. This all occurred over Christmas and New Years and I was out of town. Regardless my father made payment on the car, and as soon as I came back into town I arranged my busy schedule to coordinate to pick it up. When I called them on 1/7/16 and said that I couldnt come until after work (when they were closed), they said I could pick up my key at their Mazda dealership (which stayed open late) which is part of Whitten Brothers, apparently. The lady I spoke to on the phone (I believe Courtney) then got an attitude with me and told me my car had been ready since the 22nd and they had reached out to me numerous times (false). It had been paid for, what was their concern with waiting a couple days? When I arrived to the Mazda dealership around 6:30, they couldnt find my key and told me no one had told them I was coming and they must have just lost it. After no apologies and a nasty attitude and 45 minutes of waiting they told me to "leave and come back tomorrow".. when I was also working. They gave me a loaner car, and when my dad called to inquire about the situation the following day they chewed him out, as if he was the problem in the situation. I find this whole situation appalling and unprofessional. I understand accidents and mistakes happen, but the way people react to them makes a big difference. Furthermore, this dealership has no coordination whatsoever between its departments. No one at any time knew where my car was, who was doing what with it, where the keys were, etc. I didnt get but one lousy "sorry" as I was leaving in their rental car. It goes without saying that I will never be coming back here again, and if you value a smidgen of customer service and intelligence I would advise that you go somewhere else as well.
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Anonymous User
Unbelievably slow!! My Chrysler was hit squarely on the rear wheel and sustained roughly $3,000 worth of damage (not much considering the impact). Since there was fairly significant damage to the rear suspension, wheel, etc. on one side and some minor body damage, I mistakenly thought that taking it to a Chrysler dealership would be the best choice for a reasonable turnaround time since they have both a repair shop & body shop and should have many parts on hand for a 3-year-old vehicle. Wrong! They had the car for a total of THIRTY-FOUR DAYS! Granted, the insurance company was to blame for 6 days since they took almost a week to get an estimate done. That leaves 28 days - four full weeks. Over that time, Whittens lack of communication was unprofessional at best. It was like pulling teeth to get any information from them, and when I did press hard enough for an ETA, I invariably got a ton of disclaimers, qualifiers, and a wildly inaccurate date. They had to order every part they put on the vehicle (remember: 3-year-old Chrysler at a Chrysler shop!), they ordered parts 4 different times, and each order took 5-7 days. On one order, some of the parts were on back order, yet I was told (after calling for the umpteenth time) they had all come in. The one conciliatory action they took was to cover 5 days on my rental car. Even after negotiating that extension, negotiating 5 extra days from my insurance company, and intentionally going with a much smaller and cheaper rental than the vehicle it was replacing in order to maximize my rental time, my coverage still ran out 6 days before the repairs were finished. For the most part, the repairs seem to have been done properly. An obvious exception is that the new tailpipe sustained cosmetic damage during installation, which is particularly annoying since my wallet was subjected to a "betterment" charge for the replaced exhaust components. Only time will tell for sure if the rest of the work holds up, but it should have been perfect given the time it took. In short, if you have all the time in the world, an extra car sitting around to use while Whitten has your primary vehicle, and dont care about being accurately informed of the work status, they may not be a terrible choice (assuming the work does prove to hold up). Otherwise, go elsewhere.
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Don Cline
This has to be the worst case of customer service I have witnessed in years. This week I to call set up a simple oil change. I tried several times to call, got through and every time I hit the new customer prompt it said it couldnt take a voice message and hung up. Finally I used the feature to talk with someone online. This was 10 in the morning and they painfully took my info and said service would call me back. The clock hits 4 p.m. And no one has called me back. I called and got a live person and am informed that I just need to come in and use the express service. That sure was not mentioned in the online chat. Website says they are open until 6 p.m. I arrive before 5 p.m. There must be at least 6 people standing around chatting. I get out and it took a little time until some gal about 20 ft. away asks me what they can do for me. I said I need an oil change and then get a deer-in-the-headlights look. She looks across the bay at another guy and then he says they stop taking vehicles at 4 p.m. but I am welcome to leave it overnight or come back tomorrow. I did ask how do you suppose I am going to leave it overnight being no one was with me to take me home. Really bright comment on their part. What a joke! I drive 20 minutes one way for a 10-15 minute service job. There is no signage at the location or on the website saying they quit taking vehicles at 4 p.m. for a 10 minute job 2 hours prior to closing. I think it was called it is Friday night and time to close down early. Luckily Express Oil Change down the road had me in and out by 5:35! BTW they close at 6 p.m. They were courteous, quick, and knowledgeable. I even received a new customer discount. Dont worry Whitten...I will never be back based on this fiasco this week.
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Anonymous User
My husband purchased his car at Whitten Brothers Mazda about 6 years ago and has been getting it serviced there since then to meet warranty obligations. The car buying experience was fine and the first few years of service where you get the free loaner car is pretty good. The last few years of service experiences have been a different story. I cant complain too much about the overall quality of the repair work. However,the service experience has left much to be desired. The employees that are the public face of the service department are not friendly and accommodating. They often act hassled and you feel that you are a nuisance just for asking questions. I experienced an occasion where the brand of tire they quoted me wasnt available so they put a lesser quailty version on without telling me. Then they wanted me to pay for it. Another time we took the car in for a noise and poor handling and they said nothing was wrong. Then several weeks later, when the warranty had expired, they noticed a $400 issue that could have caused both of the previously noticed issues. The last and final experience we will ever have there was getting them to remove the wheel locks because we never received a wheel lock key when we purchased the car. We werent aware that this was missing because they always did the work on the car with a master key and we were fortunate enough to never have a flat tire. Whitten Brothers took no responsibility for the oversight, took an hour to replace 4 lug nuts and wanted to charge us $56 dollars for the service. They did this without quoting us a price before the work was done so my husband sat there for an hour thinking the work was free. The one consolation that we have is that we never have to go there again!