Celeste Contreras said her car’s bumper was damaged at a gas station. Her claim had stalled two months later, but KENS 5 got it moving.
SAN ANTONIO — Celeste Contreras, 74, was taking her Lexus convertible through a gas station car wash on March 1 when, suddenly, she heard a loud pop.
“I heard a real loud noise, but I thought it was a machine. (That) something was wrong with the machine, you know?” Contreras said.
Another driver then stopped her as soon as she exited the car wash. He told her that her vehicle was damaged.
Contreras then found out her left rear bumper was partially detached from her vehicle.
“I saw the left bumper hanging. I said, ‘Oh, my god,'” Contreras told KENS 5.
The driver who stopped her, Mr. Cuevas, said he saw the large brush in the car wash get stuck on the rear bumper and pop it out. He even started taking a video of her vehicle in the car wash after he noticed it happening.
The issue happened at the Shell gas station with a Circle K store on Vance Jackson and Interstate 10 in San Antonio. Mr. Cuevas and Ms. Conteras went into the store to report it.
“I asked for the manager and the girl there gave me a name but said, ‘He’s not here,'” Contreras said.
Despite having a witness and pictures, Contreras could not get a claim moving with either Shell or Circle K. After multiple calls and visits, she still didn’t even have a claim number.
Finally, she called KENS 5.
KENS 5 drove to the location, spoke to the manager, called the Circle K Customer Care and also called Shell’s corporate media contact. Contreras was eventually able to make claim with Shell, but was told she wouldn’t be contacted back until around April 3.
KENS 5 asked Shell who was responsible for the car wash, and how to contact them. But Shell didn’t provide that information.
A representative from yet another company called CrossAmerica Partners LP then contacted Contreras and asked for all the information on the claim. KENS 5 aired a story reporting the progress at the time.
Then, however, Contreras was told the claim was Circle K’s responsibility. Suddenly, she was back to square one.
Conteras was tired of the run-around but didn’t know what to do.
KENS 5 then met with Contreras and had her call Circle K while we were recording. A Circle K representative said he couldn’t give her the number to their claim department, adding she had to wait for a call.
KENS 5 then told the representative that Contreras had been trying to move a claim forward for nearly two months and that the Circle K claims department had yet to call her. KENS 5 told him the Circle K store would be on TV.
KENS 5 also spoke to the manager at the store where it happened. We then also reached out to the corporate office for the company that owns Circle K and let them know Circle K would be on TV.
Circle K’s corporate office then took action immediately.
Less than 24 hours after Circle K’s corporate office found out about this, they had multiple teams look into the issue and then provided KENS 5 a response:
“At Circle K, our mission is to make our customers’ lives a little easier every day, and we fell short of that commitment with Ms. Contreras at our Vance Jackson Road location. We sincerely apologize to her for her experience, and we recognize that this situation has not been handled with the speed, clarity, or care she deserved under these circumstances.
“We take this matter seriously, have followed up with Ms. Contreras, validated her claim and are working with a local shop to ensure her vehicle is repaired as quickly as possible at our expense. Meanwhile, we are also investigating the root causes that contributed to the delayed resolution of this incident and will apply what we learn to improve our processes and ensure future claims like these are handled more quickly, transparently, and with empathy.”
The company did immediately start communicating with Ms. Contreras. A Circle K spokesman later confirmed to KENS 5 that a check was on the way to a mechanic to repair the damage.
They also offered to provide a rental car.
KENS 5 will update this story when the check arrives.
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