Complaint Review: CMIW - Lexington Kentucky

I recently took my 2010 Mercedes in to have a tire patched on 3/31/16 at a local Walmart Service Center. I did some shopping in the store and when finished, came back to pay my bill for the service. I checked out the tire, it looked good (although is was over inflated by 9PSI) and went on my way to my house. When I got home, I tried to open my door and realized my door handle was broken. Not broken as in snapped off, but broken as in someone had pulled abnormally hard on the inside driver handle and in effect, it disconnected something internally. Thus resulting in the driver having to roll down the window and open the door from the outside each time you try to get out of the car. I immediately headed back for the store, called and asked for a manager. I spoke with a Melanie who claimed to be a manager. She was very pleasant and willing to listen to my complaint. I informed her I was on my way to the store and she could examine it herself, and maybe we could speak with the individual who drove the car on/off the dock. When I arrived at the service center it was around closing time so Melanie came out and checked out the handle. I explained how when I dropped the car off, the handle worked perfectly fine, and when I picked the car up, it was no longer working. Melanie explained to me that they kept a log for each vehicle and there is a QC check where anything that is wrong/broken/not working properly with the car is documented. She said there was no mention of the handle on the log. She then assured me Walmart takes care of their customers and Walmart would cover the damage.  She said it was a little late and that they couldn't do much that evening, but to call in the morning and ask for "Eric, service manager of TLE, and he will get you taken care of." I then thanked Melanie for all her help and I went on my way.  

The next morning I called and asked for Eric. I was able to get him on the phone and explained who I was and asked where we need to go from here.  From the very moment I spoke with Eric, he was very rude and said there was no way they did this. Over the previous evening I had some time to think on this and how I could prove I wasn't just some guy trying to pull one over on Walmart to get my car fixed. I asked him to check out the cameras (as there are cameras at every angle of the service center, able to see the entire parking lot) and see how I got out of the car when I dropped it off, and then how his employee got out of the car when he parked it after completing service. He said he would check it out and I could bring the car up Saturday for him to examine it. 

Saturday when I arrived Eric came out, I asked him about the cameras and he said he could see that the employee had to roll down the window to get out of the car after service but when I first parked the car in the lot, "there was a glare, I couldn't really tell." I said ok, well come look at the handle. He might have looked for about 3 seconds, and said, "well this wasn't our fault, this was a timing issue." He then told me Walmart would not be responsible, with a very unprofessional demeanor.

I knew I was getting nowhere with Eric, so I asked if there was someone else I could speak with, another manager perhaps. Chastity I believe, came out and looked at the car and did not have much to say. I believe she said, “how do we know this was not already broken?” And I then explained the cameras. She asked Eric who, again said, “there is a glare.” After a little more conversation she told me we would have to let claims handle this and decide. Eric took my name, address and phone number and told me to leave his store. 

This is not a timing issue as Eric provided as excuse. A handle just does not break. It is not a belt fan or a headlight that would go out because of timing. A handle will only break due to negligence. The fact is, this happened while in Walmart’s possession and Walmart should take responsibility.

A couple days later I was contacted by Wes Holliday, of CMIW. He informed me "unfortunately this would not be something they would take care of." I asked him if he was able to watch the videos and he informed me there was only one and it was the employee getting out of the car and having to roll the window down. But that there was no way to prove they did this. I informed him there should be another video of me getting out of the car where he can clearly see I did not roll down the window to get out. He then told me "I do not care if we did break the handle, we are not going to fix it." This blew my mind that he would say this. I said wow I really cant believe you would say you dont care if Walmart broke it. I asked if he had a manager or anyone else I could speak with. He informed he "I am the one working this claim." I said I understand but I would like to speak with a supervisor and he then restated " I am the one working this claim." I asked a third time and he then hung up on me. This was extremely unprofessional. I could not believe as a cusotmer I was treated this way. Shortly there after I called back and asked to speak with his manager, a different agent transferred me to who she claimed was Wes' manager. Of course I got an answering machine so I left a voicemail. 

Basically this CMIW company is a joke. They are owned by Walmart and the only company they do claims for is Walmart. It seems to be impossible to have a claim approved by them. 

As a customer when you bring your vehicle in for normal maintenance, you would never expect something like this to happen, and if it does, you would believe in the integrity of the company to take care of it. Does anyone have any advice as to where I can go from here? I really do not want to give up on this and I feel like there is no winning when the claims company is working for Walmart..