12/30/08

Poor quality control

by HonestTexasGuy

Very poor quality control. I paid $60 for an express detailing, which is advertised as including quality control, but my SUV exterior wasn't even properly cleaned. Also, the exterior "protectant" wasn't applied anywhere on the exterior. When I flagged the dirt on the exterior, the supervisor said it was rust and would need an upcharge of $40 for polishing. I rub off this "rust"--which is obviously just some stubborn dirt--with my thumb right in front of him, but there's no arguing with the guy, who says he has washed "500,000 cars". Then, not 5 minutes later, I notice that he's telling a woman whose car she notices even from the waiting area is still obviously dirty after going through the hand wash that it's because she needs a wax job, and that no, he won't be sending it through the wash again. Nice choice: if she wants a clean car, which she has already paid for, she'll have to pay for a wax job. If not, it seems she'll just have to take whatever they hand over. She already paid, so what's she supposed to do? Ask for her money back when the 500,000 car guy is telling her the problem isn't their hand wash but that her car needs waxing? I can see why they would rather we all keep our cars freshly waxed, but I've never been to a car wash before that doesn't wash your car properly even if it hasn't been recently waxed.

My experience is certainly different from the last couple of reviews. I went to this hand wash BECAUSE of those positive reviews, so I'm adding my experience to the list. My experience is more like some of the earlier reviews. I don't mind spending the money for quality work, and I would think that spending $60 would at least get me a clean exterior. If the true cost is $100 (which is ridiculous), I think I'll quit my day-job and start washing cars for a living.

12/18/08

Great Detail

by tab21

I tried First Hand because of a friends recommendation. I went in for a mini detail, and my car came back looking better than when I bought it new. I will recommend First Hand to all of my friends. Thanks Guys!

11/10/08

Excellent job, new management is 100% trustworthy

by DaveCC

My wife asked me to get her car detailed for her birthday, and I did a fair bit of online research.

I was somewhat alarmed to find that almost every detailing shop listed had a bunch of rave reviews and a bunch of people who hated them .... it seemed like everywhere was inconsistent.

I ended up going to First Hand because (a) it's by far the closest to our place and (b) because it seemed to have the best ratio of good reviews.

When I got there, I found it had recently been taken over by Corky Matney, who used to run Japanese Specialist in Round Rock. Corky is an old acquaintance through the local Austin Spokes motor sport club, and I used to have a Japanese sports car and took it too him with an obscure electrical problem that neither the dealer nor the specialists in Austin could figure out. I can personally vouch for Corky being a straight up and honest guy.

In addition to that, the job that the team at First Hand did was absolutely superb - better than the detail I I happily paid $250 extra for when I bought the car .... for $175 I felt like I got a total bargain, and it was clear that many hours of labor went into it.

Being 100% objective, there is one thing that Corky hasn't quite gotten together yet, and that is a consistent service to provide rides to people dropping cars off for big detail jobs like this. He ended up driving me himself in his track prepared Corvette, which I was totally cool with (hey, I'm into motor sports too) but the average consumer might not care for climbing into a race-style bucket seat :-) He knows how to tun a business and I'm sure that will soon be fixed.

The car in question is a 6 year old Mercedes E430, not exactly new, and not exactly a low end car either, and the First Hand guys made it look like it was fresh off the line in Sindelflingen.

Awesome job guys!

• Pros: Awesome job for a very fair price
• Cons: Minor - ride service not quite as well organized as it could be