Well, we’ve hit some snags. However, my truck is slated to be finished (almost) tomorrow.
The snags are mainly to do with the first shop. I’ll refer to them as the shi$shop to eliminate confusion
.
I was not present when my truck was taken from the shi$shop to Abra Autobody, but I assumed it was in the same condition as when I dropped it off, minus some dismantling to come up with their way-off-the-mark estimate.
In one of my conversations with the good folks at Abra, however, I subsequently discovered that the ARB bumper was not with the truck. Abra said they were informed by the shi$shop that it was “gone.” Huh?
So I paid a visit to the shi$shop. They said it went onto their scrap heap and was now gone. Huh? X2 . I responded that the bumper was my property and they had no right to scrap it, especially since it was only one corner of the passenger side hoop that was slightly bent. I don’t know if it could’ve been fixed or not, but the hoops could certainly have been cut off leaving a serviceable winch bumper. This was not to mention the fact that I had a perfectly good light bar, fog lights, and front camera attached to it.
The woman I talked to was simply the receptionist. She said she would have the owner contact me. That was two weeks ago. No call since.
When I contacted USAA, they said I should be happy that they had given me a $5,000 allowance for aftermarket parts and I was getting all new stuff. I thought that was a strange reaction given the fact that the camera, fogs and lightbar could have been reused, saving THEM money on the repairs. Also given the high probability that the shop they, themselves, recommend in Duluth, MN had either thrown away someone’s property or - more likely - stolen it.
I made a stink about it and explained that anyone who knows ANYTHING about truck accessories would have never simply tossed all of that in the scrap heap. Then I contacted their fraud unit, who appears about as eager to deal with the shi$shop as USAA’s auto insurance division. And I could care less if USAA reads my running commentary. The more people who know, the better, in my opinion.
Next option is filing a police report, though I’m not sure the police can do anything since it’s my word against the shi$shop.
So the truck is “almost” done because Abra has to order a new camera. Otherwise, I’m picking it up tomorrow. Holy crap. What a mess!
