Scam artists. AVOID DUBLIN AUTO BODY
Car damage to driver door and front fender was estimated to be $1,500 by insurance company. Took car to another body shop in Tracy, CA and their estimate was right around $1,500. Had a friend who is a life long mechanic and service advisor at a car dealer look at the damage and he estimated $1,500 as well. Then this same friend recommended we take the car to Dublin Auto Body, who he said did a good job. We took the car in for an estimate and their estimate was about $1,600. A little high but in the ball park, so we agreed to let them do the work. We pay $250 up front for the parts then drop the car off on a Monday. They say it will be done by Thursday. Then later that same day (Monday) the shop calls me and asks if we wanted the door repaired too. I was speechless for a few seconds, and said, Uh, yeah...we want all of the damage fixed. His reply was, That's what I figured, but for some reason, the estimate I gave you didn't include fixing the door (only the fender)...that'll be 5 more hours of labor and $500 more, for a grand total of $2,100. I was so shocked, I didn't really know what to say, other than to tell him to not continue working on it until I spoke with my wife. He was a little miffed that I was telling him to stop working on my car. I felt like a victim of a classic bait and switch fraud scheme. They tell us one price, start the work (his team had already tore my car apart BEFORE he noticed the missing $500 worth of labor), and then change the price. So my wife calls them the next morning and says we have other estimates that show only 9 hours of labor are needed to fix everything (not Dublin's 14) and the owner starts arguing with her and talking down to her, saying she just doesn't understand how to read an estimate. Bottom line, didn't want to have to start over with another shop, so negotiated price to $1,700 and let them continue the work. Thurs
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