A Christchurch woman who feared for her life when a car wash malfunctioned and caused more than $7,000 ($6348 AUD) of damage to her car said she was “shocked and disappointed” by the company’s “terrible” response.
When Jessie Davidson entered the car wash at Z Energy on Linwood Ave on October 25, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.
But when the brushes first approached her car, she said it felt like they were “hitting it too hard” and when they rolled up the bonnet it “creaked and groaned”.
She said she started to feel anxious and like “something wasn’t right”, but once the machine rolled over the roof and Davidson could hear it crushing her car – she began to fear for her life.
“It was like it wasn’t detecting my car at all,” she said.
She thought the brushes were going to come through the windscreen and began searching for emergency stop buttons, or a way to communicate with staff inside the service station.
“I was just sitting there thinking ‘what do I do?’, ‘when’s this going to stop?’.” She said her life flashed before her eyes.
Then it happened all over again on the car wash’s second run. She said the second time the wheels were skidding and the whole car was moving.
When it finally ended, a man tapped on her window to ask if she was OK.
He had been behind Davidson in the car wash queue and watched the situation unfold. He told her parts of her car were spread across the floor and the car wash was reading “Machine Error”.
The spoiler was completely ripped off and the aerial cover and windscreen wipers were bent out of shape. The bonnet, roof and sides of the car were crumpled and scratched.
After she had recovered from the shock, Davidson went inside to seek help from staff.
She was given a flyer with an 0800 number to contact. But when she rang the number, Davidson said she was promised a call back that never came.
Concerned for others safety, she called the service station directly to ask if the car wash was still operating. Staff told her it had been serviced that night and was open for use.
“The priority appears to have been to repair the machine rather than address the damage it caused.”
When she formally complained, she received an automated response informing her the damage would be assessed within 10 working days.
“I still haven’t heard anything from a person saying we’re really sorry this happened or anything,” Davidson said.
“I feel like it was a terrible response.”
A nurse, Davidson relies on her car to get to and from work so decided to proceed with an insurance claim to get repairs underway. She was quoted $7,238 to get her car fixed.
Davidson said she’ll never go through a car wash again.
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“It was terrifying. I thought I was going to die.”
Z Energy Corporate Affairs Manager Kiri Shannon said the company was aware of the complaint.
“We want to sincerely apologise to the customer for their experience with us,” she said.
Shannon said an issue with one of the brushes in the car had been identified following Davidson’s experience. She said the issue was “immediately raised” with the company’s maintenance provider and they attended the site that day to resolve the issue and ensure it was safe to use.
“Z is committed to putting this right with the customer and we will be following up with them directly to urgently process this claim and rectify this matter,” she said.
