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*NEW! - 5 Star Review from CitySearch.com
"the best auto body shop in LA hands down!"
by RossHorwitz666
May 12, 2009
I have been using CitySearch for over 2 years to find out about restaurants and businesses but I've never had an account to write reviews. My experience with Network and all the people who work there(Ralph, Anthony etc..) was amazing
<Read Full Review>
*NEW!
- 5 Star Rating from Yelp.com6/15/2009
A 'Personalized' Customer Review
Mark N Phoebe G.. - Los Angeles, CA
This is a long overdue compliment. I wasn't quite sure as to how the procedure works with the insurance company and the adjuster and everything, it was more than overwhelming, but since day one Anthony was more than kind and helpful with everything, filling me in with every bit of detailed information and walking me through the whole process step by step.
<Read Full Review>
*NEW!
- 5 Star Rating from Yelp.com6/15/2009
An 'Honest and Reliable' Collision Center Review
christina m. - Los Angeles, CA
Let's face it, we all dread dealing with Mechanics. I've used Network 2 times now to repair significant damage to my car. I found them honest and reliable.
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*NEW!
- 5 Star Rating from Yelp.com6/4/2009
A 'Wholehearted' Testimonial
Liz H.- Los Angeles, CA
I took my car to Network after my first (and hopefully last) car accident, and they took amazing care of me! I had no idea how to handle the insurance, making sure the other driver would accept liability and pay for my car to be fixed, but Joe helped me with everything!
*NEW! Consumer Reviews - Believability Guidelines
6-17-09
How about those 5 Star Reviews and 1 Star Complaints!
Consumer Reviews, are they Real - are they 'Padded' - are they Malicious and False?
Unraveling the Skepticism and Confusion Network wants to try and help you sort through these questions by offering some guidelines to consider when analyzing these historically confusing and sometimes frustrating Reviews. |
You're looking to find a good Auto Body Shop, or any other business for that matter, so what do you do? Surf the net of course to see what others have to say about a few businesses you have narrowed down. You run across everything from 5 Star Reviews to 1 Star complaints, so how can you tell if the review you're reading is Real, Factual, Malicious or False? You may even be wondering if the business is engaging in what is referred to as 'Padding' their site, meaning, making up and posting their own 5 Star Reviews of their own business.
At Network Auto Body we realize that many of our first time customers have sought us out because of some reviews they have read about us. We also want potential customers to realize that we are also consumers. Not unlike you, we buy appliances, furniture, electronics, eat out at restaurants, take vacations and such. We also frequently rely on consumer reviews, comments and any other factual comparison sources we locate in an attempt to find that perfect deal or company to do business with when we don't have a first hand referral from a trusted source. So how can you evaluate all of the Reviews you come across? The cold truth is you have to read between the lines and do a little self analysis, but, there are a few things you can do to help provide a comfort zone for you when reading through all of the Reviews you run across.
Here are a couple of indicators or basic guidelines you can evaluate when it comes to reading and analyzing a Review:
1 Indicator that the 5 Star Review is most likely legitimate:
Are there 'Specifics' mentioned in the review? For example: Did the customer, or Reviewer who took their car into the shop to have it repaired give any specifics, year, make model, mention one of the staff, state a brief description of damage and work done, mention a price or a deal they received, talk about the location and service they received from a particular staff member, etc.
2 Indicator that the 1 Star Review is potentially false or malicious, possibly posted by a competitor:
Blatant and hard core language in a generic form, just a 'shotgun' blast of non-specific criticisms with no mention of a particular staff member, no mention of what car they took in for repair, no mention of the work needed to be performed, just slanderous and derogatory statements that obviously have little merit to support the posting parties statement that they have a legitimate complaint.
Like many other honest and competitively driven businesses, Network has received a couple of these malicious posts in the past that knowingly came from a couple of our competitors. Though they were posted anonymously, we were able to find out where they came from and were successful in getting them removed. Responding to blatant and open malicious attacks isn't even a consideration, these types of slanderous complaints simply don't deserve any respect or the time it takes to respond to such attacks. However, in a strange backwards way, once in a while those malicious complaints in some instances, are actually compliments to our business, because if we are doing all the right things to capture the business and trust of the consumer from other competitors in open and fair competition, then they must not be doing it right and we are; an interesting consideration in itself.
What about a Review posting of what appears to be a 'Legitimate' Complaint?
2.1 One way that you can probably rely on that the complaint may possibly be legitimate is if the Reviewer stated who they had contact with at the shop, what kind problem they had, was the complaint about the estimate, the time to do the job, the price, not willing to play around with the deductible; 'something some people try and get body shops to do from time to time, not an ethical process.' These are some indicators that, yes, even if it is a Complaint and not a Recommendation, it is most likely a 'Real Review' from an an actual customer or potential customer. But remember, there are two sides to each story. While some of those complaints may seem to be very justified you would also need to know some of the following:
2.1.1 How did the shop handle the complaint
2.1.2 Did the person making the complaint have reasonable grounds on his demands or were they unreasonable.
2.1.3 Did the person making the complaint fully understand what it was they were expecting the shop to do that the shop didn't do or couldn't do.
The problem is with all of the above is that most of the time you won't know the complete factual details unless you call the shop, point out the complaint and ask the shop their version. Then you would have to do some evaluation, or maybe even introduce your human intuition as to who was right, the shop or the reviewer, whom you can't reach of course. But either way, and hoping you are a fair and honest individual, try to put yourself in both positions, think how you would feel being the customer and then put yourself in the position of being the manager of the shop and how you would feel you needed to respond.
Often times a business is best judged on how a business handles a complaint. Network Auto Body is referred to for years as 'The Body Shop to the Stars' for serving many of Hollywood's Top Movie Stars, and yes, we do have dozens of 5 Star Reviews, but then that's just another reason we are referred to as 'The Body Shop to the Stars'. A trusted slogan since 1985!
An interesting Complaint: This one's a 'Request vs Ethics' Classic!
Network has received what we call a very interesting and classic complaint and we have posted both the complaint in it's entirety as it was originally posted along with our response on our site. We highly recommend you read this as if you look at this in general form you can almost apply the principles mentioned here to other reviews you may come across that are in the form of a complaint. This complaint is based on a customers request -vs- the very ethics and standards we have established in the industry in dealing with our reputation and our customers safety considerations.
<Read the Review Story>
The Network Advantage
On almost all of our Reviews, we have a somewhat decided advantage over those potential customers reading them, that being, we are usually familiar with the customer based on the detailed description of their car and work done and the name on the Review site. You the consumer wouldn't have access to that information, therefore if you ever see a Review on Network Auto Body that is substandard please feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to discuss it with you ahead of time so hopefully you'll be able to make your own fair evaluation.
Of course any business only wants to display the very best reviews of their product or services, that's certainly understandable and if they're legitimate Reviews they should be proud of them. But that can sometimes lead a consumer to question the validity of having a ton of those High Rated Reviews on their site, a catch 22 so to speak. After all, what business would only post 1 star reviews about their company that says “this business stinks!”. Well maybe if you were selling cow chips from Texas or running a Septic pumping or Trash hauling business that might work.
Network Auto Body has been in business since 1985 serving many of Hollywood's Top Motion Picture Stars. We didn't gain the reputation as 'The Body Shop to the Stars' overnight and we didn't buy it, do it by fraud, false advertising, or padding policies, we did it by providing the highest quality work and service in the industry and at a fair price. As you surf through our Multi-Media site you will see, video reviews of auto dealers, customers, and read dozens of reviews from sites such as Yelp and CitySearch, both top rated reliable sites. You'll also find an ongoing consumer information center filled with valuable tips, news along with a detailed body shop Repair Procedure Center that keeps you up to date on some of the latest controversies in the industry concerning battles consumers and body shops are having with insurance carriers across the nation.
Network's Morals Assurance Policy:
So, how do you know that the reviews you see on these sites about Network are factual reviews from real people, more importantly, real actual customers? Well, in honesty if you've never done business with us before and you haven't been referred to us by a trusted contact, you don't know for sure 100%. Hopefully though we have offered some good guidelines here for your evaluation in order to help make your own decisions, but you do have our seal of assurance that we will not knowingly post a false statement or add a padded comment to our site. In almost all instances, except when a customer tells us they are going to do it, we don't even know of the Review until it is posted somewhere, so you may even see it before we do. At Network we don't need to engage in cheap tricks and we certainly wouldn't risk our reputation, it's not what we do, it's not who we are!
To all of our loyal customers who have taken their time to post such great and flattering Reviews of Network Auto Body and to all of you who are considering doing business with us, we thank you. Remember, Network Auto Body, “The Body Shop to the Stars” wants to make YOU 'A Star!' Who knows, we might even do a Video Review of you and your car for our site if you like..."you never know who's watching in Hollywood!"
