Lucy Carrillo, 81, said she found her car door handle broken after an oil change in August. A manager immediately helped pay for repairs after KENS got involved.
SAN ANTONIO — Lucy Carrillo, 81, got her oil changed at Walmart back in August. Employees parked the vehicle outside the shop once they were done and Carrillo walked out to the car to drive home.
Then she tried to open the door. She said her door handle fell off into her hand.
“I turned around and those guys (employees) were looking and I said ‘Hey! Someone broke my door handle!'” said Carrillo.
She said she walked back in and talked to a manager. The manager disappeared to supposedly review video and came back a while later, according
“He took a long time and then he came out and he said ‘I can’t really tell, but go ahead and get an estimate and we will see what we can do for you,'” Carrillo said.
Carrillo asked to see the video herself but the manager would not let her.
The 81-year-old got an estimate to fix the handle from a body shop and returned to the store the next week. She then spoke to another manager. She said the manager claimed they would communicate with the body shop about the repair. Still, Walmart didn’t pay it at the time and Carrillo said she didn’t get a call back either.
Carrillo sent a certified letter to Walmart’s corporate office in September. She sent another certified letter to the CEO in October. Carrillo said she never saw a response. In the meantime, she was having to unlock her drivers side door by opening the passenger door and reaching across the car.
Finally, in November, she called KENS 5.
“I said ‘I’ve done everything that I can so I was going to call KENS 5 and see what they can do,'” Carrillo said.
Fortunately, Carrillo saved the Walmart oil change paperwork and the estimate for the repair. KENS 5 found that the oil change paperwork had a section for “Damage Noted Before Service”. Under that section, it simply said “None.” Additionally, the paperwork also listed “door handle broken” under the “technician notes” section.
Carrillo said she had tried to bring this up at Walmart but was then told the damage was found before the service.
Regardless, KENS 5 contacted Walmart’s corporate office and last week and then went to the store where this happened on Friday. There was no manager available in the auto service department so KENS 5 was directed to another manager higher up the chain.
KENS 5 provided that manager a copy of the oil change paperwork and the letter Carrillo had sent to the corporate office.
The manager said that Carrillo should not have needed to go to that much trouble and said the other managers should have been able to help her at the store. That manager then called Carrillo directly just 15 minutes later.
“He called me and he told me that he had the bill for the collision place. He told me he would take care of it for me,” Carrillo said.
On Monday, the same manager personally made sure Carrillo got the money for the repair at that store location.
“They gave me the money. He apologized and said to contact him if I had any other problems. I’m very, very happy,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo was thankful that manager stepped in to help her. She’s also glad she called KENS 5.
“It took three months but as soon as I called KENS 5 it got taken care of,” Carrillo said.
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.