AR
Adam R
Active since May 2020
2
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2 reviews20 months ago
One year later, Naked still hasn’t repaired my car.
As with any story, there is nuance. There have been some positive aspects with Naked, and there are some areas where they have done well. But, overwhelmingly, my experience with them has been dominated by a year-long claims process that is still unresolved, resulting in this negative review. Exactly one year ago, my car was involved in a minor accident where the front left wheel fell off while driving. Arranging towing to Mthatha on the day went smoothly, and the claim was also processed and approved fairly quickly. However, that’s where the positive experience mostly ends. Naked’s approved and appointed service provider, Panel City, has to be the worst organisation I’ve ever dealt with. It took Panel City about three weeks to even collect the car from the mechanic where it was first towed to. Nine months later, it was still with them "waiting for parts". It's now been exactly one year since the accident, and I still don't have my car back. The latest is that the car won't start and Panel City "doesn't know why". Communication is incredibly poor and highly erratic, sometimes getting automated updates, sometimes not, and there's never been any helpful information other than things along the lines of, "We're waiting for the ETA on delivery" or, “There’s a parts issue”. I've been given no proof that the parts have even been ordered, no explanation why the delay is so long, where the parts have been ordered from – nothing. Whenever I've called, the manager is always "on lunch", and nobody has been able to give me the information or assurance that I need. They honestly just don't seem to care at all about the customer's experience or even their own reputation. While I know all of these issues are with Panel City, my complaint with Naked is that they have failed to take responsibility for approving this service provider in the first place and for forcing them upon me. At no point in the past year has Naked held them accountable (as evidenced by the fact that my car is still with them). At one point, there was a long email thread between Panel City and Naked (that I was eventually included in), with nothing of substance being shared by either side. Every single response from Naked was along the lines of, “Any updates on this case? Kind regards” and every reply from Panel City was along the lines of, “Please note we’re waiting for our supplier.” This inane back-and-forth went on for more than five months. Apparently, Naked was satisfied with the complete lack of information or evidence supp**** by Panel City. It’s taken me losing my patience and my naive belief that Naked would have my best interests at heart as their customer. This has been far from the case, and it’s taken long angry emails to even be heard and to get close to anything resembling action. I’ve had to be the one pushing for deadlines and ultimatums to have my car moved to another service provider (all of which were agreed to, none of which were enforced in the end). I’ve had to be the one to raise the issue of compensation. While Naked has agreed to waive part of the excess, they have refused to refund or reduce any of the premiums I’ve paid over the last year, claiming that the premiums are due while the service is being provided. Part of the service I’m meant to receive (i.e. what I am insured for) is that my car gets repaired when it’s damaged. But if it’s taken a year (still with no end in sight), at what point does my car actually count as being insured? At what point can Naked say they’re honouring the agreement and actually providing me with a service? I’ve also requested a rental car to be provided, but this request doesn’t seem to be going anywhere (as with my other requests for compensation), despite various team leads claiming they’ll “advocate for me”. To their credit, the team leads at Naked generally communicate quite well. They do read your emails and respond to all the points or questions you have. I’ve been impressed in this area, but unfortunately, this hasn’t resulted in anything changing. In various email communications that I’ve had with Naked, my case has been described as “extraordinary” and “exceptional”. They’ve acknowledged that my case has been mishandled. They told me they’d be terminating their relationship with Panel City after this and have admitted that there are holes in their system that even allowed for them to be approved in the first place. But all of these are just words, as I still don’t have my car. It’s entirely possible that Naked’s internal systems are sufficient for simple cases involving competent service providers. However, there are clearly some major holes in their processes for something like this to have been allowed to happen - particularly regarding the approval of sub-par service providers, but then also having no mechanisms to deal with them. In addition, there are clearly major issues with their customer experience philosophy, if it has allowed an extraordinary case like mine to drag on for such a long time without extraordinary treatment. At this stage, nothing short of a personal visit from the CEO, a formal apology, and them offering me the use of their car until mine is fixed will redeem Naked.
106 replies
20 months ago
Panel City Mthatha - By Far the Most Atrocious Company
I'd give ZERO stars if I could. My car had a minor accident in late August 2023 and it took Panel City about three weeks to even collect the car. Nine months later, it was still with them "waiting for parts". It's now been exactly one year since the accident, and I still don't have my car back. The latest is that the car won't start and Panel City "doesn't know why". Communication is incredibly poor and highly erratic, sometimes getting automated updates, sometimes not, and there's NEVER any helpful information other than "we're waiting for the ETA on delivery". I've been given no proof that the parts have even been ordered, any explanation why the delay is so long, where the parts have been ordered from - nothing. Whenever I've called, the manager is always "on lunch", and nobody has been able to give me the information or assurance that I need. They honestly just don't seem to care at all about the customer's experience or even their own reputation. I think it goes without saying that this is the worst experience I have ever had with any kind of organisation.
0 replies
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