Caliber Collision — Local services in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Please do not ever take your car here. The reviews must be fake. I hit a deer, and Caliber came recommended to us by USAA our insurance company. Everything went great until pickup when we paid our deductible(before being allowed to see the car). Jameson brought my car around, and I immediately saw several big things still wrong with my vehicle. Jameson was nice and said he was shocked this happened that they do not operate like that and for me to get back in my rental, and he would get it all fixed right. We even took a sharpie to my car because there were so many problems. Caliber kept my car but went ahead and notified my insurance that my car was "ready" and I should no longer need my rental. So then I recieved a $300 charge on my card from the rental company because they were told my car was fixed. My insurance,myself, and the rental company were reaching out daily trying to get in touch with someone at Caliber to get this all resolved. Next Caliber says they are ordering a new bumper because the first one had bubbles in the paint and they couldnt fix it so they had to order a new one to paint. Jameson has been keeping my insurance company notified of when my car "should" be finished which would have been the next Wednesday so that I can turn in the rental. I called and left messages on Mon and Tues so that I could make arrangements to pick up my car but never got a return call. I finally called and reached Jameson on Wednesday at 4pm he said he was sorry it slipped his mind, but my car had indeed already been finished, so I should come on to get it. I asked him to leave my keys inside my car because they would close before I could drive there. When I picked it up, it was immediately flashing a light and beeping that the washer fluid was low. I went back to work and saw that they completely didn't install part of my washer fluid tank. I called Caliber and spoke with the manager John about all of the problems I was having and he was super helpful and was going to come out himself to fill up the fluid and put on the missing parts and see if that fixed it. He instead sent an employee by on his way home who had no idea what was going on and couldn't help he said they would need to order a new sensor. That was on Nov 3rd it is now February. I have called and left several messages trying to find out when the part would be in, but with no response. I have also called and texted the manager John on his work cellphone that he gave me to make it easier, but I have gotten ZERO response. So today I call and speak with John finally, and he tells me my part is on back order and that there is nothing he can do. He tells me that he had to send a different customer home the same way waiting on a part. I was professional and nice and asked him why I had not received any response back when I had been trying to reach someone for weeks. I told him to check his work phone and he would see where he never responded to me at all and even still not one person has tried to make this right even after they have dropped the ball and messed this up so bad why has no one even said sorry. His response was that his mother was in the hospital and that saying sorry wouldn't fix it or make me happy, so why bother. I was shocked while I completely understand and sympathize with family health struggles after finding my own mother passed away in her bed very recently. But the level of unprofessionalism you showed was appalling. Maybe dont answer the phone after receiving bad news I mean, you never answered any other time. I then asked John for his superiors phone number so that I could speak with someone higher up as he obviously didnt care. He gave me a phone number that I have called several times but can't get an answer or leave a voicemail. I read reviews before going here and I really just dont understand how I have been treated so badly and other people have a great experience if you judge by the reviews. I wish I had went to a more professional shop and I wish my car wasn't beeping after paying over 6 thousand...

This is the first bad review I have ever written, and in this case it is richly deserved. In fact, one star is too many, because I got absolutely nothing from Ga Square Collision except run around and excuses. On Saturday, Dec. 19 I was run off the road in Athens, GA, about an hour from where I live. The damage to my 1985 300zx was all on the right side - 2 flat tires, one damaged wheel, fender was slightly creased and pushed back about 1/4 inch - not major, but certainly made it impossible to drive the vehicle 50 miles to home. I called the other driver's insurance company and they suggested I have it towed to Ga Square Collision. I followed up with Ga Square on Monday morning, they had no idea the car was even on their lot. I called back Wednesday and they found my car on their lot. I told them I would be self paying for the repairs since the other driver had changed his story. I asked Ga Square to give me 2 estimates, one just to get the car to the point I could drive it home and one where they fixed all damage. They said "No problem!". A few days later, after hearing nothing, I called them back. They said they weren't sure how to get the car into the bay with 2 flat tires. I said "Surely you have cars with far more damage than mine that you work on all the time. Mine is derivable, just crank it and move in slowly to the bay". Again they said "No problem!". Fast forward a couple of days, again after hearing nothing, and they tell me they still haven't looked at my car. I told them to please just estimate changing the 2 flat tires and replacing the damaged wheel as I need the car. Once again "No problem!". I called back after Christmas (after still hearing nothing) to check on their progress. There was none. I upped the ante and said "I will buy an OEM replacement wheel and have it shipped to your location. Once you get it just replace the 2 tires, please." Their answer was "Let me check to see if we can do that". I called back after the New Year holiday because, surprise, I still had not heard anything from them. At that point I'm told they may need to bring in a forklift (!) to move my car to the bay. I again said "It's drivable. Drive it into the bay". Then they changed to "We really don't work on cars that old". Now, my car is 30 years old, a classic to be sure, but it is my daily driver. It is nice, but not a show car. I said "Wheel and tire replacement really hasn't changed since 1985 and that's all I'm asking you to do. I just want to be able to drive it home, please. I'll get the fender fixed elsewhere" The tech said "Let me talk to the boss, he may let me do that." I called back on Jan. 12, it had now been 3 1/2 weeks that they had my vehicle. The tech said "Sorry, the best we can do is have it towed to a local tire shop". Really? This place calls itself a collision center, yet they will not even change 2 tires? I told them I would just bring a car trailer and come pick it up. So last weekend, a full month after they got the car, my friend and I packed up a car trailer with all manner of tools (since Ga Square said it couldn't be moved from where it sat). We got there and, after about 2 minutes of looking at the situation, I cranked the car, turned it around and backed it onto the trailer - flat tires and all. It took less than 10 minutes from the time we arrived until we left with the "immovable" car. To add insult to injury, the car had been parked under power lines the entire time and was covered in bird droppings. It now sits at a real collision center that is going to repair all the damage. To summarize, here are the major issues: No communication. In 4 weeks I called them 8 times, they never called me (verified on phone logs) Strung me along for 3.5 weeks then decided to do nothing Couldn't figure out how to move a car that was easily derivable, even suggesting a forklift - really? A forklift? Left the car to gather bird droppings for weeks Based on this experience, my advice to all is "Avoid Ga Square...

Avoid this Athens location and use other locations.

We had our vehicle repaired here and they used a broken headlight. The replacement headlight moved constantly and would shine straight up into the sky when we accelerated and then straight down to the ground while braking. Not sure how this was missed during the repair as we noticed it immediately. The experience only got worse from this point. We frequently had to pop replaced parts back into place as they were often falling off and into the wheels and tires. When we returned the manager said it was an easy fix and would take four hours, it just needed the bumper realigned. We agreed to leave it for a day so they would have plenty of time. While there, we listened to the staff go into a backroom (near their restrooms) and argue over fixing it. During their argument, we learned that the original repair technician was no longer employed there and they really didn’t want to fix our car. They were very loud and we could hear everything from their waiting area.

I scheduled an appointment and we dropped the vehicle off the night before the appointment. The next morning a lady called and stated that they had no record of our appointment. The promised “four hour repair” resulted in wasting two days of vacation only to get it back unfinished and more parts hanging off. Check out the pic of the vehicle when we went to pick it up on January 3rd after they had the vehicle for two days. This picture is in their parking lot! I popped the trim above the wheel back on so we could drive the vehicle home.

I attempted to work with the location manager, John, but his aggressive attitude and lack of follow up only created more problems. He was very hostile on the phone. John really should not be interacting with customers as he’s greatly damaging the reputation of Caliber Collision. This poor repair experience coupled with his bullying attitude are something that I will never forget.

The Suwanee location ended up replacing many parts to correctly repair our vehicle and their level of professionalism is a million times better than Athens. The Suwanee location needed our vehicle for an additional ten days after the Athens location initially “repaired it”. I will never return to the Athens location and will let my friends and family know about our experience. After this experience, I'm going to tell anybody with vehicle damage to avoid...