Bruce's Body Shop
reviews and complaints

Bruce Body Shop located in Richmond Va 11200 on Midlothian Turnpike is the work I have ever experienced. I took my car on October 28th providing the estimate and check due to a deer hitting my car denting my grill. I needed my grill and license cover replaced. Two weeks passed so I contacted them for a status. I was informed by the manager Rick Hutchins that I needed to bring my car back as they just figured out I didn't have a factor grill and need to order. I asked him if I hadn't contacted them when would someone have contacted me? His reply "It slipped through the cracks" No apology or anything. He called me that evening and stated it will be a few days. That was two weeks waiting for nothing. So weeks have passed I called back end of November receptionist just said mam its back ordered. My husband called today December 12th, Rick informed him its still back ordered and would check on it. Rick called me back and said oh will be here December 28th. I expressed to him this was poor service and I really don't think it was ordered. He started being rude saying "NOT HIS FAULT" and I expressed to him it was his fault because it was weeks and nothing had been ordered. I informed him I would be getting my check back. He got upset start yelling stating to me he is trying to work with me. After being so rude and waiting this long, I didn't want to deal with them any longer. I have never experienced such unprofessional behavior from a manager. Clearly he needs anger management and to be trained on how to talk to customers. Not to mention weeks ago, he called me stating my car was ready and I said sir you don't have my car so he realized he contacted the wrong customer. This clearly shows how unprofessional and unorganized they are. I will be contacting BBB, 12 on your side and spreading the word on what I experienced. My car is still not fixed and now I have to search for someone else after waiting almost 2 months for a part. I really hope you all look into this because I can only imagine how he talks to others. I hung up as he was yelling at me.

On 9/13/06, I originally took my car in for minor, mostly cosmetic repairs. When I picked my car up on 10/31/06, I discovered a new gash on the right side of the car, which had been carelessly dabbed with touch up paint. When I pointed this out to Brian, instead of acknowledging and apologizing for the damage he proceeded to walk around my car and point out all of its' flaws- the message was, if I already had some door dings (my car is a 1995 model) why should I care about the gash? He implied that I was being unreasonable by asking them to repair the damage that they had done to my car. Then, he agreed to repair the damage.

On 11/3/06, I was phoned by Bruce's Body Shop and told that I could come get my car that day. I spoke with Brian, and Brian informed me that some damage had occurred to the clearcoat on the right side of the car. He said that the car had been repainted in that area before (I have no knowledge of this- had the car for 5 years with no problems) and that the paint job was of poor quality. So, he said, when they masked the car off to prep it for painting, the tape they used had pulled up chunks of clearcoat. But, he said, why don't I leave the car over the weekend and pick it up Monday- they'll fix it up for me so it's not noticeable.

On 11/6/06, I went to pick up my car. They had Brian's twin brother (seriously- they are twin brothers that both work there, but one has blue eyes and the other has hazel.) come out to do a final walk-around with me. There were 2 large spaces of clearcoat missing on the right side of the car, and it was very obvious- it appeared that they had tried to “blend" in one spot, but completely left the others in a terrible state. Both spots look terrible.

They refused to do anything about it, stating that since the alleged former paint job was not their workmanship, they were not responsible for the clearcoat that they ripped off while masking the car. (again, there is no record of the car being repainted, and there was no damage prior) Brian's brother told me to give Brian a call the following day if I wasn't satisfied.

On 11/7/06, I met with Brian at Bruce's. I explained to Brian my position, and told him that since they had ripped the clearcoat off while masking, they should fix it- but he recanted and said that they had never even taped that part of the car! Brian changed his story and said that the car had been just like that when we brought it in, and that I was lying about it. (I couldn't believe he could lie right to my face like that.) He even said that I had been lying about the gash on right side of the car, but since they were “nice guys" they repaired it for me. He told me that for $500, he'd fix it. When I refused, he yelled, “Then we're done here!" and stormed off.