Details by Mark

Several months ago I discovered water had gotten into my car. I called around to a number of places, but after talking to Mark I felt the most comfortable hiring him to do the restoration/water damage repair (even though he was 2-3x more expensive than anyone else). He did the work, and I was pleased, despite the price being about $100 more than what he had originally quoted me. However, when you're talking about the difference between $950 and $1050, it's not a huge deal.



UPDATE: I opened my trunk to find a broken piece of trim (?) off of my car. Upset that nobody called me or informed me about this. Not happy.



But then I noticed water in my car again. There wasn't a ton like before, but my car was certainly damp and windows were fogging. I called Mark, and he identified what he thought the problem would be and said that the part was about $80 and that he wouldn't charge me for labor (as this was obviously something they had missed before). Alright, fine. I ended up having to have surgery that took me out for a month or two, and when I recovered I gave him another call. This time he said the part was $80 or so and that he would charge me for about 20 minutes of labor... still fine. He asked me if I needed a 'rental' and I just assumed that this was something complementary so I said yes. My husband dropped off the car and picked up the ‘rental’, which is like a 1989 Honda Accord that shakes when you come to stops, and feels barely safe to drive. Mark called me later that afternoon to tell me that the part had gone up 20% from $80 to $130. Now I realize the not everyone is great at math, but c’mon... that's more like a 60% increase!!!! Anyway, still fine, as I understand that prices of parts fluctuate and that is beyond Marks control. Again, he said that it would take his guys about 20 minutes to replace the part. So I said, 'how much is this going to cost? Less than $200?' And he replied "Oh yes, much less than $200." So I add up in my head and figured that this will be about a $160 job. Now this is twice as much as he originally quoted me, but again, I'm understanding that the cost of the part went up.



Well.... imagine my surprise when I pick up my car (3 days later btw- it was supposed to take 1 day) and my bill is over $260. Now again... originally quoted $80... then 'much-less-than-$200', then billed $262. I looked over the bill, there’s a charge for a seat cover- whatever that is-- that I was never told I'd be charged $18.30 for, there's a charge for a full hour of labor-- 3x more labor than I was quoted, the price of the part, and a rental car charge!!!!! Who in their right mind would rent a 1989 Honda Accord for $15 a day!? I can rent a brand new car from Enterprise for that! I was seriously erked that I was never told there would be a charge for this. The woman who was checking me out called Mark and let me talk to him, where I explained all the issues that I had with this transaction. He asked me to give the phone back to the lady and I could hear him telling her that he specifically told me the rental car would be $15 a day. I HATE LIARS! He never once mentioned, in the 3 phone conversations that we had and the one face-to face conversation he had with my husband, that there would be charge!!! They ended up taking off the rental car charge and charging me $59 for labor vs the $79 that was on the bill previously, but I still left feeling taken advantage of and deceived. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... I'm never, ever, ever going back again!

I took my truck to be detailed by Mark due to a musty/mildew smell, as it had been sitting unused for two years. It wasn’t dirty, it was just smelly. I told Mark what I needed and asked for a price. He told me that when detailing for mold/mildew they take the carpets out and have to remove the padding to wash the carpets. He said that’s where most of the dirt and smell is hidden. When I arrived at his shop, he explained the process again and how they remove the carpet. He then said sometimes the padding is stained and they have to replace it. I told him I didn't want to spend over the original quoted amount to do the complete detail. If the padding was bad, we’d figure something else out. When I arrive back to pick up my truck Mark says that when they bring the truck around he needs to install a front seat bolt that they found while moving the rest of the cars in their bay at the end of the day. “Don’t worry, there are like 17, so no big deal” Mark says, he also proceeds to tell me they didn’t actually remove any of the carpets because they would have ran out of time (they had my truck 5 days) and would have gone over the original quote, even though he told me removing the carpets was included in the detail quote I asked for to remove the mold/mildew smell. THEN after driving away I find that they didn’t even clean around the rubber of the gear shift or out of the pocket in the door handle. To make matters worse, I go to pick up my children and the rear SEATBELT BOLTS were never reinstalled. The seat belts could NOT be used AT ALL. It was past closing time on Friday and I had to wait until Monday when the shop opened to get this issue fixed. When I arrived back at the detail shop (which is over an hour away from my home) and waited for them to install the seatbelt bolts, I explained to Mark that I was frustrated with my level of service and didn’t feel I got what I paid for. He was very unsympathetic (even was rude enough to take a phone call on his cell during the conversation) and didn’t even offer to finish wiping out the gear shift or the door, or find a way to make things right. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone, even though they give “PERKS” for leaving good comments and recommendations. Not only that, but I will continue to voice my opinion of the poor level of service on every Yellowpages, Yelp , Angies List and any other site I can find to help warn any other consumers out there.

I took my 2006 Acura TL to Details by Mark to have it detailed for sale. He and his crew did an such excellent job, I've decided to keep my car for a while. It is so much fun to drive a car that looks and smells brand new again. I like it so much, I'm going to plan on having regular quarterly detailing done on whatever car I own. I would highly recommend Details by Mark to anyone looking for a quality, affordable detailing of their car. Thanks Mark and crew!

Exceptional Standards-Personal Service: That's what it says on Mark's business card, and he means it. I have known Mark for a long time as both a customer and a friend, and have the utmost respect for his knowledge, hard work, and professionalism. Mark doesn't just offer a detail--he takes on the care of your automobile with your interests at heart. Mark has built his business on his reputation, and he earns it every single day. Highly, highly recommended.

Mark is amazing. This is one of those few business gems, where the owner of the business is actually an expert in what he does, and he loves it. Mark loves being the best. He tapes off all exterior pieces (like molding) before he waxes (nobody else does and the black pieces turn white), he removes the seats inside most times, and if you want he does paint touch-ups, ding removal, leather and vinyl repair - your car is as good as new. I wouldn't take my car to anyone else, where a) the person you talk to on the phone cant even explain what they do and b) they use chemicals to make parts of your car shine that were never intended to shine and c) you just dont know who you're dealing with.

Mark is the best. He doesn't like to discount his work because he knows the value of perfection, but If you mention you found him online he will give you $50 credit towards a full detail.